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khalidistan · 10 months

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It seems like every year I end up writing an iteration of the same idea. But here I am! Writing it again! If you haven’t seen the tweet that sparked this conversation, I’ve screenshotted the tweet and artwork below. It’ll help inform this discussion. Full piece under the cut.

It would help to check out my essay from 2021 about the emasculation of Abdul Ali from Squid Game, since both pieces share similar references.

Maryam Khalid writes “Orientalist notions of the masculinity of the ‘Eastern’ male as uncivilized also inherently ascribe primitiveness, ineptness and a certain amount of weakness to the barbarized ‘other.’” Those doomed to the mythical Orient are automatically placed lower in masculinity than their white and colonial counterparts.

The reason for this emasculation is to defang them, to ensure they can never attain the same power conferred by white masculinity and to maintain racial purity: “This feminizing divests the male body of its virility and thus compromises its power not only to penetrate and reproduce its own nation (our women), but to contaminate the other's nation (their women) as well” (Puar, 99).

To be South Asian is to be pathologically queer, irrespective of the one’s true sexual orientation. “The Orient becomes a living tableau of queerness” by virtue of being from the Orient (Said, 103). There is already a robust amount of artwork depicting Pavitr with tons of gold jewelry and piercings, which to the West are typically feminine accessories. This essentially reduces Pavitr to a stereotype of South Asian culture.

Fanworks use the bejeweled, indulgent, exotic, and sultry attitude as a short-hand for their perception of South Asia. They are “caricatures stripped from movies like Disney’s Aladdin, the Arcana or people’s sexual fantasies about our men,” as allahrakhi writes in her essay on fandom's reception of Claude von Riegan from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, a character similarly mischaracterized by virtue of his brown identity.

Puar describes that the (implied white) nation defines “upright, domesticatable queernesses that mimic and recenter liberal subjecthood, and out-of-control, untetherable queernesses” (47). Nonwhite queerness is “untetherable,” leaving white queerness as “domesticatable.” This inability to engage brown queerness forces brown queer people to assimilate into white queerness.

In fandom’s and society’s mind, there is no such thing as a queer South Asian without them discarding their brown identity and adopting white queer practices, behaviors, and aesthetics. Queer South Asians are “either liberated (and the United States and Europe are often the scene of this liberation) or can only have an irrational, pathological sexuality of queerness” (Puar, 13).

Which brings us to the recent depictions of Pavitr in fanworks, stripping him of his masculinities to render him as a vapid, neutered, and yes, whitewashed queer boy, completely unrecognizable from the source material.

Interestingly, this reduced masculinity co-exists, paradoxically, with the idea that men from the Orient are simultaneously aggressive, belligerent, and violent. Elgin Brunner writes: “Such a framing—the association of the enemy with barbarism, as opposed to the self, which is civilized—includes two, often simultaneous, moves, that is: the ‘hypermasculinization’ of the enemy on the one hand, and his ‘effeminization’ on the other… The very same opponent is, by virtue of being categorized as a cowardly barbarian, rendered effeminate.”

The flip side of the effeminate brown man is the hypermasculine brown man, which can be seen through Miguel, one of Across the Spider-Verse’s antagonists. Both instances of brown masculinity confiscate personhood from characters who would have otherwise offered rich, nuanced, interesting perspectives to the story and to the audience.

It would be myopic of me to not mention the implicit genderings of other nonwhite ethnicities in this discussion. Brown men hold a unique positionality to other nonwhite men in a racial triangulation I’d like to examine further in another essay for the future. Brown men can either be gendered the way that East Asians are (feminine, asexual, neutered, timid, obedient) or the way that Black people are (hypersexual, predatory, dangerous, aggressive). Both misgenderings are in opposition to the “ideal” male gender, which is of course, the white man. This fallacy is why we see Hobie depicted as cruel, mean, and irritated in the exact same artwork from earlier.

Many people in this artist’s quoted replies have accused the artist of being white. I have seen some criticisms of the backlash, that people shouldn’t assume the artist’s ethnicity. I think both opinions miss the point: anyone can be orientalist. Membership within a nonwhite ethnic identity does not absolve the individual of perpetuating orientalist or racist depictions of characters of color.

As Edward Saïd said, “Everyone who writes about the Orient must locate himself vis-a-vis the Orient” (Orientalism, 20). That is to say, if you write and depict the Orient and people from the Orient, you have to consider your positionality in relation to the Orient. Naturally, this would mean that white people should always be cognizant of their depictions of Orientals. But East Asians can also orientalize, whether it is other ethnic groups like South Asians; or self-orientalization. Similar can be said for South Asians who self-orientalize.

Khalid writes “Gendered identities do not exist independently of other factors, and must be viewed as intertwined with, for example, race or ethnicity if we are to understand the hierarchical organization of identities.” There is no examination of gender without an accompanying racial context. And Pavitr’s emasculation in fandom certainly requires a critical eye for both race and gender, lest we repeat the same dehumanizing characterizations of him in further fanworks.

Works Consulted:

Brunner, E. M. (2008). Consoling display of strength or emotional overstrain? the gendered framing of the early “War on terrorism” in transatlantic comparison. Global Society, 22(2), 217–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600820801887223

Khalid, M. (2011). Gender, orientalism and representations of the ‘other’ in the War on Terror. Global Change, Peace & Security, 23(1), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2011.540092

Puar J. K. (2007). Terrorist Assemblages: homonationalism in queer times. Duke University Press.

Said, E. W. (1994). Orientalism. 25th anniversary edition. With a new preface by the author. New York, Vintage Books.

#pravitr prabhakar #across the spiderverse #spiderverse #meta analysis #critical race theory #gender studies #queer studies #khalid text

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david-talks-sw · 2 years

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why do so many people hate on Mace Windu?

'Cause he's too much of a badass for them to handle! Jokes aside, this is a subject I came across a few times. If I had to guess why?

1. "Mace was a jerk to Anakin!"

A lot of people see Mace as "always being antagonistic towards Anakin". When - if you look at the facts - that's not really true.

In Episode I, sure, Mace initially votes to not let Anakin into the Jedi Order. But shortly after, when it's put to a vote a second time, Yoda is the only one still not wanting Anakin to join.

Implying... that Mace was cool with it!

Hell, there's even a non-canon comic that covered this, with Windu actually arguing letting Anakin into the Jedi Order against Yoda because he thinks Anakin will bring Balance to the Force.

In the comic, he also suggests giving Qui-Gon’s lightsaber to Anakin.

In Episode II, he's actually defending Anakin. He and the Council are confident in Anakin's ability to have his first solo mission, praising Anakin's skills and - in a deleted scene - even reminding Obi-Wan to have more faith in his Padawan.

Finally, in Episode III, at a first glance, it looks like Mace is indeed written in a way that makes him antagonistic to Anakin (the same Anakin who turns to the Dark Side in the same film, so maybe his instincts weren't so off after all...)

A lot of people say "he says he doesn't trust Anakin!" and I've already covered what that's really about here:

TLDR: he says he doesn't trust Anakin when he's 1) on a secret mission 2) with Palpatine. Which makes sense, because Anakin isn't exactly subtle and he has an emotional attachment toward Palpatine who everyone can see has Anakin wrapped around his finger.

Also, if you wanna count it... the novelization of Revenge of the Sith justifies this by the unbearable stress he is under.

A stress due to the Clone War and his whole Order being drafted into being warriors when they're supposed to be diplomats, thus causing hundred if not friends of his comrades to die (and don't even get me started on how hard the loss of clone lives must weigh on him).

Jedi of the Republic: Mace Windu writer Matt Owens seems to echo this sentiment:

"The Jedi are like atomic bombs: they have so much power, but they really don’t want to use it. Mace is a masterful warrior who doesn’t relish fighting. Such use of his power goes against his code, but if he doesn’t use it, what will become of the Republic? As a member of the Jedi Council, he is under pressure because he is a leader. He’s forced into an uncomfortable situation where he is doing something he doesn’t entirely agree with for what he believes is ultimately the greater good. But he has to be sure of himself because he has so many others looking to him for direction." - Matt Owens, Star Wars Insider Special Edition, 2021

So it's not personal toward Anakin at all, but Anakin's whining and making it all about himself certainly isn't relieving the stress.

But hey, let's suppose he is a dick to Anakin in Episode III (he's not, but let's go along with it).

That's still one movie out of three. So if there's a change in attitude toward Anakin from Attack of the Clones to Revenge of the Sith...

... what spurred it?

What event would make Mace go from telling Obi-Wan to have faith in Anakin to having him be adversarial toward him?

It would've been nice to see that in an episode from The Clone Wars, which partially exists to fill in the gaps between AOTC and ROTS.

I mean, was there a time where, for example, Anakin prioritized saving Ahsoka over a bunch of people in a building, leaving Mace to do it himself?

Still, we get moments between them, and they're not all negative:

They have fun banter, at times, right? But then we hear Dave Filoni say that Mace had an issue with Anakin from day one.

"You see, Mace Windu’s the guy that tells little Anakin ‘no, he will not be trained’. You cut to Anakin and he’s like, ‘What??’ There’s this look on Anakin’s face like, 'I’m gonna remember that, you’re a negative, why are you doing that?’ So you have to look at it, the Jedi are - though they mean really well for Anakin – they’re always telling him 'no’. They’re always saying 'no, you’ll be expelled, you’ll have to leave the Jedi Order’. [...] So when you get to that point-- all these things I’m talking about get you to that point where Palpatine’s on the ground and Mace Windu has a lightsaber at his throat and he’s saying “he’s the traitor”. So Anakin’s there and he’s choosing between the guy that’s always told him “no” - that, while he respects him and [Mace’s] not a mentor, but he’s a fellow Jedi - and the father figure [of Palpatine] who holds the key possibly to immortality and you saving this person you love in Padmé." - Dave Filoni, Rebel Force Radio, Star Wars Fan Days III, 2009

So... I honestly don't know who to listen to.

If we're meant to see Mace as "negative toward Anakin" then the episodes failed to convey that properly.

If we're not, then why is Dave Filoni saying the above?

Same thing goes for the recently-published novel Brotherhood, written by Mike Chen.

Like, I want to give the novel the benefit of the doubt and say "yeah, but we're only seeing Mace through Anakin's eyes, so of course the opinion is biased and exaggerated." But then I hear Mike Chen say stuff like this...

