#if you want i could def come up with some stuff for the sides ()minus luke OBVI

[belphieslilcow]

welp i sent @teeth-farie a thing about the obey me bros going into heat and needing to get desperately bred so now my brain is Requiring me to make a post about it!!

the bros have cunts in this and mc has a dick, though you can interpret as a bio one, some magical transformation, or one of those squirting dildos

(cw for piss stuff on satan's part)

lucifer just absolutely Forbids them from going out and having a partner cause he ain't helping raise any kids so they deal with it alone (until mc that is lol) so it's all their first times being fucked like this and oh man

_

lucifer tends to take some kind of suppressant because of how busy he is, it doesn't stop it fully, but he's able to work without ruining his pants with how wet he gets, he Swears he can handle it and won't give into his instincts every single time, even when he's knuckle deep in himself at his desk moaning like a camgirl

you won't hear lucifer beg like he does when he desperately wants to be filled with your cum, with his disheveled hair and the way he keeps drooling with his tongue out, he looks like he's straight out of one of levi's hentai mangas

mammon is has quite the collection of sex toys from how needy he gets during his heat, suction cup dildos he can put anywhere in his room when he gets needy, clamps for those oh so sensitive nipples of his, and plenty of vibrators that end up covered in his slick by the end of his heat, hell he'd impulsive buy a fuck machine if he could afford it

he kinda forgets to tell you about his heat the first time it happens, so walking in his room to find him stuffing both holes with vibrating cocks as he wails about how he needs more is quite the sight to behold

he is greed after all, he wants all your cum and he wants it everywhere, in every hole he's got and when you're resting he'll plug himself up just so he can make sure he keeps it all inside himself

levi is definitely third in line for having the most sex toys behind asmo and mammon, though his are more like tentacle dildos and those ovipos toys, coupled with his ridiculous hentai collection, he's got enough material to last for quite a while, it's never enough for him though

he's totally fucked himself with his tail many many times before, he knows exactly where all his sweet spots are and will shyly tell you exactly where he wants you to ram your cock, he's still shameful of being a pervert during his heat, but will be much more open to all his fantasies, he wants you to bully him, shame him for being such a closet pervert and that you need to breed him good as punishment for being so dirty, he'll cum just from the words alone

though he needs a lot more praise and gentle treatment when it starts to end or he'll go though a very intense sub drop and period of self hatred, so please tell this little slimy pervert how much you love him <3

satan lovers with a petplay kink, come get y'all juice, he's basically in permanent kitty mode and Will give himself cat ears and a tail with magic, since his animal is a mammal, i think he's one of the bros that gets affect by heats the most, he'll rub his dripping cunt across anything in his room (thankfully he's smart enough to clean his books off the floor before his heat hits him)

also will 100% be down for omorashi stuff, he thinks of it as marking your territory and claiming him which he ADORES, smart boy wants to be fucked dumb tbh, cunt stuffed, covered in piss, just wanting to be yours

asmo really isn't that different when he's in his heat, since he can't get a partner before now he gets so so whiny and needy though, squirting dildos can only hold a lust demon off for so long before he needs to get stuffed

he has a bullet vibrator attached to his throbbing clit the entire time, and totally livestreams himself seeing how many orgasms he can have before he passes out, he usually not a fan of the idea of messing up his figure with a baby, but during this time? he's begging for it

beel doesn't pay much attention to sexual stuff outside of his heat, so suddenly having another kind of insatiable hunger is hard for him, when he's not shoving his big fingers in himself, he's shoving fries down his gullet

he's got a huge oral fixation so he'll need to suck you off, though he doesn't own any sex toys, so you'll need to bring a dildo so his cunt doesn't get too lonely, man has no gag reflex so facefuck this himbo til your hearts content <3

belphie has a love hate relationship with his heat, he usually forgets about it until he wakes up desperately humping one of his pillows, since he's a cow boy, therefore more mammalian than most of his brothers, he has such an intense heat, he loves how good he feels when he overstimulates himself and gets his blanket soaked with his squirting, but hates how hard it is to sleep

his iron grip comes in handy as he holds you as you roughly breed him, he LOVES the mating press during this time and he's so sensitive that if you rub his clit while hitting his g spot? he'll deadass start crying because of how good he feels, he sleeps for like 3 days straight after his heat because of how worn out he is

#obey me smut #lucifer #mammon #leviathan #satan #asmodeus #beelzebub #belphegor #obey me nsft #god this makes me feral thinking about fr #if you want i could def come up with some stuff for the sides ()minus luke OBVI

[fyeahnix]

Hope you don't mind multiple questions in one: Which was your favorite/least favorite machines to fight? I'd love to hear more of your thoughts when you finally learned the full truth about what Zero Dawn was about? How much of it did you see coming? Thoughts on Ted destroying Apollo? I know you were quite taken by Talanah, what'd you think of her storyline stuff? Also Ikrie? Thoughts on Aloy's moms? (I might think of more later)

Np!

Favorite and least favorite machines to fight. Favorite would probably be any of the large machines—Stormbirds, Thunderjaws, etc. Intimidating at first but really showcased how great the combat system in this game is with having to figure out how best to combat them, which in my case was just ROPECASTER ROPECASTER ROPECASTER ROPECASTER ROPECASTER ROPECASTER TEARBLASTER TEARBLASTER STICKY BOMBx20. Least favorite is Scorcher. Fuck that thing.

Truth about Zero Dawn. Bruh when I tell you I was on the edge of my seat during that sequence of lore.... It was like everything was coming together so beautifully. I had SOME speculation about some lore things, mainly about the terraforming and the reason for the Derangement, that were confirmed (I can talk about this in slightly more detail in another post if you want), but everything on top of that just felt SO GOOD to learn. I love when stories give you just enough hints to make some theories and reward you when you're correct. I've mostly considered main storylines in Action RPG-esque games to be boring as fuck and nowhere near as well-written as some side stories. But HZD pretty much exceeded my expectations in that regard.

Thoughts on Ted. Fuck Ted. Fuck Ted. Fuck Ted. Selfish ass motherfucker who clearly thought he was the smartest person in the room. Awful shitbag of a human being.

Talanah. Talanah's storyline was great imo and really showcased how differently Carja society contrasted the Nora. Nora are matriarchal culturally. Women are the leaders and have massively important places in society and the tribe traces their lineage through their mothers. That's not to say that men were looked down upon, at least from what I remember, and that's ALSO not to say the Nora don't have their own issues. But that differs GREATLY from the Carja. Carja society feels like the typical western society where men control and run everything and women are expected to sit back, be a housewife, and shut the fuck up. That's very evident when we consider the Hunter's Lodge where it's traditionally Carja noblemen who are allowed to join. Talanah's story of trying to change that bullshit fit well within the narrative of the world (and the overall theme of challenging tradition and expectations) and overall I found it awesome that two strong women end up teaming up to change the landscape of the most respected...guild, I suppose, in Carja society. Like guess what, the Sunhawk is a woman now, fuck you and their patriarchal bullshit.

Ikrie. Didn't spend a lot of time pondering over Ikrie so I don't have much to say, but I can appreciate the parallel she shares with Aloy about wanting to abandon stupid fucking traditions. I had some on-the-fence issues with the main story of the DLC but yeah not much here really.

Aloy's moms. I'm including Rost in this because why not. Rost is great imo. Like I def think Rost is such a great dad. He's absolutely not perfect by any means. He's such a stickler for tradition and I think that's a major flaw of his because that tradition put he and Aloy at odds a lot, I'm sure. But aside from that, he did everything he could to make sure Aloy could take care of herself and keep up with the competition in the Proving. At first I was like "why is her training so intense and leaving her with an advantage over the other teens" and then I find out how much of a fucking badass he was in his past and I understood everything lmao. Not much to say about Elisabet but I liked her from what we learn about her. Aloy is CLEARLY just like her minus the formal education lmao. But it's nice how much Aloy mirrors her and her expectations of what she wanted in a child. Anyone else, GAIA, High Matriarch, etc, I have no real opinions on.

#Horizon Zero Dawn #HZD #nix plays hzd #spoiler #spoilers #hzd spoilers

[sonatanotwo]

Okay. I rattle on a lot about ages... so figure I might drop my brain thinkings into a post so if anyone is curious how I arrive at my estimates... well... here you go. Hang onto your hats... I’m about to drop a LOT of info. XDDD

Okay. I rattle on a lot about ages... so figure I might drop my brain thinkings into a post so if anyone is curious how I arrive at my estimates... well... here you go. Hang onto your hats... I’m about to drop a LOT of info. XDDD

There’s a few things to establish first... some facts and things I’m gonna assume based on how things are presented.

The series starts in 2060 (as quoted by Virgil in Ring of Fire)

If Alan is graduating now, he’s probably 18 (as I mentioned in reply to blanket-fish and few others ^^) and usually that’d be June-ish in NA school systems... and since we’re dealing with american characters and largely american writers, including the head writer... I’m goin’ with that!... SO... current eps would be around then.

