#The Bit being fashioning her hair into helmets

[fostersffff]

I appreciate Marisa’s total commitment to The Bit.

[bluewxrld07]

Hurt My Feelings (Ethan Edwards)

Warning(s): mutual pining, angst, cheating, making out, groping/touching

Ethan Edwards x femalebff!reader (there's also a little bit of Luke Hughes x reader oops ;) )

Summary: Based off of Tate McRae's song Hurt My Feelings :)

She wears your number, but I've got what you like

She's got you right now, but I'm still on your mind

The rink was cold. It always was. No matter how many times she's sat in one, whether it was for a tournament or for just one game, she still was cold no matter what.

She was wearing her UMich gear; supporting a hockey sweatshirt in the the familiar navy blue with yellow lettering underneath her jacket, a pair of grey jogger sweats with their team logo, a UMich hat, and a pair of UMich mittens made by the famous Edwards mother herself. A gift from her two birthdays ago after learning y/n would be attending the same college with Ethan.

Y/n found her seat in the third row opposite from the benches, wrapping her blanket around her legs as she sat. Once she was situated, she looked around the arena, watching as people piled into their seats. Some making their way down to the glass to watch the boys warmups up close.

That's when her eyes stopped and did a double take, following back to the familiar head of platinum blonde hair standing right behind the glass, standing directly across the rink from where y/n was sitting. She wore the oh so familiar home jersey with the number 73 on her back, with leather skinny jeans.

Her makeup looking a tad too overdone, a large sign sitting front of her and her friends with a thirst quote written out on it in big letters. The chomping of the girl's gum also being very noticeable. Y/n fought the urge to roll her eyes as she watched Ethan's girlfriend rave with her friends, probably bragging and talking about the boy himself.

Ethan was not someone who enjoyed signs with messages such as the one written on his girlfriend's board. Course the signs were fine when it was younger kids coming to watch, but he always said it looked desperate.

When y/n and him would lay outside talking about life, he always stated that he would want his future girlfriend to be the one sitting in the stands with his family. Not the one behind the glass with a cliche sign. Sure he didn't mind it when it came to fans, but when it was his girlfriend, it was a different story.

He wanted to be able to come out for warmups, search for her and smile when he did. Be able to look up at her every so often in between drills, waving, making gestures, mouthing something out to her, anything like that.

Y/n was lost in her thoughts when Ethan's mom's voice rung out happily. "Ugh I'm so glad you made it before me! I thought I was gonna be too late and we wouldn't get our usual spots." she jokes, a large smile on her face as she sat next to the college girl pulling her in for a bear hug.

She supported a homemade sweatshirt customized with her son's number and name on the sides of the sleeves, mittens with 73 on both of them as well as a UMich tie blanket.

"You know me, I like to be early thanks to always having parents fashionably late to everything," y/n chuckles as they pulled away from one another.

Ethan's mom gave her a look, knowing exactly what she meant. "Oh sweetheart trust me I know. Why do you think I always tell your parents an earlier time nowadays? So then they're actually on time to things."

"Yeah no kidding. I'm always the one stressing."

As the pair talked, the seats and the edges around the glass began to fill with students and fans. Before they knew it the music started to blare out, cheers increasing as the teams came out for warmups.

Y/n clapped alongside the elder woman, the pair still conversing as they watched the boys skate around the ice.

Y/n's eyes fell to the familiar head of brown hair poking out of the helmet he wore, watching as he shot into the net a few times. Not6 long after did her eyes find his girlfriend once again, seeing the girl bouncing up and down like a toddler and banging on the glass eyeing Ethan as he skated around.

She watched as her and her friends banged on the glass and shook the sign made, trying to get him to notice it.

"She's absolutely embarrassing." y/n hears next to her, looking over to Ethan's mom, whom has a disgusted look on her face while staring at the platinum head of hair across the rink.

"Not a fan of her?" she asks, watching the woman shake her head immediately.

"I tried giving her a chance. I truly did. But she is just not anywhere near his type. Or even respectful for that matter," she admits while shaking her head, finding her song back on the ice. "She got drunk at dinner with us the first time we met her. The second time we met her she got into an argument with my husband." Shay says.

Y/n stays silent and just chuckles lightly, focusing back to the boys on the ice.

Ethan peers up at the stands, scanning them before his eyes find her own. He smiles largely with a goofy smile and nods his head up as if saying 'what up'. Y/n feels her face heat up, butterflies in her stomach.

She nods back at him with a humored smile playing on her lips. His gaze falling to his mom next to her blowing her a kiss. She smiles warmly at her son and sends a million kisses back and cheers for him, watching his focus go back to drills.

Y/n wanted to take that and rub it in his girlfriends face, whom was still desperately trying to get his attention. Yet she was better than that, so she just stayed content in her seat as she watched the boys.

After a while, it was nearing the end of their warmups as her and the older woman had small talk about how school has been. They kept their eyes on the team in front of them, soon seeing Ethan skate up towards the glass on their side of the rink, eyeing y/n whom looked at him with a questioning expression.

He points towards the tunnel where they came from as if saying to meet him over there, her nodding immediately as she unwrapped herself from her cocoon.

She tells the woman next to her she will be right back, the woman shooing her off with a knowing smile.

Y/n makes her way down the steps towards the tunnel, feeling a certain blonde's eyes on her, making her try to hide a humored grin on her face. Ethan skates over slowly and greets some of the younger kids waiting by the entrance for the players.

She leans over the railing with a small smile on her face, watching as he makes his way towards her removing his helmet to look at her clearly.

He reaches his hand up as she re moves her mitten and reaches her own hand down, doing their little handshake together.

"You cold over there Rudolph?" he jokes, earning and eyeball from her.

"Yeah yeah, haven't heard that one before." she scoffs and he laughs at her expression.

"You want to meet the guys and I for dinner afterwards? We might hit up Bell's Diner," he says, and she immediately feels her insides warm.

He's asking her to join him. Not the blonde who was insanely upset on the other side of the rink. Her.

"Yeah I might be up for it." she shrugs, earning a smack to her hand that still hung with his.

I should've known better, you should've known better than me

"Ow, okay, ow, Ethan! Stop that hurts!" Y/n cries out with a laugh, the boy now sitting on her as she was laying on the couch, video game controller in his hands.

"No you stay here." he laughs.

She squeaks out and tries poking at his sides to get him off of her, watching as he twitches from her hands. "Ethan I have class in like fifteen minutes! I swear if you don't get off of me, I'm-"

"What? You're in no place to call the shots, you can't move," he jokes out looking down at her in amusement. Her arms fall other sides, looking up at him with a scowl, then crosses her arms over he chest.

Ethan laughs down at her before unpausing his game, y/n's mouth dropping offendedly. She begins to huff and puff dramatically, her head turning away from him as her sighs get louder each time her ignores her.

Once she sees that her dramatic sighs are not doing the trick, she conjures up a devilish grin.

It's a few moments of silence, but then before Ethan knows it, the girl underneath him begins screaming. He immediately jumps up in surprise from the loud yell she conjures up, the girl now scrambling off the couch and up the stairs to get her bag for class.

She hears his footsteps coming up the staircase as well as the calls of her name with some empty joking threats such as ones like 'I'm gonna throw you into the pool' or her favorite, 'I will force you to play in my spot the next home game'.

She's zipping up her jacket and throwing her backpack over her shoulder by the time her reaches her, an amused smile on both their lips.

"Ethan, no." she giggles, watching him stalk closer to her. She puts her arms out to keep him away. Her breathing getting heavy in between laughs as he gets closer.

She finds herself backing into a wall, completely screwed now as he now stands directly in front of her. His hands find her waist while his eyes are piercing down into her own, a devilish smile on his lips.

The closeness between them made her insides churn with excitement and nervousness, unsure of what was next to come.

