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dayslynthesix · 8 months

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match point | jenson button x volleyball player!wife

for some dumb reason while i was watching the usopen i got this idea of jenson and here we are so lets goooo

ps: this is a agegap, jenson is 9 years older than the mais character and I made some adjustments to fit the character, all the team mentioned here do exist and are the ones i support in real life

2009, Monaco

It was my dad's favorite time of the year, the Monaco GP and the one and only that we always go to watch, since I was a child. I skipped class that week just to be there, and probably my volleyball couch would be very angry once i went back to college, but family traditions are here for something. My oldest brother, Jeremy, was very close friend to someone inside the Brown garage, so not only we were watching the grand prix but we were also watching the grand prix from the big tv inside the garage.

And Jenson Button, of course.

He was fighting for the championship, something no one thought Brown could do it, especially this year. Jenson and Jeremy were close in age and they had something in common, they really like to party, and that's how they became friends - and also how i got a crush on him.

Jenson won the Monaco grand prix, he was dripping champagne and sweat once my brother introduced us. We shaked hands and shared a polite smile, nothing more. He said hi to my dad and that's all. But he and my brother went partying together, that's for sure. And tomorrow my brother would brag about it, as he always did every once in a while when they went out.

After all, he was one of the Jenson Button friends.

2013, Italy

Main setter of the US national team.

Captain of the US national team.

Number 1 in the setters ranking.

Captain of VakifBank.

That's me. All me. I couldn't believe that i was here. Inside of a court. Playing pro. If you asked me how this happened, I wouldn't be able to answer. One day I was 7 playing beach volleyball with my friends and a few years later I was 23 playing pro in Turkey.

It was the finals of the European Championship, we were down 2-0, all they had to do was to win the current set, but we really wanted that title, and we were fighting for it.

19x13.

19x15.

19x19.

20x23.

21x25.

We can do it. I know we can.

My dad's voice is echoing trough my mind. Play smart. Play safe. Don't risk. You can do it. Your team can do it. Trust them.

2x2 on sets.

We were goind the best of 5.

That title was ours. I had the best of the best. I trust my team. The title is ours.

14x14.

I looked trough the court. I knew where they weren't defending. I knew those players.

I set the ball, my outside hitter put on the block.

I made the first touch.

The libero set to me.

That point was the 14x15 we needed.

Just one point.

We can do it.

We did it.

The court went insane. The cheering. The noise. The hugs. We did it. We won. We were European champions. I made it. I the middle of the noise, the crowd, the yellow jerseys I spotted my family, my mom, my dad, my brother. And him. Jenson was there too. He was there, he was wearing the jersey with my name and number.

Rossi. 1.

The award ceremony was always my favorite part of every competition. The warm. The love. The anticipation.

"And the MVP award is going home. Is going to Turkey, Yolanda Rossi, congratulations, you are the most valuable player on this tournament."

I don't know how I'm here today. I don't know what I did to deserve the blessing of be on court, doing what I love, with people that I love. But I was.

I don't remember how I ended up being held in the air, hugging Jenson Button himself, while he was wearing my name and my number. But i remember that day was the day that we finally had something in common. I remember how we talked about our lives, our family, about England, US, about formula one, volleyball, and I remembered the crush I used to have for him. And that he's an insanely good kisser. And that after that day, there wasn't one sigle day I wanted to spend without him.

2023, California

"We met in very different moments of our lives, Like, I was in college, Jenson was being champion that year. I was 19, I didn't knew shit of life, he was on the road far more time than I was. Looking back, it makes sense why we didn't get along in the beginning. 2009 was a very strange and very distant year. But when we met again in 2013, it was different, I mean, I was in a very different place, I was already in national team, playing pro, at that point, I was the best..."

"You're still the best." Jenson cut me halfway my sentence, taking a smile from the hosts of the podcast we were on.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still the best... but like, 2013 made sense for us. I remember that final match when I saw him wearing that infamous yellow shirt with my name on it, one of my teammates at time had to hold me. And it sounds cliche, brother best friend and so, but I crushed him so hard and took him 4 years to notice."

"It didn't, I knew way sooner. The way you were looking at me on the Monaco podium? I knew it, babe, I always knew. But as you said, the first time it didn't make sense, but later i thought that, looking back, was the right moment, we didn't rushed things and they worked the way they should. Plus, your brother would kill me if I had asked you out in 2009."

"Yeah, he would, and at this point I wouldn't have a husband." The hosts just let us tell them the story. Asking questions once in a while, just letting us talk about it.

"Yolanda had for a very long time the most insane agenda. Like, the club season went from October to May, sort of, and than the national team season was about May to September, she was almost always on court, the free periods of time she had free was like, I don't know, once in a lifetime? And my agenda was also very messy, I was traveling around the world every week and when I was not I was in Turkey with her. At the same time she was a formula one master I was a volleyball master, I got myself thinking where the other team player was missing to defend a ball, how the block wasn't right and sometimes, during a grand prix, she was on the phone with my race engineer talking about strategy, thats why we worked so well together."

Jenson love to tell people about that, it happened twice but he was very proud about how those two times I made the right call.

"I thought about stopping after Rio Olympics, and I did, for a year and a half I was traveling with Jenson around the world, and it was magical, but I miss the court, and the game, and ny teammate so badly that i take myself out of retirement. Rio was the most amazing thing in my life, i achieved my goal, I was a gold medalist at an Olympics. I never thought I could do it twice you know? Winning the title is not impossible, but it is very difficult to hold the gold for the next Olympics."

The flashbacks from that day was on loop on my mind. That game was insane. That atmosphere were amazing. It was one of the best days of my life.

"She called me and she was like "I'm on the final" as if I didn't watched the game for the semifinal, the next thing I knew was McLaren very mad at me because I was going to the airport to see my girl play her first Olympics final, and once I got there, she was also mad at me because I was supposed to be on factory. I didn't care where I was supposed to be."

"He said that but he was also very mad because I lost a game to be there to his final race and imagine how surprised I was in 2017 whe he was racing in Monaco? But we made those sacrifices to be there for each other."

Our wedding was always on topic. Always.

"Yeah, my man of honor were Seb, Mark and Lewis. And Lan's friends kept looking at them with a very intrigued face, as my friends kept looking at that amout of volleyball players walking around. I think that at our wedding there was like 20 gold medals, or more, Lewis, Seb and I together we didn't have the amount of titles they had and that was insane."

"At the end of the night we were almost competitively showing our titles to them, especially Priya and Lewis, they were on each others neck about who was the most victorious and Priya would kill me if she listen to me saying that unfortunately for her, Lewis had more titles than her."

We took a break to have a coffee, take a few pictures, eat something and to finish the episode.

"Yeah, I'm retiring after Paris. I didn't think I was coming back for Tokyo but Karch called me and I went, it was worth the price, but I'm gonna be like 34 in Paris, and all the pre Olympics and VNL apart from the club season is taking the price very seriously, but after Paris I'm retiring, I have achieved all my goals, gold medal, won everything with my teams, world champion, like, I rather retire while I'm still considered the best than to put mediocre seasons in the future."

"She says that but she was on edge once I did that. But our bodies pay the price. Being a high level athlete is very expensive, the traveling, the training, the exhaustion, being away from home, our friends, family... it's difficult, I'll be there for her last set and I'll bring every friend of mine, Lewis said that he and Seb will also be there, and Mark is still believing that she's going to Australia 2028. And fun fact, every time she's at the paddock with me, the young drivers are surrounding her, like, yeah, I'm jealous."

We had amazing 10 years of just traveling around, playing and driving for a living and sharing more things that we could ever hope to. Jenson and I build a life together. We grew and learned things about love that I know I wouldn't lear from anyone in the world. A lifetime wasn't enough to the amount of happiness we share.

jensonbutton

liked by mercedesamgf1, lewishamilton, yrossibutton, aussiegrit and 987.354 others

jensonbutton were just going there to get married and we'll be back soon

yrossibutton cheers to miss and mister button (i still think jenson rossi-button would be insanely good)

jeremyrossi congrats to my favorite people

lewishamilton we still have more titles.

priyacaspari no, you dont

dahliabishop no, you don't

khill1 lol

august 13, 2017

yrossibutton

liked by jensonbutton, formulaone, volleybalnationsleague and 876.321 others

yrossibutton oops, we did it again. THANK YOU to my team, my coach, my family, my husband, my friends and all the support. after rio i find it very difficult to believe that i would be here again, but my people show me how wrong i was and it was a privilege to be on the highest spot on the podium with them one more time. congrats to the brazilian team, they did amazing during these olympics and im honored to play against them. thank you tokyo, you treated me very nicely and ill be forever grateful for these days.

jensonbutton insanely proud of you and the team. well done, girls, amazing volleyball as usual.

priyacaspari we did it! its a privilege to play with you

lewishamilton wow, two in a row? you're about to beat me

jeremyrossi my sister is a badass

maxverstappen1 number 1 for a reason

jensonbutton i know you're dying to make a comment about how the two of you are a perfect match, i know

yrossibutton yeah, i know it too, but maxie im already married

usavolleyball well done, girls. let's keep pushing.

august 8, 2021

yrossibutton

liked by vakifbank, jensonbutton, gg10, usavolleyball and others 678.877 others

yrossibutton last ride with this team couldn't be different. im wearing yellow and black for the past 8 seasons in my pro life, it was a great last ride. thank you turkey, im forever grateful for all those 10 years, thank you girls, i love all and each one of you. gabi, i know you'll be the most amazing captain this team could ask for, it was a pleasure to see you grow and become the amazing player you are. see you all outside the court.

vakifbank thank you, Yolanda. you are the best.

gabiguimaraes10 thank you! it was a honor all those years.

jensonbutton you did amazing, bae

maxverstappen1 i mean...

april 4, 2024

yrossibutton

liked by parisolympics2024, priyacaspari, jensonbutton, lewishamilton and 1M others

yrossibutton three in a row. wow. i dont even know where to start. the first time i put these colors on i was 22, i wear them for 12 years, i won and i lose with them. i was very happy and very disappointed too. 2016 was dream coming true. just to be there and play an olympics i was happy, and we won. 2021 was the "i made it", it was a dream i didn't knew i had it. that gold medal is more than i could have ever expected. this one i have no words to describe. i don't know what im feeling while i hold this medal. or how to say goodbye, but thats it, 12 years later and im resting that shirt, resting the captains belt and saying goodbye to the most memorable career i could ever dream about it. thank you, paris, you'll be forever in my dreams. thank you, girls, you deserved it. to priya and dahlia who are here since 2016, it was an honor and a pleasure to play with you and share more than the court with the two of you. thank you. thank you. thank you.

