#anon you inspired me

[lucienarcheron]

Ok but after seeing the Bambi post my brain can only picture Elain drunkingly licking Lucien on the face 😂

But you know it's happened at least once. Drunk Elain is my favorite to picture (and write hehe). I can easily picture them at the end of a fun night and Elain's curled up in Lucien's lap, giggling like crazy about their day. Her mouth is going a million miles a minute and she's squishing Lucien's cheeks as she's talking because she's so excited about god knows what and he is so amused and in love, just letting her go off.

Until the conversation is suddenly about desserts and she's thinking about baking a cake tomorrow and —

Elain gasps suddenly and Lucien's brows go up, "What is it, dove?"

"I don't know if I have all the ingredients to make the frosting I like!"

His lips twitched and leans in to quickly peck her lips. "That's alright, I'll buy whatever you need tomorrow morning."

"But what flavor cake should I go for? I'm thinking chocolate but what about strawberry? Ohhh, what if I make red velvet!" She gasps again. "Lucien!"

"Elain."

"What if I make a Lucien flavored cake?" she asked with a coy smile that was more of a twitchy-drunk smile and Lucien tried so very hard not to laugh.

"And what flavor would I be, dare I ask?"

Her expression was mischievous and before Lucien could stop whatever drunk shenanigan she wanted to do, her tongue darted out and quickly licked his face.

Lucien barely made a noise of objection when Elain squished his face again and rested her forehead to his, staring intensely into his eyes. He blinked rapidly as she said in all seriousness, "Carrot?"

His expression flattened. "How dare you."

She burst into giggles at Lucien's outraged expression and Elain tried to make it up to him by peppering his face with kisses then licked his cheek once more, for good measure. "Cinnamon? Pumpkin Spice? Ohhh — how about caramel?"

"I think you need to stop, dove."

"Apple cranberry?"

"Elain."

"Maple?"

"Not the kind of sticky I usually go for."

She ignored him and gasped dramatically again, "Gingersnaps."

Lucien's lips twitched as he gave her a playfully reprimanding look. "It seems I need to remind you exactly what I taste like, my love."

Elain bit her lip, her cheeks already tinted pink from how hammered she was and she hiccuped. "Oh? And what do I need to bake to find your flavor?"

His smirk was roguish as he cupped his mate's face and kissed her lips slowly, reverently earning him a soft whine before Lucien pulled back and said, his voice filled with wicked promise, "No baking required. All you need is your pretty, pretty mouth."

#elucien #elucien drabbles #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #anon you inspired me #sorry it's unedited but HEHE #I hope you like it! #gfics #gigi writes #asks #anon #they're dorks in love and I adore them #Elain is always just a little bit of a weirdo and it's HELLA cute #Lucien's so in love

[shellxrls]

bestfriend!jj x fem!reader and they go to the beach and jj gets a boner from seeing u in a bikini

you’re practically prancing around the chateau with your tits spilling out of your bra, fabric struggling to accommodate and letting fat slip out and crease at the corners.

jj can’t help but go love-struck everytime he sees you, eyes immediately gravitating to your tits while he grows red in the face, letting out a dry cough and blaming it on ‘dehydration’ when he catches john b eyeing him for his pervy behaviour.

“dude c’mon,” john b groans, smacking jj in the chest and redirecting his attention, “it’s like you’ll see anything with tits and you can’t even bother to put it in your spank bank for later, at least have the decency to wait until she’s gone before you bust man.”

“dude, john b, i do not know what you’re talking about, i'm just admiring a beautiful woman right now,” jj defends, holding his hands up and shrugging in surrender.

“jj, you have half a fucking chub right now.”

jj’s head snaps downward, and he rushes to cover his dick, protectively placing two hand over his crotch before staring john b down.

the brunette sighs exasperatedly, “look, bro— you might as well just go jerk one out in the toilet right now, but don’t come back until you’re ready to stop creeping on her.” with that john b turns, dropping his head in his hands and leaving jj to stand there admittedly defeated.

#stop this is literally just a crack drabble atp 😭😭 #i’m giggling right this i have to show u guys the movie clip that inspired me #asks.ᐟ ⋆｡˚𖦹 #;anon #;concepts #jj maybank #jj maybank prompt #jj maybank obx #jj maybank concept #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x reader smut #jj maybank smut #jj maybank x you #jj maybank outer banks #jj maybank blurb #jj maybank fanfic #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank fic #jj maybank one shot #obx jj maybank

[amadenchart]

Winterheart: Queensguard

In the later stages of childbearing - for her sake and that of their child - the Queen cannot accompany the King on his raids. However, the King always ensures to leave behind their best guards to protect what he holds dearest in life.

Alt (nud3) version on my SubscribeStar.

#signý #sketch #viking au #winterheart #THERE YOU ARE ANON #YOU INSPIRED ME #viking indrys

[riense]

I love how you draw lineart firstly and seeing you draw your tav is really cute- question is do they have a name or any lore :eyes:

When someone says you are cute :’’>

Hey, I want you to know, Anon, that your message was just on time. This week was…a little rough. And thinking about my Tav (as well as drawing him) was such a great distraction. Thank you!!

And yes, he has a name - Kyran. A lawful good paladin boi and an absolute sunshine for me. As always Im at a loss as to what to tell you about him. This happens to me every time someone asks about my OCs :’’D also i am at that point when I change his lore details few time a day ahahahhh

#didn’t know I am so exhausted until now #sorry Anon I am completely useless atm #but I am very grateful for your ask #you unknowingly inspired me to draw him and this kept me sane for past few days #✨💖✨ #replies #bg3 tav #my ocs #my art

[trashpocket]

au inspired by flight risk where eddie's a celeb and steve is a boyfriend for hire 🥺

(eddie wants to see if the stalking and harrassment from fans and media stops but ends up LIKING liking steve, and doesnt know if steve tolerates him for himself or for his job

and steve ends up liking the eddie behind closed doors, who establishes boundaries with him and respects him, but he doesnt know if he could be loved back when he's just a business. a transaction. nothing more than bullshit Hshsjsjaiav)

#steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steve x eddie #hairmetal #AU #inspired by kleo and ayes #idk their @ here im so sorry T-T #and for those who've messaged me on anon #and my DMs #thanks for cheering me up #SOME PEOPLE CALLED ME DRAMATIC WHICH IS LIKE #REALLY FUNNY AND I CAN AGREE HAHAHAHAHAHA #but i am and i always need time to stay away from things before i get in the right headspace to deal with em later #thank you though #now have a piece of this as i slowly come back to #sanity

[itty-bitty-sunshine]

I mean, yeah, that's a sea monster capable of wiping out a ship and all, but that's also the same person Eclipse knows would cry over accidentally breaking his cookie jar and then tripping over their own tail on the way out. What are you on abt

Also

don't ever shit talk his little treasure. You fool. You moron.

