#hugo & whitney (about)

[hogwartsthenextgeneration]

How musically talented are they?

• Teddy - Excellent at the drums, can play guitar okay, family run out the room when he starts singing.

• Victoire - Doesn’t play any instruments but a pretty good singer.

• Dominique - Can’t sing for shit, can play the triangle like a pro.

• Louis - Wizard on the guitar, even worse singer than Dom.

• James - Actual voice of an angel but embarrassed about it, thinks bashing the piano keys is playing the piano.

• Albus - Teddy and James put him off singing/ instruments for life.

• Lily - Okay singer, Teddy taught her drums.

• Roxanne - Sings like if Adele and Whitney had a music baby. Tried piano but hated it.

• Fred - Thinks he can sing but can’t. Does a great impression of Elvis though.

• Hugo - Plays more unpopular instruments like the accordion and bagpipes. Never really tried singing.

• Rose - Just about get her to sing happy birthday. Possibly worse than Teddy? Brilliant at the piano.

• Molly - Slaps the Bass like no man’s business, is weirdly good at rapping?

• Lucy - Parents made her take violin for years and since then swore off anything music related.

#harry potter #harry potter next gen fic #harry potter next gen headcanon #harry potter next generation #hp next gen #hp next generation #james sirius potter #albus severus potter #teddy lupin #victoire weasley #dominique weasley #louis weasley #lily luna potter #fred weasley #roxanne weasley #lucy weasley #molly weasley #hugo weasley #rose weasley

[androxys]

Favorite Batman Story Tournament - Round 3

Pitting two classics against one another in this matchup! Y'all know the drill by now: fan propaganda below, but feel free to add on more!

Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying

This is a Batman story, a Nightwing story, a Robin origin story, and the foundation of the Batfam storytelling that defines the 90's. It's about grief and legacy and the desire to help and save people, the most important themes of Batman. It's the story that saved the soul of Batman after the death of Jason Todd threatened to send him into a grimdark misery spiral, and reaffirmed the need for hope and teamwork in Batman stories.

Batman (1940) #1

You might be thinking that I put this solely because it's Batman #1- which is partially true, but it also manages to be completely fucking iconic. Batman 1 is simply one of the funniest and most insane Batman stories I've ever read. It's split up into 4 stories of about 13 pages each, and each one hits it out of the park. Number 1 is the Joker's first appearance, and he kills a bunch of people in bizarre and over-the-top clever ways while the police are like "we're sure we'll get him this time". Golden Age Joker was the first incarnation of Joker I actually liked, I love that guy. Number 2 is Hugo Strange making a bunch of people into mutant monsters to commit crimes for him, and Batman shows that he is definitely living in 1940 before the editors decided to pump the brakes because he gives approximately no fucks about anything. He guns multiple people down from the Batplane. He shoots a guy off a building. He hangs a guy from a rope dangling from the Batplane. I think he kills 5 people in this one story. Number 3 is the first appearance of Catwoman, featuring Bruce and Dick trying to stop a succession of robberies on a boat, and there's a 2 page side diversion where Bruce takes all of the robbers' guns and lets Dick fight them solo and then looks directly into the camera to be like, "Wow, looks like criminals are cowards without their guns!! That's why being a criminal is bad and you definitely shouldn't do it, right kids?!" One of the first things Batman ever says to Catwoman is "quiet or papa spank", information I inflicted on all of my friends at the earliest opportunity. Then in number 4 Joker breaks out of prison and comes back and pioneers even more insane murder methods, before completely randomly accidentally stabbing himself in the chest and dying while fighting with Batman (who's just like "lol get rekt"). Joker was actually supposed to die and stay dead, but editor Whitney Ellsworth overruled it at the last minute and threw in 1 panel of a doctor being like "wait this guy's actually alive!!", thus setting up the next 80 years of Joker-filled plotlines. Do I think Batman 1 is objectively good, per se? Maybe not. However I think it's both entertaining and hilarious and the groundwork for so much that comes after, and we should remember our roots.

#dc comics #batman #favorite batman story tournament #polls

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Okay so here's the thing

I used to not follow anyone because at some point Tumblr had this feature where if you followed tags but not people it would filter popular posts from the tags you follow on your feed.

While this feature has been gone for a long while, I retained hope that maybe they would bring it back but here we are...

So, I ask you, if you post about any of the following give a like and I'll check out your blog. Reblogging is appreciated for a bigger reach. There's also a tag limit so I won't be able to properly tag everything anyway, so I'll be ranking my interests in order of decreasing... interest

Tomb Raider (anti Kurtis Trent, otherwise love all eras and Laras)

2NE1 (OT4)

T-ara (OT6)

Girls' Generation (OT9, OT8 is fine so long as you don't trash Jessica)

Tekken (anti Kazuya × Jun)

Wonder Girls (K-pop group OT6)

KARA (K-pop group, OT6)

Dead or Alive (the fighting game, though You Soon Me Round slaps)

After School (the K-pop group, I love all of them but mostly interested in the 2012 OT8 lineup + Kahi)

Brown Eyed Girls (K-pop group, OT4)

miss A (K-pop group, OT4)

SoulCalibur

4Minute (OT5)

Assassin's Creed (anti Haytham, love both the originals and the RPG era but if you're one of the boomers that complain about how things used to be better don't bother)

The King of Fighters

f(x) [all five though if you don't support Amber I won't judge. If you were one of those who called Sulli an untalented attention whore while she was alive touch grass now]

Street Fighter (anti F.A.N.G, Rufus, Dan, Hugo, Abigail)

SISTAR (OT4)

Resident Evil (anti-Wesker, anti-Luis)

Virtua Fighter

Video Games (I've grown up with PlayStation so I don't really know of care about Microsoft or Nintendo's exclusive stuff)

Second Generation K-pop Girl Groups (no boys allowed. I have a weird relationship with GGs post-2012 but I don't outright hate any of them. I think)

Fighting Games

Eurovision (2004 onwards, if you're one of the unhinged Käärijä fans trashing Loreen stay the fuck away)

Pop Divas (Madonna, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Cher, Donna Summer, P!nk, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue)

9MUSES (2013 lineup)

The Elder Scrolls (Skyrim mostly)

Guilty Gear

Samurai Shodown

Capcom vs. SNK

Sid Meier's Civilization

Rainbow (all seven)

Apink (OT6)

Skullgirls

Final Fantasy (I don't care for the MMOs or XVI)

Secret (all four)

Mortal Kombat (anti Raiden)

Girl's Day (OT4)

Granblue Fantasy: Versus

BlazBlue

Under Night In-Birth

Marvel vs. Capcom

Dragon Ball FighterZ

Melty Blood

Sonic the Hedgehog

Injustice

Persona 4 Arena

#Tomb Raider #Lara Croft #2NE1 #T-ara #Girls' Generation #SNSD #Tekken #Nina Williams #Anna Williams #Christie Monteiro #Wonder Girls #KARA #Dead or Alive #Helena Douglas #After School #Brown Eyed Girls #miss A #SoulCalibur #Ivy #4Minute #Assassin's Creed #The King of Fighters #KOF #Mai Shiranui #Mature #Video Games #Gaming #Fighting Games #K-pop #Girl Groups

[lolathelotus]

TS4 Universe Legacy Round 5

TL;DR

Summaries in play order

Chopra: Rashidah Watson and Rahul Chopra work hard to raise Owen (Rashidah and Rahul's son) and Penelope (Rahul's daughter from alien abduction) while living at home with Lavina. The toddlers both age up, Owen first, and then Penelope. Rahul earns a degree in Biology. Rahul and Rashidah get engaged. Lavina flirts with Meredith Roswell.

Villareal: Luna, Hugo and Max decide to hire an employee to help out at the shopping center. Max joins the Criminal Career, Hugo learns guitar and Luna makes out with Sofia Bjergsen.

Pancakes: Bob joins the Police Force while he and Eliza try (unsuccessfully) to have another baby. Malik is a goofball. Emery turns 13 and is Artistic.

Holiday: Summer Holiday, Liberty Lee and Travis Scott are still besties. Travis makes out with Gunther Munch and Raj Rasoya. Summer is in love with Eva Capricciosa and gets a promotion to Internet Personality.

Kang: Cecilia takes Fabio, her best boy, camping in Granite Falls. She invites Don Lothario over for some cuddles her last night there. Fabio aged up into an elder.

Goth: Mortimer purchases the café in town and renames it Café Bella. He also flirts with Megumi Ito randomly. Tessa (Bella and Mortimer's daughter) ages up into a child, followed by Whitney (Alexander's daughter from alien abduction). Cassandra learns she is pregnant with Salim Benali's baby.

Ito: Nanami moves out to San Myshuno at the beginning of the round. Megumi decides to make an enemy of Victor Feng. Naoki asks Megumi to have another child, but Megumi does not agree.

Bell: Vivian (now a ghost) enjoys possessing random objects. Biscuit the dog gets sick this round, so Michael takes him to the vet. Mason tries to become friends with Whitney Goth, but she seems to deeply dislike him.

Kim-Lewis: Olivia moves to Britechester to attend Foxbury at the start of the round. Alice fishes and paints. Eric and Alice fight constantly this round, resulting in a negative romance bar. At the Romance Festival, Alice kisses a townie and flirts with Cletus Harris in front of Eric. Alice asks Eric for a divorce. While still living together, Alice begins dating a townie. Eric gets a promotion to Investor.

Richards: Gavin gets promoted to Fan Favorite and finally opens his live-in bookstore. He barely makes any money this round. Jay Huntington dates all the women, including Liberty Lee, multiple townies, and Dina Caliente, who he has his daughter, Naomi, with. Jay starts thinking about moving out.

The Oasis Springs Apartments: Akira Kibo moves into an empty unit this round. He and Zoe Patel woohoo. Joaquin Le Chien learns to play the guitar and wants to study Culinary Arts at University. Joaquin's girlfriend, Nighat Caliente, proposes to Joaquin and he says yes. Akira rages a lot and randomly decides that he wants to date Jay Huntington.

Bheeda: Arun gets promoted to Development Captain at work. Bexley turns 13 this round. Fariq picks on Bexley, his big sister, constantly. Jesminder gets pregnant, giving birth to twins: Amar and Chandra. At the end of the round, Jesminder announces that she is once again expecting.

Akiyama: Nika turns 5 this round. Kado asks Jenna to have another baby and makes an enemy of Geoffrey Landgraab. Taku gets accepted into university and decides to start writing a book. Miki is promoted to Ensemble Author.

Markovic: While the past few rounds saw Mateo and Lucia growing apart, they rekindle their love for one another this round. However, Lucia continues to cheat on Mateo with Lilith Vatore. Tomi turns 20 this round and little Peter learns to talk. Liliana mostly just plays with her toys and loves science.

Watson: In between Rounds 4 and 5, Thomas and Rahmi got divorced autonomously. At the start of this round, Thomas buys a small home in Oasis Springs and Imran moves away to attend University. Maira has her hands full with her alien twins, Apollo and Benny. Rahmi asks Gideon Harris to be her boyfriend.

Caliente: After proposing to Joaquin Le Chien during his round, Nighat asks Don Lothario and Mitchell Kalani to move out. Dina's daughter, Naomi Huntington, turns 5 and rolls the Evil Trait. Don visits his daughter, Olivia, every single day. Nina makes a move on Cecelia Kang and is shot down, so Nina fights Cecilia. Jay Huntington and Dina continue to co-parent until Jay asks Dina to move with their daughter to San Myshuno with him.

