#rc car challenge

[inchidentally]

no idea why a silly fun challenge video turned into every raceengineer!Oscar driver!Lando fandom trope of Lando whining to Oscar in a fussy bedroom voice and Oscar firmly but kindly taking him in hand with ever increasing sexual innuendo and then them both blushing and giggling over praising each other but like this is the reality we live in

[kuramirocket]

Here are my score and rankings in the mini games for Odyssey:

Some of these games were hell. If you know, you know.

The jump rope, volleyball and rc car challenges were so fcking frustrating omfg. They took me forever. The Iceburn circuit was pretty up there too.

As for the Koopa free running the only ones I found hard on some level were the ones in the Cascade, Lake, and Lost Kingdom from what I recall. The other ones were pretty easy once I saw the path all the Koopas took or I just found the quickest path myself. Lol

I was just so glad when I finally got the power moons for passing them. Definitley some of the hardest power moons to get in the game @-@

[corioliseffect]

new curse dropped: having fic ideas but i refuse to write rpf/don't think i even could

[typewritingyip]

I heard that in the military, nicknames are given from embarrassing moments, so my friend @searchingforthelamps and I came up with some potential situations for the crews! (Went mostly off of names and vibes)

Arc 1

Hound got his code name after one time while drunk he started sniffing the ground like he was a blood hound so the name Hound stuck.

Breakdown was trying to fix one of his brother's car and when went to test drive it not even 30 seconds after pulling out, the engine went up smoking, brother never let him forget so it stuck with him even after joining the military.

Sideswipe swiped a shit ton of stuff off a table on accident while being dramatic.

Sunstreaker gets his nickname because when day-drinking he got shitfaced drunk, stripped, and ran outside in broad daylight in front of everyone.

Jazz tried to do “Do you like jazz?�� as a pick up line and no one ever let it go.

Arc 2

Cliffjumper fell off a cliff once. Everyone else: “H a h. Pathetic. We’re never gonna let you forget this”

Arc 3

Ratchet threw one too many ratchets at people so they started calling him that.

Swindle. The name speaks for itself. Dude scams everyone out of their money during Monopoly. Everytime. He becomes the bank. People will challenge him and will just get slammed into debt. He is the god of money.

Perceptor. He was high as shit, pointed at his head with both hands and with eyes looking in slightly different directions, said “I perceive everything” in the most matter-of-fact tone to ever exist.

Blurr. He is in constant motion. Every picture of him is blurred. There is not a single camera that can capture him unblurred. Impossible. It’s like he’s on constant caffeine jitters. 

For the life of me I can’t think of anything for Arcee, Shockwave or Hot Rod

I love these, I love these dearly, but I will give you the ones I have!

Hound: When he is in the military, his laugh is very much like a hound dog style bark, and it started as people making fun of him and stuck. (He sounds like he’s in pain every time he laughs)

Breakdown: He did not get his nickname till he got to the US, because, and I shit you not, he was the cause of most major breakdowns in communication. List as the cause on reports.

Sideswipe: He sideswiped Swindle’s car with his mechs leg, on accident, during the effectively yearly class photo. Swindle took it out of his paycheck for a year.

Sunstreaker: This one got his nickname before testing and such, but everyone heard the story and so it still stuck. When they were living homeless, Sideswipe was an asshole and took Sunny’s clothes on time when they were on the beach. He was asleep. Not only was he sunburned, but he effectively went streaking when he had to go back to the car.

Jazz: So, you were incredibly close with Jazz. Except someone used the pickup line on him, and then he went on a two hour info dump about Jazz and its history to them.

Cliffjumper: Literally the same thing, dead on. You got that one 100% right.

Ratchet: Yeah, you’re basically right. He would throw wrench’s and socket wrench’s (ratchets) at people. Also they were referencing One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest too.

Perceptor: Yep, basically that, but while saying it he was showing this design for a camera system to go into the mechs. No one let him live that down.

Arcee: Part of it was she was only a rescue class for like, a year (RC) on the paperwork. But also once she was staying with striker class more often, with the down time, she had a habit of buying toy drones and cars to race around with the other pilots. It was like she became a distributor.

Hot Rod: Panicked the first time his mech ever got fire, basically threw himself from the suit, and promptly forgot it had been recently on fire and touched one of the support rods burning his hand and said the stupid thing, “fuck, that’s one hot rod, damn!” And kept repeating it.

Blurr: Actually got the monicker in racing! There are tons of examples in racing but there is a driver in nascar, whose name is William Clyde Elliot the Third, he goes by Chase. Similar with Blurr, long ass name that he changed.

Swindle: Dead on the money, (Bu-dun-*crashing symbol sound*)

And.. yeah. I don’t have one for Shockwave yet, but I think it came from his political career, clean energy back before the invasion stuff.

I loved what you had to say though, incredible.

[coimbrabertone]

MotoGP and the KTM Situation

So...KTM's parent company, Pierer Mobility Group, is in a bit of a mess.

A $3 billion in the red kind of mess.

How did this happen? Well, the short answer is that Pierer Mobility Group and KTM expanded too fast, too quickly, and now their debt is catching up with them. As for the long story, well...

Stefan Pierer, an Austrian businessman, founded an investment company called Cross Industries (what is now Pierer Mobility Group) in 1987, and in 1992, he took over KTM Motorrad in his native Austria. In 1994, KTM launched the Duke line, which took the traditionally dirt-bike focused KTM brand into the road bike business for the first time.

Dirt bikes remained a key element of KTM's business - and racing dirt bikes in things like Motocross and the Dakar Rally is a huge part of KTM's identity - but the allure of road bikes is what we'll be focusing on for this story.

A series of adventure and supermoto bikes followed, before in 2003, KTM entered Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing for the first time. While Ducati entered into the 4-stroke 990cc top class that same year, KTM instead focused their efforts on the 2-stroke 125cc class, as well as the 250cc class from 2005 onwards.

They took their first win at the 2004 Malaysian Grand Prix when Casey Stoner won the 125cc during his only season on KTM machinery, followed by a championship challenge the very next year. Mika Kallio won at Estoril, the Sachsenring, Motegi, and Valencia, whilst teammate Gabor Talmacsi won at Mugello, Assen, and Qatar. Qatar and Valencia were 1-2 finishes for KTM, and ultimately, Kallio finished second in the 125cc standings while Talmacsi finished third. Julian Simon on a third bike would win in the wet at Donington Park and finish eighth, putting three KTMs in the top ten in 125s in 2005 - a very respectable showing in just their third season competing.

Kallio would again finish second in 125 in 2006, with three wins to his name, whilst in 250cc, Hiroshi Aoyama won at Turkey and Japan, finishing third in those standings.

Aoyama and Kallio would both compete in 250cc in 2007, with Aoyama winning at the Sachsenring and Malaysia, while Kallio won in the wet at Motegi and then again at the season finale in Valencia. Aoyama would finish sixth while Kallio was seventh.

2008 would mark a full barreled 250 effort with Aoyama and Kallio joined by returning third bike man Julian Simon. Kallio would perform well, winning at Jerez, a wet Shanghai, and at a dry Donington Park, but Aoyama and Simon would go winless. The 125cc effort had also atrophied by now, with the most notable result being some rookie called Marc Marquez taking a third place at Donington.

KTM's attention was fading by this point, and their road bike efforts turned from Grand Prix racing and towards their new RC 1190 superbike. Additionally, the X-Bow track car gave KTM an exciting new toy to play with.

Their Grand Prix efforts were winding down.

KTM only competed in the 125cc class in 2009, and with Marc Marquez only managing a single podium at Jerez, they decided not to continue for 2010.

Marc Marquez in 2010 would move to the Red Bull Ajo team riding a Derbi/Aprilia RSA-125 and would win 10 races to dominate the championship.

So yeah...it wasn't a rider problem, their bike just kinda sucked by that point.