"And, like, [Anakin’s] constantly pulled in every direction and the finally, when you go from that to Revenge of the Sith where it’s like “hey, my wife is going to die unless I listen to my cool uncle, who has never been mean to me” and then you have Mace Windu who’s like “TAKE A SEAT, SKYWALKER!” y’know, it’s like who’re you gonna listen to? It really makes sense, it feels very organic, from that perspective." - Mike Chen, Beyond the Blast Doors, 2021

... and it's clear my arguing "unreliable narration" would just be me expressing a headcanon.

2. "Mace represents everything wrong with the Jedi"

Then, another argument I heard once is that he embodies everything wrong with the Jedi Order. As said in this comment here:

Wow, that's a whole bunch of hate hurled in Mace's direction.

Also inaccurate.

The fact is, Mace is - like most Jedi - a space shaolin/buddhist monk. He's incredibly wise and spiritual as heck. But when it comes to it, he's a no-bullshit kind of guy, especially when considering the Jedi being forced into a war.

As Samuel L. Jackson put its:

"Mace is a voice of reason. He thinks before he speaks. He's pretty calculating, mostly even-tempered, and he's not to be trifled with. He knows that the war is coming and he has a pretty good idea who is behind it. [...] Mace Windu has known Obi-Wan Kenobi for a very long time. Mace was a contemporary of Qui-Gon Jinn. He understood his faults and admired his qualities and can see that Obi-Wan has taken on some of Qui-Gon's strongheadedness by wanting to train Anakin Skywalker." - Samuel L. Jackson, as reported in Star Wars Insider: The Skywalker Saga Collector’s Edition, 2021

That doesn't mean Mace isn't compassionate or empathetic. On the contrary:

Here’s Mace taking down a criminal who was using child soldiers.

See that teenager who shoots at him in the final panels? At the end of the comic, he tries to have her freed.

Then, here’s Mace going out of his way to save a Twi'lek girl.

And this post, right here, lists a ton of examples of Mace putting others before himself in The Clone Wars.

Oh, you wanna go Legends? Let's go Legends.

Here’s Mace before and after saving an old lady from thugs.

Here’s Mace being kind to a starving Sith worshipper who tried to start a mob to kill them, choosing talk and mercy over violence.

Here's Mace praising Anakin!

One time, Obi-Wan almost died on a mission. Mace stayed by Anakin's side the whole time Obi-Wan was undergoing surgery.

Here’s Mace calmly agreeing to disagree with a Jedi who thinks the Order shouldn’t have joined the Clone War.

Hell, here’s Mace being nice to animals.

Mace Windu embodies everything right about the Jedi Order.

3. Misc "arguments"...

A number of silly, small things I hear sometimes:

"Oh he called her 'citizen' what an asshole!" He refers to her the same way she referred to herself. Ahsoka's been gone for months she doesn't have context and letting her into the fold in that particular instant would spell disaster. It's not personal, Mace even gives her a respectful nod before the call ends.

Then there's:

"Mace never apologized for the way the Council treated Ahsoka!" Because Plo Koon apologized on behalf of the whole Council.

“You have OUR most humble Ahsoka.” Plural. He’s speaking for all of them, nobody contradicts him, thus showing they agree. It’s a 22-minute TCW episode, they’re not gonna have each Council member apologize individually. It’s common sense. I'd also hazard that the "this was your real trial" line lingered from the first draft of the script as originally, Ahsoka didn't leave the Order at the end of "The Wrong Jedi" and prolly got promoted to Jedi Knight.

Also:

"Mace Windu once believed himself to be the Chosen One, he was jealous of Anakin!"

Uh... I'm just gonna post this one again...

Then there's this one I read which just made me cringe:

*sigh*

Yeah that TOTALLY sounds like something Mace “You Can’t Kill The Zillo Beast 'Cause It’s An Innocent Living Creature” Windu would do.

Intentionally leading his Jedi brothers to slaughter is so typical Mace “Get The Men To Safety While I Risk My Life For Them” Windu behavior.

So, why do some fans not like him?

I honestly dunno.

The only other reason I can think of (like the other Jedi, he's not as flawed as Anakin, some see him and the Jedi as holier than thou, he's nothing like Luke Skywalker) is explored more in detail here:

#Mace Windu #Samuel L. Jackson #In Defense of the Jedi #Jedi Order #Jedi Positivity #jedi order #meta #anakin skywalker #star wars #Master Windu #long post #this one was a long time coming!

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mxlti-fand0m-imaginess · 1 year

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Not So Secret Crush // Madison Montgomery

request: “hi could you do a madison montgomery x (fem) reader. madison is obviously very dominant but maybe every time the reader comes in madison is just very submissive and just like 🥰🥰”

“ok what about a fluff for madison montgomery (x fem reader) where madison is always going into the readers personal space and the reader retaliates by kissing her??”

prompts: none

summary: you’re new at miss robichaux’s. madison is not looking forward to another person moving in, but the second she sees you she completely changes her mind. she’s absolutely smitten with you, and thinks she’s doing a good job at hiding her feelings. she’s not. you know exactly how she feels about you, and what you’re going to do about it.

warnings: language, slight arguing, invasion of personal space, kissing, not proofread

word count: 1k

a/n: fem reader, very ooc madison. these requests were both from 2021 and i am so so sorry to the people who requested that i never go to these! i just realized i have a lot of old requests so i’m gonna try my best to get through them!

You walked into Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies clutching your small duffle bag containing everything you owned. You had just recently discovered you were a witch, and when your parents found out they freaked. Before you knew it, you were kicked out with practically nothing to your name.

Somehow, almost like magic, a flier for the school flew straight into your face while you were sleeping on a park bench. It startled you awake, and something in you said you should call. One thing led to another, and just a few days later you were enrolled and moving in. The headmistress, Cordelia Goode, gave you a date and time and told you to simply come on in. She was far too busy to show you around, and said one of the other girls there would be able to show you around instead.

Which brings you to here, walking down the long entryway, and heading towards the group of voices you heard. You could tell they were bickering, but you couldn’t make out the words until you got closer.

“I’m just saying, it’s starting to get way too crowded in here. I mean seriously, soon we’re going to start having to share rooms. And I need my space.”

“Girl, shut up. You complain way too much.”

“How dare you? Am I seriously the only one upset that another ugly hag is moving in here? I mean r-,” the blonde girl whole was speaking trailed off as you entered the room.

“Hi, I’m y/n. I’m new here. Miss Cordelia said one of you would be able to show me around?”

“Uhhh, uhm,” the blonde girl stuttered, staring directly at you.

“Madison, did you forget how to speak or something? Don’t mind her, I’m Queenie. The bitchy one is Madison, that’s Zoe, and that’s Nan.”

Nan smiled and waved at you, and you smiled back.

“I’d be happy to show you around,” Zoe said, starting to stand up.

“I got it!” Madison said, practically jumping out of her seat to walk over towards you.

“Ok then,” Zoe mumbled, sitting back down.

Queenie, Zoe, and Nan all started at Madison, bewildered at how different she was acting. You, however, didn’t seem to notice since you were unfamiliar with Madison’s usual attitude. Madison placed her arm around your shoulders and began showing you around the house.

“And here’s our last stop. This is your new room. Mine’s right over there,” Madison said, pointing to the room next door. “If you need anything feel free to come ask me!”

“Thanks! And thanks for showing me around. I don’t know what Queenie was talking about, you’re not bitchy at all,” you said, laughing slightly.

“Oh, you know Queenie. Always joking like that! Well, I’ll leave you to get settled in. See you around!” Madison said before she started walking away.

You went into your new room to start unpacking, and Madison went back downstairs to the living room where everyone else was still sitting.

“What was that Madison? Since when are you nice to the new girl?” Zoe asked.

“Just a few seconds earlier you were complaining about someone new moving in and then you just volunteer to show her around? What is up with you?” Queenie added.

“There’s nothing up with me. I was simply being nice. Is there something wrong with that?” Madison said, rolling her eyes.

“For a normal person, no. But you’re the resident bitch, so yes there’s something wrong with that,” Queenie said.

“Oh my god!” Zoe gasped. “You like her, don’t you? That has to be it! You’ve got a crush on y/n!”

“What are you talking about? No I don’t. I treated her like I do everyone else. What is your guys' problem?” Madison replied.

“Yeah sure, we’ll see,” Queenie said.

The days went by, and Madison became exceptionally clingy towards you. She was overly nice, and offered to do things for you. She always tried to sit next to you whenever she could, and would get pissed off whenever she didn’t get the chance. You were a little confused with how everyone else would talk about Madison, because she seemed so kind to you. But eventually you began to put the pieces together.

She had a crush on you. It wasn’t very hard for you to figure out either. She was always close to you, and she was constantly invading your personal space. She would hug you practically every time she saw you, and she would sit as close to you as physically possible. All of that, plus the fact she was a bitch to everyone except you, made her feelings for you extremely obvious.

You and the other girls were having a movie night, and decided to have a sleepover in the living room. Nan sat on the floor, and Queenie and Zoe sat next to each other on the couch. You were curled up in a chair when Madison sat down beside you, squishing the two of you together. You tried to keep your attention on The Craft, but you could practically feel Madison’s eyes burning into you.

“Madison,” you whispered.

“Yeah?”

“You’re staring.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” she mumbled, turning to look at the movie.

“You know, you’ve been staring at me for a while now, and you’re always in my space. And I think I finally figured out why.”

She turned to look at you again, meeting your eyes. She looked slightly nervous, which definitely wasn’t normal for her, meanwhile you had a smile on your face.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

Instead of responding, you leaned over and kissed her. You felt Madison tense up, before relaxing into the kiss, and placing her hand against your cheek. You smiled into the kiss, and when you pulled away for air, she tried to follow your lips.

“So, was I right?” you asked.

“Well that depends. Do you feel the same?”

“Yeah, I thought I kinda just made it obvious.”

“Then yes, you were right.”

You smiled and kissed her again. A few seconds later the two of you were hit with a pillow. You broke apart to see Queenie looking over at you.

“Gross, get a room.”

tags: @jamespotterslover @rottenstyx @hallecarey1 @evilcr0ne @milly-louise

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the-arctic-commune · 2 years

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Oh PLEASE go on with Techno and accents and portrayal?

LMAO this came in within SECONDS congrats.

I don't really have a ton of citations for you. I think this shifted a lot as the dream-team-centric part of the fandom incorporated and learned about Techno as a person and not just Dream's rival, and if I'm being honest I don't have Thoughts so much as I remember having Thoughts in like mid-2021. General attitudes towards Techno shifted wildly from his “monotone,” “emotionless” reputation in early 2021, and the things I remember thinking about kinda stopped applying. I don’t remember what posts bothered me or why I wanted to bring it up.