"I wanted to spend time with you," he drags out, she rolls her eyes. "I don't see you much anymore."

"I was here yesterday."

"Okay but still, You get so busy with classes this time of year, and I have Hockey. So I don't see you a ton." he says, leaning his forehead on her own, giving her waist a squeeze.

She swallows lightly, her breathing becoming heavy as her heart. pounds in her chest. "I miss you." he mutters, his eyes finding hers.

Her eyes look into his, their faces so close now. Her heart was yelling at her to close the distance, but her mind kept screaming back and chanting girlfriend girlfriend girlfriend.

She watched him close his eyes, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

Y/n closed her eyes tight, taking a deep breath before place a hand on his chest and lightly pushing him back. "I've gotta go Eddy." she sighs, and walks away from him.

Ethan stayed in his spot, her scent still there, captivating as ever. Once he hears the front door close, his head drops back as he lets out a groan and rubs his hand on his face.

"Fuck"

I'm tryna tell myself I'm gonna stay away from you

I should've known better, you've got a way that's gonna weigh-weigh on me

It was New Years Eve, and of course the Hockey team was throwing a big party. They threw one every year. Y/n always helped plan them, per Rutger and his girlfriends pleas.

This year made it harder for her to say yes. She's been avoiding Ethan as much as she can, ignoring his texts and calls. Trying to distance herself from the need she had for him inside. She thought she was doing what was best for the both of them. Their want and need for one another was climbing. So she put a stop to it. At least is trying to.

The Hockey house was definitely bumping, the time being eleven o'clock. So close to ball drop. Y/n accepted that she would either end up kissing some random guy at midnight, or better yet, nobody at all.

Each year, she wished for Ethan to be that one she kissed. To feel his lips on her own. Yet it always ended up being nobody.

Of course Ethan knew she never had a new years kiss, so he would place his lips on her cheek after midnight and claim that that could count as her new years kiss.

She doubted she would get that now. After she had been avoiding him like the plague, stating she was so busy with classes and homework. Or that she was too sick to answer the phone sometimes.

She knew Ethan would see right through her each time though. Even if he wouldn't admit it, he knew her well enough to know her tell when lying.

So now here she stood while So High by Doja Cat played, next to Rutger in a game of beer pong against a couple of the Football boys, in a dress that she felt was too short. But was complimenting her figure so good per Rutger's girlfriend.

She was tipsy, but not drunk. She really didn't feel like throwing up tonight, better yet not having to deal with being hungover the next morning. It was enough of a buzz that she was able to feel at ease, and let loose for the night.

Rutger pulled her in for a hug as they cheered, her sinking the Football guys' last cup watching as they chugged it down.

Y/n a sip of her own drink, Rutger saying he was going to take a break and dance with his girlfriend, Y/n nodding and shooing him away to go be with her.

The girl made her way through the crowd after she finished making another drink, the crowd dancing as if in slow motion with the colored lights flashing around.

As she took a sip of her drink, she stopped in her tracks seeing the familiar boy she had been avoiding.

He was dancing up against his girlfriend, the girl basically grinding all over him as he kissed her neck. One hand gripping the underside of her breast while the other stayed glued lowly on her hip.

Y/n rolled her eyes, feeling the bile in her throat as she looked around the room to find someone. She thought it would be better to try getting over Ethan, by getting under someone else.

The crowd cheered as Rude Boy by Rihanna began to blare through the speakers, her lips turning up into a smirk. Y/n downed the rest of her drink and set her cup down on a nearby table, her eyes finding a familiar pair of blonde, curly hair.

"Hughes," she calls over the music, his head snapping over and down to her with a smile. "What's goin on little y/n/n?" he says back.

He was leaning against a doorway while talking another buddy of his, she held her hands out for him. "Come dance with me Luke," she challenges, his eyes scanning her figure as he bit his lip. Luke hands his cup to his buddy, immediately sliding his hands into her own, watching her lips move and sing along to the lyrics of the song.

They found a spot in the crowd, her eyes still locked on his. Sure Luke was attractive, everything about him was. Which is why she didn't mind how it felt dancing up close with him.

His hands slid away from hers, the girl turning around so her back was up against his chest while his hands found home on her hips.

Her hands slid up over her stomach, to her waist, over her own breasts before finally reaching behind her and sliding them into Luke's hair. The pair swayed together to the music as she sang along to the lyrics, Luke's head falling to the crook between her neck and collarbone.

Luke was tall, only a had a couple inches on Ethan, but still pretty tall nonetheless. His head fell over her collarbone fully, his lips finding a spot right on the bone that made her sigh deeply and grip his hair tightly.

Her eyes began to search in the crowd for the familiar brunette, stopping when she found him with his girlfriend still in their same position.

His eyes, though, staring into her own. Y/n knew she had him in a trance now. Her lips still singing along to the lyrics.

But that's when something else snapped in her. Her eyes leaving Ethan's and looking back down to the boy who was breathing heavily into her neck.

"Lu," she breathes, the boy humming and squeezing her hips as an answer. "I need you to help me out." she admits and he nods, his eyes finding hers for a second. He watches her eye dart towards the brunette and his own girl, Luke's eyes slowly fading over to Ethan and the blonde.

Luke's chin sat softly on her shoulder as they still danced against one another. The boys stared back at one another, Ethan's eyes looking into his best friend's with warning, as if daring Luke to test him.

Luke was always one to help stir the pot if it needed to be. Especially when he knew how both y/n and Ethan felt about each other, but danced around it for many reasons.

So of course when Ethan gave him those eyes, Luke's mind was more than happy to push his best bud past his limits.

Y/n's stayed on Luke's side profile while he stared at Ethan with a smirk blooming onto his face. As they swayed, the bridge to the song came in and Luke's hands began to move. One hand slithered its way to y/n's throat and gripped lightly, causing her to sigh at his touch.

The other hand slithered up too, but stopping on her left breast, squeezing and toying with it over her dress. The feeling of Luke's hands in the right spots made y/n's head rolled back onto his shoulder as she let out a sigh mixed with a breathless moan.

She knew Luke was still staring back at Ethan, who still held eye contact with him as well, Ethan's nostrils flaring.

Luke's eyes broke their stare a moment later, finding home on the soft spot in the crook of her neck he found earlier. Ethan watched y/n's chest heaving up and down as his best friend touched her and kissed her like that.

"Shit, Lu," she sighs into Luke's ear. She could feel him poke her backside as they ground against one another. "Who knew you knew what you were doing." she chuckles breathlessly, earning a hum from the curly headed boy.

"Gotta do what I gotta do to pull his head out of his ass, huh?" he says back to her, his head lifting up to stare back at her.

His hand left her throat, and began to slide down her waist, her hips, to her thighs, his hand moving towards her inner thigh and sliding back up slowly.

Her breathing was starting to become messy as he got closer to where she was dying to be touched. Whether it was Luke or Ethan, in which she hoped Ethan would be the one to do it, but wasn't complaining when Luke knew how to push her own buttons.

Before Luke could finally reach where she desperately needed it, she was snagged from his arms and thrown over a shoulder.

She looked back up to see Luke standing there, tongue poking the inside of his cheek as he saluted to her. She smirked at him in amusement, knowing exactly whose shoulder she was over.

Y/n was taken up the staircase and into the familiar brunette's room, the door shutting and locking behind them.

Ethan set y/n down on her feet once they were in his room, the girl’s eyebrows scrunched up in a frown. That frown changed when she saw his facial expression. 

She couldn’t pinpoint all the emotions running through his mind, but the ones she could see were anger, sadness, annoyance. 

Lust. 

His anger was what she could see the most running through his eyes, arms crossed over his chest. “Did you need something?” She retorts, testing the waters that were already running high. Ethan scoffs down at her, his arms being thrown up in anger at her. “You’re fucking with me right?” He snaps, making her shake her head at his tone. 

