#i love watching a video about my favourite game only to have none of the comments be about it 💀

[steakout-05]

ahhh to see a brand new and interesting Halfbrick video about one of their newly released games and wanting to see what others say about it, only to scroll into the comments have have literally all of them just be asking for Dan The Man 2 to release............... beautiful :')

#not mad by the way #in fact it's kinda funny #but at the same time oh my god the amount of people begging for DTM2 to release is astounding #i love watching a video about my favourite game only to have none of the comments be about it 💀 #dan the man #halfbrick studios #just be patient people it'll release soon enough #i love this community

[wingzie]

Jikook and the Importance of Photos

Photographs are special. They map out our lives through precious memories. They leave a footprint in time that can forever be part of our history. These glimpses of our past, make us who we are and show what or who is important to us. They are full of so much love and emotions, even more so when they are shared with those most trusted to us. This goes for every photo shared by the members.

 I personally think it’s amazing that we can tell when a photo of Jimin is taken by Jungkook, there’s a certain style to it and it comes across even at a glance. One of my favourite photos of Jimin by Jungkook is this one:

This photo was taken from the behinds of Life Goes On. Each MV was beautifully directed by Jungkook, and it’s hard to miss the references made from within their old dorm. I know Jungkook isn’t keen on photos but, just like during GCFT, Jimin is looking at Jungkook and not the camera here with that smile. With that one look, that we are so familiar with, we can trace every single moment within their history which has that same shining expression. It tells a story over time, but also that one photo itself is so telling in the way that it was captured. One of my favourite photos of Jungkook by Jimin is this one:

There’s something raw and delicate in this photo.You can see it in Jungkook’s eyes. Each item in the photo tells its own little story, from the Birthday cake to the polaroid photos on the table that we never saw. This photo is all we saw from the night of Jungkook’s Birthday in 2019 and sometimes I am reminded that with these glimpses into their lives, there are still so many moments of theirs that we are unaware of. For example, Jungkook had a hickey on his neck during MOTS:Online and none of us had any idea until the DVD Behinds came out. 

For every selca or video that Jikook has shared with us, it shows a part of them that we are so lucky to witness. To be able to watch their growth over the years is magical and something I will always cherish. Why am I going on about photos and memories though?  Because they give so much of themselves to us and I will never take it for granted, nor expect them to give more to us than they want to. Some of their memories are for them only, but we can still hold dear what we know already…

Some of you know this already, but I have been caring for my Mother lately. Over the last few months, her memory has worsened. In an attempt to help, we play memory games and repeat simple tasks together. However, her memory is something that cannot be simply fixed with such methods. I had the idea to get out family photos, until I realised that we had stopped taking them when my parents divorced. It’s made me more proactive in archiving things that I do each day. Every little thing I see or hear, I note it down or save the song. In a way, it’s also how I associate with BTS or Jikook. When the BTS World soundtrack came out, I was having a really bad day and it gave me a lot of comfort. I smile whenever I hear Pied Piper because it’s one of my friends favourite songs. Any time I hear “Jungkookie” or “Jimin-ssi”, a barrage of memories come to the front of my mind and I grasp onto all of them whilst I still can. 

I'm sure it's not just me who does this either, Jimin and Jungkook probably do this themselves. You could see that when Jungkook was watching Jimin’s compilation with us. He was recollecting the same memories as us, but he also has access to an entirely different set of memories that we don’t know of. We also saw that with the way Jimin and Jungkook both explained the Rainy Day Fight. During the Festa video, Jungkook mentioned “rainy day” and expected Jimin to understand what he meant. Later on, Jimin and Jungkook gave their own versions of what happened in their separate lives. They both more or less experienced the same thing, but blamed themselves for their actions and not the other. 

They love adding to their own collections of memories. Every single time that Jimin watched Jungkook rehearse and the other way around, enough so that they could probably be a backup dancer. All the clips they have but haven’t shared. The moments we don’t find out until later, the inside jokes they have without context. We don’t understand, but that doesn’t matter. Only they have to and we just watch and smile. Their memories are a huge part of them, it’s what makes their bond so special.  

#jikook #wingzie #jikookmemories #jikookphotos

[sgtcosmo]

under the weather - 141 headcanons

cw: none, just pure (established relationship) fluff <3 only pronoun used for reader is 'you'

a/n: i'm sick as shit rn and i've been laying in bed all day thinking about how the 141 would care for gn!reader while they're sick, so this is a lil bit self-indulgent hehe!! also, thank you for the love on my first drabble that i posted a couple days ago, it makes me so happy :') enjoy these!

gaz:

-he's an absolute sweetheart all the time already, but when you're sick? oh my god

-checking in on you every 10 minutes, even if it annoys you. he has to know that you're doing okay!!

-i hc him as being a great cook, so he definitely makes you some good ass homemade soups

-THIS ONE MADE MY HEART MELT WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT IT but he would absolutely read to you. it'd either be wherever he left off in the most recent book he's reading on his own, or he'd grab one of your favourites from the shelf and start from the beginning

-lets you use his lap as a pillow while he reads to you, holding the book with one hand and playing with your hair with the other

-rubs your back soothingly when you're having one of those god awful coughing fits

-when he goes to the store to get you medicine and such, he'll facetime you the whole time. he'll show you the medicine and snacks/drinks at the store and let you pick which ones you want (he also wants to make sure that you're alright while he's gone <3)

-gives you his warmest and nicest sweaters to wear, doesn't care if they get dirty

ghost:

-runs you a bath and lets you soak in the warm water while he washes your hair

-will absolutely make you a hot cup of tea with honey to soothe your sore throat

-canned soup kinda guy. he'd still try his best to make it as appetizing as possible though, adding in extra bits that he knows you like

-you're not lifting a finger once he finds out you're sick. your household chores? they're his now. those errands you were supposed to run today? oops, he's already got his shoes on and keys in hand

-will not let you out of his sight. always keeps a watchful eye on you, no matter what. he took over your duty of washing the dishes? he's bundling you up in 10 blankets on the couch in the living room so he can turn around every 30 seconds and silently check on you

-would probably set reminders on his phone so you take your medicine exactly when you're supposed to, even if it's 3 am. he's up and fetching everything you need before you can even complain about the reminder going off and waking you up

-picks you up and carries you around the house so you don't have to walk

soap:

-still cuddles and kisses you, despite your attempts to push him away to prevent him from also getting sick. he doesn't give a shit

-plays video games with you, or watches you play. i feel like he'd be a try-hard at games and wouldn't take losing lightly, but he'd let you win just because you're sick. if you call him out for it, then he'd probably just make some half-assed excuse and say he must be having an 'off day'

-i feel like he's a canned soup-er, like ghost. will make a bowl for himself as well though so he can eat it with you

-pillow fort? pillow fort. makes a huge one in the living room with a big nest of blankets in it for you both to cuddle in. he even makes a little window through the pillows so you can see the tv and watch your favourite movies

-will order your favourite take-out for you once you feel well enough to eat something other than soup

-would make you laugh so much that it sends you into coughing fits (laughter is the best medicine, after all ;))

price:

-much like ghost, he'd keep a very watchful eye on you and check in on you often

-definitely a homemade soup guy. if there's a specific canned soup that you want, he'll make it exactly how it is, but better

-cuddles with you under a pile of blankets as you watch shitty rom-coms together

-lets you lay on him while you sleep, even if it's for hours at a time. he'd keep his arms wrapped securely around you and kiss the top of your head occasionally

-is willing to do anything and everything you need in order to get you back to good health as quickly as possible. just say the word and he's got it

-would buy medicine in every flavour it comes in just so you can try them all and see what one tastes best so taking it isn't such a miserable experience (i feel like soap would probably do this too? but he'd treat it more as a fun taste test ranking kind of thing)

-will go on short walks outside with you in hopes that the fresh air will make you feel better. he's bundling you up like nobody's business if it's cold outside, though

#kyle gaz garrick #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #john price #cod headcanons #simon ghost riley headcanons #kyle gaz garrick headcanons #john soap mactavish headcanons #john price headcanons #gaz headcanons #ghost headcanons #soap headcanons #price headcanons #simon ghost riley x reader #gaz x reader #soap x reader #price x reader #ghost x reader

[isleofair]

Thank you so much for the tag, @applescabs!!! 🥰💚

Are you named after anyone? After, of all things, a 15th century noblewoman (whom I always thought was a saint, but actually wasn't, I just found out!) My mom saw an amazing statue of her on a trip and loved it, and her name, so much that she named me after her.

When was the last time you cried? I teared up a little yesterday when I got my friend's wedding invitation in the mail. The last time I properly cried was... huh. I think a couple of weeks ago, watching TV. That's a fair amount of time for me to go without crying, so go me!

Do you have kids? No, and I don't want any.

Do you use sarcasm a lot? A bit less than I used to, and not a lot in general. Only when I think it will be funny, or when I need to make an underhanded comment about something that ticked me off but I can't do much about.

What sports do you play? None. I am a very inactive person, sadly. I hope I can at least start going on more walks as the season keeps warming up.

What’s the first thing you notice about people? If they seem friendly or not.

What’s your eye colour? A very, very dark brown.

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings all the way. I can't handle scary stuff very well at all. 🫣

Any special talents? I'm fairly good at languages (I learned them easily in school and I usually have a decent shot at figuring out what a word might mean if it's in a language that has at least some relation to the ones I know/have studied). Sadly, the only one I'm still fluent in (besides Italian, of course) is English, because it's the only one I use regularly.

Where were you born? Italy, smack dab in the middle of the top part of the boot, lol

What are your hobbies? Writing fic, reading fic, scrolling Tumblr, playing video games (mostly just Pokémon), playing D&D, and very occasionally drawing or weaving bracelets or assembling jigsaw puzzles.

Do you have any pets? My two cats, Sasha and Misha 🥹🥹 They're tabby-and-white twins, they're almost 5 years old, and they're the ones I come home to. 💚💚

How tall are you? 164cm, although sometimes when I'm in a hurry I just say 1.65m 😅

Favourite subject in school? All the sciences and Math, though I also liked English when I started having it as a subject.

Dream job? Writing a single novel, or a trilogy or something like that, that becomes inexplicably popular, gets a movie deal, and gives me enough residuals to potentially live comfortably while bumming around on my couch writing fanfic for the rest of my life.

I am tagging (but only if they want to answer, zero pressure, as usual!) @nicoroni, @imaginatorofthings, @zimithrus1, @thekuraning, @saltedpin, @horikoshi-secret-ao3-account, @damedanedameyodamenanoyo, and anyone else who sees this and wants to play! 💖💖💖

#tag game

[kingkatsuki]

i’m feeling horrendously soft for our man tonight. like boyfriend bakugo specifically. what are some of your fave hc’s of him as your boyfriend?

is he different from the beginning vs a little ways into the relationship?

I feel like it’s always the little things with him.

Like he knows you always forget your water bottle in the morning, so he makes sure he fills it and puts it in your handbag before you leave.

Puts the heating on when he knows you’re due home so the house is warm and ready for you, also puts a hot water bottle in your bed before he leaves for his night patrol because he knows you get cold without him.

I want to commission someone to write something like this for me because it’s one of my absolute fave Bakugou headcanons but I think he leaves you the cutest little post-it notes around the house, especially if he’s going to be at work all day. From reminders to drink more water, dumbass— to telling you how pretty you are or how much he loves you.

Notices when your shampoo/conditioner/lotion etc is running low in the bathroom and makes sure he puts a new one out so you’re not naked in the shower when you realise there’s none left (he’s definitely guilty of stealing it so he smells like you anyway—)

Always brings you home your favourite treats when he’s working late and knows he’s coming home to you. He’s the worst for seeing things in shop windows when he’s out on patrol that he thinks you’d like or that remind him of you and buying them for you. He spoils you so so much.