But. People talk a lot about Techno's speech patterns, and it's true that in an industry that encourages getting as close to newscaster-neutral as possible, his voice can stand out a bit.

In early days when Dream and Techno were very much set up as rivals and people were trying to justify who would/wouldn't win in certain scenarios, it was actually pretty common to claim that Dream has more mechanical and tactical knowledge than Techno. Techno was cast as the brute-force fighter in these essays - comparatively unknowledgable but mechanically gifted. This is a really bad analysis - Techno’s knowledge of the things he cared about was encyclopedic, and his and Dream’s strengths are a lot more similar than they are different.

Where this intersects with voice is that in a US speaker’s perception, Dream has a pretty standard urban American accent, and Techno, as has been noted by fanfic writers everywhere, does not.

The most notable aspect that gets commented on is "g-dropping," the change of the "-ing" sound to "-in." People who don't do anything else to indicate peoples' speech patterns in writing will make sure they write down that Techno's sayin' something, not just saying it.

(This is called an "eye dialect," the use of a nonstandard spelling to emphasize a pronunciation.)

But that's far from the only thing that marks out Techno's accent. If you've watched his introductions to people (i.e. SMPEarth), you might notice that it's not uncommon for people to assume he's from the South, especially Texas, and to be surprised he's from California. The most commonly-known "California accents" are all very urban- and middle-class-centric, while features of Techno's accent (he can sometimes sort of "break" dipthongs and slur or drop syllables, and most especially the g-dropping) are more associated with rural accents in the US, and especially the rural South. And I don’t think that’s entirely dissociated from the way that so many people were so quick to assume, all evidence to the contrary, that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Obviously we don't know a whole lot about Techno's background, so I have no particular thoughts on how he ended up with the accent he did (though it sounds to me like it shares some features with the poorly-described "inland rural California English"). The only thing I can say is how it's perceived, which is as containing a lot of features that US speakers are going to mark as rural and working-class.

(A really fascinating part of this is his seeming inability to really code-switch at all; his Sir Billiam voice contains just as much g-dropping as his normal speech, whereas most people attempting to sound like a rich person would focus on speaking "correctly" and get all those nasals in the right spots. My own g-dropping is markedly more noticeable when I’m with my family than when I’m [location redacted]. But this is more sidetracking linguistics than... ok ok uh back to the point.)

Well... I guess like I said I don’t have much of a point any more, and I probably should have written this post a year back when I did. I certainly don’t have anything quite as obvious and pointed as Xeph’s discussion of how stereotypes about Northern England get applied to certain people (esp. Philza, Jack).

I just have, like, people talk a lot about Techno’s voice, and other blogs brought up a lot of really good points about how perceptions of his speech likely intersect with his ADHD and how neurodivergence can effect speaking patterns (speaking of which, a lot of neurodivergent people can struggle with code-switching! hmm). But I think an aspect that got missed sometimes is the way that those perceptions can also overlap with accent.

And also sometimes I see people pointing out Techno’s speech in a way they don’t for any of the other Dream SMP members. If there's one feature that you consider notable enough to mark while keeping everything else textbook, I think it's worth taking a minute to ask yourself why the feature stands out, and what connotations highlighting it might have. It’s not always a bad thing to do so! It’s just worth taking a second look.

#technoblade #dream smp #words #long post

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alexbkrieger13 · 9 days

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Women’s Champions League: where the semi-finals will be won and lost

This weekend brings the first legs of the Women’s Champions League semi-finals and I am particularly intrigued to see how my old club Chelsea approach their tie against Barcelona. This is the third encounter between the clubs in the space of four seasons and it will be interesting to see what Chelsea’s coaching staff have learned from those previous games – the 2021 final and 2023 semi-final, which both ended in defeat.

To draw on my recollections of playing in those matches, in 2021 we went into the final with a high press and the attitude that ‘we’re going to do our thing’. But we all know how that worked out – within 20 minutes we’d conceded three times and by half-time it was 4-0, which is how that final finished.

Last year, as a consequence, we took a more cautious approach. We changed to a back three and tried to minimise their chances on goal and I think we did it quite well though, in the process, we sacrificed our own attacking game to a degree. In our 1-0 first-leg loss at home, we had an xG of only 0.35. Hopefully, this time Chelsea can find the perfect blend and play their own game while also constricting Barcelona.

Of course, it won’t be easy as Barcelona – like the Spain national team – are going like a train right now. In my first column in February, I spoke about playing against Spain with Sweden and the challenge of stopping their play in the half-spaces between the centre-back and full-back, which they are so good at exploiting through Aitana Bonmatí. This time I’d like to single out another player – namely, the Barcelona right winger Caroline Graham Hansen, who is having an incredible season. She scored in both legs against Chelsea last season and has been even better this year with 17 goals and 16 assists in the Liga F. With Barcelona functioning so well as a team centrally, they can get the ball to her in the wide spaces and give her the one v one situations in which she flourishes. Therefore, Chelsea must keep a player tight to her and also to try to stop the supply line of passes out wide.

As for my old team, just like for last season’s semi-final, they look certain to be without Millie Bright, who has only just returned to training after her knee injury. She will be missed, as will Sam Kerr, the leader of the front line. Yet if you’re looking for positives, one potential upside is that it might not be easy for Barcelona to analyse Chelsea. They have used a lot of players this season with different combinations in the back line and midfield and this unpredictability could be an asset. A case in point is Lauren James, who could play as centre-forward, the No 10 or in the wide areas. Lauren has been injury-free this season and has played at a consistently high level and it’s not easy for opponents to set up to stop her as she can float around and perform in different areas.

Another possible positive for Chelsea is that Barcelona are without their injured centre-back Mapi León. She was very good against us last year, both in stopping attacks and building the play. We had a plan to exploit their high line and get Sam in behind her and Irene Paredes, the other centre-back. However, the pair of them read it well and dropped back to deny Sam the space.

When you look at Barcelona’s unbeaten run in their domestic competitions, it contrasts with Chelsea’s recent domestic form with their defeats in the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-final. I’d argue that, playing in England, Chelsea face bigger tests more often yet Barcelona, to their credit, never seem to let their standards drop and whenever a big test comes around, they show up. If I have to make a prediction, therefore, my head tells me Barcelona are the best club side in the world right now and so will edge it. Of course, my heart is hoping for Chelsea and although they’ve have had those recent setbacks, a huge characteristic of their success under Emma Hayes has been their ability to bounce back from disappointments and produce a performance when it matters most.

As for the other, all-French, semi-final between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, I would have made Lyon clear favourites a few months ago but not any longer. I actually scored Bayern’s winner at PSG in the group stage in November but I have been impressed by how they have gelled as a team since then. Watching their quarter-final against Häcken, I saw a settled, solid side who have found a way to really capitalise on the speed of winger Tabitha Chawinga.

Before our two games against them with Bayern, we looked at their threat on the left side with both Chawinga and full-back Sakina Karchaoui, who gets over a lot of crosses. What I like about Chawinga is that she’s a forward who, with her individual quality, speed and strength, can make something out of nothing. At Bayern we experienced that in our 2-2 draw with PSG in Munich in December when with her speed, she intercepted a backpass which our goalkeeper had looked the favourite to reach.

She also scored when PSG drew 1-1 in Lyon in their most recent league meeting in February and with Marie-Antoinette Katoto alongside her, it’s clear PSG have a strong attacking threat. At the same time, though, I consider Lyon a more complete team. It’s true they’ve not yet faced a serious test in the competition but they have more than 11 world-class players. And I can speak from recent personal experience as my Sweden team lost 1-0 last week to a France side including several of Lyon’s best players. At centre-back Wendie Renard was really solid against us and underlined her set-piece threat once again by scoring the winning goal. Alongside her, Griedge Mbock now looks back to her best after injury.

Up front, meanwhile, I faced Kadidiatou Diani, who is the Champions League’s leading scorer with seven goals. Seeing her up close, I could sense she was in good shape. When you play an attacker who’s in form, things just seem to happen for them and I recall one incident in particular where, without producing a fantastic dribble, she was still able to get the ball away from several of our players. She is another player who can create something out of nothing and could have a key role, especially with Eugénie Le Sommer missing after suffering a knee injury in that same game against Sweden.

Like Chelsea and Barcelona, Lyon are unbeaten in this Champions League campaign, they tend to get the better of PSG in their domestic competition and I expect they’ll do so again over these two legs. That said, I really do think any of these four semi-finalists have the quality to go on and win the trophy. Whereas the quarter-final ties each had a clear favourite, this time anything could happen. I hope as many people as possible tune in as we could be in for a treat with two dramatic ties full of twists and turns.

#love this analysis from magda #magdalena eriksson #swewnt #woso #fc bayern frauen #fcb frauen

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marimayscarlett · 3 months

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Richard has such a saucy way of speaking sometimes. Some words he pronounces, both in german and English, are just so 💅🤣

Haifish making of clip popped up and the way he says "Schloss Marquardt in der Gegend von Potsdam" 😩 Richard, please..!

Hi 👋

I definitely know what you mean.

I noticed it a while ago, that Richard sometimes has a certain way to pronounce some words when he's explaining something - like he subconsciously wants to bring his point across with extra distinct pronunciation. (To me, in these moments he sometimes sounds like a pompous/posh professor, but in a charming way 🫶🏻).

The Haifisch making of is a good example but I think he was in a bit of a playful mood here 😊 There are other times when he's speaking very clearly, very distinct and in a way very concentrated (accentuating the important words and phrases), for example in the Making of for Rammstein, when he explains the situation with David Lynch and their demo tape (starting at 1:40min):

youtube

or this small moment, when he describes the plot of the Engel MV:

youtube

Yet oftentimes Richard's really relaxed in interviews, making flippant remarks, sometimes having a lovable offhand attitude - I have the feeling that this happens when he's talking more about things which concern personal matters, or when he's already comfortable and/or acquainted with the interviewer, like in this podcast from 2021 (he already made a podcast with the interviewer in 2018):

or here, another audio interview where you can click on the different topics he talks about, a very honest Richard here 😅

I apologize for only using German interviews, since I notice these different ways of talking mainly in German - if someone needs a certain passage translated, please ask away 😊

#rammstein #richard kruspe #ask #sometimes it seems like he really likes to listen to himself talk but in a really lovable way #well. i could also listen to him endlessly so win win #thank you for your ask!