Also gonna assume Scott is about 10 years older than Alan. (Some old TAG magazine that I hold to a grain of salt said 9 years... but I mean. 10 is nicer and I mean... TECHNICALLY with how their birthdays are... you could say actually they’re 9 years and lil’ over 11 months apart. SO, then that would make it 9 years technically if you really wanna round down. lol BUT yeah, I’m goin’ with 10.)

So first let’s talk about spacing. Generally when I age the boys I try to give them at LEAST 18 months between them... which is really the amount of time one should give themselves between pregnancies at the very least. That’s easy for most of them... only John and Gordon come in a bit under that, but we’ll get back to that.

SO... I wanna go with, as of current eps, Scott is 28.

That’d make him born April 4th, 2035. (I think that’s right anyways.) Then we can make Virgil August 15th, 2037. (Which puts them 2 years and several months between.) John then October 8th, 2039, also over 2 years apart from Virgil... perf. THEN.. Gordon.

Gordon is the 14th of February. Now to make him 2041 that would mean their Mom had Gordon a lot sooner... like VERY lot sooner than like... the recommended time off after John. They’re such troublemakers those two. XDDD (THEY are, in fact, the reason TOS Virgil and John were switched. The company (that owned TOS at the time) wanted to make a “style guide” and  wanted the birthdates to match one info with a tighter age spread with John 22 and Gordon 21... which meant Gordon would be born 4 months after John. Which would be a WEE BIT IMPOSSIBLE. In the end they decided to switch John and Virg and tweak things to fit... that’s the tl;dr version of the story, but yeah!) SO yeah, the better choice might be to shove him another year to 2042, which then leaves plenty of time and is better for their Mom.

OKAY. SO. In current time then...

Scott is 28, Virgil 25 (26 in like less than 2 months), John 23 (24 in less than 4 months), Gordon then could be 21 (or 22 but ehhh) and Alan 18.

Then as for some of the other cast... Kayo is kinda hard to place these days, though I feel like given how she interacts with the older boys she is definitely a little on the older scale... but IDK where exactly. In TOS Tin-Tin was 22 and birthday June 20th, but that was to be close to Alan.

Penelope has come up... especially that line in RoF about her looking into things for Jeff. Don’t forget her looking into things is her and Parker looking into things. He’d be most likely one digging into stuff for her. XDa But yeah hrm... 17-18 then making her 25-26 now doesn’t sound so bad? lol 26 was actually her listed age in TOS. (Her birthday being Christmas Eve.) Once you get into your 20s and onwards a few years between people becomes nothing in regards to her and Gordon. ^^b And yeah. IDK. Late teen for sleuthing doesn’t bother me, but then I’ve grown up reading the likes of Nancy Drew and such, soooo... XDa Even being 16 isn’t tooooooooooo far fetched imho, but yeah. That line didn’t age well. lol Oops.

Grandma is a big \O_o/ And Jeff’s January 2nd birthday and was 56... I’d guess something similar in TAG, less perhaps a few years. ^^b That works fine for the boys. (Mid-late 20s then when Scott was born.)

And Brains... November 14th, for the record and in TOS he was 25, but I really do believe he’s much older in TAG. Well into his 30s even, since he’s been to university and worked for Fischler awhile after... then Jeff happened. Brains likely woulda been late teen or early 20s then? Then the TV-21 was built and sank... Scott was ‘just a kid’ when that happened. So like... 28... minus 8 years, minus maybe another 5-6? to make Scott 15-14... so near Alan’s ‘just a kid’ type age? But coulda been even bit younger. Plus then add a year or two working for Jeff and making the TV-21 and everything... Then if say he was least 18 when came to work for Jeff... Def talking in the realm of mid-30s. SO. That is my guess. lol (And so why I tend to think of Brains being like... older surrogate brother or uncle to the boys... cause he woulda met them all when they were decidedly kids.)

SO YEAH. These are my brain thinkings. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I am le-tired. Be interesting to see if we get any more clues from the last ep or if Rob spills some data on twitter, which he has suggested he might least in regards to Jeff... so we shall see. XDa

OH lastly... for any of my fellow visual folk here’s my lil’ helpful chart that shows how I figured out time between birthdates of the older boys. (Remember you need 9ish (very much ISH) months for being pregnant. Then they recommend 18 months between being pregnant... yes Virg and John are a titch under that, but least not by TOO too much.)

#~OOC Post #Virgil Mun Speaks #...a LOT #Thunderbirds Are Go #welcome to how much I think about all this stuff #aka WAY too much #it was simpler before Rob had to go and get all specific #he'd always been blessfully vague #on purpose XD #but shit happened I guess #ah well #think I made sense but started getting sleepy at the end #so sense might've died part way #in fact it totally did #I caught it though and nuked it #before I posted at all #so s'all good

[mvtteo]

YES, i know i’m so late to the game - pls fight me :/ - but i’m here now & i cannot wait to write w/ all of u & love on all of u, etc !! i’m stef btw !! ok now on to the stuff yall came here for.

☆★ [ tommy martinez + he/him + cismale ] ☆★ did you know that [ matteo de la cruz ] has lived in erie for [ two months ] now? the [ 26 ] year old [ dealer / uber driver ] is known to be [ loyal ], yet [ calamitous ]. which is fitting considering they are a/an [ scorpio ]. whenever they pass by on the street, i can hear [ save me from myself by louis the child ] blasting through their headphones. they remind me of [ a flickering street light in an alley, dirt stuck under your fingernails & a meme that isn’t funny anymore ], and it really wouldn’t be erie without them! [ stef, 21, est, she / her ].

( TW : drug use, abuse, violence )

FORMING

from toronto originally ! he’s only been in erie for about two months ( and who KNOWS how long that’ll last ... more info on that below )

he grew up in a single parent home ( his biological father SLAMMED the door in his face at 4 years old & never returned ), of course a part from the revolving door of ‘ new daddy’s ’ his mother would introduce to him as he grew. money was tight but they made due, a working/lower class family living in an area of the city that was known as a spot tourists shouldn’t visit. 

a lil bit about his mother : emillia vargas ! she took odd jobs when she could & that’s how she put food on the table. that, or her boyfriend of the month dishing out from his wallet. sometimes it was shocking - to have food in the fridge - when at least half of her paycheck was sent to a dealer on the corner. she was from a long line of addicts & didn’t make it to the other side. matteo’s earliest memories are of needles — and the worst was the silence afterwards. their relationship is COMPLICATED to say the least. for some reason, despite everything, he still cares & checks up on her. probably because she’s the only family he knows. or the guilt trip & manipulation she’s thrown his way — that, too! anyway. they don’t talk often & she’s still at the same house up in toronto.

father : the man left when matteo was just four. fighting was constant ( so perhaps it was due to trouble in paradise ), but matteo was too young to really comprehend why he left & he hates pondering on it - even though the lasting effects are REAL. 

anyway. his mother did have her fair share of boyfriends, trying to fill in that void - but to no avail. some of these men were dangerous, some using emilia, some married already, others abusive & controlling, addicts themselves ... needless to say, no one really stuck. and matteo definitely had a part in that too, being spiteful, causing fights or fighting back. things got pretty bad @ his place & the neighborhood knew whose house those red & blue lights always visited.

SPEAKING of his neighborhood, one great thing did come out of it & that was not too far around the corner lived @luzzamaya​ , matteo’s BEST FRIEND / ride or die / partner in crime. he practically lived @ her house, looked up to her father as the male figure in his life & they’re still two peas in a pod today :~)) ... but more on that later too ...

matteo grew up QUICKLY - not really in the way of caring for himself ( bc his actions would in fact prove the opposite ) but he often hung out with people way older than him ( not really wanting to be home after school, etc ) & he began diving into the world of drugs early on. def the kid your parents would’ve been 👀👀 about. YALL CATCH THE DRIFT OK ... moving on.

IMPORTANT BLURB TO HIS STORY (TW : mention of gang violence )

so he was always in the wrong crowd / hanging with kids older than him / he got involved with drugs etc really young. he started selling drugs lowkey around high school + the town and was a lowball dealer until he continuously proved himself + being more closely tied to this GANG ( the suppliers ), we can call it La Línea bc i looked up active gangs and this one was made from corrupt / retired police officers so i was like .. YUP ! so he’s currently affiliated, not initiated bc that prob means killing someone nd he’s like miss me w that, fool. but as he’s grown his relationship with them + has continued selling (drugs, weapons .. contraband etc), they want him in bc they trust him. giving him more & more duties. and it’s not like he can say NO bc they’re all strapped + can literally ruin/end his life ?? or ruin/end the lives of the ppl around him? SO as another gang (aka a MAFIA) that is trying to step on la linea’s territory … ( maybe it had bad consequences, someone from la linea being thrown in prison or dead ). SO they trust their outside dude matteo (since he’s not super recognizable to the mafia since he’s not u know . FULLY in la linea) to work a plan to take DOWN this mafia. how ? buy ratting them out to the police. a literal snitch smh. the only bad thing is now … someone from the mafia traced the words back to him. their leader is now in prison & has sent “”soliders”” to come after matteo nO MATTER WHAT. he’s gotten threatening calls // he’s been forced into fights // held at gunpoint which was his FINAL straw of being like ..  I GOTTTA GO

soooooo now they’re ( him & luz ) are in erie :~). 