Bakugou gets so adorable whenever he’s asked about you in interviews or in public, you can quite literally see his face change as he answers the questions without hesitation— even if he was on the verge of exploding.

His favourite position in the evenings when you’re relaxing together is laying between your thighs with his head on your chest while you play with his hair. And he’ll definitely grumble and grab your wrist if you even attempt to stop.

Sometimes when he’s had a rough day he likes to come home and bend you over whatever the closest surface is just to take it out on your cunt. Either burying his face between your thighs or sliding his thick cock inside your warmth, either way it instantly heals any bad moods he’s in. Especially if he’s had an afternoon of non-stop meetings.

He has an engagement ring for you picked out during your first month of dating. Because he’s so certain that you’re the one, he doesn’t hesitate when he finds one that’s perfect for you. The only reason he doesn’t ask you straight away is because that fear of rejection is still so prevalent in him he doesn’t want to jepordise what you have already.

Bakugou always knows when new concert ticket/video game/book/toy/plushie releases are and he’s ensuring he’s logged in and prepared with his credit card the second the sale opens to get you whatever it is you want.

He’s SUCH a dry texter, but he’s always sending you texts that are just an ‘x’ which he uses as a kiss or to say he loves you. It’s something so quick and simple that shows he cares, and you usually get them more often when he’s about to go out on a mission, he’s out with the guys for the evening or into a long meeting.

He’s honestly so cute, quiet and shy when you first start dating, you actually worry that he doesn’t actually like you. And when you tell him that a little further down the line he’s blown away, because he’s never liked anyone this much in his whole entire life.

Another one of my fave headcanons is when you’re about to have sex he’s turning around all his All Might figures in his room so they don’t “watch” you having sex. So much so that you end up convincing him to have them displayed in a different room😭

You ask him to do a silly roleplay scenario early on in the relationship, and you suggest doing a hero/civilian scene but he gets way too into it because he wants to impress you and ends up doing the worst impression of All Might ever.

He learns your Starbucks order by your second date. He’s just perfect like that.

100% airport dad. Makes you get to the airport six hours early, even if it’s a domestic flight because he thinks somethings going to go wrong. Speed walks through, gets huffy when you try to stop for coffee and insists on holding all the documents in his little black folder.

Gets the worst sweaty palms when you first start dating because he’s so nervous, so he always gets worried about holding your hand. Pulls away from you to wipe his palms on his jeans first whenever you try to hold his hand, even if you convince him it’s okay.

Finds it hard to even look at you sometimes, because you’re just so pretty and he can’t comprehend how someone like you exists, nevermind is also interested in him.

I think Bakugou gets extremely overwhelmed by your love sometimes, and he finds it hard to articulate so he can seem like he’s shut down. But stick by him because all those feelings are bubbling up inside him and he doesn’t know how to deal with them properly yet🥺

#I could literally go on and on for hours #and give you page after page of Bakugou in a relationship headcanons #it’s my FAVOURITE honestly ahhhh #thank you for asking anon #I had so much fun typing these up #soft bakugou

[bravo4iscool]

Hey hey, I'd like to give an idea!!

I know that a lot of people actually focus on ghost x reader stuff, AND THAT'S OK, but I've been thinking about some content of reader actually being Simon's kid or something. Because I only find content similar to it in very weird accounts that somehow turn those into incest fanfics, and it gives me the ick.

I'll understand if you just ignore this or not feel like writing it, I just felt like I wanted to bring this idea up because, well, why not.

I LOVE THIS!!! thank you so much for trusting me with this! i’ll try my best hahaha.

i love simon’s!kid fanfics and all those incest fics really are the bane of my existence😭. how tf do you come up with stuff like that lmao?

anyways, since you weren’t specific with the type of fic you want i’m gonna turn this into a (toxic!)singledad!simon!AU🫣

for this i’m taking inspiration from my favourite series ‘seal team’ and its main character the navy seal master chief jason hayes.

he (jason) has two children (one daughter and one son) and is anything but a perfect father. he tried to be better after his ex wive’s death but, well…

but i don’t wanna talk too much, let’s go🫣

readers nickname is nugget btw and they have a younger brother named jacob :)

(i hope you like this, i tried my best😭)

(masterlist)

REQUESTS/ASKS OPEN!!!

You sigh and shrug off your jacket. You’re drenched in water, a little puddle forming where you stand. You shiver and pull off your shoes with a grunt, hoping that you didn’t alert your dad.

“Hey Nugget.” You grimace when you hear your dad’s voice. You didn’t want him to notice you.

“Hi dad,” you quickly greet him, trying to squish past him but he grabs your arm, holding you back. You take a deep breath before you look at him. The sooner this was over the better.

“Why are your clothes wet?” he wants to know, looking you up and down, frowning at you.

“It’s raining outside,” you drily remark, clearing your throat when he hits you with a sharp gaze. You sigh, “You were meant to pick me up but you didn’t show up, okay? All my friends were gone and I needed to walk home.”

His grip around your arm weakens and he frowns at you again. “What do you mean, I was supposed to pick you up?”

“The way I said it. You told me you’d pick me up but you didn’t show.” You shrug. “It’s nothing new, no? Now, can I please go to my room? I’d like to change.” You wait for his answer but you get none. He only lets go of your arm, watching after you when you leave.

You peek into your brothers room before you walk into your bathroom and check after him. “Hey Josy. Have you eaten already?” you want to know, leaning against his doorframe.

He looks up from his game, smiling and shaking his head. “Nah. He came home like two hours ago. He hasn’t talked to me.” 

You roll your eyes, pushing yourself off the door frame. “Okay. I’ll quickly shower and then I’ll see what I can make. You good with that?”

“Jup,” your little brother answers, already too distracted by his video game again. You shake your head with a smile, heading towards your bathroom.

-

“You want something to eat?” you ask Simon when you start to rummage around in the kitchen. “Josy said he didn’t have anything so I thought about making some,” you tell him, barely waiting for your dad’s response.

But when you really don’t get one you turn around and and walk a couple steps into the living room. There you see him, peacefully sleeping on the couch, one arms dangling off the side and his mouth slightly agape.

You smile to yourself and carefully walk towards him to drape a blanket over him. You look at him for a second before you lift his head to put a pillow under it. Then you leave as quietly as you arrived.

When you call your brother for dinner you motion him to be quiet as he enters. “Dad’s asleep, I don’t want to wake him up,” you explain, setting Jacob’s plate down in front of him.

“Thanks,” he smiles, immediately digging into the food. “Y’know, you should become a chef with your cooking skills,” he smacks after some moments, nodding along to his statement.

You chuckle and shake your head. “You know that there’s no culinary school around here… Besides I can’t leave you or dad alone.”

Jacob only rolls his eyes at that, stuffing another fork of food into his mouth. “Sometimes I think he doesn’t even care about us.”

You immediately frown at your brother, holding yourself back from hardly scolding him. “Josy, don’t say that! Of course he cares about us! He’s just…” you try to find the right words to discribe your dad but, well… there was only one that came to mind. You sigh, “He’s just a bit difficult. You know his job…” You try to find excuses for his behaviour, knowing that it actually wasn’t but you didn’t want to hit your brother with the stone cold reality.

“He tries his best,” is the way you end the topic not knowing that Simon listened from the living room, his eyes filling with tears. Was he really that bad? Was he really failing that hard? Was he really so…unavailable to his children?

-

The next day you wake up your dad’s gone. No note, no information; he’s just gone. At first you didn’t think anything of it, he surely would be home in the evening but when he didn’t show you start to get worried.

You don’t tell Joseph about it, you keep to yourself and dial the Captains phone number. He surely could tell you where your dad was.

“Price,” he answers the phone and you let out a deep breath.

“Hi John! Is my dad with you?” you immediately ask, pacing up and down in your kitchen. “He hasn’t been home and doesn’t answer my texts or calls. I’m worried about him…” you tell the Captain, your eyes nervously darting around.

John listens to you and then tell you, “He’s not with me. We’re not due for deployment until almost two months,” he further informs you and your heart sinks.

“What do you mean, he’s not with you? Do you know where he is?” Your voice wavers and you feel your eyes starting to burn.

“I’m sorry Nugget but… I don’t know where he is…” You can hear him walking around, then he talks again. “I’ll keep my eyes out for him, okay? I’ll send someone over to you as soon as I’m finished here.”

“Oh, no no no, it’s fine. I- we don’t need someone, it’s alright,” you immediately deny, not wanting anyone else to know your dad was gone. “I’m gonna call Johnny, maybe he knows where he is. You don’t need to send someone,” you explain, chewing your nails—a habit you actually wanted to get rid of.

You can practically feel the hesitance of the Captain but after a couple seconds he agrees. “Okay. But I’ll look after you as soon as I can. I don’t want you and Joseph to be alone,” is his compromise and you can’t help but agree.

“I’ll talk to you again later, okay?” Price sighs. “Some recruit did shit and I need to fix it now.”

“Okay, yes.” You end the call, your hand wiping over your face in a state of panic. You didn’t know where your dad was, if he was okay or if he’d come back. You didn’t know how to look after yourself and Joseph, you probably needed to quit school to keep track of all the bills and-

“Where’s dad?” Joseph walks into the kitchen, headphones around his neck, munching on chips or something like that.

“He’s…at work,” you quickly lie, trying to hide you glassy eyes. “I don’t know when he’ll be back.” Jacob’s happy with that answer and opens the fridge.

“We gonna take the bus to school?” he wants to know, glancing at you.

“You’ll go alone today,” you tell him, handing him his lunch box. “I have an important appointment.”

“If you say so,” he shrugs, grabbing his backpack and leaves before you can properly say goodbye. As soon as you’re sure he left you grab your phone again and dial Johnny’s phone number.

As expected he also doesn’t know where your dad was but promises to to keep an eye out for him. Fucking hell, why did he just leave? Did someone shit in his brain or what? He’s never pulled something like that before…

-

Simon returns almost four months later. He didn’t know why he left. He didn’t know anything but one thing he did know was that he probably lost his children for good now…

His hands almost shake when he opens the door and he’s prepared for screaming and crying and breakdowns but when you see him your eyes widen and the mug in your hand falls to the ground.

“Dad,” you whisper and before he can even process everything you’re crashing into his arms, crying your eyes out.

“I’m sorry Nugget, I’m so sorry,” he mumbles into your hair, holding you close and never wanting to let you go again.

And you’re so close to forgiving him already; almost forgetting how you needed to quit school and take a job in the sketchy diner down the road. Almost forgetting how you cried yourself to sleep every night, trying to hide the disappearance of your dad from Joseph.

Simon feels how his hands start to shake and his eyes start to burn while he’s holding you; you’re crying in his arms and he’s so close to breaking down but then Joseph walks in.

“What do you want here?” His voice is cold, his gaze hard. He doesn’t flinch when your dad let’s go of you and straightens his back to his full height.

Your dad says nothing, only looks at his son, waiting for him to continue talking. “You left,” Joseph grits out, purposefully walking towards Simon. “You left and you didn’t even have the balls to tell us why!”

He was now screaming, his face red and his voice shaking. “How dare you come back now! How dare you!”

“Josy-“ you try to calm him down but he slaps your hand away, smacking his finger into his father’s chest.

“You think it’s okay to just leave? Nugget quit school to keep us above water while you were gone!” Joseph was now throwing pathetic punches at Simon’s chest, tears brimming him his eyes. “We needed you and you just decided to be a weak fuck and quit!”

Tears were running down your little brothers cheeks as he was hitting your dad chest and you wanted to pull him into your arms arms and comfort him but you yourself were shaking, your vision blurry from already shed tears.