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ummick · 2 months

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Schumacher's attitude a 'positive surprise', says WEC team-mate Lapierre

Sportscar racing veteran Nicolas Lapierre says he was "positively surprised" by Alpine team-mate Mick Schumachers attitude from the first day the German stepped into a World Endurance Championship hypercar.

Former Haas Formula 1 racer and current Mercedes reserve Schumacher showed a desire to adjust himself to the multi-driver format of sportscar racing instead of going out for individual glory, according to four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Lapierre. "When Mick came to his first test, it was in Jerez," said Schumacher’s Alpine teammate, Lapierre. "For me, when drivers come in from single-seaters, even more Formula 1, there are two options. Either he wants to be a real sportscar driver, share the car and work with his teammates, or he just wants to shine. I was very positively surprised with Mick since day one. He really wanted to work as a team, and it suits him quite good, as well. And his pace was straight away very fast. This we knew [already]; we had no doubt about this. The only thing now is to have a little bit of traffic management and this kind of stuff, because this is very new [to him]." Schumacher first got a chance to test the Alpine A424 LMDh last October and impressed the French manufacturer enough to earn a seat in its line-up for the 2024 season, joining team stalwarts Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere aboard the #36 car. Prior to his Hypercar move, the German driver spent two seasons competing in F1 with Haas from 2021-22, scoring a best finish of sixth on his second visit to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix. He remains on Mercedes' books in a reserve role in 2024 and, if required, can be called in by the Brackley-based squad even on WEC race weekends. Lapierre believes Schumacher's experience of working with the title-winning Mercedes F1 squad helps bring a new perspective to the Signatech-run Alpine team. "He is bringing some good stuff from Formula 1 because he is working with one of the best teams on the Formula 1 grid," he said, "so this brings us some fresh ideas, some new feedback, which has also been very helpful in this project." Schumacher spent the 2023 season on the sidelines after being dropped by Haas in 2023 in favour of countryman Nico Hulkenberg, electing not to compete in any other category during his first year out of F1. The German driver reiterated that he is looking for comeback opportunities in grand prix racing, but made it clear his current focus is on his Hypercar programme with Alpine. "I'm here now. What the future holds is quite difficult to predict and foresee," said the 24-year-old. "Obviously my focus for now is WEC, but I would be lying if I would say that I don't have an eye on Formula 1. There are a lot of things happening right now. Who knows what opportunities are presented to myself in a couple of months' time. I will deal with that when it's time." Schumacher, Lapierre and Vaxiviere finished twelfth overall in Saturday's opening round of WEC in Qatar, three laps down on the winning #6 Porsche Penske LMDh of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer. Alpine stable-mates Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi scored points in eighth place aboard the #5 Alpine A424 to lead a successful return to Hypercar for the French manufacturer. "We had the pace to fight for the points, which was a bit unexpected, so we can be happy about it and proud of ourselves," said Schumacher. "It’s great the sister car managed to score."

#mick schumacher #f1 #formula 1 #wec #fic ref #fic ref 2024 #not a race #2024 not a race #between bahrain and saudi arabia 2024 #between qatar and imola 2024

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bestworstcase · 3 months

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I found your blog via your post about yang and strength, got really interested, and then I ended up reading through a loooooot of your rwby commentary, and now I’ve got a question for you, if you don’t mind: Is it okay to want Penny to come back? I’ve read a lot of your analysis of her story arc and character, specifically that giant post you wrote about her in november 2021. i um, have definitely been guilty of wanting her to come back a whole lot. I’ve definitely done some frantic and outlandish theorycrafting to cope, but also I really do see what you mean about how her atlas arc is meant to be a tragic ending, so I don’t know how to reconcile my appreciation for the show’s story with my desire of just… really wanting to see her again?

This isn’t me asking you about whether or not she might come back because I’ve made my peace with whatever happens, this is just me asking if like… am I entitled or ungrateful for missing her so much that it makes me cry when such a wonderful story is being told in the show as a whole?

of course it’s okay!!!

the fact that her death had such a profound and lasting emotional impact on you speaks to the strength of the storytelling and the care that the writers poured into her character. tragedy aspires to incite the feelings you’re describing for the purpose of emotional release; catharsis is the whole reason tragedy exists at all.

you’re not just allowed to cry—you’re meant to. you’re supposed to care deeply that she’s gone. it matters. the story grieves for her and it’s inviting you to grieve too. when ruby breaks down over losing penny, it’s okay to be right there with her emotionally.

wanting her to come back or hoping that she might is a natural aspect of that feeling. theorizing—even in a grasping at straws kind of way—is a natural way to process that feeling. so is writing or reading “fix-it” fic or other kinds of AUs where penny survives or returns or never endured that ordeal in the first place. inherent to catharsis is the idea that letting painful feelings out is not only good but necessary for emotional well-being.

(you are also under no obligation to like every creative decision a story makes and it is entirely okay to feel like penny dying in v8 lessened your enjoyment of the story overall, if that’s how you feel. by no means do you owe it to any story to like everything about it just because it’s written well.)

what is entitled is the attitude held by a specific subset of hardcore penny 3.0 theorists that penny’s death was something bad that the writers did to the audience that they now have an obligation to “fix” or “make right”—often accompanying a sentiment along the lines of “why even bring her back if they were just going to kill her off?” and dismissal of her entire presence in the atlas arc as “just fanservice,” sometimes with the implication that the writers took advantage of penny fans only to stab them in the back.

the entitlement comes from the failure or refusal to recognize that the writer’s room does not revolve around what penny fans would like to happen (or indeed fans of any other character) and a narrative turn that upsets you is not something that the writers have done to hurt you. it’s entitled to act like the writers owe it to you to bring a character back to life, which was the general tenor of a lot of high-profile penny 3.0 discourse back in 2021 although the attitude has mellowed since then.

(& just in case: if you, personally, were in the category of penny fans who felt outraged or hurt back then and wanted to demand that the writers make it up to you by reviving her, and you’ve since reflected on those feelings and moved on from them to—as you say—make peace with whatever the story has planned, That Is Also Okay, and you should not beat yourself up over it. this is not something you need to feel guilty about.)

as for how to reconcile appreciating the story for what it is and still feeling like crying when you think about penny… i mean this completely in earnest, even if you’ve never written anything before in your life, try writing a fanfic where she lives or finds her way back or her friends manage to save her. not just reading or looking at fanart—i do think that there is really something to be said for making your own fanworks. writing or drawing gives you a degree of control over what happens in your story or artwork that you can’t get anywhere else and that can be a very comforting outlet when mourning a character.

you’re okay.

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tooaverageofagamer · 5 months

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REVIEW: Inscryption – Daniel Mullins Games

Release Date: 19th October 2021 Available On: PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Genre: Indie Game, Card Battler, Rogue-Like, Card Game, Story Rich, Puzzle, Horror

Review Length: Short (~600 words)

Review Spoilers: Minor

---------------------------------

Gameplay

Inscryption is an Indie horror, rouge-like, card-battling game. If you want to draw similarities with card-battle games, think of Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokémon cards, but a more simplified version that still requires some strategies. But with all the ways you could possibly play, you’d be sure to find your own cheesed style. Personally, I am not the best at strategy-based games or card games, the hardest card-battle game I’ve played was Club Penguins Card-Jitsu back in the day, but I found Inscrytion to be fun and immersive, even if a little frustrating at the start.

The game is played in ‘Acts’. Act One would possibly bring the most frustration to an average gamer or someone who just isn’t familiar with strategy card games, and as I am both; I was frustrated at the beginning. But, once you’ve ‘failed’ a few times in the first Act and find yourself falling into the game challenge more and more, it can become fun, and you can start to pay attention to the details that the game you and the game will slowly become easier as you gain insight into the fights and bosses presented to you.

The game is filled with puzzles, most are not necessary to the game, but it may help you have better cards to play with or unlock more of the lore of the game.

Once you’ve completed the game for the first time, you unlock challenges that can make gameplay more difficult, if that’s your masochistic jazz.

Story

As to not give away too many details as this is a story-dependent game that should be unspoiled for the average gamer.

At the start, you’re unsure of who you are and just assume you’re playing a blank-slated husk character that represents yourself, which is later proven different. You’re placed in a darkness-encased environment with a strange character that introduces you to their card game in an almost Dungeons & Dragons Games Master manner. The attitude this darkness-encased character has is kept throughout this Act. Once you’re allowed to explore your environment a little, you’re allowed to really intake your enclosure and partake in the puzzles it presents you.

The story is well put together, enraptures, and lets the player piece the story themselves without it being spoon-fed to them. As the game continues into its further Acts, you feel an “Oh woah what” sensation as you start to piece the story together with the snippets you gain access to.

You can unlock more background lore details to the story of the game in the later Acts, but it isn’t necessary to fulfill your average gameplay experience but might be fun to unlock in further playthroughs or if you want to have in-game downtime to explore.

I love both major and minor characters that are introduced to you as you play. They all keep the story heavy-duty glued together nicely. The characters all mesh and conflict with each other well. It’s a joy to watch their interactions with each other and the player, especially once the twists and turns start.

Art Style/Music

Inscryption is beautifully put together. The art style throughout the game changes dramatically, but it does not cause any conflicts to the player's gameplay experience as the Acts progress. I personally LOVE most of the art styles that present themselves in this game.

The music in Inscryption is beautiful to listen to and even have their own little easter eggs if you listen to them closely enough. Act 1, I believe, has the best themes for it environment and bosses, but Act 2 also have great themes also. Some of the tunes might be a bit jarring to listen to at the beginning with their sharp tones and rumbling bases. But once you really get into the vibes and understanding of characters in the game, they’re amazing to engross yourself into the world of inscryption and uncover its story.

[minor spoilers from tune theme names below]

My top songs from the Inscryption OST would be:

1. The Trapper

2. The Scrybe of Magicks

3. The Four Scrybes

4. Deathcard Cabin

The whole of the Inscryption OST is available on Spotify.

Final Comments

I honestly enjoyed Inscryption, especially once I really started to understand and get into the gameplay and story. The story and art styles are the real cream of this crop and really bring the story together.

I highly recommend this game to an average gamer or if you want to try out a card-battling/rogue-like game for the first time.

Cheers,

The Average Gamer ---------------------------------

If you want to chat or get Spoiler-esque game insights, feel free to PM me!

