Saints row character building questions 1, I'm curious to know :D

1. Where did your character come from? What do they think of Stilwater?

Casey was born and raised in Stilwater. That might not be too interesting on it's own so here's a little lore drop about before that.

Casey's dad, Stanisław (Stani or Stanis), immigrated from Poland when he was still young, he grew up in Alpena County and met her mom at Stilwater University. Her mom, Elizabetta (Betty) is Italian American and one of those people who grew up in Stilwater and never fully left.

I say fully because she did move to study at Michigan State University, which is where she met Stanis. They bonded over her love of Greek mythology and his... claims to love Greek mythology after reading one book (according to Casey, therefore according to Betty, take that as you will). They had been dating for a few months when Elizabetta got pregnant, Stanis was in favour of not telling their families and getting an abortion despite his Catholic upbringing, but Betty's was too ingrained in her and additionally some part of her did want the child, hence they eventually ended up dropping out and getting married (Stanisław taking Elizabetta's last name of Clark for a few reasons) and moving back to Stilwater so they could both work and look after their daughter Phoebe.

4 years later they had another accidental pregnancy. In this case neither of them were really in favour of keeping the child, Betty went along with it because she felt she had to and Stanis raised no objection because he felt his wife really wanted this. This led to their daughter (admittedly there was also some gender disappointment there which only made things worse) Cassandra being born. Unfortunately it also led to huge cracks in their marriage due to the lack of communication.

The rest, I'm sure I've covered in a few different posts which I'll try and navigate to finding later and link.

In terms of what Casey thinks of it, I definitely think she wants to escape for the first 23 years of her life, and as I've said countless times, everyone reminds her this is Stilwater and it's not going to happen. She doesn't often go back there for a couple of years after leaving; I think she's a little afraid of the trap it represents.

But when she does return she can finally appreciate it, even with the way it's changed a little. She notices the architecture and the lights and she sees it as someone coming into Stilwater sees it. It's nothing especially poetic but this is how I wrote it before:

The further she got from her home town, the less it reminded her of her shitty teenage years and the more she felt a glow of pride and nostalgia for it.

I posted 9,628 times in 2022

That's 2,924 more posts than 2021!

257 posts created (3%)

9,371 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sarahsedserio

@transiconlink

@passesinthemorning

@yrbeecharmer

@i-am-anna

I tagged 3,843 of my posts in 2022

#<- prev tags indeed - 97 posts

#laugh rule - 45 posts

#yes - 44 posts

#yup - 25 posts

#pjo - 25 posts

#indeed - 25 posts

#pffff - 24 posts

#nice - 24 posts

#pfffff - 24 posts

#amazing - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#mirabel is one of if not the best disney princess we've ever fucking had and she and her sisters are fucking superstar awesome sauce and i'

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP ALEX CLAREMONT-DIAZ IS CANONICALLY A PJO FAN

Casey Mcquiston just got rid of EVERY harry potter reference in RWRB [which is like. Hell fucking yes to that] and they replaced "The Prisoner of Askaban" with "The Lightning Thief"!!!!!!!!!!

1,177 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

#4

If you're aspec then your professors are legally obligated to give you straight A's. It's the law

1,206 notes - Posted May 18, 2022

#3

Back on my shit again, crying over Encanto

So someone on tiktok pointed out that in each kid's gift ceremony photo, Abuela is standing next to them with both hands on the candle

EXCEPT one:

See the full post

1,283 notes - Posted January 10, 2022

#2

See the full post

1,508 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

We shouldn't have to make this point but I'm going to anyway: can we talk about how experienced Leah Sava Jeffries is for a second? Because claiming that she's a "diversity hire" is first of all inherently racist and second of all SO transparently preposterous because at twelve years old that girl has already been acting for seven years and just finished working on TWO high-profile movies.

Let me spell it out for you: The Percy Jackson Disney show is lucky to have her, NOT the other way around, and if you aren't over the moon about the fact that the challenging and complex role of Annabeth Chase is in the hands of such a capable young actress then you need to get the fuck out of this fandom because your racism is impossible to disguise at this point.