“I’m not doing this,” she chuckles bitterly, trying to walk past him but he grabs her arm. “Of course you won’t. You haven’t wanted to in weeks! I don’t hear shit from you, and the next thing I know I'm watching both of my best friends all up on one another? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Y/n lets her tongue run over her teeth, not daring to make eye contact with him. She might’ve been buzzed, but she was not drunk. She was sober enough to be aware of her surroundings, but so aware of them that she was holding back her actions. Because liquid courage was surely a thing right now, and she could not hold back much longer. 

“Hello? You gonna answer me y/n/n?” He says in a short tone, making her snap out of her trance. 

She could hear Rutger’s voice downstairs saying fifteen seconds till midnight, y/n really wanting to get out of there before she couldn’t control herself anymore. 

All these feelings have been building up, her avoiding him not helping her case. Actually made it worse, because of the way her body and mind craved his presence and touch. 

“I can’t right now, Ethan.” She musters out, not making eye contact as she says it. Ethan frowns at her, confusion setting in. “Do what?” He asks. She shakes her head at him, the boy watching as she swallows hard, her chest heaving. 

“Ethan,” she says, her tone was one he had only a few times. It was a warning tone. She still wasn’t looking at him in the eyes. The sound of everyone downstairs counting down till midnight and the music blaring being heard. “You should really get down there,” she says and motions to the door. “Your girl will be wondering where you are at midnight.”  

Ethan storms up to her, annoyed that she won’t even acknowledge him or look at him. 

“Look at me,” he says, his tone stern as he grabs her jaw softly but enough to force her to look at him. Her eyes catch his, he sees that she’s got a certain emotion running through them. 

“What’s going on, y/n?” He mutters to her softly this time. "Why won't you talk to me? What did I do?" he pushes, watching as the gears turn in her mind.

He watches her lip quiver, soon biting it to hide the way it shook. It shouldn't have made him feel a way, but it did. He wanted to be the one biting that lip. Let alone taking away the pain he could see in her eyes.

Y/n rolls her eyes as the crowd yells out ‘one’ followed by a ‘happy new year’. She looks back at him, still staying silent. He says her name one last time sternly. 

“Y/n.” 

“Goddammit Eddy.” she snaps before her hand wraps around his neck, pulling him in for his lips to finally slam onto her own. 

He didn’t take any time to process what was going on, just instantly kissing her back with just as much passion as she did. His hand going to both sides of her head, their lips moving in sync. 

The way his lips felt on hers was nothing like she's ever imagined. They felt like they belonged on her own. What caught her off guard the most, was the fact that he didn't even hesitate to kiss her back.

That's when she realized he felt the same way she did. The attraction was there.

His tongue grazed hers, making his hand slide down and grip her backside. When her mouth opened in a gasp, he slid his tongue inside to let it massage hers.

Her soft moans were like music to his ears, his hands roaming anywhere and everywhere. He wanted to hear them over and over again. It was him making her make those noises. Not Luke. His lips left her own and trailed down her neck, stopping on the same spot that Luke's had once been on. Y/n didn't think it could feel any better, but Ethan made it feel insatiable.

Her hands ran through his hair as his hands roamed wherever they could reach, her gasps and breathless moans going into his broad shoulder. But as he kissed along her entire chest, her conscience came creeping in.

"Ethan," she sighs, the boy's hands raising the hem of her dress slightly, gripping her thighs trying to get her as close as he could in that moment. All that was on his mind was her. She tried his name once again, the brunette still not answering her as he searched for her lips to shush her.

"Ethan hold on," she says in between their kisses. He whimpers in her mouth, making her feel so incredibly weak. She wanted to cave so bad. Wanted to give him all of her. Let him have his way with her, and her with him.

But she couldn't. She couldn't do that.

"Your girlfriend, Eddy." she mutters as she pulls away, putting her hand on his chest. They're both breathless, Ethan going in one last time, teeth going down to drag out her bottom lip which earned a moan from her mouth.

He takes a moment with her, chests heaving against one another.

"You stay here," he whispers, his hands coming up to squeeze her waist.

She just hums with a slight nod. "I'll be back." he says, placing one last kiss on her lips, leaving her in the middle of his room in a disheveled state.

He didn't return that night.

She's where you're waking up, she's got you making up such pretty boy excuses

Oh but I know one thing, she can't stop it happening in my mind

It had been two weeks since the New Years incident. Two weeks since y/n and Ethan had shared that moment in his room. Two weeks since he left you there, only to not return.

He had been the one avoiding her now. But in this case, not under his own choices.

Every time y/n showed up to the Hockey house, she was there. Every time y/n went to a home game, she was sitting in your spot, going to see him at the tunnel instead of y/n.

When she'd text him to meet, he'd say the same things.

E :)

I can't today, I'm trying to focus. I've got a lot going on rn.

E :)

I wish I could, but I've got some stuff going on with the boys.

E :)

I would say yes, but the gf and I have plans tonight!

She knew it wasn't him making the choices, or sending those texts. He always dropped whatever he was doing to see y/n, to be with her.

The boys would've invited her to come with for one, and for two she had planned on seeing some of the guys that night. So y/n knew it was a lie from him.

The classes y/n had with Ethan and the boys was what made it more obvious. He always made up an excuse as to why his girlfriend needed him to sit with her. Or she would already be sitting in y/n's spot, so she'd find somewhere in the back to sit.

Y/n's heart began to ache. She knew deep down that it wouldn't have just happened so easily between them two, and that she couldn't stop him from making that choice. It just hurt because she should've composed herself better that night, then maybe they would've turned out being back to normal at this point.

Y/n sat in the library with Rutger's girlfriend, the pair doing homework in one of the study hall rooms. Y/n had been zoned out, her eyes locked on Ethan and his girlfriend, whom sat outside in the main study hall area talking all happily with one another.

It should be her he is sat with. Them two laughing at some stupid joke Ethan tried making about classes or the assignment at hand. It should've been her getting the quick kisses stolen in between work.

"You really need to get better at hiding your emotions, y/n/n," Rutger's girlfriend says.

Y/n snapping out of her trance and looking up at the girl whom had the whiteboard marker in one hand, the other on her hip with an unfazed look on her face.

"What emotion? I'm fine." Y/n says, her tone squeaky and uneven.

"Yeah and I'm a hockey wag," the blonde girl jokes, making y/n shrug.

"Technically speaking, you are. Unofficially," she pushes, nearly dodging the marker thrown her way.

"Not the point!" the girl laughs, y/n smiling at her comment.

She comes and sits next to y/n, sighing as she sees what her friend was witnessing. Then turns back to look at her a few moments later.

"What happened on New Years?" she asked, watching her friend pale and look at her lap.

"You cannot say a word," y/n says. "I won't-"

"Not even to Rutger."

"Damn that bad huh?"

Y/n nods. "We kind of sort of," she trails off. "madeoutinhisroomandIhadtobetheonetostopitfromgoingfurther"

The blonde looked at her like she had two heads. "I cannot decipher your fast speaking tone, so slow it down for me thank you."

Y/n sighs. "We made out in his room, and I was the one who had to try and stop it. Because if I didn't, we would've kept going." she admits, watching her friends eyes light up.

"I was wondering why he looked so dazed and why his lips were swollen when he came back." she says in a knowing manner.

"Seriously, you cannot say a word! He didn't even come back to me that night, so it means nothing." y/n says as she closes her books, packing up her stuff.

"Girl, he didn't come back because his girlfriend knew something was up."

"I kind of figured with how she's been about me lately."

"Yeah trust me, everyone has noticed." y/n threw the whiteboard marker back at her friend who laughed.

"Don't stress about it seriously. She is just jealous of what you guys have," she explains as they begin to leave the room. "I'm not one to be for cheating, trust me. But with how she treats all of us behind the scenes, I'd say your secret would be safe with me."

