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spencersawkward · 3 years

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top shelf//MGG - part 1

summary: broke and having a bad day, Reader runs into Matthew outside a café. after a couple encounters, his financial support and friendship become something more.

word count: 3k

content warnings: swearing but nothing else!

pairing: Fem!Reader/Matthew

A/N: hi! welcome to my new series. i don’t think this will be super long in terms of parts, but i’ll try to update as frequently as possible for you all. this chapter is pretty expositional, so i’m sorry in advance lol. also i know i made it short but lmk if you want them to be longer. also shoutout my sweet sweet angels @reidsconverse and @voidsfilm bc i would literally cry without both of you. also THANK YOU to @dr-spencerr-reidd for this concept bc i probably wouldn't have written it without your ask!! sending hugs :)

you throw your phone down on the passenger seat with a frustrated groan. after everything that's happened today, you're now stuck on a congested street with your car barely inside the parking spot alongside the sidewalk.

your screen sits there beside you, blank and unresponsive, and you know you're going to have to go inside the coffee shop to ask to use their phone and call Triple A. of course it's not working because nothing is working today. you might as well just sit in your car and cry.

but you can't, because you have a huge project for work that you need to get done by next week, and you've already procrastinated enough. a red glow from the headlights of other cars on the street shine through your windows like melted wax, distorted by the rain. it's been pouring all day.

bracing yourself for the onslaught, you grab the old umbrella from the foot well of the passenger seat and open the door of your car. the torrents hit your body like a wall of ice, soaking you as you try to get to the safety of the café. the umbrella helps a little, but then you get to the overhang and have to actually close it before you head inside.

your fingertips slip around the metal, trying to shove the thing closed while water drips off the bridge of your nose. it's frustrating. your footsteps are still determined as they move towards the entrance, but you're distracted by the stubborn nature of the object, so you don't see the man walking out.

it's not even a bodily collision, really. it's so much worse: the sopping material of the umbrella pokes him in the stomach, knocking the hot cup of coffee all over his sweater.

your eyes widen.

"oh my fucking god, I'm so sorry--" you stutter over your words, completely at a loss. his face is twisted up in an expression of concealed pain. it can't feel good to have hot coffee seeping through your clothes after being prodded by a piece of metal. you move your wet hair out of your face in order to look at him full-on.

"it's fine, really." he gives you what's supposed to be a friendly smile, but looks more like a grimace. your stomach twists; he's hot. like, if you saw him at the bar you would stare at him all night kind of hot.

"no, it's not," your face heats up, despite the cold, damp air. "let me buy you another coffee."

"I--" he glances down at his sweater, which is knitted with cute foxes on the front, then back at you. he pauses a moment and you have to bite down on your tongue to keep from collapsing. he's considerably older than you, but he doesn't dress or act that way. maybe late thirties, if you had to guess. "sure. thanks."

a flowering relief in your chest, partly because he doesn't seem angry and partly because you'd like to look at his face just a bit longer. your eyes stay on his until someone walks through the door of the café and reminds you of where you are.

without a word, you brush past and go into the building, him trailing behind.

Matthew watches as you walk ahead, your clothes spattered with rainwater and your hair somewhat messed up, too. he smiles to himself at the way you almost bump into the corner of a table, nervousness evident in nearly every movement.

you head to the counter, setting your hands on the granite while the barista checks out your unkempt appearance.

"hi," you smile at her before realizing you have no idea what this guy wants. you turn around and see him standing slightly behind you, suppressing a smile. he can tell how flustered you are, and now you look like a fool. "what coffee do you drink?"

"can I have a medium Americano, please?" he asks the barista with a friendly smile. he's got straight teeth, dimples... holy shit. you wish he had been unappealing so that this whole situation would be less humiliating.

you pay for his drink before getting out of the way, both of you slowly walking to the pickup counter.

"again, I'm really sorry. that stupid umbrella." you shake the thing at your side, raindrops falling to the floor. you run a hand through your wet hair.

"it's okay. I appreciate you getting me another cup." he flashes that smile again and you remember that his sweater is all stained. before you can think to do anything else, you pluck a handful of napkins from the self-serve station and start to dab at the material.

he looks down at you for a second, surprised by the way you grab his clothes. Matthew feels your hand pressing into his stomach innocently, and he feels himself blush a little. it's only when you pull away that he's able to regain his head.

"it's still bad," you throw away the napkins and re-evaluate the garment. "jesus christ, it's a nice sweater, too."

"hey, it's totally fine. I can just wash it out." he lets out a slight chuckle, and the sound makes your heart flutter. he's got a dad laugh. deep in his chest.

"baking soda and water." you say abruptly. he frowns.

"what?"

"to get the stain out? I use baking soda and water for coffee stains and it usually works." you explain gently, your eyes meeting again. his irises are a brownish hazel color, warm. the laugh lines by them are charming.

"oh," he grins. "do you get coffee stains often?"

you twist your mouth to the side and glance at the windows of the coffee shop. he's teasing you and you'd be remiss if you said you don't want to play along. "more than I'd like to admit."

you can feel him looking at you with that stupidly brilliant smile and it's really setting you off-kilter. someone shouldn't be that attractive; it's not fair. and yet you want desperately to stare, if purely for the sake of aesthetic enjoyment.

"I'm Matthew." he extends his hand, which is decorated with a series of rings. you realize that you don't even know his name.

"Y/N." you shake. his fingers are softer than you expected.

"nice to meet you, Y/N."

"and under such fortuitous circumstances." the corners of your mouth turn up as you relax a little.

he laughs at your words, the delightful ring of it interrupted by a new Americano showing up on the counter. he glances at the to-go cup, then at you, then goes to get his drink. you wish you knew what he was thinking, but he's not displaying anything past friendliness.

"well, um." something like disappointment settles in your stomach as you recognize this will be the last of your interaction. there's no reason for him to stick around, and you need to get back home to work, anyway.

"I'll let you get back to your day." Matthew doesn't seem nervous, just unsure as he grips the coffee in his hand. you open and close your mouth like something impressive enough to keep him here will come out. you know it won't.

and then you remember the state of affairs, the existence of your useless car and the useless phone in the front seat, how you're going to have to call Triple A and then your roommate to come get you.

Matthew realizes that you aren't going to say anything and he gives you one last smile and an awkward wave before turning to go. you watch in silence as he crosses the room to the door. two more seconds until he's out of your life forever. so of course you choose this exact moment to speak.

"wait."

his head jerks suddenly to look at you. this is embarrassing, but you have nothing to lose.

"can I... borrow your phone?"

Matthew tilts his head to the side slightly, frowning as though deeply confused. and you suppose it is a strange thing to ask, especially given that you're a younger person and most people your age carry their phones everywhere. "sure." he walks back over to you, pulling his cell out of his pocket.

"I just--" you fumble with the device while you decide how to phrase it without sounding like a pathetic mess. "my car keeps breaking down and my phone battery is, like, totally fucked, so it just turns off and on constantly and it’s still in my car but it’s raining and I just wanna see if it’s back on so I can call my roommate." you immediately cringe at yourself. the rambling isn’t cute.

he’s not too bothered by your panicking, though, his mouth only forming an O shape. "it’s no problem."

you dial your number, fingers trembling while he waits. he's turned his eyes to the rest of the coffee shop, but it still makes you nervous that he's standing right there. you put the cell to your ear and pray that it rings out.

you’re greeted by the sound of your own voice telling you to leave a message. great. with a frustrated sigh, you hang up and Matthew gives you an inquisitive expression.

“it’s still off,” you explain. “I’m gonna call my roommate.”

he nods and shoves his hands into his pockets while you punch in the other number. for a split second, you peek his way and admire his side profile. he really is something to behold; a model, maybe.

"hello?" good thing Cecilia has no problem answering unknown numbers. you bite your lip.

"hey, it's me."

"Y/N? whose phone are you using?"

"uh, someone I just met--" you frown as you try to find a way to describe him without something as insulting as a random guy. "anyway, my car broke down so I was wondering if you could pick me up."

there's a pause on the other end of the line, like the movement of sheets and the slightly disappointed groan of another person. she probably has her boyfriend over again. "sure, of course. where are you?"

you give her the address and hang up before dialing the car repair company. Matthew gestures to a table off to the side so that you two don't need to stand, and then you sit down across from him. you're so distracted by the person on the other end of the line that you don't even think about it.

Matthew twists his rings on his fingers. he's fidgety and it's sort of cute. you try not to stare at his hands, at the black spot of ink on the outside of his pinky. either he writes a lot or he's an artist. you have to focus on the table in order to keep from blushing.

finally, you finish up with the phone and hand it back to him. "you're a life saver."

"do you want me to wait with you until your friend gets here?" he gestures out the window. your immediate reaction is to say yes. it'll be awkward to sit here alone without your phone, without coffee. but you don't want to keep him any longer than you already have.

"it's okay, I'm sure you have places to be." you smile accommodatingly. he chooses his next words carefully, it seems.

"I don't, really. but I'll leave you alone if that's what you want, too." the way he speaks, offering his company without trying to impose... something about it makes your heart melt a bit. you appreciate his thoughtfulness. it makes you want to know more.

"okay," you nod as you make your decision. "if you wanna stay. it shouldn't be too long."

"great," he settles back into his chair, the light from the café lights above you reflecting off the lenses of his glasses. "why does your car keep breaking down?"

you exhale sharply at the thought. "that's a really good question, because I don't know the answer. it's super old and I'm too broke to afford a new one."

he nods.

Matthew's mind turns to different avenues at this knowledge. he knows you're young and that usually means that there isn't a lot of spare income. and he doesn't know if you have a job. but what he does know is that you've got an energy about you-- a sweet, well-intentioned manner that draws him in. every once in a while throughout the conversation, you throw out certain phrases that hint at a quick-witted intelligence.

you're funny, but not boldly so. and when you two get on the topic of how you ended up rain-soaked, shoving your way into a Los Angeles café, you tell him about your day.

"--and I have this shitty job right now working for one of my old professor's friends, so it's not like I can afford to constantly repair the damages. all my money is going towards my savings so I can pay for grad school, anyway." you sigh. he listens intently to your words, and he never shies away from eye contact. every time he nods along, you practically feel your heart leap.

"what do you do?" he asks.

"I write for a wellness magazine, but I'm sort of a fraud." you joke.

he laughs. "why's that?"

"I don't know, a lot of it is about different yoga methods and meditation, stuff like that-- but I don't do any of that in my daily life." you admit. it should be embarrassing, but you don't feel ashamed of the fact. he seems to find it funny.

"working your way toward a different kind of job, then?"

"I'm hoping for a more editorial role, honestly, but..." you lift your eyes to his. they're bright, he notices; full of a deep-rooted hope. "gotta start somewhere, right?"

"very true." Matthew wants to tell you just how much he understands, about the roles as an actor he's taken and the hours he spent making films in college, just hoping that one day he'd be able to make things on his own, but he doesn't want to scare you away or sound like he's bragging. it's not your fault you don't know who he is.

"sorry," you speak through a silence he doesn't realize he's left between you two. "I've talked your ear off and you don't even really know me. what do you do?"

"oh--" Matthew actually blushes this time. you see the pink creeping up his neck. "I'm an actor."

in the same way they did when you ran into him, your eyes widen. "an actor?"

"yeah," he smiles at the expression on your face. "you know that show, Criminal Minds?"

the name is familiar, but you've never seen an episode. "yeah, of course."

"I'm in that."

you don't know a lot about the program, but you've heard it talked about and you know that it's a popular show. so this guy is an actual actor, not just some LA wannabe. that makes him about five times more intimidating. you feel even more idiotic for not seeing it before.

"oh, shit," the words tumble out. Matthew grins at the bluntness of your reaction, and you scramble to recover. "sorry I didn't know who you are."

"no worries!" he laughs it off. "it's not a big deal."

"do you like it?" you ask. "being famous, I mean."

he shifts in his seat for a second as he makes a face like he doesn't know how to answer. you wonder if there's something deeper to him that you just haven't seen, yet. secret feelings about the subject. "I'm really not very famous, but I love the work."

genuinely humble. you can see it in his face, the sparkle in his eyes. and maybe he's just charming and you're just a girl blinded by his attractiveness, but your gut tells you that he's being real.

this time, you're the one who falls silent. admittedly, you get a little in your head sometimes. and it makes sense, now, the smoothness of his behavior and the sheer beauty of his face. this is a show business city-- of course he's famous.

Matthew's phone rings and he jumps, as if jolted from a dream. your attention moves immediately to the screen and you recognize Cecilia's number. he pushes the device over to you.

"hello?" your voice sounds far away.

"hey, I'm here. where are you?" she says.

"I'm just inside the café."

"oh, okay, I'll park and come in--" you hear the click of a seatbelt and start to panic. she can't see you in here with him.

"no!" you say too loudly. Matthew's head jerks up to frown at you.

"why not?" Cecilia asks, confused.

"no reason," god, you're a bad liar. "I'll come out and we can wait for the Triple A person in your car." you and Matthew make eye contact again. he gives you an understanding smile. your stomach flips.

"sounds good." she hangs up and you grab your umbrella. time to go.

"thanks for letting me use your phone." you stand, not really wanting to say goodbye but also lacking a reason to stay. he remains in his spot, seemingly now settled into this little corner of the café. it sort of suits him, this place. all cozy and slightly strange.

“happy to help.” you notice the tip of his tongue dart out over his bottom lip as if deliberating whether or not to say anything further. but he doesn’t and you feel awkward just standing there by the table.

“I’ll, uh…” you could ask for his number. but that would be weird, right? he doesn’t really seem to have an interest, anyway. “I’ll see you around, then.”

“yeah. it was nice to meet you, Y/N.” he gives one more of those killer smiles and you turn around, almost bumping into a display of coffee beans before correcting yourself and heading back outside.

taglist (lmk if you want to be added or removed!): @la-vie-en-amour1 @reidsconverse @voidsfilm

#mgg #matthew gray gubler #mgg x reader #fic #sugar daddy mgg #matthew gray gubler fanfiction

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tosikoarts · 3 years

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Modern AU Ogata BF HC

Hey-hey! It took some time but there you go, honey ♡ Got carried away thinking about how Ogata feeding stray cats >>> everything else. Hope you enjoy these headcanons!! You can check tosikowrites tag for more.

General:

Noda once said that in a modern setting Ogata would be a dentist but let me disagree with him. I can clearly see Ogata as a photographer, a successful one, the one that allows himself to be arrogant without a fear that his client will drop him. Thanks to the unique style and skillful handling of light, Ogata quickly became popular among ordinary photography lovers and pompous snobs and now he does not miss a single opportunity to prick the latter. Knows he is good at what he is doing and takes full advantage of this.

Despite what is written above, Ogata still lives in a small apartment on the outskirts of Sapporo and doesn’t plan to move out in the nearest future. Partially it is due to the feeling of emancipation from beloved father and the sweetest stepbrother who cannot stop prying into his affairs. Last month Yuusaku has sneaked to the private galleries where Ogata was presenting his new photoshoots two times leaving Hyakunosuke in a state of stupid stupor when he was welcomed with a warm brotherly hug.

Still a salty little bitch online. Has few throwaway accounts to start a discourse on any topic that is even minimally discussable. Is immune to death threats at this point. Has met Vasily online and can’t stop discussing Russian politics with him from whatever crazy thing Vladimir Zhirinovsky has said (Ogata loses thousands of brain cells reading articles about him) to the news about the alleged Putin palace. He now knows some Russian too, mostly swear words and basic phrases.

Constantly torn between I don’t need anybody and if I don’t interact with a human being in a less hostile manner I will go apeshit. Meets up with Shiraishi, Sugimoto, Tanigaki, and Kiroranke once in a while to piss off Sugi and teasingly ask Tanigaki if he wants another nude photo shoot. By the way, he lives on black coffee with no sugar or milk so Ogata often runs into Tsukishima when the man orders a triple espresso and teriyaki chicken sandwich. If Koito is not here, they chat for a little secret wish to never meet again. Then they meet next week and the situation repeats itself as in a Groundhog Day.

There is no place for another cat in his apartment but Ogata loves cats and makes sure to feed and pet every one on his street. Once raised a whole litter of kittens whose mother was sadly hit by a car and became an adoptive father for three big bois who visit his apartment complex for free head pats and treats. Doesn’t share this part of his life since Ogata doesn’t want to be seen as a kindhearted person lmao.

BF HC:

Where could you meet Ogata if not on Tinder? The description of his profile was extremely cryptic and consisted only of name, height, and weight, nothing else. The first few days of talking to him feel like you are being looked down on even though Ogata acts pretty friendly and puts some effort into getting to know you out of casual wyd and you up texts. Goes offline for a few days then comes back with no explanations whatsoever. This first stage is a pure test of patience because Ogata knows he is not the best man around and can be a real pain in the ass. The sooner they get to know his bad side the better.

He doesn’t get fancy dates like candlelight dinner or going to the theater. Doesn’t mix work and personal life either so do not expect an exclusive invitation to his personal exhibitions. Ogata prefers hasteless walks along the river, ice-skating under the myriad of holiday garlands, playing mortal combat late at night with empty takeaway boxes chilling on the table. Cheap and comfy. If his newfound partner doesn’t know how to skate or rollerblade, Ogata will be twice as persistent: he likes to see them slowly learning how to skate as much as holding their hand through the night.

Vasily likes to draw. Ogata loves to take photos. For the first anniversary, he has collected a whole ton of photos for a cute collage. He took one when they were spinning in the kitchen like a whirligig making sure soup wasn’t too salty and noodles were just right for adding a sauce. Another one was taken when they both were trying old-fashioned pieces from the thrift shop looking like a modern-day John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They fell asleep right on top of Ogata and he managed to take a selfie kissing them on the top of their head. Put all the pieces together with texts and custom ring and voila – Ogata’s present is ready.

Teasing borders with light insults though he does not always realize it. Calls his partner silly in the sweetest tone before showing how to do the thing right. Pillow fights last until fluff flies from the pillows and Ogata won’t stop tickling them until tears stream down their cheeks. Says fuck me both as call to action and disappointed sigh with the same intonation so have fun figuring this man out. Absolute treasure and curse in one person and he won’t ever admit it but he is trying so hard to suppress the urge to push them away as a defense mechanism. Never apologizes but crawls back to them after every argument.

Speaking of which, arguments are common but rarely end up in loud door slam or hysteria. Usually, it happens when Ogata can’t control himself and pushes too many buttons of theirs so his teasing ends up being too harsh… Anyway, the cat got Ogata’s tongue and he doesn’t know how to use words to ask for forgiveness but! When he feels like it is definitely his fault, Ogata will cook ankonabe as unspoken sorry, I’ve messed up a big time and don’t know how to fix it, please don’t be mad, please talk to me. It’s rare but if he really feels this way Ogata will be stick like glue to them fearing that this time they will definitely leave him and his shitty camera all alone again.

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy headcanon #golden kamuy imagine #ogata hyakunosuke #hyakunosuke ogata #tosikowrites

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jenniferisacommonname · 3 years

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Bonus Level Unlocked

This week marks the release of Jason Schreier’s Press Reset, an incredibly well-researched book on catastrophic business failure in the gaming industry. Jason’s a good dude, and there’s an excerpt here if you want to check it out. Sadly, game companies going belly-up is such a common occurrence that he couldn’t possibly include them all, and one of the stories left out due to space constraints is one that I happen to be personally familiar with. So, I figured I’d tell it here.

I began working at Acclaim Studios Austin as a sound designer in January of 2000. It was a tumultuous period for the company, including a recent rebranding from their former studio name, “Iguana Entertainment,” and a related, ongoing lawsuit from the ex-founder of Iguana. There were a fair number of ghosts hanging around—the creative director’s license plate read IGUANA, which he never changed, and one of the meeting rooms held a large, empty terrarium—but the studio had actually been owned on paper by Acclaim since 1995, and I didn’t notice any conflicting loyalties. Everyone acted as if we always had been, and always would be, Acclaim employees.

Over the next few years I worked on a respectable array of triple-A titles, including Quarterback Club 2002, Turok: Evolution, and All-Star Baseball 2002 through 2005. (Should it be “All-Stars Baseball,” like attorneys general? Or perhaps a term of venery, like “a zodiac of All-Star Baseball.”) At any rate, it was a fun place to work, and a platformer of hijinks ensued.

But let’s skip to the cutscene. The truth is that none of us in the trenches suspected the end was near until it was absolutely imminent. Yes, Turok: Evolution and Vexx had underperformed, especially when stacked against the cost of development, but games flop in the retail market all the time. And, yes, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling had been hustled out the door before it was ready for reasons no one would explain, and the New York studio’s release of a BMX game featuring unlockable live-action stripper footage had been an incredibly weird marketing ploy for what should have been a straightforward racing title. (Other desperate gimmicks around this time included a £6,000 prize for UK parents who would name their baby “Turok,” an offer to pay off speeding tickets to promote Burnout 2 that quickly proved illegal, and an attempt to buy advertising space on actual tombstones for a Shadow Man sequel.)

But the baseball franchise was an annual moneymaker, and our studio had teams well into development on two major new licenses, 100 Bullets and The Red Star. Enthusiasm was on the upswing. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention when voice actors started calling me to complain that they hadn’t been paid, but at the time it seemed more like a bureaucratic failure than an actual money shortage—and frankly, it was a little naïve of them to expect net-30 in the first place. Industry standard was, like, net-90 at best. So I was told.

Then one Friday afternoon, a few department managers got word that we’d kind of maybe been skipping out on the building lease for let’s-not-admit-how-many months. By Monday morning, everyone’s key cards had been deactivated.

It's a little odd to arrive at work and find a hundred-plus people milling around outside—even odder, I suppose, if your company is not the one being evicted. Acclaim folks mostly just rolled their eyes and debated whether to cut our losses and head to lunch now, while employees of other companies would look dumbfounded and fearful before being encouraged to push their way through the crowd and demonstrate their still-valid key card to the security guard. Finally, the General Manager (hired only a few months earlier, and with a hefty relocation bonus to accommodate his houseboat) announced that we should go home for the day and await news. Several of our coworkers were veterans of the layoff process—like I said, game companies go under a lot—and one of them had already created a Yahoo group to communicate with each other on the assumption that we’d lose access to our work email. A whisper of “get on the VPN and download while you can” rippled through the crowd.

