#basically everything is daniels fault

[it-s-blue-ink]

Tw abortion, religion, anti-daniel saltzman

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Thoughts on Bella's pregnancy (meta)

Daniel is a religious man. He's his daughter's father, her guardian, she's his responsibility until she is married to another man. (As a woman, Bella had little rights or ability to be truly independent. But she was rich (or Daniel was) so she might be all right for a while, until Daniel decided she ought get married.)

Then she got pregnant. There is only one response to an accidental pregnancy, to a rich old timey religious man.

Get married, yesterday. Do not give birth out of wedlock.

Daniel had control over Bella, she could not have gotten an abortion or 'gone to visit relatives' without his permission.

She didn't love Arthur, Arthur didn't love her. Neither of them wanted to get married to each other. But they had to, because Bella was pregnant, and she couldn't get an abortion without Daniel's help.

If it was possible I think she would have had an abortion. Arthur would have been a composer, she would have studied even more and not have to join the work force as a seamstress. They would have drifted apart.

But Daniel made Bella keep the pregnancy, made them get married. Bella died in childbirth, and Faroe... well.

I wonder if Daniel secretly, sometimes wishes he had acted differently. Probably not. Too proud to acknowledge his own mistakes. He's a bit like Arthur in that way. Also he's a deeply religious man, so he probably believes he'll see them in the afterlife, so it's fine.

[superectojazzmage]

A big aspect of the Skybound Transformers - as I've observed before - is framing the Autobots and Decepticons as akin to dysfunctional families, and I really adore all the ways that manifest. But in particular I like how Starscream and Soundwave are depicted as basically abused siblings who each learn horrible things from abusive father figure Megatron, causing them to perpetuate the cycle of abuse in their own ways.

Starscream picked up - or rather, had it beat into him - Megatron's viciousness and general toxic-masculine meathead worldview. He spent his youth being essentially slapped up the head and told to act like a man or else he was a pussy and no son of Megatron's is gonna be a pussy. Thus you get his present day self as basically an insecure thug who's constantly bullying everyone around him and blows up at the slightest provocation because he thinks that if he shows any softness whatsoever than he'll be a failure of a man, and that to show weakness is to be hurt. He beats around the other Decepticons and threatens them into following his lead, repeating the exact kind of treatment Megatron subjected him to, and he does it just because that's what he's been taught a leader is like.

Soundwave picked up Megatron's holier-than-thou attitude, hypocrisy, and warped "family comes first" ethos. He genuinely wants to do what's right by his fellow Decepticons, but also cares about them over everything else and thinks nothing of violating his own morals for their sake. And as he commits awful crimes, he avoids reflecting on the implications of what he's doing by using "the cause" as a blanket justification for everything he does, convincing himself that he lacks agency. In his head, it's not HIS fault he kills people, he HAS to do it, his troops are counting on him and the new world that will be born from a Decepticon victory will make all the suffering mean something. And when the other Decepticons question it, he just berates and guilt trips them back in line to avoid having to question himself, becoming the exact kind of domineering jerk of a commander that he hates.

I might make another post about the other examples of this theme, but for now I'll just say, if you're not reading Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers, you NEED to be reading it, it's so damn good.

[notdeezy]

Eeee Lovely art!!!!

I quickly want to point out that I think this is very intentional from the game!! The reason why the loading screen stories bothered with telling us about Henry Bedloe is not only to draw similarities and parallels between both of their behavior (I.e Both Daniel and Henry being very traumatized people with their trauma driving them to do bad things) but it also establishes that Daniel always had a tendency to resort to violence for his problems ever since childhood and tried rationalizing them, painting both Henry and eventually Elise as bad people who deserved bad things, even if it isn't true (and Daniel knows it isn't true).

This is important because it means that Alexander hardly had to do any manipulation to get Daniel to torture and kill people to his benefit. Daniel always had the potential to hurt the people around him.

I just noticed the similarity

[mythunderstorm]

We‘ll be okay | DR3

Daniel Ricciardo x reader

summary: It’s normal to argue. You know that. But that doesn’t mean it hurts any less, even tho you know you and Daniel will work it out in the end.

warnings: bit angsty, actually not sure what else to say. Soft ending tho

a/n: i‘m so sorry for not posting a lot atm. I have so many drafts but I can’t seem to finish them. Whenever I try to write it’s like my brain shuts off completely. Not even sure if this is any good but it’s the only thing I was able to complete, so enjoy ig haha

masterlist

Arguments. They‘re normal, every couple has to face them at one point. Some argue more, some less. But it’s normal. They happen, you talk it out, you make up. Normal.

You and Daniel argue. Normal. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. Normal. What wasn’t normal, is that you had to leave the apartment. It wasn’t normal for him to yell at you like this, both of you throwing words at each other you didn’t actually mean. Not normal.

You had to get out, leave for a bit. Before anyone of you says something you can’t take back at the end.

You wander around, aimlessly. It‘s raining, hard. You didn’t bring an umbrella with you, but you didn’t care. The water droplets on your skin felt kind of refreshing.

Your phone beeped, your boyfriend worries about you being alone, out in this weather at night. He sent multiple messages, telling you to come home.

The feeling of relieve fills your chest, glad that he’s still caring about you, even after the fight. But you ignore his messages, at least for now, needing some space to clear your head a bit. He was really mean tonight, something that basically never happened, not like this. You understand that he’s frustrated, not being able to race this season, but that’s not your fault.

Just because you said that you’re glad to spend some more time with him now, happy to have him to yourself for a while, doesn’t mean you don’t support his dreams and career. You’re proud of him, always have been, always will. But being away from him so much is hard and you really really missed him over the last year.

After a while you stop at a little café that was open late. Exactly what you needed right now. You sat by the window, ordering a cup of tea while watching the rain pour.

Your phone beeps once again.

„I'm really worried about you, the weather forecast said that there will be thunder too, you should really come back home.“

Your thoughts and emotions whirle around your head as you stare out the window.

With a sign, you type back a quick message to let him know you’re safe and not outside in this horrible weather. You may be mad at him but you’re not so cruel to let him suffer and worry about your well-being for the rest of the night.

But a part of you still doesn’t want go back home.

You look around the café, noticing that it is completely empty except for you and the barista. It is quiet, calm, peaceful. No one would be yelling at you here. No one would be blaming you for everything.

At first you just needed a break, now... now you needed an escape.

You look out of the window again, watching the raindrops sliding down the glass. It’s like they’re racing against each other. Even something small like rain on a window reminds you of him. It keeps your mind occupied for a while, watching the water glide around the surface but you’re still thinking about him. You’re always thinking about him.

It’s like the weather mirrors your exact feelings at the moment, like it’s trying to tell you that you’re not alone.

You put your phone aside, not responding to the rest of Daniel‘s texts. His mind was always full with thoughts about racing, training and other things related to his profession. And you understand, he loves his job. And you don’t blame him for that.

But you have feelings too, you have feelings that you want him to acknowledge sometimes. You need him to realize that. To recognize how upset you are and how hurt you feel.

Your thoughts spiraled down deeper and deeper as you watch the rain outside. The water droplets, they look like tears.

You sign again, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment. You know you and Daniel will work it out, like you always do. You love him and you know he loves you. Arguments happen and you understand he’s frustrated, even though it’s not okay for him to put the blame on you. You both need some space, time to calm down before you can face each other to actually talk about it. But you‘ll be okay. Everything will be okay in the end.

The rain starts hitting the window harder than before, making it difficult to see the world outside.

Taking a sip of your tea, you look at the clock. It’s already 1 in the morning. You feel a bit guilty. It's late, really late.

You pick up your phone, hesitating as you look at Daniel's last message. He was panicking about the storm and kept telling you that he was worried. You know him, he's usually not the hysterical kind.

„I‘m inside a Café, don’t worry. I‘ll wait a bit until the storm calms before I come home.“

You think for a moment, not sure if you should send the next text. You want to but.. fuck it.

„I love you.“ you type and hit send quickly, before you can change your mind. But you mean it, because you do. You love him.

A notification appears instantly on your phone. It's a message from Daniel. It reads „I love you too."

Your heart skips a beat. Of course, your love still means the world to him.

You close your eyes and picture his face. When Daniel smiles at you, his eyes sparkle in a way that no one else's eyes could. He's so good at showing his emotions through his eyes…

Ding. Another message.

„Please come home honey, I can't take it another second."

You smile softly at the nickname. You look out of the window again, the storm seems to get only worse. You want to go home, right now. But you know it wouldn’t be the best idea, not in this weather. But you don’t care. You pay your tea, tipping the barista generously, before making an exit to finally get home. To the person you love most.

As soon as you enter your apartment you see Daniel standing there, waiting for you. You lock eyes for a moment, neither of you saying anything... It's quiet. The only sound you hear, is from the rain outside.

Daniel is smiling at you, and he starts walking towards you. He softly puts his arms around your drenched body, pulling you close and kissing your forehead gently. Your heart is pounding in your chest, your face is turning red.

„Sorry“ you whisper into his chest, hiding your face in his sweater. You’re tearing up again, breathing in his scent.

"I should be the one to say sorry." You hear Daniel's voice whispering into your hair as he holds you tight. "I was cruel, I should never speak to you like that. Never." His words are soothing to your ears.