Meanwhile, KTM continued to expand their company. In 1995, they acquired Husaberg AB, a manufacturer established to keep dirt bike production in Sweden after Husqvarna's parent company Cagiva moved their production to Varese, Italy. KTM would in 2003 move Husaberg production to Mattighofen, Austria, making the whole thing rather pointless. Next, in 2007, came ventures with Indian giant Bajaj, who began distributing KTMs in India in exchange for a 14.5% stake.

In 2011 a similar collaboration would begin with CFMoto in China, which in 2017, became a downright joint venture between them and KTM.

Then in 2013, Husqvarna - now in BMW's hands - was sold to the Pierer Mobility Group, who promptly merged it and Husaberg, so instead of being produced in Sweden or Italy, it was all now in Austria.

In 2012, KTM would reenter GP racing with the introduction of the 4-stroke 250cc Moto3 class. They'd win the championship with Sandro Cortese, while in 2013...they won everything. Maverick Vinales in first, Alex Rins in second, Luis Salom in third, and Alex Marquez in fourth were all on KTM RC250GPs.

Fifth place was Jonas Folger on a KTM-engined Kalex.

Complete and utter domination.

On the back of this, KTM planned to enter the top class for the first time. With a V4 engine, a steel trellis frame, and Red Bull sponsorship, KTM entered the RC16 in the 2016 Valencian GP ahead of a full debut in 2017.

Who rode the RC16 at Valencia? None other than Mika Kallio, the Finn returning to KTM as their test and development rider after stints with Ducati in MotoGP and Marc VDS in Moto2.

Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith would be their full-time riders for 2017 and 2018, with Pol scoring KTM's first podium at the 2018 Valencian GP - KTM sure does have a weird affinity with Valencia, eh?

2019 would mark two big changes: first is that Johann Zarco replaced Bradley Smith, second is that KTM gained a satellite team for the first time. Yup, after competing as Monster Energy Yamaha for ten years, Tech3 became Red Bull KTM Tech3, with Hafizh Syahrin and Miguel Oliveira riding for them.

Zarco would force his way out of KTM before the year was even over, forcing Kallio to fill in for him at the final six races, but other than that...KTM's 2019 was more of a building year. They collected some points while, in the background, KTM began to move away from the steel trellis, aluminum swingarm, and old school screamer engine.

The frame became a more typical steel/aluminum hybrid, the swingarm a radical carbon fiber, and the engine conformed to the now ubiquitous big bang firing order.

The results? Rookie Brad Binder wins the 2020 Czech Grand Prix in just his third start, while on the Tech3 bike, Miguel Oliveira wins at Styria and Portimao.

KTM also took the opportunity to buy out the struggling GasGas brand in 2019, giving Pierer Mobility Group its third brand.

KTM was winning in MotoGP, it was expanding its business, but it was also already signing its own death warrant.

With the purchase of GasGas, Pierer Mobility Group now had three different brands that were predominantly in the dirt bike business. They tried to position GasGas as the entry level brand, KTM in the middle, and the Husqvarna as a premium brand, sort of trying to be the General Motors of motorcycles, there's just two problems with that:

One: Bikes are so much more niche compared to cars.

Two: even in cars the multi-brand thing doesn't work so well, with GM killing off storied brands like Oldsmobile and Pontiac in recent memory, along with more recent ventures like Saturn and Hummer failing to carve out a niche.

Nevertheless, with COVID giving a lot of people a lot of time on their hands, KTM initially had very strong sales. Lots of people were trying out their motorcycles for the first time, and with KTM giving variety between dirt bikes, road bikes, and even teasing a return to the superbike market with the RC 990, maybe things would work out.

They did not.

KTM banked on the COVID bubble.

They spent money acquiring the likes of GasGas, Husqvarna, and now a 50.1% stake in MV Agusta as well, they banked on joint ventures with Bajaj and CFMoto giving them access to the eastern markets only to develop a reputation in India for being overpriced and having bad build quality. On top of this, KTM began the scummy business practice of hiding riding software behind a paywall, most notably with their cruise control.

(For no reason at all, I'm also going to point out that Stefan Pierer has a seat on the Mercedes-Benz supervisory board.)

The end result of all this? KTM sits on 265,000 unsold bikes. Unsold bikes which only meet Euro 5 emissions standards, meaning that when the Euro 5+ standards come into effect in March, KTM will not be able to sell those bikes in Europe, where, with 11.8% market share, KTM is the largest motorcycle manufacturer.

Furthermore, KTM was not able to pay its workers their December salaries until last Friday, the 27th. November salaries remain unpaid, and Christmas bonuses have been cut entirely.

300 jobs at KTM are expected to be cut in January.

So...with all this going on, there are some big, big question marks about whether KTM will be able to continue racing in MotoGP.

They have released a statement confirming they will race in 2025 and with KTM having already sending two of their three factory rally raid riders to Dakar - the third is out with a leg injury - that seems reasonably secure.

Beyond that? It's unclear.

It's unclear how much development KTM will be doing to stay competitive as well. Initial reports suggested that KTM has already paused development, but KTM disputes this.

Now, a recent Austrian report says that KTM plans to withdraw in 2026, citing contracts and not wanting the PR disaster of early termination. What does that mean.

Well, KTM is contracted with Dorna through 2026, the end of the current regulation cycle.

Brad Binder has two years left on his contract, while Acosta, Vinales, and Bastianini are all on multiyear deals - traditional wisdom in racing says that multiyear deals typically translate to 2 years + a 1 year optional extension.

Furthermore, an engine freeze is coming into MotoGP in 2026, which will reduce development costs.

So...I believe that this means that KTM will see out their contracts, racing through 2025 and 2026 with their current set of riders. 2025 is already budgeted and we know that's secure, while seeing out the 2026 season and leaving at the end of 2026 seems to match up with these Austrian reports.

This is still a developing story, so I may well be wrong here.

It's also important to remember that this is about more than racing, it's about the people. Many, many, many people work at KTM, both on the production bike side and on the race team. These people are going through a tough time right now with this KTM bankruptcy drama, and you have to hope things turn out well for them.

I'm not much of a KTM fan - I don't oppose them either, I suppose I'm more of a neutral then - but I'd hate to lose them in MotoGP. I'd hate even more to see people lose their jobs because the ownership chased unsustainable growth.

That COVID bubble has been vicious to the business world.

[cursedbycain]

wager - Cain x Lane

tagging: @rc-catalog and @kazu-naito who has been waiting for this for like a week lol

synopsis: Noah and Lester are just too nosy

tw: mentions of injury, blood, alcohol consumption, rated T

wc: 2.4K

Lane first notices it on the train.

When Cain settles next to her with his food, Lester makes a noise that sounds like a half cheer, half cough. She catches his eye and he merely averts his gaze. Not paying much mind to him, she instead turns to the immortal.

“You can add some salt so it’s not so bland.” She suggests but he shrugs, fork moving slowly.

“I don’t feel like it.” The mask he so often wore, detached and unreadable, was cracked. There was something like melancholy bleeding through. His posture was slumped, gaze unfocused. He looked as if his eternal lifetime was catching up to him.

She bumps her knee against his to get his attention.

“Would you prefer beans on toast?” Her voice was teasing, soft and warm, and it landed. Cain blinks at her, confused for a beat, before raising an eyebrow in challenge. She saw the gears turn behind his eyes, saw the exact moment he pieced together the joke. He rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him, curving into the faintest smile.

“You’re ridiculous.” He sets his barely touched plate down. She takes a few more bites before mirroring his actions. They sit together quietly together in silence before the immortal nudges her.

“Can I show you something?” He asks, dipping his head close to her so they’ll go unheard. When she nods, he stands and offers his hand to help her up. She’s almost disappointed when their hands disconnect but his touch doesn’t go far, ghosting her hip as he guides her forward.

They pass Lester and Noah having a whispered argument, but they go silent as the pair pass them to leave the train car. As the door shuts behind them, she catches a sharp “I knew it!”.

Cain led her all the way to the last car, pushing open a creaky metal door to reveal a narrow platform outside. A rush of icy air blasted her, the snow-swept world flying past in a blur. The space was barely large enough for the two of them, especially with his wings, but they manage. His feathers caught the wind and shimmered faintly in the dim light.