But the real shift in tone came after someone asked about a quick trip inside for personal items, and the answer was a hard, universal “no.” We may have been too busy or ignorant to glance up at any wall-writing, but the building management had not been: they were anticipating a full bankruptcy of the entire company. In that situation, all creditors have equal standing to divide up a company's assets in lengthy court battles, and most get a fraction of what they’re owed. But if the landlords had seized our office contents in lieu of rent before the bankruptcy was declared, they reasoned, then a judge might rule that they had gotten to the treasure chest first, and could lay claim to everything inside as separate from the upcoming asset liquidation.

Ultimately, their gambit failed, but the ruling took a month to settle. In the meantime, knick knacks gathered dust, delivered packages piled up, food rotted on desks, and fish tanks became graveyards. Despite raucous protest from every angle—the office pets alone generated numerous threats of animal cruelty charges—only one employee managed to get in during this time, and only under police escort. He was a British citizen on a work visa, and his paperwork happened to be sitting on his desk, due to expire. Without it, he was facing literal deportation. Fortunately, a uniformed officer took his side (or perhaps just pre-responded to what was clearly a misdemeanor assault in ovo,) and after some tense discussion, the building manager relented, on the condition that the employee touch absolutely nothing beyond the paperwork in question. The forms could go, but the photos of his children would remain.

It’s also a little odd, by the way, to arrive at the unemployment office and find every plastic chair occupied by someone you know. Even odder, I suppose, if you’re actually a former employee of Acclaim Studios Salt Lake, which had shut down only a month or two earlier, and you just uprooted your wife and kids to a whole new city on the assurance that you were one of the lucky ones who got to stay employed. Some of them hadn’t even finished unpacking.

Eventually, we were allowed to enter the old office building one at a time and box up our things under the watchful eye of a court appointee, but by then our list of grievances made the landlords’ ploy seem almost quaint by comparison (except for the animals, which remains un-fucking-forgivable.) We had learned, for example, that in the weeks prior to the bankruptcy, our primary lender had made an offer of $15 million—enough to keep us solvent through our next batch of releases, two of which had already exited playtesting and were ready to be burned and shipped. The only catch was that the head of the board, company founder Greg Fischbach, would have to step down. This was apparently too much of an insult for him to stomach, and he decided that he'd rather see everything burn to the ground. The loan was refused.

Other “way worse than we thought” details included gratuitous self-dealing to vendors owned by board members, the disappearance of expensive art from the New York offices just before closure, and the theft of our last two paychecks. For UK employees, it was even more appalling: Acclaim had, for who knows how long, been withdrawing money from UK paychecks for their government-required pension funds, but never actually putting the money into the retirement accounts. They had stolen tens of thousands of dollars directly from each worker.

Though I generally reside somewhere between mellow and complete doormat on the emotional spectrum, I did get riled enough to send out one bitter email—not to anyone in corporate, but to the creators of a popular webcomic called Penny Arcade, who, in the wake of Acclaim’s bankruptcy announcement, published a milquetoast jibe about Midway’s upcoming Area 51. I told Jerry (a.k.a. “Tycho”) that I was frankly disappointed in their lack of cruelty, and aired as much dirty laundry as I was privy to at the time.

“Surely you can find a comedic gem hidden somewhere in all of this!” I wrote. “Our inevitable mocking on PA has been a small light at the end of a very dark, very long tunnel. Please at least allow us the dignity of having a smile on our faces while we wait in line for food stamps.”

Two days later, a suitably grim comic did appear, implying the existence of a new release from Acclaim whose objective was to run your game company into the ground. In the accompanying news post, Tycho wrote:

“We couldn’t let the Acclaim bankruptcy go without comment, though we initially let it slide thinking about the ordinary gamers who lost their jobs there. They don’t have anything to do with Acclaim’s malevolent Public Relations mongrels, and it wasn’t they who hatched the Titty Bike genre either. Then, we remembered that we have absolutely zero social conscience and love to say mean things.”

Another odd experience, by the way, is digging up a 16-year-old complaint to a webcomic creator for nostalgic reference when you offer that same creator a promotional copy of the gaming memoir you just co-wrote with Sid Meier. Even odder, I suppose, to realize that the original non-Acclaim comic had been about Area 51, which you actually were hired to work on yourself soon after the Acclaim debacle.*

As is often the case in complex bankruptcies, the asset liquidation took another six years to fully stagger its way through court—but in 2010, we did, surprisingly, get the ancient paychecks we were owed, plus an extra $1,700-ish for the company’s apparent violation of the WARN Act. By then, I had two kids and a very different life, for which the money was admittedly helpful. Sadly, Acclaim’s implosion probably isn’t even the most egregious one on record. Our sins were, to my knowledge, all money-related, and at least no one was ever sexually assaulted in our office building. Again, to my knowledge. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure we remain the only historical incident of corporate pet murder. The iguana got out just in time.

*Area 51’s main character was voiced by David Duchovny, and he actually got paid—which was lucky for him, because three years later, Midway also declared bankruptcy.

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beybladefanfictions · 3 years

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Ryuga’s Return - Chapter 5

(Description: AU where Ryuga survives Metal Fury but loses L-Drago. He reunites with Kenta and struggles to figure out what he’s supposed to do without Beyblade, his purpose in life for so long. Character’s thoughts are in asteriks.)

Ryuga’s POV

Holding his hood over his head, Ryuga made his way into the familiar Bey stadium. A few people gazed at him suspiciously. However, if they recognized him, they said nothing as he passed. Ryuga glanced up at the bleachers. There were a lot more empty spaces in the crowd than there normally would be, despite the fact that the tournament was soon to start. Ryuga immediately went toward the emptiest space, which just so happened to be towards the front. *Perfect.* From this angle, it was less likely that someone would see his face.

He observed the bladers in the tournament. There were only eight of them and they were all sitting on a bench in front of the stadium, waiting for the first match to be announced. Kenta was among the group. Ryuga also noticed Kyoya and two other legendary bladers. The first match was Kyoya and a kid Ryuga vaguely recognized from America. However, it was hard to tell from a distance.

“Ready?!” The crowd began counting down with the announcer. “Three… two… one… let it rip!”

The two Beyblade clashed against each other, sending up sparks.

“Go Spiral Fox!” the American kid called.

*Spiral fox,* Ryuga rolled his eyes, *What a dumb name for a Beyblade.* He watched the two Beyblades clash as the Blader DJ provided somewhat irrelevant commentary. Leone was clearly winning. It was repeatedly smacking into Spiral Fox, driving the bey backwards towards the edge of the arena. With one hard smack, Spiral Fox knocked Leone back long enough for it to slip away and flee across the stadium. Leone quickly followed.

“Leone!” Kyoya called, “Lion gale force wall!”

As the wind picked up, Ryuga was forced to hold his hood in place so it wouldn’t blow off. He growled in annoyance. The wind swirled into a tornado, flinging Spiral Fox into the sky and ending the match with a stadium out.

*Kyoya is going to be a problem, like usual,* Ryuga thought as the wind died down. The crowd cheered around him. Ryuga didn’t bother joining in: the outcome of this fight was obvious to him from the start.

“Oh, hey Ryuga.”

Ryuga stiffened at the sound of a vaguely familiar voice. He looked up. The girl that worked at the bey shop was approaching him. *What did Kenta say her name was? Madoka? That sounds right.*

"You’re here for Kenta I’m guessing?” the girl asked, sitting in the seat next to his.

“Yes…” Ryuga replied, gazing at the bladers.

Kenta and Yuki, the kid with the glasses, were up next and the two of them were making their way toward the middle of the stadium.

"Three… two… one… let it rip!”

Kenta and Yuki both launched their Beys.

“Did Kenta make you come here?” Madoka asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ryuga turned to her. “Well, don't tell him I think that,” he grunted, his eyes narrowing at her.

Madoka just chuckled. “I won't, but you make it a little obvious."

“How?" Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“You look bored.”

It was true. Despite his dramatic loss against Nemesis, the drive to fight blazed on in Ryuga’s heart, and being restricted to just watching these fights made him feel tied down and powerless. At least in this fight, Ryuga had someone to root for.

The two beys screeched as they slammed into each other, shooting up sparks. Due to the difference in the beys’ heights, Anubius was attacking Flash Sagittario’s spin track rather than its fusion wheel.

“Go Anubius!” Yuki called, swinging his arm.

Anubius suddenly retreated, rushing toward the edge of the stadium.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Kenta exclaimed. “Go Sagittario!”

Sagittario charged after Anubius. In a swift movement, Sagittario leaned forward and slammed its fusion wheel into Anubius. The blue bey was thrown into the air. Yuki yelped in surprise.

“Don’t give up, Anubius!” he called.

Anubius landed on the edge of the stadium, its spin wobbling slightly. Sagittario slammed into Anubius. The beys entered a fierce clash before Sagittario triumphed, flinging Anubius out of the stadium and bringing the blue bey to a halt.

“Yeah!” Kenta cheered, snatching his bey out of the air.

“Great job, Kenta!” Madoka called.

Kenta glanced at them. Ryuga smiled and dipped his head. Kenta smiled back before walking to the bench to wait for his next match.

“Oh, Masamune and King are up next.” Madoka was gazing at the stadium’s display screen. “That should be interesting.”

“Who?” Ryuga asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Masamune and King. You fought King on Beyster Island.”

Ryuga glanced at the screen. One of the bladers was clearly American, he had the obnoxious face of one, and the other was a kid around the same age with blue hair. Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. He did in fact recognize the kid from Beyster Island.

“Right…” Ryuga’s fist clenched. “He uses reverse rotation. L-Drago is-” Ryuga cleared his throat. “-was the only Bey that should be allowed to spin left. That kid is such a poser.”

King and his opponent started their battle. Ryuga’s gaze fixed on King’s bey which travelled around the stadium in the opposite direction of his opponent, as L-Drago had always done. King’s bey was even partly white. From a distance, Ryuga could almost mistake the thing for L-Drago.

“His bey naturally rotates left,” Madoka argued, her eyes narrowed, “How does that make King a poser?”

Ryuga trembled as he spoke. “I-he- ugh, it doesn’t matter. I beat him! L-Drago is w-was the superior bey.” Ryuga’s jaw clenched and he gripped the armrests of his seat in an attempt to stop himself from shaking. His chest began to ache.

“Oh…” Madoka’s voice softened. “You miss L-Drago…”

Ryuga glared at her. Was that pity in her gaze?! *She’s pitying me! HER pitying ME?! What kind of insult is this?!*

“That’s none of your concern,” Ryuga growled, looking away.

Thankfully, Madoka had enough sense not to question him further. Both of them gazed back at the battle. However, Ryuga couldn’t bring himself to look at the left rotating bey. It obviously wasn’t L-Drago. The sensible part of Ryuga’s mind knew that, but he couldn’t take his mind off his former Beyblade now that he had been reminded of it.

He must have zoned out for a while because when he looked back at the arena, two new bladers were fighting and somehow, neither of them were Gingka. Ryuga recognized Benkei as that one weirdly loyal follower of Kyoya’s and the white-haired kid from the helicopters.

“Where is Gingka?” Ryuga asked aloud. He didn’t even see his former greatest rival in the crowd anywhere. Surely he would show up to a tournament that so many of his friends and rivals had attended?

“I guess he didn’t sign up,” Madoka answered with a shrug.

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know.” With a chuckle, she added, “Maybe he’s out getting burgers somewhere.”

Ryuga rolled his eyes. “That’s not worth missing a tournament for.”

“True!” Madoka exclaimed before giggling a bit. “But still, that boy would do anything for a triple or- quadruple- or whatever beef burger.”

“That much for food?” Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“For that specific food yeah…” Madoka gazed at him for a second. “Oh yeah, you probably haven’t had a burger, have you?”

Ryuga stiffened.

However, Madoka just smiled and continued, “Don’t let Gingka figure that out. He’ll immediately drag you to the nearest burger place and make you try one.”

A shiver ran down Ryuga’s spine. “Noted,” he replied with a nod.

Madoka giggled. Ryuga smiled a bit. Though he didn't quite know what to think of Madoka, he was grateful to have someone to talk to. It took his attention away from his grief over L-Drago. However, in terms of this social stuff, Ryuga still didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t want to sound like an idiot so he fell silent. He gazed back at the arena. Benkei had won the fight and now two of the winners of the previous fights would battle. King and Kyoya stepped up.

“Oh, great, Kyoya,” Ryuga snarled the blader’s name.

“What do you have against Kyoya?” Madoka asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s going to give me away.” Ryuga held his hood in place, glaring at Kyoya and King as they started their battle.

“What do you-” Madoka froze. “Wait, are you trying to disguise yourself?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“That wasn’t obvious?” Ryuga rolled his eyes.

A gust of wind erupted from the stadium. Ryuga growled, ducking a bit and pulling his hood further over his head.

“Well, you don’t seem like the type to want to hide from people,” Madoka commented, gesturing to him.

Ryuga stiffened with anger. “I’m not hiding!” *I kind of am.*

Madoka rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Ryuga.”

Ryuga froze. *Is that her passive-aggressive way of saying she doesn’t believe me?*

“Lion gale force wall!” Kyoya called from the stadium.

Ryuga grunted. Down in the stadium, King’s reverse rotation bey was thrown into the sky and was flung around in the wind. King’s bey landed back in the stadium wobbling a bit. Leone rushed toward it. King’s bey weaved out of the way to dodge and the two beys slammed into each other from opposite directions.

“Who you rooting for?” Madoka asked, turning to Ryuga with a smile.

Ryuga thought for a moment. *What do I hate less? Kyoya or L-Drago wannabes?*

“Kyoya,” Ryuga decided, dipping his head. “Better him than that reverse rotation bey.”

Madoka’s smile faded. “Why do you insist L-Drago has to be the only left rotating bey?”

“Wasn’t that the whole reason L-Drago was the forbidden bey? The reverse rotation? Then all of a sudden there are two more and no one cares?! It makes no sense.”

“I suppose it’s weird… but Julian and King’s beys don’t…” Madoka shivered. “Steal their opponents’ power.”

Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. “So the reverse rotation is just a fancy extra feature for them. That’s what L-Drago’s most special quality has been reduced to? A trend?”

“Er… well…” Madoka looked away. *She knows I’m right.* “Do you regret it?”

“Huh?” Ryuga raised an eyebrow.

“Giving up L-Drago’s power to Kenta?” Madoka eyed him suspiciously. “Do you regret that?”

“Of course I don’t,” Ryuga sighed, his head hanging low.

*But I thought it would be my final act. I never thought I would have to live in a world without my L-Drago.* A gust of wind burst from the stadium, forcing Ryuga to hold his hood in place. There was a clinking sound. Ryuga looked up to see that King’s bey had been blown out of the stadium and stopped spinning. The crowd around him cheered. Benkei and Kenta, the next bladers, stood up and walked toward the stadium. Kenta glanced at the crowd.

“Go Kenta and Benkei!” Madoka called to them.

Ryuga nodded to Kenta. The kid nodded back then turned to the stadium and readied his bey.

“Get ready Benkei!” Kenta called, his eyes narrowed in determination. “Because I’m not going to lose here! Not with Ry-” Ryuga stiffened. Kenta put his hand over his mouth. “Not with my friends here supporting me!” he corrected, his determined gaze returning.

Ryuga let out a sigh of relief.

“I won’t let you win either!” Benkei countered, “Kyoya’s in the final battle waiting for me and I’m not about to let him down!”

“Ready?!” The blader DJ called. “Three… two… one… let it rip!”

Kenta and Benkei launched their beys.

“Sagittario!” Kenta called, “Switch to stamina mode!” Flash Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted, making it rounder.

“Good choice,” Ryuga muttered, dipping his head.

“Hm?” Madoka turned to him, looking surprised.

“Benkei’s bey is a balance type by the looks of it,” Ryuga explained, “It will be weak to a stamina type.”

“You’re right. Dark Bull is a balance type…” Madoka looked almost impressed. “And Sagittario might need all the stamina it can get to withstand Dark Bull's attacks.”

“Dark Bull…?” Ryuga stiffened. That sounded like the kind of bey a Dark Nebula blader would use, but he couldn’t recall Benkei ever being part of that organization. “Where did he get that bey?”

“Um… Doji gave it to him a long time ago.”

“Thought so,” Ryuga grunted, his fist clenching at the memory of Doji.

He looked back at the battle. Dark Bull and Sagittario were clashing head-on, neither of them moving from their spot in the centre of the arena. Eventually, Dark Bull was thrown backwards. It wobbled slightly before regaining its balance and charging for Sagittario.

“You’ve gotten so much stronger,” Benkei mused aloud, “I can feel Ryuga’s power radiating from this new bey…”

“It’s not Ryuga’s power anymore, Benkei,” Kenta retorted, resting his hand on his chest. “It’s mine!”

Ryuga dipped his head.

“Go!” Kenta called. “Sagittario Flame- er…” He froze, his eyes wide.

*I took away his special move…* Ryuga let out a dry laugh.

“Go now, b-b-b-bull!” Benkei exclaimed, stepping forward. “Dark Bull red horn uppercut!”

Kenta let out a yelp of alarm. Bull charged for Sagittario, jumping into the air and ramming into Sagittario in midair

“Don’t quit Sagittario!” Kenta called, staring up at his bey.

Sagittario broke free from Bull's attack, wobbling in mid-air before landing back in the arena. Kenta sighed in relief.

“It’s not over yet!” he exclaimed, gesturing toward Sagittario.

The bey raced toward Dark Bull and the two beys entered a fierce clash. Bull smacked Sagittario backward. The bey landed with a wobble, allowing Bull to charge into it.

Kenta let out a grunt. “I have to do it! Sagittario! Switch to attack mode!”

Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted, becoming more ovular as it dashed past Dark Bull.

“What is he doing?!” Ryuga blurted out.

Bull pursued Sagittario to the edge of the stadium. Sagittario didn’t stop. It flung itself into the air, spinning faster and faster as it flew higher into the air. A ball of fire formed around Sagittario. Ryuga stiffened. *That’s the same move he used on me!*

“Go!” Kenta exclaimed, his eyes narrowed in determination. “Special move! Diving arrow!”

Sagittario shot down from the sky like a comet, slamming into Dark Bull in an explosion of light. Ryuga shielded his eyes with his arm. When the light faded, Ryuga stared in awe at the stadium. Sagittario was spinning in the centre of the stadium, while Dark Bull was nowhere in sight. Ryuga looked up. The bey dropped to the ground beside Sagittario.

“Yeah!” Kenta cheered, retrieving his bey.

Ryuga couldn’t help but smile as pride for his friend surged through him. *He’s come so far…*

Madoka let out a gasp, dragging Ryuga out of his thoughts.

“Your hood!” she exclaimed.

Ryuga’s heart skipped a beat. He pulled his hood back over his head, looking around at the crowd. No one seemed to have noticed him. He sighed in relief.

“And now the final match!” the announcer called. “Kyoya versus Kenta!”

Kyoya stepped up, immediately readying his bey. Kenta seemed frozen. Taking a step back, he held up his launcher.

“Three… two… one… let it rip!” Kenta and Kyoya launched their beys.

“Sagittario! Stamina mode!” Kenta called out immediately.

Sagittario’s fusion shifted to its rounder form before clashing into Leone. A burst of wind erupted from the arena. Ryuga held his hood in place, grunting as the wind whipped in his face. He recalled his own fight with Kyoya back in Battle Bladers. Ryuga had only been using a fraction of L-Drago’s true power during that fight yet, even so, it was still impressive that Kyoya was able to last as long as he had against L-Drago. He was a formidable opponent, no doubt about it. This wouldn’t be easy for Kenta… When Sagittario and Leone clashed, it shot bursts of energy through the stadium.

“So this is the effect of Ryuga’s power…” Kyoya mused, though it was hard to hear over the roaring wind. He raised his voice when he continued, “I may not have been able to defeat Ryuga, but the same won’t be true for his protege!” Kyoya pointed at Kenta. “Leone! King Lion Crushing Fang!”

In moments, a tornado formed in the arena, lifting Sagittario higher and higher into the air. Kenta yelped in surprise.

“Now! Go, Leone!” Leone used the edge of the stadium as a ramp to throw itself into the tornado and toward Sagittario. Kenta’s bey was suddenly enveloped in flames.

“Sagittario diving arrow!” Kenta exclaimed, swinging his arm.

“Huh?!” Kyoya gasped.

Before he could back out, however, Sagittario slammed into Leone in a burst of flame. Ryuga shielded his eyes. When the smoke cleared, Sagittario was spinning steadily in the stadium, while Leone was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s not over yet!” Kyoya exclaimed, his eyes crazed with anger.

Moments later, Leone flopped into the stadium, its spin wobbling.

Kenta let out a grunt. “Sagittario attack mode!” he called, gesturing to the bey.

Sagittario’s fusion wheel shifted before charging toward Leone, smacking into it repeatedly. Leone pushed against it. However, it could barely keep up with Sagittario’s string of attacks. Ryuga’s heart lit up. *Kenta could win this!*

Kyoya let out a roar. “Leone!” He gestured for his bey to retreat.

Leone smacked Sagittario away and charged toward the edge of the stadium. Sagittario tried to follow. Leone hovered in the air.

“King Lion Reverse Wind Strike!” Kyoya yowled.

Ryuga’s jaw clenched. *How many special moves does this guy have?!* Leone flipped upside in midair. A tornado shot from its facebolt, slamming into Sagittario. Kenta yowled in alarm. An explosion of wind wracked the stadium, making the audience yelp in shock. Ryuga squinted. Through the wind, Ryuga spotted Leone slamming Sagittario against the ground, as Sagittario struggled to push back. The ground of the stadium cracked open. Sagittario was shoved into the ground, its spin stopping with a screech. The wind died down. Leone ceased its attack, landing with a wobble beside Sagittario.