Y/n shook her head, her eyes finding Ethan once again. "Yeah well," He must've felt someone staring because his eyes look up from the platinum blonde girl next to him, smile dropping when he finds the familiar girl's stare.

"He can count his day because he's breaking my heart doing it." The two girls then walk away, Y/n's eyes leaving Ethan's.

His eyes following her still as she left the hall.

She's got you right now, but I'm still on your mind

[everythingne]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ➛ wing damage ch 3 (mv1)

Australia ends up hotter than expected when Nadine finds herself in a mess of unwanted feelings left over from her fun night in Monaco. Max isn't too confused about how he feels, he just knows he shouldn't be feeling it.

halliwell!reader x max verstappen / fc : sophia la corte

warnings/notes: I UPDATED THE PAST CHAPTERS. PLEASE READ THOSE BEFORE THIS!! holy fuck i finally got this out? yippee!! pretty chill chapter compared to the last few. mentions of alcohol,weird flirting, overprotective max

liked by oscarpiastri, maxverstappen1, charles.leclerc, and 450k more...

nadinehalliwell: bring ur eldest daughter to work day (australia edition)

user1: we love and support the halliwells in this house ‼️

user2: literally redbull royalty.

gerihalliwell: My good luck charm!! Looking beautiful.

⤷ nadinehalliwell: ily mama ♥️

monanotlisa: AAAAA SEXY!!! LOVE UUUU COME BACK TO MONACO SOON ♥️‼️‼️

⤷ nadinehalliwell: if u let me drive the porsche i’ll be back asap.

⤷ monanotlisa: ur such a whore for a porsche 911

⤷ nadinehalliwell: ITS A BABY PINK PORSCHE 911 GT3 WITH WHITE INTERIORS. EVERYONES A SLUT FOR IT.

allycameragirl: OMGGG 😭 BACK ON THE TRACK BABYYY ‼️‼️ SEE YOU IN AUSTINNN!!!

⤷ thenadinehorner: CANT WAIT MY LOVE ♥️♥️♥️

Australia is hot. Blazing hot. I've decided for the next several months to spend time with my mother and sisters, travelling the world and distancing myself from the hell that is home for a bit. Even with my roommates at home with me, my apartment in Monaco doesn't feel like a home.

Ally's not home half the time, too busy being a bit shot movie producer, and Mona's got a huge job lined up. We're never home together anyways. Even though we all love each other to bits, we're all living such different lives. Maybe we should just go our own ways again.

It was nice to live together even for a bit, though.

Dipping into the garage, I pass Checo and give him a fist bump before finding Max and whack his shoulder. GP laughs softly as I dramatically drape myself across Max's back, popping my head atop his as he huffs.

"How's it going, Mad Max?" I muse, "New racing strats?"

I can hear the grin in Max's voice as he says, "Nothing I'm telling you, paddock princess."

"Paddock princess? Excuse me, do I look like George Russell?" I huff, which gets a full body laugh from GP and a decent one from Max as I pry myself off his back and come to just sit next to him like a normal person.

"What's the occasion for the dress? Just the paddock fashion?" Max looks up and down the pink sundress I'm wearing and I perk up, happily blabbing on about how I'd bought the dress in Sydney a few days before the race and wanted something to wear to the race and the part tonight.

"What party?" Max asks, leaning over to fix a hair thats gotten stubbornly stuck to my earring.

"My mom is having a yacht party tonight for all the teams to celebrate the beginning of the season. She couldn't do it in Saudi or Bahrain because of how busy we all were." I look at the notes Max is focused on reading, even though they make little sense to me. GP excuses himself to speak with Hannah, leaving Max and I alone in the little outcove of the garage.

"Ah." Max sighs as a mechanic moves past, tossing a helmet to his colleague as they set up to do some sort of extraction training. Max catches my attention as he says, "and I take it I'm set to attend this?"

"Of course you are. My mom would be devastated without her 'eldest son' there, right?" I lean over to peck a kiss on his cheek as I stand up and brush off my dress as if it'll have anything on it, "gotta run off and find my mom, I'm helping her with media."

"Good luck." Max smiles to me and I can't help the grin that finds my lips as I whisper back the same words and rush down the garage hall to hide the blush that threatens to run up my chest to my face.

There's no fucking way I'm letting this get to me. No, no, no. What Max and I had done was a mistake, and that was how it would stay. Some drunken mistake I thought about a bottle or two deep on a friday night.

I did not love Max Verstappen, and that was that.

liked by landonorris, maxverstappen1, monanotlisa, and 850k others...

nadinehalliwell: my photographer @ maxverstappen <3

user1: cannot get over how much she actually looks like geri.

user2: MOTHERRRR

maxverstappen: stop drinking all the champagne the party hasnt started yet !!

⤷ nadinehalliwell: no <3

user3: i swear every story post of nadine recently has been her drinking

charlesleclerc: very pink today

gerihalliwell: so so pretty!!

user4: UGH SHES SO PRETTY LET ME BE HER.

By sundown the party was in full swing. The yacht massive, even by my mothers standards, but comfortable enough to fit everyone with room for plus ones and random additions to the roster. Leaving the bar I make my way to the little longue chair area on the top deck, waving happily to some of the drivers and such who mill about up there.

As I go to snag my spot between Max and Charles again, I'm intercepted by one of the newer Sky News reporters. I peeked over his shoulder from the conversation he had left, and saw some people just casually milling about. So I felt a bit better about this random guy coming up to me.

But, from the corner of my eye, I could see Max lean forward a bit more.

"Hello, sorry, I don't think we've met." He holds out a hand with a small grin as he looks me over, "I'm Luke."

"Luke, I'm Nadine, it's nice to meet you." I shook his hand, keeping my eyes firm on his face as he then chooses to keep his eyes firm on my mine. His eyes light up, as if he's realized exactly who he's talking to and it makes me want to scream. Of course.

"Geri's daughter, correct?" He grins and I nod, biting the inside of my cheek as I curl my hand a bit tighter around the fruity little margarita I got from the bar, "Wow, it's great to meet you. I'm sorry about everything that's been happening to you within the past few months, that must be rough.."

"It's been rough but I've got a good support system here, and I'm here with my family too, so they've been very helpful." I keep up the usual wall I keep up with any reporter. I know Luke notices, at the tick of his jaw, but he doesn't say anything else.

"That's good. I'm really glad to hear they're supportive." Luke smiles, "other than doing media for Red Bull, what do you do for work?"

"Just influencer stuff. I post fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content on social media, mostly Youtube, TikTok and Instagram. I also have a podcast on Spotify." I use my usual elevator pitch, "I pay for everything using the creator fund, sponsorships, and other means of ad revenue."

"The whole -- creator fund thing, thats fascinating to me." Luke starts to talk, continuing on and on. The more he talks, the more I begin to realize that this guy just wants to blab on and on about himself. I nod, keeping my interest as he talk about reporting and doing media, and then asking if I do it too.

"I've done some sort work for Sky News before. When Seb did the beehives I was one of the reporters over there with him, which was nice because he and Mark kinda raised me a bit and I hadn't seen him in a while." I smile and Luke nods, and before he even says anything I can tell he's about to try something stupid

"Well, someone as gorgeous as you would definetely be succesful in any field." Luke grins, taking a sip of what I think is an Old Fashioned in hand before his grin falls to a smirk, "and man in charge would be an idiot to not promote a face like yours."

I don't dignify him with any answer. Taking a long sip of my drink as my eyes are level with him. I can tell he's nervous at my lack of response, but before he can talk, Luke's eyes flicker to the side of my head. He squints before a firm, warm hand is pressed to the small of my back.

"Sorry to interrupt," Max smiles placidly, his hand sliding to grip onto my hip, his fingers warm against the skin of the cutout of my dress and sending a shiver down my spine, "but Miss Halliwell here has a certain seat she needs to snag again."