The world here felt suspended. Unreal. Magical.

“This is gorgeous.” She’s slightly hesitant to lean on the railing, gripping the rusting metal tightly.

“It’s peaceful over here. I figured you would like it.” Cain swayed slightly beside her, his balance subtly off, as if the train’s rhythm didn’t quite match his own. His massive wings twitched behind him, adjusting against the narrow space.

“I do.” She inhaled deeply, the cold air stinging her lungs. It was clean and her head feels clear for a moment. His wing moved gently to shield her from the wind, forming a warm, feathery barrier.

When she glanced up, she found him already watching her.

“What is it?” She asks, voice soft.

He’s quiet, cold fingers reaching for her face to brush away a stray snowflake from her cheek. His hand lingers for a moment. Lane keeps perfectly still as he tucks some hair behind her ear with a familiar gentleness

“Nothing.” He said at last, withdrawing his hand and turning back to the horizon. She followed his gaze, the trees rushing by in a hypnotic rhythm.

When she shivered for the third time, he nudged her toward the door.

“I wouldn’t want you getting sick.” Cain smiles faintly as she steps into the warm train.

“Are you coming?”

He shakes his head, that same cryptic expression covering his true feelings. He slowly shuts the door behind her, blue eyes gleaming with something unspoken.

The next time Lane notices Lester and Noah’s odd behaviour is after Pileon’s attack. Cain lingers at the edge of her room as Greg cleans the cut on her lip. Through the throbbing in her head, she notices Lester nudging Noah. They’re mumbling to each other, and subtly shake hands. Both of their gazes shift to the immortal, who’s attention rests solely on Lane.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Greg asks, sitting back to examine her. She nods with a heavy sigh.

“She shouldn’t sleep yet, in case she has a concussion.” Anna states and Cain takes that moment to step forward.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t fall asleep.” He volunteers and Lester smiles.

“Will you watch over her all night?” The soldier withstands Cain’s withering stare surprisingly well. Noah hesitates as if he wants to argue but with a look from Lester that almost looks like gloating, he sighs dejectedly. They all begin to file out quietly, the door shutting behind them.

Headache starting to subside, Lane props herself up to look at Cain. The immortal is still soaked from the rain and a puddle has formed under him.

“Thank you. For…being here.” He regards with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

“Of course. Do you need anything?”

“…Could you grab me a bo'oh'o'wa'er?” She smiles slightly as she mocks him. He rolls his eyes, sighing heavily.

“No wonder Pileon tried to kill you.” He picks up a bottle, opening it and handing it to her. She takes a few sips and he takes it, setting it on the nightstand. He stays oddly close, watching as she lays back onto the bed and stares up at the ceiling.

“Why do you have an accent?” She asks, turning her head to look at him. Cain blinks a few times, caught off guard, before turning his head slightly away.

“I grew up not too far from here. After spending so much time among humans, I picked it up.” He doesn’t hide behind his usual riddles. It sends an odd thrill through her and she sits up against the headboard.

“How long have you been on Earth?” It’s the wrong question. Something about it makes him frown, shrugging wearily. He doesn’t answer, looking out the window at the pouring rain.

Knowing she won’t get anywhere when he’s like this, she lays back down with a tired sigh.

“You’re not supposed to sleep yet.” His voice is very close and she turns to realize he’s standing over her, studying her.

“I’m just…exhausted.” He doesn’t seem to have an argument against that. Cain sits at the edge of the bed, fixing her with a peculiar look.

“You shouldn’t have gone to Pileon while I was there. I’m glad you at least had the brains to only agree for show.” He smiles faintly.

“Well you had just dropped me nearly 60 feet.” She reminds him and his smile slips.

“That won’t happen again. You can trust me.” His eyes, blue, steady, vulnerable, hold her gaze for a moment too long. She wants to believe him. She just doesn’t know if she should.

“Do you need anything else? Some tea?” She shakes her head at his offer, wincing at the ache behind her eyes.

“You Brits and your tea. I’m fine, really.” He sighs dramatically and she huffs out a laugh.

“You can’t talk much, you’re American.” The word almost sounds like an insult, but he says it with a warm smile. Cain shifts to sit closer to her, inspecting the bruise on her forehead.

“Is it bad?” His cool fingers feel nice against the irritated skin as he brushes her hair back to get a better look. His gaze is slightly concerned as he studies it.

“No, it shouldn’t leave a scar. If it did, Pileon wear one to match.” His eyes flash red for a second before slipping back to their calming blue. His hand falls to cup her cheek. She lets herself relax into his touch, shutting her eyes.

Lane hadn’t wanted to admit it before, but it had been scary seeing Pileon looming over her. The relief she felt when seeing the angel was instant. It was a feeling she felt often. He was always a calming presence, especially when the squad would make her feel unsettled.

“You should get some sleep. I don’t think you have a concussion.” When she opens her eyes, he’s smiling faintly, as if he’d been admiring a beautiful painting.

“Will you stay?” She whispers, not wanting to pull away from his touch on her cheek.

“I will. Get some rest.” He reaches behind her to adjust her pillow, patting it. She lays down, still looking at him. His smile is serene, as if he’s finally letting his guard down. Feeling him pull the warm blanket over her, she allows herself to succumb to sleep.

Even while being in Portia’s apartment, Noah and Lester continue to act weird. It almost felt like they were keeping something from her, a secret contained beneath smirks and sideways glances. Suspicions have begun to creep up on her but she tries not to focus on them too much. But it seemed that every time the angel was around her, the pair paid her a lot more attention.

Handing Lane a glass of wine, Portia gestures to Cain.

“Your boyfriend mentioned he wanted some.” She tells her. Lane stiffens at the title but the woman moves on before she can correct her. She forces herself to ignore the odd feeling in her chest. Setting the glass in front of Cain, she sits next to him. His shoulder brushes against hers, solid and steady. His wings are as tucked in as he can make them. She catches Noah’s smug smile at her and raises an eyebrow at him.

‘Boyfriend?’ He mouths dramatically, eyes wide with glee

‘Shut up.’ She responds but he just laughs and begins whispering something to Lester that makes the latter nearly choke on his drink.

Cain sips his wine, seemingly pleased with the taste. He offers her it to her and she doesn’t hesitate to take a sip. It’s only when she sees Greg’s bemused expression that she realizes she had shown no qualms of putting her mouth where Cain’s had been a second ago. Of course, it’s not something you think much about after making out with someone in a shower.

She wasn’t sure if she should tell the squad about their closeness. Was there anything to tell? Things between her and Cain had definitely crossed the line of platonic. But labeling it felt too rigid. Too small for whatever it was that lived in the space between them.

Besides, it didn’t matter. Not really. There wasn’t that much to share.

She glanced over at the immortal, curious despite herself.

He’s eating with a slightly bored look on his face. Feeling her eyes on him, he turns his head with a raised eyebrow.

“Everything alright?” His voice is quiet but she still feels a few glances in her direction. She nods and looks back down at her food. Cain’s hand rests on her knee, thumb rubbing slow circles through the fabric of her pants. It’s oddly soothing.

His grip tightens for just a moment and she tunes back into the conversation to realize he’s arguing with Lester.

“That is NOT how you pronounce tomato.” The soldier looks bewildered at the angel’s pronunciation, while Cain frowns in annoyance.

“That’s how everyone says it.” He states and Yan nods in agreement.

“That’s definitely how you say it. Americans say everything wrong.” He comments. Cain looks at Yan with something like that looks like approval in his eyes.

“At least someone here knows proper English.” The immortal comments. This spurs an argument between the whole squad as various accents argue for their countries.

“You’re such a troublemaker.” Lane comments, using the distraction to drink Cain’s wine without any eyes on her. He merely smirks, eyes flashing red.

“You already knew that.”

Without thinking, she leaned into him, drawn by his warmth. The food, the wine, the chaotic arguing, it all melted into the background as she allowed herself a rare moment of comfort. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, soft and steady. He stays still, so as not to disturb her. His hand on her knee never stopped moving.

“It’s Chewsday, innit?” Lester says loudly, in a mangled, exaggerated mockery of a London accent.