Even though you were fighting badly only hours prior, you felt safe. It has been a long time since you felt this safe. Since you felt this protected.

Just then Daniel takes a step back to look at you, as if he was admiring your face. Then he leans in to kiss you, needing to feel that you’re real. That you’re here, that you came home. The kiss only last a few seconds but it’s soft, gentle and full of love.

Yes. You‘ll be okay.

Daniel's lips on your face feel like heaven and you close your eyes, not wanting to let the situation end just yet... but before you could do anything, his hands reach for your face, gently moving you away. For a second, you were scared to look at him but he's just fixing your wet hair.

"Let's get you warm," he smiles as he guides you into the kitchen, the warm light from the lit oven illuminating your face. You enjoy the warmth for a moment while Daniel was already boiling water for some tea.

„I- I‘ll go change into some dry clothes real quick“ you whisper into the quiet kitchen, watching him move around the room to prepare the tea.

Your boyfriend nods and smiles at you, putting his hand on your thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Go ahead, let me make you some tea" he smiles as he pushes your hair away from your face again.

The kettle whistles, it's boiling. Daniel picks it up and pours the hot water into two cups, putting lemon in both of them. The scent of lemon fills the room, mixed with Daniel's cologne.

You disappear into your shared bedroom, quickly getting rid of your wet clothes, throwing them into the hamper. Grabbing one of Daniels Hoodies, you pull it over your head and instantly hold the collar up to your nose, taking in his scent. Wiping your tear stained face with the sleeves, you take a deep breath before returning back to the kitchen where Daniel‘s waiting for you.

He is leaning against the kitchen counter, watching you slowly while the tea waits for you on the table. Two hot cups of tea, steaming up the kitchen.

Looking at his face, you find him smiling at you when he notices you’re wearing his hoodie. He wraps his free arm around you, pulling you close.

He kisses your head softly and whispers in your ear. "Drink it, it will warm you up."

Daniel's arms encircle you, squeezing you like he never wants to let you go.

You didn’t want to ruin the mood but you had to ask. You and Daniel were always good at communicating in the past and you didn’t want to stop now by pushing this argument away, you had to talk about it for the problem to be completely solved.

„We still need to talk. Not now, but.. we need to talk.“ You whisper, leaning closer into Daniels arms, hiding your face in the crook of his neck.

„You're right, we will talk." His voice is soft. „Not now though. For now, let's enjoy this tea. And... let's just be together." Daniel said as he kisses you again on the cheek and your still damp hair brushes against his face.

He was right. You need some rest. It's late, after all. And what happened shouldn't be discussed when you're both tired. Let alone now, when you're so peaceful.

„We‘ll be okay“ you whisper, a short promise. To him and yourself, that your love is stronger than an argument like that. You‘ll work it out. And it‘ll be okay. Like always.

[dannyphantom1234]

Reborn as Dan Phantom.

A fan of the show is reborn as Dan, the evil version of Danny just as he was created— but what no one knew was a fangirl had taken over the body and knew just what to do to help her family that would suffer what she just went through unless she did something to help. So— she creeped towards Clockwork, stole the time medallion, went to the timeline of the original, and immediately took over as big brother figure to help these poor children from suffering the future they would have to endure alone without adult supervision.

She— now he— didn’t care for gender, and just wanted to help and protect his new(ish) family from bad people. What he didn’t know was he was also thrown alongside the dc universe, which was an awesome discovery on his part later on.

Dan— or Dante— as he wished to be called, came to the group with sorrow in his heart as he explained what would happen in the future if Danny cheated on his test, not that it was anyone’s fault but fates. He explained how no one was at fault and it could all be avoided if he could help it.

He took over the ghost fights, and had a long talk with Clockwork about what would happen and his real purpose for being there.

His original timeline was obviously erased, and the only reason he survived was because of the medallion, so later he had to go through ghost magic and make himself his own person, gained a whole butt load of tattoos intertwined with ghost time magic and becomes the next king of the infinite realms after defeating the old guy easily after seeing him beat up his little bro.

Dante became king instead of Danny and took over all the overloaded paperwork along the way.

What he didn’t know, was that he would be summoned because of his status. He really thought the fan fictions were just exaggerating what would happen if he was ever given the position and power. Well, it was all true from what he read.

(I’m making this a Dante/King Phantom x Jason Todd/Red Hood).

He made an actual legal identity for himself with the help of Technus and Tucker, who became better pals after they set aside the fact that they attacked each other at some point or another.

Danny became a little brother to him, Jazz became his little sister who likes to treat him as if he were still Danny at times, and Danielle became his daughter.

Dante legally adopted Dani after they got his papers in order, and made her an identity as well. Elle was much younger than he remembered, but then again, she was deaged recently and just came back into contact with the group, who couldn’t take care of her because they were still children as well.

Vlad was still a little evil but leveled out after a huge diabolical involving Maddie, their so called mother.

Madeline Fenton had thought her son and daughter conspired with the ghosts and attacked them in their own home, Danny was greatly injured with multiple blast wounds and Jazz suffered a concussion while trying to push him out of the target zones.

Jack had football tackled Madeline and the rest was history.

Vlad had fallen out of love with her after seeing what she did to her own children, and instead got his head out of his butt and realized he was in love with Jack all along.

Jack divorced Madeline, took custody of his kids and decided they should move, all while Vlad made plans to take down GIW with Team Phantom.

Jack and Vlad met him and decided to emotionally adopt Dante as well in their messed up family.

Dante got a job as a mechanic and started his own business in Gotham. Very cliche from all the fanfics he read in his past life but he wanted to do something he knew and loved. He loved fixing things and his side job as the king of the infinite realms was basically being like a father to ghost children while scolding those who thought it was a good idea to attack innocent mortals.

He mainly spent his time raising Danielle. Giving her everything she deserves and making her happy now that his family was safe.

He was randomly summoned by the Justice League who were ready to full on attack him until they saw him reading to his child, not realizing he was summoned until someone cleared their throat. He was literally in his own little bubble, reading his two year old daughter a storybook while holding her against his chest as he floated above the ground, laid back in a relaxed position.

How it would go:

I looked up from the book after feeling a sudden shift in my surroundings, seeing multiple very brightly dressed people in front of me. I glared, shifting completely into my ghost king form while holding my daughter close to my chest. The storybook I was reading had disappeared into a pocket dimension for later, as I had to deal with this madness.

“Who in their right minds would summon the Ghost King? I literally burnt all those summoning books to ash.” I grumbled, and looked down to see Elle had slightly woken up at the sound of my deep voice.

“Dada?” She mumbled, rubbing her right eye as she sat up from my chest.

“It’s alright, Elle,” I rumbled, kissing her forehead as she plopped back down to take her nap again at my reassurance. “We can finish reading time later today.” I murmured to her as she went back to snoozing.

“What do you want, mortals?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Why does the ghost king have a child? And how in the hell are you not attacking us as the books state?” Zatanna asked, looking on at me in shock.

“You willingly want to be attacked after summoning me? That’s idiotic. “ I state, looking bored with their conversation. I still held Elle close, not answering their questions about my child just yet.

“No, a bloody idiot summoned you just as we defeated him as a last defense!” Constantine spat out, looking hysterical.

“Well, sorry to break the news, coward, but the last king was defeated by me after trying to take over the world, he is now locked away in forever sleep until we can find a way to get rid of him completely.” I explained to the coward looking at me in shock on the ground, bruises across his face and the usual weird looking villain costume on him.

I looked around for a quick second before stopping at the Batfam. Who were all here in a more relaxed formation seeing a child in my arms. My favorite fandom family in my last life.

I looked them over before spotting the Red Hood, my celebrity crush I had on him was no secret to my family, but they had no room to judge for themselves.

His aura admitted contaminated ectoplasm, and I knew I had to heal him sometime in the future.

“May I ask what your goals are? And who is this child?” Superman spoke up after a moment of digesting my information about my new position.

“I protect both living and the undead. I don’t have a world ending goal in mind, just to raise my daughter and give her the life she deserves.” I said, looking down at my daughter with a small smile that would be unnoticeable to most.

I looked back up to see the large group had softened at my words and I was about to ask a question about Red Hood, when my daughter suddenly decided this was taking too long and too much noise for her to take a nap.

“Dada! Where puppy?” She demanded answers, smacking the side of my face with her chubby hands, as I floated there, unmoving with an emotionless face towards the group.

“Cujo is with the twerp, remember? He will come by later for playtime.” I answered, which was slightly muffled as she squished my cheeks together and smiled at me happily.

“Dada! Fishh—“ she squealed out, looking happy with herself as she giggled at my face.

“You gremlin—“ I muttered out, tickling her sides as she squeaked, her flying out of my arms and turning into her young ghost form, looking ready to play.

“Playtime?” She asked, bouncing a little in the air, clapping her hands a little.

“Not yet, blob ghost. We need to head back home for snack time.” I explained, crossing my arms as she pouted, my arm muscles bulged a bit as I crossed them, and I still always forget the fact that I’m taller than most, alongside bigger. In my past life, I was a stick of a girl that had spaghetti arms, much different for sure.

Her pouting turned into the famous puppy eyes, and I turned back to the group to avoid them, only to see amused faces all around.

“Do you guys need anything before we head back? I’m sure you don’t want to deal with a Princess tantrum.” I rumbled out, looking on in disinterest as Elle decided to hug the side of my face like an octopus. She probably still had the puppy eyes on.