Anyway, i got into sea monster brainrot, so that's probably what i'll be drawing for a while lmao

Please deal with me

Sea monster/pirate au by @bones-of-a-rabbit

#babbit hope you dont mind but you'll probably be getting fanart from me for a while #your aus really gave me a rush of inspiration from the depths of the void #thanks for that <3 #please deal with me #also #i love them #theyre scary but they also have half braincell #well sometimes at least #idk i just thought it was funny #anyway #dca fandom #fnaf eclipse #bones of a rabbit au #fnaf au #sea monster au #self insert #oc #with love - the sea monster anon thats no longer anon #please teach me how to properly draw your eclipse

[jeeaark]

I love greygold so much.... and you've inspired me to do my own half-orc playthru so thank you

One of us one of us one of us!

I'm so stoked to hear that, my fellow soon-to-be-half-orc-tav! Yesssss, All the half-orc adventures!

BOOSTING UP THAT HALF-ORC TAV STATS ONCE MORE AWWW YEEEAAAAHHHH

#inspired me to gif #never giffed on clip before how gif #a gif attempt #a gif gift if you will #no thank you anon #warms me heart up to hear it do #greygold

[themistymountainscold]

So we all know the “crew makes a bet to see who can seduce Izzy” plotline. But. Imagine the comedy if this happens while Ouizzy is in a secret relationship

OH MY GOD

YOU ARE AMAZING FOR THIS!

lucius starts it by making a joke about how stuck up and tight izzy is, then they all start planning on "trying to seduce izzy" meanwhile frenchie and izzy are going to town

then frenchie finds out about it, and instead of getting upset or jealous he goes all in and is very confident he'll win.

LMAO IMAGINE HE TELLS IZZY. so then they are both in on it, and izzy starts flirting with frenchie back, in front of the others

fuck i just have to write this

#this just gave me so much inspiration omg #anon i love you #reading this back the words aint working #but that's okay it's just word vomit #i'll make it work #ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #frenchie #frenchie ofmd #ouizzy #izzy x frenchie #frenchie x izzy #gay

[batsplat]

Chad reed on always the entourages creating the drama. I cannot believe that is what caused rosquez downfall but also given the level of Vale's celebrity and the way he carried himself, I can totally believe that it was the entourage (iPad stand I'm looking at you) that brought the end

(about reed's 2020 quotes in this) yeahhh I mean the downfall was caused by a whole bunch of factors, not just any one thing... like all great tragic narratives, it feels inevitable from a global perspective and yet thoroughly preventable in its specifics, with loads of points where you think, 'oh, if things had just gone a little bit differently'... there's this tension in how, in the end, maybe it would've always gone wrong, but a lot had to come together for it to go wrong in quite such a spectacular fashion

reed's definitely correctly identified one of the factors - the entourages, and valentino's entourage specifically. though fwiw, I did cut off the article before reed predicted the marc/fabio rivalry was headed a similar way (this was from 2020, obviously before the arm injury):

for better or for worse, fabio has skipped the villain arc to head straight to the depressed frenchie arc

regardless of whether this rift would have happened or not, the idea that marc would have gotten a new appreciation for the situation valentino found himself in is at least an interesting one. though if anything, the rivalry with fabio would have more closely paralleled valentino's with the other aliens (new talent coming through, but with the previously dominant rider still a regular winner). now is the time marc's learning what it feels like to come back from a prolonged absence from being competitive at the highest level - and of course with a new superstar simultaneously making his debut

so yeah, anyway, tragedy, you can point to all sorts of strains and pressures and tension inherent to professional sport that were exacerbated by the personalities involved and the influence of the media and the passage of time etc etc. but never mind all that, let's get back to entourages! I know you mention everybody's favourite b-list shakespeare villain, but I'm going to basically mostly ignore him because it's well-trodden ground. yeah, it does help to have one guy who's whispering poison into your ear for a prolonged stretch of time before showing up at your motorhome doorstep with a bunch of telemetry and a dream. and yeah, there were people in valentino's entourage definitely encouraging this path to doom. but what I'm also interested in is the flip side - why nobody stopped him

I would like to submit into evidence this passage detailing the thoughts of vale's mechanic alex briggs. now briggs in this excerpt blames two groups for how things went down in 2015:

the yamaha side (specifically the press group) for not talking him down from the ledge before the presser

the crew chief and other assorted italians on the team for being too "yessy" and not standing up to him

let's briefly (for a given value of the word) focus on the first one. if you're a random yamaha pr person and you see the valentino rossi run to a press conference (given he was late) with a bunch of papers in his hands (well, he's not actually holding the papers in those gifs, but presumably somebody's got them), it's probably a tough ask to expect you to hold up the valentino rossi and ask him what exactly he's intending to do with those papers. also, is he really going to back off because you, random yamaha pr person, have asked him to please not accuse the competition of sabotage? added context is that some at yamaha were aware of what valentino thought about the race at phillip island (which we'll get to in a sec), but god knows if the pr people did. unless he confided in anyone on the yamaha side what the plan was, a lot of them would have been blindsided too - which does come back to the problem of how big a deal valentino is and how maybe you're a little more cautious about questioning what he's about to do with those papers than you would be with somebody else. it does feel like perhaps a bit too much to expect for them to have launched some last-minute intervention, or to even know what kind of intervention they could have gone for beyond low-level comedy hijinks to stop him from even getting to that room. why did nobody from yamaha place a banana skin in his path

but we do know that at least some in yamaha were aware of valentino's great big phillip island sabotage theory, because lin jarvis has very helpfully told us as much (from the post-sepang media scrum):

