#2017 week 42

[lovelyleclercs]

Open When- DR3

Daniel Ricciardo x Fem!Reader

-> With Daniel traveling to race and you being stuck at home to work, Daniel gives you 8 letters to make the distance a little easier.

word count: 8567 (my longest one yet hehe)

warnings: small mentions of birth, cheesey romance, fluff, not proof read oops

A/N: This was by definitely kind of just me typing whatever came to my head, but it turned out to be one of my favorites. I hope you love it as much as I do!

“Happy Birthday, baby. I hope you like it.”



You looked over at your boyfriend, his curly hair a mess from running around outside with your niece and nephew all day. “Honey, you already got me a gift, what’s this one for?”



“Just open it” Daniel said with a laugh as he sat down beside you.



As you very carefully untied the red ribbon, you could see Daniel’s smile get wider and wider through the corner of your eye. He had put a lot of thought into this gift- you could tell already.



When you looked inside of the box, you saw a stack of ten brown envelopes. Setting the box down on the table, you took all of the envelopes out. You smiled and ran your finger over the black ink of the envelope on top. 



Open when you get this present.



You turned the envelope over and very carefully opened it, not wanting to ruin whatever was inside. After successfully opening it, you pulled the small piece of white paper out of the envelope and began to read it aloud. 



Happy birthday, my love. 

I know that you won’t be traveling to the track with me very often this year, so I wanted to do something a little special for you. Inside this box, there are 8 open when envelopes. Congratulations on opening 1/8 envelopes already! I hope these make the distance a little easier. If that's even possible. I love you.

Love, Danny.



You smiled and teared up a little. Daniel knew how hard this season was going to be on both of you. With you working insane hours with clients, and Daniel being at the peak of his career with Redbull, the two of you had already discussed how little time you would be able to spend with each other from March-November. The idea scared you- terrified you even. In the seven years you’ve spent by Daniel’s side, the two of you had never spent so much time apart- not even when Daniel moved away from Australia to Europe. Daniel knew how much this season terrified you, hell it terrified him too. That’s why he was doing everything in his power to make it somewhat easier on you. 



You pulled Daniel into a tight hug as you let a few tears escape down your cheeks. “Thank you, honey. These are so special…” you managed to whisper as he wrapped his arms tightly around you.



“You’re welcome, baby.”



Open when I leave for Australia - March 20th, 2017.



As you had gotten home from dropping Daniel off at the airport, you had seen the small brown envelope left on the counter. Daniel had taken it out of the box for you before the two of you left for the airport that morning in hopes that you would have the courage to read it when you got home.



Saying goodbye to Daniel was a lot harder than you thought it was going to be. Goodbye’s were a common occurrence in your relationship- that’s what happens when you date an F1 driver- but this goodbye held so much more behind it.



Not only was Daniel going back to your shared home country without you, but he wouldn’t be back home to your shared apartment in Monaco for a little over a month. Daniel had several media events to attend during the week following the Australian Grand Prix due to the fact that it was his home race. After that, he was off to China, Bahrain and then Russia before he would finally be able to fly back home to you.



“42 days my love. I’ll be back in 42 days” Daniel said quietly as he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to him. He had said it like time was going to fly by- like 42 days was a normal time to be apart from someone you loved.



“42 days…” you whispered quietly as you rested your head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat closely. 



Daniel placed a gentle kiss on top of your head before taking a deep breath. “We can handle this, baby. I know we can.”



You looked up at him, his eyes mirroring yours as the tears welled in his eyes. “I love you, honey. Be safe, don’t do anything stupid… please come back to me in one piece, ok?��



Daniel held your face in both of his hands gently, giving you a small nod before he rested his forehead against yours. “I love you, too. I promise I’ll come back in one piece.”



After hearing Michael, Daniel’s trainer, call for him from the private plane, you kissed Daniel deeply, knowing that this would be the last one for a while. He returned the kiss before pulling away and wiping away a few of your tears. Without another word, Daniel stepped away from you, his hands no longer holding your face as he grabbed his bags off of the ground. With a small nod and sad smile, Daniel turned around and walked onto the plane, leaving you standing in the middle of the parking lot.



As you grabbed the envelope off of the counter, you opened it carefully, pulling the small white paper out. The moment you saw Daniel’s handwriting, you started crying all over again. For the next 42 days, all you had to remind yourself of him was his hoodies, a few phone calls whenever he had the time, and these letters he had given you nearly a month ago for your birthday. Taking a deep breath, you wiped away your tears and began to read the letter.



Hello, my love.

If you are reading this, it means that I am currently on my way to Australia for the first race of the season while you are back home in our apartment focusing on work and clients. Not having you with me at our home grand prix absolutely sucks.



You couldn’t help but smile when he referred to the Australian Grand Prix as “our home grand prix.” Ever since the two of you started dating, Daniel had always told you that whatever was his, was also yours too. He loved the idea of the two of you being a team- that all the highs would be celebrated together and all of the lows would be survived through together. It was honestly one of the main reasons why your relationship has always worked.



I already hate the idea of being home without you. This trip won’t be the same without you by my side. I’m not even sure if I will be able to go visit all of our old spots like we usually do. It just doesn’t feel right. Anyways, I want you to know that I love you deeply. I know that this is the start of a rough eight months for us, but we are strong and I know we can handle this. I’m always just a phone call or a text away- unless I'm in the car, but I doubt you would text me while I'm literally driving 300+kph around a circuit. I love you to the moon and back, baby. I’ll see you in 42 days.

Love, Danny



You placed the letter back inside the envelope before setting it back down on the counter. This was about to be the longest eight months of your life. 



Open on our eight year anniversary at 4pm! - April 17th, 2017.



The days had continued to tick down slowly but surely. 14 more days. It was easy to distract yourself from thinking about him too much most days, as you were practically buried in work from sunrise to sunset- however today was different. 



Eight years ago, Daniel had taken you out to this small little restaurant down the road from his house. It wasn’t anything fancy, the two of you were 19 at the time, not much money between either one of you. At the time, the two of you had been best of friends for nearly six years, however both of you had a major crush on each other. So, on April 17th, 2009, Daniel took you to that small little restaurant down the road, finally feeling brave enough to confess his feelings for you. 



“What are you gonna get, Danny? I’ve never been here before, I don’t know what's good”



Daniel shrugged, glancing over the menu fairly quickly. “Probably a burger, like always. You can never mess up a burger” he said, a small smile on his face as he glanced up at you. 



You laughed a little and put your menu down, finally deciding that their caesar salad seemed like the safest option. After ordering your food, you turned your attention back to Daniel who had been looking at you so lovingly. “Is there something on my face? Why are you staring?”



Daniel turned the brightest shade of red you had ever seen. “No, no. Nothing on your face, your face is perfect i- uhm.. Sorry”



You frowned a little, noticing how Daniel looked had suddenly gone from relaxed and confident, to embarrassed and tense. You reached your hand over to his, squeezing his hand gently as you smiled up at him. “Danny, relax. I was just messing with you. I’m not mad or anything, I could care less if you stare at me” you said with a shrug and a small laugh. 



Daniel laughed a little and looked down at your hand resting on top of his. “Look, I'll be honest, I didn’t bring you here just for fun. There is something I wanted to ask you…”



You looked up at him, confusion written all over your face. “What is it, Danny?”



Daniel took a deep breath and squeezed your hand gently. “I can’t keep denying my feelings for you… Everytime I’m around you, I think about how much I wished I could be the one to hold you close at night, everytime I watch you go out with some random guy from that stupid dating app I want to tear my eyes out because I know that I could be better than him, whenever you’re around, my attention and focus is 100% on you, you are the center of my world whenever we are in the same room.”



You stared at Daniel in disbelief. Never in a million years did you think that your feelings for him were reciprocated, let alone that he would take you out to dinner and pour his whole heart out to you. “Danny I-”



“Let me finish” he said gently, locking his eyes with yours. “I was wondering- hoping I guess- if you would like to maybe possibly be my girlfriend?” he asked, his cheeks turning an even brighter shade of red than before.



You couldn’t help but smile as you squeezed Daniel’s hand tightly and nodded. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me for months!”



As you ran your thumb gently over the photo the two of you had taken on that day eight years ago, you couldn’t help but tear up a little. When Daniel had asked you to be his girlfriend, you never in a million years imagined that the two of you would still be going strong to this day. It wasn’t that you ever doubted your relationship, but more so the fact that typically F1 drivers had a tendency of not having a girlfriend for longer than a year at a time. It had worried you a lot in the beginning- how many more days until our downfall? How many days until he decides he's not ready for a relationship? How long until he realizes that he could be with anyone in the world, so why choose me? 



The fact that Daniel wasn’t home for your anniversary completely ruined you. It was the first time the two of you would be apart on your anniversary. What made the whole day even worse was Daniel’s lack of time to communicate. It was currently nearing 4pm and you still hadn’t gotten a text or a call from him. Maybe he was on a plane from Bahrain to Russia, maybe he was asleep in some random hotel located in the heart of Sakhir. Who knew what Daniel was up to or where he was. 



As you glanced over at the pile of envelopes that sat on the coffee table in front of you, you noticed that the envelope on top had more specific instructions than the rest. “Open on our eight year anniversary at 4pm!” Glancing at the clock, the time read 3:59, so you picked up the envelope and slowly began opening it. Even though Daniel wasn’t there to stop you from opening it a minute early, you were a rule follower and had every intention on following the instructions. When the clock struck 4pm, you finished opening up the envelope and removed the letter. 



Happy 8th anniversary, my love.

I can’t believe you’ve been by my side for 8 years. I don’t know how you have been able to tolerate me for this long. I am so incredibly grateful to have you on this journey of life with me. I am so proud of the woman you have become, so proud of you for working so hard everyday, and so incredibly amazed by you every single day. You are the center of my world, my love. Without you, I’d be a lost, crazy wild F1 driver getting drunk every night of the week and ruining my career slowly but surely. Thank you for keeping me grounded, humble, and most importantly- loved. With all of this being said, there will be a surprise for you later on tonight. Be ready by 6pm. I love you, baby.

Love, Danny.



You smiled down at the letter, feeling so many different emotions at once- happiness, love, and sadness. In a perfect world, you and Daniel could be together tonight, but sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to.



After reading the letter over a few times, you finally looked at the clock. 4:15. An hour and 45 minutes to get ready. You made your way up to your bedroom and over to your closet where you spent the next hour trying to decide what to wear. Considering you had no idea what Daniel had planned for you, you decided to wear jeans and a black blouse, wanting to keep it casual, yet also dressed up-ish.



Now that it was pushing 5:15, you decided that there simply wasn’t enough time for hair and makeup. You quickly put your hair in a high ponytail and put on some mascara before looking at yourself once more in the mirror. It wasn’t perfect, but your boyfriend wasn’t home so it wasn’t like you had anyone to please.



At exactly 6pm, there was a gentle knock on the apartment door. Getting up off the couch, you grabbed your purse before opening the door. When you first opened the door, you hardly recognized the man standing in front of you. He was wearing all black, his hood pulled up over his head with a sleepy smile on his face. He looked exhausted. After looking at the man once more, you very quickly realized that it was Daniel standing in front of you.



“Honey??” you whispered, tears brimming your eyes as you smiled a little.



Daniel smiled sleepily, holding his arms out for you. “C’mere my love” Without another word, you ran into his arms, hugging him as tightly as you could. You couldn’t believe it. Daniel had somehow managed to fly to you during his crazy busy schedule, just to be here with you on your guys’ special day.



“I can’t believe you’re here, honey. God I’ve missed you so much…” you whispered as you buried your head in the crook of his neck.