“You have an adorable daughter!” Princess Diana exclaimed soon after I was finished speaking. “How old is she?” She asked, looking at me curiously as I lowered myself to the ground, Elle now floating behind my head as she played with my low ponytail.

“She is now two years old.” I answered, swiftly nabbing Elle from behind me while reaching the back of my head. I lowered my arms to see I had her upside down now, her hanging like a sack of potatoes as she giggled.

“Dada!” Elle exclaimed, waving her arms around her in glee as she looked up at me.

“You don’t feel like a ghost completely… neither does she, what are you exactly?” Constantine asked, waving his hand at me in confusion.

“I don’t know if I can trust you with that information, Constantine.” I growled a little, glaring at him as he stepped forward while Elle hid behind me.

“Hey now! Let’s calm down, no one needs to start anything!” Nightwing stepped in front of the glaring Constantine who looked more and more like a bug the longer I looked at him.

“There isn’t anything to start, really. His soul is in shreds at the moment, not very powerful compared to my kind anyway.” I stated, crossing my arms once again as Elle peaked out from over my shoulder.

“Now, I need to speak with a Mr. Red Hood.” I said, looking on at the Batfam who tensed at my words.

“Why?” Batman growled out, stepping in front of the confused Red Hood.

“To heal him, of course.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as I heard sounds of confusion from everyone else.

“His ectoplasm is very corrupted. He has the ghost flu, in which case makes my kind very moody and in need of pure ectoplasm to filter it and his emotions.” I briefly explained, unpinching my nose as I looked up from the ground. Willing my headache away for now.

“So his pit madness is basically the ghost flu?” Red Robin murmurs out hysterically, almost giggling in disbelief.

“Yes, I have heard of his haunt, Crime Alley, that being under his protection, I have never stepped foot on his property because I didn’t want to seem like a threat to a sick person who can’t control themselves completely with such a sickness.” I explained myself a bit nervously, rubbing the back of my neck a little with my right hand as Elle now sat on my left shoulder, swinging her legs.

“Wow, the ghost king is a dork…” I heard Spoiler mutter to Orphan, who nodded in agreement.

I huffed, crossing my arms and floated once again. “I can come back another time. I just wished to help a little. My doctor can probably fix him quicker than I, but I know what to do as I have studied under him for more than over a year now.” I informed them.

“So the pit madness can go away…?” Red Hood asked, stepping from around Batman to speak to me clearly.

“I’m unsure of what this “Pit Madness” is, but yes, I can heal you and make sure you properly get the help you need from your emotional roller coaster sickness.” I said, looking down at him as he took a few more steps to me, his family following behind him.

“Well, when can you fix me?” He asked, his voice modifier cutting all emotions from his voice, but I can clearly feel his emotions bursting from his almost formed core. It seems this sickness had stopped him from forming his core completely and left him sick for many years.

I could feel his hope, his rage and especially his bursts of want for some reason.

“I can fix you right now, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted privacy or not. It’s very…. Intimate. I can take you somewhere private if you would like?” I rumbled out, the burst of want came out more clearly, and I could tell Red Hood was clearly not expecting that word choice.

“Take me anytime—“ I could clearly hear his muttered out answer behind his helmet with my enhanced hearing, but I don’t know if I was supposed to hear that.

“Nope! Little Wing— you are not going with the ghost king—“ Nightwing suddenly yelled out, the whites of his mask bigger as Spoiler, Red Robin, and Signal burst into loud laughter. Batman sighed loudly in disappointment. Robin just “Tt” and sighed alongside his father, looking like a mini bat. Orphan just smiled at me.

“By intimate, I mean having a look at your soul, I will essentially have to take a closer look at that and cure you.” I fixed my words, making it seem as if I didn’t hear anything and I could feel a little disappointment coming from Red Hood but he nodded at my explanation.

[nosebleedsturn]

thirteen ; truth be told

Words: 1,284

friday evening, november 8th, 3:00 pm

vega went back upstairs, finding malerie sitting in camille's seat. vega scoffed, watching mal finish eating camille's unfinished bowl of mac n cheese. "what!" mal cried. "she's not gonna finish it!" malerie continued, spooning more into her mouth. vega shook her head and plopped down onto the couch. "cami crisis averted?" vega nods, reaching over and grabbing mal's spoon, taking some for herself. "i think so."

"that's good. when cami's upset it's like no one gets to be happy." vega nodded in agreement. "i just hope chris isn't gonna be mad at either of us. it was my fault really. i should have told her, it just slipped my mind and we were both so busy. school, her dance practice. everything, it just didn't seem all that important to me."

mal hummed. "there are some thing's that are unimportant to you, that are important to the rest of us v." vega groaned, head resting against the soft couch. "i know, i know... everything has just gotten me a little. overwhelmed lately." cami and malerie liked friday's. friday's were the days that vega went to therapy, and on those days vega was always the most zen. they rarely had arguments on fridays (however the next day vega was just as opinionated as before). they got along better. basically, it was the old vega making an appearance just for a short while and the two girls loved it. It meant that she was in there somewhere, and she just needed to be brought out.

"what happened at therapy today?"

"mhmm. well that's kinda what i wanted to talk to you about. it's a little serious." vega sat up straighter, taking the bowl from malerie. "i'm afraid vega, what's going on?"

"i've been lying to you, and to camille. and my mom and everybody." vega's bottom lip quivered. she tugged gently at her earring, malerie caught notice of this and rested a hand on vega's knee. "whatever you need to tell me, i'm here and i'm listening." malerie promised. vega nodded. "i know. it's... it's daniel."

malerie froze, a quiet gasp falling from between her parted lips. "daniel?"

"we call.. once a month. and he called me yesterday and he asked if i could come visit him..." vega trailed off, not being able to look malerie in the eye. mal stayed silent, a fearful look in her eye. mal wanted nothing more than to beat daniel's ass, but she wasn't a teenager anymore and didn't want to land in prison. she knew she could beat his ass too if she wanted. she's beat up other dudes when she was in high school. maybe they weren't her proudest moments, but they were moments that helped her learn to control her anger after being sent to counselors all throughout her education. she's changed since then, she's able to keep her anger under control. except for when it came to people like daniel. those guys weren't safe around her at all.

malerie's silence made vega continue. "he's being let out on good behavior, but the court wants to make sure i guess, that's he's changed. i called the prison after i left therapy and the guard told me that new york state prison is overfilled and they need to let some criminals go. and i guess that daniel just isn't a top priority criminal."

mal was at a complete loss for words. "and he called you? why?" mal could hardly wrap her head around the information. how can prisons even let people go like that? why couldn't they just send him to a different prison? or better, kill him. maybe not kill him, malerie hasn't had her fist in his face yet. "he wants me to come to the hearing." vega's eyes dropped to her lap. malerie gasped again. "but you're not going right? i won't let you. what does dr. tran have to say about this?"

vega's eye's shifted again. "you haven't told her?"

"no, no i told her today. she said that if i did go, i needed to have some support. someone to make sure that if daniel is released, i won't get stuck there with him. he doesn't know i have friends, that i moved out, that i'm enrolled in a school or that i even graduated high school really. he still thinks i'm a poor helpless girl waiting in my moms house for him to come back and save me."

mal bit the nail cover her thumb. this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. "i'm afraid if i don't go, he'll go after my mother." vega's shoulder's dropped, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks in fear. "i can't do this malerie!"

"shh, girl it's okay." the two embraced momentarily. "i say we go. you, me, cami. we all go and we tell him to fuck off. if he even tries anything, i'll kill him." malerie decided, a slight huff of laughter falling from her lips to ease the tension. "after the trial, we can have a whole girls day and just go back home and relax, explore, see your monuments." malerie nudged vega. "and you really need to break thing's off with him. i can't believe you never stopped talking to him, vega that's exactly why you still are afraid of him, you talk to him all the time!" malerie figured out. vega groaned, wiping her tears away. "i know, i know."

"maybe once you end thing's with him, you'll feel better vega. you haven't gotten better, because you're still keeping him around." vega's head dropped, she held her head in her hands, shielding herself away from malerie's stare. "i know, i know!"

"and maybe you can move on with somebody else." malerie said slowly, looking to the side. vega gasped, raising up from mal's lap. "you're not talking about who i think you're talking about, because if you were to talk about him-"

"okay, settle, settle... i'm just saying v. he's a great guy, and he lives next door, has a nice job. his fans already think you're togather anyway." vega's face became blank. "don't you think once everything settles with daniel, i should, i dunno, actually be single for a while before immediately jumping into action with another guy!" vega screeched, hiding away again.

malerie chuckled, tugging on vega's rolled up hair, in a bun. "i'm just saying, don't close him out v."

vega's eye twicted when she rose up from malerie's lap. "i don't like matt!" she freaked. malerie groaned, feeling like there was a tantrum coming along. malerie stood up, grabbing her bowl from the table and beginning to walk upstairs. vega trailed behind her, makign sure she heard every word falling from her loud lips. "i will never like matt! he's so annoying, sometimes i think i hate him! and his fans, they baby him too much. he fucking 21 for gods sake!" malerie shoved a spoonfull of mac n cheese into her mouth, climbing the stairs with ease. "i hate him! he acts like a child! have you seen him in the car videos and the podcast clips? he thinks he's so tough!" vega huffed, arms crossing over her chest as she followed malerie upstairs.