“The-” The announcer sounded stunned. “The winner is Kyoya!”

“Sagittario!” Kenta yowled, falling to the ground on his knees.

Kyoya snatched his bey out of the air. In a moment of adrenaline, Ryuga vaulted over the railing separating the audience from the stadium and raced toward Kenta. The movement had blown his hood off. Ryuga didn’t care to notice until the sounds of terrified gasping echoed through the air.

“I-it's Ryuga?!” the announcer gasped.

Ryuga skidded to a halt.

“Ryuga?!” Kyoya exclaimed, his eyes wide.

The crowd’s eyes were all on Ryuga. He froze in place, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Kenta looked up at him, his gaze teary-eyed. “Ryuga…?”

“Kenta! Ryuga!”

Ryuga looked over his shoulder. Madoka was rushing toward the two of them. Finally working up the nerve to move, Ryuga slipped into the stadium and yanked Sagittario out of the ground.

“Come on,” Ryuga muttered as he passed Kenta and Madoka, the latter of whom was helping Kenta get to his feet.

Ryuga fought the urge to run away. He tried his best to look dignified as he speed-walked toward the exit.

“Ryuga!” Madoka called.

“Ryuga! Wait up!”

Kenta and Madoka raced after him. Ryuga avoided the gazes of the crowd by staring at Sagittario. It was covered in deep scratches. Thankfully, however, no pieces had broken off. Once the stadium was far behind him, Ryuga finally stopped, allowing Kenta and Madoka to catch up. They stopped beside him, struggling to catch their breath. Ryuga handed Kenta his bey.

Kenta let out a gasp. “Sagittario!” he yelped, grabbing it and staring in horror at the banged-up bey.

Madoka glanced at Sagittario.

“It got damaged pretty badly…” Her eyes were wide as she spoke.

“After it was just fixed! Gah, I’m so sorry, Sagittario!” Kenta’s voice descended into a sob as he clutched his broken Beyblade.

“It’s not your fault Kyoya decided to implant it into the ground,” Ryuga growled, “What a-” He bit back his next words.

“Oh, come on, I don’t think Kyoya meant to go that far,” Madoka insisted, sternly. She turned to Kenta and added gently, “Regardless, Kenta, I don’t mind repairing Sagittario again.”

Kenta looked up at her. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, it won’t take long…”

“But don’t you still have Tsubasa and Yu’s beys to fix from the Nemesis battle?”

“And Tithi, Dynamis, Chris, and Aguma’s…” Madoka shuddered. “B-but it’s not a big deal! Like I said, this is minor compared to theirs. I can fix Sagittario tonight and maybe even have time to finish with Eagle’s repairs.” She laughed even as her eyes were wide. “That would be nice. Here, I’ll take it to my workshop now.”

Madoka gestured for Kenta to follow. Ryuga and Kenta trailed after her, ending up a few paces behind her.

“I was so close…” Kenta murmured to himself.

“Hm?” Ryuga looked down at him.

“I thought a few more attacks would do it… I didn’t count on him using Reverse Wind Strike… Kyoya has so many special moves, I can’t keep track of them all!”

*Me neither, Kenta.*

“You’ll have another chance to beat him.”

“Y-yeah… that’s true.” Kenta looked up at him with a smile. “Hey, thanks for coming to watch. I really do appreciate it.”

Ryuga just nodded. *I wish I could have been part of it.* He struggled to push the thought away as he continued on.

When they got to the shop, Madoka held the door open and ushered Ryuga and Kenta inside. Kenta handed her Sagittario. Ryuga followed them down a flight of stairs to a basement of sorts. Madoka placed Sagittario down on the desk. Nearby, were six other much more broken Beyblades, including Eagle and Libra.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding…” Kenta gazed at the torn-up Beyblades.

“Ha, yeah… It’s a lot of work for one person.” Madoka rested her hand on her forehead. “But I can handle it! No big deal!” She laughed in that nervous way again.

However, Ryuga had already tuned the two of them out. Everything in this room was related to Beyblade somehow: the broken Beyblades on the desk, the tools that would likely fix them, and the drawers nearby filled with spare parts.

Memories of the tournament raced through Ryuga’s mind. *I could’ve beaten Kyoya. I could’ve beaten everyone there, no problem, but I didn’t even have a chance. I’ll never have a chance again.* Ryuga stared at the broken Beyblades, unable to ease the longing in his heart.

“Well, we should be getting home.” Ryuga zoned back in and gazed at Kenta. “Dinner is probably going to be ready soon.”

“Actually, Kenta…” Ryuga bit his lip.

“Huh?” Kenta tilted his head to the side.

“I…” Ryuga glanced at Madoka. “Can I stay here a while longer?”

“Wha-” Madoka stiffened. “Um, okay, sure. That’s… fine.”

Ryuga dipped his head.

“Ryuga?” Kenta stared at him.

“I’ll be there later,” Ryuga insisted.

“Okay… see you then.” Kenta reluctantly began to walk away. “Bye guys!” he called, before going up the stairs.

“Bye…” Madoka waved. Once Kenta disappeared, she turned to Ryuga. “Um, I’m gonna get something from upstairs then work on those repairs. You can uh… chill here I guess.” She made her way upstairs.

Once Madoka was out of sight, Ryuga immediately began looking through the drawers full of Beyblade parts. One had just blank facebolts. Another had just spin tracks, then just fusion wheels, and just performance tips. They were all fairly bland and basic. However, Ryuga couldn't help but stare at the parts as well as the broken up Beyblades nearby.

“What are you doing?” Ryuga froze at the sound of Madoka's voice. She was coming back down the stairs, a phone in hand as she gazed at him in confusion. Ryuga slowly pushed the drawer closed.

“No, no, it's fine," Madoka replied, hopping down the steps. "Just don't break anything.”

The mechanic grabbed another chair and pulled it up in front of the desk before sitting in the chair right beside it. Ryuga took the extra chair. He went back to the drawer of spare parts, shuffling through them and placing anything that stood out to him on the desk.

“Is it okay if I put on some music?” Madoka asked, gesturing to her phone. “I work well with music.”

*Why is she asking me?*

“It’s your workshop."

“Um…” Madoka looked away. “I’ll take that as a yes. I guess.”

She put the music on and set her phone aside facedown, before starting work on Sagittario’s repairs. Ryuga kept his eyes on his own work. He took one of the performance tips, a blue one for an attack type, and attached it to a spin track of a similar colour. They likely didn’t actually go together. Then Ryuga combined the spin track with more parts that didn’t go with it: a white fusion wheel and a plastic red facebolt. All together, they created the dumbest looking Beyblade Ryuga had ever seen.

*I need a life,* Ryuga thought as he spun the Beyblade around with his fingers. Madoka looked up from her work.

“Hey, that bey looks a bit like…” She stiffened. “Oh…”

Ryuga looked at the Beyblade, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t intended it, but the makeshift Beyblade did resemble L-Drago somewhat, having the same colours and an attack type performance tip. He had even spun it to the left.

Madoka paused her music with a sigh. “You miss L-Drago that much, huh?”

Ryuga stopped the bey with his fingers. “You’re not a blader, you wouldn’t get it,” he grunted.

“You’re right, I don’t fully understand. Your fight against Nemesis was…” Ryuga winced. Madoka hesitated before continuing, “Well, I don’t have to remind you. Yet despite that, you still want to Beyblade so badly. Why?”

“Because Beyblade is…” Ryuga let out a sigh. “Was my life. It was my purpose, and watching that tournament reminded me how much I want to fight…” He stared at the makeshift Beyblade. “But I can never replace L-Drago. So I have to accept this new life.”

“Do you not like your new life?” Madoka asked, tilting her head to the side.

Ryuga clenched his jaw. “I never said that.”

Madoka was probably about to reply when a beeping sound cut them off. Ryuga glanced at his phone.

-Kenta’s Mom: Be home before dark.-

Ryuga grunted as he typed out a response.

-Ryuga: Ok-

Muting the phone, he placed it aside facedown with a grunt.

“Ugh, parents.”

“Ha, yeah.” Madoka chuckled. “They can be overbearing… Kenta’s parents, you mean?”

Ryuga nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve met them. I’m convinced they would adopt all of us if they could.” Madoka smiled and raised an eyebrow. “How long did it take for them to want to adopt you?”

“...five minutes.” Ryuga wished he was exaggerating.

“Yep, sounds about right.” Madoka continued to work on Sagittario’s repairs as she spoke, “To be honest, I’m surprised they haven’t officially adopted you.”

Ryuga stiffened. “They’d better not,” he growled.

“Well, you’re older so I’m pretty sure they would need your permission to make it official,” Madoka replied with a shrug.

Ryuga let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

Madoka looked up at him, placing Sagittario aside. “So, uh, when are you going home exactly?”

“Am I overstaying my welcome?” Ryuga asked, standing up.

“What? N-no, I don't mind.” Madoka stood up as well, gazing up at him. “I'm just confused. Ryuga, if you don't mind me asking… Why are you here? Is it really just to play with Beyblade parts?”

Ryuga’s eyes narrowed. “I'm not playing with them.”

"Then what are you doing exactly?” Madoka asked, gesturing to the makeshift Beyblade on the desk.

“One question at a time.” Ryuga rested his hand on his forehead.

“Ugh, fine. Then answer this, wouldn't being in a place like this just depress you?” Madoka held her hands out, gesturing to the room around them. “Being surrounded by Beyblade stuff?”

“It doesn't.”

If he was honest with himself, Ryuga found this environment peaceful. Beyblade was something that was familiar to him. So even though this was a new environment, it felt familiar and almost safe to him. Ryuga sat back down.

“That Beyblade’s not going to fix itself, you know,” he grunted, returning his focus to his makeshift Beyblade.

“Huh?” Madoka looked back at Flash Sagittario. “Oh, right…”

She unpaused her music and continued working. Ryuga looked back at his makeshift Beyblade, unscrewing the facebolt and reaching for more parts from the drawers. He tried out several combinations of parts and watched them spin. Ryuga put his head down on the table. He hadn't realized until now how tired he was and the familiar whirring sound of a Bey spinning was strangely relaxing. Even the music and the sounds of Madoka fixing Sagittario beside him were somewhat peaceful now. Ryuga's eyes slowly fluttered shut.

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

Ryuga opened his eyes with a yawn, confused to find himself sitting at Madoka's desk still. He glanced at the mechanic. She was sitting next to him, her head rested on her arms beside a mostly repaired Sagittario. Ryuga gently nudged Madoka. She yelped in surprise, her head shooting up.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted with a tired smile. “Good morning.”

“When did we fall asleep?” Ryuga asked, reaching for his phone.

“I dunno…” Madoka rested her hand on her forehead. “Ugh, I do this all the time. I really need to break out of this habit.”

Ryuga couldn’t bite back a gasp: thirteen unread text messages, six missed calls. He stiffened. A cold feeling wracked his body.

“What? What’s wrong?” Madoka asked, her eyes wide.

Ryuga was completely frozen for a few seconds, his heart pounding out of his chest. Finally, he stood up.

“I have to make a call,” he explained, his voice icily calm again.

He went up the stairs and toward the shop exit as casually as he could. Closing the door behind him, Ryuga booked it behind the building. He looked at his phone. Every message and missed call were from either Kenta or his parents, all demanding to know where he was. Ryuga called Kenta. He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the kid to pick up. It went to voicemail. Ryuga grunted. He stared at Kenta's parents' contacts, a sudden shiver running down his spine.

*They're going to yell at me…* Whichever one he called, Ryuga anticipated either of Kenta's parents yelling at him for this. They had never yelled at him or Kenta before but the idea chilled him. Everyone had their limit, surely? Doji would've certainly yelled at him if Ryuga had done something like this.

*I'd rather get yelled at over a phone than to my face.* Ryuga hesitantly called Kenta's mother, unable to suppress a shiver. She immediately picked up.

“Ryuga!”

“I’M SORRY!” Ryuga didn't realize how loud he had yelled until he saw birds fly away in panic. He lowered his voice and continued, “I lost track of time and fell asleep at the shop. I won’t…” Ryuga shivered. “I won’t do it again.”

Ryuga couldn't bring himself to continue; he already sounded pathetic enough.

“The shop, okay.” Kenta's mother sighed in relief. "That’s where Kenta said you were last. Thank goodness you’re okay.”

Ryuga froze. “You’re not mad?”

“No, of course not." She sounded almost alarmed. “We were just worried something happened to you.” She fell silent for a few moments before adding, “Kenta went out looking for you a few minutes ago, will you two come home?”

“...okay.”

“Okay, I love you, sweetie.”

Before Ryuga could reply, Kenta's mother hung up. Ryuga froze. *Maybe they don’t want to control me…* His eyes narrowed. *Then what do they want from me?! Why would they care this much about me if they didn’t want something from me?!* Before Kenta, the only person that seemed to want Ryuga around was Doji, who had used him for his own dark plan. Even Kenta initially only followed him to help his other friends. But what reason did the kid’s parents have to care?! *This has to be some kind of trick…*

“Ryuga!” Madoka’s voice shook him from his thoughts. She was running toward him. “What happened?” she asked, struggling to catch her breath.

“Nothing,” Ryuga grunted, putting his phone in his pocket. “I just told Kenta’s mother where I was.”

“Oh, yeah, his parents were probably pretty worried about you.”

“Clearly.” Ryuga began to walk away. Madoka followed, walking by his side and looking up at him.

“Well, uh, parents can be like that,” she replied with a shrug.

“They’re not my parents. I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

Ryuga froze. *Why did I tell HER that?* He stopped in front of the bey shop, letting out a sigh. *I suppose I have nothing to lose by telling her this.*

“Why they care so much. It doesn’t make sense.”

“How does it not make sense? They might not be your biological parents but you are living with them now and you’re close to Kenta. Is it really surprising his parents think of you as a second son?”

Ryuga looked away, unable to come up with an answer.

“Ryuga!” Kenta’s voice called.

Ryuga looked up to see his friend rushing toward him from a distance. *There he is.*

#beyblade #beyblade metal saga #beyblade metal fight #fanfictions #ryuga #ryuga kishatu #kenta yumiya #madoka amano #kyoya tategami #he's there a lot I guess #bey battles are a pain in the ass to write #very fun #but very difficult #also enjoy Ryuga/Madoka shippers #I don't ship it at all #but I thought it worked platonically here

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rawiswhore · 4 years

Text

Billy Gunn x Fem Reader- “69 Boyz”

1999 is almost coming to a close.

Not only is 1999 almost over, but so is the 1990's decade in general, and even the 20th Century in general is almost over.

The 20th Century, a tumultuous century filled with good and bad, is almost over with.

That's not all, we're entering a new millennium in general.

However, some people are debating when the new millennium truly starts, in 2000 or 2001.

There's several people panicking because they're afraid the world will truly end on January 1st, 2000, and they're stocking up on paper towels and food.

You don't believe the world will end.

And in 1999, the WWF has beat WCW in ratings during the Monday Night Wars.

A few years ago, the WWF almost went out of business and had 1 million people watching it.

Now, the viewership is up to 6 million people watching.

The WWF's "Monday Night Raw" and "WCW Nitro" are the highest rated shows on television in 1999.

Pro wrestling is more popular than ever before.

And the most popular wrestling faction of the late 90's and early 2000's Attitude era is arguably D Generation X.

D Generation X were the WWF's answer to the N.W.O. over in WCW.

D Generation X are one of the reasons why the WWF is now called WWF Attitude.

When pro wrestlers become immensely popular, there's bound to be a lot of merchandise made of them, especially T-shirts.

Some wrestlers wear shirts that have replicas worn by fans, just look at Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, the Rock, and even John Cena.

And yep, D Generation X's shirts they've worn have been worn by fans all throughout America.

One of DX's shirts they've worn is a black football-style jersey that reads either "degenerate" or their "suck it" catchphrase on the back, whichever shirt they wear or sell, and the number "69" written on the back.

Yep, that's DX in a nutshell.

You've worn that jersey many times before, have been pictured wearing it and even have slept in it, and when the "basketball jersey dress" trend in the 2000's happened, you turned a DX football jersey into a dress.

When Britney Spears turned football jerseys into cute short tops/shirts in the early 2000's, you turned a DX football jersey into a cute short top.

By the end of 1999, DX, especially X Pac, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, are wearing those football jersey's with "69" on the back.

X Pac and Road Dogg do nothing for you looks wise, and Triple H is losing his looks a bit by getting bigger and growing facial hair, but there is a DX member who luckily hasn't cut his hair yet and has it long and flowing.

That member is Billy Gunn!

Seeing Billy Gunn in that DX football jersey with a sex related number on the back gave you an idea for his birthday.

When it was his birthday, you told him an idea you had for him, and he loved your idea.

The perfect birthday present.

On his birthday in 1999, you and Billy were both dressed in that aforementioned DX football jersey and nothing else underneath.

You were busy sucking on Billy's cock, your head bobbing up and down his shaft while you sucked his penis, Billy was licking and tonguing your pussy.

Thankfully, you don't have any shit caked and smeared on your ass cheeks and around your asshole, your ass is completely clean, and you don't have any pubic hair around your vagina or up your ass crack.

Hopefully you don't fart in Billy's face when you're 69'ing him.

Your ass was trying not to smother his face, he was trying not to bury his face in between your ass crack considering your ass crack leads to your asshole.

Your lips were circulating around his shaft, whereas Billy's tongue was traveling up your pussy, tasting the salty, creamy substance coming from your twat.

You're not gonna let Billy Gunn lick and eat your ass despite his nickname being Mr. Ass and his entrance music describing how he's an ass man, why?

Because not only is eating ass disgusting, in the future, what if you or someone else wants to kiss Billy and his mouth/tongue has tasted your asshole, even if he's cleansed his mouth out with mouth wash and scrubbed his tongue with toothpaste afterwards?

You won't even let him lick your ass cheeks.

Then again, you've let him and other wrestlers eat your pussy, and many men have been inside your twat.

You're also sucking his cock despite it being up your asshole a few times, of course he's washed and cleansed his dick after it's been up your anus.

Billy's tongue is sliding up one of your pussy flaps, only to shift across to your clitoris, though it's hard for his tongue to reach your clit.

So instead, he's licking what's in the middle of your twat.

As he's eating your cunt out, precum is trickling out of the slit of his penishead, but your mouth is there to suck it up and swallow it once it's in your mouth.

Billy's missing the opportunity to do DX's "suck it!" taunt and crotch chop at the same time as you're sucking his dick.

Your tongue is also licking anywhere around his shaft where his precum might be dripping down, licking it up to make sure it doesn't fall down his shaft.

Billy's licking up and down the middle of your pussy like it's a Popsicle, moving his tongue up and down your twat, licking that wonderful salty area in between your pussy flaps.

You'd love it if Billy made you cum so he can eat and clean your twat up after you've came, or for you to cum in his mouth.

When you're sucking his shaft, your head is going up his shaft while you suck his penis.

Sometimes you've let your head and mouth go further down his shaft, almost all the way down to the bottom.

Billy is trying to make the tip of his tongue touch your clit, though it is a little difficult.

Maybe it's okay if he doesn't make you cum.

His tongue isn't just licking up and down the middle of your twat, but also up and down both of your pussy flaps, sometimes even across them.

Since his nickname is Mr. Ass, wonder if he should give both of your ass cheeks a squeeze and maybe even a spank?

Billy loves the feel of you sucking his cock, his eyes are rolling in the back of his head and he's trying to concentrate on licking your twat.

Since his face is so close to your pussy, you can feel his breath on your pussy, his breath is warm and it feels good, though his breath isn't on your clit, the most sensitive part of your pussy.

Billy is tempted to exclaim DX's "suck it" catchphrase and make his hands form a crotch chop, he may as well ask it despite you're busy.

"Hey y/n!" Billy called.

Your eyes looked at him.

"Can I shout 'suck it' and crotch chop at you?" he asked.

You nodded your head, your hand forming a "thumb's up" motion.

Billy smiled hearing your response, and he has such an infectious, warm smile.

Your mouth slightly grinned when he smiled at you.

He moved his hands over his genitals, where he crossed his hands at the wrist and made them form an "x" shape.

He raised those crossed hands up a few inches only to quickly drop them down.

"Suck it!" he exclaimed, but not too loud since he's in a hotel room.

You were trying not to giggle and laugh while you sucked his cock.

He then slid his hands apart from the wrists and made his hands form a "v" shape at what's known as his "cum gutters".

His fingers were attached to one another when his hands were across from each other on opposite cum gutters, raising his hands up from them, only to quickly drop them down.

"Suck it!" he quietly exclaimed.

DX's "suck it" should be a compliment, not an insult.

He could crotch chop and say "suck it" all night.

He, too, was trying to keep a straight face and not burst out into laughter.

You proceeded to suck his cock until after he cums.

But before he came, one thing he thought of doing to you is rubbing the tip of his finger on your clit to help you cum.

"Hey y/n" he said again, which made your eyes shift and look at him.

"Can I rub your clit?" he asked.

You shrugged your shoulders.

Either way, it's up to him.

He can do it, he can't.

"Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?" he asked.

"Either way is fine" you suggested, your mouth no longer wrapped around his shaft.

He nodded his head.

"Thanks" he rewarded.

"You're welcome!" you answered, smiling at him.

Your head leaned back into his erection, his cock entering your open mouth and lips wrapped around his shaft again, proceeding to suck his cock again.

His index finger slid in between your pussy flaps, but not up your twathole.

When his index finger reached where your clitoris is, he proceeded to rub up and down that clit with the tip of his index finger.

He knows where the clitoris is thanks to reading sex education books growing up, as well as from all of the ringrats and groupies he's had sex with, including you.

The clitoris is one of the most sensitive parts of a woman's body, and he knows that.

He also pressed your clit a few times with the pad of his index finger.

He knows how sensitive your clit is and how you enjoy it when anyone presses their finger on your clit.