“I’m sorry Josy,” Simon whispered, ignoring the punches his son was throwing at him, only pulling him into his arms and holding him close. “I don’t-“ his voice breaks. “I don’t know why I left. I’m sorry…”

Joseph shakes and cries and your heart breaks again. Carefully you walk towards them both, placing your arms around your brother. “We’ll be fine Josy,” you whisper, pressing a kiss to his head. “We’ll be fine…”

When you were alone with your dad, once Joseph went to sleep you place a cup of tea in front of him and sit down opposite of him.

“You’ve got a lot to fix,” you tell him, your expression neutral, besides your shaking hands beneath the table. “You just…disappeared and that left its scars. Don’t think that they’ll be healed just because you came home again.”

He listens to you, nodding along and staring at his tea. “I know. And i’m keen on fixing it.” He looks up and you see his red eyes. “I’m sorry I led Nugget. I’ll make it up, okay? I’ll do my best.”

“I know,” you try to believe him but in the back of your head you’re reminded of all the times he didn’t keep his promises…

pt.2 lol?

#writing #ao3 #fanfiction #archive of our own #story writing #call of duty #simon riley #cod #ghost #simon ghost riley #dad!simon riley #dad!ghost #dad!simon ghost riley #kid!reader #simon riley brainrot lol #father-child-relationship #simon’s a kinda shitty dad #but he tried his best #i promise

[not-magdi]

UCL Nights

Warnings: None, well the loss yesterday (I think that should be a warning to)

Words: 756

Reading Time: 5min 53sec

A/n

This story was inspired by yesterday, I kind of tried to comfort myself with it so yeah I hope you'll like it.

Love y'all Magdi

1:4, that was the end. Barcelona was out of the Champions League. They fought so hard, especially Lamine. That boy gives his heart and soul every time he plays, so a loss hits him extremely hard. But this one was different. After a period of losses, the last few wins made hope spark in everyone's chest.

It was also painful for you to watch. Being a barça fan since you were a little kid. But nothing prepared you for the emotions you would feel as you saw the player's faces when they walked past you in the tunnel.

As soon as the game ended, you rushed down the tunnel, wanting to see Lamine as fast as possible. Lamine and you haven't been together for such a long time, only 2 months. But over these months, you have become each other's safe place, with only being 16 years old in this crazy world.

You have been waiting for about 10 minutes now, greeting and comforting a few players you know as they passed you. Then, Lamine finally came into your view. His shoulders slumped, and his eyes brimmed with tears.

Your heart broke at this sight. Lamine tried to stay strong in front of you, but as soon as you opened your arms, he fell into them, holding you tight.

One of your hands went from his back to his head, stroking his hair. He buried his head deeper into your neck, letting out little sobs as you continued to hold him.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm here baby, I'm here."

The two of you continue standing there for a few minutes until you feel Lamine pull away. Opening your arms, you look up at him, kissing away a few tears that rolled down his cheeks.

"How about you get changed, then I'll drive you home, and we cuddle a bit on the couch." You whisper into his ear, kissing the side of his head.

"Y-yeah, I like that plan." His voice is still a bit croaky, but there's a slight smile on his face again, which was everything you wanted.

It was now 30 minutes later, and you were sitting in your car. You let Lamine take his time, knowing the time with his teammates is really important now.

To pass some time, you decided to open up Instagram, where you are instantly flooded with thousands of new videos of the game. One particular video caught your eye, though it was a video of Lamine sitting in a chair, his jacket completely covering his face to not see him cry. It broke your heart to see him like that.

You were lost in your own world when you heard the door opening. You looked at who it was only to see the familiar face of your boyfriend. He was wearing one of your favourite hoodies and a pair of comfy jeans.

"Hey, did I scare you?" Lamine asked you with a teasing tone in his voice.

"You could never." You answer.

Laughing, he gets into the car, holding his hand out for you to take.

With one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding Lamine's, you drive to Lamine's apartment. The drive was silent, which was unusual as you usually talked the whole trip. But you don't wanna pressure him into talking, knowing he needs some time to open up.

Arriving at his apartment, Lamine immediately flops down onto the couch facefirst. Giggling, you lay yourself on top of him, burying his head in the crook of his neck.

"You wanna talk about tonight?"

Turning his head to face you, he shakes his head, "Not at the moment, I just wanna apologize for disappointing you tonight."

Frowning, you sit up, "Disappointing me? Why would you ever disappoint me?"

Lamine now sits up, too. "You were so excited about the game tonight and I wanted to play good for you tonight so you would be proud."

Gasping, you grab Lamine's face to make him look at you. "You, my love are going to listen closely to me now, understand me? There will be not a single moment in my life where I will not be proud of you. You are one of the most passionate and hard-working players I know. You have come so far in your career already while only being 16! Every time I look at you I feel so lucky to call you mine."

You ended your speech with a deep kiss on his lips, laying your forehead against his afterwards.

"Thank you, Amor, I love you"

"I love you too Lamine"

---------

Don't forget to leave a note if you enjoyed it, feedback is always welcome!! ❤️

#lamine yamal x reader #lamine yamal #lamine yamal image #la masia #fc barcelona #champions league #barca #barcelona spain #spain

[lucy90712]

Pedri- Just another day at work

A/n: this is based on when Pedri met Joan Mir the motogp rider, if you don't know who/what that is you can ask me anything as I love the sport

wc: 2700+

Being entirely responsible for the social media of a motogp team is a lot as it is let alone when they add an extra event to the schedule but that's exactly what they have gone and done. In the midst of pre season testing the team have had to fly to Barcelona for some special event with Joan and a guest who I haven't been told about. Since finding out about this extra media day I haven't been too happy as it just involves a whole load more work for me and sometimes the people they bring can be extremely rude which I have learnt from experience. Safe to say these things aren't my favourite but I have to go and I will put on a smile the whole time.

Arriving at the circuit felt really weird as it was so quiet it was almost creepy as usually the paddock is full of people running around at all times but today it was pretty much deserted. When I made it to the garage we were using there was only a few people there but they were all waiting as the person we were filming with was yet to arrive. Despite me asking many times still no one would tell me who it was and none of the other crew knew either so we all sat and speculated who it could be based on the fact that we were in Barcelona. Many names were thrown around but most of them were footballers as of course the Barcelona football club is a big deal. Half of the people the crew suggested I'd never heard of and the ones I had I didn't think it would be as they are too famous to be here for the day.

After a while of speculating there was a bit of commotion out the back of the garage so all of us stood up and finally a few people walked in. To start with I had no idea who the guy was as I hadn't seen him before but one of the crew quickly told me he was an up and coming Barcelona player named Pedri. That didn't really bother me but what did was the fact that I thought he was so attractive I'm not sure exactly what it was about him but instantly my brain was flooded with thoughts about how attractive he was. Those thoughts had to be pushed to the back of my mind pretty quickly though as he came round to introduce himself to everyone which was very nice of him as usual the people who come don't do that. When he got to me I expected him to just shake my hand like he did with everyone else put he pulled me into a hug which made me blush but I think I managed to hide it pretty well.

Once everyone had introduced themselves we went through the schedule for the day and then got to work. The first thing we were going to do was film videos so I went to set up all the cameras and everything on the track which didn't take me too long as I got the cameras ready while waiting earlier. Barcelona wanted to do a 7 second challenge so we filmed that and I just got to sit and watch as the guys both had cards with the challenges on them so I didn't have to be doing anything other than making sure the cameras were working. The hardest part was trying not to laugh as the both of them were absolutely useless at the game but I managed to keep it together but my cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much by the end.

When we were done with filming we had a load of other things to do so I grabbed my other two cameras so that I could take pictures and film little bits to put together at a later date. First Joan got his leathers on and did a few laps around the track so I filmed him and Pedri but mostly Pedri because well I can and because his reactions seemed like a better thing to film. We did some more content with the normal bike before getting the motogp bike out of the garage. Pedri put on some of Joan's leathers and they played football together which I took pictures of although I was a little scared for getting hit by the ball. It was fun watching them mess around and I got a lot of good pictures of the both of them and Pedri which I'm excited to edit later.

Just when I thought we were done I was told I needed to go to the ranch where Joan trains on the dirt track to take more pictures. That was a problem because I don't live in Barcelona so have a hotel room near the track and walked here this morning so I have no way of getting to the ranch. Seeing as its just a dirt track none of the engineers needed to go so it was just me that needed to figure out a way there. While walking out of the paddock I was trying to phone a taxi but none of them wanted to come to the circuit so I was stuck having to walk so then I started looking at maps to find out where I needed to go. It was going to take me a while but it was my only option if I wanted to get there at all. Just as I was leaving I was stopped by a tap on my shoulder which made me turn around to see Pedri.

"Hey I overheard you on the phone earlier do you want to ride with me to the ranch?" He asked

"Oh um if thats alright then yeah that would be great" I replied getting nervous all of the sudden

"It's no problem" he said

I thanked him and we went over to his car which was a little green mini which wasn't what I was expecting as I thought he'd own some big expensive sports car but no he just had a regular car. He opened the passenger door for me which again took me by surprise but I thanked him anyway and got in the car. While he was driving we got to talking and I learnt a bit about his journey to play at Barcelona but also about him as a person and he asked about my life so I told him a bit about myself. Even once we arrived we just kept talking and laughing with each other which was so nice especially as I was nervous about him being rude but he's the complete opposite in real life.

We kept talking to each other until everyone arrived and was ready which is when I had to go back to work so I got my cameras and started taking pictures of Pedri watching Joan out on the dirt track. At some point I felt that I got enough pictures so I put my cameras away and just stood with Pedri to watch what was going on. He was asking me all sorts of questions about motogp and what Joan was doing even though I really don't know too much as I just do media during the season so don't know anything about the training process. It was fun to talk about my job though as I truly do love it and the sport so it was great getting to share that with someone.

The two of us watched for ages until it started to get cold as the wind began to get up which is when I regretted not bringing a jacket out with me but it was too late now. Once I got cold I couldn't think of much else which Pedri must have noticed as he took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders. I tried to refuse it and give his jacket back but he insisted as he didn't want to me to get cold. As he put the jacket back on my shoulders his hand grazed my skin which instantly sent shivers down my spine and made goosebumps appear all over my skin. The feelings I have for him and the amount that just a simple touch from him affects me is really bad because we were only supposed to work together for one day but now I want to see more of him. The worst part about it is that there is absolutely no way he would ever think the same way about me I mean he could have any girl he wanted being that attractive and a successful footballer so there's no way he would want me.

Pedri and I stayed for a bit longer before he offered to drive me back to my hotel which I accepted as it saved walking and it was a way to spend more time with him. Walking back there was a lot more people around the ranch as we weren't using it to film anymore so there was other people there to train. I'm used to the busy paddock during a race weekend but this was different every few seconds you had to watch out for a bike or a person which meant having to weave through the crowds. I kept losing Pedri when groups walked across my path so when I found him again he grabbed hold of my hand and led me through the crowd until we got to the car park. Even once out of the crowd he kept hold of my hand as we just walked next to each other he only let go once we got to his car as he used it to opened the door for me again.

The drive was pretty quiet as we just listened to music we listened to some of his favourite songs and some of mine to compare music tastes. His taste was different from mine but all of the songs he played I would definitely listen to again and who knows he may he's converted my tastes. When we made it back to my hotel I gave him his jacket back and then just stood in front of him staring. I didn't want him to leave but I couldn't think of anything to say that could get him to stay that didn't sound weird or like I was being desperate which I definitely don't want. He didn't say anything either and I could tell he was thinking but I couldn't tell what it was about. I didn't have much longer to contemplate it though as he broke the silence.