"you know what's tough, my foot up his-"

N O S E B L E E D S

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

DOUBLE UPDATE KINDA DAY

Also thanks for 70 followers ily 🫶

I made a big mistake and didn’t schedule this so here it is! (3 hours late I’m sorry!)

[cecoeur]

In one of your last asks, you asked in the tags if it was hypocritical for you to point out how RBR are basically using VCARB as a rookie mill now that Daniel is not on the team, and just wanted to pop up to say you’re NOT hypocritical at all.

I really wish someone in f1 media would grow a backbone and bring Horner, Mekkies and Bayer’s OWN quotes to them from the start of the year. They all swore up and down that VCARB was no longer a junior team but a stand-alone, serious, sister-team. THAT was the justification and the utility of bringing Daniel into it. He was the experienced driver that was essentially leading the project.

And it shows that he was literally DOING the job they asked him to. VCARB went from dead last in the WCC to 6th in the standings. I’ll never get tired of saying it, but RBR could have played this all so differently by highlighting Daniel being in the team to help get them off the ground and lend some much needed developmental experience and consistency.

Instead, they let him be raked over the coals in the media while the car bounced back and forth so wildly in terms of their development. Both he and yuki’s performance was inconsistent because the car itself, along with the team’s identity and direction, was inconsistent. It’s not Daniel’s fault that half-way through the season, Marko went off his meds and decided to fuck the rebrand and go back to it being a junior team.

After that, what was the point in having Daniel there? We know there was no long-term plan to have him there (because really they wanted him to that RBR seat) but when Checo’s sponsors said “not so fast”, it was Daniel that was up a creek without a paddle and no where to go. So, you’re absolutely right in saying that RBR have a little rookie mill and taking up two seats to trial their juniors drivers - AND THEN not even promote them - is weird and warrants calling out.

People are so quick to bitch and cry about how, “we need more seats/teams on the grid” well get rid of Racing Bulls and let Andretti take their place then 🤷🏼‍♀️

🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Honestly, I don't think they had any super concrete plans, just a couple of glue sticks, an extra 30 million dollars, and a dream. Because of that they poorly messaged the entire operation from the get-go (paul and his pencil continue to get a 0/10 from me in the external communications department) and then they went and further mismanaged the situation because helmut and christian are too busy having the worlds longest slap fight to do anything constructive. Them not really having a plan or a cohesive message is also why it played into redbull's hand to let daniel constantly take the brunt of the media's pressure, so they let it happen. Originally it was daniel being there to be the experienced driver in this sister team project and then it quickly became daniel being there to prove himself to replace checo and everything kind of unraveled from there. They could've stepped in at any time but chose not to (christian contradicting helmut's rants two days later doesn't really count) and honestly, we should've known then that this was a disaster in the making.

Anyway, thanks for validating me but I am self aware enough to admit that it is a teeny tiny bit hypocritical to have been fine with the team when daniel was there and to now say I think their existence should be illegal lol. But to be clear, it is lame that they're allowed to have an extra team for helmut to play barbies with mostly because he's not even good at it.

Finally, you have unwittingly joined me in the sandcastles-in-my-mind that is the Andretti Global F1 team. I have dreams (they're delusional and never happening but oh do I have them).

[zyxwl2015]

Excerpts from Lando Norris biography - part III

(There aren't too many behind-the-scenes stories anymore — mostly stating things everyone knows, F1 was postponed due to Covid, online racing happened, F1 resumed, Lando did this in this race, Lando had a new teammate, Lando moved to Monaco, etc etc)

Every one was extremely happy for Lando after his first podium at Austria 2020, including Trevor Carlin: "He is doing everything right and the results are coming and I am very proud of him" and "Lando is the nicest person you could ever meet"

Charlotte recalled in Eifel GP 2020, the marketing team's office was right next to the drivers' room and the walls were paper-thin, and —

We were working in the marketing office and we could hear this giggling from the drivers’ room next door… I went into their drivers’ room to speak to them and they were both lying on the massage bed watching YouTube or Instagram videos together. We all started pissing ourselves laughing at first, but I then said to them, “What the fuck are you doing? Why aren’t you in the garage? Everyone is looking for you!” I was like an ogre telling them off all the time. But that was the point where I and some others in the team realised that they actually enjoyed spending time together.

(Oh my Carlando heart 🥰)

Going into the 2021 season, he started to become more strict with certain things, especially diet and training: he stopped eating pizza, started to do more training and running (even though he "still hates it with a massive passion"), etc, to step up his performance. By summer break there's a noticeable change physically from when he first entered F1

Charlotte on Lando at that point:

When Carlos left, I think Lando got a bit nervous again, because he was a bit like, “Well, this guy’s obviously won seven races. He’s a known quantity, and he’s got a really good reputation.” I felt like Lando’s confidence had grown so much over the two years he had with Carlos. When Carlos left and we signed Daniel, Lando was a bit like, “I’ve really got to step up.” That was when I noticed that Mark, his manager, and Jon, his trainer, were building a positive environment by explaining that Norris had all the tools and experience and should not be putting pressure on himself… I used to call him kiddo, in fact I still do, but that was the time when I thought this guy actually could be really good and it will be really interesting to see the comparison. Some thought Dan would just come in and absolutely smash him, but he didn’t. You could certainly see a change in Lando, just the way he carried himself, the way he spoke, his whole demeanour. He was just so much more confident in himself while being self-deprecating.

(I love Charlotte 🥹)

Charlotte on Lando and Daniel's relationship:

At first, they were both definitely trying to suss each other out. We never thought they would not get on, but they just didn’t spend any time together… There was never any animosity between them, it was just they didn’t hang out. Andreas Seidl would have a meeting with both drivers before the race every Sunday. It’s called a “pre-race objectives meeting” and he would basically lay the law down and tell both drivers they are in it together. You drive for the team, no driver is better than the other, no one gets preferential treatment, you do what’s best for the team result, that kind of thing… Both drivers were team players and we needed that because we knew we were struggling and that Ferrari would be back up there again. Both of them then started spending more time together in engineering meetings and worked really hard on it. I can’t fault either of them. Both their work ethics are just unbelievable … but they started to work together quite a lot and from then, their relationship started to change and they started to get on really well.

McLaren keeps the Monaco 2021 trophy (as always), so Lando keeps the presentation box "because it is the coolest thing, a bespoke Louis Vuitton number" (😂)

Charlotte on Lando's relationship with McLaren team members:

He had worked with the boys for a long time by now, but he knew everyone, not just them by name, but their girlfriends, their wives, their kids, their families, their situation. He’d take the team out bowling or for dinner. I think he really understood the value of trying to galvanise people around him and that made him part of the furniture.

After the accident when he got mugged at Wembley Stadium, Charlotte messaged him saying she's so sorry. The whole McLaren team was being very supportive as well. When Lando went to the factory, he was really subdued, "he was worried because he thought he was going to be in trouble because of the watch getting stolen." Ofc Charlotte gave him a big hug

Charlotte described how different the mood was post Monza vs post Russia, especially during the last few laps, "It felt like the slowest time of my entire life, like watching a slow train crash."

[rumour] Ben Hunt says according to rumours, the contract he signed in mid-2021 (just before Monaco GP) was worth £6m a year, the one he signed beginning of 2022 (current one) was £50m for 4 years

[The End]

[swaps55]

I have a question that came up during my current re-read - how would Sam be different if he'd somehow been raised primarily by Hannah, instead of Daniel?

I have this image in my head of Sam dragging Daniel along and Daniel trying to get him to slow down for once - would Hannah have been trying to drag Sam even faster? Or some other dynamic entirely?

(The parental relationships in Opus are so special to me, all of them)

What an incredible question. I am also obsessed with his parental relationships, because Sam is such a potent mix of their best and worst qualities.

He gets his ruthlessness and drive from his mother, his curiosity and compassion from his father. Sometimes those things work together to do something incredible, like save the galaxy, other times they work against each other, like we're seeing in Mezzo. Sam can take ruthlessness to an extreme the same way he can compassion - he loves people so hard and so completely that it sets a standard many feel they can't live up to.

(Anderson is about to get a face full of that compassion working in everyone's worst interests.)

I think the compassion and nurturing Sam got from his father was vital, because when that ruthless intensity of Sam's runs up against a universe that never lives up to to the high expectations he sets for it, there needs to be something at his core that can keep him from losing himself in disillusionment, disappointment, and bitterness.

His mother couldn't give him that anchor. She wasn't made or meant for it, and it's not her fault. But without Daniel Shepard teaching Sam he could be soft and love the world anyway, even when it was cruel, he would have grown up to be a much harder, colder, and unforgiving person who never would have found a home on the 'Yang.

Hannah gives her son the tools to survive, to save, to excel, to never quit. Daniel gives his son a reason to do those things, and the ability to realize he cannot do those things alone. He needs both of them very badly to be Commander Shepard.

But I also think Hannah's influence runs strongest in him. He is more like her than he is Daniel. Which is why I think he needed Daniel at his side throughout his childhood to be his better angel and teach him how to use the parts of him that come from his father. Without that, the compassion becomes unchecked rage and burns him up in ways he can't come back from.