Q: Do you think it was a mistake for Valentino to [provoke?] Marc so much on Thursday with a very personal and hard attack? Jarvis: There are always many different ways of addressing different problems - Valentino chose to do it in that way. Perhaps that is what provoked Marc into being quite aggressive on the track. I really don't know, you need to ask Marc not me about that. Every action has a consequence. That's life. Q: And did you know before that Valentino was going to be so aggressive with Marc in the press conference? Did you know before? Did you discuss with Valentino about this decision or you didn't know until it happened? Jarvis: Personally, I was not aware of that. I was aware of Valentino's opinion of the race in Australia, but I was not aware... but I was not aware that he would - Q: Don't you think because Valentino at the end of the day is an employee of Yamaha he should discuss before with you about such an important decision, to attack a rider of another factory in such a heavy way [...]? Jarvis: You can't control every incident, everything that happens and you know, generally we have a very good [...] relation, connection with our riders, we talk to them before about things before, but anyway I think this is something Valentino felt strongly about and it was his decision and that's it.

note the use of the word "personally", which does leave the door open to others within yamaha (outside of valentino's inner circle) knowing what was going to happen. jarvis, unsurprisingly, comes down pretty firmly on the side of 'well what were we supposed to do'. given that jarvis admits he knew valentino's theory and is hardly a stranger to valentino's modus operandi - after all, he was already team boss at the time of another tense press conference in sepang eleven years prior that took place in the wake of valentino accusing a competitor of messing with him - you do have to wonder whether yamaha could not have tried a little harder to stop valentino. but again, accounting for the power of valentino's status and the power of his character, I'm personally unconvinced yamaha could've done much to convince valentino to change his mind

so then: the italians. a little bit of context - briggs started working with crew chief jerry burgess in 1994 and both of them were on mick doohan's team for all of his five 500cc titles. when doohan's injuries forced his retirement, valentino inherited his championship-winning team upon moving up to 500cc. jb was vale's very first crew chief in the premier class, and him as well as briggs have been working with vale since december 1999. understandably, this is a very tightly-knit group. it is one that made the jump to yamaha with valentino - here's just a quick excerpt (also from oxley's valentino rossi: all his races) about briggs' thoughts on that move:

When Valentino decided to defect to Yamaha, he was determined to have his crew go with him. Only one stayed at HRC. "We first got to know about the Yamaha deal in Portugal, I think [September 2003]," Briggs continues. "I wanted to stay with JB, because I hadn't finished learning what I wanted to learn. "I remember a clandestine meeting in the car park at Phillip Island, about salaries and how everything was going to work. It was really exciting. When I very first started working with Honda the whole group was very much a team. Towards the end we felt like it started to become a bit us and them: the engineers and management, then the mechanics and the riders. They'd sort of got too big for their boots - they'd designed this wonderful bike, so it was like it had nothing to do with us. That made it easier to leave.

and also about the move to yamaha, from the 2020 barker biography of valentino:

But with his trusted crew chief Jerry Burgess and most of his other team members from the Honda garage agreeing to defect with him, Rossi had the crew he needed, not only to win but also to enjoy his racing. It was a heartening display of loyalty and something of a risk for all involved. ‘When I announced to the mechanics that I was going with Valentino they said, “I’m coming too,”’ Burgess later explained. ‘Some of those guys were leaving very secure jobs and taking a big gamble.’

the group also survived the move to ducati (obviously a deeply frustrating two years not just for the guy riding the bike) and the move back to yamaha. but then, valencia 2013, valentino announced his decision to fire jb in a press conference organised for the pair of them. his 2013 season had been deeply frustrating - yes, he had gotten a podium in his first race beating both marc and dani, but after that generally speaking he couldn't come close to matching the other aliens when healthy. he was comfortably the fourth best rider that year, scrapping and clawing his way through midfield battles and having to rely on misfortunes befalling the three title contenders to achieve his podiums and his sole victory at assen. he was considering retiring at the end of the 2014 season once his current contract expired, but wanted to try everything he could to see whether he could be competitive again against the world's very best. and so, he made the decision to roll the dice and get himself a new crew chief, the italian silvano galbusera

now I have to say, personally I have a lot of time for this decision (even if it was maybe not... uh, enacted in the most graceful of manners, given how sudden it was). I come from a sports background where a certain ruthlessness in personnel decisions is encouraged and generally praised - if something isn't working, you should have the courage to make a change, even if it's deeply uncomfortable (including on an interpersonal level). also, while it was a sudden departure, it's not like burgess was that keen on sticking around much longer (again from the same oxley book):

Valentino ended his collaboration very suddenly at the end of 2013. Burgess was shocked but not too much, because he already knew that he was coming to the end of his own career. "When it ended for me I'd already been doing it 30-odd years and I'd told Valentino a few weeks earlier that I wasn't going to sign any more multi-year contracts. I was 60 by then, so I'd go year by year. I'd already signed a contract for 2014, but I would've thought if we hadn't had any more success by then that there wasn't much point in continuing. I felt we would win more races but I was more doubtful about championships. "I'd read enough sporting biographies to know that sportsmen change their coaches towards the end of their careers. It can give them a spike in results but it doesn't change the overall story. Looking back, Valentino's career went on longer than I expected. He enjoyed some success but no more championships and that's what you race for. Of course he was in the unique position of being able to get a factory bike until he retired. He was very special and deserved everything he got."

which, look. again, personal bias, but to me it's reasonable to part ways with somebody who doesn't think any more titles are plausible, because at that point it's just somebody who has a very different view on your career than you do and may well not stick around for much longer anyway. also, at the end of the day, jb was wrong! valentino came extremely close to winning another title, and just because he didn't, doesn't change the fact he could have. if it had rained on the 8th of november 2015 in valencia, we might be having a very different conversation. (or if they hadn't changed the bloody qualifying format post-2012.) honestly, if the 2016 and to a lesser extent the 2017 season had gone just a little differently - a working bike in mugello here and an unbroken leg there - he could have been a genuine title threat in two more seasons. in any case, what it does show is that valentino even at the end of 2013 was still as determined as ever, was ready to engage in what was a huge gamble (given how almost all his success had come with the highly decorated jb) on the off chance he might find what it took to win again. this will not have been an easy decision for valentino. here's a write-up of the presser at valencia, that stresses how uncomfortable the occasion was, how surprising a decision it was to jb, but how publicly at least there was a lack of recriminations (which, to be fair, wouldn't be much fun to do in a shared presser):