"No worries." Luke gives a stiff response, before turning away with a soft goodbye over his shoulder. Max turns me and tucks me back against his chest as he leans down to ask, "You alright?"

"Yeah. He was just a weirdo." I roll my eyes as he guides my back to my seat, securing me between him and Charles once more, and I happily fall back into conversation.

Not failing to notice the fact Max's hand never leaves my back.

"Max Emilian Verstappen, I swear to god." My voice rings across the quiet hotel room, nails clicking on my cracked phone screen as I type a reply to his comment. Charles laughs softly, his hand pausing midway through fixing my hair as he looks over at my hungover state in my bed. Thanks to him and Carlos, I managed to get back from the yacht party last night with all my belongings and my dignity.

"You're getting full named." He says to Max as if he isn't actively ignoring my complaints. I watch Max peek at my tiny lump in the blankets behind him in the mirror he stands in front of, the back of his hair still drying from the shower. We had to leave for the flight back home within an hour and I was still laying in a ball, still nauseous, still tired and aching.

"Because of the reporter?" He asks, turning his head to Charles who smiles at him with a shrug.

"What was so bad about him?" I ask, "You and Charles are all up in arms about it! I don't even know what he said that was so outlandish!"

"He looked like a damn predator." Max says and if I wasn't as nauseous as I was from blacking out last night (not my proudest moment) I would've chucked a pillow at his head, "and I can't control Charles."

Charles laughs, moving from the mirror to come sit at my side, letting me pop my head onto his lap as he absentmindedly toys with my hair, before he starts braiding it back for the flight home and I groan and cuddle into his touch. Charles was basically my new brother at this point, ever since I moved to Monaco last year.

"He flirted with her infront of everyone, I don't take back my attitude about this." Max turns around, walking over and kneeling in front of me. Brushing the side of my face to feel the heat from my red cheeks, "did you even drink water, Nadi?"

"It was kinda funny!" I protest, careful not to move too much as Charles' nails run along my scalp to collect little sections of my hair, "and I did drink water, and Gatorade. I had like... four big bottles of Gatorade."

"Drink more." Max sits now, long legs folding under himself as he sighs, "before your mom kills me for letting you go out with us."

"Oh hush, you're more of her kid now than I am." I grumble out a complaint before Charles taps my shoulder so I sit up and roll to the other side so he can braid it too. Before Max can reply, the door is knocked on and I close my eyes--pretending to be asleep is easier than being hungover.

"Geri, hey!" Max calls at the door and I groan, Geri suppressing a laugh into a soft huff through her nose. Sitting me up slowly, Charles used the comforter to hide my dress that I was still in, and I curled a bit deeper into its warmth and his touch.

I would literally do anything for Charles in this moment.

"Morning, morning," my mother gives Max a tight hug, the two more mother and son now that team owner and racer. As she comes into the room, she laughs at my burrito, leaning over to peck my forehead.

"Late night?" She asks and I grunt in response. My mother shrugs her bag off one shoulder and digs in it--handing me a water bottle and a thing of Advil.

"Yes, Mama. And I love you." I say as I take the items, popping two Advil and washing it down with the entire bottle of water.

“Mhm.” Geri laughs, taking the empty bottle and tossing it as she shoves the Advil back in her bag, “and you love liquor more.”

“Mama, they had soju.”

“My daughter’s an alcoholic.” Geri huffs as he stands and Max laughs. I made grabby hands at her much like I would when I was a kid and she was my lifeline.

“Oh, she’s very hungover.” another voice calls, before someone comes running into the room and tackles me to the bed.

“Daniel!” I complain, hitting him as I writhe under his weight, “get off!”

“Stop talking to that reporter, and I’ll get off.”

“What is it with him? I’ve been seeing stuff online.” Geri pops her bags down next to Max’s, watching as Max climbs on top of Daniel—effectively putting about three hundred pounds on my already nauseated self while Charles just laughs.

“Did you see that guy yesterday?” Daniel says, whacking Max’s head, and begrudgingly both of my pseudo brothers climb off of me. But Daniel is hungover as well, I can see it in his eyes, so I let him stay on the bed while we shove Max off. Giggling when the Dutch driver unceremoniously thumps to the floor.

“The reporter was flirting with me, apparently.” I shrug, leaning forward to lay my entire body weight on Charles who grunts in response.

“Apparently? He called you gorgeous!”

“Could be a compliment.” Geri smiles, looking over at Max to gage his reaction. He looks less than pleased.

"Alright, well, come on. We have to be at the airport in like... an hour or they won't let us take off until later." Max huffs, taking Daniel's hand to help him up and then Charles. The two of them grab most of the bags and before I know it we're at the airport, me using my Airpod Max's on their soundproof mode to keep my headache at bay. Luckily it doesn't take long for us to get on Max's jet, and my mother takes me to where the bed is so I can sleep.

The little bedroom has a door to close too, so my mom sets herself up on a chair to answer her emails and shuts the door so the boys can be louder without bothering me.

Which, leaves Max, Daniel, and Charles alone towards the front of the jet. Charles stretches out, sitting on a chair next to Max as Daniel sits across from Max.

"Nadine looked sick," Max sighs, running a hand through his hair as he takes a long sip of water, "and I know turbulence gets to her stomach, so I imagine it's worse now that we're in the air."

"I'm sure she's fine, Max. Geri's in there with her." Daniel hums, looking over at the door as if reminding himself of that.

"How do you even remember turbulence gets to her?" Charles yawns, taking a sip of his own water in turn with Max. Leaning back in his chair as he watches Max.

"I just... I dunno. I remember weird shit like that." Max shrugs, looking out the window as they dip through the clouds. He looks back at his two friends, who are sharing looks, and he raises his eyebrows, "what?"

"Why did that Luke guy piss you off so much? Nadine has dealt with her fair share of sleazy reporters." Charles finally bites the bullet and asks, making Daniel raise his eyebrows in shock over the question being asked, and Max sighs.

"Do you really wanna know why that Luke guy pissed me off?" Max murmurs against the rim of his water bottle and both Charles and Daniel nod.

"Because he was flirting with her." Max shrugs softly, capping his bottle and setting it down and he leans back and stretches his back. His hands run through his hair, tugging on it, and closing his eyes as he sighs.

Daniel picks up where Charles left off, "But he flirted with a lot of girls, and it didn't bother you, but the second he set his eyes on Nadine? Why did you get so pissed off?"

"I really don't know but..." Max's voice is almost dark, "Oh, god, it was like seeing red. And he was flirting with her so boldly, in front of everyone, like he owned Nadine and it pissed me off."

"And you still think you don't like her?" Charles groans, kicking Max under the table, "you're so dense."

"I can't like her, you guys know how it is. Geri would fucking kill me, that's her daughter." Max complains and when Charles and Daniel raise their eyebrows he groans and slumps back, "okay, alright, fine. Maybe."

"Maybe?!" Daniel exclaims, getting hushed by the other two. And as Charles carries on the teasing, Max can't do anything more than gnaw on the inside of his cheek and try to swallow his smile.

He's in love with you, and that is that.

taglist (thank you, and I know this taglist is old, so if you'd like to be removed you can send me a message or an ask!)