also i’m thinking he got involved w the gang bc originally he owed other low-level dealers money + was like trust me on this. i’ll do whatever u ask. nd is a loyal ass hoe. plus all of a sudden he was making DOUGH selling product + had a following / a lil bit of a “”community”” that he’d never rly had before

PERSONALITY / HEADCANONS ( idk how to label - just some more info )

he’s not a horrible dude but a LOT of people would argue that he is. and his actions might seem like he is. but ... he’s learning :,)

sarcastic as hell

has an infamous smirk ok ... super careless so yall are gonna see that a lot

has a rooted issue with authority figures & hates when anyone tells him / offers him / suggests to him what to do

despite seemingly coming across as a meanie, he could also be considered the life of the party. not in the sense of being gregarious, but more so having FUN. drowning out 

immature as hell 

has definitely dealt to his mother before :/. a low, even for him, but. that’s a complicated relationship

his hair is constantly a mess

STREET FIGHTS FOR MONEY $$$ or when la linea previously made him. he tries not to do it TOO often but sometimes he’s just gotta ya know ?

has some shitty tattoos - minus the ones done beautifully by luz of course !! a few to cover some scars :|

assume scruff on his face at all times

has been struggling with sleeping through the night, nervous abt getting caught & will often just walk around @ 3pm for a smoke

loves reggaeton 

bilingual but hardly speaks spanish :/

WANTED CONNECTIONS 

a SPONSOR from AA/NA

a COP / law enforcement that takes him in for dealing

or even a bystander that calls in authorities for him dealing / stealing / anything illegal ...

someone he DEALS to

someone who OWES him money

a FLIRTATIONSHIP 

a ROOMMATE

a BARTENDER/CONFIDANT @ his go-to watering hole

a GOOD INFLUENCE who is aware of his addiction 

a PASSENGER in one of his uber rides

someone he got into a CAR ACCIDENT with

they hit him in the middle of the night // or hit his car ? or vice versa ?

someone he had a BAR FIGHT with

next door NEIGHBOR

ENEMIES

always wanted to do a homewrecker plot tbh

a revenge plot ?

someone he’s met from a DATING APP

a COUSIN

another CLUB RAT

ok i’m literally open to ANY connection u think of. it might be easy to come up w/ those in-depth ones while brainstorming tg but above are just a few ideas :,)))

#ok i realize that there is no structure to this + just a lot of THROWING things @ u but i promise i'll sit down nd write a legit bio for him #rn i just wanna start WRITING w u all already u kNOW ?? #ok love love love ya all #erie:intro #bye

[darlingsdevil]

The Ballads of Rebirth (Arthur Morgan x Reader)

Chapter 3: “Mrs. Morgan”

Masterlist

•••

A/N: thank you all so much for the support! This is the most I’ve ever written in three days, all three parts were written within 12 hours of the last! I’d love to hear more feedback from you guys. And btw, this story is def gonna be more like 10 chapters long haha.

•••

“I’m fine, Charles. I am, now let me go out hunting, you know I’m just as deadly with a rifle as you are with a bow.”

“I know, but we’re bow hunting, it’d be like bringing an elephant into the woods and telling it to go sneak up on someone.” Charles pushed Arthur’s chest into the bed, he fell back with a thud.

“It’s only because you’re still sick. In a couple weeks, I’ll take you out hunting with me, but until then you’re staying here.” And with that, Charles promptly walked out of the tent leaving Arthur annoyed in his bed.

Arthur hated everyone treating him like he was a baby, and he already always hated people fretting over him in general. You would have laughed at everyone’s attentiveness towards Arthur’s health, while Arthur could do little but just sit there and look pretty.

He missed you more and more everyday, Charles and Mahala could see the longing for you in his eyes, it was heartbreaking to watch. Mahala knew nothing of you, Arthur’s past was a mystery, but by the way Arthur spoke she knew he was missing his other half, like a record player that could not play any music.

Even if he missed you, Arthur promised himself he wouldn’t search for you until he was better, which could take many more months.

Mahala estimated it would take around three more months to fully recover if he didn’t relapse. In three more months you could be on the opposite side of the country, it would take so much longer to find you. But he eventually would, he would begin that journey when he was ready.

Arthur was slowly gaining weight if he were to prepare for his journey he would need to first maintain a decent weight. His fevers left him with little appetite but Mahala had kept him on a reliable diet that he could usually keep down. Rabbit that Charles hunted, wheat bread and carrots and peppers. Mahala was a good cook, so Arthur never got bored of his daily food.

It was early in the morning, Mahala usually brought his breakfast in at nine, but she always visited before that. She’d tell him stories of her youth which were surprisingly interesting,her stories were the only thing keeping Arthur sane. He never liked sitting around and being lazy like Uncle, but listening to a story wasn’t exactly just sitting around. Mahala had lots of stories, fables and legends, it always kept him intrigued.

When seven rolled around, and Charles had long been gone, Arthur could hear Mahala’s cheerful humming from outside the tent.

“Rise and shine, my son.” She said, ripping open the tents opening.

“G’morning Mahala. Sleep well?” Arthur mumbled, attempting to sound sleepy. Mahala always got angry when Arthur didn’t sleep in, since he rarely ever slept and if he did it was for very short periods of time.

Mahala gave Arthur a knowing look, turning away from him. She pulled a small vial out of her bag, Arthur groaned. Medicine.

“It’s your favorite,” she said in a sing songy voice, putting some on a spoon. Arthur grabbed the spoon from her nimble hands. He shoved the spoon in his mouth. It was bitter and awful and he nearly choked on it every time.

“Swallow it.” She said sternly, glaring at him. He obliged and felt the viscous liquid fall down his throat. It was his least favorite part of Mahala’s visits, minus the coughing fits and fevers.

She sat down next to Arthur’s bed, setting her bag down next to her. Glass vials clinked in her leather bag, it was old and worn and held lots of medicine for Arthur. He wasn’t sure what he took everyday, never bothering to ask, even if he did, he wouldn’t understand it. It was some sort of herbal mixture, but tasted like it was left out in the sun for hours and had turned rancid.

“Today I want to hear a story from you.” Mahala began after she noticed Arthur had drank the medicine.

It felt like the air had been sucked from his lungs, something he had unfortunately become accompanied with in the last few months. She had never asked of his past. He hadn’t even prepared an answer, expecting . Even if he knew he would never lie to Mahala, knowing she could see through it instantly, he could still avoid the full truth.

“A story about me?” He asked with a light chuckle, sitting up. Mahala nodded.

“Well I’m not that interesting. I ain’t got much to tell.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” She told him.

He thought for a moment, deciding what was the safest to tell, interesting but not risky. She eyed the small gold band on his finger, the only thing besides Charles that anchored him to his past.

“Tell me about her.”

“You wanna know about Mrs. Morgan?”

“Yes. You’ve never spoken of her. Was she dull? Is that why you’ve never talked about her?” Mahala tilted her head in humorous curiosity.

“No, no, she’s far from dull.” He laughed, shaking his head. A small smile splayed on Mahala’s lips.

“She was wonderful, kind and beautiful. A compassionate heart, but boy, if you got her mad you’d better be praying.” Mahala listened to every word he said.

“Once.. once I’d forgotten to lay my socks out to dry and gotten sick from it, she didn’t let me rest for one minute. She was fuming, but she still kept care of me.” It had been years ago, long before either of you had confessed your feelings but he remembered it like it was yesterday. It felt good to speak about you, like a large weight had been pulled off of his chest. He felt lighter.

Mahala laughed at the story, she had never been married, claiming a man could not handle her ideas. A pang of happiness struck her heart, Arthur was like her son, and to see him be open and smile around her was wonderful, but she could still tell he was keeping the full truth from her.

“It seems like she was good for you.”

“Yeah, I think she is.”

“My, my child. Is she alive or dead? You speak of her in different pretenses, I cannot tell.” Mahala, ever the curious cat was incredibly broad, perhaps too broad for her own good.

Arthur let out a heavy sigh, not realizing he’d been holding it in this entire conversation.

“I’m not too sure to be honest. We got separated a few days before Charles found me, Charles doesn’t seem to know where she went. She could be halfway across the country or six feet in the ground by now.”

Mahala pursed her lips tightly.

“You’ll find her, lovers always find a way back to each other.”

“Don’t give me that sappy stuff, Mahala. The world don’t work like that.”

“Believe what you will, but I’m sure you’ll find her. I can see the love in your eyes for her.”

Arthur had heard that from Hosea on the night he proposed to you, after you had gone to bed for the evening and Arthur was still up drinking with the few men who were still awake in celebration. It was right before everything went to shit, and the entire gang was forced out of Blackwater. It was only him, Hosea, Dutch and John who were awake, the true Van der Linde family, the only missing piece was you. Drunk Arthur didn’t remember much of the rest of the night besides that one comment.

“I see your love for her in your eyes. They twinkle more, it’s like you’re finally seeing the bigger picture. A love like that can’t be broken by death, and god knows death comes quickly and often in this life.”