"Would you mind if I look at the pictures you took today?" He asked

"Of course not if you're ok with it you can come to my room and check them out" I said trying to act like I wasn't freaking out inside

He followed me up to my room and just stood next to the bed while I sat down and got my laptop out to transfer the pictures across. To try and make things less awkward I patted the bed next to me and he finally sat down and started to lean across to see the pictures on my screen. Like any photoshoot some of the pictures didn't come out great but he complimented every single one of them anyway. He was so interested that I decided to show him a few of the things I will do to edit the pictures but not everything as that would take too long but he was still so mesmerised at what I was doing. After doing a few I gave him the laptop and showed him how to do it and sure it didn't turn out perfect but I will definitely be keeping that picture for a long time. Once I had showed him how to edit and showed him a few that I'd done previously but that hadn't been posted yet I put my laptop down and just sat next to Pedri.

"Do you have any plans for this evening?" Pedri asked

"No other than maybe some editing" I replied

"Then would you like to go get some food with me of course you don't have to if you don't feel comfortable I get that" he started to ramble

"I'd love to just let me get changed first" I interrupted him

I got up and grabbed some other clothes from my little suitcase although I don't really have anything nice to wear as I mostly packed comfy clothes because when I didn't have work clothes on I thought I'd be traveling. Internally I was cursing my past self for not thinking that I might want to go out somewhere but then I realised that never in a million years would I have thought that I'd be in this exact situation. Somehow I managed to find something that wasn't too bad and luckily I had brought some makeup so I put some on quickly which definitely helped me not look as awful. When I was ready I left the bathroom and Pedri was waiting for me by the door so I grabbed my bag and we headed out together.

He drove us to a restaurant I'd never heard of before but that's no surprise as I don't spend much time in Barcelona but when we got inside I found another reason I had never heard of it and thats because it was incredibly fancy. Right away I felt out of place in there especially when people looked at me as we walked to our table but I tried to ignore it as I wanted to enjoy my time with Pedri. Once we sat down and got to talking I forgot all about how uncomfortable I was as Pedri had all of my attention to the point that I barely even noticed the waiter coming to give us our food. We ate and talked for a bit longer before he got the bill and I tried to pay at least half but he insisted that he pay as he invited me out so I didn't fight it too much as I knew he wouldn't give in.

Getting back to the hotel again I knew we would have to say goodbye to each other this time as it was getting dark and he had his life to get back to and I have a flight early in the morning. I really didn't want him to leave as I've loved spending time with him and as much as I don't want it to be this way I know we won't get to spend time together like this again. The both of us were just looking at each other stood in the doorway of my hotel room which probably looked strange to anyone walking by but to me it was a nice moment.

"I've loved today thank you for helping me out earlier and paying for dinner" I said breaking the silence

"Its all good I've just loved spending time with such a beautiful girl" he said complimenting me for the first time

"I'm flattered that you think I'm pretty in probably the worst clothes I own" I joked

"I'm being serious you looked gorgeous all day today from the second I saw you I knew I wanted to get to know you thats why I'm still here" he admitted

"I know you don't live here and we won't see each other often but I can't not see you again so can I have you number and maybe arrange a proper date?" He asked

"Of course I'd love that" I replied with the biggest smile on my face

We swapped phones and put our numbers in before finding a few days that the both of us aren't as busy and agreed to see each other again but until then he promised to FaceTime me at least a few times a week which I'm more than happy with. After arranging everything he pressed a kiss to my cheek before leaving to go home which left me stood in my hotel room wondering how all of this just happened and how my life could get any better.

#pedri imagine #pedri imagines #pedri gonzalez imagine #pedri gonzalez imagines #pedri oneshot #pedri oneshots #pedri #pedri x reader #football imagine

[baiyunli]

how to watch baseball now: a primer

This is a long, hopefully-comprehensive guide on how to watch baseball for hockey fans feeling adrift during the offseason — I have constructed this from the perspective of not only how to understand what you’re watching, but how to make it interesting to yourself.

If the numbers aren't interesting to you, forget about the numbers! They don’t have to exist in your version of baseball. Make up your own rules and use them to watch the game. Watch games only for the one kind-of okay player you like. Pick your favourite team because of a video you saw of one of them bouncing a baseball off his ass (Sean Murphy, then of Oakland A's and now of Atlanta Braves). Baseball Olds will try to pretend like the game is this big thing that only people who already watch it can appreciate, but you just have to find what you love most about it. 

I’m using the NHL as my best point of reference: in terms of growing the game, I’d say MLB suffers from a very different problem than NHL (other than like, the current uproar around letting queer people exist, which is a throughline in both), in that while the NHL has a very exciting product but can’t reach people where they’re at, baseball is by and large perceived as a boring, slow game and the league will bend over backwards to make polarizing changes to the Boringest and Slowest parts rather than capitalizing on what excites fans about the game. However, both leagues are plagued by Shitty Commissioner disease. Such is the way of life.

Feel free to read all of this, or none of it, but I’ve tried to split it up in a way that makes sense and is easy to navigate. Last note: many people will tell you baseball is the only major sport going on in North America at this time of year. This is false. The WNBA and NWSL are both in full swing—not to mention the World Cup next month. Supplement your baseball watching with a wide variety of sports where you can!

How to Love Baseball

Pick a Team, Any Team

The first step in becoming a baseball fan is obviously picking a team! I could probably give you NHL comparatives and let you figure it out from there, but I don’t personally think your favourite NHL teams have much bearing on your favourite MLB ones, so I’ll give you a quick and dirty rundown of my teams instead and how you might want to pick a team.

The easiest team for me to love is the Seattle Mariners because I live just across the border, and they aren’t good enough to be annoying but also not bad enough to be embarrassed about. They’re just kind of there, which I enjoy greatly. I also love the Philadelphia Phillies because they’re my friend’s favourite team. They went on a Cinderella run to the World Series last year (before losing to the Astros in the final) and are now solidly middling. My other favourites are the Washington Nationals because of their fantastic social media presence and their hilarious stadium traditions. The current-day Nats are very much the epitome of "how can we lose when we're so sincere?"

Some teams you might want to look into are the LA Angels (actually of Anaheim) for Shohei Ohtani, the Milwaukee Brewers for — at least from what I understand — their boyband energy similar to the New Jersey Devils, the Baltimore Orioles or Tampa Bay Rays for an exciting and winningest team, and the Oakland A's for a miserable fan experience including horribly dysfunctional team management and a coming relocation to Las Vegas. 

The easiest team for me to hate is the Toronto Blue Jays, which is a result of their god complex re: being the only Canadian team. A funny thing from this season is that the Rays opened their season with a historic 13-game win streak, only to be killed 6-3 by the Blue Jays to end it. Something about Toronto teams and ending another team’s 13-game heater, or whatever.

Also look into any local teams if you can. In Vancouver, our local minor league team is the Vancouver Canadians, and setting up a little picnic on the grass with friends while watching a Canadians game is a summer staple. Here’s a very cute article about them. There are a variety of lower-level and exhibition teams across the world, especially in countries where baseball is incredibly popular. One exhibition team is the Internet-famous Savannah Bananas who are dearly loved on TikTok. If there isn’t a huge baseball foothold in your area, it’s worth looking into which MLB teams are most popular where you live and/or have the most coverage. Some analytics sites like FiveThirtyEight will occasionally create maps showing each team’s popularity in different states, countries, etc. and that can be a great guide.

Petty Rivalries 101

You can always just Google these, but I decided to just list off a few major ones for your perusal: the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rangers and Astros, the Dodgers and Giants, and the Orioles and Nationals. As Toronto Maple Leafs scholar Acting the Fulemin once put it, the point of sports is to be sad in a group, and the counterpart to this is that it absolutely rules getting to see a team you hate lose.

A quick note on the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is that it's brought us one of my favourite ever quotes from ex-Mariner and current Yankee Nestor Cortes:

Once you’ve chosen a favourite team, they’re bound to have some kind of geographic or historic rivalry, and you can search those up to find out the background behind them. Also, I highly suggest deciding on a random team you hate for no reason. It makes the season experience much more interesting and gives you the chance to pray on their downfall whenever possible.

Where to Watch

As with most things about baseball, this will vary by your team. Depending on your cable package, you might be able to watch your favourite team already! That’s great news. Even if you can’t, feel free to turn on the TV, find a random baseball game, and imprint on either of those teams like a baby bird. The MLB website offers games broadcast with an MLB.tv subscription, but if you have an account you can also watch the Free Game of the Day and collected highlights from previous games! This is a great way to expand your team repertoire and figure out which team broadcasts you hate with a burning passion. Local radio stations do commentary on games if you like listening to that. 

If you just want to get your feet wet rather than diving in straight away, pretty much every major game of the postseason will be uploaded by some “FirstName BunchOfNumbers” user on YouTube: for example, you can watch Game 1 of the World Series last year by just searching 2022 World Series Game 1 Full Game. However, watching the full game might be a slog if you don’t know what’s going on, and you can learn the intricacies of the sport without having to watch all four hours and twelve minutes of like, the 1962 World Series Game 7 (although that is a very exciting game). In that case, skip to the ‘How the Game is Governed’ section and read on.

All of this pertains to MLB teams, but there’s plenty to watch elsewhere. If you have a local baseball team, you might be able to catch a game or two in-person! Minor League Baseball also has their own broadcasting services and highlights are available on YouTube or their website. 

League Structure

The MLB season is 162 games long. Spring training, aka the preseason, begins in February. During the regular season, teams play a three or four-game series with the same team before playing another with a different team. For example, this month the Philadelphia Phillies played 3 games in a row against the Washington Nationals on consecutive days. The day after the conclusion of their last game against Washington, they started a series against the Tigers, which was three games with one rescheduled due to weather, and then another three games against the Dodgers. This leads to a schedule that looks like this:

Occasionally, due to weather issues or other postponement reasons, a game will be rescheduled for the same day as another game against the same team — so they’ll play two full games in one day. This is called a double-header. They used to be routinely scheduled in MLB, but now they’re only played as a result of scheduling problems.

Team-wise, it’s a little more complicated than the NHL. Like the Eastern and Western conferences, MLB is separated into two ‘leagues’: the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). Both leagues have fifteen teams, and until the 1990s teams in different leagues didn’t play each other during the regular season at all, leading to different styles of play, tactics, and rules implemented between them. This is no longer the case! However, it’s important to recognize that unlike the NHL, NBA, NWSL, etc., Major League Baseball comprises two leagues, rather than two conferences of the same league. This matters because individual awards like the Cy Young or Gold Glove are given to the best players at their position in both the AL and NL, and the MLB MVP includes both an AL MVP and NL MVP. 

MLB is made up of six divisions, with three in each league: AL East, AL Central, AL West, NL East, NL Central, and NL West. A division has five teams. If you know much about US geography, you might notice that the teams in each division don’t actually correspond very well to their geographic location: this is for a variety of reasons, not least of which is expansion teams requiring change in division partitioning, but nobody’s going to fix it at this point. And that’s okay!

Fandom and Things As Such

Baseball fandom, regrettably, is not much of a Tumblr phenomenon these days, but Baseball Twitter does have some incredible gems. The Baseball RPF tag on AO3 is also fairly fleshed out (albeit not to the extent of HRPF) and you’ll find that many authors who write HRPF have dabbled in baseball as well. If you’re lost on where to start choosing a team, going through the AO3 grab bag and choosing a random player who you really like in a fic is also a very respectable avenue.

I cannot stress this enough: the easiest way to learn the game without having to learn the characters is reading baseball AUs. That’s it. They’re ten times more approachable than trying to memorize everyone on your favourite team’s roster, and they abound in HRPF if you’re looking for a landing port. I have witness testimony from Lil (@wymgreenteam) that she learned what pitching signs and shortstops were from the wonderful Jack/Nico baseball AU. It works! Obviously fanfiction won’t teach you everything, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed they can be a fantastic first step and really illustrate the game from a fan perspective.