(you'll note that the phrasing in the presser about athletes attempting to extend their carrers by changing things up is echoed in what he says in that book interview where he adds that it doesn't change the overall story, again suggesting he didn't really believe valentino would be competitive. he also uses the same phrasing in ANOTHER interview that confirms as much, but I think you get the point.) valentino said at the time, "it was a very difficult decision for me because I have a great history with jeremy. he is not just my chief mechanic. he is like part of my family. my father in racing". this is somebody he'd been working with since age 21, somebody who is not only revered within the paddock for his work with several of the sport's greats but is also a man who valentino obviously has a close personal connection to. meeting for the first time when vale snuck into the honda pit to check out the bike he might ride next season, hitting it off immediately, countless rowdy dinners together, parties, jb and another older colleague sitting back when food fights started, watching valentino grow up, working with him throughout all his big manufacturer switches, all his successes and all his failures... as much as anything else, it's evidence of how strong vale's desire to win was, how determined he continued to be, to make this choice at this stage of his career. and jb was open to the idea (at least publicly) that it might end up being a smart call:

the 'dirtiest' part of the whole affair is how it was actually carried out - it's not great form to tell your crew chief the day before you end up doing a press conference together to announce your choice. for whatever it's worth, this is how valentino justified the timeline:

and lastly, which I think is the most key part, is valentino's belief. because at the end of the day, the only reason why he's doing any of this, and the only reason why what was to come was possible at all, is that he himself still thought that he could challenge for another title - as much as that belief had come under strain:

now what this piece also goes on to say is that nobody believes this will work. nobody believes that firing jb will lead to better results. people expect that this is going to lead to his retirement, quite possibly at the end of 2014. it's worth just remembering sometimes how extraordinary valentino's return to the top of the game post-2013 really was, how it went against how we expect a rider's competitive lifecycle to work, went far beyond the longevity exhibited by any top rider before or since - all while going up against riders who are widely believed to be some of the best to ever do it. valentino beat jorge in both 2014 and 2016, and remains one of two people to outscore prime marc marquez over the course of a season. not to engage in too much rossi prop here, but sepang 2015 can't really be understood without all the frustration that led up to it, to this one golden chance, this miracle that everybody had believed to be impossible (sometimes even valentino). this wasn't supposed to be happening. it was happening. and then, so so close to the finish line, valentino could feel it slipping, slipping, slipping away

but of course, we still don't know whether changing crew chiefs is the key factor that made him competitive again. maybe he just needed a bit longer to get back into the swing of things post-ducati disaster. maybe the bikes just started to suit him better. hey, maybe it was that nifty exercise regime he'd engaged in a wee spot of espionage for so that he could pinch it off his teammate. what we can say, however, is that valentino's choice both tells us a lot about his mindset, as well as (to finally bring us back to the actual point of this post) representing a massive shift in his 'entourage'. this is what briggs is referring to in his quote - the italians. the new crew chief. the people who couldn't stand up to valentino. now obviously, as mentioned above briggs had worked with jb for the better part of twenty years and can hardly be considered a neutral party. here were briggs' feelings on the matter (yeah it's from the same oxley book again, I got it new for eighteen quid which is a very generous price, would recommend):

When JB was out at the end of 2013 it was like losing my mechanic dad. I remember being in the garage when we found out about it. Then they arranged a kind of farewell, a kind of hodgepodge farewell. It was terrible, I didn't like any of it. I was just hiding behind one of the bikes in the garage, crying, going, what's going on here? It didn't seem right to me. I think maybe Valentino thought he would get faster again sooner, but I think it took at least a year to get the taste of the Ducati out of his mouth. I think if he'd stayed with JB we would've won the championship in 2015.

which. look. we don't have time to unpack all that. but. the point is that obviously briggs wasn't exactly a massive fan of the change within valentino's team, and his comments about the 2015 season do have to be read with that in mind. as to whether vale really would have done better in 2015 with jb at his side, your guess is as good as mine. all that being said, a part of me wonders how much losing that grounding presence enabled valentino's late-2015 spiral. maybe not in terms of talking valentino out of the great big fluctuating lap times treachery theory - to state the obvious, valentino got himself involved in plenty of drama during jb's time as a crew chief. jb himself occasionally helped add fuel to the fire in those feuds, like his infamous comment about how he would be able to fix the ducati's issues in 80 seconds that casey still brings up every three business days (the comments were poorly phrased but also somewhat taken out of context, in that jb was talking about a specific set-up problem). he's generally been pretty happy to be forthright about valentino's rivals, for instance this about casey:

My feeling at the time was that Casey probably only had one game plan, and having watched Casey over the years, he doesn't have a plan B. If it doesn't go his way from the outset, it's probably one of the weaknesses that he had through the youth that he had, through the lack of experience that he had. That's not a criticism of him per se, he was still only 22 at the time.

(this is about laguna seca 2008 and how he helped valentino win that race, including in plotting out vale's rather ruthless tactics - which casey was of course not exactly a fan of.) or these. uh. harsh comments about dani from spring 2010:

Q: Is that atmosphere or track knowledge? Is it like the Spanish finding something extra at the racetracks in Spain? JB: Well, therein we show the weakness, don't we? If you can get up on that weekend, on the technical racetracks of Spain, why can't you get up on the technical racetracks like Australia, where the Italians do? Lorenzo is a guy who will and does. Stoner has been able to get up on tracks all over the world. Unfortunately, Dani Pedrosa's into his 6th year in MotoGP, and he's won 8 races, Jorge Lorenzo's two months into his 3rd and he's won 6. It's night and day between those two, is the way I see it. Dani's an extremely fast rider, but a shockingly poor racer. Q: Were you surprised at Jerez [2010] when Pedrosa fought back when Lorenzo passed him? JB: When did Dani fight back? With two laps to go, and he didn't even get close enough to try to come back. Dani has never been a fighter in races, he's a lovely kid, don't get me wrong, but you can see that Lorenzo, having Pedrosa in front of him, it was never going to be the way he was going to finish that race. He was going to finish on the ground or he was going to finish in front of Pedrosa. That's the sort of race that we want, we had that with Biaggi and Valentino, and from history with Schwantz and Rainey. All the good riders have always had somebody they have had to put the target on the back of. It was Doohan and Gardner, and Doohan won that battle hands down, and I think Jorge Lorenzo's going to win this battle [with Pedrosa] hands down.