Cain and Yan turned toward him in slow unison, faces etched with identical expressions of sheer disdain. Lane let out a small laugh, unable to help herself.

Cain looked down at her with an uncharacteristic look of shock, “Really?” he asked, tone wounded.

“That is how you talk” she defends. He rolls his eyes with dramatic flair, but there was amusement in his gaze. Fondness, even.

With the whole squad in her room, she finally allows herself to admit her feelings for Cain out loud.

“Cain? Will you stay?” He nods, laying out on her bed without a word.

The words have barely left her mouth when Lester pumps his fist, making a noise of celebration. She looks at him quizzically but he doesn’t meet her gaze. Noah casts an almost accusatory look at the pair but Lester drags him away with an arm around his shoulders and a ravenous grin.

“That was weird. I feel like everytime we’re together, Noah and Lester act so off.” She shifts to look at him. Cain’s quiet for a moment before propping himself up, a faint smirk appears on his lips.

“I’ve been wondering when you would notice.” His eyes flash red, sending an exciting chill down her spine.

“Notice what?”

“They’ve been placing bets on us. Pretty much since we left Rotkov.” He’s clearly amused as he watches her confused reaction.

“On us? What kind of bets?”

“Well Lester bet Noah his good jacket that we would spend the night together sometime this week so be prepared for him complain about being cold for a month.” His grin was unrepentant and borderline smug. Lane stares at him, her brain buffering slightly.

Suddenly, Noah’s earlier look of righteous betrayal made more sense.

“They’ve been betting on us getting together? Why?” She couldn’t tell if she should be embarrassed or not.

Cain shrugs one shoulder.

“Because it was obvious,” he says simply. “To them, at least.”

Lane opens her mouth to argue but the words never come. Cain was still watching her with that same quiet certainty, as if he'd known all along exactly where this would lead.

And the truth was, somewhere deep down, she had too.

[witchwyfe]

cruel summer ii - rc

pairing - (non-canon) Rafe Cameron x female reader

précis - part two of cruel summer !!

content/warnings - mentions of food, mentions of eating, language, kissing, i think that's it

word count - 1,331

a/n - the long-awaited sequel! thank y'all for being so patient i really hope it was worth the wait :)

“Okay, so I have Diet coke, Oreos, and the breadsticks from The Wreck, that you love.” You list of the items that are neatly packed away in your lunchbox from high school, gesturing to the backseat, where said lunchbox is sitting.

“You’re the best.” Rafe flashes you a shiny smile as he hauls himself into your passenger seat. You wait for the click of his seatbelt before pulling out of Tanneyhill’s driveway. 

Ever since you and Rafe had talked and acquired your new friendship status, you’d been spending quite a bit of time together—as in the whole summer. You have a week before you’re heading back to school, and it pains both of you more than you’ll ever admit. Tonight’s event is a beach picnic, hence the old lunchbox and blanket in your backseat. 

Instead of your usual chatter and occasional banter, Rafe is glued to his phone, a frown etched onto his lips. You glance over once, at a red light, but he doesn’t appear to notice. 

“So,” You start, somewhat awkwardly. “How was your day?”

Rafe clicks his phone off, looking up as he clears his throat, the sound husky as it reverberates throughout the car. “My day?” He coughs, red rising on his cheeks. Your foot pushes against the gas pedal so you don’t notice the blushing boy beside you. “Was okay. Worked with my dad.”

You grimace on instinct, wrinkling your nose in a way, Rafe doesn’t want to admit, is cute. “Was he nice to you?”

He laughs half-heartedly. “He was okay. Just the usual.” You frown again and lean over to pat his shoulder, ignoring the uncomfortable twinge in your arm as you bend it back.

“S’fine.” He shakes his head. “Seriously, nothing I can’t handle.”

“You shouldn’t have to handle it.” You murmur, more to yourself than him, but he catches it anyway.

“Well, enough about me.” He pauses to shift in his seat, swallowing down the hesitation that engulfs him. It’s such a simple question—one you’d already asked him—but he can’t help but feel how domestic it is, how sweet that you care enough to ask, to ask and mean it, rather than throwing out a meaningless sentiment. “How was your day?” He croaks out, covering it up with a cough that does nothing to stop more heat from rising on his cheeks. 

“Pretty good.” You smile. “Better now. I get so lonely during the summer, I should’ve gotten a job or something. I did go shopping though, on the mainland, had to get up early.” You frown. “Sorry for talking your ear off.

“You’re not!” He expresses immediately. “I like hearing what you have to say.” He could listen to you talk for hours and never get bored, you could say the same sentence a hundred times and he wouldn’t mind, he’s sure your sweet timbre would make it more than bearable.

“Oh,” It’s like the heat has spread from his cheeks to your own. “Thanks Rafe.” 

“D’you find a new duvet?” He inquires. “I know you said you wanted a new one before you go back to school.”

“Yeah, I-I, did.” You smile, swallowing over the stutter in your words. “Didn’t realized you remembered.”

“I do actually listen when you talk, ya know?” He teases.

“Could’ve fooled me.” You retort, giggling when he gasps in mock offense.

“Oh right, because you totally listen to everything I tell you.” He argues, playful sarcasm tinting his words.

“Shut up, I do!” You’re laughing again when you pull into the beach parking lot and see Rafe’s pout and crossed arms.

“Oh yeah?” He challenges. “What game was I telling you about yesterday?” He taunts.

You’re silent for a few seconds before he’s shaking his head in disappointment. “See, I knew it!”

“S’not my fault Rafael!” You shriek in attempt to defend yourself. “Baseball’s so boring, I was listening but I forgot.”

“Oh, you forgot?” He eggs you one. “Nice try, sweet girl.” 

He processes the nickname two seconds after it fell easily from his lips. You don’t seem to notice so he doesn’t make a deal about it. Seem is the key word, because you didn’t think it was physically possible to want someone so badly, a simple term of endearment sending you into a frenzy. It’s different than the princess, he’d always called you, even now that you’re friends. This wasn’t a tease or a nickname you give to bother someone, it’s sincere and real. 

“Okay whatever,” You sigh, reaching into the backseat for the lunchbox and the large beach blanket. “I promise, next time you talk baseball, I’ll take notes so I don’t forget.”

“Gonna get you into baseball someday!” He sing-songs, sidling up to you as soon as you’re both out of the car. “Want me to hold on to your stuff?” He wonders softly, noticing your lack of tote bag.

“Hm, yes please.” You murmur, handing him your wallet and keys. “Thank you.”

The beach as is crowded as you expected, late evening in early August, still hot but cooled just a bit for the incoming sunset. Rafe helps you lay out the blanket before settling right beside you on it. 

You pull out two cans of Diet Coke and Rafe’s eyes light up. Surprisingly, you and him also shared an obsession for the soda. He cracks a can for you, then one for himself. You take a generous sip, the crisp carbonation sliding down your throat, deliciously. 

As the sky melts into orange and pink sherbert, snacks and diet cokes demolished, you and Rafe sit silently, shoulder to shoulder, his body heat radiating against your skin, even through his t-shirt and your crewneck. 

You sit, gathering your nerve, wanting, needing to say something, anything.

“Hey Rafe?” You wonder softly, clearing your throat. 

“Hmm?”

“Is it gonna be different?” You’re spitting words out before you can even think of what you mean but you keep going. “Like, since we’re friends now like, are we—“ You cut yourself off with a sigh. “I guess what I mean to say is, will it still be like this when I go back to school?”

“Like, us hanging out? And talking?” He wonders slowly and you nod.

“I just, I’ve had a really good summer with you and I don’t want it to end just because I’m leaving.”

He nods knowingly. “It doesn’t have to.” He assures. “I’ve had a great summer too, and you know, UNC isn’t that far, we can hang out whenever we want.”

You nod. “Cool.”

He nods again and the silence returns, this time charged with something different, unfamiliar, something that’s been building the entire summer, finally enough that you can feel it.

“And one more thing,” You start, building your nerve. When he turns to you, you set your hands on his shoulders and press your lips to his, just once, soft, and delicate.