Basically, if Hannah had raised him instead of Daniel, everything Anderson was afraid of after Torfan would have come to pass.

But she didn't raise him. Daniel did. And when Kaidan offered a hand in that bar on Arcturus, he took it.

And, well, you know the rest. :)

[reireichu]

Louis will be the one to turn Daniel into a vampire.

We're nearly at the end of the line***, and I have this theory that Armand is not going to turn Daniel into a vampire at the end of the season. Instead, Louis will, and it's because of the above scene.

The entire Season 2 has established very nicely that Armand is a lying liar who lies, but it also has established something else very important:

Louis (is also a lying liar who lies!!!!!) has not forgiven Armand, he has never forgiven Armand, and he never will.

Look at that face.

IWTV hit the lottery with all the actors, and that's including the background actors, the extras, bit parts, the entire Theatres des Vampires and most importantly, with their main characters. Jacob and Assad (and Sam, but we aren't talking about him here) have used the entire fucking season as a masterclass in micro-expressions and honestly, it's so telling that you can rewatch an episode once, twice, ten times, and you will probably catch some tail-end of a thought in Armand's head, or Louis' mind, something you missed, maybe that slight curl of the lip, twitch of the brow, or maybe it was a trick of the light.

We are seeing these particular expressions in real time, instead of via a narrative. These expressions are who they are, how they feel, what they think in that particular moment. None of these acting choices are accidental.

(I could go on a tangent about the big game of Who Lives Who Dies Who Is Telling The Fucking Story Right Now*** and how manipulative Armand and Louis are in their versions of things, how Louis has painted this portray of Lestat that we see and read through his eyes, how they are reading each other, but that's not for today, today is about old maniel okay thanks bye.)

Armand and Louis have a contentious relationship, it’s basically the prolonged divorce of two assholes trapped in a toxic relationship. They’re both the victim and they’re both the villain. They both accept and avoid accountability for all faults. They're as bad as each other.

Is there love there? Yes. That’s what a toxic relationship uses to cage you in—the entire “I can fix him” joke and “but daddy, I love him” trope came from this—and toxic relationships can endure for a very long time, and it can eat you from the inside out, twisting you into some sort of malevolent creature of held together with tape, glue, spite and cruelty wearing the mask of an angel.

Louis and Armand have turned maiming each other with love into a higher art form. They've used it as their courting game, their mating ritual, and now it's their fucking battleground. They love each other, they break each other, and they stay together, and they love each other. Love and hate, different sides of same fucking coin. It put the particular scene when Louis offers Daniel The Gift into a different light for me.

Armand’s expression, as fake!Rashid,could have been read as so many different things (all the awards and commendations to Assad Zaman, please and thank you), and that’s probably the beauty of this entire show. Watch it again now, after the knowledge that Armand sat there as Claudia was burned to death because he ‘could not prevent it’ (LIAR!!!), after knowing that Louis has been with Armand for seventy-seven years of love and hate and ‘tri-annual fuck off and find me’s and everything else in between.

Louis has spent seventy seven years with Armand. He had seventy seven years to see what vulnerabilities there are to exploit, which buttons to push, what words will trigger.*** He’s also a patient man. He’s the guy that will buy a splotchy painting to see it go up in value. He invested in real estate before it was trendy y’all, he’s not here for your fucking NFTs or get rich quick schemes. Louis is a schemer, manipulator and a long term investor.

He’s been waiting for awhile, but he’s also spent decades chipping away that armour Armand wears. The little jibes here and there, dismissive, snarky, cunty or full on there it is, that half blank half apocalyptic stare because this man is either all or nothing. I love you, I hate you, I’m not your fucking companion, you’re so boring, leave him alive Arun, you’re a beige pillow, have you met the love of my life.

Armand is fully aware of what Louis is capable of. Armand might have played Judas in his coven’s little play, he might have been cast out, he might have been persona non grata, but Theatre des Vampires was still his coven and (spoiler alert book wise but I mean we are all know this happens) Louis burnt it all down to the ground. Armand might have hated them by then, Armand might have loathed them, Armand might have tired of them, but if anyone was to light the match on his wretched coven, it should have been Armand.

And now, Louis has invited Daniel into his coffin, the graveyard where Louis has spent the last weeks enshrining Lestat like he’s the beautiful boy nailed to the cross, Lestat whom he hates, Lestat whom he loves, Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat Lestat.***

Why does it have to be Daniel?

It could have been anyone. History isn’t all that important, or maybe it is.

Don’t tell me Louis hasn’t consumated and consumed so many other writers, because we know he has. Because what is it, Daniel, did you think you were special? How many hundred something boys has Louis fucked around and found out with, after lying and telling you it’s just five. How many after that. How many in those seventy-seven years of Loui’s fuck off and find me sprees, surely there’s been hundreds of writers.

So why Daniel.

Because Armand now has only one thing in this world that is truly his, or was truly his, depends how you see it. Armand loves someone, and that someone is mortal, breakable, dying. Because the Dark Gift has been the thing that broken Armand and Lestat and freed Louis. Because Louis and Armand are lying liars who lie, because love of my life is not the same as coal fire in winter. Because Armand is a broken, manipulative asshole who was the victim, who is the villain, who Louis loves and hates. Armand took Claudia, Armand ruined his life, Armand lied, Armand was Arun was Amedeo was a fucking whore and I’ve always been real good at running the fucking show, Armand Armand Armand Armand Armand—

A very wise old man (and evil dictator, murderer of children, rose garden enthusiast)*** once said:

It's the things we love the most that destroy us.

And Louis has spent a very long time waiting for the right moment to destroy Armand.

And he’s going to use Daniel to do it.

HAPPY FINALE WEEK Y’ALL.

aLSOOoooo:

Just me reaching with weird foreshadowing or references, idek.

Not Lestat's blood. [...] Not good enough for her.

***I’ve had this post in my drafts for about three weeks, and only am posting it now because I basically have been trying to make it more concise or less nonsensical, only to realise that finale week is here so instead it’s now just waffling, with footnotes, bad references, stolen gifs, and inconsistent theorising? Pls forgive me for typos bc I just word vomitted this out to beat the Aus Timezone episode drop.

***Donald Sutherland you were the OG the big bad RIP :(((( you will live on in MASH, Hunger Games and fandom head canons of your twinky younger self from the prequel movie

***I'm actually such Hamiltrash that I couldn't make this post without one Hamilton reference.

***hello arun maitre dom/sub dynamic that reads like a fanfic, the contrast of a former pimp and the former prostitute, using your body to get what you want vs using breadcrumbs affection to manipulate a person, all the narcissism bpd ptsd broken meow meows someone else make this post pls.

***the fact that i cannot let go of this scene, and have used it in both this post and parasite, idek anymore.

[pseudophan]

idk if this is confirmed or if im insane but i feel like dan in his why i quit youtube video was talking about how he felt like there was Dan content and Dan And Phil content and how he felt like he was split between them....i wonder if hes trying both to see what he still likes to do. he had his internet show and now danandphilgamws is back like. i have a feeling he's trying to figure things out rn

i think dan ultimately wants to do his own thing and has a lot of ideas and aspirations, specifically he wants to be a stage comedian like his passion is clearly for live performances and while the comedy bit is still being fine tuned (i'm not saying he's bad, in fact he's kinda good ngl, but he definitely has a way to go if he wants to be Great) the performance part he's got DOWN like say what you want about that man but he ooowwwnnnsss a stage. also he's weirdly great at audience interaction lmao? that was my main takeaway from we're all doomed, both the pre show and the show itself, he deals with heckling like.. AMAZINGLY well. he's genuinely hilarious responding to an audience like i never thought i'd say this a few years ago but i think he might actually have a future in live comedy lmao????

but i also think he.. needs money LOL like he's said many a time he doesn't really love being a full time youtuber, but also he does enjoy making youtube videos! just, you know.. not full time. but while on his own channel making Daniel Howell(tm) videos he puts a lot of pressure on himself, and then if he does a slightly less high pressure series or whatever (dystopia daily) it's relatively well received and the videos are good enough but like.. it's not the traction he wants, nor the traction he needs

ultimately dan knows that if he wants to keep and potentially build an audience online that lies in Dan And Phil. it always has and it always will. and i think for a long time he struggled with that, and as much as people gave him shit for it i completely get it. like, lmao, of COURSE he wants to be recognised for his own abilities and not just the dynamic and chemistry he's got going with... his literal partner. honestly it would be one thing if dnp were just comedy partners because there are a lot of comedy duos on the world who've made it big, but i think there's something about it being him and his full time actual real life boyfriend/life partner that kinda makes it weird. and as much as i love the dnp dynamic i still do get that feeling so much like honestly who can blame him ?? if your entire professional life is just.. your personal life but on camera ? that's weird. it's gotta feel weird and it's definitely unfulfilling for someone as aspirational as dan and i can't blame him at all for it

that being said, dan clearly does really enjoy making videos with phil. which yeah of course he does, he gets to just turn on a camera and talk shit with the guy he talks shit with all day long anyway. and i think what he's now realised is 1. if he wants to keep/build an audience, the dan and phil branding is where it's at and 2. he needs an income while he works on whatever solo projects he's got going on, and dnp makes a loooot of money

basically my point is - dan seems to really enjoy making videos with phil but he knows that's not really a life long career choice. as much as i'd love them to, it's not really an option for them to be playing sims when they're like, sixty. and while phil is relatively chill and seems to just take things as they come, which tbh is probably the healthiest way of doing things, dan is very overthinking and wants to get ahead of everything and also in general just like.. he wants to build a career! he wants to build something on his own and i can't fault him for that at all. dan knows that one day he's gonna need something more than just Dan And Phil if he wants to keep working, and he's laying the groundwork right now to be able to do that

again, though, i don't want anyone to take this as like 'dan is only doing dapg to make money and rebuild a fanbase' because as much as that is definitely a big part of it... just look at the man. in these videos. he's having a great time. and also, as annoying as we are, he does kinda love us. sometimes. maybe. <3

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory : Chapter Three

Jake x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: Anxious Themes, Drinking/Alcohol (Caravel Tavern is a bar after all), Cursing, Brief mentions of fighting (including a SMALL mention of blood) Lots of frustrated/angry tones, poorly timed jokes, and last but certainly not least- a wave of yearning.