Other Media

I will caution against taking the ‘consume baseball-related media’ advice too seriously, because I find that unlike baseball AUs, other media involving baseball does not always come from someone who watches and loves the game. Think of it like hockey romance books—just like the main characters of those novels are probably not scoring hat tricks in 5 consecutive games, they probably aren’t reaching such baseball heights either.

With that said, I have not watched Daiya No Ace but I’ve heard that people do enjoy it! For genuine baseball culture-oriented media, Roger Angell wrote fantastic articles and books on the game. I love his book ‘Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion.’ Then there are movies like Moneyball and shows like A League of Our Own which tackle specific aspects of the game and how it’s played. Depending on your eventual favourite team(s), hometown coverage will also play a huge part: for the Phillies, that’s outlets like the Philadelphia Inquirer or Penn Live.

Narratives

Once upon a time there was a young man named Shohei Ohtani who was breaking records set in the 1920s while playing on a horrible, failing team that refused to build around him. I assume you have some familiarity with Ohtani, but he is very difficult to describe because he is literally making history. He is the only two-way player in MLB right now: a two-way player is someone who is both a pitcher and a batter; there are a ton of rules about what constitutes a two-way player, but currently Ohtani is the only true two-way player at the Major level. This is not a perfect analogy, but he’s sort of like if Jason Robertson went out there and had a 50-goal season, then immediately jumped into net and played like Juuse Saros. He’s the best all-around player in MLB, and even though he isn’t the best pitcher or the best batter, the fact that he’s incredible at both of them makes him stand out. He also plays with Mike Trout, who’s breaking records of his own, while trying to drag the LA Angels to any sort of notoriety. Here is a prescient article about the Ohtani-Trout era in Anaheim.

Each team has their own current narratives and pairings, but Ohtani and Trout are the biggest one right now. People compare them to McDavid and Draisaitl, but it’s more like if the Oilers had McDavid and Draisaitl but were also one of the worst teams in the league right now. However, Trout is currently in the worst slump of his career while the Angels have won the last 11 of 14 games, so really all this means is that baseball is fake.

Baseball is rife with redemption and villain arcs—you just have to dig a little to find them. I have presented the Ohtani and Trout trainwreck because it’s the closest comparable to the Oilers tragedy, but there are plenty others that really depend on team and current events.

Bush Leagues

MLB teams have a very different relationship to their minor-league affiliates than NHL teams do. There are about five hundred various regional minor leagues, but the MiLB levels are Rookie, Single A, High A, Double A, and Triple A, each of which has two or three individual leagues similar to the AL-NL system in MLB.

The fun thing about MiLB is that it’s a lot closer to home than MLB! Most places don’t have an MLB team, but there’s a good chance anywhere in the USA has a nearby MiLB or regional/collegiate league team. They also have way more interesting names, like the Portland Pickles, Rocket City Trash Pandas, and Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The prospect pipeline in MLB runs a whole lot slower than it does for the NHL, and generally through those Double or Triple-A affiliates, so it’s definitely worth paying attention to minor-league teams and their standout players to see who might be the next rookie on your favourite team.

MiLB player compensation has been an issue for a long time, and the players recently unionized! A few great write-ups on it: 1, 2, and 3.

Regional Popularity

I’ve said this plenty, but I truly do think that finding your baseball niche hinges upon imprinting on a hometown team or a player you just really like. This sport isn’t just an American pastime: it’s hugely popular in Central America and parts of East Asia, and some of the best and brightest up-and-coming (and current) players hail from countries that haven’t traditionally been viewed as bastions of baseball. The game is growing every day, and it’s wonderful to see.

Baseball is very popular in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Korea. Out of those, I’d probably say the Dominican Republic has the largest MLB presence, with only American players outnumbering Dominican ones in the league, but the sport is also fast-growing in Japan, Korea, and Australia. Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which is the baseball equivalent of the World Cup of Hockey, where the best players in the world compete against each other and Shohei Ohtani (captain of the Japanese team) pitched to Mike Trout (captain of the American team) in possibly the most electric moment of baseball in the 21st century.

How to Understand Baseball

How the Game is Governed

Rather than doing a big writeup on this, I figured I would just find some articles and videos that go through the rules well and hold your hand through it! Think of these like helpful assets, similar to the first time you search up ‘what is goaltender interference’ or 'what is offsides' after hearing it mentioned on the play-by-play and a goal got turned over and all the fans were mad and you wanted to be in on the reason why. This is that search.

Baseball Explained in 5 Minutes

How to identify baseball pitches

Everything there is to know about the The Strike Zone in Baseball.

Intro to Baseball: Positions

What’s going on with the DH in MLB? (MLB Originals)

Rules Glossary | MLB - PDF Version

Lastly, once you’ve got a good grasp on the rules and positions, I probably wouldn’t go straight to watching a full game—you want to make sure you’re using your three hours well rather than staring at a game you don’t really get or don’t care about, or both. Instead, watch YouTube highlights of various players and best (or worst) plays of the week! This gives you an idea of what creates excitement in a game and why, and different positional strengths. From there, you can start watching longer clips, like full innings or the highlights uploaded after each game, which give you a better idea of the game’s pace. 

Pressing Play

While I was writing this I remembered that a fun and unique baseball tradition is players having walk-up songs when they’re up in the batting lineup.

Most teams will post their players' walk-up songs on Spotify, YouTube, etc. and while there are a few songs that are synonymous with legendary players - like Mariano Rivera's "Enter Sandman" - players usually like to switch up their songs. Often, a song will become emblematic of an era in that team's history (Anthony Rizzo's "Intoxicated" and the Cubs' 2016 playoff run). After a while, you'll notice patterns in what players pick.

Learning about each player’s song rotation can be extremely revealing, like Mark Canha switching his walk-up songs to Born This Way, Vogue, and I Wanna Dance with Somebody in honour of the Mets Pride Night last week!

Diamond Sports Bankruptcy

I’m not going to pretend to know anything about broadcasting or RSNs, but Diamond Sports, the group that runs Bally Sports, recently filed for bankruptcy, which has really affected some franchises’ profit margins and where their games can be streamed. Not sure if this interests you, but you can read about it here!

The Oakland A’s Relocation

Again: I’m not an Oakland fan, but there’s a lot of debate right now about the owners of the Oakland Athletics moving the team to Vegas despite the wishes of the town and city. Rob Manfred, the MLB commissioner, also made rude comments about Oakland fans as a result of their Reverse Boycott Night, where almost 28,000 fans came out to support the team. A professional sports league commissioner acting like an asshole to fans of a small-market team is nothing new, but it’s the culmination of a lot of drama between terrible owners and a market that loves their team.

The Long, Storied History of Cheating

The long, storied history of cheating in MLB encompasses not only stealing signs and tipping pitches, but also foreign substance usage on hands (which pitchers sometimes try in order to change how they pitch the ball), illegal equipment, and more. It’s kind of a lot. The most notable, recent case is the 2017 Houston Astros World Series Win.  

Houston’s Fucking Astros

Nobody likes the Astros except Astros fans. They won the World Series last year and are universally hated, not least of all because of the 2017 cheating controversy. 

In baseball, ‘signs’ are what catchers use to communicate to pitchers what kind of pitch they should throw. These rely on knowledge of the hitter currently on the plate and catching them by surprise. Each pitcher-catcher battery will usually have their own signs. In 2017, a year in which Houston won the World Series, the team set up a video camera in the center field seats with a full frontal view of the catcher, and they would use that to figure out what pitches the pitcher would throw. Then from the dugout, whoever was watching the video feed at the time would use a signal (audio cues, like banging garbage can lids) to tell the hitter who was up what pitch they had to expect. This was mostly possible because of the time delay between a catcher signalling and a pitcher throwing, which has been changed by this season’s pitch clock implementation. 

In 2020, The Athletic published the first exposé article about the Astros cheating scandal, and it rocked the baseball world. Several immediate consequences followed: the Astros GM and field manager (head coach) were suspended for the full 2020 season, and although players received no punishment, the team gave up four draft picks (their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2020 and 2021). 

Pitching and Sticky Stuff

Pitchers applying foreign substances on their hands is always a controversy in MLB games. Recently, star pitcher Max Scherzer was ejected and suspended 10 games after an umpire decided his hand was unusually sticky. TLDR: cheating is common, and consequences vary. Nobody has gotten over the Astros cheating scandal.

Expected By Whom

A quick rundown on the analytics side of the game and how baseball stats look very different both in their progress and insights than hockey. This is how you can sound like you know ball.

The Moneyball book does a great job explaining the rise of sabermetrics (baseball analytics) in the early 2000s, starting with Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s. Because MLB doesn’t have a salary cap and their luxury tax isn’t difficult for big-market teams to pay, small-market teams like Oakland have to constantly innovate in their game tactics in order to stay competitive, and that’s why the game today is so numbers-oriented. Watching a baseball game, you’ll see far more stats than you would in an NHL broadcast: OBP (On-Base Percentage), ERA (Earned Run Average), pitching speed, slugging percentage, pythagorean win percentage, and more. Do not fear the big numbers. You don’t have to know what every stat means in order to love the game, but if you watch enough and you hear commentators discussing what, say, Kodai Senga's ERA is, you’ll come to learn what they mean! In a pinch, you can also easily just search up ‘league average [stat]’ to figure out what the standard is.

Some websites that are really instrumental in baseball analytics are Baseball-Reference, FiveThirtyEight, and FanGraphs, plus YouTube channels like Foolish Baseball and statisticians like Bill James and Tom Tango. Baseball is a lot further along in its analytics revolution than hockey, and as a result, such analysis is not just a thing for Stats Nerds but also a huge part of the way the game is played and watched today. Personally, I love stats that assess umpire accuracy in calling strikes, and so Umpire Scorecards on Twitter is one of my favourites.

It's Too Long and Too Much Money

If Connor McDavid played in Major League Baseball and was close to the kind of player he is in the NHL right now, he would be getting paid north of 400 million dollars, not to mention endorsement money. Instead, he sold his soul to a sport where reporters ask about his biological clock and his only consolation for living in Edmonton is his heated driveway.

Because MLB payrolls are so much larger than the NHL’s and they have a luxury tax rather than a salary cap, contracts are worth much more. The sport itself is less volatile as well: both a product of the longer season (larger sample size) and the luck factor inherent in chance-based games like hockey that isn’t present as much in baseball, a player's year-to-year performance is easier to predict and therefore teams feel more comfortable betting on their production. In contrast to the NHL’s 8-year limit & penalty for long contracts (like the Kovalchuk deal), and bridge deals made when a player hasn't demonstrated that their performance is sustainable, MLB GMs often give their stars contracts over 10 years, and for hundreds of millions of dollars total. Mike Trout is on a 12-year contract for almost $430 million, and by several estimates, his endorsements and the money he receives for being named All-Star, AL MVP, etc. brings that up significantly.

MLB front office terminology is very similar to the NHL, but their contracts differ in another important way: baseball players can opt out of a contract and enter free agency. For example, last season Carlos Correa agreed to a 12-year, $310m deal with the New York Mets, but the Mets were worried about the results from his physical and his injury history, so they pulled out of the deal before the season began and instead, Correa signed with the Minnesota Twins on a six-year, $200m contract.