@itsponybeaches @awritingtree @1655clean @biitch-with-wifi @heesungthel0ml @newlifeforus @rosegasly @sideboobrry11 @formulaal @justalittlejess

[eveningrainstorm]

my take on teenage raz and lili!

some design notes under the cut:

They're intended to be about 16 here! I didn't go for anything too drastic in terms of changes -- these are largely just what I'd consider natural evolutions of their canon designs

For Raz, my main focus besides just making him look older was to add a bit more resemblance to the other Aquatos in his design, since his relationship with them wouldn't be strained like it is during canon

Raz is shown with very straight hair in canon, but since most of his family's hair is more wavy or curly I tend to imagine he styles it that way on purpose as part of his Sasha Nein cosplay or whatever. He wouldn't still feel the need to do that at this point, though, so for this design I wanted to make it more curly, similar to Augustus or Frazie, while still similar to his canon style. This turned out to be incredibly difficult and I'm still not entirely happy with where I landed, but it's good enough

I didn't think he would still wear the helmet but I didn't want to discard it entirely, so the goggles were a compromise. I meant to give them some visible scratches and wear and tear since they're presumably the same goggles he's been wearing since he was 10, but I forgot. rip

Obviously the most notable change to Raz's outfit is the scarf -- I wanted something that would tie him visually to the other Aquatos while still fitting with his general look. I imagine they gave it to him as a gift, sort of an acknowledgement that even if he doesn't perform with them as an acrobat, doing his Psychonaut work is his own way of being an Aquato

Raz's outfit here is honestly very similar to his PN2 outfit. This is because in my eyes "long coat and turtleneck" is Peak Character Design and cannot be improved on. (Hence why I may not be the best person to redesign Raz.) He has an actual coat rather than just an oversized blazer this time though, so that's an improvement. With the turtleneck I was was vaguely intending for it to be color-wise something of a middle ground between the Sasha-style green striped turtleneck and the Aquato blue/green and white stripes, but it ended up basically just being the PN1 stripes with the PN2 color. which, you know, that works

I went back and forth on what their heights should be -- I thought it would be kind of funny if Raz ended up short and Lili ended up taller than him, but then I decided to just make them more in line with their families, with Raz being tall and lanky and Lili being average verging on short. Except then I accidentally made Lili tall anyway because I was only vaguely considering her height relative to Raz. I guess Lili's probably taller than her dad now? good for her ig

Most of their facial features are just slight variations of how they look in canon -- slightly smaller eyes and so on. the only real specific change is that Lili has a more defined nose now, similar in shape to her father's

Lili's outfit here is more different from either of her canon outfits than Raz's is, but there's still not much that really requires a ton of explanation. The goal was to make her look vaguely cool and fashionable, although as I am neither of those things I cannot guarantee I was successful

I tried a couple different hairstyles for Lili, and I'm still not entirely set on this one -- Originally what I settled on was to give her two braids, which I did like, but I kept doing sketches of her where I just drew the top part of the hair and was like "ngl this kind of works on its own" and so I ended up going with the short hair. I also briefly tried an asymmetrical haircut but I couldn't get it to look right. I think this one suits her though

Lili's tattoo (on her left wrist) was a later addition to the design, and even in the later stages of drawing this I wasn't sure whether to keep it. I like it conceptually I just haven't figured out a consistent design for it yet, only that it has to be of plants

god these notes got way longer than I meant them to be I am so sorry. Uh basically I'm still figuring out the details of these designs but for now here's Raz and Lili, they're teenagers now, thanks for reading

[tedwardremus]

Hey.. always had this adorable AU idea in my head, of James and Lily being childhood friends prior to going to hogwarts(and become more later at hogwarts).

So if up for it, here it is:

Jily childhood prompt=

Scenario: Lily fell off her bike and James was in the corner of the neighborhood to help her:

“Are you ok?”

“*sniff* My knee.. hurts!”

"Come on. My mommy can fix it."

“*sniff* T thank you. I’m Lily.”

“I’m James”

Thanks for this prompt! I was obsessed with the idea of Lily and James growing up together while the books were still being published. I'm still a bit hurt that it ended up not being true.

Daddy lost his job. That’s why they had to move from Cokeworth to Godric’s Hollow.

Petunia was angry because she didn’t like the quiet country village where they now lived. But Lily liked it. She loved the fields of flowers, the stone streets, and the old-fashioned street lamps. It was like a fairy tale village come to life. All that was missing was a knight in shining armor and a magical princess.

One day, Lily was riding her bike along the uneven, hilly path from her house to the playground. She wasn’t supposed to ride her bike without Petunia watching her, but Petunia refused to leave her bedroom, so what was Lily supposed to do?

Lily loved going down hills on her bike. When the bike sped up and she lifted her feet off the pedals, her hair whipping around her, it felt like flying.

As she neared the bottom of the hill at full speed, her front tire hit a rock in the path and sent her tumbling over the handlebars. A shock of pain went through her, and she looked down to see a hole in her jeans with blood gushing from her scraped knee.

“Are you okay?”

Lily looked up to see a boy around her age running over. He was wearing a bike helmet, and when he took it off, he revealed a thick crop of untidy black hair.

“My knee… it hurts,” she sniffed.

“Come on,” the boy said, extending his hand to help her up. He placed her arm across his shoulders. “My mummy can fix it.”

“Thank you,” she said to the kind boy with messy hair. “I’m Lily.”

“I’m James.” He flashed her a smile. “Come on, my mum is really good at fixing things that hurt.”

[qwertyprophecy]

The Undefeated

Character Design of The Dark Queen of Mortholme, Pt. 1

The player character, the Queen, is defined by her status as the final boss. She's the ultimate authority, the most powerful being in her universe as dictated by the rules that created it. Her design needs to communicate how that's made her haughty, effortless, infinitely confident and immutably inflexible.

For the base design, since I'd decided on a darksoulsian aesthetic to evoke one of the most famous examples of the "hard boss fights" genre, it was pretty clear she was going to be wearing armour; which as a happy bonus helps convey rigidity. To further emphasise the tropes of the role the player steps in (and, honestly, just for me to have some fun designing and nightmares animating) that armour would be over-the-top edgy with ridiculous spikes, huge pauldrons and broody tatters, as classic evil fantasy ruler fashion dictates.

She had to, of course, be impossibly tall to tower over her opponent, and wield a stupidly enormous crushing weapon with ease. I really wanted to give her a flail for grand swings, but for the final version I had pity on my animator self complaining about the chain and turned it into a mace instead.

To portray how naturally she holds power and how little of it she needs to use it, and to make her feel royal, stiff and formal, I knew her body movements were going to be as minimal as possible. To add other sources of grandiose large motions, I gave her a cape—one of those weird fantasy butt capes that may be historically questionable but look terribly cool so it's justified—and long hair. I'd experimented with a feather from the helmet, but the exposed hair added a glimpse of humanity to balance out the rest of her impenetrably tough exterior.

A crown to depict rigid authority was a must, obviously, even before I named the game started calling her Queen. (Originally the characters were "Boss" and "Player" but that got increasingly confusing when I started writing notes about the human player.) I drew random helmet variants for a while before I picking the one that reminded me of a bridal veil. At that point the Queen and the Hero were already rapidly developing a lesbian romance, so what else would I pick.

After experimenting with some splashes of red, I was going to tone the colour scheme down to just black and passionless cold hues to contrast with the Hero. However in that version she had a problem with pose readability--when her arms crossed over her body, the black gauntlets disappeared into black armour. To make the position of her hands easier to distinguish, I dipped her fingers into the blood red, and was so pleased with the effect I added it to the spikes of her crown and weapon too. She can be stained by a bit of passion, as a treat.

[belle--ofthebrawl]

Mushy May 2024 days 4 & 5: First Aid and Animals.

No animals are hurt, there is a therapy dog!

Not what I had in mind as the first installment of the Hell on Wheels Au, but I suppose it would be appropriate to call it an introductory crash course. Basically it's a human au where they're all into bikes and cars and rollerblades, with a little bit of mystery sprinkled in regarding the Emeritus family and the role they play in a predominantly Catholic town, led by the good (?) Father Defroque.

Rating: General with a blink and you'll miss it hanky code reference.

Word Count: 2.5k

Characters: Aurora, Aeon, Sunny, Aether, Dewdrop.

As always, thanks to @forlorn-crows for putting the event together and @askingforthesun for being interested in this au that I once thought would never make it out of my head. The worst injury I've ever suffered required a mere six stitches so if any description of the fracture and sprain and mild head injury is unrealistic, I apologize and blame it on the ghouls still being extraordinarily resilient even as humans.