“I’ve missed you too, my love. So much.” Daniel said as he rested his head on top of yours, rubbing your back gently like he always did.



After a few moments of standing in the middle of the hallway, you finally pulled from Daniel’s embrace, grabbing his hand as you pulled him inside the apartment. “Honey, you look exhausted… you didn’t have to fly all the way back here… I feel bad.”



Daniel shook his head. “Yes, I am exhausted but there was no way I wasn’t going to see you on our anniversary.”



“How long are you here for?” you asked as you took his bags from him. Deep down you didn’t want to hear the answer- he was probably only here for a few hours, if you were lucky.



“Four days.”



You looked up at him, a huge smile appearing on your face. Four days was like music to your ears.



Open when you can’t sleep- April 21st, 2017.



It was 11:35 pm and you had just gotten back from dropping Daniel off at the airport. The two of you had the most amazing four days ever, spending most of your time cuddled up in bed watching movies and eating take out food. While the two of you would usually find something to do around Monaco, neither of you had the desire to do anything but hold each other close and enjoy the limited time you had together before he had to leave again.



After locking the apartment door behind you, you made your way over to your bedroom, leaning against the door frame as you looked at the empty bed. You couldn’t help but tear up at the sight, knowing that for the next ten days, you would be the only occupant of that bed. You then glanced over to Daniel’s side of the closet, his door open just enough for you to see that your favorite hoodie of his was hung up nicely without any hesitation, you walked over to the closet and grabbed the hoodie off of its hanger, quickly changing into the piece of clothing that still smelled so much like Daniel, despite being washed the day prior. 



After finishing up getting ready for bed, you climbed under the covers and looked over at Daniel’s side of the bed, the memory of your conversation from three hours ago suddenly flooding your mind.



Daniel climbed into bed, getting himself comfortable before holding his arms out to you. You moved closer to him, lying your head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat as his arms wrapped around you tightly. “We only have about an hour before I have to go to the airport,” he said quietly, almost like he didn’t want to say it at all. 



“Yeah…” you said quietly, feeling yourself already shut down about his departure. 



“Hey…” he said as he tilted your chin up, looking into your eyes sweetly. “I love you. I know this is hard but ten days is so easy compared to the 28 days we spent apart before this. After the Russian Grand Prix, I will be home with you for 2 whole weeks, my love.” he said gently before placing a kiss on your lips. 



The kiss was soft and gentle, but full of love and promise. Everything that Daniel said was true. You two would survive this. You had no doubts in your mind. 



“I know, honey. I’m just going to miss you so much…” you said quietly, forehead resting against Daniels as you intertwined your hand with his, giving it a gentle squeeze.



Daniel placed his calloused hand on your cheek, rubbing your cheek with his thumb as he looked into your eyes. “I know. I’m going to miss you too…”



Moments like these with Daniel were your favorite. Just the two of you, cuddled up in bed while the tv played as background noise. It was moments like these you knew you were going to miss the most over the course of this entire season.



As you finally snapped out of your thoughts, you glanced at the clock. It was now 2:30 in the morning. Another sleepless night. You glanced at your phone, noticing that Daniel had texted you that he landed in Russia and was off to bed. ‘At least one of us is getting some sleep tonight’ you thought to yourself as you rolled over to Daniel’s side of the bed.



His pillow was still indented from where he laid just six hours prior. Everything still smelled like him- the pillow, the comforter, the bed sheets. You thought that maybe laying on his side of the bed would lull you to sleep, however it didn’t seem to work. By the time you had given up on all sleep, the clock read 3:45. 



Climbing out of bed, you walked out to the living room where the stack of envelopes had been. She picked all the envelopes and began flipping through them until she saw the one envelope she had been looking for.



Open When You Can’t Sleep!



You laughed at how sloppy Daniel’s writing was on the envelope- so sloppy that she could barely read what the sentence said. Daniel always struggled with writing neatly, even since before the two of you got together. He always wrote as quickly as he could, no matter what he was writing. Part of you was convinced it had to do with all of the signatures he's ever had to write over all of these years. 



Hello, my love. I know sleeping is always hard for you, especially while I’m away. While there is nothing I can physically do to help you, I do know exactly what helps you fall asleep and I would love to help you from afar.

For starters, turn on a movie from my list on my netflix profile. You always seem to fall asleep whenever it's my turn to pick a movie (part of me thinks you do it on purpose:( )

I’ve noticed that Days of Thunder seems to bore you the most, which is interesting considering I thought you liked it! Anyways, come back to this letter once you’ve turned on a movie!



You couldn’t help but laugh at the comments made in such a small paragraph. Daniel was right, you did fall asleep during almost every movie he chose. While you would prefer a movie like ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ Daniel would prefer a movie like ‘Days of Thunder” which wasn’t exactly something you wanted to watch for two hours straight.



Following Daniels instructions, you climbed back into bed, his note still in your hand as you turned on Days of Thunder. Once the movie began to play, you picked the letter back up off of your nightstand and continued reading



I almost know for a fact that Days of Thunder is playing on our TV right now. Anyways, if you haven’t done so already, throw on that purple hoodie of mine that you adore. I know I’m not there to physically hold you right now, but maybe having my hoodie on will feel like a hug from me as you lay in bed. 

Before you turn all of your attention onto the movie, there are a few things I want to remind you. 

1: You are beautiful. Like mind blowingly drop dead gorgeous.

2: You are my soulmate. Always have been, Always will be. I am so glad that I get to do life with you.

3: I know that you miss me right now, believe me, I miss you too. But soon enough, you’ll be in my arms again, head on my chest as you listen closely to my heartbeat. 

4: I love you. So much. Always remember that. Even though I’m thousands of miles away, I love you and always will. You’re mine forever, my love. 

With that being said, put this letter away and try to get some much needed rest. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do in the morning, and good sleep helps make working a little bit easier. I love you & sweet dreams, my love.

Love, Danny.



Oh Daniel. He always knew how to cheer you up, even if he was in a totally different place in the world than you. After placing the letter on the nightstand, you pulled the covers onto you and turned your focus towards the TV, seeing the black number 51 car drive around the track at a high amount of speed. That was the last thing you remember. Daniel was right, this movie really did put you to sleep.



Open when life starts to feel too heavy- May 29th, 2017.



Work was swallowing you whole, Daniel hadn’t been home in almost a month, and to top it all off, you had a head cold that was by far one of the worst you’ve ever had. It was nearing 1pm as you were sitting in your office at the apartment going through page after page of a client’s contract, trying to figure out where things all went wrong. You were overwhelmed, there was no doubt about it.



When you reached page twelve of the paperwork, you noticed several mistakes. Incorrect agreements, incorrect amounts of money offered, and incorrect dates of signatures as well. That seemed to be the absolute last straw for you. Dropping the bulky packet of paperwork onto your desk, you pulled your knees up to your chest and buried your head into your knees as you let your emotions finally take over.



Work shouldn’t be this hard.



Daniel should be here.



This head cold should be gone by now.



Maybe all of this was too much. Maybe you weren’t meant for this career. Maybe you were meant to quit your job and travel the world with Daniel like he had always offered you to do. Maybe you weren’t strong enough for all of this.



As you saw your phone light up with a text from Daniel, you remembered all of the envelopes he had given you. It had been over a month since you opened one last, but you knew that there most certainly had to be something in there to help you through this rough day.



Flipping through all of the envelopes, nothing had seemed to fit how you felt. After getting through half of the stack, you stumbled across one that you were sure was meant for this exact moment.



Open when life starts to feel too heavy. 



You grabbed the envelope out of the stack before plopping yourself onto the couch. Normally you would carefully open each envelope, not wanting to ruin it, but today you anxiously tore into the envelope, ripping the letter by accident. 



“Stupid stupid stupid!! Fucking stupid!!” you cried before throwing the envelope on the ground. As you laid down on the couch, tears streaming down your face again, you heard the door open.



“Hello, my love! I’m home!” Daniel yelled, unaware that you were in tears on the couch in front of him. When he finally noticed you, he dropped his bags and knelt down beside the couch, placing a hand on your cheek gently. “Baby.. what’s going on?”



You looked at Daniel, feeling completely numb. There were absolutely no words that could define how you felt. 



Daniel looked on the ground and saw the torn letter as well as the messy desk in your office. It was a rough day, he could tell. Daniel sat down beside you on the couch, pulling you into his lap while allowing you to cuddle up to him however you wanted. He pulled out his phone and opened up his notes app where he had kept every letter he wrote, in case something like this did happen.



“Hello, my love.” Daniel said, starting to read the letter out loud as you buried your face in the crook of his neck. 



“With how challenging of a year you have ahead of you, I can only imagine how hard work and life can get from time to time. Not only do you have clients breathing down your neck for answers to all of their questions, but you also have a separate battle of loving me from a distance going on too. For that, I am sorry. Every part of me wishes that we didn’t have to do this, that you could just travel the world with me forever, that in a perfect world, you would be the last thing I see every night and the first thing I see every morning, but I could never ask you to give up the job you love for me. While this job might be brutal at times, I know that the good times make up for all of the bad ones. You seem to enjoy the job, and most of the people you meet. Life can get heavy, life can be brutal, but just know that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, I love you. You are strong, brilliant, beautiful, and hard-working. I believe in you and everything you do. Every client is lucky to get the chance to work with you. I am lucky that I get to love you. You are such a light in so many people’s lives, my love. Including mine. Don’t let that light burn out. I love you.

Love, Danny."



When Daniel finished reading the letter out loud, you looked up at him. You had managed to get the crying under control, however your cheeks were still damp and your breathing was still shallow. Daniel looked down at you and wiped your tears away, allowing his hand to rest on your cheek for a moment as he looked into your eyes. “I meant every word I wrote, my love.”



You smiled a little, leaning into Daniel’s hand for comfort. Every word he said touched your heart in such a way you didn’t think was possible. It was as though whatever you had been crying over, suddenly didn’t matter anymore. Daniel’s words had healed you.



“Honey?” you said after a few minutes of sitting in silence.



“Yes, my love?”



“I think I want to be done with this job. I want to travel the world with you, wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep next to you every night. While this job might be enjoyable at times, there is nothing better than being by your side 24/7. I could help you with your financial bullshit instead of helping ungrateful, snobby companies.”



Daniel smiled softly, placing a gentle kiss to your forehead. “You can help with our financial bullshit”



You let out a little laugh before resting your head on Daniel’s shoulder. “Yeah, our financial bullshit”



Open when you’re upset with me- June 11th, 2017.



It was the first race you had finally been able to attend this season after choosing to quit your job, well sort of. While you were no longer controlling random companies’ finances, you had been hired on by redbull to control their finances. It was certainly a surprise to you, as you never expected one of the biggest sports teams across the world to trust you with their money and finances, but you were honored to do so- especially if that meant you got to travel the world with Daniel.



As you were walking through the paddock, your hand in Daniel’s, you could tell that he was a bit nervous for some reason. Daniel was never usually nervous for a race, which is why you were concerned.



“Honey?” you asked, looking up at him.



Daniel smiled a little when you spoke to him. He loved that you always called him honey. It was actually kind of a coincidence that you even started calling him that in the first place. You had started calling Daniel ‘honey’ the moment the two of you started dating. When he had finally entered formula 1, he had quickly become known as ‘the honey badger.’ It was kind of funny in a way. “Yeah baby?”



“You seem nervous today. Is everything ok?” you asked, giving his hand a light squeeze.



“Yeah, I am a bit nervous, only because it’s supposed to be a wet race and you know how much I hate driving in the rain” he said with a shrug, not really wanting to go into further detail. If there was ever one thing that frustrated you about Daniel, it was his inability to be vulnerable. He never wanted to seem like he was struggling, nor did he ever want anyone to have to try to care for him.