He's driving you crazy by rubbing your clit.

"Mmmmmm" you mumbled and muttered while he rubbed your clit.

You want to say something, but you're busy sucking his cock!

Speaking of cocks, you've sucked his dick for quite a long time.

Such a long time, that eventually, Billy released such a throaty groan out of his mouth, his eyes shutting tight like he stubbed his toe and his slit released his cum out into your mouth.

That isn't a problem for you, you gulped and swallowed his cum down, as well as licked up and down his shaft, licking up any precum or cum that dripped down his shaft.

Billy was contemplating to finger your twat or not, as in slid his finger inside your pussy hole.

"Hey y/n!" he said to you, which made your eyes turn and look at him.

"Can I put my finger up your pussy hole?" he asked.

Hmmmm, good question.

While putting his finger up your cunt is fine, but you do want him to do other things to you besides finger your twat, and you've thought of him rubbing you until you cum.

You'd like for him to eat up that cum you might release with his tongue.

"I've thought of letting you rub my clit until I cum" you confessed "And you'll get cum on your finger if you put your finger up my pussy"

He nodded his head.

"But the center of your pussy will still be salty and gooey in cum!" he argued.

"Yeah, but I'll probably make your entire index finger drenched in cum!" you fought back. "What if it was my entire pussy instead?"

"What's wrong with my finger covered in your cum?" he asked.

Nothing, really, but you prefer him if he ate your twat out.

"Nothing, really" you admitted "But I prefer you tonguing my pussy"

"What if I finger your pussy a few seconds before you cum?" he suggested.

"Ehhhh, maybe" you suggested, shrugging your shoulders.

Later on that evening, Billy brushed his tongue up your twat, up the middle of it and your pussy flaps, sometimes the tip of his tongue tried to reach out to touch your clit.

At the beginning of 1999, when Triple H wore that DX jersey that had the number 69 on the back of it, you and Triple H 69'ed each other while wearing those DX jerseys.

______________________________________________________________

I actually did think of typing a fanfic where the fem reader is having sex with Billy Gunn during his RockaBilly era circa April 1997, or at the end of 1996 when he was still with the Smoking Gunns while doing it with him "reverse cowgirl" as it's called (since his gimmick during the majority of the 90's was a cowboy, and in 1997 his gimmick was a rockabilly/country singer), though I've already written a fanfic like that but with Shawn Michaels.

I also thought of writing a fanfic where the fem reader has a threesome with Billy Gunn and his former tagteam partner Bart Gunn, though I've written so many threesome fanfics.

#billy gunn #1999 #90s #wwf #birthday #happy birthday #fanfiction #attitude era #wwf attitude #dx #d generation x

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bapha · 5 years

Photo

Collaboration work with @reluctantlyback for @yoihomezine from last year. We are free to post now, so enjoy! Please read Aza work, it’s a pretty domestic day for the gang. You can read read the fic here or go to Ao3: His Gold by Aza. T, 2.501 words. Canon compliant, post-series, Victuri, russian family.

Yuuri can’t help feeling nervous and awkward during around the Russian skaters his first few days in St. Petersburg. Thankfully, McDonald’s is an international favorite for cheat day meals. And besides, Viktor is there too.

As he laced up his skates and stepped onto the ice, Yuuri marveled at the grand Sports Champions Club rink. Even though he’d already been training there for a couple of days, the sheer enormity of it still stunned him. And of course, the fact that he was practicing in Viktor’s home rink never failed to make his inner fanboy light up with joy.

Once he finished his warm-ups, he skated to the section of rail where Viktor stood, one finger tapping gently against his lip. “Well? Where should I start, coach?” Yuuri let himself purr the last word, knowing exactly how much Viktor loved to hear it. A faint blush rushed to his fiancé’s cheeks.

Viktor leaned over the railing. He put his hands around Yuuri’s shoulders and leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “One of these days, you’re going to say that, and I won’t be able to stop myself, dorogoy.”

This time, it was Yuuri who turned pink. He jerked back a little—just enough so that he wasn’t quite so close, but still within Viktor’s arms. “Not here,” he hissed, feeling his cheeks warm further. His coach pouted.

“We’re alone though,” Viktor pointed out. “The others won’t be here for another hour and a half.”

“That—that’s not the point!” Yuuri pulled back a little more, trying his best to ignore Viktor’s pout. “Coach Feltsman trusted us enough to arrange for us to use the rink for a couple hours before he comes in. We shouldn’t abuse that trust.”

Viktor smiled slightly. “I guess… Okay! Let’s work on your short program step sequence. It was absolutely, what’s the English word—stilted! —at the Grand Prix. I want you to keep running through it until I say you can stop.”

Yuuri nodded. Now that he’d memorized his routines and mastered most of his jumps, he rarely needed Viktor on the ice. Besides, Yuuri thought as he skated out to the center, it was probably for the best that his fiancé conserves more energy now that Viktor was competing as well.

The familiar strums of the guitar echoed through the near-empty rink as Yuuri wrapped his arms around himself. He took only a moment to become immersed in the music. Only Viktor’s occasional shouted criticism alerted him to the passage of time. Yuuri danced and spun on the ice, taking full advantage of his high stamina to run through the Eros step sequence over and over. He imagined the endless haze of a night spent getting drunk, every pole dancing class, the heat of a night spent with Viktor. That, he knew, was his true eros, his ultimate performance by which he’d finally win a gold medal. By the time his coach called him over for a break, nearly an hour had passed.

“Very good, very sexy.” Viktor leaned over the barrier again. “I really felt that performance,” he murmured, one hand tracing Yuuri’s collarbone, the other cupping his own chin.

Yuuri gulped. “W-what next?”

Viktor sighed and withdrew his hand. “So devoted. Hmm…quad flips. Land three or four in a row, then skate a few laps and try again. Let’s aim for…three rounds.”

“Yes, coach!” Yuuri pushed off the rail and gathered speed, thinking only of the magnificent jump’s incredible height and power, imagining ice chips flying with the force of his takeoff. He began entry, and with a final push—

He spun in midair once, twice, three times—four! He landed neatly on one foot, and immediately collected more speed for another jump. Yuuri finished the round and began skating laps, allowing himself to cool down a bit before attempting a second sequence.

As he entered the next cycle of three jumps, the doors to the rink opened with a bang and a groan and a general clamor of voices and gear rustling in bags. Yuuri recognized Yurio’s shouts and what sounded like Georgi whimpering in pain. A distinctly feminine laugh—Mila, maybe—echoed over the two.

Yuuri tried to mentally refocus. Now was not the time to lose concentration and flub a jump, not when the rest of the rink’s skaters had just arrived. He skated faster. He moved into the entry position, and out of the corner of his eye, spotted Coach Feltsman moving towards the rail. Pushing for liftoff, he pulled his arms in and jumped.

Four tight rotations later, he came down hard, double-footing the landing in an effort to stay upright. Frowning, he gathered speed again, catching a glimpse of Viktor’s silvery hair as his fiancé turned to face his own coach. Coach Feltsman gestured wildly toward the ice. Yuuri flinched instinctively and managed only a triple before slamming onto the ice.

“Yuuri!” Viktor’s voice wasn’t disappointed by any means, but Yuuri couldn’t help feeling wary as he skated towards his fiancé and Coach Feltsman.

“Yes, Vitya?” He wrung his hands out of Viktor’s view.

Coach Feltsman grunted, catching Yuuri’s attention, and in his heavy accent instructed him to get off the ice. Yuuri nodded quickly and moved to follow the order.

As he cleaned off his skates and placed them in his bag, Yuuri noticed that nobody had taken his place on the ice. In fact, Yurio seemed to be engaged in a rather vicious shouting match with his coach, Mila and Georgi standing nearby, mouths agape. Viktor, on the other hand, was watching the confrontation with an amused look on his face.

Yuuri shouldered his bag, prepared to relocate to the gym or dance studio. He caught Viktor’s eye, and moved to his side. “Where to, coach?”

Viktor smiled. “Lunch!”

The arguing between Coach Feltsman and Yurio came to an abrupt halt. Yuuri frowned. “It’s not even noon.”

“No arguing, Yuuri!”

“But—”

“Later tonight, darling!”

Yuuri felt his face turn bright red. He stammered something out, but it was drowned out by Yurio’s gagging noise.

“Shut up, old man! There are other people around you two morons! Gross! I’m even a fucking minor!”

Viktor smiled pleasantly, and it grew to a full-on heart-shaped grin as he spoke. “I should hope not; even if you’re at the age of consent, you’re our kotyonok, so no.”

“I’LL MURDER YOU, YOU GODDAMN PERVERT—!”

Yuuri and Viktor made a quick escape, leaving Mila, Georgi, and an exasperated and somewhat terrified Coach Feltsman to deal with Yurio’s sudden, violent rage.

By the time they had gathered outside the rink, Viktor had queued at least six restaurant websites on his phone. Yuuri watched with some amusement as his fiancé flicked through another food blog with sparkles in his eyes.

“Yuuri, what do you think of this place? It’s a Korean place, Makko Li, and it’s got great reviews—here, look.” Viktor extended his phone long enough for Yuuri to catch a glimpse of a cozy brick interior before snatching it back to flip to a picture of a warm but sleek restaurant. “Or we could go to here, Phali Hinkali; it has nearly four hundred five-star reviews. But it is a cheat day, so maybe Italian? A plate full of carbs is a cheat day classic…”

The sound of doors squeaking open caused Yuuri to glance up. Mila, Georgi, and a reluctant (and stomping) Yurio exited the rink, bags slung over their shoulders. The two older skaters stopped a few feet away from Yuuri and Viktor, allowing Yurio to come to a screeching halt only a couple inches from Viktor’s phone.

“What are you doing, standing around like that, old man?” Yurio wasn’t yelling, but his harshness was still present. Yuuri noticed distantly that his face was still red from shouting. “You’re blocking traffic. Get out of my way.”

Viktor looked up, the picture of innocence. “But Yurio—”

“That’s not my name, damn it!”

“—we’re all going to eat together! All five of us!” Viktor smiled brightly and walked past Yurio to put an arm around Georgi and Mila’s shoulders.

Yurio bristled. Yuuri thought about taking a small step back from the blond ball of anger, but one glare from Yurio had him frozen.

Viktor dragged Mila and Georgi over, nearly barreling into Yurio. “I’ll pay! Join us!”

Yurio’s frown eased a bit. “Fine, but only because you’re paying. I still hate you all.” “Perfect!” Viktor smiled, but then frowned. “Where should we go, moy dorogoy?”

Yuuri thought for only a moment. “McDonald’s. I haven’t had any since I left Detroit, and nothing comes close in unhealthy-cheat-day content.”

Mila grinned. “…McDonald’s? As in the American burger chain? I’m in!”

“Oh, I went there after Anya—” Georgi’s eyes began to water, but he quickly choked out assent to eating there. Yurio glared, but didn’t object, so they all began walking down the sidewalk. Mila and Yurio exchanged scathing insults, while Georgi and Viktor made pleasant small talk.

Despite holding his Vitya’s hand, Yuuri felt isolated. Though Viktor and Georgi made the effort to speak in English, the overwhelming sound of Russian gnawed on his anxieties. At least when he’d moved to Detroit, he’d had a passable grasp of English. All the Russian he knew were pet names and a few choice curses. Before he could worry too much, Viktor squeezed his hand, and Yuuri refocused on Georgi’s somewhat animated tale of his first date with Katya, another woman unsuspecting of the skater’s flair for dramatics.

By the time they reached McDonald’s, the lunch rush hadn’t quite started, so Yuuri walked right up to the counter. While menus varied slightly between countries, McDonald’s had a fairly standardized selection. Yuuri knew exactly what he wanted: a Big Mac easy on the mayo and liberal with the onions, a medium fry, and a large sweet tea. Viktor, to his credit, didn’t even blink as he placed the order, pausing for a moment after finishing.

“Pick out my meal, Yuuri? I’m starving.”

“Uh…I think you’ll like the mushroom and swiss.”

Viktor pouted. “That’s it?”

“You and your insanely fast metabolism,” Yuuri muttered. Clearing his throat, he added “Large fry and a small McFlurry, plus a cup for water.”

“Sounds amazing!” They stepped aside for the others to order, and once Viktor swiped his card to pay, went in search of a table. Georgi and Mila slid into one side of a booth, leaving Viktor, Yurio, and Yuuri to split the other side of the booth.

Yurio glared. “Idite vy,” he hissed, but after a quick frown from Viktor, stalked off to retrieve their food. Viktor scooched all the way to the window, leaving Yuuri to plant himself solidly in the middle. The table was silent. Mila twisted to check on their order. Georgi tapped out a text.

Viktor attempted to make small talk, but Yuuri couldn’t manage anything more than noncommittal mumbles. With the Russian skaters listening, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. Even though he knew they didn’t hate him, his mind kept going back to his failed quad flips, insisting they resented him for wasting ice time. And, his mind supplied unhelpfully, they had to hate him for bringing disgrace to the rink’s flawless and pristine image. Who was he, his brain mocked, to think he was good enough to practice at Russia’s premier rink—?

Yurio slammed their trays down. A couple of fries on the top went flying in the air and skittered across the table. “Here’s the stupid food.” He flopped down next to Yuuri, grabbed his burger and drink, and began eating with fervor. The others blinked, and as if electrified by Yurio’s actions, began a mad scramble to properly identify which items were whose.

Yuuri bit into his Big Mac and had to keep himself from moaning. Good old-fashioned American grease, Viktor by his side plowing through his fries…it was the subject of many a Detroit dream. The pleasant silence brought on by everybody eating calmed Yuuri’s nerves. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that he was back in America, in the McDonald’s just off campus, sinking his teeth into a meal Celestino would murder him for.

Almost. Yuuri could not ignore Viktor’s knee against his, or the way his fiancé’s arm brushed against his own as Viktor reached for his McFlurry, or the twin glint of their rings as they caught the noon sun. It made an idyllic if somewhat bizarre scene, and as Viktor reached for another fry, Yuuri grabbed his hand.

“Hmm? Is something the matter, my Yuuri?” Viktor frowned slightly in concern.

Yuuri smiled softly. “I just feel so happy right now, Vitya.”

Viktor blushed, a soft pink dusting his cheeks. His blue, blue eyes narrowed somewhat as he smiled. “I love you too, zolotse.”

A muffled thump caught Yuuri’s attention. Mila had dropped her chicken tender, mouth still open. Georgi’s eyes became suspiciously bright, and sure enough, he began to cry.

“Is something wrong?” Yuuri asked.

“It’s just—” Georgi sniffled. “Such p-pure love!” He began to sob in earnest, fries long forgotten.

Yurio made a gagging noise. “Blin, keep that romance shit at home, Viktor! Nobody wants to see that out in public.”

“Mind your language, Yurio,” Viktor singsonged, narrowly dodging a fry flying towards his head.

Yurio settled for making a rude gesture and refocusing on plowing through his remaining fries.

“Um, Mila?” Yuuri asked, hyperaware of Georgi’s tears and Yurio’s volatile temper. “What does that mean, ‘zolotse’? Vikor won’t translate it for me.”

She stared for a moment, mouth still agape. “…gold. It means ‘my gold.’”

Yuuri flushed, feeling his face turn red as the linoleum seats. “Really?” he asked, turning toward his fiancé. “But I haven’t won a gold yet.”

Viktor flipped his hair, doing his best to act nonchalant. “Well, you know. I guess you at least got me a gold ring, so.”

Yuuri smirked slightly, forgetting completely about their company. “Of course, Vitya. I love you too.”

By the time everyone had finished their meal, Yurio, Mila, and Georgi were adamant about returning to the rink. Viktor, on the other hand, dragged Yuuri back toward their shared apartment. “I need a little ‘Yuuri’ time,” he’d said, drawing said man into a kiss.

As they walked hand-in-hand down the St. Petersburg streets, Yuuri thought about how nervous he’d been to move to Russia: how he’d worried Viktor’s rinkmates would hate him; that he’d miss Hasetsu excessively like he had in Detroit; that the language would be too hard to grasp; that despite Viktor’s presence, it wouldn’t feel like home.

But Mila and Georgi were openly welcoming (Yurio wasn’t even too hostile), he was slowly but surely picking up bits of Russian, and he didn’t miss Hasetsu the way he once had. His hometown would always be part of his heart, but now...

Yuuri gathered the courage to very quietly say, “Moy dom tam, gde ty.” He burrowed his face into his coat, unable to look up thanks to his blush.

Viktor’s step faltered for a beat but resumed its steady pace quickly. “I feel exactly the same way, my Yuuri. My life, my love.”

#Yuri on Ice #YoI #okaeri zine #wewritevictuuri #yoi home zine #yoi zine #fic #Viktor Nikiforov #Yuuri Katsuki #drawing #fanart #colored

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pansyaparkinson · 4 years

Photo

Under the cut is a formatted version of Pansy’s application, since Tumblr has decided to be mean (once again):

OOC

Name: Karli

Age: 29

Pronouns: She/Her

Timezone: CST

Writing Sample: Please provide a link to some writing. This does not have to be from a roleplay specifically, though it is preferred.

Ships: Pansy/Chemistry is ultimately the most important thing to me. I have this weird soft spot for Pansy/Goyle after some chemistry I had with a Goyle when I played Pansy in another rpg and I’ve shipped them ever since! But it’s not something I would need to have. Mostly, I’m excited to play her coming back to Britain and reconnecting with all the folks from her past!

Anything else?: Pansy’s favorite color is red (despite the - ugh - Gryffindor colors!) and she often sports a crisp, pristine red lip that almost looks like blood.

IC - Overview

Full name: Pansy Auria Parkinson (Delvaux) - Pansy managed to keep her surname under the pretenses of her career, having been known within her line as a Parkinson. She uses Parkinson for her professional and personal life - but will call herself a Delvaux if it helps her get ahead or in polite French company.

Age: 40 (31 December 1979) - Yes, she throws the most extravagant New Year’s Eve parties in celebration of her birthday.

Gender: Cis-female (she/her)

Sexuality: Heterosexual. Pansy will be the first one to tell you that she likes cock. But only when that cock does whatever she wants. She’s not necessarily homophobic in the “normal” sense where she really cares who is fucking who - but she definitely makes homophobic jokes sometimes and, even if she loves you (looking at you, Draco!), you can’t escape her rolling her eyes a bit whenever the topic of sexuality comes up. She’s definitely going to hit you where it hurts if she’s angry.

Blood status: Pureblood

Former Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Occupation: Designer for Twilfitt and Tatting's

The shoppe, Twilfiit and Tatting’s, has been owned by the Parkinsons for generations. The oldest son, Malcolm, Pansy’s father, had inherited the business from his father. Malcolm, however, had plans far greater than his father could have dreamed. While Twilfitt and Tatting’s location in Diagon Alley brought enough money in to sustain the family fortune, Malcolm wanted to expand.

Throughout Pansy’s childhood, he was in constant discussion with other businessmen to open new locations throughout various places in Europe. It took a lot of time away from his family, but tripled their income and made Twilfitt and Tatting’s the place to get high end robes, clothing, and accessories.

Pansy started scribbling designs for new outfits when she was young, but her father would not take them seriously until after graduation, when he finally allowed her visions to become a reality. The Auria line (named for Pansy’s middle name) became the fastest-selling line Twilfitt had ever seen.

But it wasn’t enough. While her father was never a Death Eater - much too busy being successful to follow a man with no fashion sense at all! - he did a lot of his business with people who were. As those wizards and witches were caught and sent to Azkaban for Voldemort-supporting acts after the war, Malcolm’s businesses began to fail.

The Parkinson’s were losing money fast at that time - something they’d mainly been able to keep from the public eye - and Pansy had to step up and find a rich man to marry in order to help the business stay afloat. Pansy’s mother, Cordelia, did not want to fall from grace like those Malfoy’s, after all.

Pansy did manage to do just that - find a man, save the company, and is now the leading designer within the multiple Twilfitt establishments. Her line is sleek and expensive, mainly geared towards fashionable and rich witches. (Link to some of the clothing will be posted below within the “extra” section). She’s very happy with her career… but it came at what costs?

Marital Status: Widowed.

Pansy met Armand Delvaux when she was just twenty-three years old on a trip to the shoppe in Paris, which had been doing rather well until the fall of Voldemort. On their last bit of finances, the ability to keep the fact that the Parkinsons were actually broke was becoming harder and harder to manage. Meeting Armand had been a gift from Merlin itself, it seemed. Rich he was, though not so handsome, he was forty-two years Pansy’s senior and had lost his original wife in an unfortunate potions accident when the woman was rather young.

Pansy had gotten to work quickly, making herself known as available (though not too available) and Armand had fallen for her even before her knees hit the ground. Honestly, those Gryffindors complaining about torture under the Carrows know nothing until they’ve stuck a wrinkly penis in their mouth to save the family.

They were married within just four months of meeting one another, something his grown children (there are three of them, two daughters and a son - the middle one the same age as Pansy herself) were very vocal about not being in agreement with. While Pansy lived her life with her husband without loving him, she did love what he had to offer her. The funding for Twilfitt went back up - the Paris shoppe suddenly bloomed - and they were able to expand farther than even her father had expected.

The shoppe is now the leading brand for expensive, designer clothing with Pansy at its helm. When Armand died two years ago - rather young for wizards, but Armand had always been known to experiment with the tobacco he put in that pipe of his and his poor heart suffered - she inherited 85% of his money (despite more protests from her stepchildren, really they’ve been such a pain!). With that money, she purchased a rather loftily flat in England with a direct connection via floo to her estate in Paris. The last two years, she’s split her time between the two, but the excitement of France has recently died down and she’s been spending much more time with old friends in England.