lewishamilton congrats yoyo, you deserved every second of that, im very proud of you

jensonbutton forever my number 1.

priyacaspari i love you, i love every second of the time we share in this sport

dahliabishop it was meant to be us against the world

gabiguimaraes10 congrats, yolanda. it was a pleasure to play with you and to watch you play. thank you for everything you did. you're a legend.

august 10, 2024

jensonbutton

liked by formulaone, yrossibutton, lewishamilton, charles_leclerc, dahliabishop and 788.988 others

jensonbutton longest pitstop ever.

charles_leclerc ferrari could say that

lewishamilton congrats to my favorite godson, both of your parents are world champion

sebastianbettel congratulations J and Yoyo, you'll be amazing parents.

dahliabishop this child will be surrounded by 3 different sports, make the beats of witch one they'll choose

jeremyrossi tennis, obviously, they uncle have 12 grand slams under the belt

maxverstappen1 they godson have 17 world championships

yrossibutton what kinda of math is that

maxverstappen1 i have 3, lewis have 8, charles has 3, sebs 4, so...

priyacaspari each of us have 3 gold olympic medals, 1 world championship, 3 club world championships and god know how manny leagues

january 14, 2025

yrossibutton

liked by mercedesamgf1, formulaone, lewishamilton, jensonbutton, vnl, priyacaspari, dahliabishop and 989.087 others

yrossibutton welcome to the team elise rose rossi-button, know that whatever tennis, volleyball or formula one you choose you be forever loved.

jensonbutton im the most lucky man in the world.

lewishamilton welcome little lis, we already love you more than you know

priyacaspari youll be an amazing outside hitter, i know that

jeremyrossi i just know youll break all the records

maxverstappen1 next redbull driver

charles_leclerc no

yrossibutton LOL not a chance

jensonbutton kids... no fighting (she's not choosing ferrari)

charles_leclerc i won with ferrari, 3 times ok?

maxverstappen1 after 5 years of suffering, she doesn't deserve this fate

july 14, 2025

i didn't liked this one at first but at the end i still don't know if i do but i hope you enjoy it

xoxo

#jenson button #formula one #f1 imagine #volleyball #jenson button imagine #social media au #formula one social media au #charles leclerc #max verstappen

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nonoel-28 · 10 months

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Class 1A as Genin Teams!

*This is purely my own perspective and how I think the team-ups would be, but I would love to hear what you think and/or if you would pair them up differently :) *

I wanted to keep the 2 boys, 1 girl dynamic, but was short 1 girl, so one team will be all boys.

Also tried to at least give each team a long distance fighter as well as a melee fighter. I will say which is which per team.

TEAM 1: HAWKS, MIDORIYA, TOKOYAMI, KIRISHIMA

This team consists of 2 melee fighters (Midoriya & Kirishima) and 2 distance fighters (Tokoyami and Hawks).

TEAM 2: EDGESHOT, TODOROKI, YOAYOROZO, SHOJI

Shoji is the main melee fighter, I feel like Yoayorozu and Edgeshot would both be mid range fighters, with Todoroki is mainly long distance fighter.

TEAM 3: MIRKO, BAKUGOU, URARAKA, OJIRO

This team is purely consists of melee fighters. They aren't afraid to get close and personal in a fight.

TEAM 4: AIZAWA, SHINSOU, JIROU, SERO

There are no heavy hitters. This team I feel like would be a stealth/capture team, with Sero as the long-range fighter and the rest as mid-range fighters.

TEAM 5: TENSEI IIDA, TENYA IIDA, ASHIDO, AOYAMA

Aoyama is the long range fighter and the rest flip flop between melee and mid-range fighters.

TEAM 6: KAMUI WOODS, SATO, ASUI, KODA

Sato is the melee fighter in this team, and the rest are mid-range fighters. Koda jutsu would be similar to Ino Yamanaka's.

TEAM 7: MT. LADY, KAMINARI, HAGAKURE, MINETA

Hagakure and Mt. Lady are the melee fighters, Kaminari is a mid-range fighters, and Mineta is long range and very good at setting traps.

Since this is MHA in the Naruto universe, here is what some other pro heroes are doing instead of being a Genin Leader.

All Might is the Hokage.

Nezu is the Hokage's Advisor as well as Gran Torino and Recovery Girl.

Endeavor Is the Jonin Commander.

Present Mic is a pre-Genin teacher (like Izuka).

Midnight works in T&I (Also, would be an inappropriate Genin Leader)

Best Jeanist is a Jonin who usually teaches the Hokage's children and/or grankids the shinobi way, but All Might has no kiddos.

Fat Gum is the Team Leader of the Big Three, Mirio Togato, Nejire Hado, Tamaki Amajiki. (Between the 3, Mirio is currently the only Jonin on the team, Nejire is close to promoting, and Amajiki would have been Jonin way before Mirio if it wasnt for his self-worth issues and lack of motivation).

The previous holders of OFA are previous Hokages.

And there you have it!! This is something I also want to draw someday, but until then, let me know what you think!! 😁

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absolutebl · 2 years

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What's good on iQiyi? Now that KP is done I'm ditching the subscription but also watched Blueming and Gen Y. It doesn't have to be BL, I'll even take a noona romance. Bad and crazy is also on my list

What’s good on iQIYI?

So you names the heavy hitters: KinnPorsche and (more important to me) Blueming.

I haven't watched a ton on this platform, but here's a few:

You don't name it so ABSOLUTELY watch Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Your Soul. I like this BL A LOT and this is the only place to find it. Review here.

Until We Meet Again - if you don’t want to watch it elsewhere. This is my favorite Thai BL of all time. (It’s also on YouTube and Viki.)

Love By Chance - if you don’t want to watch it elsewhere. I consider this mandatory BL viewing. Everyone should see it. (It’s also on YouTube and Viki.)

En of Love - perhaps less mandatory but still decent, especially the YinWar Ep. The first big example of Thailand’s “sampler pack” style BL.

7 Project, I don’t really like any of these all that much, but if you really like some of the pairs it might be worth watching. SantaEarths is okay, the GL one is cute but has a terrible ending, BounPrem’s is rough going, BoomPeak’s has no kissing (this is my shocked face) but was the best of the lot. I didn’t watch the het ones.

Even Sun (airing) if you like BounPrem, but I'm not into it.

Check Out (airing) if you like high heat, but I'm not into it. (That said if you like the main pair they also have their first BL Skinship on this platform. That’s a long form advert, like Ingredients, tho.)

NOT BL

My Dear Guardian - yet another take on Decedents of the Sun (I love a soldier/healer pairing)

Sweet Teeth - honestly I have no idea why I liked this one, but I did.

She Would Never Know - Noona but not my favorite, also I think Netflix has it now. Only worth watching if you, like me, are a Rowoon completest.

Romantic Blue - If you want to see Ohm act without Fluke.

Ones I have on My List, but haven't watched yet

Bad & Crazy - it's so hard to find and so many people talked about it when I aired I feel like I should watch it.

Ten Years Late

See You Tomorrow

Romantic Blues

Love Scenery

I am decidedly not a connoisseur of cdramas (I rarely watch their historicals because HOLY 50 eps batman!) so maybe others can weigh in with the important ones to watch on this platform. That’s where iQIYI’s strength lies... if you can call it that.

Also remember, I’m USA based, so we might not have access to the same content.

(source)

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xxjadeablexx · 3 months

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Alastor

Alastor, also known as ‘The Radio Demon,’ is part of the main cast of Hazbin Hotel, as you may have guessed. He is one of the main overlords in hell and feared by a lot of people. We learn in Episode 5 that he is feared for killing a lot of “heavy hitting overlords.” We also learn that he is called ‘The Radio Demon’ because he actually broadcasted their screams across hell. He isn’t really known for being the most friendly, always having an alternative motive. Appearance wise he is like 7 feet tall, only a foot shorter than Angel. He is also always smiling. There's a scene where he is having a complete breakdown and doesn’t stop smiling. Commenters on tiktok, when discussing the scene, have mentioned that they don’t think he even wanted to smile at the moment. Vivziepop has said that Alastor is actually based on the song “You are never fully dressed without a smile.”

In his past life, Alastor was a radio host and a serial killer. His wiki says “Vivziepop declined to give out details of Alastor's killings, but described him as ‘not going after just anyone’, highlighting his ‘weird moral code.’ “ He died in the 1930’s which leads to some pretty fun, yet dark jokes. An example is in episode 1 when he makes the comment “So many orphans!” when talking about The Great Depression. Him being alive in the 1910’s-1930’s explains why he talks the way he does. He calls the tv a ‘picture box,’ says that he loves the ‘picture show,’ and when annoyed about making an advertisement says “Noisy picture box advertisement!” instead of just calling is a noisy ad. He also, despite caring about appearance to a certain degree, repeatedly claims his face was made for radio. Despite not using/understanding modern lingo for what i consider most the show, he does seem to know some terms. During ‘Stayed Gone,’ (one of my favorite songs,) he says “Now he’s (vox) pissy, that's the tea.” Almost immediately after he says “Uh-oh, the TV is buffering.” He knows gossip is ‘tea’ and that it is a TV, but he goes with the words he's used to. It’s interesting since it seems like everyone else uses pretty modern speech even if it's not from the time they were alive. I feel like the only other time we see something like this is when Angel calls himself a ‘schmoozer.’

Alastor also has an ongoing feud with Vox. Vox is basically Alastor but like, TV. He has a tv as a head, can teleport using electricity, and pretty much has eyes all over hell, much like Alastor used too. He took over after Alastor disappeared for 7 years. Episode 2 is called ‘Radio Killed the Video Star,’ a reference to MTV’s ‘Video Killed the Radio Star.’ In the episode, Vox is very much stressed about Alastor being back, because Alastor is way more powerful. The show shows Vox panicking and speaking about how his fans should ignore Alastor. Vox even says “Pulling my viewers, impossible!” but, only seconds later a radio is set out and everyone starts listening to Alastor. At the end of the show, when people think Alastor is dead, Vox says (or rather sings) “Nature abhors a power vacuum. It leaves room for you and me.” Which I personally think shows how Vox and Alastor see each other, which is purely as competition. It’s kinda funny to watch.