“Fuck,” You hiss, eyes widening as you search his expression. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed, we can just act like it never happened and—“

There’s a magnetic pull between your lips and his, a sigh of relief leaving you when his mouth finally covers yours. Your fingers scramble for purchase on the collar of his shirt, before dancing up to thread through the hair at his nape. His hands are on fire at your sides, skimming underneath your sweatshirt, rough palms meeting smooth, soft skin. 

“That was more than okay, sweetheart.” He grins crookedly when you pull back, lips wet and swollen. “Long time coming I think.”

“Yeah.” You sigh, curling into his side. “I’m gonna miss you.” 

“I’m gonna visit you.” He promises with a kiss. “As much as you want. You’re going to be sick of me.”

“Not possible.” You shake your head. “I think I had enough of that the last ten years of my life. I want to get as much of you as I can.”

“You have me sweetheart, all of me.”

© witchwyfe 2023. absolutely no reposting, translating, or modifying, even with credit.

[memekeycubes]

Toy Story Racer

Toy Story Racer is the first kart racer I played! It's a fun little kart racer where you play as the toys in RC cars racing around locations from Toy Story. It's fun, but the single player challenges can be quite challenging.

The game is unique in that the kart controls, like actual RC cars, feeling very light and quickly turning. It takes some adjustment after playing other kart racers like Mario Kart.

I used to play it all the time with my brother until we got Mario Kart Wii and other racing games. After that, we just didn't play it as much due to all other choices being available.

The game also has a really good soundtrack!

I specifically have had the Parking Ramp theme stuck in my head for a while now

[keanuquotes]

The last weekend of SRO Motorsports America racing in 2024 receives a huge boost in star power as world-renowned actor Keanu Reeves will compete in this weekend’s Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup North America finale – his first motor race in over 14 years.

Reeves will drive the #92 Eagles Canyon Racing by Fast Track Toyota GR86 in a pair of sprint races on Saturday and Sunday, 5/6 October. The car will feature a red and black livery promoting his graphic novel, BRZRKR.

The Canadian actor is an avid enthusiast of motorsport. Reeves was the presenter of the four-part documentary Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story and has been a guest of honour in the paddocks of F1, MotoGP, and IndyCar throughout the years.

Reeves drove in the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at Long Beach, winning the Celebrity class in 2009 and receiving a promotion to the Pro category the following year. That was the last time Reeves has run in an organised motor race.

Since then, Reeves has gone on to star in the John Wick series of action films, reprised his role as Neo in The Matrix Resurrections, and published the first chapter of BRZRKR in 2021 alongside co-writer Matt Kindt and illustrator Ron Garney.

Reeves is one of two celebrity drivers competing at Indianapolis this weekend, part of a 34-car field.

Eagles Canyon and Fast Track’s other celebrity driver is Cody Jones from the action sports and entertainment troupe Dude Perfect, which has over 60 million subscribers on YouTube.

Nicknamed “Tall Man”, the 6’6″ Jones’ sanctioned racing debut in the #29 GR86 was the prize for winning a go-kart racing challenge at this year’s Formula One Australian Grand Prix against three of his fellow troupe members.

Reeves and Jones will be pitted against a strong field of drivers young and old, including the newly-crowned GR Cup North America Champion Gresham Wagner.

Wagner, the driver of the #5 Copeland Motorsports GR86, clinched the series championship last round at Barber Motorsports Park. At the Brickyard, Wagner will look to add to his eight wins on the season – before heading to Road Atlanta to try and win the Mazda MX-5 Cup championship.

Second place in the championship is still up for grabs between Wagner’s team-mate, Westin Workman (another driver running dual GR Cup/MX-5 Cup campaigns) and Spike Kohlbecker of TechSport Racing. Workman enters the final weekend of the season six points ahead of Kohlbecker.

Jaxon Bell, the son of 2015 IMSA GTD Champion and 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Townsend Bell, is fourth in the championship.

Another guest driver of note is Miki Koyama from Japan, driving the #75 Hattori Motorsports GR86 in partnership with Japan’s all-female KYOJO Cup Series.

Koyama, the inaugural KYOJO Cup champion in 2017 and 2018, became the first woman to win the FIA Formula Regional Japanese Championship title in 2022 – and last week, driving a Lexus RC F GT3, she became the first woman to take overall victory in a Super Taikyu Series race since 1993.

Koyama is one of four women in the field, joining Mia Lovell, Jade Avedisian, and Maddie Aust. Lovell is the series’ top female driver  (10th in overall points and the top-ranked woman in nine out of 12 races) – and Avedisian, a Toyota-backed prospect of the open-wheel oval circuit, finished second in last weekend’s BC39 sprint car race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dirt track.

Saturday and Sunday, 5/6 October 2024

https://www.grcupseries.com/event/20/indianapolis-motor-speedway

https://www.grcupseries.com/watch-live

[superm4ks]

Hello would u be able to elaborate on Pastry Boy? I wanna know ur thoughts

Pistachio been giving aussie raikkonen regen wid a button nose for some time hes so funny bro got p3 in suzuka which is like an incredible result and another display of the type of veteran performances hes been putting in as a rookie , and I honestly expected him to just not even show like glee on the radio like when i heard that lil 'whoo' i thought WOAH!!! oh shes going crazy in there!!!!!!! He always sounds and looks likes hes off a p£rc and we're being too loud for him. Also u can tell hes like Smart smart so hes got a good sense of humor and feeds off his own dispassionateness really well. its one my fav pro athlete vibes and hes just a ROOKIE so I'm excited to c how his presence grows especially in an annoying loud ass team like mclaren and next to like to lando norris who is basically like an evil pomeranian. I think oscar has really done well integrating into that environment after the way danny ric left and the way he came in, being another aussie, he just kept nice and quiet, let lando lead the narrative, laughed at his jokes, played sweet and pleasant, and slowly but surely built a space for himself on track. Thats how u do it. To me that shows his quality as a driver but also as a player in the f1 game, which can be just as important sometimes in terms of how ur career goes and who wants to work for u. Nobody really ever cared about him 'betraying alpine' or whtvr but because hes actually performing, he won that situation regardless. Webber knows a thing or two about getting shadowed by much stronger star power, prolly has good advice on that too. So I think theres a lot of potential here. Hes obvi rookie of the year, and if mclaren has made the leaps they've hinted at these past races, hes got the car to end the season as an all timer rookie period. I hope he does I fuck wid him heavily and also I need lando to be challenged dramaturgically

[hellssheep]

Chapter 7: How To Train Your Hellhound

It's the end of the third week since the start of Amanda and Wooly’s training. Throughout these weeks, there are a lot of things Amanda has learned from training. It’s not just learning how to defend herself and wield weapons in general. No, it is more than that: It's what you learn within the training and lessons. Some lessons were taught in the tapes they were imprisoned in, but they weren't as meaningful as when you do it with those you look up to. That, and because the deadline to stop Hameln from completing their plans is looming.

Amanda is taking lessons on self defense and wielding melee weapons. Apparently, self defence is actually more than karate or martial arts. It also involves improvised fighting, situational awareness, and sometimes verbal de-escalation. The training Amanda and Wooly also went through is sword fighting with styrofoam swords, Target practice with airsoft guns, Wrestling (not the WWE kind unfortunately), and tabletop games like checkers or the strategic role playing board game called Dungeon Explorers Vs Dragons. It's not a lot of things, but they are working on finding more things available. But for now, they are learning from what they have. 

Amanda and her friends have learned a lot about their strengths and weaknesses. She may not be physically strong, and neither is Wooly without his hellhound possession, but she learned that it takes more than brute strength to fight. It takes many different skills like patience, agility, muscle memory, gymnastic ability, awareness, strategy and more. Amanda has pretty good flexibility and pretty creative problem solving, but needs more room for trust and patience with herself and others. Wooly is careful and great at following steps, but he is too cautious at times, needs to be a bit more creative, and needs to trust other people’s ideas. Even adults have their strengths and weaknesses. Shaun is both agile and smart, but isn't confident with his abilities. Riley is… well, they take after Aunt Kate, bless her heart.