Faceclaim: Katie McGrath (1st choice), Eva Green (2nd choice), Lucy Hale (younger) - I would prefer the Katie/Lucy match, as I feel like they have more similarities and also Katie’s supergirl resources and a few others are TOTALLY Pansy-esque

Summary: A lot of Pansy’s life shortly after the war had been defined by that one moment in the Great Hall - and, really, how unfair was that! She’d only wanted to have her school stay undestroyed and her friends kept safe, after all. The Parkinsons had never chosen a side in the war, safe from any harm regardless of what happened given their pureblooded status. Pansy herself hardly thought about the war at all - and yet, she was being punished publicly for it. While there was no trial or prison for her - the backlash her old classmates gave her for trying to give Potter up to the Dark Lord was enough to make her bristle. That, combined with the Parkinson fortune dwindling, made Pansy run away to Paris to find a rich husband and start a new life. She settled with a man forty-two years older named Armand Delvaux and the failing business her family owned - Twilfitt and Tatting’s - began to thrive again with his money. Pansy herself found passion in fashion designing and her Auria brand is known as one of the leading brands in high-fashion clothing sales. While she spent most of her life after school travelling between Paris and London, she has decided to plant herself anew in the country of old friends and enemies again, now that her dear old husband has died. Many still think of her as that bitch from school and they aren’t wrong… but, cut her some slack, she’s grown up… a little bit.

IC - In Depth

Discussion

I included a lot of this discussion above in places I felt they made most sense, but below is a discussion of various things I have yet to add:

-Pansy is not ashamed of what she did during the war because, quite honestly, she hardly did a thing. She was no Death Eater - there was no Azkaban for her. As far as anyone knows, Pansy is the same person as she always was… but maybe just a bit nicer. Of course, that’s a laugh! She’s playing nice because it’s what this new wobbly feelings world wants her to be. She’s still not going to hold hands with Weasley or tell Granger she’s pretty or something insane like that! She’s got standards. She just might not spike your drink with laxative potion for a laugh anymore… well, not much potion anyway. Potter can miss one day of work for her entertainment.

-Pansy is ambitious. She’s a Slytherin for a reason, after all. She’s a designer (not a shoppe keeper, to anyone who may ask, thank you very much!) and values her work. She spends hours working on new pieces for her Auria line and won’t stop until it’s perfected. Some people think fashion is silly - but Pansy knows the truth. It’s an art form. Some wizards have just yet to discover it.

-Pansy is not nice. While she can play at it with a smile when she has to, she’s not above backhanded compliments and manipulation. She’s such a gossip and shouldn’t be trusted with any secret. Who’s dating who (or who’s fucking who, more like it) will be spread like Fiendfyre… whoops, don’t mention that word in front of poor Draco and Gregory… they get a bit sensitive. Pansy “forgot.”

-Perhaps the most curious thing about Pansy is that she both cares and doesn’t care about what other people think about her. It’s why she’s so mean - it’s easier to be the one on top putting everyone else down than have it possibly happen to her. When someone brings up her betrayal of Potter before the final battle, Pansy pretends to easily shrug it off with a perfectly presented insult and a roll of the eyes. But, the truth is, there’s a reason she uses make up potions and wears nice clothes and keeps all the flyaways out of her hair… the better she looks, the less fodder everyone else has for the fire.

-While there was no actual punishment for Pansy after the war, given she never fought for any side, the way those old classmates of hers viewed her after the stunt in the Great Hall was punishment enough. They looked down on her, something that brought up a whole lot of insecurity for her in a way she hated. It was enough to push her to France, agreeing to look after the shoppe there, and allowed her to settle into security with a husband she didn’t love.

-In fact, she did not love Armand at all - even for a second. While Armand was kind to her in some respects, he also very much underestimated her. Kept her out of the discussions when Twilfitt went into business with the Delvaux Company. She could play at her “little designs”, but could not truly take over the business, despite the fact that her line made the business the most money out of anything else they sold. In Armand’s mind, business was no place for a woman, something Pansy was unabashedly in disagreement with.

-Pureblood families - particularly families from higher society - have always stressed reproduction. While marriages are ideally full of love and children, creating an heir has always been the higher standard within the society that Pansy grew up in. She was supposed to get pregnant - supposed to have children and carry on the bloodline, despite any children she may have had not taking on the name Parkinson. That didn’t happen. In the end, it was discovered after trips to several different healers that Pansy could not, in fact, have biological children. Armand was alright with it, as he had three other children to carry on his name, including a son. Pansy could’ve considered adoption - she could’ve considered surrogacy. Instead, she decided that her life would be devoted to her career. She never truly liked children, anyway - just thought becoming a mother was what was expected of a young woman like her. In the end, she has found she feels very fulfilled. She’s usually very happy with her choice, but that doesn’t stop from the occasional pang of resentment and sadness whenever she sees old friends and acquaintances with their growing families.

-Despite what many believe, Pansy does love her friends. Draco is an actual treasure! Even if she is mortified by the way she threw herself at a gay man once upon a time. She very much values his friendship and has spent many visits to England with him. Daphne, too, is practically her soulmate. Pansy adores the woman who has been friends with her since Hogwarts. While Daphne’s status from Spindrift Lane meant she was more easily manipulated, Pansy loves that in a friend. She’s always been Queen Bee, after all.

-But just because she loves you doesn’t mean you’re safe. She’s mean whenever she wants to be - nice whenever it serves her. She might order her friends around sometimes and give backhanded compliments (Oh, your skin finally doesn’t look washed out today in that outfit!), but if anyone else tried to do that to someone she cared for, they’d be in for a rude awakening. Just because she can be a bitch doesn’t mean just anyone can talk to her friends like that! Even her own attitude has died down in recent years, as she grew older and things didn’t matter nearly as much. But she’ll still pull out the claws whenever she has to.

-Pansy is mostly in disagreement with Hermione’s Cerberus program. While she agrees that magical people shouldn’t be just going off with Muggles and therefore the Statute of Secrecy is important, she definitely doesn’t like the idea of people trying to watch her all the time. In her eyes, it’s a very prejudiced program. Who are considered the “suspicious ones?” The Slytherins from the war. Even though Pansy herself did not fight in the battle or even pick a side, she knows how people view her. Just because she was a Slytherin doesn’t mean that she’s off experimenting with Dark Magic and absolutely despises how this program will make her and others like her look.

- Pansy isn’t surprised more shit has arrived on that doorstep, but just like in the last war - she has no interest in playing a part (yet).

Plots

-Pansy is back in England now, almost permanently. While she does still visit France periodically, this is the first time she’s been in her home country more often than the other since she was twenty three. Yes, she’s stayed in close contact with her friends… but how will everyone else handle the Ice Bitch being back? She may have grown a bit throughout her time, but would they know it?

-Party on NYE? Pansy’ll throw it, so long as you bring her a gift!

-We have a plethora of Gryffindors and Weasleys and other do-gooders from the war (I play one of them, after all!) on the dash and I wanted to bring in someone who is opposite of Harry and who will give me The fog hardly interests her. Where there’s Hogwarts, there’s trouble. Where there are Weasleys and Potters and all the Gryffindors, there’s trouble.various plots. I’m not against the tension and definitely don’t expect people to just be happy with Pansy, who is rather mean about 70% of the time. I’m all for those interpersonal tension-filled plots.

-While I say Pansy doesn’t want to be part of the war, what I mean is that she’s not ready for it. If this fog business becomes worse - what happens then? She’s an adult now and likely can’t just hide behind not choosing a side. I would love it if she gets sucked into helping, rather than hurting, and is forced to work alongside all these people who probably hate her. If the Order is reestablished, perhaps she can join and be an actual asset. She’s got money - but she also has intel. Just because her husband thought business was no place for a woman didn’t mean Pansy abided by it. She knows more about the people her dad used to do business with than anyone thinks she does. She can be useful to the Order. She doesn’t want Lord Voldemort to come back, after all. He really fucked things up last time!

Extras

The link to Pansy’ pinterest is located below. It includes pictures of the faceclaims and her designs for Twilfitt.

https://www.pinterest.ca/karliandtaylor/pansy-parkinson/

#application #about

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blackkudos · 4 years

Text

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American-Canadian actor, producer, businessman, retired professional wrestler, and former professional football player. He was a professional wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) for eight years prior to pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $3.5 billion in North America and over $10.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box-office stars of all time.

Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. He initially aspired for a professional career in football and entered the 1995 NFL Draft, but he went undrafted. As a result, Johnson signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), but was cut from the team in the middle of his first season. Shortly after, he began training as a professional wrestler.

In 1996, Johnson secured a contract with the WWF and was promoted as the first third-generation wrestler in the company's history, as he is the son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter Maivia. He rose to prominence after developing a charismatic persona of a boastful trash-talking wrestler named The Rock. He subsequently won his first WWF Championship in 1998 and helped usher the WWF into the "Attitude Era", a boom period in the company's business in the latter 1990s and early 2000s which still hold professional wrestling records for television ratings. In 2004, he left the WWE to pursue an acting career and went on a seven-year hiatus before returning in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013, before wholly retiring in 2019.

Considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers and biggest draws of all-time, The Rock headlined the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever, WrestleMania XXVIII, and was featured in among the most watched episodes of WWE's television shows, WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown. He has won several championships, being a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time tag team champion, and a ten-time world champion. He was also a Royal Rumble match winner and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion.

Johnson had his first acting role in The Mummy Returns (2001), and played his first lead role in The Scorpion King (2002). He has since starred in numerous successful films, including The Game Plan (2007), Get Smart (2008), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2010), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), San Andreas (2015), Central Intelligence (2016), Moana (2016), Rampage (2018), and Skyscraper (2018). Johnson's most successful box office role has been Luke Hobbs in The Fast Saga films. He first appeared as the character in Fast Five (2011) and helped catapult the film series into one of the top-grossing movie franchises in history. He starred in the sequels, Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), and The Fate of the Furious (2017), as well as the spin-off film Hobbs & Shaw (2019). Another notable franchise starring Johnson is Jumanji, and he has appeared in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and its sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

Johnson starred in the HBO series Ballers, on which he was also a producer, starting in 2015. The show ran for five seasons and was ranked as HBO's most watched comedy in six years. He has also attained success as a television host, author, and producer. In 2000, he released an autobiography titled The Rock Says... which debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. In 2012, he founded the entertainment production company Seven Bucks Productions, which has since produced several films. Consistently ranked among the world's highest paid actors, Johnson made the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list in both 2016 and 2019.

Early life

Dwayne Douglas Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California, to Ata Johnson (née Maivia; born 1948) and former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles; 1944–2020). Growing up, Johnson briefly lived in New Zealand with his mother's family, where he attended Richmond Road Primary School in Grey Lynn before returning to the United States. He then attended Montclaire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina before moving to Hamden, Connecticut, where he spent a couple of years at Shepherd Glen Elementary School and Hamden Middle School. Johnson spent his high school years at President William McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, Glencliff High School and McGavock High School in Nashville, Tennessee, and Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was arrested multiple times for fighting, theft, and check fraud before the age of 17. Johnson also began playing sports, joining his high schools' gridiron football, track and field and wrestling teams.

Johnson is half-Black (African) and half-Samoan. His father was a Black Canadian, from Nova Scotia, and part of the first Black tag team champions in WWE history along with Tony Atlas. His mother is Samoan and the daughter of Peter Maivia, who was also a pro wrestler. Maivia's wife, Lia, was the first female pro wrestling promoter, taking over Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling after her husband's death in 1982, until 1988. Through his grandfather Maivia, Johnson is considered a non-blood relative to the Anoa'i wrestling family. In 2008, Johnson inducted his father and grandfather into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Football career

Johnson was a promising football prospect and received offers from many Division I collegiate programs. He decided on a full scholarship from the University of Miami where he mostly played defensive tackle. In 1991, he was on the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team. After suffering a number of injuries, he was later replaced in the starting lineup by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp.

After Johnson graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of General Studies in criminology and physiology, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League as a linebacker. He was assigned to the practice roster but was cut two months into the season.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1996)

After his football career, Johnson decided to pursue a career as a professional wrestler. Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson got Johnson several tryout matches with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1996. Under his real name, he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show on March 10. and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart. After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association as Flex Kavana and winning the USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson signed a WWF contract. He received additional training from Tom Prichard, alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry.

World Wrestling Federation/EntertainmentDebut and Intercontinental Champion (1996–1997)

Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although his real name was acknowledged by the announcers. He was initially reluctant to take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper" and his lineage was played to on TV, where he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler. Maivia, a clean-cut face character, was pushed heavily from the start despite his wrestling inexperience. He debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996. His first match came at Survivor Series, on November 17, in an eight-man elimination tag match; he was the sole survivor and eliminated the final two members of the opposing team, Crush and Goldust. On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Monday Night Raw. Maivia then successfully defended the title against Helmsley at In Your House 13: Final Four. He had his first WrestleMania match at WrestleMania 13 where he was victorious in his Intercontinental Championship defense against The Sultan. WWF fans started to reject his character and push from the company. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on the March 31 episode of Raw is War. Behind the scenes, Hart mentored Johnson for his first year in WWF and refused to be booked to take the title from him. On April 20, at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, he lost to Savio Vega by countout but retained the title. Audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "die, Rocky, die" and "Rocky sucks" being heard during his matches.

The Nation of Domination (1997–1998)

After losing the Intercontinental Championship to Owen Hart on the April 28, 1997 episode of Raw Is War and suffering a legitimate knee injury in a match against Mankind, Maivia returned in August 1997 and turned heel for the first time in his career by lashing out at fans who had been booing him and joining Faarooq, D'Lo Brown and Kama in the stable called the Nation of Domination. He then refused to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as The Rock, though he would still be billed as "The Rock" Rocky Maivia until 1998. The Rock would then regularly insult the audience, WWF performers, and interviewers in his promos.

At D-Generation X: In Your House, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock in under six minutes to retain the Intercontinental Championship. The next night on Raw Is War, Austin was ordered by Mr. McMahon to defend the title in a rematch, but forfeited it to The Rock instead, handing him the title belt before hitting him with the Stone Cold Stunner. The Rock feuded with Austin and Ken Shamrock through the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998. On January 19, 1998, at Royal Rumble, The Rock defeated Shamrock by disqualification to retain the Intercontinental title. Later that night, he entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted until the final two before he was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. On March 29, at WrestleMania XIV, he defeated Shamrock by disqualification once again to retain the title. The next night, on Raw is War, The Rock debuted a new Intercontinental Championship design and would later overthrow Faarooq as leader of the Nation of Domination to spark a feud between the two. He then successfully defended the Intercontinental title against Faarooq at Over the Edge: In Your House on May 31. The stable would then refer to themselves as simply "The Nation".

The Rock and The Nation then feuded with Triple H and D-Generation X, with the two stable leaders first meeting in the quarter-final of the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, which The Rock won. At King of the Ring, The Rock defeated Dan Severn in the semi-final match and lost to rival Ken Shamrock in the final. The Rock then resumed his feud with Triple H, as the two had a two out of three falls match at Fully Loaded: In Your House for the Intercontinental title, which The Rock retained in controversial fashion. This led to a ladder match at SummerSlam, where The Rock lost the title.

The Rock saw a big uptick in fan support during this time, causing him to be booked in a feud with fellow Nation members Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown, turning babyface in the process. Henry defeated him at Judgment Day: In Your House, after interference from Brown, effectively breaking up the stable.

WWF Champion and rise to superstardom (1998–2000)

The Rock was then entered into the "Deadly Game" tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. The finals occurred at Survivor Series, where The Rock defeated Vince McMahon's associate, Mankind, to win his first WWF Championship. A "double turn" then occurred as The Rock turned heel again after allying with Vince and Shane McMahon as the crown jewel of their stable, The Corporation, after the McMahons betrayed Mankind. On December 13, 1998, at the pay-per-view named after him, Rock Bottom: In Your House, The Rock had a rematch with Mankind for the WWF Championship. Mankind appeared to win the match when The Rock passed out to the Mandible Claw submission move, but Vince McMahon ruled that since The Rock did not tap out, he retained his title.

The Rock continued to feud with Mankind over the WWF Championship, which was traded back and forth between them. First, in the main event of the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw Is War, Mankind defeated The Rock after interference from Stone Cold Steve Austin. Then at the Royal Rumble on January 24, The Rock regained the title in a brutal “I Quit” match, a type of match that only ends if one of the combatants says “I quit” on a microphone. Intended to show a vicious mean streak in The Rock's character, this match went horribly wrong as at the end of the match The Rock hit Mankind in the head with a steel chair eleven times instead of the scripted five- five shots already being a risky amount (most wrestling matches in the Attitude Era involving steel chairs had at most 2 or 3 shots to the head). After the 5th shot, Mankind was still at ringside instead of being two-thirds up the entrance ramp where he was supposed to be, and after the eleventh shot which knocked a bloodied Mankind out, a recording of Mankind saying "I Quit" from an earlier interview was played over the PA system. On January 31, during an episode of Sunday Night Heat, The Rock and Mankind participated in an Empty Arena match, a match that took place in an arena with 22,000 empty seats where any part of the facility could be used to contest the match. After 20 minutes of chaotic brawling in the ring, the stands, a kitchen, the catering area, an office, the arena corridors and finally a basement loading area, Mankind pinned The Rock using a forklift truck to win the WWF title. This match was referred to as "Halftime Heat" as it was televised during halftime of that year's Super Bowl. The two faced off again, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, in a Last Man Standing match which ended in a draw, meaning Mankind retained the title. Their feud ended on the February 15 Raw Is War, when The Rock won his third WWF Championship in a Ladder Match after Big Show interfered on his behalf. The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV.

The Rock's popularity continued to grow and audiences still cheered for him even though he was a heel. He then lost the title rematch against Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash: In Your House after he was betrayed by Shane McMahon, turning him face again and starting a feud with Triple H, The Undertaker and The Corporate Ministry. On April 29, 1999, WWF aired the pilot episode of SmackDown!, a term derived from one of The Rock's catchphrases. In the episode, The Rock continued his feud with The Corporate Ministry. This led to a match with Triple H, at Over the Edge, which The Rock won, and a match for the WWF Championship against The Undertaker, at King of the Ring, which The Rock lost. The Rock then lost a number one contender's match to Triple H, at Fully Loaded, after interference from "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn. The Rock then defeated Gunn in a Kiss My Ass match at SummerSlam.

Shortly after SummerSlam, The Rock began teaming with former opponent Mankind and the two became known as The Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They became WWF Tag Team Champions for the first time after defeating The Undertaker and Big Show for the titles on the August 30, 1999 episode of Raw is War. The two performed a number of critically acclaimed comedic skits together, including one called "This Is Your Life", which saw Mankind bring parody versions of people from The Rock's past on television, such as his high school girlfriend and his high school football coach, only to have The Rock insult them. The segment earned an 8.4 Nielsen rating, one of the highest ratings ever for a Raw segment. The two lost the titles back to Undertaker and Big Show on the September 7, 1999 episode of SmackDown! and won them back from them on the September 20, 1999 episode of Raw is War. Rock and Mankind then lost the titles to The New Age Outlaws on the very next episode SmackDown!. Rock and Mankind would win the tag titles for the third and final time after beating the New Age Outlaws on the October 12, 1999 episode of SmackDown! before losing the titles to The Holly Cousins on the October 18, 1999 episode of Raw is War.

At Royal Rumble, on January 23, 2000, The Rock entered the Royal Rumble match and was one of the final two remaining, along with Big Show; In an attempt at a "false finish", Big Show intended to throw The Rock over the top rope in a running powerslam-like position, before The Rock countered the move on the ring apron, sending Big Show to the floor before re-entering the ring as the winner. However, The Rock's feet accidentally hit the floor during the reversal attempt although those watching the event on TV did not see that. This was played up in the storyline as Big Show provided additional video footage showing this fact, and claimed to be the rightful winner. The Rock's number one contendership for the WWF Championship was then put on the line against Big Show at No Way Out, which Big Show won after Shane McMahon interfered. The Rock then defeated Big Show, on the March 13 episode of Raw Is War, to regain the right to face the WWF Champion, Triple H, at WrestleMania 2000 in a Fatal Four-way elimination match, also including Big Show and Mick Foley. Each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner: Triple H had his wife, Stephanie, Foley had Linda, The Rock had Vince and Big Show had Shane. The Rock lasted until the final two but was eliminated by then-reigning champion Triple H after Vince betrayed him by hitting him with a chair.

Record-breaking world champion (2000–2002)

In the following weeks, The Rock continued his feud with Triple H and eventually won his fourth WWF Championship, which he won on April 30, at Backlash, after Stone Cold Steve Austin intervened on his behalf. The following night on Raw, he successfully defended his title against Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match. On May 21, at Judgment Day, The Rock faced Triple H in an Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. With the score tied at five falls each, and with seconds left on the time limit, The Rock was disqualified when The Undertaker attacked Triple H, thus giving Triple H the 6–5 win and the title. The Rock won the WWF Championship for a fifth time at King of the Ring on June 25 by scoring the winning pin in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Kane and The Undertaker against Shane McMahon, Triple H and Vince McMahon, whom he pinned. The Rock successfully defended the championship against Chris Benoit, on July 23, at Fully Loaded. The next month, he successfully defended his title against Kurt Angle and Triple H at SummerSlam. The Rock had another successful title defense against Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker, on September 24, at Unforgiven.

The Rock then lost the WWF Championship to Kurt Angle, at No Mercy, in October. The next month, The Rock feuded with Rikishi and defeated him at Survivor Series. The Rock wrestled a six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship, at Armageddon, which Angle won to retain the title. On the December 18 episode of Raw, The Rock won the WWF Tag Team Championship with The Undertaker, defeating Edge and Christian, before losing it back to them the next night at a SmackDown! taping. In 2001, The Rock continued to feud with Angle over the WWF Championship, culminating at No Way Out in February, where he pinned Angle to win the WWF Championship for a sixth time. The Rock then feuded with the Royal Rumble winner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom he lost the title to at WrestleMania X-Seven after Austin allied with Vince McMahon, who interfered on his behalf. On the next night's Raw Is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked The Rock, allying with McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship. Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip, while The Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King.