The real interesting thing about Alastor, at least in my opinion, is that he also has a Contract. Sure, he owns people's souls. He’s an overlord, of course he owns souls. But in one scene, Husk stands up for himself, telling Alastor “Big talk for someone who’s also on a leash.” This is a huge development to only be mentioned in the last episode. Alastor is considered a heavy hitter, so how could he be under someone's control? Fan’s speculate that it’s actually Lillith, Charlie's mother, who holds his soul. Some of these theories simply come from the fact that Alastor likes to fight Lucifer for who the better father figure is. One twitter user was like “OMG WHAT IF ALASTOR IS DATING LILITH AND THATS WHY HE WANTS TO BE HER DAD!!!” But Vivziepop has said that Alastor is asexual/aromantic, not showing any interest in people romantically or sexually. So I don’t really pay attention to the theories that involve some sort of romance. From what I can tell, most people only really think this because Alastor disappeared for 7 years, and it had been 7 years since Charlie had spoken to Lillith. Honestly, I’m excited to see his deal explored more in the next season. My original theory was that he sold it to Zestial, seeing as his chains are green and so is Zestial. Reddit user Xeonan thinks that since it is mentioned that Lillith wanted the best for the sinners in hell, maybe she is making Alastor help Charlie with the plan. All in all, not much is yet known about that situation.

Feel free to add your theories! I’m excited to hear other peoples thoughts!

#hazbin alastor #hazbin angel dust #hazbin charlie #hazbin hotel #hi professor #angel dust #alastor #alastor altruist

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shouta-aizawow · 1 year

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ummmmm 28! if you don't mind

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

Idm at all, and yes!! I’ve participated in a lot!! I started joining fan events in February of last year, and I have spreadsheet to keep track of the events where I‘ve had to sign up

I’m looking at my spreadsheet sheet for this, and I’m too tired to make sure I didn’t miscount but:

For fanweeks/months, I’ve participated in about,,, 3?? I’ve run three as well. Two different themes, but one I ran both last year and this year, and there’s one that’s gonna happen in January ( @babybakuweek on twit and tumblr for shameless promo). The previous weeks were @bakuiidaweek on twitter and tumblr!

Exchanges: 10, but I’m probably gonna sign up for an 11th within the next two days

Big Bangs: 7

Auto-Acceptance Zines (everyone is accepted): 7.5 (the .5 is bc I got autoaccepted to a side zine and they ended up putting everyone on the main zine)

Other Zines: 3

I’ve also participated in a bingo challenge where you get nine boxes each with a trope and each piece you make checks off one

I currently have 7 pieces I need to finish, but I have lots of time. 5 for zines, 1 for a bang, and 1 for an exchange (gonna be two after I post this maybe)

I’ve been rejected by about 31 zines (technically 27 bc 4 of those I was accepted as a pinch hitter, but I was never needed). Tbh it doesn’t make me too upset (even tho it’s a little embarrassing to say), just makes me want to work harder bc I know that I’m nowhere near the same level as some of the people accepted. It makes the acceptances even better XDDD

#thank you 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡#wow! asks!#ask game

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bs-fangirl · 9 months

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Ask Game (Horizon Fandom)

Thank you @sorbetowl for tagging me! I’m really bad at keeping up with these tags games but this was fun to write out.

1. ride or die ship (your otp): For sure, Ereloy! Erend is just the sweetest and most loyal character. He doubts himself a lot but is always willing to give his all for his friends. And I’m sure he gives the best hugs with his giant arms, I just wanna snuggle him!

2. most annoying ship: We don’t ship shame in this house.

3. second favorite ship: Hawk and Thrush (Talanoy? I can never remember the combo name). Surprisingly, I actually fell for this ship first, before Ereloy. The damage HFW’s writing did to Talanah’s character broke my hope for the Sunhawk to be a main companion and let Ereloy jump into the lead.

4. favorite platonic relationship: Gildun and Aloy. Truly, Gildun is my favorite non-companion NPC; he’s just the sweetest! I’d play a whole game that was just these two delving through ruins together. I also really love the older-sibling-care the Base companions take with Beta, especially Varl; wish we could have seen more of that.

5. underrated ship: Morlund/Abadund. I’ve accepted this ship so completely that I forget it’s not actually canon. But I love these two!

6. overrated ship: If people are enjoying themselves, what’s the harm?

7. one thing i would change in canon: There’s a lot in HFW’s story I would change, and the Burning Shores DLC too. But I think it mainly boils down to pacing. Too much was introduced into HFW at once that the pacing suffered; it felt rushed to me. Like other fans have written in far greater detail than me, I would have liked Regalla to remain the big bad of the second game, with hints from Sylens or other ways that there’s something even bigger out there but the Zeniths wouldn’t be revealed until the end of the game. Aloy can still be finding subfunctions but with the intention of needing more than just Minerva to bring GAIA back. Getting her back and in the Base a third of the way through HFW felt so weird; it would be a much better endgame triumph. The final mission is Aloy defeating Regalla, Sylens cryptically says she’s actually made things far worse, Aloy restores GAIA with the subfunctions she collected, and the Zeniths are revealed at the very end, maybe alluding to Beta but keeping her in shadow so she’s still a mystery. (I will say I’m hopeful that the writers will pull off Nemesis, especially if they go creepy with it like the Burning Shores datapoint hints; it just felt like Regalla and the Zeniths were rushed through the second game for this secret big bad ball of digital ghosts)

8. something canon did right: The entirety of HZD is phenomenal but I’ll challenge myself to pick something in the main quests of HFW. I’ll say that I loved Faro’s Tomb. The CEO was a delightful egotistical jerk, the reveal of the survivors through datapoints was well paced, and Faro’s final fate was the perfect end to the dumbass who destroyed the world. I even liked that Faro’s monster form is just left to our imagination. Definitely my favorite of the main story quests.

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom: Memes, memes galore, memes for days! I started making them for fun on my Horizon discords and Tumblr but they’ve branched out further than I expected; to other Horizon discords, to Twitter, one meme even inspired a fanfic. It’s why I made my side-blog now for all the Horizon silliness I can come up with and sharing what others make too. I’m glad others are enjoying the various silliness

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): The Oseram showmen trio. They bounce off each other so well and they’re great fun to interact with. I hope they make a comeback in Horizon 3.

11. the character i relate to the most and why: Alva. Not a heavy hitter in battle but the dear girl is always trying her best. She rambles about things she’s excited about, which I do constantly. She’s always trying to be cheery for others, even when she’s probably so worried about her family and her girlfriend back home, which is just me in a nutshell.

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: I don’t think there are any characters I hate. I’ve been disappointed by some for being poorly written or not used to their full potential like the Zeniths but none I hate.

13. something i've learned from the fandom: Find your little corner of the fandom, filled with like-minded people, and try your best to make it a happy place to be. We can all be disappointed by certain canon things and vent our frustrations but I think time in the fandom is better spent celebrating and enjoying things in the chosen media. It’s why I stepped away from Horizon for the last month; I realized I was getting too bogged down with post-Burning Shores negativity and it was all I was talking about. Now after a little cool down, I’m missing Horizon and want to get back into the world and characters I love. Every fandom and every fictional media has its ups and downs; the highs of Horizon are where I like to focus my time and energy. We’re all just geeks excited to take down giant robots with a spear in the end.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: Hurt/Comfort, Not Unrequited They’re Just Dumbasses, Smut With Feelings

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favorite character: I can twist nearly any song to be for my OTP but I’ll go with Better Than Love by Griffin House for Ereloy.

Pretty sure I’ve seen every Horizon person/blog I follow complete this ask but, if anyone was missed, have at it! And steal it for other fandoms too! Consider yourselves tagged, if you’re interested :)

#horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #hzd series #response #game

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urbanammo · 11 months

Audio

Juncyard Sessions Vol 7 - Manchild by Junc Collective We are delighted to introduce Manchild for the next Juncyard Sessions guest mix. Manchild is no stranger to the Junc family, having played a B2B set with Nour last year in London. He has also supported some of the heavy hitters in the game, including Jody Wisternoff, Richie Blacker and Marsh. We are excited to share his sound in this mix - a sumptuous delight of tribal, percussive, melodic and uplifting house and deep techno that is perfect for the start of the summer. Expertly mixed and curated, this hour of music shows exactly why Manchild is in hot demand across the country! Find the tracklist below, and listen to IDs from all of our Juncard Sessions mixes on our Spotify playlist - bitly.ws/BWz5 - head over and favourite it now! FOLLOW: Soundcloud: @manchild_uk Instagram: instagram.com/manchild_uk TRACKLIST: 1. Pale Blue - Together Alone (Kölsch 'I Have You' Remix) 2. Pete Lazonby - Sacred Cycles (Fort Romeau Dub) 3. Crimsen - Dancefloor Memories (Because of Art Remix) 4. Joel Oliver - Cascade (My Friend Remix) 5. Audiojack - Cosmonaut 6. Marco Lys - I'm Not Good For You 7. Joda, Robyn Sherwell - Closer (Simon Doty Extended Mix) 8. Gai Barone, Luke Brancaccio, Hannes Bieger - Reflections 9. Steve Parry & Renato Cohen - Marmalade Skies 10. Smash TV, Just Her - All I See is Us ABOUT: Meet Manchild, hailing from Oldham in Greater Manchester. After taking a hiatus from the scene, he returned with a bang in 2019, quickly making a name for himself in the progressive scene. He landed his first big break by supporting one of his all-time favorite DJs, Anthony Pappa in Manchester, and went on to win a nationwide DJ competition to play at London's Ministry of Sound alongside the likes of Shadow Child and Vanilla Ace. Manchild has since gained a residency with the prestigious Manchester brand 'Up Close and Personal Mcr', where he has played alongside some of the biggest names in the industry, including Jody Wisternoff, Marsh, John 00 Fleming, and Richie Blacker. He has also played gigs with London brand 'Free From Sleep', sharing lineups with the likes of Grum, Diode Eins, Mr Sosa, Estiva, My Friend, Richie Blacker, Taches, Asch Pintura, and Redfreya. Recently, Manchild played arguably his biggest night to date for the Scottish brand 'Music is the Answer' at Mains Castle in Dundee. Originally booked to play room 2, he stepped up on the night to play a double set in the main room instead, before handing the decks to none other than James Zabiela. After being invited back to the castle to play again, he will return on July 8th to play alongside Framewerk and Mr Sosa. With a strong love of all things progressive, melodic with the occasional breaks thrown in for good measure, there is still a lot more to come from the Manchild. Thank you for listening

#IFTTT #SoundCloud #Deep #House #Uplifting #energy #upfront #manchild #Radio #Podcast

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itsagrimm · 2 years

Text

7. Spring Reading Recommendations

This list aims at giving a shoutout to longer, sometimes darker fanfics readers might hesitate to commit to due to their length or themes. But these are really GOOD adult reads and you should take a look.