Word Count: 3.3k

Summary: After getting the news that he didn't do everything he was meant to, Jake spends a stressful day at the bar. Trying to get everything taken care of, but it is just one of those days.

Author's Note: Happy Thursday! I honestly love this chapter so much. I've 110% had days like this and it just felt like it needed to happen. hehe okay happy reading xoxo

I'm Going Slight Mad - Queen "One wave short of a shipwreck, I'm not my usual top billing."

It started like any other day until it wasn’t. 

Caravel Crew:

Jake: hey i know you guys have today off but do you mind stopping by for a few minutes?

Daniel: We definitely can

Melody: Might have a little surprise to bring you

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Setting my phone down, I start looking over the paperwork that Charlotte left for me. Now, I’m realizing why I never filled it out. I don’t know what half of this means. When I decided to buy the bar, I had no business background. I never went to college. I just immediately started working after high school. I don’t know where the desire to own a bar came from, and I don’t know if it was partially because it was this bar, but over time, it just sounded more and more like what I wanted to do. I guess I just never thought about this side of it. 

I find myself reading the same sentences over and over. It’s becoming increasingly harder to focus on what I need to be doing. I just want to get this conversation over it.  I never have a hard time with “tough” conversations, but to be fair, all the bartenders that I’ve let go over the last 10 months have deserved it. Or they quit on their own. Melody didn’t do anything wrong, and this is entirely my fault.

“Knock, knock, hellooo” Melody’s voice quietly rings through the office. I turn seeing her and Dan stood there before I see Iris’ sweet face light up. She looks up at her mom, who’s quickly signing, ‘you can go see him’. 

“Hi, sweet girl,” I whisper out of habit. She scurries over, I pull her into a bear hug before she climbs into my lap. 

“I’m sorry I made you guys stop in, but I figured it would be easier to just talk about this in person,” I tell them.

“No, it’s really okay,” Dan says, “We had some errands to do, and Miss Thing over there loves getting to see you and Josh, so she’s not going to complain.” Glancing down at her while she looks at my necklace intently. 

“Okay, so–” I start, “The redhead who was here basically reminded me that I need to make you an official employee.”

“Okay… why do you seem nervous, though?” she questions. 

“I need to get you certified with the state, it’s not a ‘requirement’ but it definitely looks better for us,” I know I probably sound and look defeated but at this point, who am I trying to fool?

“Did I get you into some shit?” her face falls a bit. Dan reached over to her for comfort. 

“No, it’s not your fault. I was too ready to hire another person, and obviously, I know you, so I didn’t even think about it.”

‘Sad?’ Iris says, looking up at me.

I can’t help the small smile that breaks seeing her, ‘No, I’m okay,’ I tell her. Subtly making eye contact with Melody to make sure i’m signing everything correctly, which she just nods. 

“So can I not work until then or..?” 

I let out a long sigh, “I’ll just have you work with one of us until everything is done.”

Dan leans in, kissing the side of her head, before looking over at me, “Do you need help getting everything figured out?” 

“No, it shouldn’t take me too long. I just need to sit down and actually do it.”

It’s practically clockwork the way Josh appears in the doorway. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he starts. But the- IS THAT MY BABYGIRL?” His voice rises as he drops into a squat. She runs into Josh’s arms, giggling the entire way. They really are a cute little pair, I think to myself. He spends a minute chatting with her before sending her back over to Dan. 

“OH- the shipment is here, by the way.”

Fucking Christ, of course it comes today. 

“I’ll be right there,” I shoot him a tight-lipped smile. 

I look back to Melody, as I’m standing up from my desk, “I will figure this out and you will still be paid for whatever days you work even before the paperwork is submitted, okay?” 

We end up talking for a few minutes before I actually make my way back into the bar. Rounding the corner, I see the next problem I have to tackle. Our entire shipment is just stacked up at the end of the hallway. 

“Josh, why didn’t you tell them to just put everything in the cooler?” I look over to him as he’s drying glasses and putting them away. He doesn’t react to my question, which is weird for someone who never stops talking. 

“Josh?” No response.

I walk towards him, which finally catches his eye, turning to me as he pulls out one of his headphones. 

“There you are, I’ve been wa-” he starts, but I can’t stop myself from cutting in. 

“Are you joking?” I snap, coming off harsher than I would like. 

“What do you mean?” 

I rub my eyes harder than I probably should before looking at him again, “Why didn’t you tell them to put the cases of beer in the cooler?”

“What do you mean..” he turns, seeing the shipment sitting at the end of the bar, “Oh.. oh my god.. I didn’t think they would start bringing it in until you signed for it.”

I inhale slowly, staring at him and doing my best not to lose it. It’s fine; everything will be fine. Just sign for the shipment and start moving everything. Maybe Dan won’t mind helping for a few minutes. 

“It’s fine,” I grab his arm gently. 'I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal.” I turn away from him, head outside, and sign for everything. Nothing more than a ‘thanks so much, have a good one’, and then I’m back inside, ready for whatever else is going to go wrong today. If I only knew. 

Thankful that Dan is at the bar talking to Josh, I quickly walk over to him, 

“Where’d the girls go?”

“Mel took Iris to the car. The little lady was getting antsy,”

“Do you mind helping me get these out of the way?” He glances over, his eyes going wide, before nodding. 

The two of us have spent a lot of time working together, given the shipyard and all. I think we would both agree that having someone there that we knew made the experience a bit better. It’s not the most exhilarating job you could have, but it pays well and has benefits. Which, when you’re in your early twenties, is about all you can ask for. 

We both round the corner into the cooler and set everything down, just on the floor so we can organize it at some point today. Just another thing I’ll need to take care of now. 

“Do you need me to work tonight?” he asks quietly. 

“What? No, I already feel bad making the two of you stop by. Enjoy your day off.” I probably could use the help today but, none of this is his fault, so I’m not going to make him come in. 

“Are you sure? I don’t mind, really.” 

“I’m positive. I appreciate you just helping me move these, so I didn’t have to ask Josh,” we both laugh at the thought of Josh lugging cases of beer around.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

I don’t know how long I’ve been in this cooler, but I’m nearing the end of organizing and taking inventory of what we have. We probably should have done this sooner because we definitely could have used a few more things. Setting my notebook down, trying to move things around, I hear a faint, ‘Hey Jake,’ coming through the wall. I finish shifting some of the beers around to make more sense before grabbing my notebook and making my way back out to the bar. 

I only make it a few steps down the hall before I hear chatter coming from the bar. That’s weird? Sliding my phone out of my pocket, it is Tuesday, right? Why is it so loud out there? Picking up my pace, I toss the notebook onto my desk in passing. Rounding the corner behind the bar, I saw a slew of faces at the bar, and most of the tables were filled. 

“Uh, what the fuck is going on?” I lean into Josh so nobody can hear me. 

“I have been trying to figure that out this whole time,” he whispers back, “Did you not hear me call for you?” 

“No, I did, I just didn’t think it was for this.” 

He looks at me, clearly scattered, “I have the bar handled,” 

I just nod, hustling out to the tables one by one, taking orders. I spend most of my time behind the bar; usually Josh is the one running to tables and charming everyone who comes in. 

I run drinks to each table, making sure everybody is good for a few. After what feels like the thousandth time walking behind the bar, I cave.

Jake: hey bud, is there any chance you can come help? We’re swamped and it’s just josh and i. Please I’ll pay you for real 

Sam: I guess I can. Bird and Quinn wanna watch some shitty tv show anyway

Jake: youre the best 

“Sam’s on his way,” I whisper to Josh as he’s pouring a fresh beer for someone. 

He breathes out, “Thank God,” sliding the fresh beer across the bar. I don’t know where all of them are coming from.” The door chime rings quietly amongst the bar chatter, and the music flows from the jukebox as more people happily saunter through. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Once Sam came in, things got a bit easier, and I only had to run drinks to people rather than bussing the tables as I was taking orders. Josh continued tending the bar. It’s absurd for a Tuesday to be this busy. Nobody has a clear answer on why they all ended up here tonight, either. I’ll take busy over a typical boring Tuesday night around here– 

“Ooooooooo,” every patron of the bar collectively says in a chorus of ooo’s and ahhh’s. Looking over to Sam, who may as well have his tail between his legs, standing in front of a pile of broken glasses. Fuck. 

I hustle over to him, “What happened?” 