The Rock returned in late July 2001, when the WWF was feuding with rival promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), during what's known as The Invasion storyline. In reality, WCW and ECW were purchased by Vince McMahon and the WWF. Many former WCW and ECW wrestlers were then brought onto WWF television and formed The Alliance to compete with WWF in storyline. The Alliance and Vince McMahon then both attempted to persuade The Rock to join their team. The Rock then aligned with McMahon and the WWF. The next month, The Rock defeated Booker T, at SummerSlam, to win the WCW Championship for the first time. He later lost the title to Chris Jericho at No Mercy. The next night on Raw, he teamed with Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Dudley Boyz. The two then lost the tag titles to Booker T and Test on the November 1, 2001 episode of SmackDown!. The Rock defeated Jericho on the November 5 episode of Raw for his second WCW Championship.

As part of the WWF's battle against The Alliance, The Rock wrestled in a "winner takes all" five-on-five elimination tag team match at Survivor Series where the losing team's company would be dissolved in storyline. He was a member of Team WWF along with Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show. The Alliance's team consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon. In the end, it came down to a one-on-one between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock seemed to have the upper hand, until his teammate Jericho entered the ring and attacked The Rock. Austin tried to capitalize on this by pinning The Rock, but Kurt Angle revealed his true allegiance by attacking Austin. The Rock then pinned Austin, giving Team WWF the victory and forcing The Alliance to disband. The Rock's WCW Championship was renamed the unbranded "World Championship" following the Alliance's loss. At the next pay-per-view, Vengeance, The Rock lost the World Championship to Jericho, who would then unify the WWF and World titles later that night. The Rock then unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the now Undisputed WWF Championship at Royal Rumble.

At the next pay-per-view, No Way Out, The Rock defeated The Undertaker in a singles match. The event also saw the WWF debut of the famed WCW faction New World Order, which at the time consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. This later led to a match between The Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8. The match was billed as "icon versus icon", with both men representing the top tier of two generations of wrestling; ultimately The Rock pinned Hogan at WrestleMania X8. Despite The Rock portraying a heroic character and Hogan a villain, a portion of the crowd attending the SkyDome was rooting heavily for Hogan. In an interview in 2013, Hogan said he and The Rock changed the style of the match on the fly based on the crowd's response. After the introduction of the first-ever brand extension, the WWF held a "draft lottery" on the March 25, 2002, episode of Raw. The Rock was the number one overall pick, going to the SmackDown brand before taking a sabbatical from wrestling.

The Rock made a surprise return on a June episode of Raw before going to his assigned brand of SmackDown. There, he was named the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, which he won for a record-setting seventh time at Vengeance, on July 21, by defeating Kurt Angle and then-champion The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match. The Rock successfully defended the title at the Global Warning event in Melbourne, Australia, against Triple H and Brock Lesnar after pinning Triple H. On August 25, at SummerSlam, after interference from Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman, The Rock lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to Lesnar along with the record for the youngest WWE Champion, which he had set in 1998. In 2018, writing for ESPN.com, Sean Coyle noted in a retrospective review of the event, that following his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, The Rock "started to see a dip in fan support" and "that dip turned into a plunge" by the time Rock had his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam because fans knew he was leaving WWE to pursue an acting career. This was evident by the fact that he was met with a negative crowd response during his match against Lesnar. After the event ended, The Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans attending the Nassau Coliseum would still boo him. The Rock then took time off to kickstart his acting career.

Final feuds and first retirement (2003–2004)

The Rock returned on the January 30, 2003 episode of SmackDown! to set up another match with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out. Because of negative fan reaction during his previous couple of matches as a result of his budding acting career, The Rock turned heel again. The Rock then defeated Hogan at No Way Out before assigning himself to the Raw brand. There, he had various small feuds, including one with The Hurricane. He also began performing "Rock Concerts", segments in which he played the guitar and mocked WWE performers and fans in song.

After failing to win a number one contendership for the World Heavyweight Championship, The Rock went into another program with Stone Cold Steve Austin. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIX, which called back to their previous two WrestleMania encounters, both of which Austin had won. The Rock won after delivering three consecutive Rock Bottoms, ending their long-running rivalry in what turned out to be Austin's final match. The next night, Raw was billed as "The Rock Appreciation Night", in honor of his victory over Austin. That night, he was attacked by a debuting Goldberg. At Backlash, Goldberg defeated The Rock, who then briefly left WWE to film Walking Tall.

Throughout the rest of the year, The Rock made occasional appearances, reverting to a face character. In 2004, The Rock aided Mick Foley in his feud against Evolution, leading to a reunion of The Rock 'n' Sock Connection. They lost against Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista in a handicap match at WrestleMania XX, when Orton pinned Foley after an RKO. This would be Johnson's final wrestling match until November 2011. The Rock appeared in WWE sporadically following WrestleMania XX. He made returns to provide support for Eugene against Jonathan Coachman, made a cameo in his hometown of Miami and helped Mick Foley against La Résistance. Later in 2004, he hosted a pie-eating contest, as part of the WWE Diva Search, and ended the segment by giving Coachman a People's Elbow. The Rock's contract with WWE then ended and he started his full-time acting career.

Return to WWENon-wrestling appearances (2007–2009)

On March 12, 2007, The Rock appeared on a WWE show after nearly three years, via a pre-taped promo shown during Raw. He correctly predicted that Bobby Lashley would defeat Umaga at WrestleMania 23 in Donald Trump and Vince McMahon's "Battle of the Billionaires" Hair vs Hair match. On March 29, 2008, Johnson appeared to induct his father and grandfather Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson into the WWE Hall of Fame. Johnson's next appearance was via a pre-taped promo on October 2, 2009, during the Decade of SmackDown.

Feud with John Cena (2011–2013)

On February 14, 2011, The Rock was revealed as the host of WrestleMania XXVII, appearing live on Raw for the first time in almost seven years. During a lengthy promo, he addressed the fans and started a feud with John Cena. After numerous appearances via satellite, The Rock appeared live on the Raw before WrestleMania XXVII to confront Cena. After he and Cena exchanged insults, The Miz and Alex Riley appeared and attacked The Rock; he fended off Miz and Riley, only for Cena to blindside him with an Attitude Adjustment.

On April 3, at WrestleMania XXVII, The Rock opened the show by cutting a promo. After appearing in numerous backstage segments, The Rock came to ringside to restart the main event between Cena and The Miz as a No Disqualification match, after it had ended in a draw. As revenge for the Attitude Adjustment Cena had given him on Raw, Rock hit Cena with the Rock Bottom, allowing The Miz to pin him and retain the WWE Championship. After the match, Rock attacked Miz and hit him with the People's Elbow. The following night on Raw, The Rock and Cena agreed to a match at WrestleMania XXVIII the next year. They then worked together to fend off an attack by The Corre, which at the time consisted of Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson.

The Rock appeared live on Raw in his hometown of Miami to celebrate his 39th birthday. On September 16, WWE announced The Rock would wrestle in a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series tag team match, teaming with Cena at Survivor Series in November. However, on the October 24 episode of Raw, Cena instead suggested The Rock be his partner in a standard tag team match against The Miz and R-Truth, a team called Awesome Truth, which Rock agreed to the following week. On November 14, during the special Raw Gets Rocked, The Rock appeared live, delivering Rock Bottoms to Mick Foley, who had been hosting a "This Is Your Life"-style segment for Cena, and later both members of Awesome Truth. The Rock and Cena defeated Awesome Truth on November 20 at Survivor Series, when The Rock pinned The Miz. After the match, The Rock gave Cena a Rock Bottom.

Leading up to WrestleMania, The Rock and Cena had several verbal confrontations on Raw. On the March 12, 2012 episode of Raw, The Rock hosted his first "Rock Concert" segment since 2004, mocking Cena in his songs. On April 1, at WrestleMania XXVIII, The Rock beat Cena in the main event after countering Cena's attempt at a People's Elbow into a Rock Bottom. This event broke the record for biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view buyrate. The following night on Raw, The Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion.

On July 23, at Raw 1000, The Rock announced he would wrestle for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. During the show, he encountered then-reigning WWE Champion CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena, all of whom expressed a desire to face him. The Rock later saved Cena from an assault by Big Show, only to be laid out by CM Punk. On the January 7, 2013 episode of Raw, The Rock returned to confront his Rumble opponent CM Punk. On January 11, he made his first SmackDown appearance in ten years, getting into an altercation with Team Rhodes Scholars, resulting in him delivering a Rock Bottom to Damien Sandow and a People's Elbow to Cody Rhodes. The Rock closed out the 20th-anniversary episode of Raw, on January 14, with one of his "Rock Concerts", leading to a brawl with CM Punk. The following week on Raw, The Rock was attacked by The Shield. Vince McMahon then asserted that if The Shield attacked The Rock in his title match with CM Punk, Punk would be stripped of the WWE Championship.

On January 27, at Royal Rumble, CM Punk would seemingly defeat The Rock after the arena lights went out and someone attacked The Rock. Vince McMahon then came out and was about to strip Punk of the championship, however, at The Rock's request, he instead restarted the match. This culminated in The Rock defeating Punk to win his eighth WWE Championship. Punk received a title rematch with The Rock, at Elimination Chamber, with the added stipulation that if The Rock was disqualified or counted out, he would still lose the WWE Championship. The Rock would pin Punk to retain the championship. The following night on Raw, The Rock unveiled a new WWE Championship design, with a different center plate and removable customizable side-plates which had his "Brahma Bull" logo. The Rock then resumed his rivalry with John Cena, who won that year's Royal Rumble to set up a rematch of the previous WrestleMania match between the two at WrestleMania 29, only this time with the WWE Championship on the line.

On April 7, at WrestleMania 29, Rock lost the WWE Championship to Cena, ending his reign at 70 days. Despite being advertised for the Raw after WrestleMania, where it was stated that The Rock was still entitled a rematch for the WWE Championship, The Rock did not appear because of a legitimate injury sustained during his match with Cena, in which his abdominal and adductor tendons tore from his pelvis. Johnson underwent surgery on April 23 to reattach the torn tendons.

Sporadic appearances (2014–present)

In April 2014, The Rock appeared in the opening segment of WrestleMania XXX along with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. On the October 6 episode of Raw, The Rock made a surprise appearance to confront Rusev and Lana; this resulted in the Rock clearing Rusev from the ring.

The Rock appeared at the 2015 Royal Rumble event during the main event match, where he helped his relative Roman Reigns fend off Big Show and Kane after Reigns eliminated them from the match. Reigns then won the match and The Rock endorsed him in the ring. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 31 alongside Ronda Rousey, getting into an in-ring altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rock and Rousey prevailed after he attacked Triple H and she overpowered McMahon. On June 27, The Rock appeared at a live event in Boston where he confronted Bo Dallas and gave him a Rock Bottom.

On the January 25, 2016, episode of Raw, The Rock was in a segment that saw him converse with The Miz, Big Show, Lana and Rusev before he and his relatives, The Usos, got into an altercation with then-WWE Tag Team Champions, The New Day. The Rock appeared at WrestleMania 32 where he announced that WWE had broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record before being interrupted by The Wyatt Family. The Rock got into a verbal back-and-forth with Bray Wyatt before having an impromptu match with Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan. The Rock won after giving Rowan a Rock Bottom and pinning him in six seconds, which set the record for the fastest win in WrestleMania history. The Rock was then aided by a returning John Cena to fend off Wyatt, Rowan and Braun Strowman. On the February 20, 2017 episode of Raw, The Rock made an untelevised appearance after the broadcast had gone off the air, where he promoted and filmed a scene for his then-upcoming film Fighting with My Family.

On August 3, 2019, The Rock officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling. On September 30, 2019, after weeks of speculation, The Rock announced that he would be making an appearance on SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, marking his first appearance on SmackDown since October 2014 and his first televised appearance since April 2016. At the event, he would cut a promo with Becky Lynch before they were interrupted by King Corbin. After attacking Corbin, The Rock and Lynch celebrated in the ring.

Independent circuit (2009)

On September 30, 2009, The Rock appeared at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show to support the pro wrestling debut of Sarona Snuka, the daughter of his long-time friend and mentor Jimmy Snuka.

Mainstream crossover

The Rock appeared on Wyclef Jean's 2000 single "It Doesn't Matter" and in its music video. He also recorded "Pie" with Slick Rick for WWF The Music, Vol. 5.

In 1999, Johnson appeared on That '70s Show as his father, Rocky Johnson. The next year, he was on Star Trek: Voyager as an alien wrestler that used The Rock's famous moves.

In 2000, he hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the first time. Fellow wrestlers Triple H, The Big Show, and Mick Foley also appeared on the show. Johnson has stated the success of that episode is the reason he began receiving offers from Hollywood studios. He has since hosted SNL another four times.

In 1999, The Rock was listed No. 5 on Entertainment Weekly's Top 12 Entertainers of the Year. In 2000, Access Hollywood ranked him number six in their list of the Top 10 Celebrities of 2000. That year, Rock was also listed in the Forbes Celebrity 100 and People Magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People.

The Rock was listed Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People in both 2000 and 2001. In 2001, he was also listed on E!'s 20 Top Entertainers. In 2002, The Rock was listed on E!'s 25 Toughest Stars. In 2003, he was listed in VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons and was No. 13 in People Magazine's 50 Favorite TV Stars.

The Rock made a surprise appearance at the official Xbox unveiling during Bill Gates's keynote speech at the ongoing Computer Electronics Show in 2001.

Johnson's motion picture debut was as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). The movie broke a two-year record for the highest-grossing single day in film history by earning US$28,594,667. The movie's financial success led to Johnson's first leading role, in the spin-off The Scorpion King (2002). He received US$5.5 million for the role and Guinness World Records named him the record-holder for highest-paid actor in their first leading role.

The Rock has appeared on the covers of many magazines, including Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, and TV Guide. He has also appeared in, and been the cover athlete for, several video games.

As of September 2019, his Instagram account is the fourth most-followed in the world.

Legacy in pro wrestling

The Rock has been listed as one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers as well as one of the top draws in wrestling history. Many have placed The Rock on their "Mount Rushmore of Pro Wrestling", including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and John Cena. In "Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting", The Rock was described as "for a long time, the WWE's biggest star and probably held the greatest international appeal". R. D. Reynolds stated in his book "The WrestleCrap Book of Lists" that The Rock was "the biggest star for WWE from 1999 until 2004".

The Rock main-evented the most bought pay-per-view worldwide in WWE history (WrestleMania XXVIII), the most bought pay-per-view domestically in WWE history (WrestleMania X-Seven), the highest rated Raw in history, the highest rated SmackDown in history, and was part of the highest rated segment in WWE history. His return in 2001 did a 7.1 rating which was the highest rated segment of the entire year. The Rock was also part of the highest rated match of the 21st century. His WWF Championship defense, on May 1, 2000, against Shane McMahon did an 8.3 rating on the regular time and a 9.1 on the overrun making this match the second most watched professional wrestling match in the United States of this millennium, only behind a 12 minute long match between The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin which drew a rating of 9.5 which is the highest rated segment in Raw history.

In 2011, The Rock's return to an episode of Raw generated an average of 4.7 million viewers in the United States, with 7.4 million tuning in during his promo. Raw 1000 was the highest rated Raw episode of 2012 and his segment with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan was the highest rated segment of the show. In 2013, the night after The Rock won the WWE Championship for the first time in over a decade, at Royal Rumble, Raw got its highest rating of that year.

Derived from one of his catchphrases "lay the smackdown", WWE introduced its second flagship program WWE SmackDown in 1999 which later became television's second longest-running weekly episodic program in history. The term "smackdown" was instituted in Merriam-Webster dictionaries since 2007.

The Rock holds the record for most Raw shows main-evented in one year (38 in 2000), most SmackDown shows main-evented in one year (36 in 2000) and tied with Stone Cold Steve Austin (in 2001) for most PPV shows main evented in one year (12 in 2000).

Film career

Johnson entered Hollywood and the film industry, becoming a star initially through his wrestling popularity and noted work ethic. Over his acting career, he has become one of the highest paid and most successful actors in Hollywood. He began his acting career on television while wrestling. In his first television acting job, in 1999, he played his own father in an episode of That '70s Show called "That Wrestling Show". Nearly a year later, he appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tsunkatse" as an alien wrestler who fought popular character Seven of Nine. While Johnson was away from WWE, the company continued to sell "The Rock" merchandise, and he continued to be featured prominently in the opening montages of their television shows.

Johnson began his theatrical career in The Mummy Returns (2001), The Scorpion King (2002) the action-comedy The Rundown (2003) and the Walking Tall (2004). He played a supporting role in Be Cool (2005) and was the primary antagonist in Doom (2005). Roles in Gridiron Gang (2006) Reno 911!: Miami (2007) Southland Tales (2007). He played a cocky famous American football player in The Game Plan (2007) and Agent 23 in Get Smart (2008). He presented the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 80th Academy Awards.

Johnson became known for reinvigorating film franchises after portraying Marvin F. Hinton / Roadblock in G.I. Joe: Retaliation and reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in Fast & Furious 6; while also starring in true-story films Pain & Gain and Empire State (all released in 2013). That same year, he hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero, and won the Favorite Male Buttkicker Award at the 2013 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards. In May 2013, it was announced that he would executiveproduce and star in Ballers, an HBO comedy-drama series about NFL players living in Miami, Florida. By December of that year, Forbes named Johnson the top-grossing actor of 2013, with his films bringing in $1.3 billion worldwide for the year. Forbes credited the success of Fast & Furious 6, which grossed $789 million globally, and Johnson's frequent acting work as primary reasons for topping the list.

Johnson starred as the title character in Hercules (2014) and reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in Furious 7 (2015). He hosted another reality series for TNT in 2014, entitled Wake Up Call, which saw him "lending a helping hand to everyday people who were facing enormous challenges in their lives" alongside guest experts such as Rocco DiSpirito, Jillian Michaels, and Josh Shipp. It was announced that he would executive produce and star in the horror film Seal Team 666, and is set to play Nick Schuyler in the drama film Not Without Hope. In 2016, Johnson co-starred with Kevin Hart in the action-comedy Central Intelligence and had a lead voice role in the Disney animated film Moana, in which he voiced the Polynesian demigod Maui. He reprised his role as Luke Hobbs in The Fate of the Furious, which was released in 2017. Johnson starred in two other blockbuster movies that year, Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as Mitchell "Mitch" Buchannon and Dr. Smolder Bravestone, respectively. In 2018, he starred in two action films, Rampage and Skyscraper.

In 2019, he produced and appeared as himself in Fighting with My Family, a comedy drama about WWE superstar Paige and her family, who are also professional wrestlers. Johnson's role within The Fast and the Furious franchise continued with Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, co-starring Johnson and Jason Statham. David Leitch directed the project from a script co-written by franchise-writer Chris Morgan, and Drew Pearce. The film began principal photography in September 2018, and was released on July 26, 2019. Though initially believed to be a part of Fast & Furious 9, Johnson has since stated that he will not appear in the film; instead, opting to begin developmen on a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw. Johnson reprised his role as Bravestone, in Jumanji: The Next Level. With the critical and financial success of Welcome to the Jungle, production on the movie began in early-2019, with a scheduled release on December 25, 2019.

Johnson will star in Netflix's upcoming Red Notice, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It will be the third time the two collaborate, following Central Intelligence and Skyscraper. The film co-starring Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, will begin production in fall of 2019. Production on Black Adam is slated to follow thereafter, in mid-to-late 2020. A film centered around Teth-Adam / Black Adam, a part of the DC Extended Universe, was announced to be in development January 2017. Originally cast in the role as early as September 2014 as the antagonist, in a film centered around the superhero Billy Batson / Shazam, his villainous role for Shazam! was re-worked into two separate films. Though Johnson would not appear in Shazam!, he served as a producer and his likeness was used through special effects in flashback scenes. Johnson will co-star with Emily Blunt in The Walt Disney Company's Jungle Cruise, as Frank and Lily Houghton, respectively. Cast in the role in August 2015, the film was announced to be based on the themepark ride of the same name. Jaume Collet-Serra serves as director, with a script by Michael Green from a previous co-written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. In addition to his work on the film, Johnson assisted with re-designing the titular ride for all Disney theme parks. Jungle Cruise is scheduled to be released on July 24, 2020.

Noted for his busy schedule and for developing multiple projects at once, a sequel to the box-office hit San Andreas was announced to be in the pre-production stage with director of the first film, Brad Peyton returning as director along with the main cast (marking the fourth collaboration between the actor and filmmaker following Journey 2, San Andreas, and Rampage respectively). Though originally attached as producer and star, Johnson will now serve solely as the former on a film adaptation of The Janson Directive. John Cena will fill the leading role, with Akiva Goldsman attached as screenwriter. Additionally, he will produce and star in a Netflix exclusive film titled John Henry & The Statesmen, as the titular folklore hero. The film will be directed by Jake Kasdan, from a script co-written by Kasdan and Tom Wheeler. With the first official teaser trailer released in October 2018, the project marks Kasdan and Johnson's third collaboration, following Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level.

Johnson will co-produce and star in The King, a film about king Kamehameha Kūnuiākea, founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The project will be directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script written by Randall Wallace. The movie will be comparable to Braveheart in tone, given Wallace's work on both films, and will depict the king's role in resolving the wars among the islands of Hawai'i. The King will begin production in 2020. Johnson is also attached to produce/star in a sequel to Big Trouble in Little China, as well as project under development with Shane Black focusing on a new interpretation of Doc Savage. In April 2018, he announced that he is working on a film that will include Chris Pratt as his co-star. On November 14, 2019, Johnson announced a December 22, 2021 release date for the standalone Black Adam film.

Other work

In 2000, Johnson published his autobiography, titled The Rock Says..., which he co-wrote with Joe Layden. It debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for several weeks. In 2012, Johnson founded his production company, Seven Bucks Productions.

In 2013, Johnson hosted and produced the TNT reality competition series The Hero. In 2014, he hosted another TNT reality series entitled Wake Up Call. In 2019, Johnson started hosting an NBC competition series called The Titan Games.