If you have some recommendations for my summer list, comments or criticism, feel free to contact me.

1. The Replacement by @labextia

With Eli Vanto gone, Grand Admiral Thrawn needs a new aide. This new aide is Alemar Corrin who is forced to fill in the big gap, deal with the moody workaholic Thrawn, battle his own personal demons and solve a mystery. Includes minor mentions of sex, major mental health issues, drug and alcohol consumption, blood, etc.

AO3

2. The Way by @daughterofkaraya

Taking care of a force sensitive 50 year old toddler is hard work. Especially if you are a jedi healer named Li'ani who woke up from carbon freeze 30 years after the fall of the jedi temple. This story concentrates on the emotional turmoil of surviving and being alone, showing an actual realistic amount of effort taking care of a child, and refreshingly grown-up confusions about life & sentient interaction between Li'ani and Din Djarin.

AO3 Tumblr

3. I will soften every edge by @jasontoddiefor

Obi-Wan quickly discovers that raising the chosen one is hard. Especially since Obi himself is a rather young master still working through the emotions of loosing his own teacher Qui-Gon Jinn. Facing the homesickness and impulsivity of a kid raised outside of the Jedi temple is an especially tough challenge when things don't go as planned. A story about insecurity, anxiety and growing up.

AO3

4. Cabur by @cora-vizsla

Cabur is the story of a mandalorian warrior being forced to give up The Way due to unfortunate circumstances and choices made by others. It's not only a story about personal convictions, religious upbringing and the mandalorian creed but also about personal responsibility, love between the main character & Paz Viszla, and family.

Tumblr

5. Take me to Church by @frannyzooey

This roller coaster is essentially the lovestory between Din Djarin and an afab sexworker. Set in a Wester AU this smut heavy story goes from indulgent to emotional heavy hitter. Not recommended for sex repulsed readers since most of the story includes smut.

Tumblr

6. Conflicting Aesthetics by @myevilmouse

An art forger is somewhat voluntarily recruited for a mission by the art appreciative Grand Admiral Thrawn. Instead of copying paintings, Seta is tasked with studying rebel art now, acting as a spy and surviving the inquisitory gaze of the mysterious Chiss. The execution of the plot and style are immaculate, reminding me of the spy novel classic "The little Drummer Girl" in both its themes and grittiness.

AO3

7. Saved by Much_Ado_Abt-Novels on AO3

The infamous Boba Fett rescues a Twi'lek woman one day, laying the ground work for the obvious love story and pinning between the two. But the series does not content with just well executed character development and interaction. It also does not shy away from taking a deep dive into meta commentary about problematic aspects in the Star Wars Universe in a smart way.

AO3

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #fic recommendation #personal recommendation #thrawn #thrawn fanfiction #boba fett #boba fett fanfiction #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfiction #paz vizsla #obi wan kenobi #obi wan fanfiction #paz viszla fanfiction #grimmwriting

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hxhbb2021 · 3 years

Photo

Aaaaaand that’s a wrap on the Hunter x Hunter Big Bang 2021! We hope you had fun!

What will happen next is the mod team will be in touch with anyone who hasn’t posted yet, and assigning pinch hitters as necessary. All pinch hits and extensions will be due by the end of August, and we’ll be reblogging them as they come in. Once everything is posted, will make the final list so keep watching this space!

Here’s what was posted on July 29th (putting fic and art together):

***

Main 4 Fic 4: https://twitter.com/danganphobia/status/1420596007784624131?s=20 https://danganphobia.tumblr.com/post/658014929646977024/hey-take-me-away https://arcaladiwoompa.tumblr.com/post/658043708201123840/heres-my-art-for-danganphobias-freaky-friday-au

Gen fic 4: https://kiwizoom.tumblr.com/post/658106544811048960/the-little-hunter-and-the-big-wolf-silversphere

Leopika 10: https://katipunan.tumblr.com/post/658117824806600704/everybodys-chasing-something-chapter-1-flavus

killugon 16 https://twitter.com/emokillugon/status/1418264733229195267?s=20 https://swellteas.tumblr.com/post/658113407568003072/did-a-little-comic-of-this-top-notch-moment-for

CA Fic 1: https://dailykomugi.tumblr.com/post/658060856932843520/for-anyone-that-would-like-to-read-my-fic https://beamiedraws.tumblr.com/post/658056446712446976/the-time-has-come-hxhbb2021-time-this-year-i

killugon 9 https://komacinne.tumblr.com/post/657420285329408000/httpsarchiveofourownorgworks31607930chapters https://twitter.com/komacinne/status/1418321250447810560?s=20 https://twitter.com/ughtenal/status/1421125761591828483?s=19

Misc 5: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32904766/chapters/81660031 https://twitter.com/pnut_art/status/1420840300851961863?s=21

Leopika 2

https://keiharui.tumblr.com/post/656808491688853504/line-down-west-fourth-ruinemavie-hunter-x https://fa-chi.tumblr.com/post/658074614541484032/see-i-told-you-id-make-it-witness-my-entry-for

Main 4 fic 2 https://tippycat333.tumblr.com/post/657444221010231296/this-is-home-chapter-1-midlifecrisiskeith https://twitter.com/tamclam1/status/1420861629374271488?s=20 https://hxhbb2021.tumblr.com/post/658083314188599296

Gen 7 https://yuechama.tumblr.com/post/656829015605346304/fate-and-all-of-its-forms-yuechama-hunter-x https://twitter.com/naneenoona/status/1419470658828861443?s=19

***

The event this year was extremely fun! Thank you to all the writers and artists!

See you in August, and see you next year!

Yours Sincerely,

The HxH Big Bang Mod Team

#hxh #hunter x hunter #hxhbb #hxhbigbang #hxhbb2021 #hxhbigbang2021

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librarycards · 3 years

Note

Hi! I've really appreciated reading your views on the education system and higher education in general, and I don't exactly have a question about that but I guess I am asking for some tips on reading dense academic text. basically I desperately want to consume this book called Authoring Autism, by Melanie Yegeau published in 2018 but it feels so inaccessible to me as someone who hasn't attended college and learned how to read shit like that. it's about neuroqueerness and neurodivergence as an---

identity presented in a queer theory framework and seems like something that would really be up my alley as a queer/trans autistic person and I guess I'm just pissed that it feels hard. do you have any tips on learning how to read academic text and actually stay interested and enjoy it while readily absorbing the knowledge therein? maybe this is a big ask and not something you really have an answer to, but I'm still curious as to your thoughts on it! thx for reading!

hey! this is a really good question, and you’re right that i don’t have one right answer for you, but i can try to give some of the advice that worked for me.

first off, on academic texts and specifically on the yergeau, which i’ve read & adore –– they’re often hard, and authoring autism is dense; this stuff is harder when you aren’t practiced in engaging these type of texts. this is actually my first recommendation –– practice! the *only* reason i feel accustomed to spending time with dense scholarly work is because i’ve done it a ton of times before and i have a plan. there are definitely different degrees of difficulty in various texts, too; you, for example, might want to start with liat ben-moshe or margaret price in terms of Mad/critical ND studies, as i think both are easier accesspoints than yergeau’s highly specific (and also largely unfamiliar to me) rhetoric studies language.

but, yeah. practice! it’s helpful on several levels to start with the seminal texts, not least because there’s also a ton of work by other people elucidating them, and often study guides and questions to help you figure out what’s going on. for example, i’m in a reading group tackling the entirety of Capital this term, which is incredibly challenging for someone (me) unfamiliar with economic theory -- luckily, there are a ton of study guides out there, lectures, videos, and more experienced people in the group to explain terms to me, and i find myself better and better able to understand Marx through all these different interlocutors. even “in my field,” like, you’d best believe i’m reading derrida with at least 3 other tabs open at any given time to cross-check and make sure i’m Getting It.

also, there’s the fact that yergeau themself is building on multiple traditions, but especially w/in queer theory –– these are way easier to get and get through quickly having built up knowledge of heavy hitters like butler, foucault, sedgwick, halberstam (who is cancelled but unfortunately still important in the field), and others. i know some professors of queer studies/gender studies have syllabi up online for intro courses, i’d check out some of those, as well as the bibliography of Authoring Autism, for an idea of who you can read with before turning back to yergeau.

reading shorter chapters, essays, and articles feels more doable in one go than a whole book, and you have a better sense early on of what an argument is going to be (check the abstract and the end of the intro for a “roadmap”). from here, it might be easier to work up to an entire work. with whole books, especially if the topic is unfamiliar, spend a lot of time with the intro, take notes on the structure and organization of the book, the methodology, the examples the author notes from the jump, the terminology they lead with -- taking notes in general is CRUCIAL imo, and having a little base of keywords and ideas to move through the rest of the chapters with is so helpful. also, the intro will have a little summary of every chapter as well as the main argument of the text, which is helpful if you feel lost anywhere in the middle. remember that most of these academic books are composites: they’re built out of dissertations and collections of papers and presentations first given separately. they’re bound for a reason, but can usually be read as standalones.

so we have practicing, chunking, and note-taking so far. i’d also go a step further with the note-taking: a helpful assignment i’ve had in the past is to write a precís, or a general summation of what a text is about, what is it doing, what arguments the author is making, etc, for a given book. these are no more than a paragraph or two. i believe in the saying that “if you can teach it, then you really know it,” and that principle also works for the precís -- if you can get a book down to its bare necessities, it means you really know what it’s doing. think after each chapter you read, could i write a precís on this? can i use 5-7 sentences to sum up what the author is doing? if it feels jumbled, go back to your notes, go back to your highlighted sections, and try again –– and remember that every time you re-read is NOT (NOT!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!) a sign of incompetence, but rather a dedication to the author’s work and a respect for their time and knowledge.

i really want to stress that. struggle, reengagement, rereading, changing perspective....these are very, very good things. necessary. it is completely normal and healthy to have a hard time with scholarly work, even work about one’s own experience. contrary to what a lot of people assume, just because a book is in [ x ] studies doesn’t mean [ x ] is going to understand it; this often comes as a rude awakening when people enter queer studies classes believing it to be an easy A simply because they also happen to be queer. these fields are built on decades / centuries of intellectual tradition that no one inherently Knows, any more than being part of a lineage means you know every single person in your family. what really matters here is a curiosity and dedication to take up a text day after day with the same critical, compassionate eye with which you took up the project of neuroqueer self-determination that brought you here.

lastly, relatedly (and most challengingly for me): accept that you’re never going to understand 100% of anything, ever. as a professor of mine says, give up the patriarchal, colonial desire to “master” a text, to make it submit to you its full, transparent meaning. not only is it not going to happen, but it’s a violent relationship to have with knowledge, both to yourself and your “object.” learning is a lifelong process (hence the importance of re-reading) and Authoring Autism, etc. will stick around regardless of when you’re able to tackle it and in what capacity. i definitely relate to the anger and frustration at feeling “incompetent” in the face of a difficult text, but i try to reframe it as an opportunity to learn, like i’m on a new date and listening to someone tell me about their life for the first time. i won’t get it all on the first try but if it catches my interest, i’ll stick around.

idk if any of this was helpful, and please feel free to message with any other qs, i’m really really really really passionate about ensuring scholarly work is available to those outside the academy & that everyone has the opportunity to engage with it so please consider me a resource in all regards!!