•••

“Lee, can you pick that up for me?” You pointed towards a can of green beans that had fallen down, since you were at the cash register helping a rather moody customer.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He picked up the green beans, and instantly returned to restocking. Lee had been acting strange all day, he avoided your eye and spoke to you only when talked to first. It wasn’t like him at all. You were sure it had something to do with your kiss on the cheek last night. You smiled at the thought of him becoming weak at just a peck on the cheek, it was how Arthur used to be as well at the beginning of your relationship.

Today had been awful, two customers had yelled at you for running out of items and one, you realized later, had stolen multiple cans of food. The general store was already hurting after a newer one had been put up. It was a chain store, so everyone wanted to go see what all the fuss was about. You hadn’t told Lee about the crook who took the food, and you were still deciding if you were going to. You had stolen food countless times while in the gang, it felt so much worse when you were on the opposing end.

When the shop finally closed, it was just you and Lee again. He was still nervous to be around you, moving to the opposite side of the room to ‘sweep’ when you moved closer to him.

Around ten minutes after being closed, he cleared his throat. You look up at him, putting the money you were counting on the glass shelf.

He stared at you with big brown eyes.

“Can I take you on a date, Mrs. Morgan?” Lee asked you with sudden confidence.

You froze for a moment, you eyes staring off at the window behind him. For a second, you thought you saw Arthur, standing there behind Lee.

“I’ll take you down to the restaurant, the one that just opened by the pier,” Lee’s sudden confidence was destroyed by your silence.

You liked him well enough, but were you really ready for that type of commitment again? Arthur was barely dead, you had mourned for him while he was living, since he had pushed you away as soon as he got sick. It was like he was a ghost the minute he had found out about his diagnosis. Arthur did his damn best to make sure you made it out okay, even if it meant pushing you away to keep you safe. Your biggest regret was not staying with him through it all, no matter his protests.

“I’d love to go with you.”

You could finally let go of Arthur, the final thing holding you back. He would have wanted you to move on, to see you happy.

And you were happy right now, you felt contempt with your life for the first time in a long time.

•••

#rdr2 #rdr2 x reader #arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 angst #rdr2 fanfiction #arthur morgan x fem reader

[indulgnces]

hi howdy hello!! i go by jess and this is my first time playing my sweet bb girl, so i’m pumped! more about my girl audrey below the cut!

❛  ( SARAH JEFFERY )  ◈  dude, shut up ! AUDREY ROSE from DESCENDANTS is on screen. their fans swear they’re just DETERMINED & OUTGOING, but we’ve all seen their JEALOUS & STUBBORN side ! according to TRUMAN WIKIA, they’re TWENTY-ONE years old, BISEXUAL, & identify as CISFEMALE ( SHE/HER ). they’re currently a STUDENT & are RELIEVED about life in truman. luckily they have HER DIARY & HER SONGBIRD NECKLACE with them & can visit THE FAIRY COTTAGE whenever they want. penned by JESS.

sooooooooo confession: i’ve never watched a descendants movie from start to finish 😬 I know! crazy considering I’m playing a character from the movies, but like, have you guys ever seen a character and just be like wOW, that is My Type of character? cause that’s what happened with audrey. descendants 3 came out and was trending, and I checked the tag and like was 👀👀👀 to audrey to the point that I watched queen of mean and got HOOKED. caught a replay of the movie and watched all the audrey parts while skipping over the rest. since then I’ve been in love with my girl and she’s been on my mind so much that I’m returning to rp after a small break to play my girl. In preparation I skimmed through descendants 1 & 3, and adurey’s youtube short story so I’m good to GO. 

CANON LIFE

“A lifetime of plans, gone. Our family status, gone. Audrey, you were supposed to be his Queen, and you let him slip through your fingers. Your mother could hold onto a prince in her sleep.” 

daughter of sleeping beauty and prince phillip, princess audrey has been groomed since she was a child by her grandmother to become the queen of auradon. she’d been friends with prince ben since she was a child, and was expected to marry him when she got older.

grew up used to the finer things of life, and as such, audrey was a bit self-absorbed and spoiled. became the most popular girl in school due to her status and beauty. was cheer captain. finally became romantically involved with ben at some point in high school. life was going exactly as planned. 

then ben decided to invite 4 villain kids (vks) from the isle of the lost to auradon, and everything went to shit. the stark black and white, good vs. evil mentality was deeply ingrained in audrey’s psyche, so she was very much AGAINST the idea of any isle kids coming over. convinced the vks were up to no good, she never warmed up to the them, and bullied them (mostly mal) at times. and you know what? she was RIGHT

mal used a love potion to steal her boyfriend, who then humiliated audrey by serenading mal during a tourney match, where audrey was cheering at. no one gave two shits though?? or suspected foul play at all?? they just cheered and were like “ah, cool! our soon-to-be-king has suddenly declared his love for this new vk who’s only been here for a few days! how awesome and totally natural !! “

audrey was still plenty popular by the end of the movie, but her fairy godmothers decided to treat adurey to a spa trip, which turned into an extended trip that required her needing summer school bc she missed so much school (aka why she was absent for descendants 2)

by the time audrey came back in descendants 3, everyone was ALL up mal’s ass crack. ben proposed to mal in front of everyone, serenading her with the SAME song he did in the first movie when he ceremoniously proclaimed his love for mal while simultaneously dumping audrey, and everyone cheered AGAIN for their union. damn thing broke audrey’s whole ass heart. on top of that, her grandmother chastised audrey for her failures in securing ben and basically failing the family. 

she also lost her status come d3??? like, at the end of d1, she was still cool as fuck. but come d3 girl is not even being invited to her friend’s birthday parties anymore?? she has no friends?? no one gives two shits about how she must be dealing with everything? and wow does that not help things at all.

that night, in her loneliness and anger, audrey decided to steal the queen’s crown from the artifacts museum. it was a petty thing. she was hurt, and just did NOT want to see the crown she’d envisioned as her own for all her life be placed on mal’s head. she didn’t have a goal beyond taking the crown. however, when she went to the museum, maleficent’s scepter sensed audrey’s emotions and desires for revenge, and revealed itself to her. it’s glow lured audrey to it, fed into her emotions, and bing bang boom, audrey became the ultra fabulous QUEEN OF MEAN 

under the scepter's influence, she put half of auradon under a sleeping spell, the other half she turned to stone, then she made ben a beast after he rejected her, and made mal an ugly old hag. she was foiled at the end by mal, and ended up falling under a sleeping curse as a result. with no True Love’s Kiss to awaken her (rip), the heroes ended up getting Hades to use his magic to wake her up.

at the end, she apologizes for her crimes & her emotions were finally acknowledged when mal and ben stepped up and apologized for their inconsiderate past actions to audrey (wELL, they never actually apologize?? they say ‘I owe you an apology” but both don’t like actually say sorry, and that’s 100% something audrey has noticed for sure). she celebrates at the end with everyone else when the barrier is brought down and is last seen dancing with harry hook 

POST CANON

totally headcanon that she’s still not 100% happy as she’s shown in the end while dancing around okay

she’s STILL lonely!! she STILL wants those apologies!! she’s STILL lost about what to do with her future now that her whole life plan has blown up in smokes. she’s HURT okay. her friends? abandoned her! ben? abandoned her! that one hurts the most bc after spotting that pic of audrey/ben as children together, I 100% hc that they have been best buds for years before falling into a relationship. and while it’s clear ben was not really ~in love~ with audrey ( i image they ended up getting together bc it was just Expected yknow?), audrey still had feelings for ben. even if it wasn’t true love (she def wasn’t In Love tho she thought she was), she did still love ben. he was her best friend, and the fact that he never came around to apologize to her for humiliating her the way he did after the love spell broke HURT. 

also hc that she had to take a remedial goodness class following her stunt 

the ending given to her is life a brief showing of her and harry hook smiling at each other all soft like before dancing, which like, i’m game for, but in terms of her actual future, audrey was trying to figure out just how to do life moving forward following everything

TRUMAN

“Tell me it was all a bad dream.”

yeah so I said audrey was relieved about her life in truman? 100000% true!

her life was incredibly sad and lonely before, so convincing her that all that shit was all just a bad dream was an incredibly easy thing to do for the descendants actors okay (im sad for her bc of this tbh)

her life as she knows it: she still comes from a family of high status and money. not technically a princess, but she sure does act like one. believes she was born and raised in truman, but was sent to boarding school at auradon prep since she was a child, where she thrived and grew into a typical Popular Girl (head of cheer team/one of the most beautiful girls), before returning to truman after graduating. basically she believes she had the same perfect life she had before in canon, minus the vks, ben, and the whole fairy tale/royalty stuff (basically everything that ruined that perfect life).

all that other extra stuff, including going all queen of mean and losing ben and being drop kicked by literally everyone, is just POOF, fuzzy memories, bad vivid horror story nightmares! every now and then she’ll witness an engagement, or spot a serenade, and it’ll trigger an overwhelming sense of sadness, but for the most part, she’s content putting her life behind her. her new life is a much happier one. that could totally change once she starts encountering people from her past life again.

only really recognizes her family members as family members, and maybe recognizes some past auradon friends (maybe chad charming as her ex since he’s the only one who didn’t totally abandon her rip)

since “returning” to truman, she’s entered university on the island. she wasn’t sure where she was going with life, but she knew she’s always been really good at drawing and really good at event planning. so in uni, she decided to keep her artistic talents as a hobby and pursue a career in event planning. in pursuit of this, she’s a senior at college, majoring in hospitality management.