kind of a dick! so his attitude to valentino being valentino has generally been a) well having enemies is good, actually, with an added slice of b) good luck to his enemies :) - see also this quote (from the barker biography) in the context of the gibernau rivalry:

And that made Rossi even more dangerous, as Jerry Burgess pointed out: ‘Valentino is the sort of rider I wouldn’t want to get angry. He can take you apart on the track.’

so yes, jb is also perfectly brutal in his own right, as you presumably have to be to work alongside valentino so closely for so long. he is, however, also somebody valentino has a massive amount of respect for, somebody who helped turn him into a legend and is responsible for a lot of vale's success - not least, of course, in the pivotal move to yamaha. he was replaced by a man of a far far lesser stature in the sport, one who presumably would have been grateful to valentino for the biggest job he was ever going to get. if briggs is right and there was a shift in valentino in 2015, surrounded as he was by italians (derogatory) who could not stand up to him, who allowed valentino to insist on war and peace on the pit boards, to focus more and more on things that had nothing to do with riding... it would be going a little too far to say that valentino was missing an adult in the room given he was, in fact, in his thirties and should have been capable of being that adult. and who knows what jb would have said or thought or done about the great big childhood hero deception theory. but sepang 2015 was the culmination of a lot of things, including a pressure cooker of a season that grew more and more tense and put more and more stress on everyone involved - perhaps for none more so than valentino. maybe, just maybe, if he'd had somebody around him with fifteen years of experience in handling him, who could have just occasionally told him to knock it off, to concentrate on the racing, to keep things simple (always jb's defining philosophy), to maybe not get so wrapped up in the great big spanish collusion theory...

or maybe it wouldn't have mattered! maybe we're getting cause and effect all wrong here; maybe valentino was deliberately fashioning his entourage into one that was only going to give him positive feedback. maybe he would have just stopped listening to jb, maybe the very decision to fire jb makes it clear he was no longer interested in what jb had to say. it's a tragedy, after all! maybe it was always going to go like this. maybe it was always going to end like this

speaking of entourages, marc's manager played a bit of a cameo role in fanning the flames just a little further (article from marca, 26/10/2015):

alzamora obviously will be somebody valentino is familiar with, having raced him in 125cc and also having just coexisted in the paddock over the years. valentino could of course be lying, but idk, why would he? he's already made his case by this point, and what if alzamora were to contradict him? if it's true and this conversation did happen, you do have to say it's a spectacularly unhelpful intervention from alzamora. even if marc was mad at valentino, why the hell are you telling valentino this AFTER sepang 2015? what's the plan here buddy

^ 1999 world champions: alzamora in 125cc, vale in 250cc and alex criville in 500cc. people think motogp lore is complicated but if you know like, five guys, you're set for about twenty years of drama

which does get to the heart of the matter - a lot of these people have big egos and their own agendas and they love to run their mouths. they like talking a big game and getting involved in things they really shouldn't be getting involved in. is reed right that these people in the riders' entourages 'created the drama'? well, no, I think the two men at the centre of this particular tragedy were plenty capable of doing that themselves. nevertheless, you can point to how professional sports (and motogp in particular) forces you to rely heavily on a small group of people to keep you sane at the centre of the storm, and the risks that can emerge when that small group collectively unmoors itself from reality. you can point to the perils of fame, both in making your reliance on your inner circle so unnegotiable as well as in providing you with the status and power and ego to ignore anyone who might wish to change your mind. you can point to specific figures in this story who managed to incite the conflict between the two of them, as well as how the pressure cooker competitive environment they were operating within helped set up the ultimate catastrophe. you can point to how valentino lacked anyone with the power to stop him - both in the direct sense of forcing him to reconsider and the indirect sense of commanding his respect enough to make him see sense. maybe, just like in 2004, valentino had simply been "looking for an excuse" and he was always headed down this path. or maybe if somebody had just held him back a little that year, kept him focused on his riding, maybe if the right person had intervened at the right time...

maybe, maybe, maybe. that's why it's a tragedy

#valentino rossi #rosquez #// #4693 #i get the sense he's unpopular on here but EYE will miss lin jarvis. i think he's funny sorry. him and his certifiably insane employees #i loveeee that media scrum love his very dry lil summary of events acting like we're not so so far down the rabbit hole #anon: man fuck that ipad stand #me: lemme tell you a tale about a man called jerry burgess and the daddy issues he inspired in multiple grown men #and yes the fact that valentino unceremoniously dumped his 'paddock father' is. interesting :) i get him ughhh #also on the flip side i am curious what kind of conversations were going on in the marc camp during that sepang weekend #alzamora's two big contributions to the rosquez saga: 1) trying to stop marc from going to the ranch #and 2) telling vale that marc was mad at him for argentina and assen and in doing so helping back up vale's theory #what was he cooking

[beanghostprincess]

Sanuso with vampire Sanji not only has "I'll do what you can't do and you do what I can't do", but also "I'll feed you and you feed me"

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod-

I love this. So much.

So I am not the biggest fan of writing Vampires AUs. I LOVE reading them but I don't think it's my style of writing?? So I never do. But-- But THIS??? Changing my life, honestly. Considering things. Thinking thoughts.

And it's extremely easy to make a plot for this!!!!!! The Vinsmokes are a family of vampires but Sanji is the only human thanks to Sora. Etc etc etc. Wano happens. Don't ask me WHAT happens but SOMETHING happens and Sanji starts slowly turning into a vampire. Worst time of his life for a variety of reasons (from not feeling human to being scared of hurting others and also all the bad things that come with being a vampire. Except for the sun thing because. Well. I want him to be able to be under the sun. Let's just say he's a mix between Vampire and Human).