#ask #mosslibrary #ref #academia

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sanderssidesgiftxchange · 5 years

Photo

It’s around that time of year, and you know what that means!

In our holiday spirit, we—@stardustlogan and @viclouis—decided to host this year’s Sanders Sides Secret Santa! (Ah, the alliteration. My 8th grade English teacher is trembling.)

You may be familiar with how Secret Santa works, but just in case, here’s what’s going to happen:

1. Sign up by filling out our sign up form here.

The information you provide in the form will decide what kind of gift you’re going to create and receive, so be sure to fill it out as accurately as possible!

You can specify which characters, ships, types of gifts, and more on the form. Your safety and comfort comes first, so please make sure that you mention it if certain characters/ships trigger you (e.g. Deceit, Remus, ships with either of them, etc.)

2. You will then be matched with a giftee, for whom you will create your gift according to their Secret Santa wishes.

3. Once you have finished making your gift, you will submit it to us via email or a file sharing platform (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

4. Gifts will be posted on this blog starting on Christmas Day (Dec. 25th) for your giftee (and the fandom :D) to enjoy.

Posting will be spaced out over the span of around a week so that your creations don’t get buried under everything else that’s being posted, so don’t fret if you don’t see your gift or your creation posted just yet on the 25th!

5. Have fun perusing all the beautiful new content and, if you like, making your guesses, but please maintain secrecy—that’s part of the fun! That means don’t post your gift on your Tumblr, personal AO3 account, etc. just quite yet.

6. The big Secret Santa reveal will take place on Jan 7th, which is when we will post a list of all the Santas involved and tell you who created which gift. After the 7th, feel free to post the gift you created anywhere you wish to.

Except there WILL be winning this Christmas, for both giftees and Santas :DD

Here’s our schedule:

September 6, 2019 - Sign-ups open

September 20, 2019 - Sign-ups close

October 11, 2019 - Wishlists sent out

December 11, 2019 - Gifts due

December 25, 2019 - Gift posting starts

January 7, 2020 - Santas revealed

If you want to be a part of the exchange but are unsure whether you’ll be able to commit, there are options to become either a Pinch Hitter (someone who makes a gift—possibly at short notice—if a santa drops out or is otherwise unable to complete their gift) or a Beta Reader. Details about this can be found here.

You can find more information as well as the rules & guidelines on our main page. Make sure to follow this blog so you can keep up to date with all the latest news and announcements!

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, and have fun creating !!

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanderssantas19 #sanders sides secret santa 2019

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hwangso-ddong · 3 years

Text

Love Yourself trilogy vs. Every era that came after it. Spoiler: current BTS kinda sucks.

TW: PERSONAL OPINION

Today, in my void of complete lack of productivity, I was thinking about Love Yourself as an era, as a whole, all 3 main releases... and I just find it so much better than whatever BTS is releasing now or even right after LY.

Like, Love Yourself: Her is unprecedented like the assortment of tracks on it is unsurpassable. The title track is still the #1 most viewed BTS song on YouTube. The skit is a skip, yes, it’s a non-track, but whatever. Otherwise, LY:Her is a no skip album, every single track on it is a hit. Not to mention it is the EP that skyrocketed BTS’s popularity outside of the K-pop fandom sphere.

Immediately after, Love Yourself: Tear gave us Fake Love, and such B-side gems as 134340 and Paradise, which I still never skip when they show up on shuffle, along with tracks like The Truth Untold and Airplane Pt. 2 which went viral. Once again, every single track on this album (except for maybe Love Maze because I don’t remember it for the life of me) is a no-skip. I will not tolerate Magic Shop slander, either.

Love Yourself: Answer was arguably not as strong as the other two as a follow-up to them, since it is a compilation album (or repackage) with some (great) additions. It feels like a great way to top off the era, giving every single member a solo track like in You Never Walk Alone. Don’t forget the cultural reset that was IDOL came from this album, as well as I’m Fine which is the track that got me thinking about this whole thing in the first place.

Now, the next era is where BTS started to lose me just a little bit. BTS came back with Map of the Soul: Persona, ushering in a brand new era for the group. And, you know, it’s a pretty solid EP! I like all the songs on it, even Jamais Vu which seems to get a lot of flak for being “uninspired.” However, the title track especially, and the number of tracks on this album, left me wanting juuuuust a little bit more. Did not complain, though! It was great. With the overuse of some production techniques like autotune and the introduction of this more rock-inspired sound of Dionysus, I could tell BTS was heading in a certain direction with their next releases, which I was very skeptical about. And then, after BTS took a well-deserved long break...

Map of the Soul: 7 dropped. With a weeks-long teaser period and the release of Black Swan prior to the release of the album, it seemed like it’d be another hard-hitter. But... Black Swan is actually all this album had in terms of hard-hitters. The overuse of autotune as an artistic choice was back, and it was here to stay, allowing room for critics and fans alike to criticize BTS’s vocal production, as well as the further exploration of the rock-inspired sound that was introduced in the previous EP.

I really do not like MotS:7. I know, I know. The fandom has shunned me once and will do it again. But there’s just no memorable tracks on this thing! ON is a very underwhelming title track on which BTS’s vocals are completely and utterly oversaturated with autotune, the new tracks are just kinda good at best and awful at worst, and there is nothing here for me to hold onto. The only song I can clearly remember from this album is Filter. That’s it. And that’s a Jimin solo song. It feels like it’s hard to find a song on this album where all the members of BTS are participating together in one track... and that’s because there are only two new B-side tracks with all the members! Tracks which, I’m sorry to say, kinda suck! Louder Than Bombs is ironically kinda sleep-inducing, and We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal lasts awfully too long and is so uninspired that if any other group released it, it would flop. The rest of the tracks on this album are either old-school-hip-hop-inspired rap tracks, or slow rock ballads, both of which have absolutely nothing to do with BTS’s previous sounds, and alienate fans like me who expect certain things from a BTS album and just got... the complete opposite.

Now, I know an artist can (and should) release whatever makes them happy, and whatever they feel like they want to create. But when it comes to BTS, I expect something that I can appreciate the artistry of, something that I can listen to and admire the painstakingly shaped production, something that will grab my attention. I tried to listen to Map of the Soul: 7... twice. And I fell asleep both times. I have managed to listen to every song on it, and I don’t remember any single one of them. Nothing stuck out to me, and it still doesn’t. And you know what, as much as y’all don’t want to admit it, it’s not just me. None of the songs on MotS: 7 get any hype anymore, whereas songs like Go Go and Tear have almost cult-like fan favorite status. But wait, I’m not done!

At this point, BTS had lost me with MotS: 7. Bear in mind that I was, and still am, a big fan of BTS, and I got into them for their music first and foremost. And in 2020, Be dropped. Saying I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. I was full-on disappointed. The only worth-while tracks on this album are Telepathy and Dynamite, in my opinion, both of which get by easy because they ride on the disco revival trend of 2020. Even counting the title track, this entire album is a straight up disappointment for me. What infuriated me further was that track 4 is a 3-minute long iPhone recording of the members just talking and joking around, as if to slap the people that actually came for the music in the face. I am not going to worship BTS as a group just because of who they are. I do not care to listen to a 3-minute iPhone recording of 7 Korean boys just existing because I’m a fan of theirs. Most BTS fans do not speak Korean, so there go BTS again, alienating their fans... It’s not fanservice at this point, it’s just laziness!

I get that the point of Be specifically was to be a “homely” and “raw” album from BTS, to help their fans feel more at home with them and get to know them more during the pandemic. It would be a bit disingenuous for BTS to be releasing songs meant for a stadium during the year that nothing was ever open and no concerts were happening. But I don’t think Be was very intentionally put together that way, at least at first - this trend of lazy and underwhelming production from BigHit had been going since the previous album. I don’t think BTS have vocals that can convey the feelings Life Goes On or any other one of their ballads is supposed to convey, and they all end up just sounding bland and boring. They’ve done ballads right before! The Truth Untold is a great example, not even counting the EDM-inspired parts of Steve Aoki’s production. House of Cards is another great waltz ballad from BTS, and it is not boring in the slightest.

I think BTS and BigHit by extension are tired. The production is getting worse, the creativity is getting stale and uninspired, they’re outsourcing more and more... None of these are problems on their own. It’s just that BTS, right now, are not what they used to be. Their music, which should be the main attraction in a music artist, is not that interesting anymore. A lot of fans like to defend it because it’s coming from their favorite group, but if it came from anyone else they wouldn’t have even given it a second listen.

I’m mentioning BigHit as a whole because this laziness in production and overuse of autotune is prevalent in other BigHit groups as well now, namely TXT and ENHYPEN. I love TXT. I really do. But Blue Hour is plagued by the same boring uninspired rock-ballad type tracks as the latest BTS albums... and I really don’t want to see an entire company’s discography shift away from quality pop production towards trend-following and cash-ins.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Mortal Kombat: 15 Most Powerful Characters

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At the end of the day, Mortal Kombat is about a bunch of characters beating the crap out of each other for supremacy. Sure, they toss in stories about tournaments to protect Earth and wars against invading realms, but it all boils down to martial artists brutally punching the hell out of each other until one explodes into a pile of viscera and five ribcages.

Being a fighting game, you expect all the fighters to be on the same level. Even forgettable losers like Hsu Hao and Kai should stand a chance against gods and otherworldly overlords. A nigh-invincible megalomaniac villain can lose to one of their bumbling underlings just as easily as they can lose to the game’s main hero. At least, that’s ideally how fighting games should be balanced.