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nancydrewwouldnever · 8 months

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Perhaps he is basically "quiet quitting" his career. That's what it's starting to look like.

Idk if you’ll post this & respond/share your thoughts, but this is what I think:

Chris has been talking about quitting for literal years. He always brings it up, but has also continued to work. From your insightful discussions, Nancy, it’s honestly apparent that Chris doesn’t care/doesn’t have the drive or passion like Pedro, for example, or anyone else in his age range - hungry for work, working towards something, critical acclaim, awards, etc.

It was starting to look that way, though, after Endgame with Knives Out and Defending Jacob - even with last year’s work for Lightyear & Grey Man. But at some point after, for whatever reason, it looked like he gave up. Maybe COVID & his mid-life crisis like you’ve brought up before? Maybe it was because of the $$$ performances, reviews, the fact he got no “acclaim” - Idk. It really seemed like he was trying and giving it all he got, though. It honestly was looking like he had a plan and was driven to get *somewhere* with his career & it honestly did look like he was going to get there. (At least that’s how it was looking to me.)

But then with the recent con appearances and these 3 recent films, Idk - it all just turned into “money grabbing.”

My theory? And I hate bringing it up, but maybe like you said, he gave up easily & around the time you know who came into the picture, and all these “money grabbing” things he’s been doing has to do with his new life, now? Maybe his plans changed because his personal plans changed too, you know? New life? Two weddings? Honeymoon? He’s the “bigger earner,” Idk. Maybe it’s to “pay off” all this stuff and his new life - maybe he truly doesn’t care anymore other than to make quick $$$, and that’s it. He’s going to ride off into the sunset, to live the comfortable lifestyle he wants, with the life he wants (apple picking and pumpkin carving day in and day out, while roller blading with his kids)? And going forward, he’ll do con appearances here and there & similar projects to Red One & Ghosted - because it’s quick $$$ & barely requires any effort on his part, you know?

Just my theory. But I can see this.

Then again, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being in this fandom & especially over the course of the last couple of years - who knows anything anymore 🙄

Anyway, thank you for posting & responding in advance if you do!

So here's the thing that used to come up in old interviews all the time until the Marvel years. His ego (or self-esteem, however you want to call it) was obviously very easily bruised by being in projects which turned out to be universally panned projects. It really, really impacted him. He commented on it frequently in interviews, and you could tell it really did a mindtrip on him; he seemed almost despondent about being in "bad projects" for reasons beyond his control. By the time he did press for Push in the start of 2009 he seemed to be seriously considering quitting acting.

But then, a small miracle for him: the Marvel movies got consistent good reviews and consistent great box office. His attitude seemed to lift, and he seemed really happy again with his career. He got lucky with Knives Out being his first project post-Marvel.

But then look what happens when that trend starts to reverse in 2021 with Lightyear. That same equivocal talk from years ago has returned. His seeming disinterest in his career has returned. Despite doing more work over all these years, he still can't hand the criticism or perceived criticism of lackluster projects. I honestly believe this is what's happening now. The difference now is that he has accrued financial assets he never had back in the early part of his career, so he has no need/push to continue work if he's in this negative mind space.

#ask

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cant-get-no-worse · 11 months

Video

lionel messi of barcelona (2005 - 2021), who could ever reach up to you? you tried to leave several times, you went through the best and the worst of times, you fought with the board, you had some shaddy stories going around, you were an imperfect human and player like all, subject to money, selfishness or foolish actions, but thank you.

thank you so much.

thank you for being La Masia’s, for being so fucking quiet they thought you were mute, for making friends with Piqué and Cesc, thank you for hanging out with Dinho, Deco and the Brazilian’s in 2007, thank you for rising up to stardom as the team was crumbling down, for shining on the brightest Treble stage, for the out of the blue friendship with Zlatan, for staggering drunk and happy at that celebration, for those 91 goals, for bringing the Ballon d’Or again and again to the Nou. thank you for orchestrating our field with Xavi and Andrés, for being at Tito’s side, for the silly doping post on missing Xavi’s press conf, for your utterly selfless friendship with Luis and Ney, for that 2018/2019 UCL run and the bravery of realizing home wasn’t it anymore.

thank you for being 13 and giving the bare minimum to trainings yet still blowing minds away, for being 22, reckless, cocky, kissing that boot, for being 24 and ready to devoure the world whole, sticking your tongue at the most random ass occasions, for being 25 and destroying teams drinking coke, 27 and dribbling Atlético and Bayern, 29 getting those tattoos and bleaching those hair in that ridiculously fine haircut, 30 and exhibing your name to Madrid, 31 for that free kick, carrying a numb team up to the brightest stages on your sole back, 34 and saying goodbye.

the entorno is rooted in Barcelona’s every issues, something that drove Cruyff, Guardiola and so many others away, and eventually, after putting up with it, you too. being the face of our many glories made you the one for our every defeats. you somehow put up with it too. i’ve watched my team summon oases in the desert; i’ve watched my team dig its grave in the sand, and all this time, you never left.

players come and go, and the club remains. you’re not above the club, nobody is: and you never claimed to be. you’ve forged unforgettable parts of its History, and much like Argentina, you are now inalienable to its legend. you were La Masia’s child, the team’s starboy, the Nou’s prince and the people’s king. i believe a few years, maybe decades down the line we will realize the depth of your stature in this club. who else could pretend to do so?

this city and this club gave you somewhere to grow up, to develop your talent and work ethic in a unique football team and a vision forged by Cruyff’s and Pep; in return, you gave it twenty years of love and genius. as i said, you’re not immune to anger, greed, selfishness, pride, every trait that such a high-paced, public, stressfull, millionaire life can offer; you wanted to leave, your role at the club could exceed that of a normal player, we never know what kind of background politics and arrangements went on all those years. but you’re also a guy i kind of grew up with and one of the very rare football players who never deceived me character-wise. to think Fate or God gave such talent to a seemingly good person, and to see such individual play weekly, at my club, is a peace of mind numerous supporters can only dream of having.

i love you. nothing, apart from seeing you representing my country, rendered me more proud than seeing every version of you play in Blaugrana. i can’t describe the pride, the utter joy, the passion when you kissed the crest, the game, the euphoria when you pulled up a trick we never thought possible. to see you wriggle out of defenders, dribble a midfield, run like the wind, slot an inch-accurate pass. to get so used to your shape, your attitude on the pitch, that i could spot you from the corner of my eyes on the posture alone. that season when a free kick was like a penalty, the nervosity, the tenderness. i pity those who haven’t been lucky enough to see you being draped in their club’s colors at eighteen, twenty five and thirty four; it was not something for History to explain, but for people to witness. you made me fall back in love with football every week. your partnership with Dinho, your endless combinations with the nerds of midfield - Xavi, Busi, Andrés -, your firey one-two with Alves, your connection with Luis and Ney, your calls for Jordi on the wings, your willingness to help Ousmane, Antoine and Pedri. you made me want to pick up a ball and see if i too, could run faster with it than without.

i know this club’s institution made you go through hell times and back. but despite all, i still hope the memories of people chanting your name, of the Barça’s anthem resounding in the Nou on a UCL night, of the buzzing excitement and blind trust we gave our team before a Clasico, of the thunder erupting after a goal, of our colours displayed in our tifos, i hope all those remain untainted by the actions of politics. these moments, not the contracts, the empty promises, not the desperate calls or futile debate on social medias, these were the most sincere and spontaneous demonstration of love this club has ever given you.

i would have wanted to chant your name in the Nou one time in my life. I remain hopefull one day I will. life is so damn strange and opens so many paths— I know one of them will somehow bring you here. I know we will give you your proper farewell in a stadium full of people who witnessed who you are, what you gave, how you failed and how you conquered. I’m strangely peaceful about it. but in the meantime, 10, thank you. thank you so much, for everything. i hope you’ll spend time with your family, you’ve earned it. and above all, I hope you find back the joy in playing football, delivered from all pressure, races, debates, discourses, expectations, missing pieces; because, after having seen you do what you do best for more than a decade, I know that spark can’t be gone very far. you just gotta pick a ball up and run right ahead.

thank you so fucking much. i will never forget what it was like to see you in blaugrana. i love you.

#messi #needed to get this off my chest so i can properly move on now!#mercato's open babyy

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mbmbat · 2 months

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2021 candidates for name of the year under the cut

Twenty-Bunty: Just get on base or Advance the runner (Redacted)

Twenty-Good Clean Fun: Let's get silly

Twenty-Bunny Fun: Get 20 Bunnies Together

Twenty-Woebegone

Twenty-Sad

Twenty-Marathon

Twenty-Laser Gun: Pew, pew, motherfucker

Twenty-Buy a Gun: Let's just do it

Twenty-On-a-Bun: Eat a Hot Dog

Twenty-Thanks a Ton: Hey, Thanks a Ton!, Gratitude..., Gratatoiulle, Gratitude Attitude, Gratitude Ratitude

Twenty-On-the-Run: Let's Get Out of Here, Let's Lay Low, Hasty Getaway

Twenty-Born to Run: Let's figure it out

Twenty-Chase the Sun: Livin' that Beach Life, Live that Beach Life, Get the Orb, Grab the Orb, Grasp the Orb, Grasp the Orb, Clutch the Orb, Clutch this Orb, Reach for the Orb, Reach for One Specific Star, Soular Power (foreshadowing for 2023)

Twenty- Come Undone: Let's Take Apart this Cage We Made for Ourselves

Twenty-One-on-One: Disconnect to Reconnect; Prove Yourself; Do it, You Fucking Chicken. Bet You Won't

Twenty-Chicken Run

Twenty-Twenty-Dune: Work on Rhyming

Twenty-Twenty-Won

Twenty-Twenty-Done: We're Not Gonna Take It

Twenty-Twenty-Shun

Twenty-Twenty-Stun: Lookin' So Good

[Interlude] Justin: The second t—the second twenty has got to do some lifting, right? Travis: Yeah. Justin: That‘s got—I think—I feel like you can‘t just do Twenty-Twenty and then rhyme with the last word. Travis: Right.

Twenty-Overcome

Twenty-Sauvignon: Savor the Grape

Twenty-Begotten Son

Twenty-Chase the Son: Soular Power

Twenty-Megaton: We Don't Need It

Twenty-It's Begun

Twenty-Twenty-One

Twenty-My Grandson

Twenty-Never Done: Keep It Going. Keep the FIre.

Twenty-Octagon: Let's All Do MMA

Twenty-Tons of Fun

Twenty-Saskatchwan

Twenty-Twenty-Nun: Cloister Up!