In March 2016, Johnson partnered with the American fitness apparel manufacturer Under Armour to release "Project Rock". The first item in his partnership with Under Armour, a gym bag, sold out in a couple of days. His second item, a black T-shirt sporting his signature "Brahma bull" sold out after being worn at WrestleMania 32. Johnson also released an alarm clock app as part of "Project Rock" that received more than one million downloads in its first week of release. Since then, they have released sneakers, headphones, and other apparel.

In 2016, Johnson started a YouTube channel titled "The Rock" with the help of online personality Lilly Singh. His first video was called "The YouTube Factory" and featured several internet stars.

In 2019, Johnson announced he would be launching his own competitive bodybuilding show, alongside business partner and ex-wife Dany Garcia, called "Athleticon" set to rival other long-standing bodybuilding shows such as The Arnold Classic and Joe Weider's Mr. Olympia. The show is set to debut October 9–11, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Personal life

Johnson married Dany Garcia on May 3, 1997. Their daughter Simone was born on August 14, 2001. On June 1, 2007, they announced they were splitting up amicably. Johnson then began dating Lauren Hashian, daughter of Boston drummer Sib Hashian. They first met in 2006 while Johnson was filming The Game Plan. Hashian and Johnson were married on August 18, 2019, in Hawaii. They have two children.

As of 2014, Johnson has a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida, as well as Los Angeles, California. He also owns a farm in Virginia. In 2009, he gained Canadian citizenship through his father. Though he was previously registered as a Republican, he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 United States presidential elections. He did not vote in the 2016 U.S. election, and is an independent voter as of 2017.

In recognition of his service to the Samoan people, and because he is a descendant of Samoan chiefs, Johnson had the noble title of Seiuli bestowed upon him by Malietoa Tanumafili II during his visit there in July 2004. He received a partial Samoan pe'a tattoo on his left side in 2003, and, in 2017, had the small "Brahma bull" tattoo on his right arm covered with a larger half-sleeve tattoo of a bull's skull.

In February 2020, the WWE announced that Johnson's daughter Simone had begun training at the WWE Performance Center, making her the first-ever fourth-generation WWE Superstar.

Activism and philanthropy

Johnson attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention as part of WWE's non-partisan "Smackdown Your Vote" campaign, which aimed to influence young people to vote. He also had a speaking role at the 2000 Republican National Convention that same year.

In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity working with at-risk and terminally ill children. On October 2, 2007, he and his ex-wife donated $1 million to the University of Miami to support the renovation of its football facilities. The University of Miami renamed the Hurricanes' locker room in Johnson's honor. In 2015, Johnson donated $1,500 to a GoFundMe to pay for an abandoned dog's surgery. In 2017, he donated $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. In 2018, Johnson donated a gym to a military base in Oahu, Hawaii. After the 2018 Hawaii floods, he worked with Malama Kauai, a nonprofit organization, to help repair damages caused by the floods. Johnson has also worked with Make-A-Wish Foundation on a number of occasions.

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

United States Wrestling Association

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment/Federation

Match of the Year (1999) vs. Mankind in an "I Quit" match at Royal Rumble

Match of the Year (2002) vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1999, 2000)

Wrestler of the Year (2000)

Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000

USWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Bart Sawyer

Best Box Office Draw (2000, 2011, 2012)

Best Gimmick (1999)

Best on Interviews (1999, 2000)

Most Charismatic (1999–2002, 2011, 2012)

Most Improved (1998)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

WCW Championship (2 times)

WWE Championship (8 times)

WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

WWF Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Mankind (3), The Undertaker (1), and Chris Jericho (1)

Royal Rumble (2000)

Sixth Triple Crown Champion

Deadly Games WWF Championship Tournament (1998)

Slammy Award (9 times)

Best Actor (2014)

Game Changer of the Year (2011) – with John Cena

Guess Who's Back or: Return of the Year (2011)

LOL! Moment of the Year (2012, 2013) – insulting John Cena using the history of Boston, Massachusetts, Rock Concert on the 20th anniversary episode of Raw

Match of the Year (2013) – vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29

New Sensation (1997)

"Tell Me You Didn't Just Say That" Insult of the Year (2014) – insulting Rusev and Lana

"This is Awesome" Moment of the Year (2015) – with Ronda Rousey

#05/02

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elegiacmarquise · 5 years

Text

More love for the pink damsel

This is a rant, the first and the only, that I wrote a while ago and which I posted previously on DeviantArt and reposted on the Mario Amino, few days after the release of Super Mario Odyssey, after a new wave of hatred towards Princess Peach...

Considering that, nevertheless, the princess' relationship with most fans has always been ambiguous, what may have seemed to be tolerable, now is no longer acceptable speaking from the prospective of Peach's admirer, and hoping to be a spokesman for who, like me, genuinely appreciates her.

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

But before starting with the proper rant, why do I post this writing, even if they passed almost two years when I did write it? A YouTube video made by the quite famous personality of RelaxAlax which I Iink below.

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youtube

Quite shallow, huh?

But this will NOT be an hate speech towards Alax, the rest of his videos are actually enjoyable and sometimes funny, but despite what he says in the video is nothing more and nothing less than what most Peach's haters actually say, I'm fearing that even due to this video, people are convinced to hate the pink princess without even knowing the truth behind her character.

But I must've taken you a lot of time, let's begin this speech, which was inspired by an older one (now deleted) posted by a friend of mine on Deviantart.

Let’s get started from the most recurring insults about the personality

"Peach is weak!!!"

While it’s true that for most of the games the Princess is kidnapped by Bowser or any enemy, it’s also the case that several times she has proved to be not so helpless, and even trying to escape to her kidnapper more than once indicates that Peach is not just staying there to patiently wait her hero; indeed, she was the only one along with Rosalina and Toadette who was been able to defend herself.

Some proofs? Super Princess Peach, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario 3D Land/ World, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Super Smash Bros series...

"So why is she always kidnapped?!"

Nintendo logic. Just joking, I think that the reason is due to the fact that Peach, like anyone else, is an human being, with her fears and anxieties, and so what can she do if suddenly there is a monster bigger at least the triple of her accompanied by an huge army? Not everyone is badass, and she obviously is not always, but is it a good reason to hate her? I don’t think so.

Also remember that even two stronger characters like Mario and Luigi often struggle during the battles with Bowser, how could a delicate princess?

So, in a more general view, how much it’s wrong to blame the victims and not the kidnappers? Why does everyone hate Peach for this and not BOWSER?

And there are Daisy, Pauline and Zelda, who were kidnapped as well, but still worshipped as goddesses...

"Peach is stupid!!1!"

If the Princess was actually that stupid,she wouldn't be on a throne ruling a whole kingdom peacefully nor even to try a time machine or even called to try to find a cure to a plague that affected the Mushroom Kingdom. She may not have an IQ of 300 like Dr Eggman,but that doesn't mean she's stupid.

Characters who are REALLY "stupid" on purpose, like Wario and Waluigi, loved because they are. Now, people, don't tell me you aren't uncoherent.

"Peach has no personality!1!"

So, a sweet and kind personality shouldn’t be a good character trait? Great, so we wasted years and years of characterization in a video game character.

Even a little development is always putted in while creating a characte and, as we are seeing, Miyamoto and Nintendo are generally developing the character of the princess, in the best, demonstrating that even the princess is not a fossilized archetype in Mario's existence for thirty years. She’s so sweet and kind, but also has values, friends and a dignity that defends strenuously.

Guys, Peach is human, so she has flaws, and that's right, but saying that she doesn’t have personality is an insult to both her and Nintendo in general.

Let's compare for a moment Peach and Rei Ayanami from Evangelion, and see who is not supposed to have personality. (although Rei also has a very strong, still not obvious, characterization that develops in the course of the series)

"Peach is a Mary Sue!!!1!"

A Mary Sue would theoretically is a character with too unnatural characteristics for their universe or species, overly powerful and often accompanied by a tragic backstory; in short, it's misleading in their context. By applying this description to Peach, how should she be a Mary Sue?

As explained in the previous paragraphs, the Princess, still mostly human, has a magical power that is always inferior to those of other characters, such as Rosalina; and comparing it with the Star Guardian, shouldn’t be her chararcter be more similar in the description of a Sue? Consistency, this unknown concept...

I see you already with the forks in your hands, but let me clarify one thing, even a character like Rosalina is not a Mary Sue, she still has her flaws, and we love her as she is, but if Peach is one, Rosalina fits the definition WAY more.

Let’s talk about the character design

"Peach always wears pink!!1!"

Come on, guys, hating a character for a color is a such superficial thing that, would do kindergarten children the most.

Pink is a color like all the others, in the spectrum of colors, so anyone can wear it, even males.

(Trivia: up to a few decades ago, pink was more of a masculine color, given to boys since it’s a lighter version of red, a color considered manly)

Peach is looking good with pink and no one in Mario games seems to complain too much about that, and so, so why do we fans do?

"Peach is girly!!!!1!”

And so? A female character to be worthy of this name must be a tomboy or a badass with a gun on her hands? You have great prospects in mind, my dear ones, just like that.

Seriously, why does a character who likes to cure herself, should be banned from today's media?

However, almost all the girls in the Mario games are femminine, even Daisy, despite being described as a tomboy, so it doesn’t seem a good excuse for hating a character.

"Peach is blonde!!!1!"

Guys that stereotype that everyone who is blonde must be stupid it's not only extremely outdated, but there are a lot of people who consider it quite offensive. Open your minds! Go, go! The isn't any relations about the quantity of melaninine on the hair and the actual intelligence.

Even Rosalina and most of the Zeldas encountered in the games are blondes, but nobody seems to care.

"Peach has an annoying voice!!1!"

All the characters in the Mario games have their voices emphasized, guys, and Peach isn’t an exception.

There are characters with even more exaggerated voices, trust me, like Daisy, Toad or Rosalina's new dubbing, but for certain reasons, only Peach should be demonized for that by fans.

"Peach is a prostitute!!1!"

This is one of the most recurring insults that are ever placed against our hated Princess, and that's what I'm wondering where most haters have been losing their credibility.

Did Peach ever wear provocative clothes? NO. (unless you have a fetishism towards biker suits and similar outfits)

Has she ever tried to seduce anyone she saw? NEVER (what you see on Rule34 and other lewd sites is not canon, I'm sorry)

Let's be clear: Peach is just the opposite of the stereotype of the prostitute, as being a sweet, gentle, and that kind of girl who rarely makes sloppy thoughts; And yet Mario is not the kind of game that is suitable to show sensual girls often.

Another point: how do people define as that Peach and not Pauline or Valentina from Super Mario RPG, who are wearing much revealing clothes (and not even worthy to be called with those sick names)? Mystery of the Faith.

PS. Giving a prostitute to someone is not fashionable anymore :3

Now, let’s analyse that kind of insults that relate with Peach’s relationships with other characters

"Peach isn’t grateful to Mario!!!!1!"

Ever since Peach has never been grateful to Mario? WHEN? She kisses him, and fills him with cakes. What should the Princess do more with him? having sex is not a good answer, and it doesn't even marrying him.

Mario is still a sweet and family friendly series, if you want NSFW art, go to rule34 or look good at deviantart, but don’t expect explicit scenes in similar games.

"Peach is a tyrant who abuses Toads!!!1!"

But since that is so, seriously, did I miss some details? And no, The Game Theorists, aren’t worth as a source of inspiration since theirs is only a mere SPECULATION (also badly made imho).

To me Peach has always seemed like the OPPOSITE of a tyrant! She’s a good sovereign who’s caring for her subjects, and most of the Toads are happy with her guide and willing whenever she needs help.

I guess you are thinking of the Toad used from the princess during Super Smash Bros: If we analyse well what our beloved mushroom does during the frames in which we can see him, we can notice that doesn’t acts as a shield for the princess, but is determined more than ever to attack with his spores, so for me this isn’t a point to demonise Peach at all.

Then do you think that in Smash bros Rosalina does something way more serious?! She fights with a Luma, one of her CHILDREN all the time. But since she is our beloved star waifu, Peach is not worth to be compared lmao.

Again this time implore the sacred goddess of the consistency for forgiving their vain words...

"Peach betrays Daisy!!!1!"

Peach and Daisy have proven themselves to be best friends since the first time they appeared together, and even now their idyllic relationship hasn’t stopped being shown in the games and even in that LINE stickers that came out a while ago!

How Peach Should betray Daisy? For Rosalina, for Pauline? I think all the girls in the world of Mario are friendly to each other, so I don’t see any reasons in a betray, since at worst they are in a friendly rivalry.

"Peach is much less sexy than Rosalina / Pauline!!!1!"

If I can understand why Pauline can be considered sensual, how should Rosalina be? She’s wearing just a turquoise dress, which does not reveals much, and which can only be sexualized in the most indecent fanarts drawn by FANS indeed, but we all know the new religion that places the guardian of the Lumas to a brand new god.

However, all of Mario girls have been designed to be beautiful, not sex objects, not even Pauline, and none of them will agree to be your beautiful waifus condescending to all your fantasies, deal with it!

"Peach is not tomboy like Daisy is!!!1!"

And this is what connects to the previous point where the Princess was insulted to be girly. Assuming that even Daisy, in her own way, is girly (if she was totally a tomboy, she wouldn’t certainly wear those long dresses with ease, nor she would have her notorious passion for flowers), it’s not nice to have a bit of variety in the characters personalities? Go on, Peach is a gentle and sweet girl, Daisy is exuberant and sporty, Rosalina, calm and majestic, Wendy spoiled yet powerful, Toadette cheerful and curious, and finally Pauline concrete and passionate. Everyone compensates their gaps with the others, and this balance between the girls is fine, so please do not compare all the girls, Peach first, to Daisy.

"Peach appears too much in the games, so she's overrated!!!1!"

Guys, our princess is one of the protagonists of Mario's videogames, along with the plumber, his brother, Bowser and Toad, so it's natural that she often appears in the games. After all, Peach (after Pauline, who belonged for long time to another series) is the first of the princesses to appear, so it's logical that Nintendo would value that in this way.

And another little thing: the word overrated does NOT mean popular in its own universe, it means overly popular among its FANS.

And Peach has relatively few fans compared to the other main characters.

And, as the final cherry on the cake, let’s talk about Odyssey, who can have reassume prevous points, but what is equally needed, because of the following reasons

"PEACH IS A BITCH WHO HASN’T ACCEPTED MARIO'S PROPOSAL, STUPID AND UNGRATEFUL!!!1! THAT’S OBVIOUS THAT MARIO CHOOSES PAULINE!!!1!"

And here we come to the juice of the speech, and at this point I would like to ask: but have you seen the final cutscene of the game, or are you just knocking on your keyboards to don’t make feel the keys alone and misunderstood?

Let’s assume that after a long, tiring journey along the WHOLE world, with a monster bigger at least the triple of you who is doing everything to organize a NOT-wanted marriage with you; and immediately soon after being rescued, at the end of an extravagant battle, you have not one, but TWO contenders for your hand, what are you doing? The doll who gives all of herself to her hero just because she saved you? But in which period are we, in the nineteenth century?

Guys, let's talk seriously, would you immediately answer to a such serious question, which can change the rest of your life, on the moon under such conditions? I really don’t think so.

So Peach did, showing her intelligence, and why not, joking over it. It wasn’t the place nor the time for Mario and Bowser to move such proposals, and I honestly think that Peach done right to refuse both of them, I believe, momentarily.

And so centuries of feminist struggles went cancelled because of a video game character...

"PEACH HAS LEFT MARIO AND BOWSER ON THE MOON!!1!"

Yeah, okay, Odyssey's final was what it was, but you can’t hate a character because she's not a puppet in Mario or Bowser's hand. Tell me, you first complained that Peach had no character and now that she has explicated it, in good, you hate her the same? Consistency, this unknown concept...

However, for this detail, have you noticed that Peach eventually called Mario on the Odyssey, even though it had already started to fly? Mario had all the time he needed to get on board with the Princess and her friends. Even if Mario couldn't make it to the Odyssey (which is also unlikely under a cautious analysis of the cutscene), I even highly doubt that not only Bowser but all the other wedding's guests (including PAULINE) were diying there, surely there was at least ONE other vehicle which could bring back them home.

Also think about Peach's dialogues in the post-game: she completely forgave Mario's misbehaving and she's still happy to see him to the point to give him all the moons she gets! So she’s not that ungrateful...

And that's what I needed to say. Guys, please stop hating Peach, she didn’t do anything, and certainly she doesn’t deserve your insults.

In these times, the princess is among the main characters the most hated, even much more than Daisy or Zelda, who have their great slice of fans, who would do anything for them and even considering them "better" in Smash Bros.

I'm sorry to have written this rant but I'm sure this time is really needed...

Fandoms, Mario included, can be beautiful places where you can meet fantastic people but at the same time you can witness this free hate episodes even from famous personalities...

Thank you for reading, and see you soon.

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

P.S. Below I show you the main places where the princess is hated for the above reasons.

Gamefaqs, TheTopTens.com, Marioboards, DeviantArt and Youtube

P.P.S. Please, do not go to the video I've mentioned only to insult the youtuber: despite that entry is far from being well-crafted, he made enjoyable content as well. He deserves respect as well and if you really want to discuss in the comment section about the subject, please be polite

P.P.P.S. If you hate Peach and you feel to comment here, please write maturely, well-structured comments. If we can have a mature dialogue, it's best for both of us.

#princesspeach #princess peach #rant #stop hate #mario princess #nintendo #stop peach hate #give her a chance #super mario odyssey #princess daisy #rosalina #underrated characters #stop character bashing #super smash bros #cute princess #peach #give her love

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camsthisky · 5 years

Text

where Dick and Jason argue because they love each other

for @brambleberrycottage who asked for injured or ill Dick + Jason realizing/ acknowledging Dick needs his family - including him - more than he ever lets on. With a happy/hopeful ending

thank you so much for donating and i apologize for this being so late!

donate to @cerusee

“You’re a bimbus,” Jason says to the body he’s dragging into the alleyway—out of sight, better coverage, and not in the fucking way of a gunfight, so it’s perfect.

He’s got his gloved hands hooked under the unconscious jerk’s armpits, and Jason hates that despite being taller, it’s still more of a struggle than he would like to admit to get both of them deep enough into the alley and behind a dumpster so that they’re not targets.

“An absolute plastic fork,” Jason continues, sort of out of breath. “And not even the good plastic ones, the really shitty ones that break the moment you try to stab something with it. That’s what you are.”

There’s no reply. Of course there isn’t. Dick is unconscious, and it’s all Jason’s fault.

Bruce isn’t going to kill him, but he’s not going to be happy.

Damian, though. Damian is going to try and kill him. Jason has a contingency plan just in case, because Dick doesn’t look great. He’s pale, his breathing is short and ragged, his lips are almost blue with cold and oxygen deprivation, and Jason’s sure if he takes off Dick’s gloves, his fingernails will be the same.

Focus, a voice in his head tells him. It sounds too much like Bruce, and Jason promptly swears at it to shut the hell up.

“The hell were you playing at, Grayson?” Jason says, gritting his teeth as he starts checking vitals. He’s already done this, right before he moved the both of them out of the line of fire, but it never hurts to do another. “You’re not invincible, and throwing yourself in front of that gun was the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever seen you do.”

Dick’s breath hitches, and his eyebrows scrunch as he mumbles, “Not stupid.”

“Yes, you are,” Jason says, leaning over Dick to shield him from any prying eyes as he peels away the mask. Concussion, from what Jason can tell, but he can’t be absolutely sure. “I once saw you triple somersault over three trash cans and a car because you thought that asshole was insulting your dignity as an acrobat.”

“He was,” Dick says, eyelashes fluttering. His eyes don’t stay open long.

“He wasn’t,” Jason tells him, feeling along the back of Dick’s head. His fingers come back stained red. “He was telling you to be careful, and I’m right because you ended up landing ass first into an open trash can and that’s about as dumb as you can get.”

“What? Trash can?” Dick’s not following the conversation.

“Shit,” Jason says. “Maybe you’re not even a plastic fork. Maybe you’re a fucking spork. Why the hell would you jump in like that? I had it handled.”

Dick opens his eyes again, and he’s blinking rapidly, trying to focus on Jason, but the bright blue doesn’t stay on his face for long before it’s drifting down to his neck and torso. Dick pales further, breath that he can’t afford to lose freezing in his chest.

“You’re hurt?” Dick whispers, his voice thick and strained with emotion. Pain, too, if Jason had to take a guess.

“No, you’re hurt,” Jason tells him fiercely. “Can you even tell me where?”

Dick seems to have to think about that one. “Uh, chest? Ribs, I think? I…I don’t know? Everywhere.”

Fucking hell.

Jason’s helmet is gone who knows where. It’ll be a bitch to replace, but there’s no way that Jason is going back out there to get it right now. Gently, he takes out Dick’s comm. and places it in his own ear.

“I’m calling the Bat for help,” Jason says, leaving no room for argument. Dick doesn’t even try, which is infuriating for some reason Jason can’t fathom right now.

All Dick murmurs is, “Stop being so emo and just call him Batman like the rest of us, you heathen.” Somehow, it’s all in one breath, though he’s winded after.

Jason elects to ignore him.

Tapping the comm., Jason calls, “Hey B, Nightwing’s down. I can’t get him to the Cave by myself.”

There’s some heavy breathing, a grunt, a gunshot, and then, “I’m sending Red Robin and the Batmobile to your GPS location,” and it’s all Jason gets before the connection cuts out on Bruce’s end.

Fucking typical.

“Take a chill pill, Jay,” Dick coughs out. He looks even worse than before.

“Shut up,” Jason snaps. He’s tense. Too tense. He doesn’t know why, but he feels like one more bad thing is going to make him shatter and neither of them can afford to pick up the pieces right now. “You’re literally fucking dying, how about you take a chill pill.”

Dick doesn’t have the breath to answer him. Jason starts prodding at his ribs. Cracked, probably. Maybe broken. Jason just hopes the lack of blood on Dick’s lips means that there isn’t any internal bleeding, because that’ll be another mess and a half.