Storywise, it’s different. Certain characters are straight-up in their own leagues compared to others. Does Jarek really stand a chance against Shinnok? Would Li Mei last five seconds against Blaze? Does Kobra have what it takes to take down Raiden? Not on paper, no.

So here’s a list of the top 15 most powerful characters in the Mortal Kombat series. With this list, there are two main rules:

1) I’m going with the characters at their most powerful, not how powerful they are most of the time.

2) I’m going with the canon storyline. Otherwise, the list would just be made up of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon endings. No DC Universe crossover stuff and no guest characters in general. Sorry, Spawn.

Now let’s see who has the most juice in all the realms.

15. GERAS

This guy is so frightening that his power is more of a curse than a blessing. Geras has near endless experience, having lived through countless timelines over and over again, and is skilled enough to fight off Liu Kang and Kung Lao at the same time. He is also be completely unkillable, as his mastery over time reversal will undo whatever wounds befall him. Granted, Shao Kahn beat him into a blob of red pulp and Geras hasn’t been heard from since, but I’m sure he’ll be back to his old self soon enough.

The rough truth regarding Geras is that being unkillable doesn’t mean he’s unstoppable. In the initial Mortal Kombat 11 timeline, Raiden knocked Geras into an endless ocean of blood in which where Geras was doomed to sink for eternity. Yeah, I’ll be fine over here with my mortality.

14. SINDEL

In the early days, Sindel didn’t seem so tough. She was just a plot device in desperate need of pants. Then Mortal Kombat 9 happened and we got that scene where Shao Kahn empowered her with Shang Tsung’s soul and set her loose. Suddenly, Sindel turned into an Edenian John Cena and cut through most of the heroes like a hot knife through butter. Sub-Zero, Jax, Smoke, Kabal, Stryker, Jade, and Kitana all died by her hand in mere moments while Nightwolf had to sacrifice himself to take her off the board.

This is why Shang Tsung aimed to resurrect her in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. Who else was going to help him get past Cetrion? And while Sindel did win one-on-one against Cetrion, the scene itself looked more like she stunned Cetrion enough for Fujin and Shang Tsung to capitalize and put her on the shelf. Had they not been there, I feel like Sindel would have eventually been overwhelmed. At least, that’s my interpretation.

13. CETRION

Cetrion is Mother Nature. That alone tells you what you need to know. Shinnok’s virtuous (yet still kind of evil) sister would be considered his equal if only she had a final form like him. Regardless, Cetrion is such a threat that Jax and Jacqui Briggs can only stand up to her for a limited time by wearing Kronika’s crown at a detriment to their own health. She also wiped out the rest of the Elder Gods, although that happened completely off-screen.

12. SHINNOK

Here we have Mortal Kombat’s version of Satan. Shao Kahn would later talk shit about Shinnok’s fighting skills, but he’s an Elder God and rules this reality’s version of Hell. He’s an absolute heavy hitter.

He also looks like a total dork when he’s in his base form, but thankfully his Corrupted Shinnok form makes up for that. Corrupted Shinnok is no joke, especially in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, where you’re better off cheesing it back to Earthrealm than fighting him head-on.

11. RAIDEN

Raiden was the guy so jacked up that they had to make up a reason for why he couldn’t take part in the first couple games’ tournaments. He was just there to give advice and moral support. What else would you expect from a god among men? He also thwarted Shinnok back in the day to save Earthrealm, meaning he was already a major piece of work by the start of the first game.

Raiden’s apex form is triggered whenever he wields Shinnok’s amulet. It doesn’t make him unbeatable, but it does put an extra pep in his step. The drawback is that it turns his eyes red and he becomes a total dick. Still a step up from him constantly tripping over his own feet on his way to consult the Elder Gods.

10. CASSIE CAGE

Cassie’s is one of the most powerful Mortal Kombat characters but there’s an asterisk. Seemingly more competent and driven than her father, Cassie is so skilled at using her green glow to the point that she was able to defeat Corrupted Shinnok. That’s because the Cage bloodline was bred and trained for the sole purpose of creating mortals who could slay gods. Her DNA is like kryptonite to the likes of Shinnok.

She does have some other impressive wins, like taking down revenant versions of Sindel and Liu Kang. Her Mortal Kombat X ending (which isn’t explicitly canon, but I have no reason to think it isn’t) has her kill Shujinko. Many fans consider that to be a bit on the bullshit side, but this Shujinko would have been 20 years older than the one from the previous continuity and wouldn’t have been powered up by the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception, so it’s not a big stretch (or a big enough deal) that Cassie could take out a martial artist Mr. Burns.

9. QUAN CHI

This sorcerer doesn’t have the raw power of the other main villains, and he gets completely clowned in Mortal Kombat X, but he is smart and sneaky enough to get what he wants most of the time. While overshadowed by Onaga, you also can’t forget that in the conclusion of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung took down a handful of Earthrealm’s strongest warriors, defeated Raiden, then turned on each other with Quan claiming ultimate victory.

Various endings show that while he is working under Shinnok, he has the means to overthrow him if need be. This is especially apparent in Mortal Kombat 9, where Quan Chi has the rights to use necromancy on all of those slain during Shao Kahn’s invasion. He has a whole army of revenants at his disposal, and there are some serious heavy hitters mixed in there.

8. ONAGA

The Dragon King’s introduction came with so much hype that you could almost hear the other characters soil themselves in unison when he stomped onto the scene. On his own, Onaga was a wrecking machine, but in Mortal Kombat: Deception, he had the Kamidogu pieces, which made him completely unstoppable. Unstoppable enough that he shrugged off attacks from the united forces of Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi. Add to that his ability to resurrect the dead and mind-control them and you had the ultimate threat.

EXCEPT…those Kamidogu pieces weren’t exactly unbreakable. I don’t know how hard those things are supposed to be, but in-game they would shatter just by walking into them. Either way, Shujinko was able to shatter them all himself and that depleted Onaga’s power enough to to end him. Being a reptilian juggernaut means only so much when you have such an overt off switch.

7. SHUJINKO

The most gullible hero of the Mortal Kombat franchise spent his entire life questing and fighting for what ended up being Onaga’s resurrection. In return, Onaga blessed him with Taskmaster powers. Shujinko can copy fighting styles from other warriors and has been doing so for decades.

That ended up being Onaga’s undoing, as Shujinko absorbed the abilities and fighting skills of just about every playable character in Mortal Kombat: Deception. After shattering the Kamidogu artifacts and removing Onaga’s invulnerability, Shujinko had no problem thrashing him. While experience was his ultimate weapon, the only thing really weighing him down was his aging and human mortality.

6. BLAZE

Blaze, by design, is a top tier beast. He’s the final boss in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, a game that brings back every Mortal Kombat character in one massive roster. When guys like Onaga and Goro are playable and they’re working their way up to take on Blaze, it really says something about what this guy’s about. Not to mention he’s the catalyst for ultimate power, turning whoever can slay him into an enhanced, godly version of his or herself.

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While it seemed at first that new hero character Taven would be the one to end Blaze, Taven was instead slayed and the real winner was Shao Kahn. Unfortunately, this is where things get a little hairy because we don’t know if Kahn would have truly been able to defeat Blaze one-on-one or if, say, Taven wounded Blaze and Kahn took advantage. Either way, it looks like Blaze straight-up took the L and wasn’t the be-all/end-all after all.

5. SHAO KAHN

Shao Kahn has always been the go-to villain of Mortal Kombat, and as the recurring villain, he’s taken his lumps. He’s suffered defeats at the hands of Liu Kang, Raiden, and Kitana. When he took over Outworld, he killed Onaga by poisoning him because battle was too risky. So yes, Base Shao Kahn may be tougher than most, but he’s not invincible.

But then you have Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, which was Kahn’s real showcase. After dominating the free-for-all, Kahn was grabbed and taken away by Onaga. As foreboding as that would seem for Kahn, he not only bounded back from that, but he also ended up being the last man standing after slaying Blaze. That enhanced Shao Kahn’s strength even more and turned him into a multiversal threat, thwarted only because of Raiden’s desperate use of time travel.

4. KRONIKA

After years of telling us that Elder Gods were the ultimate beings, NetherRealm decided to reveal another tier of beings called Titans who rank even higher. So far we only know Kronika, the Keeper of Time, who is so overpowered that nearly everyone on the roster should have absolutely zero shot against her. She controls time like it’s nothing. Overcoming that isn’t like dodging a fireball.

Thankfully, Kronika has one major weakness: while she can rewrite history, she can’t omit the gods. She can’t create a world without Raiden. Raiden still can’t beat her one-on-one, but it’s through that loophole that Kronika ultimately meets her downfall.

2. LIU KANG (TIE)

The series’ initial protagonist was always fighting above his weight class. He spent the first four games taking down Goro, Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, and Shinnok. His canon deaths came in the form of an ambush perpetrated by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, and later an accidental frying from Raiden’s hand. In fact, he spent multiple continuities clashing with Raiden.

That was nothing compared to what he became at the end of Mortal Kombat 11. Two Liu Kangs from different parts of history merged together into one being, with Raiden handing over his godly power, giving us an incarnation of Liu Kang that was not only a god but had control over both electricity and fire. This was the upgrade needed to destroy Kronika and put Liu Kang in control of time itself.

2. SHANG TSUNG (TIE)

As it turned out, Fire God Liu Kang wasn’t equipped to wield Kronika’s magical hourglass for long without her crown, or else time would eventually collapse. Shang Tsung popped in to explain all this, making it clear that he was reality’s only choice. Liu Kang and Fujin realized that they had to give into Shang’s obvious trickery to save everyone.

By the end of his adventure, Shang Tsung had re-killed Kronika and wore her crown while empowered by the souls of Kronika, Raiden, Fujin, Shao Kahn, and Sindel.

Then Fire God Liu Kang popped in to take over. The two rivals faced off and the player was given the choice of which character they wanted to play as. As it is right now, we don’t know who won the epic battle in official canon, so consider Liu Kang and Shang Tsung to be tied until further notice.

1. THE ONE BEING

The most powerful being in Mortal Kombat is not playable in any of the games, nor has it appeared as a boss. In fact, the One Being is presumably too powerful to be portrayed in humanoid form at all. It’s the Galactus of the Mortal Kombat universe, though honestly even more threatening.

The One Being existed at the beginning of time, along with the Elder Gods, and initially fed off of them. The Elder Gods struck back and were able to break the One Being apart into the various realms. If the realms were to be merged back together, it would awaken the One Being once more and destroy all of existence. Despite their desire to be top dog, guys like Shao Kahn, Onaga, Shinnok, and Shang Tsung are unknowingly being influenced by this ominous force.