“Rory!” Aeon yells as soon as she goes down, nearly crashing his own bike as he tries to stop in time. She's on the ground in a heap, all he can hear is the sick crack of her helmet when she fell. He shoves his bike to the side and off the trail as he rushes to her, heart pounding and palms sweaty under his fingerless gloves.

“God, fuck, Rory-” She's not moving. Is she unconscious or just unable to? His hands are shaking as he pats her over, takes her pulse, checks to see if the sprawl of her limbs is unnatural, if there's a bend where there shouldn't be. 

“Rory!” He repeats, heart pounding in his ears. Her helmet is still in one piece, no sign of cracking or damage so that means she's got to be okay, right? Why isn't she answering him? 

His first instinct is to lift her up under the arms, get her off the trail in case someone else came along but he freezes. Wasn't there something about not moving people after a bad fall? Something with their spine…what if he made it worse? What if his best friend was paralyzed because he tried to help her? And what if she was paralyzed already anyway? Dammit, why had he told her his first aid knowledge was good enough? There was a lot in her pack but the most he could do was clean up the scrapes and bandage them. Why isn't she waking up?

She groans quietly and he could cry with relief. 

“I'm calling for help.” He says, “Rory, I’m right here.” 

Her hand is moving feebly on the ground; he grabs it and squeezes it to let her know he won't leave. A futile gesture when he pulls out his phone and thumbs the pattern only to see the little exclamation mark that tells him there's no service. They're too deep in the trail.

“Oh fuck.” He mutters.

Aurora groans again, struggles out of Aeon's grip to pry her helmet off. Her dark hair is stuck to her flushed skin in sweaty clumps but there's no blood that he can see.

“Ow…” she hisses, touching her head gingerly. Aeon, a flash of an old first aid class coming back to him, turns on his flashlight, checks her pupils. They both react to the light, a good sign. She's looking around, brow furrowed. He can't tell if that's a good or bad sign.

“My bike…?” She asks, in typical Aurora fashion.

“Looks fine.” Aeon says after he checks over his shoulder for it. “What year is it?”

“I dunno, I’ve had it since I was little.” She answers and he frowns. “Oh, you mean this year. Right, concussion check.” She tells him, then says. “That's going on the channel.” She mumbles. “You got that footage, right?”

Her GoPro. It's still filming from its secure place, strapped around his neck. He could laugh. He could scream. After taking an awful fall like that, all she's thinking about is her vlogging channel?

“Can you stand up?” He asks, but she’s already trying, slowly working her way up to a sitting position.

“Feels great.” She wheezes, flopping back down with a wince. “Just gonna…take five.”

She reaches for her shoulder now, revealing a large and ugly scrape on her forearm, blood already coagulating into a filthy mixture with the dirt. That he can help with, as soon as he fetches the black cylinder strapped to the frame of Aurora's bike. Inside is anything he might need for this exact situation if he had the brains to use it but self deprecation isn't going to help Aurora. The wipes, the little ibuprofen packs and the gauze is what's going to help her right now. Any idiot could figure it out, he tells himself. 

Aurora grits her teeth at the sting of the wipes on her raw skin but bears it with patience as Aeon clumsily wraps her up. He tucks the ibuprofen under her tongue at her insistence; apparently it enters the bloodstream faster that way. He guesses it makes sense. Not like he hurts himself this regularly to know anything about the fine usages of painkillers. Still, he makes her swallow down some water so her mouth isn't too dry.

And then there isn't any more he can do. She can't even sit up without crying out in pain, clutching her side and even though she isn't saying anything, he's pretty sure there's something wrong with her ankle too. He saw the way she’d gotten tangled in the bike when she went down, an awful replay he can't shut off. He manages to coax her off the main trail, dragging under her arms while she kicks with her left foot to help. Props her up against a tree, gives her his snacks.

“Go.” Aurora says. “I promise I won't pass out.”

“If I meet up with anyone, I’ll have them get help and come straight back.” He promises. 

She tries to laugh and it hurts to see it. The sound of her coughing follows him as he picks up his bike and starts trekking back to the start. It takes him longer on foot but after seeing Rory crash like that, he's a bit wary of his own bike at the moment, his own skills too new to be tested and risk hurting himself. Only when he clears the jumping areas and sets down on the flat starting section of the trail does he get back on and peddle. From there it's easy and it isn't much longer until he's dismounting again, pulling off his helmet and checking his phone for service. The single bar he gets is almost taunting him. 

He's about to dial when a dog barks, then another. A cheerful voice cries out in return and from around the corner on the road comes the strangest sight he’s ever seen; a woman on rollerblades dressed like it's the 80’s being skated over the asphalt by a team of half a dozen mismatched dogs.

“Excuse me?!” Aeon calls out, abandoning his bike to break out in a jog. “Miss? Ma’am? Hello?”

“Stop!” The woman bellows joyously and somehow, each and every dog comes to a halt. Some sit, while others lay down and others still stand and guard the woman that serenely rollerblades through them like a sea of fur and slobber.

“Hey, honey.” She says with a bright grin. “What can Sunny do for you?”

“My friend, she's on the bike trail-” he starts. “Something went wrong on a jump and she crashed, she can't move, and I-”

“Breathe.” The woman says at the same time a cold, wet nose touches his overheated hand. He looks down into the friendly eyes of a golden retriever, who licks at his fingers. 

“Breathe,” the woman says again. Sunny. She introduced herself as Sunny. The golden retriever nudges his palm and he grabs hold of its fur. “You got someone who needs help, I can help.”

“I gotta get back to her.” He blurts out. “Please, an ambulance.”

“I know sweetie, I know.” All the exuberance from her expression is gone, but there's no worry in her eyes. Just determination and Aron trusts her immediately. She unclips a lead from her belt and passes to him.

“Let me take this crew back to my car while you take Sweetness there and get back to Aurora; she's an ex-therapy dog and knows her way around someone in pain.”

He thanks Sunny, watches her take off the way she came with her odd little crew and looks down at the dopey, panting grin of Sweetness the golden retriever staring back up at him.

“I didn't tell her who my friend was.” He says, befuddled. Sweetness just blinks and tries to check his pockets for treats.

______

She's coughing again when he gets back to her, setting his bike down and untying Sweetness' leash from it. For a dog going grey around the muzzle, the golden had kept up surprisingly well and it's with a tail waving like a flag that she beelines to Aurora, nudging her way under her arm and licks the dried tears off her face.

“Cinnamon?” Aurora asks, sounding confused. “How did you-”

“I met a woman on skates with a lot of dogs.” Aeon says, sitting down on her other side. “Do you two know each other?”

“Oh yeah.” Aurora says, kissing the dog’s head. “This is Little Miss Cinnamon Pooh Sweetness the 3rd. Her full name by the way, but everyone calls her Sweetness for short.”

“No.” Aeon says patiently. “The dog walker.”

“Oh, probably Sunshine. One of Mountain's friends. Good!” The exclamation sends her into another coughing fit that she tries to swallow down with water. “She's gonna get Aether, he volunteers at the free clinic.  Oh he's hot, you're gonna love him.”

“You have several debilitating injuries and all you can talk about is your damn influencer career and how hot some rando is.” He carefully ruffles her hair, avoiding the tender spot she touched earlier.  “One of these days, you’ll fall and get some sense knocked into you.”

“Til then, there's you.” She says, poking her tongue out with a wink. Aeon sighs loudly and scrubs at his face, staring up at the sky.

“Yeah.” He says. “I guess I can be your common sense.”

____

Aurora is right though. Aether is hot when he stumbles up on them, jogging at a neat pace with a whole-ass red paneled wagon stocked with supplies and Aeon isn't sure if laughing is appropriate. The way Sweetness bwoofs and wiggles away to try and herd Aether closer to Aurora doesn't help at all. He just scratches her absently, even feeds her a treat from his pocket. Good with dogs and good looking? 