Jason turns to his last problem.

See, the thing is that Dick had jumped in front of a gun aimed for Jason. Dick had been stupid and gotten himself shot in Jason’s place, when Jason had been immobilized, grappling with some thug. And the shooter hadn’t seemed to be worried about his man at all.

Dick jumped in at the very last minute, and had gotten shot in the fucking leg. Jason had killed the thug and the shooter, taken care of the gunshot wound via pressure bandage before he’d moved them to a safer location and he hates that all he can do now is keep Dick from falling asleep and dying on him.

Jason shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Dick’s shivering form. He probably should have done that first, but Jason’s nerves are shot. He’s human, despite popular belief. Sue him.

“I swear to God, Grayson,” Jason says, because he doesn’t know what else to do, “if you even think about dying, I will go into your room and deface your comforter. And you’d fucking deserve it, too—”

“Shut up,” Dick moans. “I’m trying to sleep, you asswipe.”

“You’re the asswipe.”

“And you’re,” Dick pauses for breath, “a child. Name calling. I heard the thing ‘bout the spork. You’re a spork.”

Jason wants to punch something, and Dick’s face is looking sort of punchable. Jason tells him exactly that, and adds, “If you didn’t look like you were about to keel over, I would be throwing you at the Riddler so he could fucking riddle you to death.”

“A child,” Dick repeats.

“You’re the one who your face’d me.”

“I didn’t,” Dick says. “Jay, you’re my brother, and I love the ever-loving fuck out of you, but I would never in my life, your face you. I’m not sure if I respect you too much…or too little.”

“You’re worse than Cass.”

Dick snorts, even though it’s breathless. “No one’s worse than Cass.”

“Yeah,” Jason says.

“Cassie’s the absolute worst,” Dick continues. “I love her so much.”

“We’re all the worst.”

“Kind of, yeah,” Dick agrees.

“You’re a lot more coherent than you were two minutes ago,” Jason says.

“An’ you’re a lot less angry.”

Jason swallows, because it’s true. Dick, his dick of a big brother, has somehow calmed him down, even though he’s literally lying in an alley dying. Uncomfortably, he shifts over Dick’s body to assess his condition.

“How do you feel?”

Dick hums. “Like I took a bullet to the leg.”

“You’re not funny.”

“And you sound like Tim,” Dick sighs out. “When will you three admit that I am so goddamn funny.”

“You mean four? Or five including Bruce?”

“Cass and Bruce appreciate my humor.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “You mean they tolerate it.”

“Cass laughed at my joke yesterday,” Dick informs him very seriously.

“I’m sure she was just laughing at your face. It’s stupid.”

“You literally,” Dick coughs and coughs, and then he breathes in shakily, and something in Jason’s chest clenches as he waits for Dick to continue, “literally just your face’d me. And fuck you. I’m as good looking as they come.”

“I’m not sure the handsomest goblin in the goblin factory counts as a compliment, Dick,” Jason tells him.

Dick opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, another coughing fit rips through him, this one more violent than the last. And this fit brings blood to Dick’s lips. It sprays into the air as Dick coughs and coughs and coughs.

“Shit,” Jason says, dizzy with the panic that floods through his veins. He checks Dick’s pulse and it’s too fast, too fast, and Dick can’t breathe and then—

“Move,” Tim’s demanding, somehow magically appearing while Jason had been focused on Dick and pushing him aside, and fuck that, because Jason’s been sitting here with Dick for the past however long, keeping him awake and talking while they wait for help and he’s not going to not help save his big brother, even though Dick is Tim’s big brother, too.

Fuck. He needs to calm down. He takes a breath, and then another, and then he dives into helping Tim stabilize Dick and getting Dick into the batmobile and to the Cave, and then there’s the usual rush of Alfred swooping in to help Jason and Tim save Dick’s life.

And then it’s Tim and Jason sitting at Dick’s bedside in the Cave, doing the same dance they always do when one of theirs gets hurt.

Except, until recently, it hasn’t been Jason sitting in this chair, holding an injured family member’s hand, waiting for them to wake up. He’d done it for Bruce a million times before and he’s been in the bed himself, but it’s only been the past year or so where he’s actually found himself caring enough about these people.

“Hey,” Tim says a while later, and Jason blinks up at him. He looks as worried as Jason feels. “Thank you.”

Jason scoffs, and looks back towards Dick’s sleeping face.

He feels more than sees Tim lean forwards over Dick’s blankets legs. “No, for real, Jason. If you hadn’t been there, he would have died.”

“If I hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have gotten shot,” Jason says simply.

And it’s true. Dick had taken a bullet for Jason, and Jason had watched his big brother choke on blood in the dead of the night in some random alleyway while there was a gun fight literally thirty feet from them.

“Maybe,” Tim says. “Or maybe he would have gotten shot anyways, and without you there, he would have bled out in the street.”

Jason levels a look at Tim. “Weren’t you supposed to be a dumb irrational teenager?”

“Only when Damian’s involved,” Tim says, and well. At least he admits it. Jason says nothing for a long moment, and Tim sighs, and continues, “I’m just saying I’m glad you were there.”

“Whatever,” Jason sighs more than says.

“Don’t compliment him,” Dick mumbles from the bed. “Called me a spork.”

“You are a spork,” Tim says, and Jason feels his lips tugging up into a grin.

Dick scoffs, his voice raspy when he complains, “Why do my little brothers like picking on me?”

And then his eyes open and Jason finally feels some sense of relief thrum through him, and all he can do is exhale shakily and bury his face in the blankets on Dick’s bed. To their credit, neither Dick nor Tim comment, instead starting up a new conversation.

Jason just lets their words wash over him, and lets himself relax. It finally feels like he can breathe, and it’s dumb but if he’d lost Dick (again, because there was that thing with Spyral, and yeah he’s still sort of pissed about that, and he didn’t care for how much that freaking hurt), he doesn’t think he’d be able to stand doing this family thing anymore.

He doesn’t say that, though. Instead, he looks up and interrupts whatever Dick’s saying, and tells him, “You’re such a bimbus.”

Dick smiles, exhausted and pale and alive, and says, “You’re a bimbus.”

Yeah, they’re gonna be okay.

#dick grayson #jason todd #camryn writes #prompt #donation prompts #dc

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zerolympiustrife · 5 years

Text

My SSBU Lucina fanfic headcanons

-Like in the main canon, she’s a VERY serious individual who loves her parents (Reflet and Chrom) very dearly. Least likely to get a joke, and most of the time, will always mistaken sarcastic remarks for genuine remarks. But aside from all that, she’s sweet, kindhearted, and very noble to her friends and family.

-Despite her age and incredible skills, she can be VERY childish. To the point where she’ll yell at anybody - including her friends - for insulting or criticizing her father.

-Enjoys pretending to be her ancestor Marth (donning the mask and short hair), but has a bit of a delusional view of how he acts (Lucina believes that Marth acts all high, mighty, boastful, and a somewhat arrogant, but in reality, the real Marth is sweet, noble, and kindhearted as she is, though he can be a bit boastful). This arrogant and boastful behavior would constantly cause her to get into fights with Cloud under this persona.

-Enjoys hanging out with her family as much as possible. She tends to hang out with them moreso than her own friends (though she does genuinely enjoy hanging out with her friends, especially with her fellow dormmates and Cloud’s friends).

-Enjoys spending time inside the tournaments, though she takes her battles with her opponents VERY seriously (although she holds back a bit against her family). But despite that, she engages in these tournaments mostly for fun (and less likely for prize money) and would sometimes request her friends/family to accompany her in doubles, triples, and quadruple battles.

—EXTENDED MUTUAL RELATIONSHIPS—

-Cloud: Loves him. A LOT. But unlike Cloud, who kept his love for her hidden away for a long, LONG, while, Lucina has always loved Cloud ever since they went on a date in the fanfic “The Date”, but didn’t outright state for him until the fanfic “Lucina’s Surprise”. Unlike the main canon, due to being more focused on saving her future from Grima, helping her own team, training with her father, she just didn’t have the time to sit down for romantic connections until Master Hand placed a Time Stopping spell on everybody’s worlds so that way, everybody could enjoy partaking in battles and hang out with each other outside of the Smash tournaments. She didn’t fall in love with anybody until her battle with Cloud from the 4th Smash Tournament. Both share a lot in common and enjoy hanging out with each other, both in and out of tournaments. They sometimes get into fights whenever she’s pretending to be Marth (With Cloud going as far as to sarcastically refer to her “my liege” and her refer to him as “commoner”).

-Palutena: Befriended her when Lucina was pretending to be Marth, then revealed her identity to her the moment they became good friends. Due to Palutena’s eccentric, playful behavior, Lucina would always fall victim to her sarcastic remarks, causing the mischievous goddess to giggle at her serious demeanor. Secretly has a bit of a crush on Lucina, viewing herself as a princess in needing of a handsome “prince” like Lucina, calling the blue-haired woman her “favorite little mortal” and sometimes get into silly fights with Cloud due to his love for the Princess.

-Richter: One of her closest friends ever since he arrived in the 5th Smash Tournament. Both view each other as comrade-in-arms/brother-and-sister team and fought Dracula once ever since he ordered Death to kill Luigi.

-Kamui (Female Corrin): One of her closest friends since the 4th Smash Tournament. Like Palutena, Kamui also has a bit of a crush on Lucina, unintentionally causing her and Cloud share a friendly rivalry with one another.

-Shulk: Yet another one of her closest friends since the 4th Smash Tournament. Shulk befriended her ever since he rescued her via Vision from Bowser, and both have also been on good terms ever since.

-Zelda: Successfully made friends with both her SSB4 and SSBU counterparts, due to SSB4!Zelda’s calm and serious demeanor, and also due to SSBU!Zelda’s more upbeat, bubbly, cheerful nature, they two act more like sisters than friends (due to their royal nature, and much like how Cloud acts like a brother to Shulk).

-Link: Like Zelda, also made friends with both his SSB4 AND SSBU counterparts, and due to her good-hearted relationship with Zelda.

-Samus: Views her as a teacher/tutor ever since Lucina was introduced into the 4th Smash Tournament. And remains to be good friends with her.

-Daisy: Unlike SSBU!Zelda, Lucina views her in a bit of a different light. Because she comes off as rather sassy, loudmouthed, domineering, hubristic, and a bit of a sore loser whenever she loses, Lucina, while respescting her, views her as a bit annoying and a nuisance, but doesn’t outright hate her.

-Ren Amamiya/Joker: INSTANTLY became good friends with him ever since Ren was brought over to her and Cloud to show him the ropes of how the 5th Smash Tournament works.

-Chrom: Like in the main canon, really, really, really loves and respects her father dearly. To point where if anybody spoke ill of Chrom, she would immediately demand them to fight her or outright yell at them.

-Reflet (Female Robin): Got off on the wrong foot at first (due to Lucina accusing her of stealing and seducing Chrom away, then angrily demanding Reflet to fall in love with him, much to Reflet’s bafflement), but slowly made up for it as time went on, then officially became the daughter of the Tactician when she married Chrom outside of the tournaments.

-Marth: Like Chrom, also loves, respects, and holds him in high regard due to him being her ancestor. But not to the same level as Chrom and her mother.

-Captain Falcon: Got off on the wrong foot due to his brutal beatdown of Chrom, but very slowly made up for it as time went on.

-Pit: Due to Pit’s gullible nature, he instantly mistakened her for another Marth, but eventually found out she wasn’t another Marth and became fast friends with her thanks to Palutena.

-Luigi: Protects him at times alongside Richter from the likes of Ridley, Dracula, etc...

-Ganondorf: Like Cloud, also despises him due to picking a fight with her and Cloud (as well as brainwashing Palutena one time). His incredibly arrogant and sadistic behavior reminds her too much of Grima.

-Meta Knight: The normally serious and no-nonsensical Lucina immediately started to fawn over Meta Knight the moment she met him, due to his “awesome, yet cute” appearance, and desperately wants to become his student, but to no avail.

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hazyheel · 5 years

Text

WWE Monday Night Raw 8/5/19

We started the night with a tribute to those in El Paso and Dayton. They even gave a ten bell salute. It was good. Nice of them.

Then they showed the theme song, and Samoa Joe interrupted it. He hopped up on the announce desk and yelled at Michael Cole for accusing him of attacking Roman Reigns. Graves tried to defend Cole, which only made Joe more mad. He demanded that they show the footage. They did, and Joe said that since he was nowhere near the attack. Joe vowed to stay at the show until Reigns showed up, so he could get his apology.

As he was talking, Becky Lynch interrupted and walked down to the ring. Badass. I love her.

Grade: B-. I am almost positive that it wasn’t Joe who attacked Roman, so this is just sorta a red haring. But it could lead to a nice brawl and maybe even a good match if I may be so bold.

Then we had a tag match in the Women’s division. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya and Trish Stratus. I was shocked that they are actually having Stratus on TV. Charlotte vs. Stratus is one of the biggest matches that they have going for them, so I was surprised to see this tag match get booked. Nattie and Lynch started the match with some technical exchanges. The two exchangd some submissiions, and Lynch was bout to lock in the disarmer, but Charlotte tagged herself in. Charlotte essentially wrestled this match alone, she completely refused to tag Lynch in. Even when she actually did tag Lynch in, she nailed Lynch in the back of the head with a forearm and walked out on her. Nattie locked in the sharpshooter, and refused to break when Lynch made it to the ropes, causing a DQ.

After the match, Stratus tried to pull Nattie off of Lynch, so Nattie pushed her away.

Grade: C+. Fine match, basically continued to show how much hatred has festered between Nattie and Lynch. And it showed that Charlotte is a bad guy. Stratus didn’t actually wrestle, so that was good. Just a perfectly functional angle here.

Then we went into Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio, the never ending feud. The match stemmed from Andrade ripping Mysterio’s mask after their portion of the Gauntlet match last week. We started with a quick pace, getting into striking and flipping within the first minute. At one point early on, Andrade spilled to the outside, so Rey slid out onto him and gave him a sunset flip powerbomb into the barricade. The two put on a really nice, lucha libre style of match with lots of great flippy moves. Rey hit an awesome hurricanrana after Andrade popped him up at one point. Andrade also nailed a beautiful double stomp in the corner after the two battled on the top rope. Rey still fought back however, this time with a mexican destroyer for a near fall. Then he nailed Andrade with the 619, but Andrade got his knees up for the splash after Vega distracted Mysterio. In the finish, Andrade went for the mask once again, but when the ref pulled him off, Vega hung up Mysterio on the middle rope, allowing Andrade to hit the hammerlock DDT.

Grade: B+. Just a nice little spotfest here. Pretty fun, and open to have a rematch. Nice to see a pretty good match.

Then we saw went is going on with Maria Kanellis, at their OBGYN appointment. She told Mike to defend her and her championship, and he said he would. At the appointment, Mike told Maria to relax and hugged her. The doctor then counted a pinfall, so Kanellis won the championship. Mike ran out into the waiting room, where R-Truth was waiting, He threw a baby doll in the air, which Mike caught, and then rolled up Mike to win his title back.

Then we had an interview with Becky Lynch about her summerslam match. Lynch said that she doesn’t care if Nattie has hometown advantage. She will win, because she has changed the business. Nattie said that she hasn’t gotten enough opportunity, but Lynch said that she needed to take opportunities. She is what Nattie’s career needs. Then Nattie was interviewed, and she said that her armbar didn’t matter, because her arm will break before she taps. Then she said that she would end Becky’s career with the sharpshooter and win the championship. Nice, I like tough Nattie.

Then Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out. Heyman ran down Rollins for getting destroyed by Lesnar again and again. He said that he loses too much, and he isn’t the hero that he pretends to be. They showed the attack from last week, and Heyman talked about how even he couldn’t stop Lesnar’s vicious attack. He also said that Rollins was in the building, and he insulted him for being stupid and showing up to Raw. Rollin’s music hit, and he limped down to the ring with a hair in hand. When Rollins got into the ring, Lesnar went right for the ribs. Lesnar attacked him with the chair and threw him all over the ring. Lesnar nailed him with an F5 to leave him laying on the ground.

After a commercial break, Rollins got on the mic and talked about why this match was worth it. He said that he wanted to protect the Universal Championship, despite the fact that it gets him beaten up every week. He said that this was all he had, and he vowed to beat Lesnar. He also refused to get on the stretcher when they offered it.

Grade: C-. I am not as fond of this underdog story as I was of a confident Rollins going into Wrestlemania. He is badass when he is confident, and while he is a good underdog, Lesnar eats underdogs. We’ve seen this story before, and while I hope Rollins wins, it seems like he won’t. I’m just sick of Lesnar being in the title picture.

Backstage, Kurt Angle, who would be a special guest referee for McIntyre vs. Alexander, talking to the Street Profits. They wanted to party with him and drink some milk, which they almost did until Drew McIntyre came up and threatened him. If Angle didn’t call it down the middle, then he would crack his skull open. I don’t know why Kurt Angle is here.

Then we had a squash match with the Viking Raiders. They won with the viking experience.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive Squash.

Then we had Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre, with Kurt Angle as the guest referee. McIntyre ran down to the ring as Alexander entered, and he beat the crap out of him. As they fought on the outside, Alexander gave McIntyre a tornado DDT, and then the lights went out. The Fiend showed up once again, and used the mandible claw to put Angle right on the mat.

Grade: B-. Okay, I’m into this becoming Wyatt’s new thing. A modern legend slayer, but he is way creepier. I like that, he looks really strong so far.

Then we had the New Day’s Xavier Woods and Big E come out to the ring for a match with the OC. The match didn’t even really start when AJ just ran into the ring and attacked. There was a DQ, and the New Day were beaten down, but Ricochet ran down and came to their aid. He helped fight them off, and they turned this into a 6-man tag. Ricochet and Styles mixed it up a bit. Big E was tagged in to fight a bit against Luke Gallows, who came out in his old face paint, so that was cool. Styles and Big E actually had a really good exchange here, where Styles countered several of Big E’s power move. He eventually gave Woods the hot tag, who gave Styles an honor roll. That was when this broke down a bit into anarchy, as Ricochet gave Styles a dropkick through the bottom ropes and out to the outside, but Gallows caught him when he tried again, and he was sent flying into the barricade. Styles then took out Big E with a Phenomenal Forearm, while Gallows and Anderson hit the Magic Killer for the win.

Grade: B. Pretty good stuff, interesting that the OC got the win over the Smackdown tag team champions, so maybe they will be the WWE Tag Team Champions soon. Other than that, just sorta a spot fest. Still pretty good though.

Then Samoa Joe came out, upon finding out that Roman Reigns was in the building. Reigns didn’t come out, so Joe sat in the right and waited. The crowd got bored waiting for Reigns and chanted CM Punk, so Joe walked out and met Reigns in the parking lot. As Joe walked out to confront him, a car smashed into Romans. Joe actually made sure that Reigns was okay after the car was hit, telling him to stay down and yelling for a medic. Triple H came out to make sure he was okay as well. Interesting, no confirmation of who it was. And Joe may turn face.

Then we had a fatal 4-way elimination match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. The Kabuki Warriors vs. Fire and Desire vs. Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss vs. The IIconics. This match feels like they were going to do it at summerslam, but then they just kept cutting the build until they didn’t have a build, so they just blew it off on TV. Also, Corey and Renee are really funny during this match because he keeps yelling at her whenever Mandy Rose was in the ring. The IIconics took everyone down and hit their signature poses, but then Rose ran in to fight them. Rose pinned Cay with a running knee very quick, guaranteeing new champions. Nikki Cross was in after the elimination, but she quickly tagged herself out to Asuka. Asuka intimidated Rose out of the ring to tag in Bliss, but Bliss quickly tagged Sonya Deville. The two had a very nice exchange, followed by an awesome hot tag from the Kabuki warriors. Bliss entered the ring again, and when Renee mentioned that Bliss didn’t want to be in the match because she was scared, Graves suggested that she could be scared of getting scurvy from Kairi Sane. You know, because she is a pirate. So dumb, but pretty funny. Then we saw Rose and Asuka battling a bit, culminating in Rose tapping out to the Asuka lock. That left the Kabuki Warriors and Cross and Bliss. When we came back, Cross was locked in a knee bar, but she eventually broke out. And afterwards, she continued to sell the knee, so that was nice. Sane had a yet another really nice hot tag, which reminded me that she never really had a chance to prove herself on the main roster yet. Asuka then tagged back in to fight Bliss, and nearly got stacked up out of an Asuka lock. Sane went up for the insane elbow, but Cross pushed her off the top rope. Asuka then tried to attack Cross on the outside, but Cross trapped her in the apron and beat her down. Sane then took out Cross, only to be floored by a right from Bliss. Bliss then went up and hit Twisted Bliss for the win.

Grade: C+. A lot of this match was awkward, and not the greatest. But that last fall between Bliss and the Kabuki warriors was pretty good. I hope to see more straight up tag matches between some teams, and hopefully put some respect on those championships. I think Cross and Bliss have the most star power in this

And in the main event slot, we had a contract signing on Miz TV. Miz and Dolph Ziggler were going to sign a contract for their match, and Shawn Michaels was there for some reason too. Ziggler quickly insulted both of Michaels and Miz, saying that he is carrying the company on his back since Michaels lost his smile, and Miz lost his balls. Funny, those certainly didn’t happen at the same time. Miz then said the contract was not for a match with Miz, implying it was with Shawn Michaels. Michaels then said that it wasn’t him, and Goldberg came out. Goldberg then signed the contract after Ziggler retreated from the ring. Goldberg then told Ziggler that he was next, as Michaels drilled him with a superkick.

Grade: B. I bumped this up a bit because of the surprise. Goldberg is certainly a way to get a bigger name on this card, and I’m into it. Ziggler can sell a beating like no other, so I’m excited to see him get speared inside out on Sunday.

Overall Grade: B-.

Pros: Andrade vs. Mysterio; OC vs. New Day & Ricochet; Miz TV; IIconics lost their belts :)

Cons: Rollins looks super weak

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