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freemanverse-casualcomp-au · 3 years

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Behind GorgeousMan’s Legacy

When GorgeousMan’s name known across the international Tekken community? Well, it was started from Antoine’s first big tournament in EVO and creating history among North American Tekken community.

Most of all, Dean’s company was the true MVP behind his success.

(2 years before Antoine and Dean got hired by Black Mesa...)

(Antoine: 22 y/o. Dean: 21 y/o)

“WAIT, WHAT?! YOU MANAGED TO ENTER INTO EVO TOURNAMENT?!”

Antoine lightly laughed as he saw Dean’s shocked reaction, his body got shaken by the shorter man as he babbled in excitement. “Nie, you aren’t representing any org and you just put yourself there? Aw fuck, I can’t- ”

“Woah, dearie, I gotta stop you right there for a second.” The bigger man pulled himself from the shorter man’s grasp. “I purposely not telling you about it because I guessed that you’ll get stressed out and both of us know how you handling yourself when you got something stuck in your mind.”

Dean scoffed hearing his roommates’ comment but didn’t give any kind of rejection because he knew he was right about it. He saw the shorter man’s worrywart side, always reminded him to eat or take a good rest without knowing that he neglected himself. Even when they were still at MIT, he was his reminder to all his assignments and schedules.

Gosh, he’s the nicest man he’d ever met.

“There are thousands of contestant to beat, Nie. Like, all of them aren’t coming without any kind of skills.” Dean muttered out loud, he let himself fell down to his beanbag chair as he pulled out his phone and started to type something before showing the screen to him. A picture of a mocha-coloured short-haired man showing off his wide grin as he held a glass trophy. “Rick from Aperture Games is also competing there as one of the top 8 players on last year’s EVO.” He scrolled the screen lower, showing a short jet black-haired woman wearing a white cap with some sort of grey symbol softly smiling at the crowd. “And the infamous back-to-back champion of EVO, adv1s0r from Combine Tech!”

Of course, he knew both of them. Johnny “Rick” Grady was one of the more known players among those who know the American Tekken. He came to represent the Aperture Games as he mowed down his opponents with Eddy, a middle-tier and speedy Tekken character that packs quite a punch if people managed to master his quick movements. Meanwhile, the mysterious “adv1s0r” from Combine Tech is a Korean player whose known for being the daughter of the Combine’s CEO and a genius for playing Dragunov, one of the supposedly top-tier characters and a heavy-hitter.

In EVO, however, North American players were underestimated too much.

Maybe he could make it into his advantage?

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” He took one of Dean’s palm and squeezed it gently, “I got a plan for that.”

“...You still doing the nicknames, huh...” Antoine’s heart fluttered, he sat beside him and put his head under the crook of Dean’s neck. The shorter man flinched at first, but then gave in and nuzzled against the taller man’s hair.

“Ah, you don’t like it, honey? The shorter man lowly hummed as if he was thinking about it, although Antoine knew his answer already.

“...I don’t mind it.”

“If you say so, Boo~” And both of them stayed in that position for a while, Dean scrolling through his phone while Antoine watched him out. It took him a while before realizing he was looking for EVO tournament information. Dean looked up at him with his infamous deadpan stare. “Uhhhh, what is it, babe?”

“Three days until the tournament and the main location is in Las Vegas, huh?” He kept staring at him, Dean’s green eyes met his darker ones. “Are you going alone or with somebody? Do you need to book an Airbnb? How about the plane tickets-”

Dean’s train of questions got silenced by a single peck on his cheek. His only response to that was another dead stare. “Calm down there, sweetie,” He gave the shorter man some pats on his head, burying his hand under those dark brown strands, “I’ve planned most of them already. Plane tickets are ready to go, along with the Airbnb booking and some replacement parts for my Arcade Pad.” He took the phone out from his hand and placed it beside him. “I just need a travel partner to go with, so you know where this conversation is going.”

“...You smooth fucker, I’m in.”

“I’m glad you catch my drift there.”

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

“Nie, look, they also held Marvel vs Capcom 2 here, too! Wait, is that GO1*?! I can see him playing on Dragonball Fighter Z area from here!!”

Dean ran wild among the crowds and scanned his surroundings excitedly, while Antoine watched over him. He could see how his roommate’s green eyes sparkled upon arriving at the entrance, running around to every cosplayer and pointing at some of the players they both knew. Seeing his childlike side made his heart warm.

“Oh, and anyway,” Dean turned around to face him and pointed at him, no, his clothing, “most people are wearing t-shirts and other casual tops, and you really want to wear that?

Antoine looked down, checking out his black button-up blazer with a black hooded jacket under it, his white shirt and a navy-blue tie peeked out from the unzipped area. His black skinny jeans and white plimsoll sneakers accompanied his top perfectly. Meanwhile, Dean was wearing his favourite oversize navy blue hoodie with a pair of black 3/4 jeans and black-white running sneakers. His black beanie framed his clean-shaven face.

In his defence, he wanted to look a bit formal as a good first impression to his opponents.

Antoine looked back at the shorter man and shrugged, earning a small groan. “Damn, it’s hard to let go that old habit of yours, huh?” He flashed his smirk at his roommates, once again earning another small groan. “Guess I can’t really blame you. It suits you.”

“Of course it is, pumpkin~” He began to lightly flex his well-developed muscles, the result of going to the gym every day. “I am GorgeousMan, a North American Tekken player, ready to defeat my enemies in style~”

“Yea, I know you will...” Dean snatched on of his hands and pulled him as they walked together to the Tekken 7′s qualification booth. “There are more than a thousand and five hundred players, separated between seventy pools and you’re in the pool F602.” He stopped walking and pulled him to his front, then pushed him until they were facing the re-registration staff. “Remember to have fun when playing, Nie.” He gave him a single pat on the back and a small smile, then left him there as he walked towards the audience seat.

Well, time to have fun, shall we?

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

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

He beat all of them in just two rounds.

He didn’t even struggle nor break a sweat as he demolished his opponents with King’s WWE-inspired moves, eyes locked onto the screen while both his hands expertly tapping buttons and moving the joystick, creating a dance for his character to follow and making combos after combos.

He emerged victorious inside his pool, putting himself inside the winner bracket along with other pool victors.

He survived.

And most of all, he’s acting like himself while at it, finger gunned the camera while winking at the audience sometimes. Most of them were surprised more of a fact that he wasn’t sponsored nor belong to any org, while he was dressed like someone that didn’t belong on the stage. Especially on his last match with one of the player. he could feel the searching gaze as he scanned his entire attire.

“I’ve never seen you on the major tournament before.” Was his most asked question during meeting other players. He could recognize only a handful of them, and only one of his match got properly viewed by the casters and pro players noticed his presence in the match from his iconic appearance.

“Beware of The Player in Hooded Blazer, he’s strong.”

The Player in Hooded Blazer, huh...

“Hey, Nie, you’ve been staring at the ceiling for a while.”

His thought broke and he took a glance at Dean, playing Half-Life 2 on his laptop beside him. Knowing his roommates, Antoine guessed that he’s trying to break his own speedrun record again by dissecting the game even further or looking for corners he could cut. His focus hadn’t left his game yet, but he could feel the shorter man’s intense glare somehow.

“No, it’s just- today has been very overwhelming for me...” That statement was true. This is the first time people acknowledged him for his skills rather than his background. His look became his trademark among both rising starts and older pro players. Even one of his opponents complimented him, saying that he “really is a gorgeous man” and that thought alone brightened his day a lot.

His roommate hummed a bit before pausing his game and closing his laptop, eyes now fully focused at him. “Don’t push yourself too hard.” He patted his shoulder and squeezed it gently, almost affectionate. “You’re still in progress to adapt to this kind of environment. You got yourself a name and a reputation among those who have played against you and some who watched you play.” Dean’s lips formed a small smile. “You are no longer just another small problem to forget, you are now in their wanted list.” He gave him some more pats on his shoulder before packing his laptop back and laying down on the bed. “Your next few days will be harder than today, so take some good rest for tonight.”

Antoine knew personally that Dean was bad at comforting people, but this is the first time he’d seen his genuine attempt to comfort him.

...He’s too nice for his own sake...

The taller man smiled softly, looking down at the smaller figure beside him before finally laying down next to him.

...Maybe choosing the room with double bed for cheaper price wasn’t a bad idea, after all.

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

It's the second day on the tournament and he hadn’t been lost even once yet. Some of those players that he’d beaten was known from their performances at many international tournaments, only for them to look in awe as Antoine’s King perform his infamous back break and body slam. Nobody was safe from his grasp, not even the legendary JeonDDing* and NOROMA*. Many agencies and gaming orgs were taking an interest at him and some of them even offered a place for him in there, but he turned all of them down.

Overall, he felt incredible.

He only needed one more win to get into finals.

“Nie, there you are!” He turned around to the source of the voice, watching as Dean jogging to him while holding two bottles of Pocari. “You’ve been playing for a while there,” He handed one of them to him, which he accepted, “so you might need to chill for a bit before meeting your last opponent.”

The bottle was cool to touch, he assumed his roommate got it from the vending machine. He opened the sealed cap and took a few good gulps. The cool, slightly salty liquid washed out some of his fatigue a bit and refreshed his mind a little. He let out a satisfied huff, throwing out the now-empty bottle into a trashcan beside him. “Thanks, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah, your wel-”

“Wait, is that the orgless player who put some top players under loser’s bracket?”

“Hooded blazer man...yes, it’s the dark horse of this event!”

“Did you see him kicking pekos* with those sick King combos?”

Their conversation was cut off short as some audiences walked towards them. Their gaze of him was awfully familiar, sending some chills under his spine. He tried his nervousness under his usual prideful smile facade. “Hey, what are you guys up to?”

“Bro, we saw your matches and we’re very impressed!” A̶r̶e̶n̴’̴t̴ ̶y̸o̶u̶ ̸t̷h̴e̶ ̶n̵e̷w̸ ̴s̶t̵u̵d̸e̶n̴t̵ ̴f̸r̵o̴m̷ ̸t̷h̶a̸t̵ ̶v̶e̸r̵y̴ ̷r̵i̶c̷h̷ ̸f̶a̸m̶i̶l̵y̷?̵ ̷T̸h̸a̶t̵’̸s̶ ̷s̴o̸ ̷c̴o̶o̸l̶!̷

Wait, what the-

“Yeah, can you give me tips for playing King? I wanted to main him personally now.” C̷a̵n̴ ̷y̷o̶u̸ ̷b̷u̷y̵ ̷u̷s̸ ̴s̸o̴m̵e̷t̷h̸i̶n̷g̶,̵ ̷f̷r̸i̴e̴n̵d̶?̶

Why those cursed memories have to come out now?!