PERSONALITY

positive: determined, headstrong, outgoing, self-assured, polite, moral, dedicated 

negative: jealous, stubborn, demanding, bossy, petty, close-minded, seemingly mean (tho she doesn’t consider herself mean, okay? she just can come off as mean/rude)

CANON CONNECTIONS

ben & mal: need them both bc they are the ones who hurt her the most so i’d loooooove to play out these dynamics in truman!! they’d be the most Triggering faces for her 

jay & harry & chad & uma: underrated audrey ships i’d love to play out bc literally crumbs are given to the majority of these dynamics, and so I want to just...explore them?? three of these 4 are vks and 2 of those 3 are people audrey actively pursued in some sort of ~connection~ at the end of the movies when the Couples got together, and she did that even tho she is very Moral and has confusing feelings about vks, and i just wanna know more!! 

TRUMAN CONNECTIONS

yeah this is getting long, so I’m planning on posting a whole separate post in the truman plot tag for these wanted connections! 

and yeah! that’s everything on my girl! if you’ve made it this far, you’re the best my dudes!! I’m gonna be on mobile for a good portion of the day before coming on at night, but if you’d like to do any kind of plotting with my girl, just go ahead and hit that like button, and I’ll slide in y’alls dms! ♥

#truman:intro #♦ audrey rose — intro. #intro

[kawaiianimeredhead]

Oh right I wanted to rant. Im still on my phone so there might be typos but oh well

Edit: this got way longer and rambly than I expected oops. I hope this read more works, i never actually checked yesterday when I used it to see if it still worked on mobile so if it doesnt oops and sorry

Anyways. In september a new company took over our contract and thats a whole rant on its own. The previous lead (my dad but not important) left before the new company came and he left Sam in charge. Sam has been there for like four or five years and he's a pretty good guy. When the new cobtract started he was very quickly overwhelmed with the bs and also with the paper abd computer stuff he had to do so he stepped down. Hes still there and actually was still in charge for a bit after he stepped down because we didnt have a new lead.

And now we do have a new lead. This was apparently a Process from what ive heard. Nobody really wanted the job and im not sure how the Boss from the company even went about hiring but i heard that a couple people he considered weren't interested and then I was told that someone was hired or was going to be hired and quick before she even started. I heard these from two differenr people because one told me she qas being walked around and woukd start soon and another said she wasnt coming a day or so later. Someone was hired though and the first night he was there so was the Boss showing him around kinda. I spoke with him a bit and he seemed nice. Def better than the Boss who I cant stand beinf around for long hes got weird and annoying vibes around him.

None of this is actually particularly relevant or necessary for this rant but it came out anyways.

So this new lead has tried all thr different shifts/jobs out and and has been with us for like a month or so now maybe? The first schedule he was properly scheduled on was such a SHIT week/schedule because I went from working 5-4 days a week to 3 and instead of doing bathrooms which is 3 hours or 4 depending on if I'm also doing trash to working 2 hours one day, 2 or 3 the next, and 3 or 4 the last. And it sucks. Then, the first schedule to come out that he made (with the help of the Boss) had ALL of us on less days and hours and HE now working every day but one and working both in the morning AND at night. Now I'm not convinced this was soley his decision because I know he made this schedule with the Boss and i have a suspicion that the Boss encouraged him or persuaded him or some other kind of bull shit to do the schedule like this. And then the week after was the same schedule copied again and this week coming up is the same minus a few small changes.

Now all this is annoying and bull shit on its own but not even the main fuel to this rambling rant. With this schedule, hes scheduled to clean the bathrooms and trash every day except Sunday, which is when I am scheduled on them. Last week was the first week of this and besides the day I'm specificed to do bathrooms im not given a specific job. Imbonly told to do "extras" so ive asked Sam and hes told me to do offices one day and some windows the other. I come in Saturday ready to do the windows which ive been dying to do because they look awful and they used to be my Thing so I get really annoyed about them often but then I notice the trash hadnt been done. So I start doing that thinking maybe that was what I was supposed to be doing. Then while doing this I notice the main breakroom doesnt look particularly clean, breakrooms are a part of the bathroom persons job. This was annoying but because it wasnt Bad I left it. I then go to the next break room which is smaller and always messier because more people stay in it for longer, this one also looked dirtier than it should be. In addition, the bathroom's trash hadnt beeb taken out which is a part of the bathroom job. Bathroom trash is separate from trash trash as far as jobs go, theyre usually done together but if someone is doinf "extras" and someone else bathrooms, bathrooms normally gets bathroom trash abd extras the rest. Something felt really off about the bathroom as well and combined with the breakdowns I had a suspicion that bathrooms hadnt been done. So I decided to check the costumer bathrooms for their trash and their cleanliness. When I got there they absolutely had not been done. Which ! I hadn't planned for. I was taking my time on trash and now I had to do bathroom s.

Nobody had been called or texted about the lead not being at work. And he absolutely has our numbers. We used to sign in on a time sheet and that would have helped us noticed but we recently got a finger print time clock which, as far as I know, we cant check other peoples hours on. So we had no fucking clue he just hadnt been in the previous night.

Then this week comes along. Friday talking with Sam he mentioned something along the lines of not checking the bathrooms. Mentioning that its not really our fault if we dont abd they havent been done because since were not scheduled for them, we have no reason to assume they wouldnt be done. So I hadnt looked in the bathrooms but I did notice the break room looked a bit messy and which had me a bit concerned about a repeat of the previous week. But I didnt wanna do them and I knew Sam didnt either so I left it be but texted nick to ask if hed seen the lead the previous night. Nick confirmed hed been in and was seen cleaning the bathrooms. Yesterday, I briefly looked into the main break room and it looked not great, and then later I went to the bathroom in the smaller breakroom's bathroom (they have really nice soap they buy themselves thats not really importantto this tho) and noticed that one looked AWFUL. It absolutly hadnt been swept and I felt bad but it wasnt what I was scheduled for so I just kinda left it... Their bathroom also had 1ply toilet paper in it, which is what we had when the company first took over it its AWFUL everyone complained so we switched but the unused rolls are still in our closet. Nobody told our new lead this so he had put some of this in the bathrooms. Then later on in the morning, I noticed several trash cans had stuff in it. Not trash but like residue from trash? Like sticky spots of soda oe coffee, some gum, things like that. Basically things that pointed to him only dumping out the trash and not changing the bag. The bags dont always get changed everyday, thats not really an issue, but if theres something still kinda in them they normally are changed because thats gross and why would it just be left like that... I also noticed that up front by the entrance door none of the trash had been got. The busiest area for trash (from customers) and it was still ! There! And I had actually heard Friday or last Friday that this wasnt the first time. Again I left it because I had other things to do.

Now this morning. I worked bathrooms and trash. Trash went ok, I changed a lot of the bags becsuse I prefer to do it regardless and it was just normal overall. Then bathrooms. The bathroom cart is a mess. Which started my mood. The top is all unorganized and theres dirty water in the mop bucket. When I went go get new water, I had set the mop off to the side assuming it had already veen run out and dried because it had been in the part of the bucket where you ring it out and it had been there since yesterday morning. I finished filling the bucket and then look over and notice the puddle forming under the mop because my assumption had been wrong and worse, it smelled like pee. ! Carring on The first two bathrooms were ok, not great but fine. Then I got to the main breakroom and noticed itd clearly been cleaned, Sam worked the day shift Saturday so I assume he swept and mopped. I also swept and mopped. Then, the small break room. Sam didnt clean this one. Which is fair on his part because I think throughout the whole day at least one or more people are sitting in it with no time for someone to clean. So I start and its just the whole thing, even the bathroom floor, was so bad. Aside from the floor the bathroom part was ok, but the floor really didnt seem to have been swept. And the main floor absolutely hadnt been swept. This was obvious from the start but it kept making me madder and madder as I swept and saw how much trash was on the floor. It absolutely put me behind because I wanted to get as much as I could. The cutomer bathrooms also looked pretty bad which is had to tell who thats on, but wheb I got to them it was apparent somethibg else I hadnt fully thought of as a problem until then. Behind all the toilets, like on then but behidb the seat part, there was so much DUST. I had noticed before in the other bathrooms but didnt really think about it because of things plus i see the dust more often collect in the orher bathrooms than that one for some reason and I didnt even realize this but because it was something New in the costumer bathroom it was really noticeable now. Which made ne even madder. Its not hard to clean, were supposed to be cleaning the toilet seats anyways so getting just behind them isnt anything!

And its just so aggrivating. The longer at work i was this morning the more it pissed me off. Especially because in addition to what I was seeing, the things I had heard from others over the last couple of weeks started piling on.