The Used Boy Auction

Drafting in MLB works very differently than the NHL. The amateur draft (the Main one, which is also called the Rule 4 Draft) takes place mid-season and lasts 20 rounds (used to be 40), plus picks that teams are given as compensation for other events. Teams can draft players either out of high school or college baseball—while the majority of players in the early days were picked right out of high school, nowadays the largest percentage are collegiate players. High school players are only eligible after graduation, and they don’t have junior leagues like the OHL or USHL. Players at universities can only be drafted after their 3rd season there in order to avoid going to a university only for drafting purposes. 

Teams retain the rights to sign the players they draft until July 15 of the following year, and a player who does not sign with their team is eligible to be signed once again as long as they meet the age and educational requirements (attending an academic institution, three years of college, etc.) Unless the player has consented to be re-selected by their old team, they cannot be chosen again in another draft year. This leads to players like Brandon Belt having been drafted three times, by the Red Sox, Braves, and Giants, and ultimately playing for the Giants after his college career.

The Rule 5 Draft is another major part of the MLB drafting system. It's sort of similar to what happens in the NHL with an expansion draft, but it takes place in the winter every year. As the MLB prospect pipeline moves slower and it's easy for teams to Stockpile high-quality prospects and bury them in the minors due to the team's current success, this draft aims to ensure that young players have a chance to play in the bigs on a team that needs more manpower. Not every team has to select a player in the Rule 5 draft; last season, 15 players were taken, including the Nats selecting Thad Ward and the Phillies selecting Noah Song.

Here's the official MLB description of the drafting process:

Podcasters or Whatever

My most toxic trait is that I unfortunately love listening to sports podcasts, so here are some good baseball ones:

The Athletic Baseball Show

Ballpark Dimensions

Effectively Wild

The Strike Zone

I hope this serves as a useful first step! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to yell about baseball - I wrote this for two people, so if either of those two people find it helpful, the three hours I spent on it will have been worth it.

#baseball #waiting for spring #yun talks #mlb #baseball primer #i guess??? #pinned for the offseason

[rustytrident]

mc vlogs while they stay in the human world.

it started because they would send the brothers' group chat videos of them and the events throughout their day, and asmo was like hm. why not just,,, post it?

and post it they did.

it's on a website that allows streaming from every realm, so humans, demons, and even angels can watch what mc is up to, which ultimately kinda weirds them out because they will be filming themselves gaming or studying or even going grocery shopping and thousands of beings will fill their page with views and comments. they already are a sort of celebrity in the devildom, and a lot of beings have heard of them in the celestial realm, so they were expecting some sort of traction from there, but when humans started watching and commenting things like "i love that brand of chips" or "you can clean it with baking soda and it will make it look brand new!" they really started freaking out.

i can see demons especially being so fascinated with how humans live. mc will be going to the bank or knocking on watermelons to choose which one to buy and every demon comment is along the lines of "damn bitch you live like this???"

you can easily tell when the brothers or someone from purgatory hall comments because they're all channel members (something mammon and levi set up), and mc replies to every single one of them, and only them. beings start complaining that mc is playing favorites and in their next video they're like "yes. that's my family. you're a stranger on the internet" and though not many of them stop being supportive, none of them bring it up again.

idk man this whole post is one big brainfart but tldr mc is really popular and really cool and all they did was just have a monologue about their favourite anime character's development and eat instant ramen because they were out of food.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #mc's most popular video is of them cleaning their home #humans use it for motivation demons use it to study human technology #what do you mean you have a thing that sucks all the dust from your floor in it... where does the dust go after #diavolo forbid they have a roomba and just start filming the thing circle around their place like a sentient being #user 'mammoney' commented: mc what the fuck is that thing on your floor and why is it freely moving in your space #user 'mc' replied: pet

[muniimyg]

the morning after // kth

pieces of peace; a series of therapy sessions

# 3 ! oc has broken up with taehyung and he struggles to understand the breakup

navi | m. list | ask me ! | no tag list 

paring:

sadboy taehyung + ex girlfriend oc

au/genre:

post-break up au / getting back together

healing, sulking, attempting to move on

angst angst angst

note: tbh this one has been in my drafts for literally MONTHS. i dunno what is even going on but i jus need it out lololol

There’s no point.

No point in anything these days.

No point in eating out because he was used to asking for a table for two and eating alone just looks so fucking sad.

No point in making coffee because he doesn’t even like it. Regardless of how many sweeteners he put in his cup, it always tastes too bitter. Too bland. Too anticlimactic. But he sipped every sip just to spend time with you in the morning. So no, Taehyung did not like coffee but he loved you. He learned how to make coffee for two, not for one. 

It hasn’t been long since you left.

It’s only been a month and a half but it feels like a lifetime without you by his side. You left and made his king-sized bed for one. He hasn’t slept alone in years. He doesn’t even remember what it feels like to sleep on the right side of the bed because that was your side.

It’s the same way he can’t recall what it’s like to have his heart to himself: it was yours. For so long, it had been yours to care for, to love, and to keep. 

But shit happens.

Things change. 

People change. 

You needed space and Taehyung had to give it to you. He had to empty parts of himself for you. It left him questing who he is without you.

Yeah.

Who is he without you? 

It’s something his friend would constantly ask one another whenever he arrived late to dinners in hoodies and a sad smile. No one could make him feel better even for a millisecond. You were by far the best thing to have ever happened to him and everyone knew that. 

Still, Taehyung’s friends tried. 

Tonight, they invited another pretty girl that looked to be Taehyung’s type. Again, they play the not-so-subtle game of “have you met Taehyung?” 

It makes him sick. 

How I Met Your Mother was your favourite show to play as background noise. Especially when you two were preparing dinners or making sleepy 8AM pancakes before heading to your parent’s home for Sunday family lunch. 

The girl looks a little too much like you. It pains Taehyung more than it attracts him. He feels stupid in front of his friends. He feels stupid for doing this to you because it wasn’t your face or your body. None of that compared to the way you held his heart and loved him the way you did. 

How you mastered comforting him on days he felt weaker than usual. 

How each kiss from you felt better than the last. 

How complete his life felt sitting next to you, watching the raspberry lemonade sky fade into a starry night.

How you completed him.

It’s only been a month and half but he still misses mornings with you. The stupid mid-day texts you’d send because a mug, a random YouTube video, or a picture of a cute dog popped up and reminded you of him. It was everything mundane that had him enchanted by you. 

He misses you. 

From slow and giggly sex, spontaneous convince store trips at 2AM, and even quiet dinners after an argument—he wants nothing more than those moments back. He wants nothing more than for you to come back and just be his again.

It aches.

Every part of his day aches as he’s all alone. Who's by your side? Is it that guy from your workplace that couldn’t get the hint? Is it your best girlfriends that never really liked him in the first place? Or are you by yourself too?

The only thing Taehyung doesn’t miss about you is the way you made him feel the morning after.

When he woke up groggy, eyes puffy from crying, and worst of all: hopeful. He has never wanted to wake up from a nightmare this bad before. It was that morning when he brewed coffee for two, ate out for dinner, and asked for a table for two, and found himself dragging his feet with his head hanging low on his walk home all alone. 

It takes so much of him to fix these habits. 

Brew coffee for one, not two. 

Table for one, not two. 

Live for himself, not you. 

It felt silly. The whole break-up and the ache wrapped around it like a bow. There was no point in feeling that kind of devastation, right? Taehyung knows he’ll get over it. Though it may be hard and nearly impossible, he will one day get over you. 

But not today. 

Not the morning after, not the week after, not months after.. He’ll continue to hurt until you come back to him and heal him or he goes numb from all this fucking bullshit. 

Taehyung has never felt more alone in his life. 

Then, his phone buzzes.

Jimin [3:29AM]: We’ll stop setting U up on dates if U want. We can come over and make sure U’re eating right if U want

Taehyung [3:32AM]: Nah

Jimin [3:37AM]: … Or idk talk to her? Talk to a therapist or smt. Idk. This isn’t U. Feels like we’ve been losing U lately. Don’t break up with us.

Taehyung [3:41AM]: Lol

Taehyung sighs, not bothering to keep this conversation going. It’s all the same. It’s the same pity and the same self-help suggestions. It all burned slowly and made him feel crazy. He wasn’t crazy because, in the darkness of his bedroom, he thinks to himself: this helps. 

Talking, acknowledging, and letting myself feel everything right now by himself.. Helps. For now, this will suffice. Being here for himself helps. This is therapeutic.  

Besides, he doesn’t have the energy to go to a therapist and force himself to open up. Maybe he should go there when he knows his feelings a little better himself.. Yeah. That’s more like it.

It’s like this: if he knows he feels alone, what was the point of trying to fill that void when it’s yours to fill? You are only his to love and that defeats him entirely. He doesn’t want to call or text you because he wants you to do that on your own. 

There was no point in begging or trying to fix himself. Why couldn’t he just be broken in peace? Be aimless and call it healing. Taehyung doesn’t want direction right now. He didn’t want there to be a point or to even think of love. The questions were endless, but the answer had been prefixed from the very beginning. 

Then, his phone buzzes. He expects it to be Jimin.

YN [4:01AM]: Hey

YN [4:01AM]: U up?

Taehyung [4:03AM]: Hi

YN [4:03AM]: Can we talk?

Taehyung [4:04AM]: Idk. About what?

YN [4:04AM]: Us? The morning after? Anything

Taehyung [4:07AM]: Come over. I’ll make us some coffee

YN [4:08AM]: But you don’t like coffee

Taehyung [4:08AM]: I still drank it every morning with U. Also, Idk how to brew coffee for one so just come over. We’ll figure it out

YN [4:09AM]: Okay. Let’s figure it out

Taehyung [4:09AM]: Good

Taehyung [4:12AM]: I miss you

YN [4:13AM]: I miss you too

Taehyung smiles at his phone. He gets up and goes to his kitchen to begin brewing coffee for two. He isn’t sure what this means or what is to come.. But he has a feeling there’s a point to all of this—that the morning after would be a new beginning. 

After all, what was the point of love if it wasn’t going to be you?

#taehyung angst #bts break up au #bts exes to lovers #taehyung e2l #bts v fic #bts fanfic #bts writing #taehyung scenario #v imagine

[idletype]

get to know me tag! :0

was tagged by my beloved b @weizhiyuan <3 many moons ago and i just remembered this is in my drafts. but thanku!!

do you make your bed? i wait until i absolutely HAVE to be out of bed to get up so i don't usually have the time or see the point

what's your favourite number? 7 or 9 (my bday)

what is your job? i work at a tutoring academy :D

if you could go back to school, would you? i am currently in school and Suffering but i still plan to (hopefully) go to grad school in the near (hopefully) future!

can you parallel park? in theory yes in practice yes but with a lot of adjustment and anxiety mumbling

a job you had that would surprise people? i've only had 2 other jobs besides my current one so i don't think so

do you think aliens are real? yes and if they're reading this rn pls call me pls give me ONE chance

can you drive a manual car? no and everytime i see it in movies or videos i am very confused

what's your guilty pleasure? i was raised catholic so all of my pleasures are guilty 👍 but fr i wouldn't say i have any, cringe is dead, life is too short, we should all enjoy the things we enjoy without shame (as long as it isn't hurting anyone ofcourse), etc etc

tattoos? none but i've many ideas about ones i really want, both silly and serious

favorite color? green (and yellow and blue and brown but mostly green)

favorite type of music? soft indie sad girl music, 2000s emo/pop punk, musical theatre, noisy kpop ... mostly those 4 wildly different genres

do you like puzzles? yes but i don't do them often, i should really do more puzzles. love the nyt games tho

any phobias? bugs especially cockroaches, this is specific but not being able to wake up from a dream/not being able to tell if i'm dreaming - i'm a very floaty spacey person so i'm scared of suddenly losing my sense of what's real

favorite childhood sport? i do not sport and have never sported. swimming and gymnastics but i'm not very good at both. swimming is still p enjoyable now

do you talk to yourself? constantly

what movies do you adore? dead poets society is my all time fav, wolf children, greta gerwig's little women, stephen spielberg's west side story.... i recently watched bottoms and it was SO good

coffee or tea? both, i probably drink coffee more nowadays bc i'm a caffeine fiend but tea is very comforting to me

first thing you wanted to be growing up? a princess/singer/actress probably. i have childhood photos of me wrapped in a curtain putting on a concert in the living room

tagging @qt-qtoey @petrichoraline @distant-screaming @serene-skies @benzatthanin unless u have already done it hehe

#mint talks #tag game

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

Can I request a match up for Baldur's Gate 3 & Castlevania (Netflix) please?