It'd be so good to see Sanji starving because he refuses to drink blood and he wants to hide this from the rest of the crew. But Usopp inevitably finds out, of course, and he offers his blood to Sanji. And I am. Losing it because now I want to write a super homoerotic bloody scene in which Sanji is refusing to drink Usopp's blood because he doesn't trust himself but Usopp won't stop walking closer and closer to him saying that if he doesn't trust himself it's fine because he trusts him instead... And he says the whole "You cook for us all the time, so it's just fair. You feed me, and I'll feed you. Now drink before you are the first vampire to die out of stubbornness" thing.

I mean, vampires are like. Inherently romantic and erotic so this is just. Woah. Having a million thoughts. I need a MOMENT.

Also??????? Usopp being THE Vampire Hunter™ of the crew??? Imagine Thriller Bark Usopp x Vampire Sanji I am LOSING IT. Brain isn't braining. Maybe I die.

Putting aside the obvious nasty emotional bloody sex these two would have, Usopp would be,, So sweet to Sanji. Because he absolutely hates his situation and he isn't sure if he is ready to tell the others yet. Usopp is always offering him his blood and staying with him when he can't sleep and-- Adding little bat Sanji here??? Can Sanji turn into a bat??? Please yes yes. I want little bat Sanji to be the cutest thing and Usopp just. Loving him. His little bat boyfriend 😭 Usopp knows so many fun facts about bats while Sanji is like. So angry at first bc he has to learn how to change back and fly KJEJFJEFEKDJFNWLEKFNW They're so silly.

When Sanji doesn't feel human Usopp is always there to remind him that he is still himself after all. And Sanji is always scared of hurting him but also-- Have you considered Sanji only turning into a bat bc Usopp is even clingier with him then and he gets pats from his boyfriend? And he's always being so gentle with him too.

They mean the world to me!!!!!!!!!!! Vampire AUs my beloved!!!!!!!

#THEY'RE AJHHWDJQWJKDNQKJWDNQWDNQWDNQLWKN #i want to write this #ANON I HATE YOU YOU GAVE ME INSPIRATION TO WRITE AND I HAVE SO MANY WIPS ALREADY #jk i love you for this #also the whole aesthetic looks so good on them #okay but sanji making actual dishes with usopp's blood then what #and he tastes other blood like. once. bc chopper has them just in case they need a transfusion. and they don't taste as good as usopp's #the power of love makes blood tastier #i know nothing abt vampires actually just cliché stuff but i love this #one piece #black leg sanji #usopp #sanuso #ask-bean!

[foursaints]

hi <3

first of all, i wanted to tell you i'm always stalking your blog (in a non creepy way) because i love everything about it. mostly i love how you use your big brain™️ to share some insanely detailed headcanons about some silly dead gay wizards (i mean that in the nicest way possible. i'm a little bit in love with you actually . anyway i'm digressing)

second of all, i wanted to know if you could share some of your thoughts about bartylily🤲🏻 because i'm fairly sure you're the main reason i'm hooked on them

much love <333

ANYTHING for bartylily... lately i've been attached to the idea of a college au where they're Rival Campus Radio Station Hosts.

barty is a spectacularly unmotivated senior who dropped out of a prestigious engineering degree to study practical SFX for horror movies instead. everyone has vague, peripheral knowledge of him after an incident where he was found passed out naked in the campus fountain. his apartment with the slytherins isn't technically a frat house but there's a structure in the kitchen affectionately referred to as the "Leaning Tower of Miller Lite" & barty has a nearly imperceptible crescent-shaped chip in his front tooth from a keg-standing mishap. he wears a lot of chains and has several john carpenter themed tattoos and he REEKS like cigarettes. so many pairs of mystery panties turn up in his laundry hamper that his housemates have started calling it the Lost And Found.

he has a deeply beloved & charmingly unpolished radio show in the primetime spot which mostly consists of him having his friends on, spotlighting terrible underground bands, and making drily ironical, beautifully mean jabs.

lily is an overzealous sophomore who's triple-majoring in three equally unmarketable degrees (it's, like, polisci & international affairs & communications) who's blessed with the gift of taking every single thing that happens on campus WAY too serious. she runs their Model UN like it's the navy. she's the RA who is always marching around her floor in a spaghetti-strap tanktop & bunny slippers with a scrunchie on her wrist, shaking her fist at people. there was a period following her breakup with james where she was literally reading Machiavelli for inspiration. she's right on the precipice of the cool-girl academic meltdown that will lead to Serious Character Growth, but she isn't quite there yet.

her well-made and well-researched radio show is relegated to the midnight timeslot, and even though all her friends listen to it she probably got into a spat with them for saying something along the lines of "obviously i dont care if its just YOU listening to it, remus!!!". she hate-listens to barty's show which she considers (lily voice) An Affront To Collegiate Journalism

they trade barbs at every function and absolutely nobody but the two of them takes their insane imaginary Radio Beef even remotely serious whatsoever. but it's dead serious TO THEM!!! lily is probably camping out in actual bushes with actual binoculars to sabotage his show, and the worst part is that it's actually working. she ISN'T obsessed with him (shut up!!!!!), and barty is mostly just aggravated on principle that the Uptight Lowerclassman Ruining His Life has such nice legs.

and they absolutely bone like crazy about it

#a #this anon made me emotional... warming my ice cold heart #im in love with you too. sorry for getting carried away... they inspire me. #bartylily #t #my lily is usually kind of burnt out & has a shoplifting problem so its nice to have an au where she can be dorkier. #barty is the same as always & i need to **** *** **** about it #one thing about my bcj is that he will always be the worst man on this earth and i'll still love him despite #still a better boyfriend to her than james. sorry #im posting this one a bit late but I always trust that bartylily will find its audience #+ nobody come at me for calling those degrees unmarketable! i am an English major so it's friendly fire !!!

[stealingyourbones]

I'm new to the dp x dc fandom and ur account has been a very satisfying brain exercise for me. Pls listen to my business proposal:  Danny and Damian twins but not really au!

Jason was cleaning a trafficker hideout, he was releasing the victims when one of them mentioned that there was a kid who was recently napped and locked in another room bc he's too feral. After "asking" some of the goons, he went looking. The kid was as feral as they mentioned in appearance, but what they didn't mention, was the freaking muzzle on his face.