Twenty-Big Home Run: Knock It Out the Park; This One's for the Game; Slam it!; Grand Salami; Angels in the Outfield; Bring 'Em Home; Roundin' Third; For All the Marbles; Thanks, Angels; Bases Loaded; We All Believe in You; We're All Behind You; Be Your Own Angel; We're All Angels Now; Be the Angel; You're Flapping Now; Slamma-Jamma; Knock the Skin off the Dang Thing; Kock the Skin off that Greasy Cheddar; Eye on the Ball; Shoot the Moon; Call Your Shot

Twenty-Big Dog Run: Be the Big Dog, No Bones About It (Winner), You Will Definitely Achieve this Year

#justin mcelroy #travis mcelroy #griffin mcelroy #mbmbam #mcelroys #my brother my brother and me #mbmbam origins #mbmbam 542 #Naming the year took the whole episode y'all #This is just a clip of the episode once again

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horsesarecreatures · 6 months

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THE TREK ACROSS AMERICA WITH TWO STRAIGHT EGYPTIANS

Arabian Horse World

"On April 16, 2021, Patrick Sullivan of Modern Day Horsemanship started his 2,500 mile journey from Sacramento, California to Georgetown, Kentucky, where he arrived on October 16, 2021.

He took two Straight Egyptian Arabian horses, the black mare Gamilah MJA, sired by Bellagio RCA, out of the Thee Desperado+ daughter, Thee Bahieh, and her maternal brother, grey gelding Haleem MJA, sired by Thee Infidel, out of Thee Bahieh.

He did this incredible trek bridleless and mostly bareback, and visited 20 non-profits, local rescues, and charities while providing liberty demonstrations along the way.

Shawn Crews sat down with Patrick to revisit this incredible journey.

Shawn: I’ll never forget the day when you told me your plan to do this, and honestly, Patrick, I know your whole family and I come from a very optimistic family, however, I considered your level of optimism to be triple of what I know. I’ve known you since before you were involved in horses. Your goal is so large and you have such a positive attitude, but still when you told me about this we were shocked. We are all very horse show goal-oriented, so I was curious as to why you chose to do something so different with your Straight Egyptian.

What was the seed that led you to this tremendous adventure? How did you come up with this plan and was was the vision you had in mind?

Patrick: You were not the only one who thought this was a bit crazy. This idea started six to seven years ago, and started when my mother told me that my great grandfather saw his first Arabian horse in the Chicago state fair in 1945 and fell in love. He ended up purchasing a few horses, however after him, they got out of Arabians until my mother got involved through Arabians Limited and you (Shawn Crews). The idea of this ride was to honor my great grandfather and ride from Texas to the location of the Chicago State Fair where my grandfather’s love began. Slowly the ride transformed into something much bigger, hoping to inspire people to think deeper about the Arabian horse and the connection we can have with them through liberty and bridleless riding.

I have read many historical books like The Classic Arabian Horse by Judith Forbis, and the Authentic Arabian Bloodstock books about how the Arabian horses lived in the tents with the bedouins and were treated as family. I wanted to test that legend out and bring our Arabian horses into our family. I want to really feel and say that these horses are exactly what history says. For me, the way to do this was to ride across the country with them and see if it is possible.

It was a long and amazing journey, one that I will cherish forever.

Shawn: No one in our time here has proved these horses’ athletic abilities until you and Gamilah. Did Gamilah inspire your plan to do this, or did the plan come first?

Patrick: It was a little bit of both. The reason I chose Gamilah to be the main instrument in the journey is because she was the first horse I had started under saddle. She was strong, opinionated and sassy. She is incredibly intelligent and we butted heads for years, however, the more I learned to listen to her and train her in the way she wanted to be trained, the more she wanted to give me. Once we came to that agreement, I knew there was no other soul on this planet that I would want to make this trip with than Gamilah. At the end of the day, I have always told people that I trusted her with my life. I knew she would keep me safe and keep herself safe; We went through so much together. I told her, if we are going to do this, we are going to do it together.

When I think about mares, especially the Arabian mares, I know they can be very difficult at times to earn their trust and respect, a lot more difficult than the geldings. However, when you get to reach the heart of a mare, they will do anything for you.

Shawn: How old was Gamilah when you started this ride?

Patrick: She was 10 years old. We left two days after her birthday.

Shawn: Tell me about the logistics of this trip. Nettie followed you with the trailer, so you always had a safety fall back should you need anything, and you had host farms set up along the way. However, there must have been long stretches along the way without lodging. That is a lot of miles, many of which are not civilized, explain the logistics.

Patrick: Nettie is one of my best friends in the whole world. Initially, she was going to ride with me. However, three months before, she called and said that she was pregnant and couldn’t ride alongside. So, they decided that she would drive the truck and trailer with her camera and document the journey.

We followed HWY 50. For the most part, the highways had a large shoulder which allowed them to stay 30-40 feet off the road, while the smaller roads we were right alongside. I kept panels on the side of the trailer and each night, we would set up a 20′ x 20′ pen behind the trailer where the horses stayed while we slept in the living quarters of the horse trailer.

So many wonderful people stopped along the way were offering assistance, and inviting us into their homes and barns to layover. It was amazing to experience the generosity of the people, stopping to be sure we were okay.

The best part of the ride, in regards to logistics, were the western states of Utah, Nevada, California, and Colorado. It was more open and had so much public land. The terrain was difficult and at one point, we rode up to 11,000 feet in Colorado. As we ventured East, the logistics became a bit more of a challenge.

We went through mountains, deserts, valleys, small towns, fair grounds, rivers. We went through it all!

Shawn: As the ride progressed and word spread, you seemed to gain momentum with the local press.

Patrick: Yes, honestly the ride was amazing, but the most important part of this ride for us was being able to give back to the Arabian horse. We ended up stopping at 19 different non-profits in 11 different states. We would educate them about liberty riding and use our horses to showcase how capable the Arabian horse is, and how powerful the horse-human connection is.

We stopped by non-profits for kids, for the mentally ill and even a prison to educate the prisoners on horsemanship. Our horses were able to teach all that we visited and that was so rewarding. These organizations helped us get through the long days, knowing that our next stop was going to help and educate the next group of people about our Arabian horses and their amazing personalities.

Shawn: You have mentioned the liberty aspect of this ride a few times, can you explain a bit about what liberty means.

Patrick: Liberty is being able to do almost anything with a horse without a halter. Express to your horse what you want it to do, without a bridle or halter. The relationship between horse and human, along with trained cues is the key to create a bond. I often relate to the movie Avatar, if you have the ability to connect with another being, in this case being a horse, they can take us to see things that we could never do on our own. Gamilah and Hal gave me this experience along our journey.

Shawn: Did you feel a bit like those pioneers that crossed the country so many years ago in their covered wagons?

Patrick: One of the main parts about the trip (possibly 1,000 miles), we followed the Pony Express Trail. The pony express was used as a form of communication across the country long before technology. I learned how incredibly strong people were back then. Their lives revolved around horseback, compasses and reading the stars. From time to time, I liked to think that we were the new generation of explorers, experiencing what our ancestors had. Hoping to push the next steps in horsemanship and prove that the Arabian horse is one of the foundation breeds of our country.

Shawn: I have great respect for all Arabian horses, however, my life has revolved around the Straight Egyptian Arabian horse. Are there any special traits to the Straight Egyptian that you feel helped in this experience? Knowing that you have experience with other bloodlines and other breeds, what made the Straight Egyptian special?

Patrick: I’ve never met another horse that could have made that trip, and there is no other horse I would attempt to do it with. What I feel separates the Straight Egyptian is their heart. If you really look at the heart, they are old souls. They seem to be here to teach us, and I believe this comes from their ancestors. I truly believe the Straight Egyptian is the old soul of all horses. When I look in Gamilah’s eyes, I see that soul and it has taught me so much!

There are good things and bad things said about the Straight Egyptian Arabian horse. For anyone who has ever truly gotten to know one, I think can relate to what I am saying.

Shawn: In this project, you have mentioned Nettie being an amazing support, along with your family and a group of sponsors that helped make this possible.

Patrick: I think those who supported us are what made this trip so special. There was not a bigger supporter than my mother, Malinda Passmore. she is all about the Straight Egyptian and wants to make it accessible to everyone, especially the geldings. Our other sponsors were Marah Jamil Arabians, Keri and Carolee Wright, Ann and Fred Gabrielli and The Pyramid Society,

There was one of the biggest professionals in the horsemanship industry that I am friends with. He is not an Arabian horse person, but he told me, “I don’t have a problem with you riding across the country brideless. I don’t have a problem with the time frame or liberty. My biggest concern is that you are doing it on an Arabian!”. This comment inspired me to prove the Arabian stereotype wrong. I will keep his name anonymous out of respect for our friendship, however, I was quite proud to show the world that the Arabian horse can do anything."

#arabians

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callsignspitfire · 2 months

Text

Prologue: Welcome to Miramar

This is the prologue to my new TGM collab series with my amazing friend @seresinned. Here you can follow the adventures of best friend Julia and Joey on their adventures at Top Gun and navigating their love lives with a certain group of aviators.

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March 13th 2021. Miramar Naval Air Station, San Diego

The room was stifling, full of animated characters, shouting over each other as the ceiling fan whirled above their heads, despite the rain pouring outside. The clock struck the hour and Julia sighed, she felt her heart sink as the instructor marched into the room, a clipboard under his arm as he introduced himself. He took a quick register, stopping abruptly as he reached Julia’s desk.

“Where’s your partner? Joey Ambrose?” The instructor glared down at her and Julia glared back at him.

“Do I look like I keep tabs on him? He’s a grown-ass man.” The instructor rolled his eyes and scrolled something on his piece of paper before moving on. Julia looked at her watch again.

“You better have a hell of a good excuse when I find you, Joey.”

“Hey, is this seat taken?” Julia looked up to address the smiling man looking down at her.

“Apparently not. My pilot is a no-show,” Julia gestured to the seat, removing her wet coat that had been dripping continuously on the tiled floor, and the man sat down.

“Well it must be your lucky day because I happen to be a pilot,” he smiled smugly, his moustache twitching but Julia just rolled her eyes.

“No shit. We’re at a naval aviation base for crying out loud.”

It turns out that Bradley was a pretty funny guy and despite Julia’s attitude the pair soon got talking and by the end of the icebreaker meeting day they were laughing like old friends.