Feng: Victor works on his oration skills by giving speeches all over San Myshuno. Lily gets a chance card that result in a hostile takeover of a local competing business. Caia hangs out with other teens and enjoys high school.

Landgraab: Poppy Landgraab brings her family closer together as they are all enamored with her. Malcolm turns 20 and gets a crush on Kerri Elderberry. He also decides to make amends with a long-time enemy, Thorne Bailey. This round Malcolm decides to join the Engineering Career and moves to The Culpepper Apartments in San Myshuno.

Munch: Wolfgang fights Don Lothario and gets promoted to Ring Leader. Mila works as a Detective and decides to start saving up to open a restaurant. Gunther decides to attend University while living at home next round to study Language and Literature.

Flex: Ulrike decides to go back to school to study Art History and Marcus is promoted to Rookie. Marcus starts to have doubts about his marriage, both wanting to move, as well as start a new relationship. Maaike attends Britechester University while living at home to earn a degree in Language & Literature. She plagiarizes a paper and gets caught.

Scott: Sara and Simon try to find a healthy balance between working at their bar, and caring for their four daughters. Remi turns 5 this round.

Lobo: Caleb moves in with Diego this round, but still visits Lillith and the kids every few days. Caleb and Diego get married in Tartosa.

Vatore: Having moved in with his husband, Diego Lobo, last round, Caleb comes to visit every few days. He lives down the road from the Vatores. Quest turns 13. Lilith continues to date Lucia Markovic, who is still married. They make it official. Stuart turns 20. Ravin turns 13 and begins to learn Vampire Skills from her mother, Lilith, and her father, Alika Kahananui.

Fyres: Moira works as a Detective and Dominic flirts with Maira Watson. Morgan romances Cassandra Goth.

Rocca: No longer able to afford the rent on Factory One, Eva, Paolo and Jade decide they will move out at the end of the round. Paolo is promoted to Bodybuilder and completes the Bodybuilder Aspiration. Eva flirts with a bartender named Kyla. At the end of the round. Paolo and Jade rent an apartment for themselves and little Daisy in the Culpepper Apartments in San Myshuno. Eva rents a single down the hall in the same building.

Behr: Candy works with Lennox to help him learn all of his toddler skills. Yuki joins the Engineering Career and hits on Judith Ward and Cecelia Kang. Lennox turns 5 years old. Candy has woohoo with Jeb Harris.

Bjergsen: Bjorn tries to be a better father to the girls. Darcy turns 13. Bjorn struggles to work his day job, as well as run Bjergsen's Furniture in the evenings and on weekends. He asks his friend, a townie named Reece, to be his boyfriend and is hurt when Reece tells him he is not interested in men. Sofia has her first kiss with Mila Munch and hits on Judith Ward.

Jeong: Venessa gets a makeover and gossips with her friends about Judith Ward leaving town. She applies to the University of Britechester to study Art History. She goes to an acting gig and has woohoo with Alexander Goth.

Rasoya: Raj asks Penny to have a baby with him but she wants to wait until they are married. A bad news story hurts Penny's public reputation. Raj maxes out the Gourmet Cooking Skills and is promoted to Celebrity Chef. Raj confesses to cheating on Penny with Don Lothario and Travis Scott. Penny breaks off their engagement and Raj rents and apartment in San Myshuno. After Raj leaves, Penny gets a job as an International Affairs Intern.

Bailey-Moon: Thorne walks with a new sense of purpose now that Judith Ward is gone. Octavia gets promoted to Fan Favorite. Orange graduates high school and decides to study Physics when he goes to University. Thorne and Octavia get pregnant. Havana turns 13, and Octavia gives birth to a baby girl, Nola.

Laurent: Greta moves to Britechester to attend University and Hilary rents an apartment in San Myshuno, no longer interested in working on her marriage with Hector. Jace has a crush on Olive Tinker and gets accepted to university. Hector tries, unsuccessfully, to win his wife back.

Sigworth: Christie is off to uni this round. Dylan and Jess make out a lot. Jess is promoted to Courageous Captain and Dylan works to earn a promotion at FutureSim Labs. Jess and Dylan try, but are unable to get pregnant after several tries.

Roswell: Ted and Meredith enjoy raising their children, and even rekindle the spark that had been missing from their relationship for so long. Isaiah turns 13, while the twins, Finnley and Evalyn turn 5. Meredith maxes out the Cooking Skill and tells Ted that she is pregnant. At the end of the round she gives birth to a son, Huxley.

Martin: Alice applies to university to study Art History and Mark decides he wants to earn a second degree.

Ito (2): Kaori turns 30 this round. Kiyoshi struggles with jealousy, and the couple gets pregnant.

Kealoha: Lilliana gives birth to a baby boy, Kai. Under Makoa's leadership as Conservation Director, Sulani is restored. Nani gets a crush on Quest Vatore.

Ojo: Miko loves her new career in Politics, and she applies to university. She starts dating Rohan Elderberry. Darling works as a Nature Historian and has woohoo with a very married Tina Tinker.

Kahananui: Mele finds out about Ravin and Lilith, and is furious with her husband. Despite their animosity, they manage to maintain a health woohoo life. Salem and Keoki both dislike their father, and Alika tries to intimidate them into respecting him. Alika wanders around at night, drinking from Sims and teaching Ravin Vampire secrets. Alika cheats on Mele with Lilith and Mele decides to become a doctor.

Ngata: Leila gets promoted to Color Theory Critic while Oliana is laid off. Elyse turns five years old. Leila and Oliana adopt another child, a baby named Helena. Tane starts dating Bexley Bheeda. Oliana joins the Civil Designer Career.

Benali: Salim asks Cassandra to move in with him with their baby, Niko. They plan of buying a bigger house in the next few years. Cassandra proposes to Salim and he accepts. Cassandra gets a job in the Doctor Career and Salim applies to university.

Jang: Billie turns 20 and decides she wants to be a professional dancer. She does a bunch of stuff naked. Baako and Anaya rekindle their romance and begin to repair their relationship.

Rasoya-Vega: Anya turns 13 this round. Geeta and Everett get engaged and move in together.

Romeo: Siobhan flirts with her neighbor, Kerri Elderberry in front of Sergio, causing him to acquire the Jealous Trait. Siobhan gets a promotion. Sergio and Siobhan go to a family gathering with the Fyres family. Morgan flirts with Sergio, causing Siobhan to fly into a rage.

Elderberry: Kerri joins the Scientist Career and Rohan joins the Writer Career this round. Rohan dates Miko Ojo and Kerri has a weird thing with Malcolm Landgraab. Rohan has shower woohoo with Geeta Rasoya-Vega.

Harris: Cletus quits his job so he can stay home to take care of Zachariah. Jeb becomes more Cheerful this round, but also gets Malcolm Landgraab as a work rival.

Tinker: Olive turns 20 years old and gets a job as an artist. She messes around with Jeb Harris, but turns him down repeatedly when he suggests taking things to the next level. After saving for the past few years, Tina and Yasemin finally have enough to purchase Evergreen Unique Gifts.

Kalani: After being kicked out by Nighat, Mitchell rents an apartment in Evergreen Harbor. He asks Nina Caliente to move in with him. Nina pulls pranks and decides she wants to start a new relationship.

Lothario: Don quits his job as an actor and focuses on his Aspiration, Serial Romantic. He dates several townies, Nancy Landgraab, Jade Rosa, Cecilia Kang, Anaya Jang and Nanami Ito.

Ito (3): Nanami moves to San Myshuno and begins working in the Civil Designer Career. She breaks up with her boyfriend, Taku Akiyama.

Ward: Judith sells her home, gets a makeover and moves to San Myshuno. She quits her job and slips into obscurity.

Laurent(2): Hilary hits on her estranged husband, Hector, and is rejected. She starts dating a townie named Reece.

University: In attendance this semester: Greta Laurent, Olivia Kim-Lewis, Duane Talla, Christie Sigworth and Imran Watson. Greta struggles with being a werewolf, and starts searching for a cure. She starts dating Kerri Elderberry. Christie wants to date all of the sims.

Watson (2): Thomas works to put his life back together after his divorce from Rahmi Watson. He spends time with his children and grandchildren. Thomas romances Cecilia Kang in front of her boyfriend and his best friend, Don Lothario.

#ts4 universe legacy #maxis premades #ts4 rotational gameplay #ts4 legacy #ts4 rotational play #the sims 4 legacy #the sims 4

[clarklovescarole]

February 1936: The Town's Newest Combination

February 2, 1936: The Hostess Goes Home

(The Los Angeles Times)

Mystery still surrounds the early departure of Carole Lombard, official hostess of the evening, from the famous White Mayfair party. Did she leave on account of the “altercation” between Clark Gable and Lyle Talbot, which was reported to have occurred when she went out in the lobby of the Victor Hugo with Gable, or just because (the official reason) she was wearied by all the work connected with the ball?

Anyway, Carole declared it a day (or a night) at about 12:30, whereas some of the guests lingered on until even 4 o’clock. Possibly the absence of Robert Riskin was the real reason. He was ill. Cesar Romero squired the hostess, but only during the time she was at the party.

February 15, 1936 

Valentine’s Day in the movie colony brought out practically everything but Valentines. The few orthodox valentines, with lace-paper and the bleeding heart, came from Shirley Temple. She made them. Clark Gable’s souvenir – he found out later it was from Carole Lombard – reached him on the stroke of midnight after he had driven his automobile into a hotel garage. “Sorry, Mr. Gable, but your stall’s taken,” the attendant told him. 

Puzzled, the actor followed the man across the room and found the usual spot for his car already occupied by an aged machine. It was painted white with large, arrow-pierced hearts all over it.

Around the tonneau was a tremendous red ribbon tied in a large, flowering bow on the radiator cap. 

February 18, 1936 

Chatter in Hollywood: Carole Lombard’s divine sense of humor never deserts her. Reams were written that she had left the Mayfair party with Clark Gable before the dance had even started. So Carole thought she might as well make the story a good one. She bought an old dilapidated, fenderless automobile, had it painted white with huge hearts and monogrammed with Clark’s initials, and delivered to the fashionable hotel where he lives bright and early Valentine’s morning. Yes, and her card was on the steering wheel! 

February 19, 1936 

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, the town’s newest combination…

February 21, 1936 

Speaking of Valentines, did you hear about the one Carole Lombard sent Clark Gable. She had an old Ford painted white and decorated with huge red hearts and ribbon, and had it delivered to Mr. Gable’s hotel with her compliments. All this because of the false reports that have been going around town regarding the fact that she was romantically interested in Clark. Carole says she thought she would give gossips something real to talk about for a change.

February 24, 1936 

CLARK GABLE, from the set of “San Francisco,” telephoned Carole Lombard on the set of “A Princess Comes Across” … 

February 25, 1936 

The boulevard is burning with the story of Clark Gable’s valentine. Returning from a party on the night of the 13th, the star sought to drive into his usual stall in the garage of a Beverly Hills hotel. “I’m afraid it is already occupied sir,” said the watchman.

Thereupon, Gable got out and, to his amazement, discovered an ancient and dilapidated Ford painted white with decorations of large red hearts. Around the body was tied a huge red ribbon. Gable grabbed the card. It read: “To My Valentine, from – Carole Lombard.”