2,644 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Do you think Ali and Ash will make the Olympic roster? ANd do you think the CONCACAF tournament is structured in a way that will make it hard for us to qualify? I’m a new USWNT fan, I became a fan before the WWC because I found woso fanfics (yours included) so I don’t know a lot about soccer but I’ve somehow become I diehard USWNT and NWSL follower

Hi there.  Welcome to woso!  That’s women’s soccer, just in case you don’t know that yet.  lol.  First of all, thank you for reading the story.  I appreciate it very much.  :)  

Now to your soccer questions… I’ll take the easier of the two first.  I think the CONCACAF tournament is as good as it’s gonna get anytime soon.  CONCACAF is probably just as corrupt as the rest of the FIFA, etc.  But, in general, I think it’s a fair tournament and the USWNT should have no problem qualifying for the Olympics.  But you never know.  I think it was before 2012 Olympics (or maybe 2011 World Cup??) when the USWNT lost to Mexico and almost didn’t qualify!  So you just never know.  But there’s absolutely no reason the team shouldn’t win the CONCACAF tournament.  They’ll certainly at least come in 2nd place and still qualify.

Whether or not Ali and Ashlyn make the Olympic roster is a much more difficult question.  I believe with all my heart that the team is better with them both on it.  They’re excellent players who could both still start (in my opinion anyway), and even more importantly, they’re experienced veterans who know what it’s like to play and win on the biggest stages.  They were also both part of the 2016 Olympic team (Ashlyn was one of the alternates and Ali made her first Olympic squad ever - she missed the 2012 squad because of her knee injury) and I think it’s important to bring many of those players back so they will give it everything they’ve got to erase the embarrassment of their worst finish ever in Rio.  I’m hoping Ashlyn will get an official spot this time around because I believe she deserves it.  I personally think she’s a better keeper than Alyssa but I know most people disagree.  I watched Alyssa when she was with the Boston Breakers and she’s a great keeper, but she’s not nearly vocal or bossy enough back there.  She never has been and I don’t think she ever will be.  It’s just not in her DNA.  Her timidity back there is why a lot of the miscommunications happen along the backline.  It’s Alyssa’s job to tell them all exactly what to do.  Anyway, I digress.  Ashlyn should make the team as the 2nd keeper because she’s the only one with any true leadership skills.  You’ll notice that most of the time Jill Ellis tried some crazy grouping of newbies on the backline over the past 2-3 years she had Ashlyn in goal.  Alyssa almost always gets the best and most experienced defenders on her backlines.  This is certainly not always the case, but it does happen more often than not.  So I think Ashlyn should make the Olympic roster.  It’ll be her first time and I’ll be super stoked for her.

I also think Ali should make the squad.  She’s certainly good enough to play on that backline.  She more than proved that at the World Cup.  All the horseshit US Soccer and Jill Ellis tried to feed everybody about how old and slow Kriegs was over the past 2-½ years was exposed as exactly that - horseshit.  I think Ali is a better outside back than Sonnett and Davidson (and Purce for that matter too).  I think Crystal Dunn did a fabulous job at LB at the WC and I think Casey Short would be a great backup for her.  I think Kelley O’Hara is the starter at RB and nobody is going to change that.  US Soccer markets her like crazy and I just don’t see anybody taking that spot from her.  I still think Ali is a better defender than KO, all day every day.  But I agree that KO is a better offensive player than Ali is.  It depends on what the coach is looking for.  It’s just that simple.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Ali was the first and only defender off the bench in the biggest games in the World Cup.  That says it all right there really.  Why would you not bring her to the Olympics with you too?  Also, on a side note, I think Kelley’s too aggressive and reckless to be a starting defender.  I feel the same way about Sonnett too.  You shouldn’t have to worry about your defenders getting yellow cards.  You want your defenders to be solid back there and tough, no doubt, but you have to be able to rely on them for the full 90.  And if a player has to change the way they’re playing the game to avoid getting a second yellow card and leaving the team down to 10 players, then that’s a problem.  That’s just my take on defense in general.  Ali plays tough, physical, aggressive defense - that’s what attracted me to her in the very first place back in 2011 at that World Cup.  But she rarely commits a foul and hardly ever gets a card.  That’s how I like my defenders.  But that’s just me.  Another good thing for Ali is that she can play Center Back too.  She’s played CB quite often for the Pride in the NWSL over the past couple of years and she does a really good job of it.  A lot of people assume it’s because she was too slow and old to play RB anymore.  But that’s simply not the case.  Tom Sermanni moved her to CB because she was easily the best defender on the team and he wanted her in a more centralized position so she could help more on defense and so she could lead and command more from that centralized position.  She’s also really fast and he wanted her to play there in CB because the other CBs on the team were kind of slow.  Zadorsky isn’t slow though, but she wasn’t there when Sermanni made the move.  We all know how dynamic Ali can be from that RB position and she still sends in some of the best crosses in the game, NWSL or USWNT.  If the Pride ever get a decent backline again, Ali might move back to RB where she truly excels.  