With my own eyes i had seen how bad the cart had been and from sam I heard that the water in the bucket had been in there all week, he suspected that he wasnt changing it. He also commented on the rags all over the cart thinking that he wasnt using paper towels to clean and instead used the rags. I heard about how a couple of times now hed forgotten or ignore the front trash cans and some others. I heard from someone in the meat room that when he cleans it he doesnt do that grear a job and even broke a couple small things. Which is all very concerning to hear since thats a fucking sanitation issue!? And I heard from nick yesterday that he thinks that the lead isnt cleaning all thw bathrooms every day and is instead only cleaning them when they look dirty. Which I'm a bit inclinded to believe because the underside of some of the seats seemed much dirtier than id expected.

And its all infuriating! The Boss is the one who showed him all the jobs, none of us showed him any of what we do it was all the Boss. So like, did HE tell the lead not to do this or that? To do some of it to save time? I dont know but some of it is common sense regardless of what hes beeb told hes still fucking it up and hes our fucking boss. And the main one doing everything!

The store hasnt looked as clean from the start of this new contract and now it's even worse and its awful!

And I dont have a way to end this rant it got really long snd feels like it needs a good closer but I dont have one...

#work tag #hope the read more thing works #this got long #and it doesnt even have the same anger behind it as it should because its all typed #im so mad #dont mind me

[junker-town]

Bill Snyder is nearing a *2nd* Hall of Fame-worthy career at Kansas State

The wizard’s wizardry continues.

Two hundred and fourteen coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. That’s not the highest bar; 32 had career winning percentages below .600, and 32 were head coaches for fewer than 15 years. Simply surviving as a head man for a sustained period, especially (but not exclusively) in a power conference, gives you a decent shot.

Six of 2014’s coached after induction: Chris Ault, Bobby Bowden, John Gagliardi, Joe Paterno, John Ralston, and Snyder. In a way, you could say Ault earned the honors twice. The former Nevada head coach was inducted in 2002 for his constant FCS success (six semifinal appearances, one finals appearance), but he returned to the sidelines and helped to reinvent football via the Pistol formation.

At what point does Snyder earn “should be inducted twice” status? He didn’t change the game with a tactical tweak, but he is entering nine years into his second tenure as Kansas State head coach, and while it has been different from his first tenure in many ways, it has been no less impressive.

The first time around, Snyder built a killing machine. His late-1990s Wildcats were genuinely terrifying, with hungry and talented assistant coaches, devastating defenses — 11th or better in scoring defense nine times between 1994 and 2003, first in 2002 — and an offense that always featured a dynamic dual threat, a heavy-load running back, and absurd play-action wideouts.

The Wildcats won at least nine games 10 times in an 11-year span and finished in the AP top 10 six times. They won the Fiesta Bowl in 1997 and the Big 12 in 2003, and the only reason they didn’t end up with more conference titles is that their peak coincided with Nebraska’s final run of dominance.

KSU trailed off in his final pre-first-retirement years, but his brick-by-brick building and sustained run of dominance were easily Hall-of-Fame worthy.

His second career began after Ron Prince went 17-20 as his successor. Snyder returned in 2009 and has won 66 games and another conference title (2012). KSU went 21-5 in 2011-12, then won nine games in both 2014 and 2016.

This eight-year span isn’t Hall-worthy in and of itself, but it might be getting close, considering KSU went 87-235-4 in its last 30 non-Snyder seasons. And it has been almost equally impressive in its unlikeliness. Gone are the young coaches — Bob Stoops, Bret Bielema, Brent Venables, Mark Mangino, Jim Leavitt, Mike Stoops — who left him to begin their own coaching trees. Gone are the physically dominant defenses, replaced by bend-don’t-break units that pounce on every mistake you make. And as of late, gone are the big-play receivers.

With an inefficient defense and almost no big-play threats, Kansas State went 9-4 and ranked 31st in S&P+ last season. The Wildcats found their offensive rhythm midseason and won six of their final seven games. After a 3-3 start, they transformed from the team I expected them to be — 6-6 with limited upside — to a team that in a lot of ways resembled the 10-win 2011 squad.

So does that mean 2017 will be another 2012? Probably not, but ... you can’t count it out, can you? Conference favorite Oklahoma just lost its three best skill position guys, Oklahoma State and TCU have a lot to prove defensively, West Virginia has a ton of production to replace, and Texas and Baylor are in transition. The Wildcats have a lot to replace in their front seven but boast a seasoned secondary and offensive line, a revived skill corps, and, in KSU fashion, a quarterback who’s among the best running backs in the conference.

It’s not going to happen again, right?

In last year’s preview, I noted that Snyder suddenly had quite a bit to prove after his squad limped through a setback in 2015. In response, he proved a lot. And then, in the offseason, he played a sturdy bend-don’t-break defense against throat cancer as well.

For virtually the first time, the 77-year old Snyder acknowledged feeling tired this offseason. It took cancer treatments to do it, and those treatments are over, but it was if nothing else a reminder that the end of his career is on the horizon. And for all we know, his reduced hours will result in glitches on the field.

But after last year — hell, after the last 28 years — he gets the benefit of the doubt. Snyder’s Kansas State will be Snyder’s Kansas State until proved otherwise.

2016 in review

2016 Kansas State statistical profile.

For two-thirds of last year, KSU was without much experience or talent. Blowout wins over FAU and Missouri State propped the record up, but the Wildcats had little to offer against fellow power conference teams. They outlasted Texas Tech and Texas at home and fended off a frantic comeback in Ames to survive Iowa State.

The Wildcats showed a spark in nearly beating Oklahoma State on November 5, however (they were up 9 with eight minutes left but fell, 43-37), and after a bye week, they hit the gas.

First 7 games vs. Power 5 (3-4): Avg. percentile performance: 41% (~top 75) | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.8, KSU 5.1 (minus-1.7) | Avg. score: Opp 30, KSU 26

Last 4 games (4-0): Avg. percentile performance: 79% (~top 25) | Avg. yards per play: KSU 6.3, Opp 5.0 (plus-1.3) | Avg. score: KSU 35, Opp 19

The offense improved, and the defense improved a lot. KSU found a spark in freshman running back Alex Barnes, who rushed 30 times for 232 yards against Baylor and Kansas. He got hurt, and sophomore Justin Silmon rushed 32 times for 210 yards against TCU and Texas A&M. The jolt of energy for the run game opened up the pass — after catching 20 balls for 275 yards through nine games, receiver Byron Pringle caught 19 for 356 over the last four.

It was a domino effect: the increased offense meant opponents had to take more risks, which played into the hands of a team with a strong run defense and pass rush. Suddenly KSU was dominating the ground game on both sides, and the pass defense surged, allowing a 112.1 passer rating in those four games.

Everything fell into place, and now Silmon, Barnes, Pringle, and quarterback Jesse Ertz are all back. The biggest obstacle for replicating this late-season recipe comes with the turnover in the defensive front. But the offense could be tremendous.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

A ruthless pursuit of efficiency. Forcing defenders to make solo tackles. Conversion in short yardage. Plodding tempo. These have been the building blocks of the Kansas State offense in recent years, and I would say the Wildcats checked those boxes appropriately in 2016:

48 percent success rate (13th in FBS), 52 percent rushing success rate (fifth)

86 percent solo tackle percentage (fourth)

75 percent power success rate (21st)

2.2 plays below expected in adjusted pace (81st)

Granted, there were issues, especially before November. The negative plays were too frequent — 69th in stuff rate, 96th in Adj. Sack Rate — and the big plays were nonexistent until late.

Still, even while getting drastically outgained on a play-for-play basis, KSU was able to remain within shouting distance of better teams (Oklahoma aside) with this approach. And when the big plays showed up, the attack ignited.

Almost all of the reasons for ignition return.

The big plays made a huge different late, but it starts with efficiency. And in Ertz and Barnes, KSU might have the most efficient backfield in the conference. Not including sacks, Ertz rushed for 7 yards per carry, combining consistency (49 percent of his carries gained at least five yards) with high-end explosiveness.

Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

Alex Barnes

Barnes gained five yards on 68 percent of his carries, and while that is unsustainably high with a larger workload, the 221-pound sophomore has all the makings of a supremely efficient back, especially considering Ertz’s run threat and the elite blocking he gets from his line (which returns 80 percent of last year’s starts and two all-conference guys in tackle Dalton Risner and center Reid Najvar) and his all-conference fullback, Winston Dimel.

(Dimel, by the way, had one of the greatest, most late-career-Jerome-Bettis stat lines you’ll ever see: 30 carries, 92 yards, 12 touchdowns.)

Barnes has workhorse potential, but juniors Silmon and Dalvin Warmack combined for 127 carries and 675 yards; neither was particularly efficient, but they have some pop.

KSU finished 25th in Rushing S&P+, and if November is any indication, that could creep toward the top 10.

That makes the receiving corps tantalizing, too. Pringle’s emergence was big, and now four-star Cal transfer Carlos Strickland II joins the mix. Others return — junior Dominique Heath, sophomores Isaiah Zuber and Isaiah Harris — but Pringle and Strickland are the potential headliners. This is a run-first attack, and Ertz probably isn’t the guy you want trying to make big passes downfield on third-and-long, but if KSU is anywhere near as efficient as it should be on the ground, this offense will have everything.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Jesse Ertz

Defense

In a way, the rushing offense will drive the defense, too. Success with a grind-it-out attack makes opponents impatient, illustrated by the fact that opponents ran only 47 percent of the time on standard downs against KSU, the lowest rate in the country.