February 25, 1936 – The San Francisco Examiner

After a week of unprecedented gaiety you might think the Schenck party would suffer, but with a good orchestra, grand food and conversation, most of the guests stayed on and on; Carole Lombard and Clark Gable left early because they are working and had to be on the set early.

February 26, 1936 – The Evening News

For days to come, Hollywood will be rehashing the “convalescent” party that Donald Ogden Stewart gave for his wife, Beatrice. He borrowed Jock Whitney’s house, summoned 150 of the movie elite to come at high noon, but dressed in full evening regalia – white ties and tails for the men, evening gowns of full court costumes for the women.

Mrs. Stewart, who has been getting home at 6 p.m. on account of doctor’s orders, thought it was to be a tennis party and arrived in slacks but later changed to evening clothes while riding around the yard in an ambulance with Hollywood’s famous ones doing a snake dance behind the vehicle.

But as Al Jolson would say, you haven’t heard nothing yet. Later on, when Jock Whitney and Gilbert Roland tried to have a serious game of tennis, Clark Gable (armed with a broom), Carole Lombard and a half dozen others batted balls at random at them and all over the court.

#1936 #old hollywood #carole lombard #clark gable

[goddamnwebcomics]

"Yes, the girls are all playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl using GCN controllers. As they should be."

Calm down competitive man, take a shower. It's a good thing Jon's married.

Anyways we learn poor Persephoni never gets to go anywhere, although she probably CAN go anywhere as she has done so in the past. And also Ezzy's full name is Esmeralda. Were her parents huge Victor Hugo fans?

This might be a step in the right direction, we're shown Chelsea is a human and she apparently was good enough of a friend to make Whitney forgive her literal murder attempt. And also how much different their relationship is compared to Seth and Peter. Like, I do like the contrast between two relationships even if I don't give a shit about Elite Guardian lore nonsense. Persephoni's status as a comfort doll guardian to Chelsea kind of means that she can only influence and critique her intangibly.

#peter and company

[whiskyarts]

I’m gonna throw up in your askbox because I think Hugo and Diona wouldn’t like each other and it’s ruining my life and I miss the smoke hearts you drew that one time you can’t just post a guy smoking without those

i really really thought about putting smoke hearts in there but unlike that varigo art (FLIRTY teasing/bullying, deserving of smoke hearts), whitney is JUST being mean and sydney is way too into it (that's why i drew the smoke wrapping around him and pulling him in) no romance (yet) only a lustful tug teehee

#ask #thehellsystem #dol

[redwineconversation]

Camille Abily OL Night Systems Interview (February 14, 2023)

Doing this primarily because I thought the discussion about managing returns from injury was interesting. Most likely the last major translation until preseason begins.

This interview dates back from February 2023 so obviously some of the things they discuss are out of date. But as I've said so often in the past, to know this team is to understand them, and this is how you get to that.

CAMILLE ABILY OL NIGHT SYSTEMS INTERVIEW

Journalist: Hello to everybody. Very happy to have you back at OLNS [OL Night Systems]. An OLNS tonight which will be dedicated to football, because I don't really like to refer to it as women's football. I don't really like the term women's sports, I prefer just using football. But we will be talking mostly about the women's team because we are fortunate to have Camille Abily. Hi, Camille.

Abily: Hello.

Journalist: How are you doing, Camille? Everything good?

Abily: All good, thanks.

Journalist: It's a special day today, but I'll get to that later. Before that, we won't break up any couples, because it's Valentine's Day. You'll see his face in a few minutes and it can cause some couples to break up. The guys will swoon, the women will swoon. We'll ease into it with his voice first as he does a preview of what's coming up. It's Jules.

[JULES VOICEOVER SUMMARY OF UPCOMING PROGRAM]

Journalist: There you have it, I got you introduced to his voice. Now the camera will focus on his body. It's Jules who is here with us. Hi, Jules.

Jules: Hi. Good evening, everyone. Was that my Valentine's Day present?

Journalist: It was my Valentine's Day gift, I'm really proud of myself. Even more so because -

[producers play "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston]

Journalist: Yes, thank you to the producers. Jules, you're with us because you've prepared an awesome segment about the team. Camille [Abily], we're going to have a lot of things to talk about. We're looking to look back at the beginning of the season, changes in formations, etc. But before that we're going to have a brief interlude and talk about Alex [Lacazette], because we received the official news.

Jules: Yes, we talked about it in last night's episode, we brought it up with [Hugo] Lloris, the health of Alexandre Lacazette. He came off right before halftime in the game against RC Lens. We'll look at the replay. It was in the extra time at the end of the first half, he came off immediately, asked right away to be substituted. The official news came out yesterday, he will be out for Friday's game against Auxerre. There will be more exams and tests beginning of next week, to determine the length of the Lyon captain's absence. It's definite a point of interest, how will Lyon play without a player who has played every game up to this point? Top scorer, top assist, he was implicated on 21 out of the 43 goals so far, 18 goals scored 5 assists. So for the Auxerre game, we will find an Olympique Lyonnais without Alexandre Lacazette.

Journalist: Camille, I'm going to turn to you now. Handling the injury crisis. Camille, it's true that there are muscular injuries, there are a fair amount of knee injuries, there's been ACL injuries, MCL injuries in the women's league. A few years ago you said it was up to the referees to better protect the players. I think you said that in 2015. Is that statement something you still stand by? Do you think the referees are doing their job, that there are more red [cards] in women's football?

Abily: The red [cards] are starting to appear. That being said, I think that we were particularly hit by this injury crisis, unfortunately it wasn't always because of tackles, it was just wear-and-tear, it was fatigue. It's true that in women's football, the calendar is really packed. The intensity of games has increased as well. So the players' bodies are being put through more. So the players - as you saw, you said it well, there are a lot of players who are being affected by this, be it worldwide or in Europe, but especially international players. So we were also affected by it. We're getting them back little by little. We're getting certain players back, so we're happy about that and we're hoping that we can finally turn the page. Because it was a really difficult period to handle.

Journalist: It's something that we will cover in depth in this segment. We'll talk about the players returning from injury. How do you handle a group like that, when you have players going out on injury, players returning from injury. Is there a real managerial role which comes into play?

Abily: Yeah. You have to know how to handle it. That being said, we're all focused on the same objectives, and I think that - well, we know we have to take care of the players who can't play, obviously, we pay attention them. We have people on the staff as well, notably our physical fitness staff member, Remi [Pullara], who is in charge of rehabilitation. He is really with the [injured] players on a day-to-day basis. For us, we're in contact with them, but we're also focused on the players who can play. So each time they reintegrate the team, we have into account the group, and try to help them get back to their former level as fast as possible.

Journalist: Obviously that affects your choices. Jules, I believe you have something to say about that.

Jules: What I was going to say is that you have a little bit of "luck", and I am putting that in quotation marks, that there wasn't only one player who was injured, there was a little group. So they weren't by themselves. Because if there's only one player who is injured, they're a bit of the black sheep in the family, they're cast aside a bit and it's more complicated to handle. Here, at least you have -

Abily: I would have preferred having less [injured players]. Because when you have half the team out, it's harder.

Jules: But at least for them, it's easier.

Abily: It's easier for them, yeah. It's true, we've seen it before with Griedge [M'Bock] and Ada [Hegerberg] last year, they were injured at the same time and they supported each other. And that helps a lot, the fact that you aren't alone during your rehab, that's for sure. However, for us, if it's just one or two players [who are injured], we'll take it. When they are injured in little groups, it's more difficult to manage their returns. Because when a player has been injured, they've been out for 5-6 months, maybe more, they have to find their previous level again. And for that - we have to follow one player. So we'll give them a little bit of playing time here and there. But when you have 3-4 players like that on the bench [coming back], it's difficult to give them all the playing time they are waiting for to regain their form. So it's harder to handle for the staff.

Journalist: it's a real question of [game] management, and I guess that's where coaching comes into play. Jules, for this program, you also went to get some interviews, and some players had some questions for Camille.

Jules: Yes, there will some surprises coming up. We'll start with a question from someone you know very well. It's pretty simple, but we still want to know the answer.

Le Sommer: Hi, Camille. I have a question for you. What is your best memory as a player at Lyon?

Abily: Well, I think that's a pretty easy answer. It's true, it's something I got to share with Eugenie [Le Sommer], it was the first Champions League in England at Fulham. We won against Potsdam, 2-0.

Journalist: We often talked about that moment.

Abily: Yeah, it's because it's the most significant for me with Lyon. It was the first one, I was coming back from the US so there was that pressure. Spur of the moment you don't think about it because you're playing, but there's a part of you that's aware you were called back to Lyon, Sonia [Bompastor] was as well. And we absolutely wanted to bring that trophy back.

Journalist: So there you have it, Camille Abily's favorite memory. Jules, you prepared a little segment on the season so far. Because we can't do the entire season, you chose four dates. We started off the season in the best way.

Jules: Indeed, right at the beginning of the season, it's end of August with the Trophee des Championnes, a win over Paris Saint-Germain by the smallest of margins. But it's already a trophy to start the season. Last season, it was a season of revenge, that was accomplished with the double D1 Arkema - UWCL, only the Coupe de France was missing but we will talk about that later. So it starts straight away with that win against Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 win with a goal from Danielle van de Donk. A few weeks after a "first" trophy, and I'm putting that in quotation marks, the Women's International Champions Cup against Monterrey. So in many ways this was the best way to start the season.

Abily: Yeah it's important, especially against PSG. They're our direct rivals. So it's important. They've had a lot of changes, they've had numerous injuries. But it was important for us to show that we were still there. We won 1-0 but we weren't really in any danger during the game as a whole. We scored pretty quickly so we were pretty much in cruise control. There are games where there's more tension, you feel it's going to be more difficult. There, of course there was a good team opposite us, but I don't remember feeling that stressed because we pretty much controlled the game.

Journalist: They weren't penetrating very well. The finishing was missing, whereas there were chances created on your side.

Abily: There were more chances for us. They had a somewhat sterile ball possession. But it's true they didn't put us under a lot of pressure when they were in the final third. So it's fair to say that we prepared the game really well and obviously having scored quickly, that helped us.

Journalist: We started the season well. And then, Jules, as with every season, there are highs and lows.

[Abily sighs heavily]

Jules: I think you know what I am doing to say. October 19, first day of the group stage in the UWCL.

Abily: It was a slap to the face. That's the only way to put it. It was a slap to the face.

Jules: I was trying to be nice.

Journalist: We try to be fair.

Abily: You can tell the truth.

Journalist: Is that how you saw it [as a slap in the face]?

Abily: It was the first time - well, it was the first time that I experienced that - well not as a player, because when I was with Montpellier we lost 6-0 against Potsdam. But with Lyon, yeah. It was the first time we were that bad. Nothing was working for us.

Jules: And it was for the first time in Lyon's history as well, that they had lost by such a great margin.

Abily: Whether it was the staff or the players, it was the first time that we had been that bad. Despite that, when we came back to 2-1, there was a part of you that was like "maybe there is some hope". And then that third goal off a free kick just killed us.

Jules: It was extra time at the end of the first half, 3-1.

Abily: And there were so many individual errors which made that happen. After that, it was a horrible game from the whole team. No one performed well. That happens. We're lucky, we were able to qualify [for the quarters]. But it's true that because of that game, we were in a more difficult position.