Wooly has gone through the almost same training as Amanda. The only difference is he is also going through dog training to guide his canid demon to become more trusting, collaborative, serene, and domestic. It seems like an impossible challenge for the team of three to train a Hellhound Sheep in a month. As it turns out, it wasn't as impossible as Amanda thought it would be. 

Turns out that positive reinforcement and a thing called “clicker training” is a most effective method of training, especially for aggressive Canines. It is best paired with a treat, and it apparently enjoys sweet potatoes and pumpkins as a reward. It still takes patience, but The Hellhound is adept. On day one he was timid and defensive, then a week later he followed commands like heel, stay, retrieve, and touch (a trick where you stick your hand out and your dog touches it with its snout). Once he hears a “click”, he knows he did something right.

 Around midnight, when nobody is out, Amanda, Wooly, Shaun and Riley take them out to an abandoned dog training course where Wooly shows them what he is capable of. At first we get him to go through the course as usual, but when we get a hang of it, we make the course a little more challenging. Some days, Shaun borrows a tennis ball launcher so Wooly can practice dodging them while going through the course. Other days, Wooly and his demon hound form could either go through the course in reverse, or try to catch a stick attached to an RC car. We sometimes add other obstacles into the course, like a makeshift rock-climbing wall that we screwed onto the building, or hanging toy rings he can grab from the trees. The more he practiced, the better he could change quickly into his forms. There were some epic moments from the training course, like one time, Hellhound Wooly gained enough momentum climbing up the rock wall to leap 7 feet vertically from the top of the 10 foot wall and landed unscathed. Even it surprised itself sometimes.

On casual parts of the day, Shaun would go shopping for them. The kids would casually Read books, draw, or play with toys or games on Shaun’s gaming console. He has a lot of cool games downloaded onto it, like kart racing, cube-building adventure games, that cool puzzle game with portals that has a nicer-looking sequel, and a bunch of arcade games. Amanda’s favorite game is a puzzle adventure game where you play as a journalist who was invited to an expedition to an island full of snack bug hybrids where the host went missing and the journalist needed to solve the mystery of the missing member and the island.

Shaun and Riley would either order food from somewhere, or they challenge their own culinary skills. Shaun is really good at making meals from leftovers. One time he made an amazing omelet made from just eggs, cheese, and last night’s steak dinner. The hellhound was pretty ravenous at first when food was served, trying to take a bite before it was done being made, but it grew out of that habit after some training. The Hellhound even started bringing its plate or bowl to the stove one day when Riley was cooking chicken to be served. I suppose both of their dishes are delicious.

It seems common by now that Wooly’s hellhound Never ceases to amaze us. At first we thought It was Wooly who was doing it, until he told us that it was the beast the whole time. The more domestic the hellhound becomes, the less wooly has to worry about taking control over it if things go wrong. Even he started getting along with what he used to see as a threat. The fact that this “Demonic Feral Beast” has quickly learned to become part of the family was a really incredible thing that it has achieved, but it wasn't as amazing as what happened at the end of the third week at Shaun's home.

______________________________________________________________

Amanda was playing airsoft with Riley in the backyard while Shaun and Hellhound Wooly were inside the house, training it to find things using its sharp sense of smell. The targets they are shooting down are made up of soda cans and plastic milk jugs. She was having fun trying to beat Riley to the most points by shooting the farthest targets first with her airsoft pistol. Amanda is a lot better at using airsoft firearms than when she started, and is doing a lot better than Riley. She already shot all but one of the farthest targets before shooting the rest that Riley has not shot down yet.

Riley complimented her “That was some Amazing Shots Amanda. Good job”

“Thanks Riley. Just wait till you see me use a real gun.”

“I wouldn't trust you with a real gun, no offence.”

“Why not?”

“Well, you're too young to use a gun. I mean… you could hurt yourself, or worse.”

“But…But I wouldn't! I thought you trust me!”

“I do trust you, but…not a weapon that lethal.”

“You don't trust a real gun?” Amanda asked annoyedly.

“Eh, Pretty much. I'm just afraid that it would set off on you and either injure you, or worse. Maybe in the future you can, but for now, let's just have you and Wooly stick with airsoft guns. But hey, an airsoft pistol is still pretty useful, and safer for you to use. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually.” 

“I guess so.” She responded as she put down the “toy gun” on the rim of the firepit before helping Riley out with putting away the targets. Amanda was pretty disappointed. She was hoping that she would be trusted to use a real gun after all the training she went through. Maybe Riley does have a point with real guns being too dangerous for her to use, but what use is an airsoft as a form of self-defence. To scare maybe, but what else can she do with it if that doesn't work, chuck it at the attacker’s head? Well, that could work, but are there any other effective ways of using an airsoft pistol?

She then learned another way you can get hurt by an airsoft gun, because she knocked over a bunch of airsoft beads, spilling it all over the patio and started losing her footing because of it. Amanda yelped as she fell awkwardly onto the hard ground backwards. Amanda cushioned her fall using her elbow, scratching it in the process. 

“Augh! Dang it!” She yelped.

“You okay amanda?”

“What do you think?”. Amanda sat up and showed her scratched up elbow.

“Oh darn. That must hurt.”

“Yea, obviously. You just said that an airsoft gun is safer to use, Riley.” Amanda mocked.

“Don't be like that Amanda. Let's go inside and clean that up”. Riley helped Amanda up from the ground and took her inside.

The first thing Amanda saw when she and Riley entered Shaun’s house was him with a bag of diced yams, supervising the Hellhound who was searching for bundles of socks that he hid around the room. The reason Amanda and Riley knew what they were looking for is because the Hellhound just found another sock and returned it to Shaun.

“Nicely done there Wooly. Four down, one more to go.” Shaun congratulated. “Oh hey there Riley. Is Amanda alright?”

“She just scratched up her elbow. Do you have a medkit anywhere?”

“um…I think I do. I just don't know where I put it last.” 

“Alright, I'll help you look for it.”. Riley then turned to Amanda and gestured towards the living room furniture. “You go on ahead and sit down on the couch while we find it, okay Amanda?”

Instead of responding to Riley, Amanda did what they said and sat down on the sofa. She was still a bit upset about the gun talk, and embarrassingly tripping on airsoft beads. Amanda tried to look at her elbow to see how scratched up it was. She couldn't see her obstructed joint, but she can feel the soreness of it. Another thing Amanda noticed was a shadow casing over her. Amanda assumed it was Shaun and Riley who finally found the medkit and arrived to treat her minor injury. She turned around, only to be met with someone else holding a medkit: Hellhound Wooly. It was holding the handle of the kit by its maw. Then he jumped on the couch, placed the first-aid down by her and opened it up. “umm…Riley? Shaun? I think he found it.”

“Holy cow he really did.” Shaun responded.

“Did you teach him that?” Riley asked

“No, not at all. I didn't even think it knew what a medkit is. I guess it is smarter than we let on.”

“Heh, I guess he didn't really need that tracking training after all.” 

“I guess so too. It only took it under 2 minutes to find four of the sock bundles I hid.”

When Amanda is done treating her scraped elbow as Shaun and Riley monologues, she closes the first-aid kit and hands it to Shaun. The monstrous sheep layed down on its stomach, placing his head on Amanda's lap like a domestic canine. It was calm, gentle, and close enough for her to pet if she wanted to. Cautiously, Amanda slowly lifted her hand up, and gently stroked the hellhound on top of its wooly head. It is softer than anything she has felt, yet is durable to the touch. Despite the knowledge that she is touching a powerful beast that can easily kill you in one fatal move, Amanda felt tranquil. The Hellhound seemed comfortable with it too, since its wooly tail wagged as she pet the tamed feature. Amanda looked into the Hellhound’s eyes, and saw it look into hers with serenity. This was the very first time the Hellhound has shown full trust in Amanda. There are times where it doesnt mind her presence or just show no aggression towards Amanda, but this was the first time the Beast actually interacted with her positively. 

“Well, what do you know?” Shaun muttered “I think this hellhound just became a golden retriever.”