Sure, a lot of Big 12 offenses rely on the pass, but between opponent preferences, KSU strengths and weaknesses, and general impatience, the Wildcats faced more passing than almost anyone in the country. That became problematic for opponents when, late in the year, KSU learned how to defend the pass.

The Wildcats have only once ranked better than 42nd in Def. S&P+ since Snyder’s return — strangely enough, they were exactly 42nd in 2013, 2014, and 2016 — and haven’t had the play-makers to avoid going into extreme bend-don’t-break mode. That was mostly the case in 2016, too, but in linebacker Elijah Lee, ends Jordan Willis and Reggie Walker, and tackle Will Geary, they some dangerous options up front. This foursome combined for 42.5 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, and 11 passes defensed. But now the two most disruptive members (Willis and Lee) are gone.

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Reggie Walker

Walker benefited from Willis’ presence, but as a sophomore he probably still has quite a bit of improvement to do. And in limited roles, backup ends Tanner Wood and Kyle Ball did combine for 7.5 TFLs and four sacks. There might still be A-grade pass rush potential.

Can some combination of Walker, Geary, and potential new breakout performers — Wood and Ball, JUCO lineman Xavier Davis, tackles Trey Dishon and Ray Price, JUCO linebacker Da’Quan Patton, linebacker Trent Tanking — produce enough disruption up front that opponents again lean heavily on the pass? Because if so, the secondary might be more prepared for a heavier load this time around.

Corners D.J. Reed and Duke Shelley combined for six interceptions and 20 breakups, though KSU’s late-season surge in pass defense did rather neatly coincide with nickel back Donnie Starks (who ran out of eligibility) taking over for Shelley in the starting lineup. That’s a bit of a concern, but the cornerbacks need only competence because I love the safeties. I have high expectations for both junior Kendall Adams and senior nickel Cre Moore, and if KSU gets anything from big JUCO safety Elijah Walker, the back should be stable.

You can see how this all works in concert: KSU’s efficient ground game opens up big-play pass potential, which forces opponents — already antsy and impatient because it takes forever to get the ball back from the Wildcats even without the big plays — to take more risks. A still-solid pass rush and awesome set of safeties then swarm.

If any piece falters, KSU becomes 2015-level mediocre pretty quickly. But it’s not a stretch to see that formula working really well.

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

D.J. Reed

Special Teams

I have three years of Special Teams S&P+ data so far, and K-State has yet to rank worse than 26th in the team rankings. And the fact that the Wildcats indeed ranked 26th last year with almost all underclassmen is intriguing.

This is a scary unit. Pringle and D.J. Reed each averaged over 28 yards per kick return, Dominique Heath averaged 12.9 yards per punt return, and KSU ranked ninth in kick return success rate and 12th in punt return success rate. Meanwhile, Mitch Lochbihler took over kickoffs late in the year and booted two-thirds of them for touchbacks (he also averaged 46.6 yards in five punts). The biggest relative weakness is in place-kicking, where Matthew McCrane made only one of four field goals of 40-plus yards. But he also didn’t miss a single kick under 40.

Special teams are unpredictable from year to year, but this unit has as much top-10 potential as anybody’s.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep Central Arkansas NR 24.6 92% 9-Sep Charlotte 127 29.9 96% 16-Sep at Vanderbilt 63 2.5 56% 30-Sep Baylor 28 0.9 52% 7-Oct at Texas 16 -9.8 29% 14-Oct TCU 21 -2.9 43% 21-Oct Oklahoma 5 -12.9 23% 28-Oct at Kansas 107 16.1 82% 4-Nov at Texas Tech 66 2.7 56% 11-Nov West Virginia 69 9.4 71% 18-Nov at Oklahoma State 22 -7.8 33% 25-Nov Iowa State 57 6.5 65%

Projected S&P+ Rk 35 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 36 / 52 Projected wins 7.0 Five-Year S&P+ Rk 9.1 (31) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 68 / 60 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 13 / 6.2 2016 TO Luck/Game +2.6 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 70% (79%, 61%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 7.2 (1.8)

This could all go wrong. Snyder’s 30-hours-a-day obsessiveness has driven this ship for a long time, and the fact that he stepped back in the spring while under cancer treatment could be a sign that his grip on the program is loosening.

For all we know, the ship can steer itself at this point — between his longtime assistants and a strong set of upperclassman leaders, maybe all of his lessons have been internalized — but it’s a concern until proved otherwise.

It’s just about the only concern, though. This was a legitimate top-20 team at the end of 2016, and while there is some turnover in the front seven, the secondary should be stable, and the offense and special teams could pick up a lot of slack. A lot of slack.

There’s a lot to like. Naturally, since S&P+ uses recruiting rankings as part of the formula, its projections are a bit on the conservative side, but the Wildcats are still projected a healthy 35th and favored in eight games. If they play at a top-20 level, that could flip another game in their favor.

KSU won’t be the Big 12 favorite, but let’s not pretend the Wildcats don’t have a chance to make a run.

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[junker-town]

UCF went from 0 wins to a bowl in Scott Frost’s 1st year. What now?

The Knights don’t have to overachieve much to approach nine wins, and Frost tends to overachieve.

In 1996, Scott Frost became eligible for Nebraska after transferring back home from Stanford. The Cornhuskers had just lost one of the best college quarterbacks of all time and had won back-to-back national titles. In Tommie Frazier’s absence, Frost guided them to a 24-2 record over two years and secured a third title for Tom Osborne.

After a brief pro career that included time on both offense (quarterback) and defense (safety), Frost got his first full-time assistant position at Northern Iowa in 2007; the Panthers surged from 7-4 to 12-1, then won 12 games the next year with Frost as defensive co-coordinator.

Frost landed at Oregon in 2009, switching back to offense to become first-year head man Chip Kelly’s receivers coach. The Ducks won 46 games in three years and finished as national runner-up in 2010. When Kelly left in 2013 and Mark Helfrich took over, Frost moved up to coordinator, and Oregon again finished as national runner-up. Frost left after 2015, and Oregon fell from 9-4 to 4-8.

UCF was coming off of its second-ever winless season. The Knights immediately improved from 0-12 to 6-7, reaching a bowl and improving by 48 spots in the S&P+ rankings.

Does Frost get full credit for all of these wins and surges? Of course not. This is college football; hundreds of people are involved with every team.

Still, where Frost goes, wins follow. It’s been the case no matter where he plays or what he coaches. Frost may not have the most gregarious reputation in the world, but it appears he’s really good at just about every aspect of football.

This is both good and bad news for UCF. For however long Frost is there, the Knights are likely to improve. He needed just one year to restore some shine to a program that lost all of it overnight in George O’Leary’s final days as coach. Then, per the 247Sports Composite, he inked the best class of any Group of 5 team. The Knights’ class ranked 54th overall, five spots ahead of Memphis’ and seven ahead of Boise State’s. UCF might be back among the top teams of the AAC East sooner than later.

On the other hand, the rumors are going to begin soon, especially if Nebraska struggles in 2017. Frost’s name will be hot in coaching searches.

But that’s a worry for the offseason. Heading into 2017, there’s plenty of reason to believe UCF will continue to surge. After all, last year’s improvement really only encompassed one side of the ball.

UCF improved from 110th to 30th in Def. S&P+ last year; an experienced Knights defense conformed with what coordinator Erik Chinander wanted to do, and while the secondary is undergoing a drastic rebuild, the front seven returns enough to lead you to believe any drop-off could be only minor.

Meanwhile, the Knights’ offense was nearly nonexistent. UCF improved only from 126th to 117th in Off. S&P+, but they did so with a freshman quarterback, freshman running back, and mostly sophomores in the receiving corps. Oh, and a few freshmen and sophomores up front.

Experience and competition on the two-deep should lead to enough offensive improvement to offset regression on defense. The Knights should be bowling again. Depending on some relative tossups, they could be in a pretty good bowl.

Just about any coach was probably going to come in and engineer improvement. UCF was far too talented to fall as far as it did in O’Leary’s last year, and considering returning production, recent recruiting, and 2015’s bad turnovers luck, conditions were favorable. Still, Frost won a game or two more than projected. Things have quickly begun to look up again for the 2014 Fiesta Bowl champs.

2016 in review

2016 UCF statistical profile.

Considering how young UCF was on offense, it wasn’t a given to think that the Knights would be able to handle business against lesser teams. But aside from a dud of a bowl against Arkansas State, they did. They weren’t ready to turn the corner against the better teams, but, well, when you’re a year removed from going 0-12, you take your shots where you can get.

UCF vs. S&P+ top 80 (0-6): Avg. percentile performance: 29% (~top 90) | Avg. score: Opp 37, UCF 21 (minus-16) | Avg. yards per play: Opp 5.2, UCF 4.0 (minus-1.2)

UCF vs. No. 81-plus (6-1): Avg. percentile performance: 56% (~top 55 | Avg. score: UCF 35, Opp 14 (plus-21) | Avg. yards per play: UCF 5.2, Opp 4.4 (plus-0.8)

The Knights’ athletic advantages were too much for lesser teams, and while UCF’s offense was never good (5.2 yards per play against bad teams is quite substandard), we caught glimpses of what Frost’s tempo attack might be able to do. They drubbed bad teams like FIU (53-14), ECU (47-29), and Tulane (37-6).