Over the years of being with him, he had slowly allowed himself to be vulnerable around you, but in a paddock full of people there was absolutely no way he was going to openly discuss his worries.



When arriving into the garage, you wandered off to the back of the garage, wanting to be out of the way of any mechanics or other team members who were working hard to finish getting the car set up. You looked at your watch, noticing that there was just under 25 minutes left until lights out.



As chaos continued to roar through the garage, you looked to your right and noticed that Daniel was sitting in the corner, headphones on, suit zipped all the way up, staring outside as the rain fell. Whenever Daniel had his headphones on, you always knew that meant not to bother him- so did everyone else in the garage. Daniel was very particular about his routine before the race, and you knew better than to mess it up.



With about 10 minutes until the start of the race, Daniel took his headphones off and placed them in his small little locker in the garage. You saw this as a chance to go wish him luck before the race. When you approached Daniel, you noticed that his hands were shaking a bit. It wasn’t something you hadn’t ever seen before, but it was something you hadn’t seen since one of his first races in the sport.



“Honey? You’re shaking.. Are you ok?”



“I’m fine”



“Daniel i’m not stupid. We can go in your room and talk if you don’t want to do it here”



“I said I'm fine, that means I'm fine. Just drop it ok?”



“Daniel you are literally shaking, You can’t drive a car if you can’t control your hands”



“Just drop it!!” Daniel snapped, the whole garage going silent as they all looked over at the two of you. Daniel grabbed his helmet off of the table next to him and walked to the car, leaving you in the back corner of the garage with tears in your eyes as you tried to pretend like the entire garage was looking at you.



You had decided that it would be best to watch the race from the hospitality room upstairs. The last place you wanted to be was in that garage while people whispered about your little argument with Daniel moments before the race.



Despite the rain pouring down and Daniel’s nerves making themselves known, Daniel was able to secure third place. You were incredibly proud of Daniel, knowing that he was able to overcome his fears and race to the podium anyways.



Although you were proud, you were still incredibly embarrassed and upset with Daniel’s behavior in the garage. Instead of standing up close to the barricade at the bottom of the podium, you stood in the way back, watching him celebrate with the team from afar. When he took his helmet off, he found your eyes in the crowd, giving you a small smile and a wave. It was by far one of the most awkward interactions you had ever had with him in the eight years you’d been together. He knew he fucked up, but there wasn’t anything he could do to fix it right now.



After the podium celebrations were over, you sent Daniel a text to let him know you were going back to the hotel. You had no desire to sit in the garage all night while he did media interviews and team debriefs.



However, shortly after you arrived back at the hotel, the door to your room opened and Daniel appeared in the doorway, soaked in champagne and sweat. The two of you made eye contact yet again. You had nothing to say to him right now, so you continued to look at him as you waited for him to speak.



Instead, he opened up his suitcase and dug the box of letters out of the bottom of it, flipping through the remaining envelopes. When he finally found the one he was looking for, he pulled it out and handed it to you. Without another word, he walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on.



‘Open when you’re upset with me’ was written across the top of the envelope. With a deep sigh, you opened the envelope and began reading the letter.



My love…

I can’t even begin to imagine what I might have done to upset you. With my luck, I was probably in my head about something to do with a race and I took it out on you. I’ve really been trying to improve myself in that aspect, I hate that I take things out on you sometimes. I know there isn’t a lot I can say through a letter to fix things, so take a look inside the envelope for what else I’ve included this time. Hopefully it reminds you of how much I love you and hopefully somehow you’ll be able to forgive me.

Love, Danny.



You looked inside of the envelope and found nearly 20 polaroid pictures of Daniel and yourself throughout the years. In each photo, the two of you were either smiling, looking at each other lovingly, or kissing. One specific photo in particular stood out though. It was a photo from new years eve.



You remembered every single thing that happened that day. You and Daniel had discussed how much time you would be spending apart this season, which caused a small argument between the two of you. You were both upset for different reasons. Daniel wanted you to travel with him to every race, so he was upset when you told him you’d only attend two or three. You were upset that Daniel was upset with your decisions, even though deep down you knew that he supported you 100%.



The two of you had hardly spoken another word to each other all day. You got ready for the New Years party downstairs while Daniel got ready for it upstairs. The car ride was incredibly awkward, neither of you speaking a word to each other. It wasn’t until a little bit before midnight that Daniel had finally approached you out on the balcony.



“Love? It’s cold out here, you should come inside. I don’t want you to get sick” he said quietly as he stepped out onto the balcony and stood beside you.



“I’m fine. What do you care anyways” you mumbled, still pissed off at him for everything he had said earlier.



Daniel looked at you, almost on the verge of tears. Although he was upset that you wouldn’t be traveling and he had expressed that very clearly, he couldn’t believe that you thought he didn’t care about you. “Baby woah… that… just because I'm upset you won’t be with me this season doesn’t mean I don’t care about you…”



You looked over at Daniel, hearing the pain in his voice. You knew that what you had just said to him hurt him way more than everything he said to you earlier hurt you. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean it like that i’m just… frustrated I guess. I’m upset that you are upset, you know?”



“I know, baby. I didn’t think about how hard this is for you, and I lashed out. For that I’m sorry.”



You smiled a little and wrapped your arms around his neck when you heard everyone start to countdown from ten, indicating that it was almost 2017. “How about we leave all of this argument in 2016 and move on?”



Daniel smiled and wrapped his arms around your waist. “Sounds good to me”



When the fireworks started going off behind you, you smiled and kissed Daniel deeply, not failing to notice someone taking a picture of the two of you from inside.



“Happy new year, danny.”



“Happy new year my love”



When Daniel walked out of the bathroom, showered and changed into comfier clothes, you looked up at him, a small smile appearing on your face. “You know, you should be out celebrating with the team, not cooped up in some hotel room with your boring girlfriend.”



Daniel laughed a little and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up at you. “Well for starters, you're not my boring girlfriend. Secondly, I do believe I fucked up today and have to figure out how to fix it.”



You shrugged, putting a hand on his cheek. “We promised we would leave silly arguments like these in 2016, so I think we should just forget this one even happened.”



Daniel laughed and looked down at the polaroid from new years that was in your hand. “I’m sorry I snapped at you”



You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Consider yourself forgiven… this time. If you snap at me in the middle of the garage like that again I will not forgive you so easily”



Daniel laughed and pulled you into a hug. “Noted, do not yell in the garage ever again” he said with a laugh.



Open on October 5th at approximately 8pm- october 5th, 2017.



It was early October, roughly about 7:30 pm when you and Daniel were walking the streets of Japan. This had been one of the only races that you had originally planned on attending this season.



You had always wanted to go to Japan, but it was just about the only race you hadn’t attended with Daniel in the few years he’s been in F1. As you walked down the street with Daniel’s hand in yours, you looked to your right as you saw a beautiful line of cherry blossom trees. “Oh my god! Daniel!! Honey!!! Look!!” you said with a squeal as you pulled him over to the trees. It was a bit dark outside, not many people out and about at the time which you thought was a bit strange, but it made it easier for you to enjoy the scenery and your time with Daniel.



Daniel couldn’t stop smiling at you the entire time you were admiring the pink trees in front of you. He loved how the simplest things always made you the happiest. As Daniel stood behind you, listening to you talk about how beautiful Japan and the trees were, he couldn’t help but grow more and more nervous.



At 8pm, Daniel was going to hand you your second to last envelope. After you read it, Daniel would be on one knee behind you, asking you to marry him. The entire idea made him nervous.



When his watch finally read 8pm, he gently tapped on your shoulder. “It’s eight pm on October 5th, which means you have to open this one!” he said with a nervous smile on his face.



You laughed and took the envelope from his hands, opening it carefully before beginning to read the letter.



Hello my love.

I know that I’m currently standing behind you in Japan, so it seems odd that I would want you to be reading a letter right now, but I wanted to somehow incorporate this moment into these letters. We have been together for eight years. These past eight years have by far been the best of my life. Watching you become the best version of yourself has been an honor, getting to be by your side through every step of life has been incredible, and I can’t wait for many more years to come. I can’t wait until we are old and wrinkled, sitting on a porch swing while our grandchildren run around our backyard. I can’t wait to look down at your left hand and see the ring I bought you on your finger, indicating to all other men in the world that you are mine. I love you to the moon and back, baby. Now turn around.

Love, Danny.



At that point, tears were streaming down your face. You knew exactly what was happening- and you couldn’t believe it. After being with Daniel for such a long time, you had kind of figured that marriage wasn’t exactly what he wanted- that maybe he was ok with staying as boyfriend and girlfriend. You didn’t mind, as long as he still came home to you in the end.



When you turned around, you saw Daniel on one knee, a red velvet box open in his hand with the prettiest ring you had ever seen sitting snug inside of it. Daniel had tears in his eyes. It was the first time that you had really seen him get this emotional over something in a long, long time.



“My love, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Every second of every day being fully committed to you, our future children, and anything else in between.”



Tears were streaming down your face as you smiled at your boyfriend, pulling him into a tight hug before he could say anything else. “Yes, honey, I’ll marry you. Absolutely yes.”



Daniel smiled and hugged you tightly, the two of you sitting on the ground underneath the cherry blossom trees. This couldn’t have been a more perfect proposal. No extravagant gestures, no paparazzi or fans, just you and Daniel in the middle of Japan.



Open when we are living the life you had always dreamed of- February 9th, 2019. Two years later. 



“Careful baby, I don’t want you to tear a stitch” Daniel said as he held onto your hand, helping you climb the porch steps one at a time.You smiled at your husband, who had also been carrying your son in his carseat with his other hand. “Honey, I’ll be fine. It’s just a few steps” you said with a little laugh.



Daniel let go of your hand and held onto Henry's seat with both hands as he finished climbing up the steps. “We should have really thought about all of these steps before we bought the place”



“Are you sure having this many steps will be ok, Danny? When we have kids I don’t want them to get too tired or even worse hurt themselves trying to climb up and down them…”



Daniel shrugged and kissed your forehead gently. “My love, this house is everything we both wanted and more. Don’t let some steps persuade you away from your dream home.”You laughed at Daniel’s comment, knowing full well that all of these steps was something the two of you discussed back in 2017 before you bought the house.



You laughed a little, thinking about the conversation that the two of you had over a year ago. It was hard to believe that in such a short, yet long, period of time, the two of you had gone through so much.



Shortly after purchasing the house in December of 2017, the two of you had gotten married in April of 2018, only to find out that you were expecting little baby Henry a month later. You and Daniel had discussed having children several times before, but neither one of you ever expected it to be this soon, though that didn’t deter either one of you for being happier than ever at the news.



“I’m pregnant” you managed to say after you finished chewing your last bite. Daniel’s fork stopped moving and he looked up at you, almost as if he thought he hadn’t heard you right.



“What?”



“I’m pregnant, honey. I took a test this morning, my period was two weeks late.”



Daniel looked closely at you, trying to read your expressions. He couldn’t tell if you were happy or not. “How do you feel about it?” he asked, trying to hide his excitement in case you didn’t feel the same way.



“I’m excited, we’ve always wanted this. It’s a little soon and I'm a bit nervous, but I'm happy over all” you said, a smile finally spreading across your face.



“My love, are you coming?” Daniel asked from inside the front doorway, snapping you out of your thoughts.



You flashed your husband a smile before making your way into the house. Daniel placed Henry’s carseat on the floor before carefully undoing the buckles and removing Henry from his seat.