Jules: And the second game, it's the draw against Juventus. The mood for the players and the staff after those games, only one point out of six. Do you start getting stressed, or are you saying there's still a long way to go and remind everyone that, without downplaying the atrocious performance against Arsenal, that there were an enormous amount of players out on injury during that period?

Abily: After Arsenal, no, not stressed, because we had Juventus. Juventus didn't stress me out because if you look at the first leg, we should have won it without a problem. By that I mean we're dominating, we're creating chances, we only managed to put one away. And then we conceded a goal, it's an own goal [Malard did it]. It didn't even come from a chance they created, it came off a corner, the corner was coming in, whatever. And you're like, "this can't be happening." Okay, so we'll win at home then. But I thought we were worse in the return leg, meaning that we drew 0-0, which wasn't good, but we really deserved to win the away game. So for the game against Juventus, first of all, the staff said to themselves "we can't lose this." Because if we lost at Juventus, we were really - sorry for the language - we would have been fucked. So this one [the away game] you're like, okay, that wasn't a good game, we should have won it. You're a little disgusted with the result and you know you have to win at home. And we knew we could win at Arsenal, which we were able to do.

Journalist: Camille, I have a bone to pick. I looked at your career. You were a player, after that a consultant. And at one point you said, "I don't want to experience that kind of stress, I don't want to relive that kind of anxiety." But here I am and I can hear the way you talk, there's stress. There's stress and anxiety and unhappiness.

Abily: Of course.

Journalist: There's a lot of unhappiness. You're back in it.

Abily: It's what happens when you're passionate about it.

Journalist: However, you said -

Abily: I know, I know. I remember when I retired, I said to myself "ah, finally, some time for myself, no more sleepless nights." Because when you're a player at the top level, you fucking think about when you played bad, when you lost. You're replaying the games in your head, the sequences of play. That keeps you up. And then a year later I dipped my toes back in the water, because I did a year with the U-15s at the Academy where if we're honest there is a complete lack of stress. They're really young players. But the stress comes back in the league but it's not comparable at all.

Journalist: It was a transition and that's what you wanted to do.

Abily: Completely. And then I had the opportunity to integrate the [pro] staff with Jean-Luc [Vasseur]. I was the second assistant, I wasn't as close to the top as I am now. I wasn't with the team as much. But yeah, it was starting to come back. And it was the passion for the game.

Journalist: It's passion, passion which brings a fair amount of stress. There was a fair amount of that this season. Jules, you're not going on easy on our guest tonight.

Jules: Not really.

Abily: It's okay, I know which games we didn't play well. But it's okay, I'm smiling, we'll talk about it later. Despite how badly we played, we're still on track to accomplish our objectives [quarterfinals against Chelsea hadn't been played yet].

Journalist: We'll talk about the objectives. But we're going to relive this PSG game. We watched the replays. Jules, tell us about it.

Jules: About 20 shots for Lyon. There was only one real opportunity for PSG, which is when they scored.

Journalist: PSG had six shots, three of which were on goal.

Jules: Exactly. Diani scored a goal right at the end of the game, 87th minute. We were talking about a holdup immediately afterwards. If that isn't the right term, I'm not sure what is, Camille.

Abily: Yeah. There was a lot of frustration regarding that game because you summed it up really well, we were dominating the game. And I think it's the first time we dominated PSG that much.

Jules: Yes.

Abily: And at the end, we lost.

Jules: In recent years.

Abily: The last 3-4 years for sure.

Journalist: I have another statistic here, 95 games at home without losing.

Abily: In any case sometimes it's like that.

Jules: We just have to start again.

Abily: No, what happens after is - what I find frustrating is that it was a game where at a minimum we should have drawn. We shouldn't have lost that game. If we hadn't lost - and we'll talk about it later - but if we hadn't lost, then we really would have held the cards regarding the title. We would have had quite a lead. That being said, the season is long. Just look at what happened afterwards [PSG dropped points against Fleury and Le Havre]. But it's frustrating because as I said, I think it's the game where we had dominated PSG the most, we were better, they really weren't very good and they scored off a free kick.

Journalist: But a league isn't won in September, October, November, Jules.

Jules: Indeed it isn't. So after that first leg, you were second in the league behind Paris Saint-Germain. But it all works out, we'll talk about it in a second. We said, Camille - well it was mainly Timothee Piron, who commentates a lot of the women's games - he said "Don't worry about it, PSG will drop the ball once or twice, we'll get the first place back before the return leg." That's exactly what happened, we'll talk about that too. We've been talking about it since the beginning, you wanted to let go of some of the stress. Are you as stressed as to when you were a player or can't you compare?

Abily: You can't compare. As a player, you have more stress the closer it is to game time. Because you're like "I have to play well, we have to win." With the staff, when you're getting closer to game time, it's more we've done the maximum. We studied the opponent the maximum, we've done our job the best that we can. So the closer you get to game time -

Journalist: You've done our job.

Abily: We've done everything we could to prepare them the best that we could. After you're just - well, after, during the game, when you're a player, you're blowing off the stress whereas when you're on the sidelines, it's harder. At times. There were games where I was really stressed, others I was able to take a step back a bit more. It depends. But I have to work on myself a bit more to relax more.

Journalist: As a coach, you're like I did my job, what happens next is up to the players.

Abily: Exactly.

Journalist: It's not too hard for you to leave it up to others to get the job done?

Abily: We have quality players so it works out. That helps. That helps a lot. No but beyond that, I accepted my retirement, the end of my career went really well. Nothing in the world would make me want to play again. So it's all good.

Journalist: You seem completely zen about it.

Abily: Completely. I only like the 5-v-5s that we do with the club. That's the only thing I like, the rest, leave me out of it.

Jules: And we've both done a lot of the 5-v-5s.

Journalist: We actually have footage of that -

Jules: No, no. Let's not air that.

Journalist: You can find it.

Jules: You could, but I will burn the tapes. And anyway, you had talked about it earlier, but one of the other big moments in the season was the return leg against Juventus, where we qualified. Now you said that within the context of the game, there wasn't anything exceptional. It wasn't the prettiest game. But at the end of the day, there was that qualification for the next round. What stands out for me is the footage from a few minutes after the final whistle, where we saw the numerous injured players - most of them were still injured at the time, we're thinking of Catarina Macario, Griedge M'Bock. Everyone came together and there was a lot of relief, almost a liberation, because we felt that the first half of the season left a lot of scars physically and mentally.

Abily: Yeah, the month of December was really complicated for us.

Jules: There was that game -

Abily: Yeah, and in terms of tension as well. We had to go to Arsenal and get a result. Here against Juventus, it was really tense. If they won we would have been eliminated. And you could see it during the game. We didn't play a good game. So there was relief but as a perfectionist, there was a lot of frustration after that game. We didn't play well, we weren't able to score, win against Juventus - well, it annoys the shit out of me , sorry, that we weren't able to win against Juventus over two legs. We have a team capable of that, even with the injuries we should have at least won one of the two games. And it's a shame with regards to that, we didn't portray a great image of our team. So we finished the year with a lot of difficulty. However things were off to a good start in January.

Journalist: Eight consecutive qualification [for the quarterfinals]. There is a standard when you're wearing that Lyon jersey, and you have that badge.

Abily: It's the minimum. It's true that it's unfortunate because it's not obvious. But it's the minimum when you have the roster that we have, the quality of the infrastructure, and the staff we have as well. We have a big staff. We owe it to ourselves to win and get the qualification.

Journalist: We owe it to ourselves to win. We understand that. We are back on the right track in our timeline, Jules, and that path also correlates to the return of the injured players.

Jules: Yeah, we talked about it in the recap, about the return of the injured players. There are still some players who are out injured, we'll talk about it later. But I wanted to talk about this statistic. In September - October, there were more than 10 players injured. We could have made a second team. And excuse me, but when the injured players are Amel Majri -

Abily: They were all international players.

Jules: Marozsan, Sara Dabritz, Ellie Carpenter.

Abily: Yeah, those were top players.

Jules: It wasn't easy. But now, as you said, things are going a bit better. And it correlates to the return of the players. We'll start with that of Amel Majri. It's a bit symbolic. 471 days out for Amel. That's an eternity. She came back against Soyaux. It's a particular case because there was the knee injury, the pregnancy, it took her a while to come back. She talked to us on OL Night Systems about to manage being a top athlete and pregnancy. She really wanted to come back, she's a true competitor. She's in the top 10 of players most capped [at Lyon], she's one of the top goal scorers. When we see the replays, the return of Amel, it's symbolic. A few weeks later she scored the 8,000th goal for Olympique Lyonnais. That's really something.

Journalist: I have something. 8,000th goal for Lyon. Do you know who scored the 7,000th?

Jules: Well -

Journalist: It's complicated.

Jules: We talked about it last week. It's Bertrand Traore.

Journalist: Who scored the 6,999th?

Jules: I'm blanking. I don't know.

Abily: It's me. The producers told me before going on the show. Olivier Blanc told me.

Journalist: Camille Abily, for 3 hours - we actually had the clock going for this. Anyway, I think it was against Soyaux, and you scored at the 71th minute. You scored the 6,999th goal, and a few hours later, the men play and Traore scored at the 63rd minute. They could have scored earlier, you could have played later, it's complicated I know. Beyond scoring the 6,999th goal, is it important to be in Lyon's history books, Camille?

Abily: At the core it's not a need. When you're a player what you really want is to have accolades. Now after that, when I see the staff here, it's always nice, especially when your career is over. When you see the replays of the goals you scored or stuff like that, it brings back good memories.

Journalist: So the 6,999th goal, it was Camille.

Jules: I'll write it down so that way I will remember it.

Journalist: Going back to it, Amel [Majri] scored the 8,000th goal. A word on Amel, Camille - what did her return bring to Lyon in terms of style of play?

Abily: Amel is a player who has a lot of qualities. She was injured a year ago in October. She was really on a roll in terms of her vision, the qualities she brings, her style of play. Amel knows how to do everything when she is at her top level. So here we're happy to have her back. She hasn't had a huge amount of game time yet, but this international break [February] will allow her to get her rhythm back. And we hope she will be back as soon as possible so she can be a starter again.

Journalist: There were injuries, of course, but she was also the first French player to become a mother while still actively playing. So she was out for 15 months. 15 months away from the field. Jules, why don't you continue.

Jules: Another return from injury, a little bit more recent, and that's Sara Dabritz who came back. She came here from Paris Saint-Germain. She was injured with the [German] National Team [I think Jules is wrong and it happened with Lyon training but that's an aside] and came back in January. And what a return, because she was voted Player of the Month in January. One goal and an assist, we already talked about it, against Soyaux. She scored against Rodez, she also has an assist in the Coupe de France against Montpellier, an assist for Dzsenifer Marozsan, who also came back from injury and we'll talk about that. Sara was a recruit that we felt we had barely seen because she was injured as soon as October.

Abily: Yeah. And what a recruit, what a player. It's true that when you compare it to Amel [Majri], Sara [Dabritz] had a faster return, because obviously she wasn't out as long. So she got her bearings back faster, whether it be physically or technique. And it's true that she had an excellent beginning of January, since she is performing really well, she is scoring and providing assists. So we're happy she's back. We know all her qualities since we knew her well [from PSG], and we're really happy she can help the team.

Jules: She's the first Lyon player to have won Player of the Month in January since Selma Bacha [won Player of the Month] in October and November 2021. So it's been almost an eternity.