“You know you’re not so bad Bradshaw. I feel like Joey would like you,” Julia remarked, watching Bradley's face creased with confusion.

“Who’s Joey?” Of course, she hadn’t introduced her loveable, idiot pilot, despite having moaned about his tardiness.

“Oh, Joey’s my pilot. He’s a nice guy, if not a little chaotic and times. I feel like you’d get along well.”

“Really,” Bradley seemed amused, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Yeah, I think you would. He’s very cool. He’s in a band you know.”

“Really? Anything I’d have heard of?”

Julia thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, “Probably not. I think he has a demo CD somewhere. I can find it for you if you’d like.”

“Yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

The conversation flowed effortlessly and soon the icebreaker afternoon came to an end. As soon as they were dismissed, Julia found herself hurrying out of the room. She was going to give Joey what for when she found him. Bradley was in hot pursuit.

“Hey Julia, wait up! How do you feel about hanging out tonight? There’s a bar by the beach, The Hard Deck, it’s a nice place. Maybe we could grab a drink.”

“You’re not trying to ask me on a date, are you? I’ve just got out of a relationship and…”

“Let me stop you there,” Bradley laughed and Julia found herself glaring at him once more.

“I’m not exactly into you if you catch my drift.”

Julia thought for a moment before the realisation dawned on her.

“Ohh. Well in that case sure, why not,” Julia slung her bag over her shoulder, following Bradley along the corridor. “Can I bring Joey my pilot along?”

“Sure, the more the merrier. I’m intrigued to meet this cool guitar player now.”

The pair reached the door out onto the tarmac and watched the rain pelt down. You could barely see three feet in front of you through the torrential downpour. Bradley pulled his umbrella out of his bag, opened it outside and allowed Julia the spot beside him.

“My Ma said to always be prepared,” Bradley chatted happily and Julia laughed.

“Isn’t that like the scout motto?”

“Ugh, probably,” Bradley shrugged, “Which way are you heading? I’ll come with you so you don’t get washed away.”

“Just to the post office on base. I need to post a letter to my mum.”

“Why don’t you just text her, or email her?”

Julia sighed, if she had a dollar for every time Joey had said the same thing to her she’d have retired by now. “I just think you get more out of a handwritten letter. There is so much more feeling to it, it’s personal.” Bradley shrugged, opening up the door so they could begin their journey towards the post office on the other side of the base.

You could barely hear yourself think above the sound of the rain pelting against the canvas above them. Julia huddled further into her coat. Considering it was supposed to be warm in Miramar the weather clearly said otherwise.

They were a few feet from the post office building when a figure came sprinting towards them, no cost on and his hair smeared against his head as the rain soaked him.

“Poor guy looks like a drowned rat,” Bradley laughed, a slight tone of pity running through his words. The poor man turned around, seemingly ready to defend his drowned rat image.

“Julia?”

“Oh, Joey! There you are! We were looking for you everywhere! Well, not everywhere. Here. We were waiting for you here. This is Bradley!” She spoke excitedly, pointing to the stranger. Joey seemed to look at her completely confused by the whole situation as the rain continued to soak him.

“This is Joey, the one I was telling you about earlier,” Julia continued, turning back to Bradley. “See, I told you he’d be late.” Julia watched as Bradley looked the man up and down and she already knew what he was thinking. Even she had to admit that Braldey was a good-looking guy and however subtly Joey was trying to be, she knew him too well.

Bradley seemed to be eyeing up Joey in return, tilting his head slightly as he stared at him. Julia felt Joey’s eyes boring into her as he gave her his classic what-the-fuck-is-this look, but she pretended not to notice, already having too much fun watching the interaction.

“Julia and I met this morning, in the icebreaker session..” Bradley began, smiling as if he knew something more, “Obviously, you were... Too busy… To turn up. So, we paired up for the session” He continued, still smiling at Joey.

Joey just shrugged nonchalantly, “Makes sense. Well, uh…nice to meet you... Bradley, was it?” Julia knew he was putting on the casual blasé air about him. Joey was extremely perceptive and would not have forgotten the name of the very attractive pilot in front of him.

“Yeah,” Bradley replied, seemingly unaware of Joey’s act, “and like everyone else, most people know me by my call sign, so Rooster’s fine too.” He stuck his hand forward into the rain to shake Joey's hand but Joey just continued to stare back at him absentmindedly.

“Like the bird?” Joey asked and Julia wanted to smack him at his lack of common sense. ‘Of course like the bird Joey, you dumbass’ was what she wanted to say but found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the interlocked hands. How long were they gonna keep this up, with the intense eye contact before one of them snapped.

“Mine’s Hurricane,” Joey blurted out and Julia once again found herself wanting to facepalm and Joey’s lack of social skills. Beside her, Bradley nodded, apparently mulling over how he was going to respond.

“Suits you” he declared simply, nodding once more and tucking his hand into his pocket. Julia could sense Joey’s urge to get as far away from the situation as possible and into the dry when Bradley spoke up again.

“Wait, so you’re Hurricane and Spitfire? Like the British warplanes?” He asked, grinning widely now.

Joey rolled his eyes and Julia instantly found herself regretting her decision to allow Bradley to walk her to the post office.

Bradley laughed again, softer this time, “No, don’t get me wrong, they’re good names. It’s pretty cool you’ve got matching ones since you’re partners in your squadron and all.”

Julia smiled, “Yup, that we are, and you’re right, they are cool, so whatever else you were about to say, don’t, we’ve definitely heard it at least three times before”. Why did everyone have to pick on their callsigns, especially a guy who named himself after a chicken?

Joey’s teeth were chattering wildly when he spoke up again, “Okay, as amazing as it is to meet you, as you so kindly pointed out earlier, uh, Rooster, I’m feeling very much like a drowned rat out here, so can we please go post that letter, Jules?”

Julia stepped forward quickly to Joey’s side, “Oh God, Joey. Sorry, yeah, come on. We’ll see you tonight at The Hard Deck, yeah?” She called over her shoulder to Bradley as she dragged Joey into the dimly lit post office entrance.

“Sure, see you there,” Bradley called back, giving a half-assed two-finger salute before taking himself and his umbrella back out into the rain.

Joey began to grumble about the cold and Julia finally felt herself tapping him around the back of the head, “Well, it’s definitely your fault for leaving without a jacket. Sounds like a problem actually. Maybe next time you could be more prepared.”

“I didn’t mean to sleep in,” Joey cried out exasperated and in desperate need of a warm shower and a hot beverage.

“Don’t worry about it. Just let me send this and we can get you home.”

19:00. March 13th 2021, The Hard Deck, Miramar

Joey and Julia were tucked away at one of the corner tables of The Hard Deck, a pack of cards lay strewn out across the table between them, but it was bottles of beer they held in their hands.

“You’re a lot drier than the last time I saw you,” a familiar voice called from a few feet away.

Julia turned away from Joey to see Bradley standing in front of their table.

“Well, I figured it was best I prove I can do better than the whole drowned rat look, y’know?” Joey chuckled, giving Bradley a quick grin.

“I can see. Seat taken?” Bradley asked, nodding to the empty third chair.

“Nope! Feel free to join us!” Julia grinned, tidying up the cards that had spread across the table and stashing them neatly back into their box.

“Cards, huh? What about pool? You guys any good?” Bradley questioned, eyes twinkling ever so slightly.

Julia was about to speak up when Joey interrupted, “Jules will swindle every man in this bar, Dude, I wouldn’t even try it.” He laughed and despite Julia wanting to explain herself she knew she could win a lot of money if she wanted to tonight. All those cocky aviators who didn’t think a woman could beat them.

“What about you? Wouldn’t wanna risk my reputation going up against Julia here, so it looks like you’re my only hope for a good time tonight,” Bradley replied, and Julia had to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape her at the flirty comment. If Joey couldn’t see the way Bradley was looking at him then he really must be oblivious. Bradley hadn’t even been here five minutes and he was already trying to shoot his shot. Joey sat back in his chair, his forehead creased as he thought for a moment. Julia already knew he wasn’t about to turn down this opportunity, despite his awkwardness sometimes Joey could flirty his way into and out of many situations, sometimes without realising, so who knows what he was going to say next.

“I’m pretty decent, if I say so myself, wanna find out?” Joey smirked, cocking his eyebrow Bradley just laughed in amusement.

“Game on.”

Julia laughed as she watched Joey and Bradley head over to the pool table. She didn’t notice the tall brunette man until he took the seat opposite her, swigging from his beer bottle and smiled at her.

“Hello?” Julia spoke cautiously, eyeing up the handsome stranger. His chiselled jaw and high cheekbones made him naturally blessed with good looks and from the smirk on his face he knew this, although the way his knee bounced nervously below the table told Julia otherwise.

“Hey there,” the man spoke confidently, his brown locks falling across his forehead, softening his features. “I’m Jack, Jack Thompson but everyone calls me Mayhem.”

Julia took the hand he thrust across the table and shook it, “Julia, Julia Lancaster but you can call me Spitfire.”

He smirked, “Spitfire hey, I like that. So what brings a lovely lady such as yourself to The Hard Deck this fine evening.”

Julia broke out into a fit of laughter, trying to avoid knocking over her beer as she hit the table with her hand. Jack looked a little hurt but his face fell even more when a loud cackle from the woman behind him followed.

“Jack, you couldn’t flirt if your life depended on it. The name Dice,” she thrust her hand over Julia’s shoulder as she looked at her half upside down from her spot leaning backwards on the chair behind Julia. Julia shook Dice’s hand, careful not to knock the woman off balance as her chair wobbled. Dice placed her chair back on all four legs and moved it around to join Julia and Jack on the table previously occupied by Joey.

“I saw you at the icebreaker briefing. You're a WSO right?” Dice took a sip from her fruity drink, the little umbrella still stuck out the side of the glass.

“Yep, that’s me. That guy over there, Rooster, was sat next to me,” Julia pointed towards Bradley who was leaning over Joey, laughing at his poor aim. “And that’s my pilot.”

Jack looked at Dice and they shared a knowing look, “yeah we met him earlier today, looking like a drowned rat,” Jack added.

Julia sighed, running her hand over her face, “Yep that’s him.”

The conversation between the three of them flowed easily, Jack was so likeable and Dice, Julia soon learned her name was Sarah, was as tough as they come.

“So what’s with your callsigns then?” Julia asked after her third pornstar martini that Sarah insisted they had.