You sat down on the couch and motioned for Daniel to come sit down next to you, which he did while holding Henry close to his chest. You rested your head on Daniel’s shoulder as you gently rubbed Henry’s cheek with the back of your pointer finger.



“He looks so much like you.. I can’t believe it” you whispered, admiring all of your son’s facial features.



“Everything except for my eyes, baby. Those baby blues are all from you” Daniel said with a smile before placing a kiss on your head, as well as Henry’s head. You smiled a little before pulling something out of the pocket of your jacket. It was the last brown envelope from Daniel’s gift 3 years ago.



‘Open when we are living the life you’ve always dreamed of’ was written across the front of the envelope. Daniel looked at you with a smile as he noticed what you had in your hand. “You still have one?” he asked, sort of shocked that you managed to keep track of it after all these years.



“Of course I do. I wasn’t going to lose this one” you said as you opened the envelope and pulled the white paper out.



My love,

I hope that this letter doesn’t get lost as I’m sure you have no intentions on opening it for several years. By the time you do open this, I hope that we are married with at least one child, living in our dream home together. Our relationship means so much to me, you mean so much to me, and I can’t wait to watch you become a mother. Ever since you agreed to be my girlfriend, it’s been something I’ve dreamed about. That sounds creepy, but I always knew that if I was going to have kids, it was going to be with you. Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. Happiness, love, kindness, and of course hopefully by now, our child ( or children depending on when you open this )

I love you, baby.

Love, danny.



You smiled and teared up a little as you read through the letter. “Your brain seemed scrambled in that letter”



Daniel laughed. “Probably because I was writing about something so far in the future that I kind of just had to guess what would be going on when you opened it”



You kissed Daniel’s cheek gently before resting your head against his. “Thank you, Daniel.”



“Thank you for what?”



“All of these letters, this house, our marriage, our son… all of it. I’m so thankful for you and everything you've done.”



Daniel smiled and leaned down to kiss you. “Anything for you, my love.”











Taglist: @Cl16msc47 @majkaftorek @hammickk @lizziebitch333 @viktorie16

[impandgnomes]

Been working with Tegridy these past couple of weeks!!!!! This took forever to finish - so many ends to weave in lmao. I'm so glad it's done though.

I kind of posted about the Tegridy Farms blanket here like last night, but figured since it's actually done now you all deserved some pictures, alongside a repost of my notes on making it. I really love the overall vibe of the colours and composition and I like to hope that I captured some of that here.

Notes regarding yarn, sizing etc. from previous post for completion's sake under the cut:

My color choices aren't a 1:1 match with the ones in the show. I would still argue them as "realistic" versions allowing for the saturation of coloring on the BG in the show, but YMMV and gatekeeping my technically incorrect choice would be beyond silly. I just really like making stuff I see in cartoons.

I basically tried to make this thing roughly to scale with the one in the show though, as others I saw worked single strands of DK yarn, resulting in a really small blanket.

I did some math by measuring the heights of a square of the blanket and the couch on the screencap given above and cross-referencing it with the average height of a couch (regarding my formal diagnosis and to quote tiktok, "I have this thing, it's ＡＵＴＩＳＭ"). The result was each square measuring approximately 13-15cm iirc.

I just used a basic granny square layout with this method on regular DK yarn with a 7mm crochet hook to work the squares into the ideal size. They sat at just over 15cm and I somehow only just had enough of the gray yarn. I imagine from what we see that the blanket is 7x7 squares with the others hanging off the back out of sight, so I made 42 squares in total.

Most of the yarn (except the white which was just some salvaged stuff) was Aldi UK's seasonally stocked "So Crafty" acrylic Double Knit yarn, so I was certainly sweating bullets re: if I even had enough (not sure how easy substitutes would have been). Color names are Wheat, Grass, Rose Garden, and Gun Metal.

Technically the cushions are also achievable in crochet - they would use c2c (corner to corner) and I think that's 100% the intent in their design due to the blocky/pixelated appearance of the images. There's plenty of charts for images like those, but making your own would work too. I would definitely like to hear from whoever on the design team chose to put these in the BG and if they were inspired by something or someone, since with the cushions especially it feels weirdly specific to me to use crochet in like 2017 for the "homely and rustic weed farmhouse" vibe I imagine Randy trying to force here. Based on eyeballing it and my square sizes, I'd aim for a 30cm² cushion maybe.

[icypantherwrites]

It is finished.

Words I wasn't sure I was ever going to be able to write, but at 11:51 pm last night they became reality.

Bottled Ocean is finished.

I am really, really proud of myself for being able to come back to this story. I started writing it in all the way back in May 2020 so it has been almost four years from start to finish and it's been a really long, bumpy road. So much has happened over those four years and the story went from a vibrant, engaged audience when it first published to, if I'm lucky, one or two engaged readers and maybe five reading it total. It's been really hard to put forth the energy into writing such a monster of a story (it is officially over 250,000 words long) knowing that there's no one there really to read it and even now I'll be lucky to have one or two engaged readers for it.

But it is done. My legacy after writing over 400 fanfictions in the last 7 years is not an incomplete story. It's something I can look back on and be proud of that I wrote that and as anyone knows, 250,000 words is not a small undertaking.

I had promised myself that if I went back to writing this I would finish the story before it began publishing again on Patreon (which resumes today) and then life hit. I had Covid the last two weeks and felt really terrible and dizzy and unable to focus. I thought writing fight scenes was hard, bah, writing fight scenes while you're distracted by the word 'sword' because it says 's-word' and going off on a tangent of swear words you think pirates would say while still trying to write a fight scene is hard. I kept going.

I reached yesterday morning and realized that I still had at least four chapters to write and I wasn't sure how I was going to do it and even if my deadline was self-imposed I was going to fail it.

I didn't.

Outside of taking breaks to walk the dog (it reached 42 here in Chicagoland and for this time of the year that's practically tropical) and guzzling down over half of a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper and trying to drink water in there too, I did it. I sat down, wrote my ass off, and a little over 16,000 words of the most pinnacle parts of the story as it all comes together and concludes I did it. I am exhausted and I honestly didn't even recall most of the final chapter so I went back and read it this morning and not to toot my horn but damn I'm a good writer, and I am just so relieved and happy it is done.

I am done too. My writing journey comes to an end with this story (I'll still for sure be posting on Patreon for the rest of 2024 though with my insane backlog and of course Bottled Ocean and some works on AO3 too) and I'm hanging up my keyboard. It has been a long seven years full of the good and the bad, the bright spots and the dark, but I can look back at this chapter of my life and see that I wrote over 3.2 million words worth of stories to share and I feel...

I feel content. And relieved and honestly my wrists are aching from pressing against my laptop all night, but I am happy. Thank you to all who came on this writing journey with me, who have been with me since As Color Fades Away posted in 2017 or stumbled across my works this year. It has been a life-changing seven years of writing.

I'll still be around here posting updates and hopefully, maybe, trying to get a few of y'all to bite at Bottled Ocean and join me in reading my final fanfiction, but this author is finally, finally finished and it is the start of a new adventure.

Thanks everyone ♥

[usafphantom2]

On This Day in 1964, the Legendary Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Flew For the First Time.

December 22, 2019 Military Aviation

A Blackbird takes off from Beale AFB. (Image credit: USAF)

The SR-71 was the first aircraft to feature stealth capabilities.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flew for the first time on Dec. 22, 1964 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The first aircraft to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. Throughout its career, that came to an end on Oct. 9, 1999, no SR-71 was reportedly lost nor damaged due to hostile actions: the SR-71 flew above Mach 3 at 85,000 feet, with a reported top speed of Mach 3.4 during flight testing and Mach 3.5 during on an operational sortie while evading a missile over Libya.

Although most historians and experts know it many aviation enthusiasts ignore that the Blackbird can somehow be considered the first stealth aircraft ante litteram.

Here’s what this author explained in a past article titled Well Before The SR-72 Was Conceived, The Iconic SR-71 Blackbird Proved “Speed Is The Real Stealth”:

Ezoic

The Blackbird was the first aircraft to feature stealth capabilities: a special paint that contained iron ferrites and absorbed radar energy instead of returning it to the sender was used for SR-71’s wings, tail and fuselage. The reduced RCS (Radar Cross Section) made any reaction to an SR-71 overflight almost useless: the aircraft was so fast that once the radar detected it, the SAM battery’s guidance system was not able to compute the right parameters for a successful kill. Moreover, the range and bearing of the SR-71 was also denied to the enemy by jamming the radars with the use of the sophisticated electronic countermeasures (ECM) that equipped by the Blackbird.

However, in spite of its radar-evading features, what made the SR-71 almost impossible to intercept, were its incredible flight characteristics: it was able to fly at 3.5 Mach at 88,000 feet. The aircraft could climb higher than that and according to some sources the Blackbird could reach 120,000 feet and above. At that altitude, Soviet SAMs would have been unable to maneuver to hit an SR-71: the air is so thin that any maneuvering capability of a missile is practically nonexistent, as explained by the former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham in his book “SR-71 The Complete Illustrated History of THE BLACKBIRD The World’s Highest , Fastest Plane.”

In 2012 a DARPA statement stated that America was gradually losing the “strategic advantage” that its stealth warplanes had long provided, as other countries’ stealth and counter-stealth capabilities continued to improve. For this reason, “speed is the new stealth” is a slogan that accompanied the unveiling of the SR-72 in 2013. However, the SR-71’s story is a proof that speed has always been the key to stealth.

Not only did SAMs fail to catch the Blackbird but even the fastest Soviet fighter jets, including the MiG-31 Foxhound, lacked the necessary speed to reach the SR-71.

The last flight of an SR-71 took place on Oct. 9, 1999, during the Edwards AFB Open House Airshow. Fourteen years later, in 2013, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the legendary division that designed airplanes which represented a giant leap for their times such as the F-104, the U-2, the Blackbird family or the F-117A stealth fighter jet, revealed the existence of a sort of SR-71 replacement: a Hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike aircraft dubbed SR-72, designed for Mach 6.

The first concept artwork of the SR-72 released by Lockheed Martin in 2013.

On Sept. 27, 2017, Aviation Week reporter Guy Norris scooped the story about the landing of a mysterious, unidentified new aircraft at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 Production Flight Test Facility in Palmdale California.

“According to information provided to Aviation Week, one such [SR-72] technology demonstrator, believed to be an unmanned subscale aircraft, was observed flying into the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 at Palmdale, where Skunk Works is headquartered. The vehicle, which was noted landing in the early hours at an unspecified date in late July, was seen with two T-38 escorts. Lockheed Martin declined to comment directly on the sighting.”

Ezoic

In February 2018, Lockheed Martin, pushed back on reports of the SR-72’s development stating that no SR-72 had been produced. In November last year, Lockheed Martin stated that a prototype of the SR-72 was scheduled to fly by 2025. A sort-of SR-72 aircraft (or something inspired to it) is flown by Maverick (Tom Cruise) in “Top Gun: Maverick”, the sequel of the famous 1980s aviation movie.

Once operational the hypersonic strike aircraft will be able to fly about twice as fast as its predecessor. To date, the Mach 3+ SR-71 Blackbird remains the fastest, manned air-breathing aircraft ever produced.

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

@theaviationist via X

[im-overstimulated-and-im-sad]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tags @thisbuildinghasfeelings @herefortarlos @lemonlyman-dotcom @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @carlos-in-glasses 🫶

Please enjoy some angst from my TK's growing up years fic -

2017 -

TK couldn’t help but fidget as he sat there. He was sitting on the couch in his dad’s office. He had no idea why. They’d returned from a call, and then there was his dad. He said, “Get your gear off and come up to my office, okay?” And TK nodded and did just that; then he barely had enough time to worry about what this was about. Then when he got to his dad’s office, the phone rang. It was the captain of the 269; Owen mouthed “sorry” as he motioned for TK to sit down and then he stepped out of his own office. And that left TK to sit and stew in his own anxieties.