Abily: That's insane.

Journalist: I was surprised as well. They've forgotten about Lyon.

Abily: They're jealous.

Journalist: [jokingly] I'm sure it was just an oversight.

Abily: [seriously] No, but seriously. We're champions, and we don't even have any players -

Jules: Since the 2021-2022 season, there were many Players of the Month. And it's Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux who have won the most, 7 for Paris Saint-Germain and 5 for Bordeaux. And we're tied behind them with Fleury.

Abily: I think we have so many good players - and it's true - and with Paris [Saint-Germain], you have a few who stand out. The spotlight isn't spread out over as many.

Journalist: We'll say it like this. We have the title as the collective for several months.

Jules: And that explains why the Lyon players didn't rank that highly at the Ballon d'Or.

Abily: Yeah, even if for me it's not normal. It's not normal.

Journalist: We shouldn't provoke Camille.

Abily: No, no, but we should be realistic. Even when I look at The Best from FIFA, I see there are some players that - well, it's complicated to understand why there were no Lyon players when you look at the fact we won the Champions League and the manner in which we did it.

Journalist: So we'll just say the team is so strong that it masks the individuals. We'll stick with that to stay positive. Let's continue with the list.

Jules: Another return was Dzenifer Marozsan. She was absent 235 days. She too suffered an ACL injury. It was a little bit the fashion trend at Lyon. She came back in the Champions League game against Zurich, she came on and played about 15 minutes. And then little by little you managed her game time, she was a starter against Juventus in a slightly hybrid role, left winger, No. 10, we'll talk more about this 4-4-2 which is starting to reappear. She scored against Rodez on a corner. Now not to sound redundant, we know Dzsenifer Marozsan, she's been here in 2016, she's won five Champions Leagues, she can be seen as one of the leaders in the locker room. She made a brief detour via OL Reign. And we felt as though her return has changed a lot of things.

Abily: Yeah. It's true that like with Amel [Majri], she needed a bit of time to get her rhythm back. She was out seven, seven and a half months. So it was a little less than Amel, Amel was twice that. But she got her fitness level back up really quickly, her technical skills, she just has those. So Maro, it wasn't really difficult. It was more gathering the information, executing a little bit faster. That's the hardest thing to get back. As the games went on she got better and better. And now, since January - well at the end of December, she got better with more playing time. But it's true that since January, she's scoring, she's getting others to score. She's really interesting.

Jules: We saw her brace against Rodez and her magnificent goal against Montpellier thanks to an assist by Sara Dabritz. The number of injured players is going down and the team is becoming stronger.

Journalist: We were talking about ACLs a minute ago. There is more and more contact but there is also the amount of games played, the packed calendar. Do you think we will see more and more of this in the upcoming years?

Abily: I'm afraid so. I'm afraid that will happen. That being said the players are often called up with their national teams. And - well, we're happy for them, because we like having international players. But then they travel a lot, they're going to Australia, so it's a long flight, there's jet lag. How much vacation time can they have? It always comes down to that, really. It's true that for us, the French players were called up pretty quickly before the Euros. They didn't have a big break. And it was difficult. They really needed a breather. We tried to give them a break [over Christmas], Lyon really tried to do that. So that was good. They had almost 15 days off. Even if they had a program to follow, just having that time off allowed them to breathe a little. And I hope that will allow us to finish the season without too many injuries.

Journalist: Indeed, there are definitely some injuries that can be linked to a lack of a break, to tiredness. We're going to continue because the list isn't finished. You got a lot of players back from injury, Camille.

Jules: And the last one, she came back against Rodez. Ellie Carpenter came back. She was out for 259 days. She was injured in the Champions League final, we can still see the images in our head. She collapsed. She tried coming back on, but unfortunately that wasn't enough. It's not the same position, there were a lot of injuries in the midfield, here it's a right back. You had Alice Sombath who was playing there, it's not her usual position. We have the regular stater back, someone who is important to the Lyon group, someone who came back against Rodez. Once again, it's a good news, especially because it means there are choices now for the starting lineup.

Abily: Finally. Finally, because - well it's good when there were these injuries, the young [academy] players were able to step up, that's part of sports at the top level. But it's true with the big games coming up, especially the Champions League, experienced players are important. So it's good to have choices. Ellie [Carpenter], it's the same as with the others, she did her first minutes. She's still in the gradual phrase, meaning she will gradually get more playing time. And confidence, because it's also about that: get your bearings back, get your confidence back so you can play more freely.

Journalist: All that, all those returns. Obviously this will influence tactical choices, which didn't go unnoticed by Jules.

Jules: Yeah, indeed, after having chatted with Timothee Piron, he was telling me about the 4-4-2 diamond that you had envisioned in the preseason. You worked on it and then it was dropped.

Journalist: I want to elaborate a little on that, Jules. I know you want to press on this. Camille, why didn't it work out in the beginning of the season?

Abily: Because of all the injuries.

Journalist: Because of all the injuries?

Abily: Yeah, the injured players made it so that - well, when you have so many good players, you have to have the best conditions in place for them on the field. And as such, we lost Sara Dabritz really quickly, who as we can see really excels in that 4-4-2 diamond. Maro[zsan] wasn't back yet. So for the midfield, we just had a lack of midfielders available. So to use the 4-4-2 - we also had offensive players who performing well in the 4-3-3, so that's why. But since the beginning of the year, we had the idea of being able to evolve in both formations, to have that possibility of creating doubt with the opponent and also if we had to make tactical changes during a game, that's important as well.

Journalist: I've definitely lost Jules to the coaching staff, because I think that's Jules' analysis.

Jules: Indeed. We've seen with the return of the players - we talked about Dzenifer Marozsan, Sara Dabritz, even Lindsey Horan, who was absent a little bit after having gotten hurt with her National Team. She was even called up when she had been injured, but that's another story. We saw a 4-4-2 in place for the last four games. There's Maro as a No. 10, there's a mixture between Lindsey, Sara and Damaris, even Amandine Henry. So there -

Abily: Yeah, there's a lot of competition. There's also Danielle van de Donk as well. Amel [Majri] will reintegrate as well. So there's a lot of competition.

Jules: Ines Benyahia as well.

Abily: She showed some interesting things as well. So it's true there are choices, but it's also about making sure the team is the best it can be and as competitive as possible.

Journalist: It's interesting. There are the players who have earned their place as starters, there's a hierarchy in place, but you have to start from scratch.

Abily: Yeah. It's also about managing the team as well. You have to prove you have confidence in the players by giving them playing time, but then you have to take into account the team chemistry as well. And then we really make it so that the team is the best they can be for every game. So it's also about which player is in form as well.

Journalist: And it's going to come up again in the weeks to come.

Jules: Yes, because we can't forget about Griedge M'Bock, who is injured, Catarina Macario, or even Ada Hegerberg. Mikael [OLPlay journalist] went to film the training session earlier, he did a little segment on Ada who is working on her rehab with Remi [Pullara], who is in charge of rehabilitation with Lyon. Ada had already been out for a long time a few years ago. She had an exceptional 2021-2022 season. There was the special in the Champions League, assist from Selma Bacha for an Ada Hegerberg header. She's going through rehab again. We'll remind people again, Ada Hegerberg won the first Ballon d'Or for women. It goes without saying but Lyon will look far different when she returns.

Abily: For sure. A forward who scores as much as Ada [Hegerberg], who has the mentality she does... We saw it when she came back last year from a long injury, she was able to get back to a top level really quickly. We know that when a player is out that isn't easy. But she has that mentality and will to score goals. Ada, she is our goal scorer, even if we have other players who are capable of scoring. But it's true that with Ada, that's her real strength.

Jules: Remi is obviously making her work hard because we can see on the screen that Ada [Hegerberg] is looking a bit tired. You were talking earlier about a lack of efficiency at the beginning of the season. Catarina Macario, Ada Hegerberg, Sara Dabritz, Dzsenifer Marozsan. That's a lot of goal scorers who were out.

Abily: Of course. And we're already scoring more, you can see it. We have quality in front of goal again, which we were lacking in the first half of the season in certain games. For now, since January at least, we're off to a good start. With the returns of those players, Ada, with their technical qualities and their ability to score goals, that will do us a lot of good, obviously.

Journalist: Are certain players too eager to come back, and you have to force them to take things slower? Or is it okay?

Abily: No, they're good. They're players who have a lot of maturity, who are capable of analyzing things. And they know full well what's best for them, for their bodies. So it's really discussions they have with the medical staff, with the physical fitness trainers to come back at the best time and not skip any steps. But they have to take the necessary time without delaying it indefinitely, because after a while if they can come back, they need to come back. But no, they're really mature, and they know what they want.

Journalist: And their form at the moment, Jules, how is it?

Jules: Well, it's going pretty well. 2023 is working out pretty well for Camille Abily and Sonia Bompastor's players. Five games, five wins. 20 goals scored, 0 conceded, because we talk a lot about the attack, but we need to highlight the defensive solidarity. Back to the first place in the D1 Arkema after the 4-4 draw between Fleury and Paris Saint-Germain and a [Lyon] win against Montpellier. And a qualification through to the quarterfinals in the Coupe de France. Everything is going well.

Journalist: I know that tactically you're really focused on the offense, but the clean-sheets must feel good, too.

Abily: It's part of our objectives. We conceded too many goals in the first half of the season. And it's true that Sonia [Bompastor], who is a former defender, was more annoyed by it than I was. No, but it was actually a really important thing for us. And I think one of our strengths last year was how we defended, recover the ball quickly and high so that we could throw ourselves forward. We scored a lot of goals like that. We need to keep that. I'll add that our ball possession and transitioning is improving as well.

Journalist: And we got the first place back, the qualification for the next round in the Coupe de France. Mentally, that is all doing a lot of good.

Abily: Yes, it's all good. It's true that it was a gift. We need to be honest about that, the fact that Fleury was able to draw with PSG was a gift. I watched the game, it was a real gift, Paris [Saint-Germain] should have won 100 times over. But it's like that.

Journalist: it's as we said before, the standing wasn't going to last. That's what you were saying. One has to take advantages of another's misfortune.

Abily: What's is good that -

Jules: - anyone can lose.

Abily: You just have to look at earlier in the season, the game against Guincamp [Lyon drew 0-0]. I still find it difficult to swallow. We should have won 100 times over, we didn't score, we were talking about efficiency earlier. But it's good. But what's especially good is that after the bad result for Paris [Saint-Germain], we were able to beat Montpellier at home. And that was important actually to get back that first place, because that way we held the cards in our hands.

Journalist: Holding the cards in our hards. We're going to continue with questions for Camille.

Jules: Yes, with another person who wants to ask a question. Here you are going to use your imagination and football analysis. But we're not worried for you.

Staff member: Camille, I have a quick question for you. You're the poster child for pretty football. How would you describe the characteristics of your favorite footballer?

Abily: It's okay, it's not too hard.

Journalist: You can't list 10 qualities, you have to pick four.

Jules: Four?

Abily: I'll pick the three most important and go from there. First of all, football intelligence. Before even being technical, it's positioning, it's the ability to create uncertainty for the opponent by your positioning. And with football intelligence comes the knowledge of how to create a good pass, at the right place and at the right time. For that you do need the technical qualities, because without that it's difficult. And the last thing for me, which I think is important, is the mental aspect. It's maybe not a pure football quality but still. We see it now that - well I guess before, but even more so now, the mental aspect is so important, it's so important go hard, never give up. And with the young players especially, it's an important message.