My personality : I'm shy, timid, quiet & polite to strangers. With people I'm comfortable with, I'm loud, outgoing, playful, mature, responsible, motherly(to naughty friends), childlike(to mature friends/family) and sarcastic (unintentionally).

I'm kinda tomboyish as I wear over-sized t-shirts, baggy pants, sneakers but don't play sports or video games. I'm a slow learner, not smart, not strong, and not talented.

I'm pretty dense, straightforward, oblivious, and naive too.I get confused or misunderstand what people meant easily so it's best if you tell me straight to my face so I can't be mistaken. I'm also touch starved as I love giving & receiving affection but I only can hug one person and even then, I do my best to not overdo it.

I'm a hopeless romantic, sensitive, forgetful, & overthink often. I work as hard as I can & try my best & be careful as I can to everything I do, as I'm pretty clumsy & makes mistakes more often than most people. I try to help my family and friends as they've helped me & cared for me dearly.

I try to communicate properly & ask for their consent first before doing anything because I misunderstood that I had their permission before. I do my best to give people the benefit of doubt but I do have my limits. I don't really get angry often that even my family & friends are surprised when it happens once in a blue moon.

I don't believe in compliments I get occasionally or why my family & friends care for me because I don't see good things in myself only bad things.

I'm kinda perverted which contrasts my innocent & baby face. I keep it to myself though. I always need to let the cinema employees check my identity card to verify my age whenever I watch a R-rated movie.

Although a kind stranger realises I'm older than I looked when we talked about how I didn't lashed out in anger at someone who didn't do anything wrong to me because I know how it felt to be in that position.

Best attributes : None

Worst attributes : unintentionally sarcastic, not smart, not strong, dense, oblivious, naive, sensitive, overthinks a lot, clumsy, misunderstand easily, get confused easily, forgetful,unreliable. That's more but that's all I could think of.

Hobbies : drawing, reading manga, listening to music, fanfics especially reader inserts, and watching anime, movies, & cartoons. My favourite genre is romance but I love comedy, mystery, action, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical too! My favourite music genre is pop, but I also love ballads, & alternative rock!

Likes : music, fanfiction, manga, anime, cartoons, books (If I find it interesting), family, friends, potato chips, chocolate, cakes, bread, anyone who is kind, patient, supportive, helpful, tries at least, trustworthy, responsible, fair in general, respectful, flexible, honest, open-minded, humble, sincere, accepting, thoughtful, encouraging, forgiving, careful, understanding, wise, mature, cooperative, caring, etc. That's more but that's all I could think of.

Dislikes : anyone who's rude, disrespectful, doesn't listen to others, refuse to admit mistakes, blames others for their mistakes, ignores people yet demands attention from them, demanding, won't acknowledge what you said, hypocritical, biased, irresponsible, careless, disloyal, inconsiderate, insensitive, inflexible, petty, hostile, untrustworthy, immature, uncooperative, unforgiving, judgemental, narrow-minded, self-centred, unethical, self-righteous, etc. That's more but that's all I could think of.

MBTI : INFP-T

Preferred gender result : Male except Raphael, Emperor, Cazador, Thorm, and the Withers!

I'm open whether it's a poly or a monogomous answer.

Please & thank you!

A/N: Okay, first let me just say, HOLY SHIT, this is such a detailed ask! Thank you for being so specific as it really helps the matchup process! Secondly, I would like to say, OF COURSE YOU HAVE BEST ATTRIBUTES! You say so yourself, silly! You’re caring and considerate (always looking for consent, and giving people the benefit of the doubt), you’re hard-working (you try your best even though you’re clumsy and make mistakes often), and you’re extremely considerate, responsible, and self-aware (having this sense of duty to care for your family as they’ve cared for you in the past). 

I know it can be challenging to believe in yourself, god knows I don’t all of the time. But I just wanted to tell you that just by reading this I can tell you you’re an INCREDIBLE person worthy of all such love, friendship, respect, and happiness. And I wish for all of that for you. People give you compliments because they love you, and they want you to love yourself. I know we’re still technically strangers, but from this, I can tell you’re a brilliant, responsible, and empathetic young lady; I would feel proud to call you a friend. Feel free to message me if you ever need to talk, okay?

Okay… Sorry. Mushy rant over. On to the matchups!

For you my Unconvinced Anon, I think your best matches are Halsin (BG3) and Hector (Castlevania)!

Your BG3 Matchup: 

Halsin would be a great match for you! He’s kind and wise, and very soft-spoken. You’re extremely compatible as Halsin is fairly intuitive when it comes to feelings and relationships, so even if you are forgetful or misunderstood, it’s no matter. 

Halsin is also very forward and direct in telling people how he feels and what he wants. Some people (and some game players) can find this to be offensive. But Halsin does not intend to offend or overstep. And should you tell him to please reel it in, he will gladly do so. You too mention how you are often unintentionally sarcastic and straightforward. Halsin is someone who greatly appreciates this level of honesty in a partner. He finds it preferable to those who would play games or beat around the bush with their feelings. 

Halsin also likes your style. Druids tend to appreciate function over form in most that they do, and clothing is no exception. So long as you are comfortable, and covered enough to not break any public indecency laws, Halsin doesn’t care that you aren’t wearing flower skirts or embroidered coats. What works for you, works for him. Although yes, he still doesn’t see a big deal with people walking around naked. He’d fit right in at a nudist colony that’s for sure lol. But he understands not everyone is as comfortable with nudeness as he is, so he promises to remain clothed unless you would ask otherwise of him ;) 

Halsin appreciates your more mature, motherly nature. Especially since he can use all of the help he can get teaching and sort of parenting all of the orphans he’s taken into his new settlement, outside of the city. He admires how you inspire the children to be honest and kind in their actions, even when it may get them into trouble. You lead by example, and to Halsin, there simply is no better way to lead. 

He also rather enjoys your naughtier side. Gods know he certainly has one. And it’s always a comfort to find someone with an open mind surrounding such adult or perverse subjects as opposed to someone who would be judgemental and stick up their nose. 

Halsin is also very understanding when it comes to physical boundaries. Yes, he would love to be intimate with you, as well as hold you or cuddle during the long cold nights. But he also understands that not everyone is as friendly to touch as he is, so he will always ask for permission before touching you or hugging or kissing you. And who knows? Maybe in time the two of you can work through baby steps to a level where you feel comfortable with him touching you. Don’t worry, however, Halsin will still make a point to check in with you first. And if you don’t ever feel overly touchy, that’s fine too. Halsin enjoys your company just as much. 

However, Halsin does take a small issue with you not believing you have ‘best qualities’, as you said. He thinks you’re full of great qualities! He loves how excited you get when you talk about the latest historical romance novel you’ve read. He loves how considerate you are, especially when it comes to speaking to the children or irritated people, and how you don’t immediately assume the worst of them. He thinks it admirable. 

Halsin is an ENFJ (at least in my opinion), so when you are introverted, he’s extroverted. If you’re around unfamiliar people and feeling shy, he’ll do the talking for you, no problem. Halsin’s extroversion is also great for you because it can push you out of your comfort zone, and into trying new things and meeting new people. He’s always bragging about you, how incredible he thinks you are. And he proudly shows off the drawings you allow him to share. He just can’t help but beam when it comes to you. 

On the other hand, you’re both NFs (Intuitive Feelers), so you end up creating a very soft, and understanding harmonious relationship. You’re both highly empathetic and compassionate, so once you’re in a relationship together, you can stay in it for the long haul. You believe in working things out via communication and love. ENFJs are also driven by a need to be better, whereas you as an INFP, are driven by a sense of responsibility to do something important. The two of you understand that life is about those around you, not just about yourself. Your combined selflessness makes you the perfect couple!

And don’t tell him I said this, but get a few drinks in him and Halsin will reveal that he actually has a decent singing voice. Let him serenade you with old druidic ballads about the land and love and nature’s greatest creations. Just try not to blush too hard when he stops the song to inform you that in his eyes, YOU are nature’s greatest creation. 

Your Castlevania Matchup: 

Hector would be another wonderful match for you! He’s more on the quiet side, but once he develops a relationship with someone, he does open up and show off a more witty sort of dark-humored funny side. 

In the early seasons, Hector is also rather naive, almost childlike in his understanding of the world and the figures around them. He takes everyone at face value, not bothering to wonder if there’s something unsaid lying just beneath a conversation or agreement’s surface. Of course, once he is tricked by Carmilla into betraying Dracula, much of that changes. Sure, the childlike wonder and innocence Hector has for all of his undead animal creations is still there, but he’s matured. He’s learned. 

Hector would be a good match for you because he understands what it means to go through life not quite understanding what people are saying, and what’s more, being an outcast because of it. He will do his best to be direct/straightforward when talking to you because he knows you need it, and because he’s learned that when it comes to the people you love, honestly, however painful it may be in the short run, is the best policy in the long run. A temporary bruised pride or ego is nothing compared to the scar left by a former relationship that was ultimately built on lies. 

Hector also has a very distinct fashion sense. I mean, have you seen his hair? He’s gorgeous with that hair and skin and he doesn’t mind that others know it. He likes your more relaxed style. In Dracula’s court, he and Issac were always under such pressure to look clean-cut and important. It’s nice to be able to relax and not worry about his manner of dress when you’re around. 

And if anyone is touch starved, oh my god, it’s this man. Sure he had some experiences in the past, and then he spent a short while with Lenore, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t mean what he wanted it to. It was all an illusion and a fleeting one at that. Hector doesn’t know what it means to feel a lover’s touch. He’s completely inexperienced in that department. He’s no stranger to sex, but what of softness and tenderness beyond that? Has he ever had one of those incredibly comforting bear hugs, the ones where both people wish they could stay there, holding onto one another for eternity? Has he ever sat next to his lover on the couch, their thighs just barely brushing up against one another, and felt safe, felt at home? Hector doesn’t know whether or not he’s touch-averse because touch is foreign to him. The two of you would get to learn together where each of your boundaries are, and how each of you would need to be touched to feel loved. The great bit is you’d be discovering all of that together. 

I would also argue that early seasons Hector, and even later Hector is a hopeless romantic. Not necessarily in the lovey-dovey sort of way, but in the looking to the future with rose-colored-glasses sort of way. His vision for Dracula’s future was certainly much more lush than what Dracula suggested. And his view of summoning souls into corpses in his forge-mastery is also clouded by this sort of soft, glamourized view. 

The other thing you have in common with Hector seems to be this recurring theme that you need to be or should be better for the people you love. Hector has a fair amount of guilt for doing what he did, with choosing to believe Carmilla over Dracula, with not understanding the true scope of either of the vampire’s plans. He feels like he let Dracula, Issac, vampire society, and humanity down. I can sort of hear a similar thing in your writing. Now, I don’t know the reason for you feeling this way, so I can’t relate it to Hector’s internal justification, but I can confidently say this: he understands, probably more than anyone, why you feel this way. He sees the way you shrug off his compliments, how you don’t seem to believe him when he says he’s proud of you and so happy he gets to share his second shot at life with you. He knows it will take time, but he won’t stop reminding you that, to him, you are beyond incredible. And he’s so unbelievably fortunate to have met you. 