“We’ll be cheering on you, man!” W̶e̷’̷r̶e̴ ̶c̴o̸u̶n̶t̴i̸n̷g̶ ̵o̷n̴ ̷y̸o̷u̴,̷ ̵r̴i̴c̶h̶ ̷g̸u̷y̶.̶

Nononononononoidontwanttogoback-

“Thanks for the support, guys!” Dean’s forced high pitched-up voice snapped those bad thoughts away in a single sentence, he could feel a pair of his roommate’s hands grasped onto his shoulder tightly and dragged him away from the forming crowd around them. Either it’s his imagination or he could feel slight tremble from both grips. After a while of turning and twisting their path, they’d found themselves back near the big stage and stopped. The trembling grip finally released and he heard a long shaky sigh.

“Dean, you goo-”

“No, that’s MY question to YOU!” Dean stomped his way to face him, pointing at his chest while maintaining eye contact. “You looked like you’re about to die there, and now I’m worried like hell!”

“You don’t need to worry about me, De-”

“I have the right to be FUCKING WORRIED, ANTOINE!!!” Dean rarely raised his voice, but it’s different this time.

Dean...frustrated?

“Please, Dean, calm dow-” Dean’s loud groan cut him before he could finish his words.

“See?! You just- you’re doing it again!!!” His breathing rhythm got shorter over time. “When you got stressed out or emotional, you don’t call me by those nicknames! I’m not that stupid, Nie!” He tried to hold his breath to slow down, but failed and now it's gotten shakier. “The last time you didn’t call me by names, you got caught back inside your dumb family drama and I need to wrangle you out from there.”

Ah, he didn’t notice the detail.

“I-I can explain-”

“GorgeousMan, please enter the stage right now. Your next opponent is waiting.”

He heard the announcement from the staff, but both of them didn’t break ther eye contact before Dean gently smacked his shoulder once and walked away.

Don’t get stressed out, that’s what his roommate’s indirect message.

Well, hope he could apply that advice on-stage.

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

“Pardner, you’re one hell of a player back there.”

“...I screwed my combos for three times straight and almost lost to you. That’s not an achievement.”

“Tell that to when you went full ham and reverse sweeping on the match point.”

“Said the ones who interrupted most of my attempts at counter hitting on the first round.”

Rick, or Johnny, laughed upon hearing Antoine’s vent rambling, both sitting on a long bench outside the venue. Although he won against this southern player, the win wasn’t as good as those previous ones he’d earned in these two days. It somehow leaves a bitter taste to his mouth due to all those bad thoughts affecting his performance. He tried to loosen up, but Johnny’s Eddie only adding up more problems. It somehow helped him block out the thoughts and managed to beat him out of annoyance.

Meanwhile, Dean was quiet beside him, his eyes staring at the ground as if he wanted to avoid any eye contacts. He caught him glancing and the man immediately went back to staring down. Sometimes he saw him squeezing the pads of his fingers until they’re bluish or gnawing at his own thumb, littering it with bite marks.

From the looks of it, he’s badly anxious.

He needs to do something before Dean broke down.

“It’s been fun chatting with you, but we have to go.” Antoine got up from the bench and gently grabbed Dean’s hand. “Good luck on loser’s bracket, I heard you’re fighting qudans*?” The southern player nodded before pulling out his phone.

“Wait, can I have both of your contacts? We should meet up sometimes.” He raised one of his eyebrows.

“Both?” Johnny nodded again, his eyes shifted to the fidgety Dean.

“Aren’t you that Half-Life speedrunner DFree? One of my friends in the org is actually your biggest fan!” Dean stopped his fidgeting and now staring back at the player. “You might know him, he specializes in Portal speedrun-”

“You mean Ke- I mean spacey?” If there’s any trace of his anxiousness on his face before, it vanished into thin air, leaving only a pair of curious eyes. “The hyperactive space nerd who knows the entire space trivia?”

Johnny lightly chuckled. “Oh, you really do know him! Kevin would be delighted to hear that.”

“How’s Kevin? Is he still reading some space-related contents?”

“Hell, Ms Caroline bought him a dozen of NASA books and space encyclopedias and he’s now using that big brain of his to annoy Gladys.”

Dean cackled out loud, while Antoine watched him in awe. This is the first time he’d seen his roommate didn’t shy away from a conversation with other people other than him. “He’s legit older than me, and yet still as childish as ever.”

“True, right?” Johnny checked his phone screen and his eyes widened. “Aw shucks, ten minutes until the loser’s bracket begin and I need to go now.” And with that, he ran back into the venue, leaving both Freemans outside.

Now, time to tell him that-

“I’m sorry Nie, I’ve been pretty harsh to you.”

...Eh?

“I know I got out-of-hand at that time, I-I don’t want to see you like the first time we met a-and I got a bit panicky there and I shouldn’t raise my voice to someone older, but I di-”

He wrapped Dean with the warmest hug he could’ve possibly made. Slowly, his hand stroking the dark brown strands below the beanie the man was wearing while rubbing circles on his back in a comforting manner. “That’s okay, dear. You have every right to do that.” He smiled, a small sigh of relief escaped from his lips. “I’m also sorry for making you worry back then, too.”

Both of them were now hugging in the middle of Las Vegas’ cold autumn and nobody disturb them.

“...We forgot to give Rick our contact, huh?”

“Don’t worry, he should know my Twitter username and send a DM there.”

They chuckled, the tense atmosphere between them has vanished.

This is nice...

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

EVO’s Sunday Stage is always the biggest part of EVO, with variations of arcade fighting gamers and fans gather around under one building for one thing; watching the peak of the tournaments.

In Antoine’s case; Tekken 7 finals.

To be honest, he’s not fully ready yet. As in “How the hell he managed to go to Top 4 while orgless and a newcomer?” kind of not ready. In addition, Rick got eliminated by qudans*, making him the only North American player in this big Sunday Stage.

The stage is way bigger than the last two days. Big screens, big stadium, a big number of audience, everything just overwhelmingly big.

He’s not just nervous; he’s incredibly anxious.

“Today’s first semifinal match is going to be an interesting one, between a newcomer who has turned himself into the dark horse of this tournament, the rumoured Man in Hooded Blazer GorgeousMan, versus The Defending Champion of EVO adv1s0r. Who will move on to the final stage?”

The crowd explodes with cheers as he and his opponent entered the stage, his hands gripping down the arcade pad tightly. Now as he looked at adv1s0r’s face, she looks like one of those cold villains. Her lips pulled into a small frown and her black eyes lacked any kind of liveliness.

He feels threatened by her presence alone.

But he couldn’t back down.

Not now, not ever.

Whatever is the result, he’ll face it on.

He grinned widely, putting up his prideful facade once again.

(Goddamnit, he’s nervous, isn’t he? He couldn’t help him from the audience seat, but what if he...yeah that could work.)

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

“And what a devastating defeat at the start of the round, with adv1s0r leading the match!”

Ah, he’s fucked.

He made mistakes around the combos and that little shithead’s Dragunov just fucking up with him from time to time. His hands were trembling as he fumbling with the stick and buttons. With the added pressure of stress, he’s not in his top form.

Overall, he feels like shit.

It’s been a long time since he cursed this much, but yeah fuck this.

He took a big gulp of bottled water and tried to re-calibrating his fingers again, reciting every combo from his head, but his nervousness still sticking there.

Also, this fucking headphone is uncomfortable as hell, he better let this go or else-

As soon as he pulled out his headphone, his ear was greeted by the loudest cheers he’d ever heard from the audience. Although he’d heard many kinds of cheers from many EVO tournament he’d watched, this cheer, however, was different.

The crowd were cheering for North America.

They were cheering for him.

He is their last hope to show what North American players could do.

And somehow, it replaced all the pressure in his mind with a newfound determination.

Grinning with pride, he relaxed his grip on his arcade pad.

Time for GorgeousMan to defeat his enemies with style~

(From the audience seat, Dean smiled. Looks like his plan worked perfectly.)

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Up forward, 4, 4, dash, 1, 2, dash, 1, dash, 1, 2, forward two times, 1, forward three times and press 2 and 4 at the same time.

That’ll be the final hit and-

“- and then OH MY GOD, HE DID IT!!!”

He jolted out from his seat and started to shout out of his mind, joined by thousands of the crowd’s erupted cheers.

His clothes were soaked with cold sweat and tears were falling down his cheek, but he didn’t care at all.

He’d reached the level he’d thought he never reach with his own skills.

Screw being a politician like his family once wanted, being himself is already addicting enou-

“NICE JOB, NIE!!!”

His body got tackled by a familiar hug of Dean’s, which he then returned the hug tightly. A warm feeling crept into his heart as he saw his roommate also tightened the hug. “I couldn’t do it without you, darling. Thank you for your companion.”

Dean flashed the brightest and most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Nah, Nie. You did it yourself.” He pulled himself out from the taller man’s side and pointed out at the crowd. “They’re for you. You proved that American players aren’t weak at all, and the cheers are their way of saying thank you. The only thing I did was just to convinced them to cheer for you.”

“Their cheers are your reward now. Go and respond to them.”

And then, he broke down in tears, sobbing out loud in both relief and happiness.

He was lucky to have a friend like him.

(Dean glanced at adv1s0r’s frustration face, he swore he saw a man in a suit on the corner of his eyes, but then he’s gone when he tried to take a good look at him, along with adv1s0r herself.)

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XXth October 20XX, the day when its Match of The Year became one of the most memorable among Tekken players, a name was known to the entirety of every North American player and worldwide as one of the sole North American Tekken players who managed to reach the finals through the winner’s bracket.

After placing himself on the 3rd place of EVO Tournament, he kept moving forward to annual EVO Japan and later Tekken World Tour after getting accepted by Black Mesa org.

Since then, he was feared as The Player in Black Hooded Suit, GorgeousMan.

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Footnotes:

- Players with (*) mark exist IRL. GO1, however, isn’t a Tekken player.

-(Up forward, 4, 4, dash, 1, 2, dash, 1, dash, 1, 2, forward two times, 1, forward three times and press 2 and 4 at the same time.) : One of King’s combo, resulting in 69 damages in 9 hits.

#Players' Background Stories #DFree #GorgeousMan

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