Which, it hadn’t even been ten minutes yet. But TK was pretty sure that the other guys from the 252 knew that TK was up here. If they didn’t, they surely would the longer he sat and waited.

It had only been 42 days since TK had returned to work after rehab; and he had spent every day doing his best not to draw attention to himself and act like he hadn’t been gone for 30 days.

Of course, he thought bitterly to himself as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, it’s not like any of them would say anything to his face, anyway. They never did before; it didn’t stop TK from learning what they called him behind his back.

TK started to peel at the fingernail on his index finger. He had this down to a science; he knew the exact spot to stop where if he continued, he’d getting down to the quick, and it would start to bleed. His nail was diminishing; the point of no return was getting closer.

“I think you’re getting close to the bone there”. TK jumped at his dad’s voice. He sat up straighter as his dad re-entered the office and sat on the arm of the couch.

“I’m sorry about the wait,” his dad said, squeezing TK’s shoulder gently. “There’s been a problem at the 269. One of their guys might be joining us here”.

“Oh”. TK nodded. “Cool”. He watched as his dad got up and came to sit down next to him. “So,” TK said with a shrug, “what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check in with you,” Owen answered. “See how you were doing”.

“I’m fine”. TK shrugged. “Everything’s good”.

“Your mother said you might have found a place,” his dad prompted.

“Uh huh”. TK nodded. “But I can’t afford it without having her co-sign, so I’m still looking. Which, I told her this is why people have roommates; not like we don’t live in the most expensive city in the world, and—”

“And you haven’t had the best luck with roommates, son,” his dad chided him gently. “And you’re starting over, it’d be better for you not to have to worry what someone else is bringing home”.

TK groaned. “Dad, very little of what happened is Avery’s fault. And,” he stood up, “if there isn’t a reason for us to be doing this now, I’m on laundry today, and I really want to—”

“Well, there is a reason,” his dad rose to his feet as well. “And I’m afraid that it can’t wait. I need you to sit back down”. He put his hands firmly on his son’s shoulders. TK glared for a minute before he allowed his dad to gently push him back down towards the couch.

“Okay, what?” TK snapped. “What is so important?”

Owen exhaled slowly. “I just wanted to check in with you. See if there was anything you wanted to tell me… before I found out some other way?” TK racked his brain for anything, any amount of time unaccounted for that would have led to this line of questioning.

“No”. TK shook his head. “Dad, just ask me what you’re going to ask me. Get it over with”.

Owen exhaled slowly. “I’m not accusing you of anything,” he began. “But two weeks in a row you were gone at the same day for the same amount of time. Last Wednesday—”

“Oh my God,” TK buried his face in his hands. “You know, you really missed your calling as a private eye”.

“I was doing the assembly for the career fair,” his dad continued, undeterred, “which you had also originally signed up for. I was told you had taken your name off for an appointment. Then yesterday, same thing happened. After the call at the drycleaners, you mysteriously disappeared, and resurfaced around dinner. I’ve got a rational amount of concern for the situation”.

“Yeah, except you have no idea what the situation is,” TK grumbled. “And I did have an appointment. I didn’t lie about that”.

“I didn’t say you did,” his dad replied. “Who was the appointment with?” TK leaned his head back on the couch. “Why do you have to know?” TK asked.

“You know exactly why, kid,” his dad murmured. He reached over and ran a hand through his son’s hair amidst TK’s protests. “The door is closed, no one can see you”. He reminded his son. “Might I remind you, I believed you when you told me you were fine four months ago. I believed you when you said the group therapy was helping. I want more than anything to believe you… but I’m somewhat terrified of what will happen if I do”.

TK hated what his dad was saying; and hated even more that he couldn’t argue with any of it. So much for this being a good surprise. “Fine”. He sighed. “You win. It’s Hazel McLaughlin”.

“Oh”. Not the answer Owen was expecting. “She works out of the 243. How’d you meet her?”

“I got her name from Diana Pink”. TK hugged his arms to his chest. “Then I sent her a message on Facebook. With Lyle gone, she’s the only person I know who’s dual certified. She’s been helping me study to take the test. To be a dual certified firefighter and paramedic”.

No pressure tagging: I tag @dreamingofmickeywaffles @sznofthesticks @firstprince-history-huh @tailoredshirt @kiloskywalker @sugdenlovesdingle @ellena-asg @inkweedandlizards @kiankiwi @paperstorm @heartstringsduet @reyestrandd and anyone else who wants to do it - open tag 💝🥰

[bananaofswifts]

By Xander Zellner

Taylor Swift spends a record-extending 70th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated July 1) thanks to nine albums on the latest Billboard 200 and three songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

On the Billboard 200, Swift’s 2022 LP Midnights ranks at No. 4 with 60,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate, after spending six weeks at No. 1.

Here’s a recap of her current Billboard 200-charting titles:

Rank, Title:

No. 4, Midnights

No. 10, Lover

No. 14, Folklore

No. 18, 1989

No. 23, Reputation

No. 25, Red (Taylor’s Version)

No. 38, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

No. 39, Speak Now

No. 40, Evermore

Swift scores nine titles in the Billboard 200’s top 40 for a fourth time, after achieving the feat on charts dated May 20 and 27 and June 3. No other artist has earned the honor (dating to August 1963 when the survey became a combined stereo and mono album listing.)

Notably, Speak Now rises 42-39 ahead of its new re-recorded Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), due July 7.

On the Hot 100, Swift charts with current Midnights single “Karma,” featuring Ice Spice (up 9-7), former eight-week leader “Anti-Hero” (holding at No. 12), and Lover cut, and new promoted single, “Cruel Summer” (39-18). “Cruel Summer” surpasses its original No. 29 peak in 2019 and becomes Swift’s 69th career top 20 hit, the second-most in the chart’s history, after Drake’s 116.

“Cruel Summer” is the Hot 100’s top Sales Gainer, as it bounds 32-10 on Digital Song Sales (3,000 sold, up 71%), to become Swift’s record-extending 84th top 10.

ATEEZ re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 3, a new high, thanks to the act’s new set The World EP.2 : Outlaw. The project debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (105,000 units), becoming the group’s highest charting album, and No. 1 on Top Album Sales.

Gunna re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 5, as his new LP — A Gift & A Curse — arrives at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (85,000 units), becoming his fifth top 10. Eleven songs from the album land on the latest Hot 100, led by “Fukumean” and “Back to the Moon” at Nos. 16 and 29, respectively.

Plus, Queens of the Stone Age re-enter the Artist 100 at No. 7, returning to the chart for the first time since 2017, thanks to the group’s new LP In Times New Roman… The album debuts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 (40,000 units), becoming the band’s fourth top 10.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

[memesandmylife]

JUST HAD TO REPORT + BLOCK 42 PORN BOTS ACROSS THREE BLOGS.

yeah, you read that right: fourty-two

i wasn’t even really far behind with keeping up with them— this took 3-5 days of not diligently blocking them, tops. the jokes were funny at first but it’s been weeks of this now and @staff has to do something about it, because this is legitimately worse than it was in 2017

the best part is that i have MORE THAN THREE BLOGS. there are more bots to block- i’m just making this post to take a break

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Friday....

SpaceTime 20240405 Series 27 Episode 42

Claims water persisted in Mars' Gale crater for longer than previously thought

Scientists have found signs that water was abundant in Mars' Gale crater long after the planet was thought to have become dry and inhospitable.

The Sun’s spectacular double solar flare

The Sun has become increasingly active over the past week with an almost continuous display of solar flare activity including a spectacular double solar flare event described as the most powerful eruption since 2017.

Is Aurora real after all

There are persistent reports that the Pentagon has developed and is now testing a successor to the famous A-12 -- SR-71 Blackbird --the world’s fastest jet.

April Skywatch

Our nearest neighbouring star system Alpha Centauri -- the iconic constellation Southern Cross -- and the annual Lyrids meteor shower are among the highlights of the April night skies on SkyWatch.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. Later, Gary became part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and was one of its first presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[goldenraeofsun]

Day 23: Sleepless Nights

Dean 11:31 Hey sorry to text so soon But did you pick up an ID with my face on it after dinner?

Cas 11:39 No, but the restaurant called me a half hour ago. They found it while closing up, and they had my number on file from when I made the reservation.

Dean 11:42 Thank god

Cas 11:42 My apologies; I was going to leave you a message in the morning, as you mentioned needing to get up early. Also, what do you mean by “so soon”?

Dean 11:44 Dude Its been two hours since our date How soon do you consider too soon?

Cas 11:45 I’ve never given it much thought.

Dean 11:45 Seriously?

Cas 11:48 I text when it feels right. I don’t have a numerically-based system.

Dean 11:50 That’s insane.

Cas 11:51 Well, Dean, what’s your system, then?

Dean 11:52 24 hours minimum 1 week max unless they’re batshit Usually averages out to 3 days

Cas 11:57 What do you mean “batshit”?

Dean 11:57 You know Psychos Nut jobs One sandwich short of a picnic Dudes who say their spirit animal is Elon Musk

Cas 11:58 That’s an impressive array of synonyms, but it doesn’t actually give me much information.

Dean 11:58 Seriously??? Ok then Like, the guy who tried to pressure me into a threesome with his ex cause I’m bi Or the lady who practically drank a whole bottle of wine by herself and yelled at the waiter because he didn’t refill our bread basket

Cas 11:58 I see what you mean.

Dean 11:59 OR that guy who mentioned he was casually into cannibalism??? Who the hell drops that on a first date. Glenn Close wannabes, that’s who

Cas 12:00 I’m astounded you had that many bad first dates.

Dean 12:01 Those are only from this year!

Cas 12:01 That sounds horrendous.

Dean 12:02 Heh. Cannibal guy gave good head, so there’s that. Dude knew his way around some man meat, if you know what I mean

Cas 12:02 Unfortunately, I do. Excuse me while I wait a full week to text you ever again.

Dean 12:03 C’mon, I didn’t even tell you about my worst first date!

Dean 12:14 Cas?

Cas 12:18 Go on.

Dean 12:18 Thank fuck, I thought I actually scared you off

Cas 12:18 Despite appearances, I don’t scare easily.

Dean 12:19 For a nerdy dude in a trench coat, you’re made of pretty stern stuff, I’ll give you that

Cas 12:21 Thank you?

Dean 12:26 Don’t mention it ANYWAY worst first date in the history of first dates: The setting: Los Angeles, California, August 2017 Our hero, the dashingly handsome PA, Dean Winchester, has a date with a slightly less-attractive but still stunning guest star from episode 24 of Dr. Sexy, MD who will die three episodes later from a cerebrovascular infection of her spinal cord.

Cas 12:27 Technically, doctors should only use “Dr” or “MD”, not both. And that diagnosis makes absolutely no sense.

Dean 12:28 Shhh DSM had to let go their medical expert due to budget cuts in the 15th season

Cas 12:28 I cannot believe the abbreviation for that show is DSM.

Dean 12:28 Huh?

Cas 12:31 In the medical community, whenever you hear DSM, they’re almost always referring to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Dean 12:34 Hahahahaha Maybe I should buy a copy for the set Then they’ll get SOMETHING right

Cas 12:34 I hardly ever call any case hopeless, but in this case, I might make an exception.