He dearly wished he didn't let these bastards off dying so fast.

The kid was oddly calm, except for the unnerving stare with those toxic green eyes (where has he seen those eyes? meta?), for someone that looks like they have been through hell and back, their ragged shirt covered various injuries but mostly healed as far as he could tell. The more he observed the kid the more déjà vu he felt. Throwing away the horrible device on the poor kid's face the moment the buckle came loose, Jason looked at the teen before him.

"Demon brat???"

Meanwhile, Danny who got jumped by the GIW escaped to GZ, then went for the nearest exit he saw (not even checking if it's the right dimension) only to immediately turned human due to adrenaline crash and get snatched not even minutes after hiding in a random alley because it's Gotham and Fenton's luck. It's been a few days, stuck in human form Danny's brain kicked into survival mood: ghost edition until this giant guy in leather and a red helmet came in smelling like a full course meal.

Who the hell is Damian?

Ok I feel bad for not adding to this but I feel like I won’t be able to do this prompt justice. Anyone who wants to, please feel free to add on!

#bones replies #dp x dc #anon #writing prompts #this is so incredibly amazing my dude holy shit #I’m so happy that you enjoyed my prompts my dude!!!!! #I wanna add onto this but head is currently empty :( #if someone adds onto it and it inspires me I’ll prolly do something to continue the story but for now- #I shall chuck it into the void that is tumblr and see if anyone throws something back at me #preferably writing of some sort and not a brick or rock. my bones are already as whack as it is

[andoutofharm]

The thing about Infinity on High (third studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on February 6, 2007) is that hhhhhhgnhbhuuuuuuuyyyyyy6yu6yj777777777777777hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhvhhhhhhhhhhjhkjhkjgjhghjgjhghjhhhhhhhhjhhhhhhhhhhhhh

yuu7nhhhhhhjjnhbhybhhhhhbnhhhhbhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgjjjjghjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnhynuyngfnuhnnn

#inspired by that one anon that got sent to twinkskeletons <3 #shout out to key stuck anon you are incredibly funnie to me im sorry #violence.txt

[zu-is-here]

Imagine...Cross and Dream as Vikings....fighting (badass) And a little Viking, Aim, following them

oh my god they were a family... ★

#blood tw #zu art #vikings #cross!sans #dream!sans #aim!sans #undertale #undertale au #utmv #ask #look I know like— nothing about vikings but your ask made me think about them a lottt /// #I believe they were /brutal/ >:D #as for their designs— #what if they wear part of what they fear?? as a talisman?? (owl feathers for Dream and cowhide for Cross) #I have so many ideas for them— I blame you for being so inspiring anon xd <3 #gotta get back to them sometime...~ #tried a new brush and h o o b o i that's another dealll *w*

[definitelynotshouting]

“The universe sings,” Grian said.

He sounds vaguely distant- like he’s speaking from hundreds of blocks away rather than right next to Mumbo.

He turns on his bed, slow halting movements, to face him.

“Did you know?”

Mumbo can only stare.

“…Sings?” He asks. He shifts on his chair.

Grian seems to want to nod, but aborts the motion halfway, and hums instead.

“Yeah. The code. It sings, if you listen close enough,” Grian mumbles.

Mumbo opens his mouth, then closes it again.

Grian exhales a long breath, and his eyes drift close.

“Can you hear it?”

Mumbo watches the way Grian’s chest rises and falls, shallowly, slowly.

He closes his eyes, and strains to hear.

He hears- Tango out in another room of the house, pacing circles around the kitchen. Mumbo can tell it’s Tango by the shuffle in his walk.

He can hear birds outside, twittering. Wind rustling through branches. An animal- a pig, maybe, trotting along some grass.

It’s quite calming really- but he doesn’t hear singing. At least, he doesn’t think he does?

When he opens his eyes again, it’s to Grian staring right at him.

Mumbo exhales in one sharp breath- he didn’t realise he’d stopped breathing- and meets Grian’s gaze.

“Did you mean like, actual singing or- or was that metaphorical? Because I can’t hear anything other than trees, mate,” he says, only half-joking.

Grian huffs a small laugh, and shakes his head.

“Nah, it’s not really singing-singing. It’s music, though. You’ve definitely heard some of it- discs. That’s the easiest way to hear it. But that’s- so few of what’s out there. There’s more music, if you know how to listen for it,” he hums. His eyes close again, and he leans more into the mattress.

Mumbo pauses, and thinks on that for a moment. Music discs, huh? He supposes it seems plausible, that there’d be more music out there.

But then why has he never heard it? Mumbo doesn’t ever recall hearing ‘the code sing’. If it’s tied into music discs, then is it naturally generated? Is hearing it a ‘watcher thing’?

Mumbo glances down at his hands, traces lines of dirt under his fingernails.

He nods, though Grian can’t see it anyway. He makes some vague ‘see you later’ comment he can’t bother to think about, and carefully gets to his feet.

At the doorframe, he peers back.

Grian lies there, breathing steadily.

Mumbo turns and leaves, closing the door behind him.

////

headcanon that the minecraft soundtrack can be heard in the code, but only if you're 'in harmony' with it. cue other headcanon of watchers being very aware of the code

HEY ANON. ANON. I ADORE THIS HOLY SHIT I FUCKING LOVE THIS HEADCANON???? The idea that the universe is constantly singing to itself, and you can hear that through the Greater Code if you really carefully listen, is something i lowkey want to canonize SO BADLY holy shit. And this is such a lovely snippet too, im always such a sucker for deeply layered conversations like this.... i adore how youve given so much depth to the sentence "the universe sings" and the implications of how and why Grian is hearing it so much right now. [THROWS UP BLOOD] IM OBSESSED.......