“I was just trying to save a trip, so I had a shit load of glasses, and then well.. I sorta tripped myself.” 

I let out a long breath, trying not to laugh at how nervous he seems, “You and Willa really are a match made in heaven, huh?” I sneak past him and the broken glass, “Stay here. I’ll grab a broom.” 

Stopping in my office quickly, order some more glasses, I scribble into my notebook. 

“Here, I’ll do it,” he reaches out, taking the broom and dustpan from me. His eyebrows are still pulled together as he sets the dustpan on the chair next to him. 

I grab his arm gently, “I’m not mad at you, Sam.” I squeeze his arm a few times before he squats down to clean up the mess, and I go back to running around like a headless chicken.  

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

It takes us a bit to get into a good flow, but between the three of us, we’ve managed. I don’t think the bar has ever been this busy during the week. Josh and I have switched so he can get out and talk to more people, which he’s definitely more comfortable doing. I found myself back behind the bar, which I feel like I can handle a bit better because it’s fewer people to focus on. Sam doing everything he can to help us keep up between bussing tables, running drinks, and washing glasses. 

Tapping my phone screen, 11:45 pm glows back at me. Thank God we’re almost there. Even though I never finished the paperwork I should have, at least this night is so close to being over. I set the shaker in the sink, turning around quickly to grab a fresh napkin to put underneath the glass, when I hear ‘ope’ escape Josh loudly. Of course, not before I feel the chill of a fresh beer soaking through my pant leg. 

“Sick.” I mutter, trying not to make a big deal out of it. I grab the napkin and the drink sliding them over to the customer. Nothing like wet denim. 

“Jake, I’m sorry,” Josh cringes, looking over at me as he pours another beer from the tap.

I take a deep breath, fighting the urge to be angry, yet again. I grab a shot glass and whatever bottle of Whiskey my hand lands on. I poured it for myself quickly and threw it back. Grimacing at the burn it leaves in my throat. 

“Drinking on the-” Josh starts, and immediately stops when I whip my head over to him with a tight-lipped smile and my eyes wide, “Carry on!” he backs off slowly.  

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The night goes on, my beer-soaked jeans and all. People start filtering out around midnight, which is pretty typical. We get mild enjoyment from watching the drunk girls try to walk on the cobblestone just across the street from us, which at this rate, might be the best thing to happen to me today. The three of us have a laugh together as we watch someone have to catch their girlfriend mid-fall when we hear the worst possible sound at 12:35am.  

‘What the fuck did you just say to me?’ cuts through everyone’s chatter. 

Stopping me in my tracks. Why does that voice sound familiar? I start walking towards the sound to realize who it is. Shit, shit, shit. Why didn’t I take Dan up on working tonight? I look at Josh, mouthing, ‘You stay here.’

Another loud ‘You motherfucker’ caused more people to look. 

Weaving between people who naturally have stood up to see what’s going on. For fucks sake, this would happen. Letting out a quiet “excuse me, sorry” as I nudge my way through, I manage to make it to the problem just as another good contact punch was thrown. Fucking Craig.

“Are you fucking joking?” I ask louder than usual. He turns to face me, and I can tell he’s realized he was caught.

“Excuse me?” the bigger one spits out. 

“Why are you in my bar, Greg?” I laugh, watching blood slowly leak from his nose. 

“It’s Craig,”

“I don’t care, why are you here?”

“I mean I just-“

“You just what? You just came here to start shit in my bar? AGAIN?” My voice slowly rose; the pent-up anger from today started to seep out. 

I grab his shirt as I get closer to him, the blood from his nose creeping over his mouth. 

“I told you to stay out of here, and you disrespected me this time,” I ball up his shirt in my fist tighter, “now leave, you piece of shit.” Shoving him towards the door, he stumbles into a table. 

He makes his way to the door, turning back to me, “Yeah, well, fuck you and your brother!” hollering as he walks out into the night. 

“How will I ever recover?” I laugh to myself. 

I look over to the guy who punched Craig, where Sam is already stood in front of him. 

“Jeff, right?” 

Oh, Sammy boy I’ll let you have this one. 

“Uhh-“ 

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave..” Sam tells him, grabbing his arm and gesturing to the door. 

“Why do I have to leave? He started it?” 

The grimace on Sam's face at his rebuttal making me laugh before he spits out, “Yeaahhh… and you punched him so.. I think it’s obvious,” 

“So.. you like getting in bar fights AND ditching women on dates?” Sam asks. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“You’re a real stand-up guy, Jeff,” Sam says, the sarcasm alone should sober him up enough to drive. I watch as Sam opens the door and pushes him through, turning to me with a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“God, that felt good. I knew that dude was a prick,” he barks out a laugh. 

Spending a couple minutes mingling amongst the tables who were close to the action, making sure everybody is okay and apologizing for the unfortunate disturbance. Grateful that nobody was truly upset, and honestly, they kept applauding me for taking care of it. Maybe I’m actually okay at this? I hadn’t really needed to break up many fights here since we opened, because Dan usually gets people out before it starts. 

I walk up behind Josh, leaning close to him so only he can hear, “I doubt he’ll ever try to come back now.” 

His face turned towards me, “Did he actually get hit?”

“Oh, absolutely. His nose was probably broken.”

His smile grows, “He deserved that.”

“Yeah he did,” I laughed because nobody deserved it more than him. 

The rest of the night went smoothly. Everybody started filtering out, and we were down to just a handful by 1:45 am. Grateful they had all already paid, they were heading towards the door by the time good ole Bob began to play through the speakers. I don’t know if that’s offensive to Bob or if they can tell we want to go home.

 We only spent a few minutes cleaning up before I told Sam to go home. Promising him, I would send him money as soon as I finished up here and locked the front door behind him. 

“Let’s finish this tomorrow, Bub,” I tell him as I’m walking back over to the bar, “It’s been a long enough day.” 

I’ve never seen someone drop what they’re doing faster. Throwing the cleaning rag under the bar and grabbing his phone, I watch him hustle to the back door. It’s hard not to laugh at it, maybe it’s the exhaustion. Shutting all the lights off as I walk through and locking up the bar, we’re finally free. The paperwork will be a future me problem.  

“Tomorrow’s a new day,” Josh says quietly, squeezing my shoulder as we walk into the stairwell.

I take a deep breath, letting it out with a, “You’re right.” 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

We quietly get into the apartment. Considering the night we both endured, we don’t really say much past ‘goodnight’. I fall back into my bed, just staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. First thing tomorrow, I’ll get those forms filled out. I just need to focus. Today was a mess, so maybe a fresh set of eyes will help. 

Tossing my jeans that smell horrendous at the pile of dirty laundry as I make myself more comfortable. Scrolling through my phone for a minute to try and decompress from the day, my stomach drops. 

‘People you may know..’  on Instagram will always haunt me, full of people I went to high school with that I no longer talk to. This time though feels like torture. 

‘Charlotte Rhodes’ sits there for a second before my curiosity gets the best of me. I tap on her name, revealing that her account is private. I should have known; she seemed fairly reserved, but I couldn’t resist clicking on her profile picture. 

Her loose red waves pass her shoulders, her freckles on display. This must be from summer, and she looks like she’s been in the sun. The way she is laughing; her smile is so big. The green of her eyes peeks through even if she’s squinting. Whoever took this photo is lucky to have her look at them like this.  

I linger on her photo for longer than I should admit, but lord have mercy, she is beautiful. ‘You really run a tight ship around here, huh?’ plays in my head. My heart feels weird thinking about it. I know I’m probably overthinking it, but in my head, that was her way of subtly flirting. Even if I promptly made a fool of myself after. The boys will never let that one go, either. My eyes start to feel heavy, and I toss my phone onto my nightstand. I lay there in the dark, closing my eyes and hoping to fall asleep soon. But my mind won’t ease up; all I can think of is her.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Chapter Two

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DR Thoughts

Bottom line. Daniel Ricciardo has been given ultimatums and pressures up the wazoo the last few months. Relentless ones. Constant pressure. Whether it’s from VCARB, Peter Bayer, Laurent Mekies, Helmut Marko, Christian Horner, the F1 media/pundits … and it isn’t just for the Red Bull seat, it’s for his VCARB seat….his livelihood in the sport. He does all the things he needs to….consistently clawing his way back into whatever good graces, results he needs. This weekend was going so well…only for the team to do this to him with that horrendous strategy and then to barely acknowledge the team’s mistakes and not just really apologize so everyone can move on. I hope for everyone’s sake they have had debriefs and genuinely talked through and acknowledged their roles in what happened. I don’t believe the actual strategy call was malicious or pre-planned, but their response just feels terrible.

As someone else mentioned, hopefully, this becomes inconsequential when it comes to whether he continues in F1, since it’s very clear it’s not his fault, but he now has to deal with all the internet hate/F1 media. As he ended his post-race interview - making a comment on the race - and what were they expecting him to do? It feels like bigger picture - what more do people want?

For everyone saying he just cares about Red Bull, I don’t think that’s entirely true. Sure there are the “career ending there would be a fairytale” comments but in no way has he been arrogant about this. It feels he only wants to be a part of the Red Bull family (why he’s basically not considering other teams) because it was supposed to be the team that had his back. VCARB was feeling like it was adjacent to Red Bull, but today just felt like he was thrown to the wolves again. After the years he had at McLaren, this probably felt like a stunning disappointment for him. Again, hope the people who make such decisions know the reality, but just tough, that Daniel has to deal with public and internet hate from people who only see he scored no points this weekend. It’s so much more complicated and nuanced.