The point is, she can play multiple roles along the backline and that’s a big asset for her when it comes to making the Olympic roster.  Instead of taking 23 players (20 field players and 3 keepers) like we do for the World Cup, we only get to take 18 players to the Olympics.  16 field players and 2 keepers.  Nobody knows what Vlatko’s going to do because he’s too new to get a feel for yet, but making the Olympic roster is one of the hardest things to do for the USWNT players.  Theoretically, you could take the WC roster and eliminate 1 keeper and 4 field players and you’d be all set.  But that alone is a difficult task.  Add to that the players who just missed the cut for the WC, like Casey Short, and the decision gets even harder to make.  Players like Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn and Ali Krieger who can play multiple positions become very valuable now.  

And for God’s sake, everybody has to be healthy!!  Ellis screwed up big time in 2016 by bringing Megan Rapinoe who wasn’t ready to come back after her torn ACL.  It was ridiculous.  I love Pinoe - I truly do.  But she wasn’t healthy and shouldn’t have taken up a roster spot.  I hope Vlatko doesn’t do the same thing with Alex Morgan after she has her baby.  I love Morgan too, more than most people do, and I think she makes the team better just by being on the field and keeping the defense honest so the other players have room to do their thing and score goals.  I think Morgan is one of the most selfless strikers I’ve ever seen and she gets crap for it all the time.  The stats don’t show it but she changes the game just by being out there and keeping defenders busy and opening up space and setting plays up.  She’ll never get the credit she deserves for that either.  Anyway, I love her ok?  But if she’s not 100% then I don’t want her on the team.  Period.  End of story.  I know Sydney Leroux just came back after giving birth and played in the NWSL 3 months afrer having her daughter, but ask Syd how she did after having her first baby?  Syd was able to do that because she knew what her body needed after pregnancy beause she’d done it already before.  Morgan is an amazing athlete and I’ll be thrilled for her if she can do it, but I also don’t want her to try so hard either.  You just had your first baby.  Relax and enjoy it.  You’ve already got an Olympic gold medal, you know?  Here’s another advantage for Ali Krieger - Kelley O’Hara is injury-prone and can’t stay healthy these days.  That’s a big risk to take with you into the Olympics.  We’re gonna need a really good backup for her.  Ali Krieger.

So this is a whole lot of words to say I don’t know if Ali or Ashlyn will make the Olympic roster.  They both deserve to be there.  I think the team will benefit greatly from having them both there.  But we’re just gonna have to wait and see what Vlatko does.

Here’s what I think I’d like to see for my Olympic roster:

Strikers/Wingers: Rapinoe, Heath, Press,  Lloyd, Pugh

MF: Lavelle, Ertz, Horan, Mewis, Brian

D: Dunn, Sauerbrunn, Dahlkemper, O’Hara, Krieger, Short

GK: Naeher, Harris

cut from WC roster: Franch, Sonnett, Davidson, Long, MacDonald, Morgan (I know this is 6 players, but I put Casey Short into the roster instead of Sonnett)

Morgan Brian has been playing really well lately so I think I’d take her instead of Allie Long right now.  I personally don’t like Pugh very much - I don’t think she’s improved at all since she started playing with the team in 2105/2016.  I honestly would take MacDonald over Pugh but that’ll never happen in a million years.  And I really like Tierna Davidson a lot.  I like her much better at CB and I would seriously consider taking her over Dahlkemper because I’m not a huge Dahlkemper fan to begin wtih.  But, again, that’ll never happen.  Although who knows?  Jill Ellis got rid of Ali Krieger for less reason so who the hell knows?  I like bringing 6 defenders because Crystal Dunn could slide up into MF or Forward if necessary during the Olympics.  She’s the ultimate utility player who can kick ass on any line on the pitch.  Legitimately.  And I don’t like when they move JJ back to CB because she’s so good at that holding midfield spot.  The team plays totally differently when she’s not in midfield (they play worse).  So take 6 defenders.  Keep JJ at MF and move Crystal around if injuries happen and we need another body up top for some reason.

There.  I’m done.  I’ll stop now.  Aren’t you sorry you asked?  lol