Also this Mumbo dialogue especially is on point youve done such a good job of capturing his little speech patterns :] STUNNING JOB ANON IM SO FLATTERED U WROTE THIS!!!!! I really think i might canonize this concept just for how absolutely amazing it is, im utterly obsessed with it

#shouting speaks #asks #hunger au #art for me #<- litcherally cannot remember if i have a specific fic for me tag or not IG I'LL FIND OUT ONCE I HIT POST... #THE IDEA THAT TJE SOUNDTRACK ARE SONGS THE UNIVERSE SINGS TO ITSELF.... IM GOING BUCKWILD #i mean its already canon the universe SINGS but u KNOW my ass is gonna be listening to the full soundtrack #tears in my eyes as i picture grian listening to it..... #i hope its okay to yoink this anon bc im enamoured with the concept truly #gods and the idea that the music discs are specifically fragments of the universe singing that you can ACTUALLY HEAR.... #i like to think that like. making music discs is p much like making custom ones the way theyre doing it #but sometimes. sometimes you find treasure discs #or you fashion it from the remains of a creeper.. and you get a little window into what the Greater Code sounds like #weeping forever and ever that u wrote this for me im saving this in my special little works inspired by hunger au folder rn #❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #fic recs #long post #txt

[writingsfromhome]

What are you Listening To?

Ask: Would you write something based off of Chris Stapleton’s song “what are you listening to?”.

A/N: this was painful to write, it is short and Sad. So read at your own risk

——————————————————

Ever since Harry and you broke up, he’s hated train rides. It was over an hour riding from central to the flat you two were renting in Northolt.

Harry remembers the day you two moved in; both of you were only 21, you’d given up being able to afford something decent any closer to London. He remembers even though you had been upset at first, it had taken one night there for you to reframe everything. He remembers you made a pact together: every train ride would be enjoyable.

That was y/n to him, always trying to add gratitude to any small moment.

And train rides had been more okay because of you. Harry would get playlists curated for him every week that were exactly 1 hour and 20 mins for his rides in, other times when you was working at the office the two of you would ride in together. If a stranger looked over at you they would see two people sharing a pair of headphone listening to music or a podcast about music together, or leaning into each other catching up on sleep after a late night together, or simply whispering to each other and laughing. You two never ran out of things to laugh about.

Now, 6 years later, Harry rode on the train for the hour and a bit all alone and he hated every minute because all he thought about was you. All he could remember was you. And it was a torturous ride that ended in an empty flat.

Tonight Harry cracks open a beer as soon as he gets in, unbuttons his stuffy dress shirt and flops down onto his couch. You two had bought the couch together a few years ago after finally throwing out the ratty one you had grown attached to. This new couch had been a symbol of doing better, both of your careers were going well and you finally had money for nicer things.

Although neither of you were ever able to shake off this flat. The long train rides in became a sacred ritual, the flat became home. All your friends used to make fun but it never bothered either of you because it was enough. It used to be enough.

Lately Harry’s felt depraved—ever since you left, he continued to torture himself with music.

Music used to mean everything to him, until he met you, then you replaced that. But music became a thing for both of you. The two of you used music as a way to enhance life—you both believed life imitated art and vice versa. You both agreed that music was the best art form to view the world through. It was always playing through the flat.

When you two weren’t on the train or in your Northolt flat, you were at music shows all over town. From the O2 to a small local pub, you loved supporting musicians and unlocking the secret stories and emotions that came with them. After every show Harry loved staying up with you and going over the highlights of the show; that’s where a lot of your train naps came in handy.

In another life, Harry used to tell you, he would be a musician. Both of you would travel the world and he’d play his sold out shows and you would get to travel. You never could travel as much as you wanted to.

I guess in another life, Harry thought with a pang, we’d still be together.

Tonight, Harry goes old school and puts a record on. When you two first split, Harry had hated looking at the shelf that used to be brimming with records. Because now its half-empty shelves were a reminder there was an empty space in this place he called home.

The vinyl spins round, and its familiar chords begin to play into the drafty flat. Harry sinks into the couch. Into his misery.

You were in every line that played; he almost sees you standing over the couch smiling down at him, encouraging him to get up and dance with you.

He would sweep you across the floor, you would giggle about what the neighbours downstairs heard. You would sing, he remembers. And he would join in, holding you close. Cheek to cheek. The two of you had become a single living organism. Now he was a soldier returning home with a phantom limb. It was the only explanation why he not only ached inside, but all around him too.

He reaches his hand out into the air, the dust motes twirl around his fingers, the only company he has these days.

Harry wonders if you were home right now, or on a train. Maybe you were still at the office working late, or meeting up with a friend for dinner. He wondered what you were listening to. Maybe one of those niche cover bands both of you’d heard in the small towns you’d visited across the country, or a sad song on the radio, maybe it was a busker on the train platform, or maybe it was something new. A song that had no history with Harry. Maybe, Harry thought, you were better adjusted. Not as depraved like him. Maybe it was a love song about someone new, someone who made you feel good again.

Harry felt mad thinking about where the two of you went wrong.

Right after the two of your broke up and he had to tell the people in his life, they’d all been shocked. Blindsided just like him. It was always Harry and y/n, y/n and Harry. They’d been one. Now it felt like someone was missing in any crowd Harry found himself in.

You’d always been in harmony, but sometime in the last few months of being together, Harry had unknowingly missed some notes. Your music had clashed, and no sheet music could set it right.

At least that’s what he had heard from you: there was no going back.

Harry curls in on himself. The ache fills him from the centre out.

He wondered if you thought about him as often as he thought about you. If you wondered like him, how a good thing goes bad. How can such an overabundance of love just vanish?

His mates kept telling him to move out. He could afford something closer to the city now, he had people nearby there. He didn’t have to be alone.

But Harry felt like he was still living in the final note of a song, it’s echo still reverberating throughout the room. Some might call it the ghost of the song. Harry called it hope. He had this crazy dream: maybe one day you would show up at the front door you both called home at one point. And you’d step into his arms. He’d realize the last few months had just been the diminuendo. Your songs were still playing. There were still new heights to scale.

The record comes to an end. Harry’s in the exact same position he’s been in the last couple months. Curled on his side in the sofa, bottles littering the coffee table, pillow soaked with tears, and pain lacing every bone and ligament without you here.

He’d give anything to know what you were listening to. One more song together. One last dance together. Even one last note together.

What are you listening to?

#harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles #harry styles fanfic #writingsfromhome #harry styles imagine #fic #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles request #lyrics #chris stapleton #what are you listening to #also it’s a diff pov so dont mind if its grammatically bad #anon’s req just inspired me to write it #harry styles one shot