“You mean that as a compliment, right?” Riley asked

“Of course. It's genuinely cute.”

Amanda can't help but be proud of the Hellhound’s character development too. She can't help but think about what to do to make it realize how much it achieved. Amanda then remembered the market they both went to. 

“Hold on there Wooly.” Amanda asked the Hellhound Sheep. “I'll be right back. I need to get something.”

______________________________________________________________

The beast is curious, yet worried of what the young girl is gonna provide him when she gets back. Is it gonna be a reward for providing care for the young one, or a punishment for not completing Shaun’s command. Throughout the many millennia it has been summoned, none of the summoners has treated it as well as the three that it was training with. Severe punishments like being chained up in a spell circle, whacked with a silver cane, shot by holy water tipped arrows, or poisoned by Aconitum Vulparia laced steak is the norm for demons who serve mortals. But, the most severe punishments the trio have given him range from being ignored to being told that misbehavior is bad. The beast still expects some sort of punishment that is worse than a little scolding and no treats if he wrecked or tore something apart.

The little girl returned from the room, hiding something behind her back. What is she hiding? The beast is reluctant to approach the girl, fearing that she might be hiding something terrible behind her. Thankfully, that fear faded away as soon as she revealed what she was holding. It was that Bolo tie with a peach blossom encased in clear resin. A part of the beast somehow remembered where it came from, or at least that Wooly side it developed remembered that item.

The child loosened the tie and held it up, ready to place it onto the beast. It held its head down to allow the girl to place it around its neck. She tightened the loop, but only left it loose enough to not make it feel uncomfortable for the Hellhound. The beast sat up proudly, despite doing that seemingly little of a task. The beast supposed that the task is more important than it seems. Maybe the trinket was magical, because the beast can feel a comforting warmth in its heart. No, that was there before it wore the Bolo tie, but it felt better than before.

“Yea, you have the right to feel radiant,...” Amanda complimented “because you are one of us now.”

“Welcome to the family. All three of you” Riley added as they all huddled up into a hug, with Hellhound Wooly in the middle. Despite how claustrophobic the hug can be, It felt right to the Beast.

“F̵̪͂ȁ̴̭m̴̫̓î̷̟l̵̯̑y̷̺̓? ̷̣̔H̷͚̎m̸̼͠.̸̳̈́..̸͎̐ Th̵͍̚e̵͉̊r̴͖̅e ̸͘ͅĩ̷̠s̴͇̓ ̵̝̇s̶̤͋o̴͉̊m̶͜͠eț̸͝h̴̼͝in̵͑g q̴u̴̝͛i̷͜͝ẗ̷́e ̸̧̅gl̴o̴̬̍ri̵o̵̤͆u̶͕̎s̷̭̃ ̷͙̑a̷̙̚b̸̢̓ou̵̩̕t̷͈̋ t̶̞̋h̵̝̑a̷̫͆t̴̙̑ ti̵t̶l̷e̸.̷͍͒ ̶̟̈w̸͚͑ḥ̴͌a̵̲͛t̷̡͂ ̵̥͝â̸͕n̶̰̂ ̴͕͘ḣ̴̻o̴̮̓n̴̥͘o̴̰͋r̶͓͊. the beast thought to itself.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[inchidentally]

god I wish xkit still had the inbox features - but I'm gonna screencap all the stuff under tricky asks and save them for later so I can see the fun asks and not have them get buried <3

gonna do a few of the more recent ones now and then from there bundle them every couple weeks!

I've mostly just fallen out of interest w the ship apart from the way I enjoy it (which isn't popular lol) for a few reasons but mostly the misogyny toward real life gfs. I still enjoy it for myself and I'm even writing it rn but I'm just not motivated to go crazy over it anymore <3

oh babe I'm a massive complainer about McLaren's new media approach meaning we don't get the fun, regular teammate content that we used to but truly there's no motive for actually keeping them apart! the carlando challenge was F1TV and I actually can't tell who pushed for the Oscar/Esteban RC car challenge but it makes sense bc they've chatted a fair amount during down time since Bahrain. I think there's a casual friendliness there.

but also this kind of cross-team content isn't unusual at all and tbh it's a coincidence that feels annoying mainly bc it coincides with McLaren sm deciding to go all slick edits rather than spontaneous and fun content.

and first anon if anything it felt like Oscar put himself in time out for well, actually slightly stalking Lando in the preseason and Bahrain kasgfkaflsagfslja I'm... mostly joking

oh listen, Carlos and Lando absolutely are friends - and I don't wanna jump down your throat if you're not saying they aren't - but don't get me wrong, I enjoy carlando for what it actually is and not the 'secretly in love/fucking/relationship/actually gay for each other' version. ironically the reality is a lot sweeter and more real than desperately ignoring everything about Carlos to pretend he's gay or to pretend that Lando and Carlos rank even in the top 100 of people closest to them. sorry but to me the reality of baby Lando latching onto Carlos for support in F1 and Carlos quite liking this funny little dude fluttering around him even when they have nothing but driving, golf and beautiful women in common - like, that's sweet to me!! sorry ?? it's the whole imprinted on each other but we wouldn't normally be friends thing that happens in these little brother/big brother scenarios.

the fact is tho that carlando is indeed a major popularity and engagement spinner for everyone from F1 official to sponsors to Lando and Carlos themselves, and they both know that hanging out and documenting it can serve two purposes at once. the Australia stuff was all probably a bit too cynical but they wouldn't do any of it if they didn't actually enjoy spending time together! plenty of these sports bromances do similar things it's just that of the F1 bromances, carlando caught on with the 1D rpf conspiracy theorist pipeline by ticking every box. you'd think they'd catch on that it's all the ones they're convinced are RealTM that end up flopping butttt

but yea I remember the ask linking to ppl saying that landoscar and charlos are PR and to this day it's like did they just want to face a deluge of constantly being proven wrong or ??? esp the fact that Charles and Carlos get absolutely zilch out of their dynamic this season (and forever after that) - especially Carlos who could easily decide to just be blandly polite to Charles and focus on buddying up to a hopeful new teammate if charlos was purely PR. even when they play it up, it's not cynical and they make it clear. but the way they've chosen to deal with this whole circus in a joint way is like damn. they're not besties or anything but they respect the fuck out of each other and talk a lot about how to deal with being friends and also teammates.

and landoscar literally has no bromance content, no fake gay, not even excessive touching or physical proximity, Oscar isn't remotely interested in being camera friendly, they don't document any of their time together when it's not official media, and they don't remotely play up to the cameras together. the ship literally exists bc two guys like to watch each other with sweet dopey smiles, they are on a freakishly similar wavelength, have immense respect for each other, Oscar has observed and learned Lando to almost worrying degrees, and Lando has no filter so when he keeps having horny verbal burps about Oscar's body that make the people around them uncomfortable or awkward - and that Oscar just blushes and giggles through. it's absolutely not planned or strategic bc what a horrible strategy to try and convince fans to ship them like carlando and dando askflgsajlgflaf.

like, everything about Lando and Oscar's real life dynamic and friendship is one of the few cases where they're categorically known to not cynically try to promote it for fans and they don't play up to the cameras for engagement. literally they like each other and get on well and it's just. like that !!

[ripplingcurrents]

next step?

[webby looks sideways at you, crooked smile slinging back across his face. he's still pacing, just turning his head slightly here and there to keep looking you over]

you make a plan, spots. thought you liked those?

[he smirks, spinning around to lean his back against the car and looking down at you]

go on! those multi-step plans you're so fond of? 6- no, maybe 7 steps this time? maybe a shorter one will be more effective than that overthinking you did the first time~

-🕸️

RC huffs. One hand is dragged over their face, a noise of tired acknowledgement. They can see Webby poking and prodding; it’s what he does. And yet it doesn’t make it any easier to decipher if there’s currently a threat in the woods, or if it’s simply Webby being Webby.

“You done your daily quota of being an ass? By the way that’s not a challenge. Just a question,” RC grumbles as they sit back down on the ground.