Meanwhile, against good teams, the goal was to slog out respectable results. The Knights did more than that in a 26-25 loss to Temple and stayed close despite getting outplayed in a 31-24 loss to Houston. Otherwise, they didn’t have enough to stay within 15 points of Tulsa, 17 of USF, or 37 of Michigan.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

If you combined everything you know about Frost and offensive coordinator Troy Walters, you would get a pretty accurate read of what UCF tried to do. Frost played in Nebraska’s option attack in the 1990s and spent seven years in Oregon’s run-heavy, hurry-up spread. Edwards produced nearly 4,000 receiving yards as a Stanford receiver in the late-1990s and spent 2013-15 as receivers coach for a Colorado offense built around dual-threat passer Sefo Liufau.

Mash those together and sprinkle in a freshman quarterback, and you get an up-tempo attack that tried to keep heat off of its young signal caller by throwing on standard downs and running on passing downs. UCF utilized whatever it had to keep defenses momentarily off balance, and it occasionally worked.

All things considered, this was to be expected. Improvement is almost guaranteed in 2017. The question is, how much?

From the perspective of recruiting rankings, the answer is “plenty.” UCF boasts more former three- and four-star recruits than just about anybody in the conference. Starting quarterback McKenzie Milton, backup running backs Adrian Killins and Taj McGowan, tight end Jordan Akins, receiver Cam Stewart, tackle Wyatt Miller, and guard Jordan Johnson were all mid-three-stars and contributed in 2016. Milton, Killins, and Akins even looked the part occasionally. Leading rusher Jawon Hamilton and receiver Tre’Quan Smith were also three-star guys.

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Tre'Quan Smith

The upside only rises further when you add in recent recruits. Frost inked three high-caliber running backs, including four-star 240-pounder Cordarrian Richardson, and added two high-three-star receivers. Plus, sophomore receiver Dredrick Snelson and junior receiver Tristan Payton (suspended for at least the first half of 2017) still have time to live up to lofty recruiting ratings.

As I like to say, though, recruiting rankings expire. The concept of upside only lasts so long before your actual production defines you. And UCF’s actual production in 2017 was miserable. Including sacks, Milton averaged under 5 yards per pass. Hamilton averaged 3.6 yards per carry. And among returnees, only Akins produced a success rate over 50 percent. All seven of the returning linemen with starting experience were three-stars; that didn’t stop the Knights from ranking a miserable 127th in both Adj. Line Yards and stuff rate.

The one thing UCF has going for it is time. The Knights might start as few as two or three seniors in 2017. Milton, Hamilton, Killins, and one of the returning starting linemen (Jordan Johnson) are sophomores. The rest of the key returnees are juniors. And UCF has only begun to tap into Frost’s recruiting.

Milton showed high-level promise early in his tenure. He took over after UCF’s miserable Week 2 showing against Michigan, and in his first four games, he completed 61 percent of his passes with a 148.8 passer rating; he also rushed well against Temple and UConn.

From that point forward, however, those numbers sank to a 56 percent completion rate and a 93.9 passer rating. Opponents adjusted, and Milton wasn’t ready for Plan B just yet. He had a decent enough spring, and between senior Pete DiNovo and incoming freshmen Darriel Mack Jr. and Noah Vedral, he should face decent enough competition to improve. But he’s undersized (listed at 5’11, 170 pounds) and is only a decent runner. It will be interesting to see if his upside keeps up with the upside of his teammates. If it does, UCF’s offense should click pretty soon — if not in 2017, then definitely by 2018.

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McKenzie Milton

Defense

When Frost was coaching defense for Northern Iowa, Erik Chinander was coaching offense; he spent 2004-09 as UNI’s tight ends coach, then switched to defense and spent five of the next six seasons with Frost in Eugene.

Chinander, a former walk-on offensive lineman at Iowa, certainly found affirmation in his first year as UCF defensive coordinator. First, Oregon’s defense fell 25 spots in Def. S&P+ in his absence; second, and more importantly, UCF’s defense rose by 80. Granted, he inherited personnel that was used to succeeding — under O’Leary, the Knights ranked between 27th and 48th every year from 2008-14 before 2015’s collapse — but righting the ship is never guaranteed.

Chinander installed an aggressive 3-4, and his linebackers wrecked shop. The Knights ranked first in linebacker havoc rate and 23rd in success rate, and when opponents were able to create scoring opportunities, the Knights got even more aggressive, allowing just 3.7 points per chance (15th). They were handed wretched field position by an inefficient offense and overcame it most of the time.

The heart and soul was Shaquem Griffin; the outside linebacker earned AAC defensive player of the year honors after recording 20 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, and eight passes defensed. And though UCF experiences some turnover at linebacker, Griffin does get some battery mates back in ILBs Pat Jasinski and Chequan Burkett. Chinander played a ton of guys despite a relative lack of injury, so despite losing six linebackers with at least 8 tackles, five such LBs return.

The entire line is also back. For a 3-4 front, this line didn’t have the requisite size (only two players were listed at more than 285 pounds, and one was a freshman), and the Knights were certainly quite a bit better against the pass (19th in Passing S&P+) than the run (79th in Rushing S&P+). Still, plenty of attacking talent remains. End Tony Guerad logged 10 TFLs, backup ends like Jock Petree appear capable of disruption, and UCF got another nine TFLs from the aforementioned big men, senior-to-be Jamiyus Pittman and sophomore Trysten Hill.

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Shaquem Griffin (18) and Jock Petree (97)

I would be surprised if UCF didn’t improve against the run. And if this is true, the Knights should be good at not only forcing passing downs but also knocking the quarterback around.

The problems will come if or when the quarterback gets a pass off. UCF has to replace its top two safeties and top two corners, and the top remaining corner, sophomore Nevelle Clarke, is suspended for at least the first half of the year. The safety position still boasts juniors Kyle Gibson and Tre Neal, who saw enough playing time to combine for 37.5 tackles (and almost no havoc plays) last year. But corner is a mystery. Some combination of junior Rashard Causey, sophomore (and spring star) Brandon Moore, and freshmen will have to deliver, or else the pass defense will likely regress considerably.

Chinander will have a choice to make. Either he keeps the aggressiveness dialed up and prepares to tolerate breakdowns in the secondary, or he scales back on havoc to protect his young secondary and risks losing his identity. And while early opponents like Georgia Tech and Maryland are much more advanced running than throwing, Week 2 opponent Memphis could torch the Knights.

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Chequan Burkett (40) and Pat Jasinski (56)

Special Teams

A lot was asked of place-kicker Matthew Wright in 2016, and he mostly came through. He was asked to attempt 13 field goals of more than 40 yards — on the rare occasions that the offense actually moved the ball, it typically didn’t move the ball all the way to the end zone —and he made nine of them. He also made eight of nine shorter FGs.

Wright’s success powered a No. 13 ranking for UCF in Special Teams S&P+, but he got help from an exciting return game. Adrian Killins was a home run threat in kick returns, and Chris Johnson was efficient, if not particularly explosive, in punt returns. Wright, Killins, and Johnson are all back, so this should be a steady unit again even though the Knights have to figure some things out in the punting game.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep Florida International 104 10.3 72% 9-Sep Memphis 61 -3.1 43% 16-Sep Georgia Tech 31 -8.7 31% 23-Sep at Maryland 72 -3.7 42% 30-Sep Maine NR 19.5 87% 7-Oct at Cincinnati 75 -2.8 43% 14-Oct East Carolina 100 9.2 70% 21-Oct at Navy 71 -4.0 41% 4-Nov at SMU 81 -0.2 50% 11-Nov Connecticut 125 16.4 83% 18-Nov at Temple 67 -6.9 35% 24-Nov South Florida 56 -3.6 42%

Projected S&P+ Rk 78 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 101 / 46 Projected wins 6.4 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -0.6 (69) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 60 / 65 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 1 / 5.6 2016 TO Luck/Game -1.8 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 58% (78%, 38%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 6.0 (0.0)

The odds were always in favor of a quick turnaround. A team this athletic, with a sustained record of recent success, is a prime bounce-back candidate after a random awful season. O’Leary lost his edge, but he left a program with strong bones.

In 2016 we saw the Knights bounce back. The defense carried them through an offensive youth movement, and now the offense should be ready to carry some weight. More importantly, O’Leary’s replacement appears to be stocking up on even more exciting pieces.

No matter what role he plays, Frost wins. He won as a college quarterback, he has contributed to wins as an assistant coach, and he engineered six-win improvement in his first year as a head coach. Sure, the conditions were favorable; he still overachieved.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he and his Knights did so again in 2017. Granted, there would be little wrong with sustaining gains after going from 0-12 to bowl eligibility, and there’s a chance that turnover in the secondary puts a cap on second-year growth. Still, even with a conservative No. 78 S&P+ projection, the Knights are projected to win 6.4 games. If the offense surges, as I think could be the case, then the six games in which they have win probability between 41 and 50 percent could shift more toward 51-60 or 61-70 percent.

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