Journalist: We'll talk about it in a few minutes, this idea of transmitting ideas. A word on that mentality, of being able to have that winning mentality as well, that's important too.

Abily: Of course. Completely. That's - it's the hatred of losing. When I talk about mentality, it's that. The hatred of losing. People often ask me - I hate losing more than I appreciate winning. I will do anything to not be in the losing position. It's about that. I lost the ball, that's a failure, I need to win it back. You have to push yourself over and over.

Journalist: When we talk to players who have won championships, they all have that trait in common. You celebrate the win one night, it's over and done with, but it takes longer to recover from a loss.

Abily: It takes longer. Even now when I am seeing the replays, it bothers me.

Journalist: Camille, Camille, we didn't want to offend you. Jules, you see what you did? No, but that's interesting. We're going to talk a little bit about what's coming up.

[Discussion about the upcoming schedules]

#all good love stories start in the rain #Camille Abily

[prismaticmuses]

That was a chilling scream, everyone turning to see Whitney’s body convulse from the shock to the head.

“Mrs. Bell?! Typhon?” That was a surprise to see. The woman was pretty damn cool, which was a complete shock.

“Whitney!” Night cried out and almost sprinted forward but was easily held back by Hugo.

“What the hell did I just say?! Don’t look.”

“But-”

“Trust them. Just wait.”

He ignored the command to not look, but he did wait, watching worriedly from an annoyingly safe distance away. He glanced down at his hands, seeing a faint, shadowy aura dissipate. Oh, now it wanted to work? Useless fucking power.

“Okay, you can look now,” Hugo stepped to the side so Night could clearly see the girl being taken into the ambulance. “She’ll live. Happy?”

It was over. Night breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, but all the tension and anger and fear he’d been holding back suddenly all flooded into him at once. He looked up to Hugo tearfully, then rushed into him, squeezing his friend as tight as possible as Night buried his face into Hugo’s chest to sob.

“Oh my god, bro,” Hugo sighed, though he did hug him back. “You are such a wuss.”

“Shut up.”

Sable hurried over to the two. Seeing Night’s reaction, her own feelings came to surface and she wrapped her arms around the two men, crying into Night’s arm.

“Aw, fuck. You too?” He indulged for a few seconds, then gently tried to pry them off. “Y’all are acting like someone died. You’re fine. I’m fine. She’s fine,” he jerked his head over to the ambulance. “... Let’s just go home, okay?”

“... This is my home.”

“Okay, then let’s go to my home. We got a lotta shit to process and gotta let the clean up crew do their thing.”

As they started to walk off together, Night paused for a moment and groaned.

“What?”

“I just thought.... What if when Whitney or.. Flannery, I guess.... What if she comes back and... doesn’t remember me at all? Like, how much of the time was I talking to Nepthys...? A-and what if-?”

Hugo put a heavy hand on his shoulder to help push him along. “That’s for future you to worry about. She’s got a long recovery ahead, so I think you got some time before ya gotta deal with that. C’mon, quit stalling, we’re outta here.”

#apricus au #dash commentary #arc 1 finale #i'll leave this open too so if anyone wants to interact before my peeps all leave feel free <3 #muse: hugo knight #sable/night #muse: night #muse: Sable #ship: evening sentry

[whatitis-inside]

Gosh, for me The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo was one of the worst book I've read this year. I mean it sounded so promising and I was excited to get to it (and surely Hollywood IS probably that crazy) but the writing was SO BAD 😣 and the characters incredibly shallow and one dimensional. Just my opinion ofc, but I have read sooo much fanfiction that is better than this book. (Sorry, I am a bit passionate with how much I hated that book and just could keep my trap shut, lol.)

Ahahah that's completely fine, though I'm a bit surprised since I don't tend to like books with bad writing or shallow characters. But, as I said, I'm not even halfway through it some maybe it's just the fact little has happened. But, as for writing, I don't think it's bad at all (and trust me, I had a bet with a friend we will read some very bullshit Fify-shades-esque book that many women read, and it was Turbulence by Whitney G, and lemme tell you it was bad writing, and the main female character was so fucking stupid that I kept banging her head into the wall in my mind throughout the entire book lol - and it has like 4.2/5 on GoodReads so you know). Maybe it's coz I'm reading it in my language and not in original version. Translating is such a hard job, especially when the style is more lyrical and nuanced. And sometimes when it's not so great but the translator knows their job they do it phenomenally. Dunno, but I haven't finished it yet but as for being 30% in I'm not completely put off so

I do love being passionate about hating something that a lot of people like (tho I have no idea if many folks like 7 husbands tbh). Most of the times I'm there, hating/disliking what the majority loves

[youre-fired-s-seaborn]

So you guys are never going to guess what I just did.

I might possibly be writing a tww fic (FOR REAL THIS TIME I PROMISE) and I just finished the first little snippet so I thought I’d share that with y’all!

It’s going to be several chapters, each one from the POV of a different senior staff member, basically just a random collection of scenes where everyone Works Out their Issues. Official summary= The senior staff + Donna think about the past, how far they’ve come, heartbreak, hard times, sleep deprivation, and what family means to them over a ginormous bowl of popcorn.

(Part backstory headcanons, part character study, part found family, part random other shit?? I have no clue where this came from tbh. Anyway enjoy this rambly dumpster fire) (the popcorn is figurative)

Part one is Sam, and I’m sure none of you are surprised 😋 Enjoy!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Samuel Norman Seaborn was a kid, ‘I want to be a lawyer when I grow up’ was one thought that didn’t cross his mind, not even once. Which is saying something, because little Sam had a lot of thoughts. He had opinions about everything, even things he didn’t understand (especially those) and he had ideas, big ideas that everyone said were going to change the world one day, and he had an imagination the size of the Chrysler building and not enough room in his head for all the stories he wanted to tell. Everyone liked Sam. He was easy to like. At least, until he got a little older and suddenly his imagination was distracting instead of endearing and his ideas were silly instead of helpful and the big books he liked to read were taking time away from more important things. It didn’t make sense to him, because he had always thought they were the most important things in the world, but one day when one too many teachers had commented on it and one too many other children had teased him for it, he sat himself down at his desk and told himself he wouldn’t be like that anymore. Sam decided he wouldn’t be the dreamy one with his head in the clouds anymore. He would be focused, and dedicated, the model student and son.

So somewhere in middle school, Sam Seaborn changed from the cheerful, somewhat dazed and forgetful child he had been into the most intensely focused little academic his teachers had ever seen. Focusing was usually...hard, for Sam. At least, focusing on the right thing. His mind wanted to go in so many different directions and think about so many different things, and none of them were what he should have been focusing on. But he found that if he worked really hard and forced himself to think about one specific thing, then he could usually achieve it. Homework and such wasn’t exactly what he was passionate about, but it was what his parents wanted, and what everyone else around him seemed to want, so he did his best.

He worked hard through high school and when he graduated, he got accepted to Princeton. Sam loved Princeton. He loved everything about it. He started working hard because he liked it, and not because he thought other people wanted him to. He worked towards his law degree, and he got it.

(He never did stop writing, though. It was like a disease. No matter where he was or what he should have been doing, he could never make himself not write.)

There was a bit of a gray area after that, and more than one bad decision, but then he got the job at Gage-Whitney. And Gage-Whitney was...well. He was good at it. It paid well. He kept working his way up the ladder until he made partner, and wasn’t that everyone’s dream? Shouldn’t he love his job? Maybe he should have. He didn’t.

Then there was Lisa, and he couldn’t decide if she had been a mistake or not. He had liked her an awful lot; even loved her. She had been quite fond of him too. It had been real. Once. He remembered nice dinners and radiant smiles and the joy of having a partner who was as smart as you.

God, what happened to us? He’d think sometimes, but it was stupid, because he knew exactly what had happened to them. Sam had quit his job and gone running off to New Hampshire with Joshua Lyman. He’d tried to build a presidential campaign from scratch, then actually managed to accomplish it, which was somehow even worse for their relationship because then he was zipping all over the country without a minute to spare and he told himself he called whenever he could but it wasn’t enough and he knew it. Whenever they did get to see each other, there was a...distance, that there never had been before. Eventually Lisa would say something passive aggressive about how apparently Josh Lyman meant more to him than she did, and Sam would get defensive and mutter something about how he never complained when she always went off to fancy bars with her fancy friends every other night, and she would bark out an incredulous laugh because of course he would find a way to insult her friends when he was the one who had left her in the dust, because wasn’t that just the kind of person he was!

It hurt even more because they cared, they both cared. A lot. But in the end, it didn’t matter, because Sam chose the campaign and she chose to stay and there was nothing they could say to change each other’s minds. Her eyes had gotten big and wet and angry, and he had been numb, staring out at nothing. That was the night she gave him back the ring.

But he tried not to think about it too much now. It was a sure-fire way to ruin his day. Or week, more likely.

“Did you know that supposedly the shortest telegram correspondence in history was between Victor Hugo and his literary agent?” he asked. He was sitting at one of the desks in the bullpen, hunched over some files that he really didn’t want to read. It was one of those days, where there was a lot to do but a lot of time to do it, so you ended up doing anything but what you were supposed to do. One of those days that felt lazy and slow when it shouldn’t have been.

Josh was leaning against an office door frame across from him. “Really.”

“Yeah.” he flipped through some of the papers absently. “To ask how the book sales were doing he just sent a question mark. The guy sent back an exclamation point. And all I’m saying is if Victor Hugo himself could restrain his verbosity like that, then just maybe the guys writing these files could-” he paused as Josh wandered over, resting his forehead against the back of Sam’s head and wrapping an arm around him from behind. “What?” Sam asked.

“Nothing.” Josh chuckled. “You’re just a huge dork.”

“Oh.” He rolled his eyes. “Just part of my charm, I guess.”

“In that case, you are extremely charming.”

“Ha ha.” Sam looked over as Josh slid into the desk chair next to him. “Hey, did CJ say how the briefing went? I was on the Hill all morning.”

Josh shrugged. “It was fine. They were all just asking about whether Jancowitz was going to sink the healthcare bill with his insistence on antagonizing what’s-his-name at the DOD.”

“Ah. Should we send someone to smooth that over?”

“Yeah, you can put Ainsley on it. I’m not too worried.” A problem for another day, then. Josh leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk in front of him. “It’s supposed to keep snowing all night.”

“They said that the last two times it snowed.”

“I think they’re right this time!” Josh protested, tapping the side of his head. “It’s my flawless intuition as an outdoorsman.”

Sam laughed. “At this rate, we could put you on the Weather Channel. You’d be just as accurate as all of those guys.”

“Mmm. With their track record, I could be their boss by next Tuesday.” He squinted at something for a minute before hopping up. “Well, I should probably go work on my thing before Leo has an aneurysm. I’ll come see you later about the environment?”

“Yeah, see you.” He sighed, staring down at the papers while Josh went back to his office. After a minute, he just shook his head and stood up, gathering them in his hands and retreating into his own office. Sam unceremoniously dumped the files onto a shelf, settling into his desk chair. They could be read another day.

Straightening his glasses, he popped open his laptop on the desk in front of him. He tried typing out some remarks for the President’s conference next week, but didn’t get very far. He wandered over to his email, and replied to a few people who had asked him questions.