Dean 12:36 Yeah that checks out But nobody watches DSM for the medicine The other stuffs the compelling bits

Cas 12:37 They'd better not be. It's a gross misrepresentation of the medical system. Firstly, their sterile fields leave much to be desired. I had to pause in the middle of the intubation scene.

Dean 12:42 Hold on You actually watched DSM??

Cas 12:44 Of course. You mentioned you worked on the show when we met. I'd be a poor date if I hadn't watched at least an episode. 

Dean 12:44 Oh my god you did homework for our date tonight??? You're such a nerd

Cas 12:45 Dr. Nerd, MD, actually.

Dean 12:46 Ha! You're still Dr Sexy to me

Dean 12:46 Shit that was the stupidest thing I've ever sent. Forget I wrote that. 

Cas 12:47 I think it's flattering :D

Dean 12:48 Thank fuck

Cas 12:52 It wasn't only to prepare for our date. You obviously care a lot about the show, so if I couldn't stand it, I figured it would be a good indicator of our compatibility. 

Dean 12:55 Holy shit. I never thought about it like that I used to tell people it was a guilty pleasure

Cas 12:56 What changed?

Dean 12:57 I got the job on set and everyone there doesn’t treat it like a dirty little secret Sure they know its stupid and shit, but it’s fun, stupid shit

Cas 1:00 I’m glad you like your job.

Dean 1:00 You don’t?

Cas 1:11 I like the mission of my job. But some days the death, pain, and petty workplace grievances make me question my choice. I chose emergency medicine because I was under the impression it required fewer people skills. I thought I would see more acute cases of broken bones, gunshots, burns, etc. But these days, half of my patients use ER doctors as their primary physicians because they can’t afford regular doctor visits for their chronic conditions. I even have a few “regulars”, which I never anticipated having.

Dean 1:12 Damn That sounds brutal

Cas 1:13 Not to mention my hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt.

Dean 1:13 Jesus Sammy’s in the same boat between undergrad and law school

Cas 1:14 But not you?

Dean 1:20 I never went to college

Cas 1:20 Good.

Dean 1:23 What?

Cas 1:25 It seems you didn’t waste your money or time, as you’re in a profession that makes you happy and supports a lifestyle you’re making work.

Dean 1:25 I guess so. I just never figured you’d be all aboard the high school drop out train

Cas 1:31 Usually no, not unless the person has a clear path ahead of what they would like to do instead. My brother transferred from a prestigious liberal arts college to a trade school for plumbers, and he has had no greater joy explaining to my uptight parents the latest thing he pulled out from a client’s septic tank.

Dean 1:32 He sounds like a riot

Cas 1:33

He also makes a killing. Apparently an equal number of people need doctors as plumbers, to my parents’ great chagrin.

Dean 1:33 I like him already

Cas 1:35 You’ll like him until he short sheets your bed and locks you in the wine cellar during dessert so he gets the whole Black Forest gateau to himself.

Dean 1:36 That’s HILARIOUS

Cas 1:38 I almost wet myself, Dean.

Dean 1:38 And you think that makes it less funny???

Cas 1:43 I should have known older brothers would take each others’ side.

Dean 1:44 Damn right It’s in the big brother handbook

Cas 1:49 Did you terrorize Sam too?

Dean 1:52 No And whatever he tells you about itching powder, a farting donkey, and superglue is totally a lie

Cas 1:53 Never mind. I don’t even want to know.

Dean 1:58 Yeah, nobody came out the winner that time Sammy always gave as good as he got though But you seem like the kind of goody two shoes who wouldn’t get your big brother back like he deserved

Cas 2:03 I was worse as a child. It didn’t help that Gabe had an almost preternatural ability to anticipate retaliation. My choices of pranks were never particularly inventive, so he saw them coming from a mile away.

Dean 2:04 So Gabe is a plumber with a sweet tooth?

Cas 2:05 Yes?

Dean 2:06 You got any other ammo on him?

Cas 2:07 He also has an extensive porn collection of vintage Casa Erotica VHS and goes to some annual pornography convention in Vegas. My parents didn’t cut him off for dropping out of college because they were well aware of his alternative and, in their mind, Gabe chose the lesser of two evils.

Dean 2:11 Holy shit, Cas That’s what you LEAD with

Cas 2:12 Excuse me?

Dean 2:19 Next time you’re at his place, you’re gonna swap out half those VHS for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood or Nut Cracker or a Nova documentary Just total boner-killers. He won’t see it coming. Heh Literally

Cas 2:20 Truly?

Dean 2:22 I don’t see why he would

Cas 2:23 Thank you. I might actually take your suggestion.

Dean 2:25 Do it! And then tell me how it goes. Sammy’s all the way in Seattle, so we haven’t had a real prank war in too long.

Cas 2:27 Aren’t you a little old for such childish behavior?

Dean 2:30 You’re older than I am!

Cas 2:31 I’m making up for lost time.

Dean 2:32 You’re unbelievable. Alright, Marcia, if you want to play it that way See if I help you when Gabe hides your stethoscope or dyes your white coat pink in retaliation

Cas 2:35 … he dyed it bright yellow, actually.

Dean 2:36 HAHAHAHAH

Cas 2:37 I looked like a YIELD sign.

Dean: 2:39 Please tell me you have pictures

Cas 2:43 I do, actually. IMG_215

Dean 2:44 What’s with the black stripes?

Cas 2:45 I added the stripes for Halloween last year. I was a bumblebee.

Dean 2:46 Damn Not even a sexy bumblebee?

Cas 2:49 Ah, but you can’t see what’s under my doctor’s coat.

Dean 2:50 An even smaller bumblebee costume?

Cas 2:52 No…

Dean 2:53 Don’t do this to me Lingerie?

Cas 2:55 I wore SCRUBS, Dean, because I am a medical professional.

Dean 2:58 You’re such an ass What are you doing this year?

Cas 2:58 I was thinking of wearing my usual coat and scrubs.

Dean 3:01 Booooo

Cas 3:02 What are you going as, then?

Dean 3:05 A cowboy! Tenth year in a row, baby. If it ain’t broke, yadda yadda yadda

Cas 3:06 But, having recently seen a new medical show, I was thinking of adding cowboy boots to my standard getup.

Dean 3:08 No way

Cas 3:08 Do you by chance have a spare pair I could borrow for Halloween?

Dean 3:10 Hell yes I do! But Shit, I have a 5am call time tomorrow Today? Fuck. I think I have to cut his convo short

Cas 3:11 Oh dear My apologies for keeping you so late! :o

Dean 3:14 Not your fault at all dude

Cas 3:15 I never even heard the story of your worst first date!

Dean 3:18 How about I tell you over dinner Friday? 7PM work with you? You chose the place last time, so I’ll pick this one

Cas 3:18 It’s a date :D

[lboogie1906]

Ida Olivia Keeling (née Potter, May 15, 1915 – August 25, 2021) was a centenarian track and field athlete. Trained by her daughter Cheryl (Shelley) Keeling, herself a world record holder, she set Masters records in 60-meter and 100-meter distances for women in the 95-99 and 100-plus age groups.

Her story was featured in the documentary If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, on aging over 90, which premiered in June 2017. She was featured on Our America with Lisa Ling on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

In 2011, she set the world record in her age group for running 60 meters at 29.86 seconds at a track meet in Manhattan and in 2012 she set the W95 American record at the USATF Eastern Regional Conference Championships at 51.85. In 2014, at the 2014 Gay Games, she set the fastest known time by a 99-year-old woman for the 100-meter dash at 59.80 seconds; at the time the relevant USA Track & Field webpage did not include a 100-meter record for US women older than the 90–94 age division.

On April 30, 2016, she became the first woman in history to complete a 100-meter run at the age of 100. Her time of 1:17.33 was witnessed by a crowd of 44,469 at the 2016 Penn Relays.

Her parents, Osborne, and Mary Potter, emigrated to the US from the island of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands. She was raised in Harlem. Her mother died when she was young and her husband died of a heart attack when she was 42. She had four children. Her elder daughter, Laura, worked as the CEO of two National Urban League affiliates. Her younger daughter, Shelley, is a lawyer and real estate investor who coached for a local high school. Shelley coached her mother and first convinced her to run in a “mini-run” at the age of 67.

In the book Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down: Chasing Myself in the Race against Time (2018), by Ida Keeling and Anita Diggs, she explained the secret to her health and fitness, stating she worked out 2-4 times a week and attended dancing classes. Her diet consisted of greens, fruit, and cod liver oil, and she would have Hennessy with her coffee once a week. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[bearterritory]

Bears Beat WSU In Thrilling Home Finale

Cal Forces 4 Turnovers, Scores 2 Defensive TDs

BERKELEY – Hosting Washington State on Saturday in the final home game of California Memorial Stadium's 100th anniversary season, the Golden Bears came away with a 42-39 victory behind a handful of key defensive plays and 181 scrimmage yards from running back Jaydn Ott.

It was probably the last time these two teams, who have faced off every season for decades, will play each other in the forseeable future. It was their last Pac-12 game vs each other, and the last conference home game for the Bears. Next year they will be playing in the ACC.

The Golden Bears' defense forced four turnovers for the second time this year and set a season high with six sacks. Outside linebacker David Reese led all players with three sacks and two forced fumbles.

"I'm really proud of how the guys fought and competed. We made enough plays to win the game, and we certainly can learn a lot from plays that weren't quite as good," Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox said. "We made it much harder than it needed to be, to be honest. But I commend the guys for continuing to compete and finding a way to win. You have to stay in the moment and do what you need to do to win." Inside linebacker Cade Uluave recovered two fumbles, the first of which he also forced and took 51 yards to the house on the Cougars' first possession of the game. Uluave finished with a team-high nine tackles to go with a game-ending interception.

The Bears staved off a second-half WSU rally with back-to-back touchdowns early in the fourth quarter. Holding on to a 28-24 lead, Ott carried the ball for all five plays on a 75-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 52-yard burst through the left side. He capped the possession with a 5-yard scamper into the end zone which saw him become the first Bear since Patrick Laird in 2017 to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season. "Jaydn Ott is spectacular. I've said it many times - he's going to play on Sundays," Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza said. "At the end of the day, whether it's messy or beautiful, a win is a win. I'm grateful to be able to learn from our mistakes today. These are experiences that you learn from. I can't appreciate our defense enough."

Less than two minutes later, Reese blindsided Cougar quarterback Cameron Ward just as he was about to throw. The ball was picked up in the secondary by defensive back Nohl Williams and returned 52 yards to paydirt, giving Cal a commanding 42-24 advantage with 9:26 remaining.

WSU was quick to respond, scoring a pair of touchdowns and converting a two-point conversion to make it a three-point game. After forcing a Cal punt, the Cougars moved the ball into Bear territory with under a minute left but weren't able to connect on a 48-yard potential game-tying field goal. It was their second missed field goal of the fourth quarter.

Washington State had one last chance to steal the game on a Hail Mary pass from 53 yards out, but Uluave came away with his first interception of the season as time ran out.

The Bears finished with three fumble recovery touchdowns in total, as offensive lineman Brian Driscoll fell on one in the end zone in the second quarter.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza did most of his damage in the first half, when he was 11-of-15 through the air for 129 yards and two touchdowns. The Bears' first offensive possession of the day went 65 yards on 12 plays. Mendoza capped it off on 3rd-and-goal by rolling left in a fake quarterback keeper and finding Endries sneaking out to the corner for a 6-yard score to put Cal up 14-0.

Mendoza later found a wide-open Ott coming across the middle for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 28-14. It was the second time in three weeks the Bears put up 28 points in the first half.