In the past humans have treated him horribly. They’ve been all the things you dislike: closed-minded, judgemental, hypocritical, superiorly indignant… They cast him out. But you, you’re so kind, and considerate, empathetic, and humble. You are living proof that humans can be more than cruel and closed off- you’re the best humanity has to offer. Hector can’t believe he almost condemned someone like you, and the other side of humanity that you represent, to death. Knowing you, he swears he will never make a mistake like that again: no ignorant group judgments from here on out. 

Plus Hector is (in my opinion), an INTP. With you being an INFP, you’re both introverts who enjoy the quiet. The big difference is that you are an Intuitive Feeler, he’s an Intuitive Thinker, so he tends to be driven more by logic and facts rather than emotions. In some cases, this may result in Hector not quite understanding why you react to something because he’s looking at it from a distanced, scientific view. He may come off as critical at times because of this, but I believe his more recent experiences have taught him the importance of communication. As long as the two of you are willing, you should be able to talk these disagreements or misunderstandings out. It’s also great for him because you keep teaching him that some choices cannot be logically quantified, there’s no clear-cut rationale behind them. In a lot of instances, choosing to be kind doesn’t make sense: it doesn’t follow any specific rules or purpose, but it’s the right thing to do. Your unique approach to thinking about life and people and problem-solving pushes Hector to become more aware and compassionate when it comes to his fellow man. 

Plus, with his plans to write a book, and your love for interesting reading, Hector would love nothing more than for you to enjoy his writing, and offer any feedback you’d have. He values your opinion, your company, your… Well, everything. You mean the world to him. 

The two of you get to live a kind, peaceful life, with your friends, family, and of course, your own little army of undead pets to keep you company.  

A/N: Holy fricken shit this answer is 2,000 words long! Whoops. My apologies. It kind of got away from me a little bit lol. I just want to reiterate for other readers, this isn’t my norm. These matchups are intended to be shorter. But this Anon here sounded like they could use some cheering up, so my creative juices jumped into hyperdrive. 

If you enjoyed, don’t forget to like and REBLOG! Likes are nice, but reblogs are extra nice! 

As always, please consider tipping me via Kofi! 

#bg3 x reader #castlevania x reader #bg3 imagine #castlevania imagine #bg3 matchups #castlevania matchups #matchups #bg3 #castlevania

[cq-studios]

Questions for 15 Friends Tag Game

Tagged by @corishadowfang ^^

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 15 people.

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Not that I know of. I think my middle name was after someone but, if that's the case, I don't know who.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

This weekend watching Days. That game breaks me every time.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Nope and don't ever plan on it.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?

Uhhhh, none.

I tried out for the basketball team twice in elementary school but didn't make the team either time. That school, and especially the coach, had it out for me though (I am neurodivergent had behavioural issues so they didn't let me do much).

If it counts, I was on the Improv team in middle school. That was a ton of fun and I would've kept doing it into highschool if the teacher who was in charge of the competitions didn't retire (no one stepped up after that)

Other than that not really anything.

DO YOU USE SARCASM?

Oh definitely. I grew up in an incredibly sarcastic household lol

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Uhhh, I haven't really thought about it...

Probably hair? That's how I tend to recognise most people, which is most definitely unreliable (thanks for that brain lol).

Shout out to that one time my friend got a drastically different haircut than usual, didn't tell me, and I didn't recognise her until she spoke to me lol

WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOUR?

Brown.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Definitely happy endings. I have absolutely no tolerance for scary things.

My pour soul got nightmares so easy as a kid I wasn't allowed to watch Scooby Doo because it would keep me up at night lol

ANY TALENTS?

I'd feel weird saying anything artistic, because honestly I consider those skills more than talents (since they're something I actually work towards improving and not something that I can just do for some reason lol).

So alternatively, I think my talent is simultaneously have the worlds worst and best balance. Like I can fill up a cup completely (and I mean completely, there's a meniscus and everything) and I can bring that up to my mouth without spilling a drop, but at the same time, there have been several occasions where I have fallen out of chairs while doing nothing but colouring. I can walk across a completely rounded balance beam (like curtain rod look and size) eyes closed and backwards, but walking I'm tripping every other step.

I can also quack like a duck so convincingly I've tricked hunters lol

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

I'm not entirely sure...

Somewhere around the southern Quebec-Ontario border I think?

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

Drawing, animating, reading, writing, and playing video games (and doing stuff for local theatre productions if that counts).

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

Yes, currently I have a dog, Neve. She's a Golden Retriever-Labrador mix and she's very strange.

My brother also has a cat, but she lives in the basement and I never see her lol

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

I couldn't tell you the last time I measured my height, but I'm only a bit taller than my mom (4"11 and a bit), so probably 5"-5"1.

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

Chemistry.

I love chemistry. I love balancing formulas. I love the experiments and demonstrations (even if when I was doing them I kept burning my hands... I swear I was being careful I'm just cursed lol). I love learning about all the elements properties and stuff. The math isn't awful (like in physics). And it makes me feel smart.

DREAM JOB?

My dream job is whatever I have to do to be able to make my own show (my current plan is making an indie studio) and also being able to make a living off of doing tables at cons.

I'm actually slowly but surely working towards both right now. A lot of just saving and planning at the moment but I'm getting there.

Gonna start applying for grants soon-ish, so wish me luck lol

I don't really have 15 people to tag so, uhh, open tag I guess lol

#According to my friends and family I have a tendency to overshare so hopefully this isn't one of those times lol

[wh0lemilk0vich]

tag game! Tagged by @creepkinginc thx nosho

rules: go to pinterest, search "[your name] core aesthetic" and create a moodboard from the results.

I had to fudge it a bit or else I only got pictures of Misha Collins

Lots of get to know you stuff under the cut

about

you name: Misha (any spelling or variation of Michael except "Mike")

age: 29

starsign: Taurus Sun, Scorpio Moon, Cancer Rising

your first language: English

second language: German/Russian

(third language: Polish)*

(fourth language: Irish)*

favourite lip product: I let God decide what happens to my lips.

the best food dish you can make without a recipe: I can make a pasta sauce out of basically any vegetables and some meat. I also cook pretty decent Korean food.

if you drink tea, what kind?: herbatki "Malwa" z suszu owocowego, either czarna porzeczka or owocowa.

if you drink coffee, what roast do you usually get?: I don't drink coffee, and haven't had caffeine in 2 years.

favourite thing to watch on youtube right now: God, these days Minecraft or other video game let's plays, game streams, comparative mythology, or world building videos?

favourite thing to watch on youtube in 2012: I absolutely could not tell you. What did annoying theatre kids watch in 2012?

favourite item of clothing right now: I have a couple dresses and sweaters I love.

favourite item of clothing in 2012: lololol probably the American Eagle button down shirts I insisted on wearing with a vest and blazer, but then for some reason boot cut jeans.

* I had to rep for USAmericans who are multilingual

fandom

three movies you recommend: Morozko/Ivan Vasilievich Back to the Future, Stardust, The Lord of the Rings.

your favourite concert: i really don't like concerts haha.

have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?: not really.

have you ever left a fandom because of the fans?: not really, I still feel like I'm trying to enter them tbh.

the best tv show you watched last year: honestly probably Shadow and Bone or House of Dragons (it's probably been longer than a year but I mean writers strikes and stuff, I don't remember seeing a good show) or Gilded age! Nothing happens in Gilded Age and I love every minute of it.

do you have a fancasting you just can't let go of?: I don't think I picture actors or types in my head when I watch or read things.

a ship you've abandoned: none they're always bouncing around there and can always be reactivated. Especially if you can give me a juicy crossover, make it supernatural/fantasy, or make one of them chubby.

on a scale of 1-10 how willing are you to share your ao3 history?: oh lol, I was about to say pretty open but then I remember some of the stuff I read so hard 0.

do you have a fandom tattoo? (do you want one?): no and don't think I want one, but I have tattoo ideas

what fandom do you wish was bigger?: I'm honestly not sure maybe Magicians, I get intimidated by big fandoms haha.

has a finale ever ruined a show for you?: the last season of game of thrones was abysmal.

have you …

... swam in an ocean?: yes, as it happens.

... ever been vegan/vegetarian?: nö.

... gone skinny dipping?: no, but I would with the right people.

... gone skiing?: never and no desire.

... been to a convention?: a couple academic conventions.

#misha speaks #please feel free to join #i love learning about people #that was fun

[momentomori24]

zero escape fan here:

if you want to play it yourself, i recommend playing 999 first on an emulator and using the ds version. 999 has a remaster that is sold with vlr and cant be bought seperately, so i like to think of it as a sort of "test run", and then you can get vlr on steam or whatever.

additionally, in the remaster they screw with the writing a bit? like, they change it from 2 screens at once to 2 screens you have to toggle. a LOT of letsplayers play on adventure mode, which ONLY has them talking and none of the important details present, so they have to make characters point out the obvious and it just sorta ruins the flow. if they play novel mode [which has both dialouge and the narration], it comes off as just constantly repeating itself. the worst part is that youll most likely have to look for playthroughs that are almost a decade old if you want to watch the original ds version as a playthrough— so i think its best to play that one yourself.

vlr and ztd dont have these issues, however, so feel free to watch those as playthroughs :) im new to your blog, so i dont know where you stand on the "ill only buy a game if i REALLY wanna play it and ill usually just watch a playthrough" to "if im interested in a game, ill buy it myself and play it and use letsplayers for recommendations" scale, but it seems like youre on the "only buy if necessary" end from what ive seen so far. im just trying to give advice :)

[and if youre iffy about emulating or dont want to "pirate" a game, nintendo has stopped production of this game and the consoles it plays on, so this is the only way to play this game unless you want to shell out at least 800 bucks for a new ds/3ds and a legit cartridge. the remaster takes 999 from what id call a masterpiece to just a good game, and ive played through both versions of the game 100% and the remaster got me LAUGHING in serious situations just because of the writing. the ds version is definitely the way to go for a first playthrough, at least in my opinion.]

anyways, from one zero escape fan to hopefully another one in the future, i hope you enjoy! play/watch a letsplay however you want, this is just one stranger's suggestion. having fun is the important part, and if you want any clarification tell me and ill send in another ask 👍

Thanks very much for the advice! And yeah, you've absolutely hit the nail on the head with the ''only buy if necessary'' XD I don't exactly come from a place with the income buy video games or the consoles needed to play them myself so easily, so Let's Plays it is! Which isn't too bad since I really like reacting to the game along with others, so I guess there's a silver lining there. Although I did hear about some issues with 999. Something about being sorta lost in translation too? NicoB's videos are exactly a decade old and the original ds version if memory serves, so I should be in clear with most of these issues. Good to know that the other two games are free to watch without difficulty at least.

I'm currently at the point where Akane and Junpei are investigating door 4 (with Lotus and Santa) and it's definitely super engaging at the moment. The investigation style really reminds me of DRA2 chapter 4's one, which was my absolute favourite investigation in the entire series (along with V3 chapter 4), so I'm super excited to see more of it! I love how the characters bounce off each other so well. I LIVE for Snake's snark and Akane's nerdiness, they're so lovely. And Nico's commentary during the more serious situations had me CACKLING so bad, especially how dirty he does the 9th dude every time it's amazing.

Stranger's suggestion or not, I very much appreciate the sentiment! I definitely feel like this will be a game I'll be stuck with for a while, but if it's already this fun now I think I'll be happy to stay ^-^ I'll be sure to keep this in mind! From one potential Zero Escape Fan to an already one, thanks and take care 👍

#zero escape #momento talks