I should write my dad, he thought absently. It had been a while since his last email. The thing was, thinking about his father in any capacity was Sure-fire Way To Ruin His Week Number Two.

It was...complicated. Sam had never had the best relationship with either of his parents to begin with. They had always been busy, and now he was always busy, and he supposed that it was possible he had lost far too many important things in his life due to people being busy. It didn’t even sound like a good excuse.

His mother was a brilliant, industrious woman who had grown up poor and worked so hard to get their little family off the ground that there was little else left of her now. At least, that was how he’d always felt. She’d always been so caught up in working to secure his future, and seemed to not have time for him in the meantime. Oh, she had tried, but she was always on a phone call or an extra shift and so it had usually just been him and his dad at the house when he was little.

It made his blood boil to think about it too long. Sam had never been close with his mother, but she had worked so hard and given up so much to keep them afloat. And this was how his father had repaid her? By...by...he couldn’t even put it into words. Learning about his father’s mistress had shook him to his core, and hadn’t stopped shaking it since.

Family had never been a very comforting concept to Sam, and after that particular revelation, even the romanticized ideal of it had come crumbling down around him. Family wasn’t supposed to be built on lies and absence and forced smiles. It was supposed to be solid and warm and loving, not shaky and volatile and brimming with hurt.

He could feel his heart clenching with anger and bitterness and grief over what-could-have-beens, and Sam hated being that person. Instead, he stared at the blank white void of the email draft in front of him, forcing himself to breathe deep. What are the others doing right now? he asked himself, his mind latching onto a distraction. Josh was probably working himself up over the environment issue- that, or getting lovingly screamed at by Leo. CJ had just finished a briefing, and was probably high-fiving Carol or bickering with Danny. Toby was most likely scribbling notes for the energy conference, half of which would be crumpled up in the wastebasket by now. Or on fire. Sam smiled to himself, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Hey,” came a cheery voice, and Sam looked up to find Donna in the doorway with a file tucked under her arm. “Any important government business going on in here?”

“Absolutely not,” he assured her, leaning back in his chair. “You need me for something?”

“Nothing pressing,” she replied with a shrug, brushing forward and hopping on top of his desk like she always did. “Toby and Josh are in CJ’s office watching the game if you want to join. ”

“Don’t they have work to do?” he mumbled petulantly.

“I really wouldn’t know,” Donna said with exaggerated innocence. She smirked at him. “But you look so sad and lonely in here, the least I could do was extend the invitation.”

“Hush, you,” Sam lamented, stretching absently. He looked down at his laptop and tapped his fingers on the desk. “I really should be working.”

“So should everyone else,” Donna pointed out. She slid off the desk and crossed her arms, giving him a look. “Sam? Hey, are you feeling okay? You look a little…”

Sam frowned, looking down at himself. “Disheveled?” he suggested, noting his wrinkled shirt and crooked tie.

“Ah,” she said with a nod. “That’s the word I was looking for. But, hey, are you really alright?” She leaned down to rub his shoulder. “You seem gloomy.”

“Yeah,” he replied, sighing. “Just a long day, I guess.”

Donna raised her eyebrows. “And do you know what the perfect antidote for a long day is?”

“Watching the game with Josh and Toby and CJ?” he guessed.

“Exactly!” Donna smiled, bonking him on the head with her file. “See you in five?”

Sam looked back at his email, thinking. If he mustered up the sheer willpower to write to his dad, he would have no idea what to say. And it wasn’t like his relatives in California were truly family, anyway. Not if all he associated with them were pain and disappointment. Maybe he could leave this email for later. Maybe he could watch football with his friends and chuckle at Toby and Josh shouting at the TV and rib CJ when she didn’t understand anything that was happening and forget about all of it, for a little while.

“Yeah,” Sam said, closing the lid to his computer. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

#tww #the west wing #west wing #sam seaborn #josh lyman #donna moss #tww fic #first time writing for tww so be nice pls #featuring: literally no plot #also featuring: me straight up making up things that sound government-y and official #also featuring: lots of platonic friendship moments #when you watched a scene in the show and thought #this would have been a perfect place for them to hug and/or touch foreheads etc etc #BUT THEY DONT!!! it’s maddening #so i write them myself<3 #anyway enjoy ~2k of extremely self indulgent sam character meta

[thequimmqueen]

So about your nextgen au, can I see the list of people we have so far and who their parents are?

With pleasure!

Timm+Quinn: Lynn💘

Duke gotcha+Shannon: Raymond📰 & Sarah🔎

Joy+Moe Jamie🐦& Maya💮

Roy+Olivia Rolland📋 & Hollie🍍

Hank+Kayla Dannah🚨 & Savannah💅

Cameo+Cherissa Cairo/Sandy🍉

Cori+Robby Russell🎣 & Coralina🎏

Ember+Hacky Zack Burnett🚒,Axel👔,Zack🚧 & Ámbar✳️

Romanos🇮🇹:

Guy Mortadello+Bruna Romano Marianna🚔 & Gavin🍷

Clover+Carlo Romano+Koilee 

Kōi🐠 Carlotta🍜 Bento🎸 & Ginevra🥁

Gino Romano+Okalani Georgina🍳 Kalea👑

Mindy+Whiff: Becky💄 & Belladonna/Chantilly - (Unofficial but possible nextgen)

Iggy+Sasha: Haley🔬

Taylor+Peggy: Stella📷

Marty+Rita Matilda🏈 & Arthur📽️

Brody+Skylar Brandon📚,Cielo🖌️ & Abel🎨

Emmlette+Kingsley: Anastasia🎬 & Kellen📹

Sarge fan+Radlynn: Randall🍠,Sargiene🎮 & Radha🌟 (Adopted,Failed Offspring Harvest Experiment of Radley Madish)

Alberto+Penny: Pilar🏵️,Penn🎤,Abilo⚽️ (previously known as Horton) & Noemí🌼

Scarlett+Rudy: Adonis♦️ (previously known as Carmín) & Kore♥️ (previously known as Diana)

Cooper+Prudence: Carrie🐈,Brooklyn🐕

Greg+Yippy: Courtney🌻 & Lilly🐞

Johnny+Boomer: Bloom🍀,Buttercup/Arán🌰 & Autumn🍁

Chuck+Nevada: Helena💐,Fawn💍 (previously known as Chayanne) & Snow❄️

Utah+Gremmie: Caspian (previously Maru)🐚 & Genaya (previously as Hara)🌠

Hugo+Janana: Tanner🎼

Maggie+Mitch: Megan💼 & Gunther🌮

Mousse+Sienna: Gelatta🍦 & Syrup🍮

Julep+Deano Tulip🌷,Leandro💉 & Eliana🏡

Willow+James: Jhonnen🛵,Whitney👻 & Jennifer🔧

Kenji+Zoe: Eijirou👾 & Amanda🦋

Scooter+Austin: Roopert (previously known as scoobert)🌟 & Adrianna (previously known as adella)🛍️

Connor×Wylan B:

(Liezel=Surrogate Mom) Izabella B🎋Deckard B🎧 (Lisa=surrogate mom) Cassidy🥇

Whippa+Lisa: Créme🍬 & Zandro👾

Drakson+Kasey O: Katey🥋,Diego💌

Pinch+Bertha: Paula⚾️,Abraham🏋️ & Jack Derby⭐

Rico+Rhonda: Roberto🏺 & Jazz🏆

Xolo+Sprinkles: Xefferson🤹

Xandra+Rollie Xanna💥 & Romeo⚗️

Professor Fitz+Edna: 🍀Jerry and Betty☘️ (Genetically modified Clones/Succesful Living Results of Artificial Offspring creation)

LePete+Torhu: Petra☀️,Koko🥊 (previously known as Kumako), Ryu🎐 & Haru🕹️

Nick+Trishna: Michael💙 & Nina🍊

Wendy: Wendyl🔩 & Roger GearSpeed🏁 (Real Name: ???)

Índigo: Magenta👗

Cecilia: Josefina🎒

Allan+Ivy: Allison💰 & Eva🛩️

JoJo+Louie: Johann✒️ & Lauren🥘

Mayor Mallow: Molly💎

Akari: Kuro🍋

Crystal: Shard🃏 & Filasophie📚

Luau Lepunch+Betty Pecan:

Toasty Coconut🍨 (Scoopian+LePunch Hibryd,Looks More like Betty) Gala Donut🍩 (adopted Scoopian Child) Shelly Coir🌴 (Scoopian+LePunch Hibryd,Looks More like Luau)

5th of July Scoopian: StarDust🎆

Rocky Road: Terrance Milch🍡

Jill Berry+Chip Mcmint: Cranberry Jelly💝 & Bianco Ciocco🍫

Sue x Mary: Susan☎️

Sarge×Radley Madish:

Onnelious and Brown (Adopted/Used to be Two of Sarge's youngest soldiers) 💜Pines and Payne💙 (Mutated+Adopted Pinacoolada Twins) Annana💛(Mutated+Adopted Bananapants Daughter) Radetta💗(Sucessful Offspring Harvest Experiment)

Tomatoe Lady🍅: Campari🥫

Foodini: Gabriel🎩

Ripley: Rodrigo🤓

Sprout: Carota🥕

Skip+Daniela: Railey🛎️

Kahuna: Koa🏄‍♂️

Big Pauly×Perri

🧂Salt & Pepper🧂

#hhytheking #flipline nextgen

[apricuscity]

Apricus University Argonauts Vs. Ciar Titans.

“Hello everyone! Welcome to Apricus Hecaball League Round Five! We’re kicking things off with The Argonauts Vs The Titans! It’s a packed house here in Aurora Vale tonight! I should mention that Argonauts players Whitney Constantine will be absent tonight. I’ve been assured she’s perfectly fine, just in need of some rest before she gets back into the action.”

“Now then, we’ve kept you waiting long enough! DEPLOY THE HECABALL!”

A recap

“Both teams started out as aggressive as you’d imagine, much to the delight of the crowd. I swear, every round it gets louder and louder. We had players clashing against each other left and right, some particularly strong hits from both Hugo Knight, and M. Night. Seems like those two are out to prove something against each other!”

“Draco and Donia had a great exchange of stealing the ball from one another until Draco managed to slip by and pass to M. Hibiki. M. Hibiki got close to scoring but it was saved at the last second by Lily Onyx with a beautiful dive. K. Hibiki would recover however her possession wouldn’t last long, M. Night would propell himself off of Donia’s shield, to a platform and over to K. Hibiki, stealing the ball and making his way down the field dodging in and and out.”

“Night would attempt to score only for it to be knocked aside by Knight, Edana finally made herself known as she emerged from the chaos to take control of the ball, knocking Donia into a platform and using the defense provided by the Hibikis in order to score the first point of the game. Titans on the board at 1-0.”

“The score wouldn’t remain that way for long though. Donia and Night practically brawled their way past Knight and Edana, passing the ball to each other in a great display of teamwork. Just as Night was about to take a hit from K. Hibiki he kicked into the air, timing it perfectly for Lily Onyx to launch off of Donia’s shield and roundhouse kick the ball in midair right into the goal. Bringing the score to 1-1 and sending us into halftime.”

“Our halftime performers this time were Dimia accompanied by electronica artist Phantazm. You might know Dimia as one of Lord Merek’s inner circle and a regular performer in Solis Heights. Wonderful performance from a spectacular dancer. Have to mention Phantazm’s exciting new remixes. Make sure you pick up Phantazm’s new album, available at the merch stands!”