With the win, Cal remains eligible for bowl game competition. The Bears will be on the road for the final two weeks of the regular season. They travel to face Stanford at 3:30 p.m. PT next Saturday in the 2023 edition of the Big Game. "Winning a bowl game is the goal, and in order to win a bowl game, you have to get to a bowl game," Wilcox said. "It's OK to acknowledge that. The bowl game is a big deal."

[thundergrace]

January 17, 2023

The child abuse investigation followed an Aug. 27, 2020, police call reporting potential child abuse. Macie, then 14, told investigators that her father’s violence started in 2017 and had included assaults, choking and shaking, including a recent incident where he grabbed her by the shoulders and banged her into a wooden piece along the back of the couch.

[...]

Though an investigator told Haight that his behavior was “close to assaultive,” the records say that Enoch Police and the Iron County Attorney decided not to file criminal charges against him.

[...]

Two years later, police found eight bodies at the family’s home, including Macie’s. They believe Michael Haight, 42, carried out the shootings two weeks after his wife had filed from divorce and just days after her relatives say he took guns from the house that could have been used to stop him.

I left the last part so as not to seem biased. Apparently, the wife's family has turned their personal tragedy into a sort of weird pro-gun... thing. So, okay, the husband took guns out of the house so that he'd had the only gun in the house and used it to murder his whole family. I don't... ANYWAY, this is about how cops failed these children.

[waterlogged-detective]

3- How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

17- Are they easily embarrassed?

32- Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

36- Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

42- How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

B- What inspired you to create them?

OC ask game

3. Ah so this is a *tricky* one. Technically Doe doesn’t really sleep, he just ceases to be for a period of time until existing again. Which is to say the suit falls onto the bed and deflates until an arbitrary amount of time later when he “wakes” back up. Sometimes he wakes up with memories that can be called dreams, and he will call them so, as there is no one to know the truth nor to argue with him. How could they? Beyond that however, he’ll often read at night, whatever he can get his hands on, he’s not picky (although he does like nonfiction the best).

17. To everyone’s horror, he absolutely 100% does not get embarrassed easily, often missing social cues. This leads him to saying the wrong thing at the right time, the right thing at the wrong time, and everything in between. He’ll say it all loudly to boot. It’s an issue that has made him consider purchasing a summer home in the Tomb Colonies as he’s there so often, and it really would make things so much easier.

32. Not really? Doe is...very bad at social cues and situations so he will just talk to you about whatever case he’s on, or something that has caught his interest recently, very rarely even the same thing one week to the next. He’s a bit of a scatterbrain besides so he’ll hop topic between sentences sometimes. Or even words. If you want him to stay on topic with you, the best bet is to invite an outside party to nudge him back on topic every now and again. Darcy is often a good choice for this (part of why they’re married) however, sometimes the doctor is less than helpful if he thinks allowing Jonathin to continue is funnier than the current conversation, egging him on to wilder and wilder topics until everyone is lost. Best to bring a friend, really.

36. Doe has a bad case of “I projected too hard and accidentally made him *really* into monsters”. Which uh...whoops. So he actively seeks out romantic adjacent dalliances with almost everything only vaguely human in shape that can hold a conversation over a game of chess and dinner. Or a rousing shouting match. He also can and will drop whatever his plans are if he notices what could be an “interesting” romance between others and if he can he’ll try to help the process in whatever way he can. It’s a bit bothersome.

42. Doe is obsessed with two things: Mysteries and killing the murderer of his former cat, Beatrice. The latter goal is currently the cause of knifegate (which he is *going* to see through to the end d_n it all) and the former is the reason I had to make a sideblog for seeking where it’s just an au of Doe, because unfortunately that’s the characters logical end point. Who knows, years down the line he might still get there on my main account. Hopefully not but you know how it is.

B. I decided, for my current foray into London, I wanted to make a character based upon whatever portrait I found most fun (the diving suit) as the last few times I tried the game (2015 and 2017 I believe) I didn’t quite understand how to play fl and kept getting stuck around the same place (didnt realize you needed to do all of the making your name storylines and didn’t understand why I couldn’t do anything and why my stats were so low) I thought making a character to actually RP the game as would help. I also just added a bunch of stuff that makes me giggle into the pot and now Doe exists. Fun fact though: early early on while playing I actually imagined him as a rubbery man inside of the suit until I realized having him be empty was funnier.

[chussyracing]

one of my fave pieces of poetry about charles from our comms comes from austrian gp in f2 in 2017:

“this is the fifth race weekend of the season. after 4 main and 4 sprint races, the situation is following: in the lead is the monegasque racer charles leclerc with 122 points, behind rowland with a huge gap of 42 points with 80 points. as a reminder: there are 25 points for the main race victory, 15 for sprint race, 4 for winning quali and 2 points for fastest lap in each race, so 48 points is the maximum u can score during a weekend. charles leclerc almost managed in baku two weeks ago, when he won the quali and the main race and got both fastest laps. he won the sprint race on track as well but was awarded a 10 seconds penalty afterwards for not slowing down enough under the yellow flags, so he was demoted to 2nd place and norman nato won instead. nato is currently 8th in the championship by the way.

when we look at the constructors, russian time is leading with 136 points, second dams 3 points down and third prema racing with 12 points less than russian times. so at least there the championship fight is very close so far. it’s very different in each team though, in prema out of 124 points, charles leclerc scored 122 of them, his teammate antonio fuoco only added two. russian time is capitalising on having two good racers, markelov is currently third, ghiotto behind him.

but it’s charles leclerc on pole again here in austria, for the 5th time in row. that also means nobody else ever won quali so far besides him this year. it was close a few times, it isn’t always charles seconds in front, but he just has something special others don’t and can extract maximum of a car during qualis. antonio fuoco finally scored a front row start besides his team mate. his qualis aren’t too bad but the races aren’t the same story. he needs better results, but of course he’s in a difficult position with such a shining star next to him overshadowing his season.

as i said charles leclerc almost scored maximum points given out during a formula 2 weekend in baku and that’s despite having a very hard and very emotional weekend. he tragically lost his father just days before. he even said before the weekend he doesn’t know what the weekend will be like for him, but he coped brilliantly.”

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

<< Beginning < Prev. || AO3 || My Website

Chapter 42: January 2017

“Compassionate leave my ass. We barely even knew him.”

“He was a cop,” Daisy said, her face blank and inscrutable. “Same as us. It could’ve been any of us, partner, so just take the damn leave, huh? Go be thankful it isn’t you.”

Basira snorted. “Come on. You know that’s just so they figure out what the official story is.”

“Yeah. But it’s not like we can talk about it anyway.” Daisy shrugged into her coat. “I’m going for a drink. You coming?”

“No,” Basira said, after a moment’s pause. “No, I’ve—there’s something I need to do.”

Daisy stared at her for a long moment. Then, without another word, she turned and slouched off. Basira watched her go, then headed in the opposite direction. She might’ve been able to get there on the Tube, but maybe the walk would help her clear her head.

It didn’t. By the time she reached her destination—which she’d only half-realized was her actual destination—she was still as keyed up and muddled as ever.

The place seemed deserted. It was only when Basira shrugged her way past the empty desk and headed for the steps that it occurred to her that it was Saturday. Police work meant she didn’t have consistent days off, exactly, and it was easy to lose track of what day it was if you didn’t have anything to ground you in the linear flow of time. Still and all, she’d been able to get into the building, so that probably meant someone was here.

She headed down into the basement and opened the door, exposing a single occupant, who looked up with a smile that immediately morphed into a look of confusion and concern. “Basira?”

Basira grimaced and made a helpless gesture that even she didn’t fully understand. “Sorry. Forgot what day it was.”

“It’s fine. I mean, I’m here.” Blackwood rose to his feet, looking uncertain—and also, she noticed, not making eye contact with her. “Are…are you okay? Do you want a cup of tea or—or cocoa or something?”

“Tea’s fine.” Basira wasn’t particularly thirsty, but she recognized that she probably needed something. “Where is…everyone else?”

“We don’t normally work Saturdays. I just came up to do some reorganizing. These shelves are a mess, honestly, and we don’t always get time to sort during the week if we’re not also investigating.” Blackwood hesitated. “Jon’s supposed to be coming by, but not until later. For now it’s just me…hang on, let me go get you that tea.”

Basira sat, rather hesitantly, at the desk and watched as Blackwood walked away. Martin. If she was here as a civilian, if she was going to…she needed to stop thinking of him as a suspect. He wasn’t, hadn’t been for a long time. She still didn’t know who’d killed Gertrude Robinson, and frankly at this point she didn’t care. Let it be another cold case. There were hundreds of them on the books; statistically speaking, if a homicide wasn’t cleared within a week of its happening, the likelihood went down every day. Maybe someday someone would find the answers, but for now, she could just wash her hands of the case and be done with it.

Her dad would’ve had a fit over her thinking like that. Stick to a task until it was done, that’s what he’d always taught her. Don’t give up just because it’s hard. She could hear his voice now: Do the job not for respect of the person who gave you the task, or respect of the person at the heart of the task, but for respect of the task. Any work worth doing is worth doing all the way. It was why she’d become a cop in the first place, never mind why she’d stayed. Yet here she was, not only giving up on a murder case, but seriously considering why she was still wearing the badge at all.

She looked around the Archives. It was the first time she’d really…looked at it, as something other than a crime scene; even when she’d been here before, she’d been focused on finding Blackwood—Martin—swapping out the tapes, and getting out before anyone noticed her. Now, though, she took in all the details she’d previously dismissed as irrelevant: the cardigan tossed casually over the back of one of the chairs, the framed photograph on another desk of the dark-haired assistant grinning cheekily as he dangled from a climbing rope, the messy collection of flyers and memos tacked to the bulletin board. Idly, she skimmed her eyes over them. It didn’t look that different from the board in the station, actually—the memos were about different things specifically, but there were still references to file numbers, requests for follow-ups, and reminders about procedures, typed on official Institute letterhead or scrawled on sticky notes or torn from a notebook. Interspersed with the official, or official-adjacent, memos was everything from the menu for a nearby takeaway to a picture of a kitten dangling off a branch with HANG IN THERE written above it to a crumpled picture of a sign she couldn’t quite read from where she sat. The place was still kitted out for Christmas, in a really over-the-top way; that, and the fact that it was dead silent save the faint hum of the climate-control system rather than jam-packed with uniformed cops answering phones, badgering witnesses, and arguing, was really the only difference between the Archives and the police station, where the few holiday decorations the captain allowed came down promptly on the twenty-sixth.

Suddenly, it wasn’t a repository of creepy things and spook stories, or the site of a murder, or the aftermath of an infestation. It was just someplace to work.

Basira kind of liked it. And kind of resented it at the same time. When had the station stopped feeling like that?

Martin came back into the room with a mug in each hand. Because she was a cop and trained to spot those kinds of details, she noticed that one of them was the same mug that always seemed to be on his desk when she came by, an oversize blue and green striped one that looked like it had been done at one of those paint-your-own-pottery places. The other was a matte black with a flat grey silhouette of a forest, complete with a deer standing alert. He handed it to Basira, still not looking at her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Basira wrapped her hands around the mug and stared at it for a moment, then back up at Martin. He, too, was staring into his cup like it held the secrets of the universe. It suddenly irritated her, and she couldn’t help but snap, “I’m not going to arrest you or anything.”

“I know you’re not going to arrest me,” Martin said, sounding surprised. He looked up at her, just for a moment, then flinched and redirected his gaze again. Before she could call him on it, he gestured vaguely in her direction and added, “It’s just you—your—the scarf came loose.”