“Well I’m Dice because I ‘dice with death’ and ‘Mayhem’ causes mayhem,” Sarah laughed, “I guess it’s fitting for him to be my backseater with my flying.”

Julia found herself feeling less lonely in their presence and the evening went by far too quickly. Julia soon found herself waving her new friends goodbye but not before she slipped her number across the table to Jack.

“Call me.”

June 6th 2021, Miramar Beach, San Diego

After that first night, their time at Top Gun seemed to fly by. Between training, drills, briefings and spending time with Joey and Bradley, Julia barely had any time to think about her ex. She’d barely thought of him at all. Their call up to Top Gun had come at exactly the right time and moving to San Diego had filled her with a new sense of hope.

The sun was beating down on a particularly sunny day when Bradley suggested they head to the beach with a few of the other guys. Joey, of course, had jumped at the chance to spend more time with Bradley and Julia wasn’t opposed to topping up her tan.

The beach was relatively empty and while the boys went down to the water to play football, or whatever the hell they were doing, Julia found a nice spot on the beach and settled down with her book and the beer she’d got from the Hard Deck. ‘Thank God for the Hard Deck’ was a phrase commonly used amongst the aviators and its proximity to the beach was a God send.

Sarah and Jack were playing football further down the beach with Joey and Bradley. Jack and Julia had grown closer over the last few months and they often found themselves at each other's houses when Joey was off with Bradley in the evenings. Nothing official ever happened but he was a pleasant distraction.

As she read, her mind began to wander over the past few months, the book in front of her soon becoming an inanimate object to conceal her thinking. She recalled a morning a few months ago, back in April when they hadn’t been at Top Gun for all that long. The air had still been crisp and the mornings still bore the chill of Winter.

April 21st 2021,The Barracks, Miramar

Julia groaned, stretching out underneath her duvet and gasping as the cold air hit her flesh, rippling goosebumps up her arms. She closed her eyes once more debating whether she could catch another hour's sleep and still get to base on time. Their time at Top Gun seemed to be passing quickly, despite still having so much to get through, each day brought new challenges but Julia couldn’t deny how much she loved having some healthy competition. The clock by her bed glowed ominously through the sleepy haze showing 0700. The briefing didn’t start until 0900 but she wanted to get there to the base with time to spare and she’d have to make sure Joey wasn’t late again. She had to admit, he’d been in a considerably better mood since meeting Rooster, he generally was arriving on time which was a rarity for Joey. With another pathetic moan, she pushed the covers away from her body and dispersed from her warm cocoon. Her feet squealed in anguish as they landed against the cold tiled floor and she shuffled to put her slippers on and grab her dressing down before leaving her room. Her first stop was the coffee pot, boiling and fresh pot and sighing as she took her first sip. The warmth spread through her pleasantly. If Julia could she was sure she’d put herself on a coffee IV infusion permanently. With as much enthusiasm as she could muster, she wrapped her knuckles against Joey’s bedroom door.

“Joey, it’s time to get up,” the lack of any reply caused Julia to knock harder, she knew Joey was in there and he could hear her. “Joey, come on!”

There was a muffled moan from within the room and Julia decided that he was on his own now.

Sitting at the breakfast table she scrolled through her photo album of last night, smiling fondly at the pictures of Joey and Bradley together. Her particular favourite was the one where they both awkwardly caught themselves looking at each other as she’d taken the picture. It was so obvious that they shared feelings for each other, all the lingering looks, the awkward moments where their hands brushed ‘accidentally’, the late-night phone calls that Joey thought she couldn’t hear. The walls in the Navy-owned housing were paper thin and Julia could often lay in bed and listen to their neighbour's conversations. She had to admit that despite being surrounded by people all day and evening and being out in the evening with the boys, she was pretty lonely. It probably didn’t help that Facebook had bought up memories for ‘2 years ago today’ the other morning, causing her to delve back into memories she would much rather forget.

It had been a picture she had as her phone lock screen for so long that it seemed alien that she no longer looked at it every day. It was from her last trip to Europe with her boyfriend, it also happened to be the holiday when he proposed to her. She remembered it all so vividly, the smell of the pine trees that surrounded them as they ate their picnic, the way the sun had shone down on them, the playlist they had listened to in the car on the way to their destination. That was 2 years ago before it all fell through and they fell apart.

She managed to avoid him after their break up and gradually her heart began to heal, it no longer felt like a knife was embedded in her chest. In the end, they’d both resented each other for different reasons and their relationship had ended on relatively good terms, with both sides agreeing it was for the best. She’d refused to contact him, removing his number from her phone and moving across the country with Joey for their Top Gun training. It had come at the perfect time, allowing her to leave all the memories behind, but she’d only run away from her feelings and masked how she’d felt.

Switching off her phone she sighed, someone it felt like her heart would hurt forever but Joey had promised her that there was someone out there for her, someone who would understand the commitment she had to her job. Someone who would understand her work ethic and the trials a relationship with her would have. Someone who would take her on sweet dates, give her forehead kisses, and tell her funny jokes, and…

Julia swigged the last of her coffee, now cold in the bottom of the mug. Who was she kidding? It was all a fantasy. There wasn’t anyone like that out there for her.

May 8th 2021, The Hard Deck, Miramar

“Hello? Earth to Julia? Are you in there?” Joey poked her in the ribs causing Julia to jump in her seat.

“What?” She glared at him, watching as he shrunk back in his seat a little.

“You’ve been really distant the last few weeks. You keep zoning off. Where’d you go?” Joey meant well and deep down she knew that but as she looked at him she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth.

“No, I’m fine. Just busy with all this Top Gun stuff, you know?” She lied, trying her best to keep a straight face.

Joey reached forward, clutching her hand in his, “If you need to talk about anything…” but she cut him off, shaking her head quickly.

“No. No, I'm fine. Or at least I will be.” Swigging the remainder of her beer before standing to leave, “I’m gonna head home to bed. I’m pretty tired after today's training. You guys have fun though.”

The boys waved her goodbye, and she tried to ignore the worried look that was etched across Joey’s face. She left the bar without looking back, taking the shortest root home and falling straight into bed.

She opened up her phone, inwardly groaning as it lagged so badly, and once again scrolling back through her camera roll to the years before. The memories flashed before her eyes as she relieved each and every moment that had once brought her such joy. That night Joey hadn’t come home until late and she’d cried herself to sleep, too exhausted by the time he’d gotten in to talk about his evening.

Squinting and shielding her eyes from the sun, she watched as a shirtless Jack ran up the beach, his sweaty hair sticking back from his forehead and sweat trickling down his chiselled abdomen. She found herself unable to tear her eyes off of him. As if Jack knew she was watching him, he looked up, smiling cheekily at her and raising his hand in a shy wave. Despite his ridiculously attractive face, Jack was far more reserved than he looked.

Julia sighed, picking her phone up out of her beach bag. It had 20% battery, just enough to see her through the day. Despite her normally well-organised schedule and her obsessive timekeeping she rarely ever left the house with a full battery. She flicked open the screen, scrolling back to the past once more. It was bittersweet really, the whole looking back to move forward.

She selected the years in bulk and sent more than three thousand pictures straight into the bin. She wasn’t worried about losing them anymore, and all the photos of her and Joey were backed up on her laptop, but at least there wouldn’t be the constant reminder of ‘him’ there every day. Top Gun was a new start for them and she intended to make the most of it.

She stood up, brushing the sand off her legs and dropping her phone back into her bag. She waved at Jack as she ran over to him. There was no harm in having some fun while they were here, right?

To think that today would be their final day at Top Gun hit Julia like a punch in the gut when she’d awoken that morning. The time had flown by and deposited treasuring every moment with Joey and the new friends she had made, their time was nearly up.

Thinking back on it all, Julia had to admit that the last few months had been the happiest of her life. Jack had been a great comfort to her when Joey wasn’t around and the pair had grown close. Sarah had become one of her best friends and Julia would even admit that Bradley was the best boyfriend Joey had ever had. Not that they would admit that to each other.

“I can’t believe we made it. We’re Top Gun graduates Joey. Who would have thought,” she squealed in delight, clutching her friend tightly and shaking him. Joey laughed, amused by her child-like excitement, although he too was ecstatic.

She caught Joey looking across the room and Bradley, who was in deep conversation with one of the instructors. “You know you two are good for each other. I’m pleased for you JoJo.”

Joey blushed, snorting at the nickname Julia had given him. “Yeah well, I’ve seen you getting pretty close to Jack too. What’s going on there?”

“Nothing,” she laughed, “We’re just friends.”

“Sure, sure,” Joey replied, “I’m gonna head over and see Brad. I’ll see you later at the Hard Deck.”

“Sure thing,” Julia turned around to see Jack and Sarah approaching. “Hey guys,” she waved them over.

“Hey yourself Spitfire. Hot damn I can’t believe you and Hurricane beat us. You guys are on fire,” Sarah laughed, giving Julia a sideways hug.

“Well what can I say,” Julia laughed, giving Jack a quick hug. “So, you guys are up for celebrating later? We’re all heading to the Hard Deck.”

Jack shook his head sadly, “I’m afraid not, Jules. We’ve been given our first assignment. We are heading out tonight.”

“Oh,” Julia wasn’t sure how to respond. She’d grown close to the pair over the last few months and it would be strange not to have them around every day. “Well, I’ll miss you guys. You stay in touch, okay?”

Sarah nodded, “Sure thing, Julia. I’ve got to go say goodbye to the others.” She turned to Jack, “Don’t be long, okay?”

Jack nodded, watching as his aviator retreated. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. We only got our orders last night and I didn’t want to ruin your graduation.”

Julia smiled sadly, reaching over and pulling Jack into a hug, “You couldn’t have ruined it. I’ll miss you, Jack.” Pulling away she grinned cheekily at him. “Promise you’ll write to me, like old-fashioned letters.”

Grinning wildly, Jack nodded his head, “Absolutely. Anything for you Spitfire.” The pair finished their goodbyes and Julia watched sadly as Jack disappeared into the crowd of fellow aviators. It suddenly dawned on her that she’d probably never come back here, to Top Gun. It had been a dream of hers for so many years and now the story was over but seeing Joey and Bradley laughing together with a few of the other pilots, she realised that no matter what she’d always had Joey, and their story was just beginning.

Tags: @seresinned @desert-fern @teacupsandtopgun @horseshoegirl @startrekfangirl2233 @sarahsmi13s

#top gun maverick #julia lancaster #top gun fanfic #bob floyd #Joey Ambrose #bradley bradshaw

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