Many of his comments this weekend have been about - just a seat for next year. And another thing, if the Red Bull seat isn’t an option (which swings wildly from he’s a shoe-in, to absolutely no chance and everything in between), so who really knows? That said, VCARB isn’t really giving Daniel a chance to build something real there either (all of the this is a junior team talks and arguments). They take all of his experience and use it to their benefit, but then he also isn’t considered number 1 driver. Sure, maybe his results have not warranted this. But honestly, what is he supposed to do? All season he’s just trying to keep his options open by working hard, being dedicated and what will it be for? What else should he be doing?

I know, in the end, people who dislike him - dislike him and want him gone. But as people have been saying about Perez (which feels like Daniel/McLaren 22) can we please find some empathy? You can criticize these guys for results, but if they’re working hard and trying, and are humans, some empathy and understanding wouldn’t be out of bounds.

But some people just want to hate. That’s exhausting. Anyway, knowing, we can’t please everyone, it just feels sad, he’s getting more hate that isn’t necessary. And given what he’s facing, he’s been absolutely amazing. And yet someone will still find a reason to criticize him.

Seriously, FEA.

What an upsetting day for DR and to be a DR fan. I hope behind-the-scenes they are dealing with this and hope we can move on from this…

And hours later, still irritated and trying to find a way out of the rabbit hole. To clarify, he has my support always, but today was rough. If anyone has words of encouragement, would be happy to hear them ❤️❤️❤️

[freezerbnuuy]

Act 4:18 - The Man with his Heart on the Outside (Page 2)

LORE | CHARACTERS | ABOUT / WARNINGS | CHAPTERS

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Daniel

"Volpe? He's a sly fox- gets the youth of Henford to do his dirty work because he's too cowardly to pick up a sword and do it himself. As for Oskar? I knew him, quite well, and I knew bits and pieces of his formidable past. Who wouldn't try to defend their life from an ex-vampire and an ex-soldier?"

Owen understands. Thank goodness, he understands.

"I know it isn't your fault, Daniel, I had a feeling it wasn't. I understand that Eli is upset, but...I've kept many a secret from him. I cannot judge you for that. From all I know of you, and all of what Eli tells me about you, you've got a good head on your shoulders. You two are a good fit, I believe. "

"Well, we were- until I said all those horrible things to him, telling he was fragile and over-emotional. It's why I never told him about any of it, I knew he wouldn't give me a chance to explain."

"I see." Owen takes a gentle sip of his tea, but he's still not touched his breakfast. "And do you regret what you said to him?"

"Yeah. I do."

Two weeks or so after it happened, I felt a cold pool of shame in my gut and it hasn't left since. I gaze down at the proud gryphon statue, and across to Owen- who seems anything but proud. Maybe 'the Gryphon' isn't as confident as it looks deep down.

"You and I both, Daniel. I've said to him on multiple occasions that he's far too emotional about everything. He hasn't spoken to me since. He came to me on the night after you two fell apart, yelling at the top of his voice. Wouldn't give me a chance to talk, either, when I told him he might not have considered all sides of what was going on.

I haven't been the best brother to him, Daniel. Growing up, he was almost like a son, in an odd way, given the fact we're a ludicrous fifteen years apart. Once I was an adult, I began to grow frustrated with him. I couldn't relate to him; we had little in common at that point. I was in my twenties, and he was only just beginning to learn basic arithmetic. I cared about little else other than my medical studies, and had no time to play with him."

"I mean, there's a gap of minutes between me and my brother, so I think I get what you're saying. But trust me, Eli doesn't hate you. He loves you- always will. He always spoke highly of you and the way you turned yourself and the Annorin name around. You looked after him when your father made him upset."

He looks slyly to the side for a second.

"I get it, honestly. Josiah and I are different too, and we used to fight a lot growing up. We don't agree on everything, but we still think the world of each other, and Eli feels no differently about you. Sure, you weren't the 'best brother', in your words- but I know what Samuel did to him. Samuel was way, way worse than anything you could have said or done."

Owen lets out a deep sigh, and a look of pure guilt washes across his face. It's almost unreal. That neutral, almost cold expression practically never disappears most of the time.

"I appreciate your understanding… I feel we both have reason to apologise, Daniel, and I feel you may have a sense of awkwardness about doing it alone. I wanted to ask if you'd want to perhaps come with me, so we can both offer an apology to him. How does that sound?"

"I think that might work. On one condition - you eat your breakfast, like Tilly said. You'll say all the wrong things if you're hungry."

He huffs at me, and I can't tell if it's in jest or not. "Goodness, you sound just like my wife…"

Eli

It turns out I work a lot harder when I don't have feelings getting in the way.

I've tried to work on pushing them away as soon as they enter, because it's bad to feel things. It's bad to react in any way to anything. That's what Samuel said to me. That's what Owen said to me, too, and Daniel.

Read any work of fiction, from masterpieces by the greats right down to the penny-dreadfuls and you'll see that people love to read about how the people in between the pages feel. They love to read about them, they love to see the highs and the lows and the in-betweens of their lives.

Everyone adores emotion and passion, but only in theory and only behind closed doors. Open your heart in the real world, and you're too fragile, you over-react, you just don't understand, you haven't looked at all sides of the story.

Come to think of it, sometimes people were the same to Oskar. In his past, those who loved him for his quirkiness soon came to despise him for it when he got too over-excited or overly-interested in something. Oskar may not have been my father by birth, but he passed on his love for the world to me.

He taught me to be passionate about my creations, but how can I? How can I be passionate knowing that my clients, my family, the entire world outside of my front door would berate me for it if they saw that was how I was as a person?

Daniel, Samuel, Owen, everyone - they'll be glad that I'm having to leave behind all my father taught me for their comfort. Then, they'll notice something seems different about me. They'll notice I'm not smiling, they'll notice that I've lost my touch, and they'll say about how Eli used to be such a kind and cheerful soul, won't they?

Eli is too much and too little at the same time. Daniel gets to be angry at me for having important things withheld from me -again, Owen is considered such a caring soul by everyone who's ever been his patient. But somewhere, Eli did something wrong in showing his heart to others.

[author's note: the title and some aspects of the writing of this chapter are inspired by this short comic.]

[thepeaklegendoffirstgen]

Hello....kaise ho ap?🤍🤍

This is something I wanted to asks since a long time now😅

I believe all my previous asks were kind of headcanons.....

So could you write kind of a one-shot on how DANIEL'S WEDDING would go....yk all allies and friends reuniting after everything is over (basically a time skip until all of them are adults)…..just wanna see them having fun....cuz frds=fun=chaos....

[if possible can you add one more thing.....you can totally avoid what I'm about to say from now on....so if u re-read ch547 u would realize that Jinrang actually has not forgiven Dan...before it could happen "Kitae" happened soooo considering Dan' s mentality, amidst all the happiness deep inside he might have self doubt like- " Do I really deserve this....people died cuz of me....will I be able to protect HER or will I end up loosing her too due to my irrational decisions"......BUT Jinrang actually comes to bless him and reassure him that it was not him fault.......Jake Hyung might or might not have anything to do with this Again you can totally avoid this part.]

Hope I'm not being too much, you don't have to do it if you don't like the idea. Patiently waiting for your Karwa Chauth ones and after the last chapter you were right Jaegyeon is perfect for Kajol-SRK energy

Love you so much...🤍

take care and take your time

~🤍

Hello ... me theek aap kaise☺️

Yeah yeah I'll definitely write this, but sometime later 🙏

And for the Karva Chauth one, maybe next week because it totally slipped from my mind. Thanks for reminding me that, I so badly want to do it mainly because of James😭😭 I'm so worried about him.

Yeahhh I am genuinely so happy my Jaegyeon portrayal was so spot on 🤭🤭 I always had the feeling. Defo he gives SRK - Kajol vibes.

[gealach-in-a-misty-world]

something I keep pondering that I'm wondering your thoughts on... when did Akihiro realize that Romulus was the villain in his life? and how did he come to this conclusion?

my first thought is when Xavier reveals to him Romulus was the one responsible for his mother's death, but he still goes back to Romulus after that. Which makes a lot of sense, its definitely a thing common in victims. But that also makes this question something really hard to answer.

I want to say that he's intelligent enough to have to have known this for a long time, but the way he's written in Wolverine: Origins kind of contradicts that. (I blame Daniel Way just not understanding how abuse works lol)

Well, I basically agree with you; he realized then. I don't find it strange that he returned to Romulus because, as you say, that is common in abuse survivors, but I also think that he was biding his time and contemplating revenge of some kind.

Perhaps he did realize something before that, perhaps he knew on some kind of level that he was being abused, but there was always that strong narrative thread of him believing he was made to be Romulus' heir, and so he rationalized it that way, as everything he endured was a way to make him stronger and self-sufficient. We also saw how he internalized something Romulus told him early on, that nobody cares.

For all of Daniel Way's faults, the Reckoning arc tackles these issues perfectly, I think. Especially when Romulus goes to the hotel and just his presence and certain gestures make Akihiro break into a cold sweat.