Startled, Basira reached up and realized Martin was right—the pins had come undone and her scarf had slipped back, exposing her hair. Even if she wasn’t as devout these days as she’d been growing up, there were some things that were still important to her. And it kind of surprised her that Martin knew enough, and was respectful enough, not to look at her when she wasn’t wearing hijab.

“Thanks,” she said again, pulling the scarf back in place and pinning and tucking it with movements that were more than half mechanical. “Okay. I’m good now.”

“Are you?” Martin asked pointedly, but this time he looked her directly in the eye and she knew he wasn’t asking about whether she was decent.

“No,” she admitted. “We lost Altman. Just…wasn’t…paying attention. Don’t know what they’re going to tell his family.” She took a long swig of her tea. “Guess it could have been worse, though, if I hadn’t talked to you first. So…thanks.”

“Glad I could help,” Martin murmured. Something flickered in his eyes, just for a moment. “At least they’re not making you do a lot of paperwork.”

“If I have to fill out one more form, I am going to scream.” Basira kind of wanted to scream anyway, but she held it in. “They’ve given us all a few days of ‘compassionate leave.’ I think they just want us out of the way while they figure out the official story.”

Martin hesitated, then frowned at something on the desk before looking back up at her. “Do you…want to talk about the real version?”

Basira did. She desperately did. That was why she had come here, she realized. You could only talk about Sectioned cases with other Sectioned cops; any cops who’d been on this case probably didn’t want to talk about it, and most others wouldn’t want to hear about it. Really, most of them wouldn’t swap stories unless they absolutely had to for a new case. The Magnus Institute was the only place she’d ever gone where she could talk about it, and Martin was the only person she’d ever felt like listened to her.

“Yeah,” she said. “Where do you want me to start?”

Martin took a deep breath. “You said it started with a kidnapping case?”

That was as good a place to start as any. Basira exhaled—and began to talk.

Just like last time, when she’d made her official statement, everything came pouring out, little things she’d barely registered at the time and the way she’d felt. No dispassionate report, this, she was telling him things she never could have admitted on an official form. There was no place for these things, literally or metaphorically speaking. And just like last time, Martin listened, his attention fully on her, his eyes understanding and sympathetic. He prompted her when she got stuck, asked a question here or there, but mostly he just…listened. It was honestly a relief to tell someone all of this, and have them listen without judging, without condemning, without interrupting. And something about Martin—maybe it was the sincerity in his eyes, or the stillness in his bearing, or the fact that he reminded her of nothing so much as all the pictures and videos she’d seen of capybaras—made her want to tell him everything. He’d have made a great cop.

No, she thought with a moment of sudden clarity. He’s too good a person to make a great cop. He’d have been drummed out of the force ages ago.

"All in all, there were five people killed in that building, including Leo Altman,” she concluded at last. “Aside from Rayner and the woman, who was identified from an old report as Natalie Ennis, two more were shot and killed when they attacked some of the officers. Three more were subdued and arrested, but as far as I know they haven’t said a word. God knows how they’re going to process them with all the secrecy around the operation, but thankfully that’s not my problem. I think they were connected to that cult group from way back, the Church of the Divine Whatever.”

“The People’s Church of the Divine Host,” Martin said quietly. “You’re right. I know the report you’re talking about—the one that identified Natalie Ennis—we have a statement from the man who made it, he was her roommate’s boyfriend. I should…probably reach out and follow up with them, let them know she was involved. I presume it’ll be in the news in some capacity, at least.” He took a breath, then looked back up at Basira, his gaze steady. “What are you going to do now?”

Basira was, admittedly, taken a bit aback. “Do?” she repeated. Was he asking her what the police procedure was at this point?

“I mean you, personally. Not the police,” Martin clarified. “What are you going to do after your ‘compassionate leave’ is up? If I understood you right when you made that first statement, once you’re Sectioned, you get called out on all the…weird cases you’re available for, right?”

“Right.”

“Do you want to keep doing this? I don’t mean walking into dangerous situations and rescuing people. I’d imagine that’s not the part you mind. I mean the part where the ‘dangerous situation’ is something no amount of police training can prepare you for. Because I’ll be honest, Basira, you keep doing that, you’re going to end up on the wrong end of one of these statements. Either you’re going to end up as a victim, or you’re going to end up as a monster.” Martin held her gaze. “I should know.”

Basira blinked.

She was a good cop. She knew the law forward and backwards, she applied it more or less evenly across the board, she followed procedure and did her duty. She’d been commended by her superiors and relied on by her fellow officers. People took her word for things and trusted her instincts. But by whose standards was she good? Did it mean she was doing the right thing, or did it mean she was toeing the line? She thought about what she’d realized about Martin, how he would have been either broken or discarded rather than allowed to continue to be the kind of person he was now if he wore the badge. What did it say about her that she was still on the force, still in line for promotion, still considered to have a future in this career?

Either you’re going to end up as a victim, or you’re going to end up as a monster.

“I’m done,” she said decisively. “With the police, with Section Thirty-One, all of it. I’ve given you my statement, and that’s it. I’m walking away.”

Martin sighed and nodded slowly. “Good,” he said, surprising her. “Wait, hang on.” He leaned over to reach into a drawer on another desk, pulled out a small leather object, and handed it to her. “Here. Tim stopped using this weeks ago, he’ll never miss it. It’s not the strongest thing in the world, but it’ll at least keep you safe for now.”

Basira studied the small folded bit of leather. “You think I’m in danger.” It wasn’t a question.

“These things don’t like people breaking their toys. And they usually only let you think you’ve got away.” A shadow seemed to come over Martin’s face, just for a moment. “I don’t know if the Dark will be after you for sure, but it certainly won’t be happy if it figures out you talked to us. Just…be careful, okay?”

“I will.” Basira hesitated and studied Martin for a moment. “You should quit, too. This place…it’s not right.”

Martin shook his head. “I’ve tried before. Didn’t work. It’s far too late for me.”

“Any advice on how to keep from getting that far?”

“Stay away as best you can,” Martin said seriously. “Which means not going anywhere near people or—or things that have been Marked by…all this. The Institute. The bookstore. Me.” He pressed his lips together for a moment, then met her eyes. “Detective Tonner.”

Basira stiffened. “You’re saying—”

“Why do you think I got so nervous around her? She’s been part of this sort of thing—not the same aspect, but a different kind—for a long time, maybe as long as I have. Maybe longer, I dunno. She told Jon she’d been Sectioned for fourteen years, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have some experience from before that. I’ve been mixed up in this since I was a kid.” Martin took a deep breath. “But she’s like me—too entwined, too deep into it to be able to walk away. So yeah, Basira, if you don’t want to ever have to deal with this again, and I don’t blame you in the slightest, you’re going to have to stay completely away. I might leave London if I were you, so you’re not even tempted.”

Basira stared at Martin for a long moment. Finally, she said, “I’ll think about it. Goodbye, Martin.”

“Goodbye, Basira,” Martin said quietly. “Stay safe.”

Basira stood and walked out of the Archives, for what she hoped would be the last time.

Part of her—a surprisingly big part of her—regretted that, actually. She liked Martin. Not like that, he wasn’t her type—she wasn’t even sure she had a type, if she was being completely honest, she genuinely couldn’t remember ever having a crush or anything like that—but he was a good guy. They’d deemed him the most likely suspect in Gertrude Robinson’s murder, but even then she’d been reluctant to believe it. And while their conversations during the tape exchanges had been brief, she’d found she looked forward to them. She’d never really been one to make friends easily; even in places where she was part of the majority, she’d preferred being on her own, immersed in a book or working through a crossword puzzle. Mostly she’d found people to be ignorant or cruel or just plain stupid, not worth her time. Sure, maybe there’d been times she’d wished…but on the rare occasions she’d reached out, it had never been worth it. The only people she’d ever really been able to get close to had been…well, Daisy, and now Martin.

And if she wanted to keep out of the crap she’d dealt with under Section Thirty-One, she would lose them both.

Standing at the foot of the bridge across the Thames, she clenched her fists and tried to think rationally. She couldn’t just…walk away, not like that. It wasn’t that easy. She had to put in her notice, and they’d probably want her to finish out the pay period at least. Probably she’d have to do the whole two weeks thing. Which meant she would almost certainly run into Daisy again, which…wouldn’t be a bad thing. Basira was a bit skeptical of Martin’s claim that Daisy was in it too deep to walk away, or maybe she just wanted to be skeptical of it, but either way, she needed to tell her to her face that she was quitting. She’d be on her own with Gertrude Robinson’s murder, and even if it wasn’t a case she relished—Daisy was the sort of person you wanted by your side when you were tracking down a murderer or chasing a fugitive or going through a door, but she wasn’t one for sitting and sifting through evidence when she could be out in the field—she at least deserved to know that it was wholly hers now.

Did she really want to quit? For just a moment, Basira stood torn with indecision. She’d got into police work to track monsters, and then she’d found out there were literal monsters that she could take down, and there were aspects of the job she enjoyed.

Either you’re going to end up as a victim, or you’re going to end up as a monster.

No. No, Basira wasn’t going to do that, she wasn’t going down that route. And even if she wasn’t worried about becoming the sort of cop that got smeared by all the papers—and she wasn’t stupid, she was a woman and a Muslim, she’d absolutely be the first person the higher-ups threw to the wolves if they needed a scapegoat or a sacrificial lamb—there was the other aspect of it. Whatever her doubts about his opinion on Daisy, she believed Martin when he said the more she dealt with these things, the less likely it would be that she could walk away from them. She didn’t know what her purpose in life was, but it wasn’t to die at the hands of a spook. She was not going to end up like Altman.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, she began walking again. First things first. She had a few days off. She needed to head back to the run-down flat she’d been living in since her dad died and start typing up her resignation letter to hand in when she was back. The sooner, the better.

[beardedmrbean]

PARIS (Reuters) - France's far-right scored a historic success in legislative elections on Sunday increasing its number of lawmakers almost tenfold and cementing the party's rise from fringe status to the mainstream opposition.

Since taking the helm of the party in 2011, leader Marine Le Pen has sought to rid the National Front - now called the National Rally (RN) - of the anti-Semitic image it acquired under the nearly 40-year leadership of her father, ex-paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Securing 42% in April's presidential election, Le Pen had already tapped into the general disenchantment with President Emmanuel Macron and identifying anger across the country over the rising cost of living and the decline of many rural communities.

On Sunday, she took that one step further. According to estimates, Le Pen's party will win between 85-90 seats, up from just two in 2012 and eight in 2017, which could make it the second-largest party in parliament. Major pollsters last week estimated just 25-50 seats.

"We have achieved our three objectives: that of making Emmanuel Macron a minority president, without control of power and that of pursuing the political recomposition essential to democratic renewal," a triumphant Le Pen told reporters after being re-elected in northern France and vowing to be a respectful opposition.

"And of forming a decisive opposition group against the deconstructors from above, the Macronists, and from below, the Nupes," she added referring to the left wing alliance, which should become the largest opposition bloc in parliament, but whose main far-left party, La France Insoumise, is set to win fewer seats than the RN.

Sunday's result killed a so-called "republican front" of voters of all stripes that had rallied behind a mainstream candidate to prevent the far-right progressing.

It also vindicated Le Pen's strategy to recast the party's image, while also refusing to join forces with pundit-turned- nationalist politician Eric Zemmour after the presidential vote.

While in terms of seats Le Pen's party will be behind the left wing grouping, it will enable the RN to have much more weighting in parliament.

It will, for example, be able to put forward no-confidence votes against the government, send draft legislation to France's top constitutional courts, lead parliamentary commissions and have much more speaking time in the National Assembly.

"We are facing a democratic shock because of a very strong break through by the Rassemblement National," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told France 2 television.