“Round two started off just as chaotic as the previous round. Both teams fighting with everything they had just to gain control of the ball. Edana and Knight tried to sandwich Night but Donia and Onyx intervened, saving him from an unfortunate situation and maintaining control of the ball. Night managed to break away, taking another shot only for K. Hibiki to make the save and pass to M. Hibiki. M. Hibiki made some progress before spinning around Onyx and passing to Draco.”

“Draco had a wide open goal, taking advantage and putting the Titans up 2-1. The Argonauts struck back quickly though, using a rather unique formation which including Donia being thrown to a platform right as Onyx spun it around. Night kicked the ball to Donia and stopped the platform, sending Donia flying through the air and sailing by the Titans defense. Despite the dizziness Donia managed to get enough composure to kick it in and tie the score at 2-2.”

“From that point on it didn’t seem like much progress was being made. Both teams seemed to focus on defense. The Titans acting as nothing short of a brick wall but the Argonauts shut down any random attempt made by the Titans to score. We seemed to be at a deadlock, even with the players continuously clashing against each other’s shields.”

“We ended round two with a score of 2-2. That means we headed into overtime. Night was selected by the Argonauts while Knight was selected by the Titans. I realize this may sound odd to our audio only listeners but trust me they are two different people. One Night starts with an N and the other starters with a K. Think of it that way.”

“M. Night got control of the ball first, rushing to the goal but H. Knight wasn’t about to let it end that quickly. M. Night dodged an attempted shield bash but lost control of the ball in the process. H. Knight gained control, trying to muscle his way by M. Night, making a bit of progress but M. Night used some agility to spring off of H. Knight’s shoulders from behind, landing in front of him and stealing the ball.”

“M. Night looked to rush down the field again with H. Knight right on his heels. M. Night was just about to take a shot before he was pushed aside by H. Knight who took control of the ball. M. Night chased after H. Knight, launching himself off a platform to catch up with him. H. Knight kicked but it was deflected back by M. Night.”

“The two seemed to smirk at each other as they deflected the ball back and forth. The ball continued to pick up speed and after a few strong hits, it looked like both of their shields were about to crack. M. Night slammed one final shield hit before his device flickered off. H. Knight however had a different idea, deciding against using the shield he instead leapt up and spin kicked the ball..that one seriously had to hurt his leg, with how fast that ball was going. M. Night attempted to make the save but was practically pulled into the goal with the ball. Titans score!

“The Titans will pick up the win with a score of 3-2 in a hard fought battle!”

“Awesome start to round five! Congrats to both teams! Thank you for joining us, we’ll be back on Thursday to witness Larsen’s Leviathans Vs. The Bureau Behemoths! Have a nice evening!”

#Augustine Cornelius Eckerman #Hecaball

[rwbysablenight]

Night fell back onto the bed with a long sigh. Maybe she didn’t get the text? Or maybe she decided there were better things to do. Or maybe she was typing up some long-ass reply detailing why she wouldn’t go. It had been what felt like hours by that point and he just laid there with the phone on his chest, staring up at the ceiling. If she hadn’t gotten the text, should he try again? Or would that be clingy? 

“Ugh, this is stupid. I don’t even wanna go to that dumb party. Why’d I even enter the raffle? Maybe I can pawn the tickets off to someone else.... I wish Arlind or Hugo were here....” The former was in class still and the latter was on a hunt. Sable hadn’t been responding, either, meaning the anxious lad was alone with his rampant, negative thoughts.

He was starting to drift off to sleep when his phone pinged. Night sprang up and nearly fumbled the phone off the bed as he scrambled to read the response.

“... She said yes. That’s a yes!”

“Fuck, that’s a yes. What do I do about it? ... What if the ball gets canceled completely? How do I respond to this?”

After another few minutes of typing out, deleting, and retyping, he finally forced himself to just hit send. 

[Text to: Whitney] Great! :D And if it doesn’t get rescheduled, we could go do something else. I’m more interested in spending time with you than the actual activity. <3 [/text]

He was tempted to type more or reword things, but that would just muddy the message. Best to leave it alone. “Okay. Don’t look at the phone anymore.” He set the device as far from his hands as he could on the bed and tried to put everything out of his mind for now to just go to sleep. The message had been sent; it was out of his hands now.

#dash commentary #apricus au #apricusdays #dark side of the moon au

[dollyreblogs]

Morgan and His Depression:

Tw: Depression (obviously), Negative Thoughts

- So I just realized that after facing a lot of loss in his life, but his depression is actually genetic and clearly environmental because of how he was raised.

- He got from his mom, Maribelle, who kinda dealt with her depression in a different way using drugs, sex, and alchohol.

- His mother didn't want him around and his dad was always pretty busy with work, he played with Chase, but her parents always chased him away.

- Then there was his big loss, Ethan. The reason why he became a villain. Then Whitney, Wally, Thad, Eobard, and others.

- He tries his best to be a smiling face but it's gotten really bad to the point that there are times where he's late for school because he just...can't get out of bed. Not to mention there are times where he talks fast, like his usual speedster self, but then he ends up just thinking these....awful thoughts, about holding his brother before he died, about how it was his fault for not being fast enough to stop him.

- How sometimes it's so hard to live on that maybe...maybe he just doesn't want to live anymore.

- These thoughts haunt him at night and keep him from sleeping, only he needs 45 minutes or so, but it's still infuriating.

- Medications don't work on him because of his speedster powers, not for long at least since his body processes it pretty quickly.

- So he does therapy, he talks it out with someone, mostly Harley because he doesn't trust Hugo Strange but also because she's good at cheering people up too.

- It also explains why he has so many extra-curricular activities like Student Council, Soccer, Baseball, horseback riding, competitive lasso events, swimming, and (of course) track so he can keep his mind off of his thoughts.

- He isn't tempted to use drugs or alcohol to "cure" it because he doesn't want to end up like his mom but it's also not like they can't do much.

- Now that Ahmya is his mom, she forces him to have self-care nights. No ifs and buts, it's a night about himself and only himself and no one is allowed to interfere with it. She just wants to do her part to make sure Morgan feels better.

- Less visits to the graveyard to see Ethan's grave, Elijah knows it's hard and feels bad for doing it, but Morgan always goes every single day. Like he'd be okay if it was once a week but every day is just kind of alarming to him. He doesn't want Morgan to keep torturing himself with Ethan's death.

- He and Armando have group therapy together, Morgan was surprised to see him and it was a bit awkward and uncomfortable because they are supposed to be enemies.

- Thomas is his rock, he may not understand, but he's willing to listen to Morgan's problems and validate his feelings. But he also puts his foot down when Morgan gets stuck in his unhealthy thoughts and takes him out to do something fun.

#Tw depression #tw negative thoughts #Thomas Dent #Morgan Wyatt #Elijah Wyatt #Ahmya Yamisoka #Armando Heart #Just thought Morgan with depression would also be an interesting concept too

[loveisbraveandwild]

2020 reads

conversations with friends, sally rooney (¼)

dear edward, ann napolitano (1/24)

the possible world, liese o’halloran schwarz (2/12)

inside the battle of algiers, zohra drif (2/18)

rage becomes her: the power of women’s anger, soraya chemaly (2/24)

finding time: the economic of work-life conflict, heather boushey (3/2)

the other america: poverty in the united states, michael harrington (3/30)

guest house for young widows: among the women of isis, azadeh moaveni (4/8)

odyssey to the north, mario bencastro (4/12)

when they call you a terrorist: a black lives matter memoir, patrisse khan-cullers and asha bandele (4/16)*

the perks of being a wallflower, stephen chbosky (4/17)*

what doesn’t kill you makes you blacker, damon young (4/20)

the great gatsby, f. scott fitzgerald (4/21)*

my sister, the serial killer, oyinkan braithwaite (4/24)

i’m fine… and other lies, whitney cummings (4/25)

promise me, dad, joe biden (4/27)

i will always write back: how one letter changed two lives, caitlin alifirenka and martin ganda (4/29)

the opposite of loneliness, marina keegan (4/30)*

the giver, lois lowry (5/9)

little weirds, jenny slate (5/10)

all the bright places, jennifer niven (5/12)

little fires everywhere, celeste ng (5/14)

the cure for lonely, jessica thummel (5/16)

why i’m no longer talking to white people about race, reni eddo-lodge (5/19)

me, earl, and the dying girl, jesse andrews (5/23)

red, white, and royal blue, casey mcquiston (5/27)

on the come up, angie thomas (6/13)

the color purple, alice walker (6/16)

true grit, charles portis (6/18)*

speak, laurie halse anderson (6/18)

eleanor oliphant is completely fine, gail honeyman (6/24)

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, taylor jenkins reid (6/29)

untamed, glennon doyle (7/1)

heartstopper, alice oseman (7/2)

know my name, chanel miller (7/5)

the beautiful things that heaven bears, dinaw mengestu (7/7)

the year of magical thinking, joan didion (7/8)

the hunger games, suzanne collins (7/11)*

catch and kill: lies, spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators, ronan farrow (7/13)

periods gone public: taking a stand for menstrual equity, jennifer weiss-wolf (7/15)

catching fire, suzanne collins (7/18)

mockingjay, suzanne collins (7/20)

lord of the flies, william golding (7/25)

the vanishing half, brit bennet (7/26)

just mercy: a story of justice and redemption, bryan stevenson (7/28)

simon snow book 2: wayward song, rainbow rowell (8/15)

where the crawdads sing, delia owens (9/1)

circe, madeline miller (9/5)

sharp objects, gillian flynn (9/7)

such a fun age, kiley reid (9/10)

daisy jones and the six, taylor jenkins reid (9/11)

conviction, denise mina (9/16)

this is how you lose her, junot díaz (9/17)

how to behave in a crowd, camille bordas (9/29)

white fragility: why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism, robin diangelo (9/30)

the ballad of songbirds and snakes, suzanne collins (10/4)

harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone, j. k. rowling (10/6) *

someone we know, shari lapena (10/7)

where’d you go, bernadette, maria semple (10/8)

beach read, emily henry (10/10)

all adults here, emma straub (10/13)

one true loves, taylor jenkins reid (10/15)

maybe in another life, taylor jenkins reid (10/19)

i wish you all the best, mason deaver (10/20)

furia, yamile saied méndez (10/22)

after i do, taylor jenkins reid (10/23)

don’t look back, karin fossum (10/24)

charlotte’s web, e.b. white (11/2)*

room, emma donoghue (11/4)

wit’s end, karen joy fowler (11/5)

the midnight library, matt haig (11/5)

forever, interrupted, taylor jenkins reid (11/6)

mary poppins, p.l. travers (11/7)*

a plague of prisons: the epidemiology of mass incarceration in america, ernest drucker (11/10)

the last story of mina lee, nancy jooyoun kim (11/13)

ask again, yes, mary beth keane (12/3)

the girls, emma cline (12/9)

the importance of music to girls, lavinia greenlaw (12/13)

the guest list, lucy foley (12/15)

harry potter and the chamber of secrets, j.k. rowling (12/15)*

matilda, roald dahl (12/17)*

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, j.k. rowling (12/17)*

homegoing, yaa gyasi (12/18)

play it as it lays, joan didion (12/19)

the thing around your neck, chimamanda ngozi adichie (12/20)

the time traveler’s wife, audrey niffeneggar (12/23)*

#sfl