As it seems, there’s no danger. Webby, while cryptic as always seems to have relaxed slightly and his eyes no longer dart between the treeline so fervently. RC settles, and leans their head back against the car. Despite the panic from earlier, they can feel themselves sinking into tired numbness.

[womensworldtour]

2024 Giro d'Italia Women in review

With a week to think about the Giro d'Italia Women, we have some thoughts on the race overall, just as we did with the Vuelta Feminina. And since we're in the beginning of the Olympic break, let's look back at one of the most exciting Giros we've ever seen.

Heat was a constant companion.

Possible the biggest—and certainly most constant—factor in this year's Giro was the heat, which stayed punishingly high throughout the race. Domestiques had to make constant trips back to the car for bottles, multiplying the effort they had to make to keep their teammates hydrated and safe. We can't think of many things less daunting than to have to go back to the car on a 9% climb, load up an extra 10 kilos of water and then chase to get back in the group, only to have to do it again and again.

The heat affected the standings, too. Clara Emond was in the blue mountains classification jersey when she had to abandon due to heat-related issues. There was quite a bit of attrition among the teams, with only one or two finishing with their full squad. (This might be a good idea to mention that heat would be more manageable if the race was later in the year, see below.)

2. Forza Italia!

For the first time since 2008, the Giro has an Italian at the top of the podium, and it just seems right. Elisa Longo Borghini showed herself to be the strongest across different stages and terrains, and after being on the podium thrice before, we can't think of anyone more prepared or deserving of the win.

3. Chapeau to the race organizers.

This was the first year that RCS Sport, the organizer of the men's Giro, had taken over the women's Giro, after a few rocky years of poor (or non-existent) media coverage and organizational issues. The change appears to have been generally positive. Media coverage of the Giro was good; even though it wasn't start-to-finish, we had no trouble watching the race. And the stages and courses were thoughtfully designed, keeping the race interesting throughout. Previous Giros have seen the GC locked up in the first or second stage, but this year the tension built throughout the week and we saw a fair amount of shake-ups in the third through tenth places, a good sign of a challenging and competitive course.

4. The schedule still isn't perfect.

With perhaps the most exciting and competitive Giro d'Italia Women ever, it's a shame that it still has to compete with the Tour de France Hommes. Lots of avid cycling fans understandably prioritize the Tour, which we have to admit was incredibly exciting this year. We think it's definitely an improvement to have the women's Giro take place during the second week of the men's Tour rather than the first, but we still would prefer to see this oldest women's grand tour to have its own space on the calendar, and there is room to do it, if the organizers are willing to break with tradition. We personally would prefer late summer, closer to when the men's Vuelta is being held, but we're open to suggestions. A race this exciting doesn't deserve to be drowned out.

5. Young riders announce themselves.

We saw several young riders stamp their name on this race, which was a delight to see. We loved to see Kim le Court's last stage victory, or Clara Emond's long-range solo attack, or Neve Bradbury's stage win to follow up on her Tour de Suisse stage win. These riders are flying, and they are so much fun to watch, we are excited to see what more they will do.

6. Love for the non-super teams.

Stage racing in 2024 was basically the SD Worx-Protime show, until July. We can't blame someone like Demi Vollering for showcasing her talent, and she certainly had the strongest team—when they chose to support her. But it was nice to see a really competitive stage race that went down to the line, with multiple teams battling for the podium. AG Insurance-Soudal had a great Giro, rewarding steady effort by the whole team with a stage win by Kim le Court and the mountains classification by Justine Ghekiere. EF Oatly Cannondale scored a stage win with Clara Emond's solo breakaway win, and Bepink–Bongioanni was represented by Ana Vitória Magalhães in both the mountains classification fight and several breakaways. Neve Bradbury made Canyon-SRAM proud by taking a stage win, the young rider jersey, and the third step on the GC podium.

With the Giro in the books, and particularly since Baloise Ladies Tour wrapped up, we now have a long break in most schedules to allow for the Olympics to take place, before we once again turn our attention to the road and the Tour de France Femmes in August!

[simgigglegirlresource]

Description about the mod, copied from the creator LimeyYoshi

What can I expect? Having this mod in your Downloads folder won't spawn more burglars than before, but when a burglar comes around, you'll be facing a higher challenge than before:

Every time a burglar attempts to steal an item (which can happen between 1 and 5 times per burglar visit, this has not been altered), the burglar may choose to lay down a fire instead of actually stealing the item. - The chance for that is 50% for most Sims, but 80% for the most playful burglars (8+ Playful points). - Note that the "no-Fires" version of my mod has no burglars laying fires at all. - Note that the "Arsonist" version of my mod bumps this chance up to 100%.

Just like in simler90's Burglar Mod: Ghosts, off-world Sims, birds, penguins, RC cars, robots, Social Bunnies, Therapists, Magical Assistants, babies or toddlers do not prevent burglars from spawning anymore. Did that ever make sense in the first place?

In addition, burglars have gained some brainpower, depending on their skillset, personality and hobbies: - If a burglar builds their Body, Logic and Mechanical skills somewhere (you could even do this yourself - burglars ARE safe NPC's!), or spawns with skills already assigned to them, they may start avoiding burglar alarms - and breaking car alarms. That's right: the most proficient intruders can brick the system in your Sim's car, and make the alarm unusable from there on. - Sloppy burglars are a bit more likely to mess up and be detected, while neat burglars are a bit more likely to avoid detection. - FreeTime only: Burglars that do a lot of Tinkering activities are more likely to have developed a hack to skip burglar alarms, or a jammer to break car alarms. - This may sound scary, but keep in mind: Even the perfect burglar still has a chance to be caught by a car alarm. House burglar alarms are cheaper (as you don't have to buy the car first) but are much more likely to fail to detect the intruder. It's like real life - cheap security systems only hold off the amateurs. :p

Car alarms can still be triggered by the mere presence of a burglar near the car. However, the distance from which the car can detect the intruder is halved, which will now require the burglar to be right next to the car for it to see anything. If the burglar comes from the right side and head straight for the front door, you'll be out of luck unless they choose to go for the car as the first thing to steal or set fire to.

However, with the mod, you also get a powerful new tool: A better car alarm. We don't live in 2004 anymore, after all. Some cars never sleep and have cameras all around to protect itself, and its surroundings. And I tried to reenact that in this mod. The price of the better car alarm is premium, but so is its quality. It comes with AES encryption to make hacking it much harder even for the most skilled burglars, and it comes with a 360° surround camera to detect motion from much further away (as in, the original ten tiles of the vanilla car alarm). If you really want to be safe, you shouldn't skimp on security!

Last but not least, the burglars also got a lot more snarky! They will brag about just anything they mess up on your lot, just to rub more salt into your wounds.

[retrogamingloft]

Re-Volt is a radio-controlled car racing video game first released in 1999 by Acclaim Studios London. This innovative title distinguishes itself by featuring RC cars racing through unconventional tracks like suburban neighborhoods, gardens, museums, and supermarkets.

The game boasts a variety of modes, including single race, championship, time trial, and multiplayer, enriching its replayability. A standout feature of Re-Volt is its arsenal of power-ups and weapons, which players can use to gain advantages or disrupt rivals during races. Furthermore, on some systems, a track editor enables enthusiasts to design and share bespoke racing circuits, fostering a vibrant community engagement.

For its era, Re-Volt captured the imagination of PlayStation gamers with its inventive take on the racing genre, transforming ordinary locations into thrilling race tracks. Its graphics were lauded for their detail and vibrancy, immersing players in miniature yet lifelike worlds.

Although the game's control mechanics presented a learning curve—emulating the nuance of handling an actual RC car—this aspect was seen as both a challenge and a charm. Some players (including myself) suggested the addition of a specific brake button for enhanced control, although this omission hardly detracted from the overall enjoyment.

The Acclaim release resonated with players for its creativity, challenging gameplay, and the unique experience of navigating RC cars through everyday settings, turning mundane locations into arenas of adventure. Even years after its release, the game has preserved a cult following, with dedicated communities worldwide still hosting online tournaments and competitions, testament to its lasting appeal and the fond memories it created.