Woof.

“Aurora.” He says sternly, looking down at the both of them. Aeon thinks that if the guy wasn't trying to be professional, he’d probably say something like “not this shit again”.

“My knight in khaki armor.” She says dreamily.  “I think I cracked my rib again. And there's something with my ankle.”

“Again?!” Aeon says in disbelief. 

“Again.” Aether confirms, mouth in a firm line as he squints. Aurora dimples up at him, lifting her arms as gently as she can, making grabby hands.

“Uppies?” she asks sweetly. “C’mon, show off those muscles to my buddy here, Aeth.” 

Aether looks at Aeon, who sweats under the stony gaze. 

“Can you help?” He asks. “I’d like to get her in the wagon without too much jostling.”

He might not be a beefcake like this guy, but Aeon still considers himself decently strong. Plus, Rory weighs like, a buck fifteen soaking wet. It's clumsy but they manage, with Rory hissing and cussing the whole time but it just makes Aether smile, shockingly.  He surveys his grumpy passenger and nods.

“I would be more worried if she wasn't cursing us to hell and back.” Aether says, picking up the handle of the wagon. “This isn't going to be a smooth ride, but it's definitely not the worst situation you’ve been in.”

“We hoped she would grow out of it,” Aeon confides. Sweetness is carrying her own lead, leaving Aeon free to haul the two bikes. If Aether can pull Aurora, he can carry them bikes without complaining. Out loud, anyway. “But as you can probably see, her sense of self preservation is about as stunted as her height.”

“Boo, cheap shot!” Aurora says, sticking her tongue out at him. Aether chuckles, directing the wagon away from a stone jutting out of the ground.

“Learned that pretty quick after she moved in.” He says. “She sprained her wrist her first day in town at the skatepark.”

“Yeah, she sent me a picture of it.” 

“Not having fun until I draw blood.” Aurora sings, then quietly mutters ouch.

“Hang on, princess.” Aether says with a smile that makes Aeon's heart skip a beat. There's a flash of metal from a silver tooth. God, could he get any hotter? “We’ll getcha taken care of.”

______

Aether's ride isn't what Aeon is expecting. It's a bright red mini-van, handicap accessible that easily takes Aurora in her wagon. Aether fusses over her, making sure she's strapped in as best he can manage, directs Aeon to the passenger seat after loading the bikes in and doesn't even put the key in the ignition until everyone's seatbelt has clicked. Sweetness makes a space for herself under the wagon, thumping her tail when Aurora coos her name.

“Can you believe this guy won the demolition derby at the county fair last year?” Aurora teases from the back as they set off, just a hair over the speed limit.

“That was outside of working hours.” Aether says primly.

“Real mean at bumper cars too.”  Aurora says. “I mean, brutal.”

“I reiterate.” Aether says, clicking his blinker on a full six seconds before he switches lanes. “Outside work hours.”

They don't go to the hospital. Aether makes a face when Aeon questions him and chews his lip before answering.

“It's…” he starts, then sighs.

“I'm not fucking going there.” Aurora interjects. “Not after the horror stories I’ve heard from the others.”

“Horror stories?” Aeon asks. His mind immediately goes to ghosts walking the halls at night, doctors killing people for their organs, corpses rising from the morgue in the basement but the explanation as Aether puts it is rather boring.

“It's a Catholic based hospital.” He says. “Very Catholic.”

“Your suffering is a test from God type of Catholic.” Aurora scoffs. “Sure, the doctors are good but there's crucifixes and crosses everywhere, the nurses are nuns who were too mean for the parochial school and saying you don't want to be prayed over gets you marked as non-compliant in your file.”

“They can't do that.” Aeon says incredulously. 

“Privatized healthcare.” Aether mutters. “Thankfully, there's an anonymous donor who sponsored the opening of a free clinic in town. Not to brag, but we have just as good a team and equipment as the other guys.”

“If you say the hospital’s name you have to spit.” Aurora stage-whispers. 

“Gross.” Aeon replies, fascinated.

“The staff are better looking too.” Aurora says in a normal voice, making goo-goo eyes at the rearview mirror. “Delta still single?”

“And not looking to settle.” Aether says with a smile.

“Neither am I.” Aurora says with an equally crooked grin. Aeon fiddles with the window button and wonders if he’ll ever have a normal day in this new place. The rest of the drive is silent save for the classics station Aether flips on. At one point, they pull up at a four-way stop and get revved at by a motorcyclist who Aeon is pretty sure has the right of way.

“Thanks, Dew.” Aether calls as they drive past the biker. “See you tonight?”

The biker pulls a red and black striped handkerchief from their back pocket and waves, which is enough of an answer to make Aether laugh.

“I love how he just has that ready.” Aurora says. “Also, you should be ashamed of yourself, cruising for booty with an injured lady in your backseat.”

“You're no lady.” Aeon and Aether say at the same time.

“Owe me a coke.” Aeon says quickly and the way Aether chuckles  makes his heart do flippy things. Even if it's offset by Aurora gagging in the background.

_____

Aurora's taken in by the aforementioned Delta, who doesn't react to her flirting save for a crinkling of their eyes behind the mask they wear.

"They have the technology." Aurora calls as she's wheeled through a set of swinging doors. "They can rebuild me!"

"She's something else." Aether says with a shake of his head. "I'm gonna call Sunny and let her know it's taken care of. Then I can get you signed up for a first aid course, if you're willing."

"Absolutely." Aeon says. He doesn't ever want to feel helpless again, doesn't want something worse to happen and not be ready to handle it. Aether slips behind Delta's desk and spends a few minutes typing.

"I can schedule you for a check-up as well, get you in the system. Why don't you take a seat in the waiting room over there? We got new magazines."

"That's really nice of you." Aeon says earnestly. "Thanks."

"My pleasure." Aether says sincerely. "It's what I do." Aeon takes a seat on a comfy pleather chair, Sweetness laying down beside him. He looks over the magazines, spends a few minutes reading an article about exotic trail reviews then gets too fidgety and turns on the television. It opens to a local news station, a pretty, immaculately made up reporter talking about local crime.

"-any information regarding the theft, please reach out to the sheriff or Father Defroque." She's saying. "Back to you, Brad."

"Robbery?" He asks Aether, who shrugs.

"Not like the money was going towards anything important." He says dismissively. "Don't trust the church, kid. Not in this town."

"Never have." Aeon says, gut squirming in suspicion at the way the priest currently being interviewed smiles. Something about him seems...too friendly. Too kind. Artificial. In comparison to Aether, the man is almost slimy. "Never will."

"Atta boy." Aether says and the tone of his voice almost makes Aeon blush.

[scenetocause]

forever thinking of your girl oscar and lando sigh would you ever write more in this verse? also so curious how you would write girl lando and boy oscar?? also also how do you see female oscar in your eyes? any visual examples? i keep thinking pretty face then broad ass shoulders based on description LOOOL sigh she can crush me any dayyyy

i've been writing ("writing") a thing about lando's first win with them for ages. or well, since miami. but sometimes the words come easy and sometimes they're like blood from a stone innit. oscar is so proud of him, though.

honestly girloscar looks almost exactly like oscar but with longer hair. sharp jawline, pretty face in a boyish sort of practical way (not like lando's batshit mythological whatever-the-fuck) and her hair's sort of just below her shoulders, wavy when it's not too sweaty from being in her helmet. she plaits it up a lot to get it out of her way but it always undoes itself in multiple places. doesn't have quite the same fringe as boy oscar but some bits that sort of frame her face because someone told her it made her look softer and more feminine at some point.

she's built, like boy oscar, big shoulders and arms. has to work a lot on her core strength to handle the g-forces so she's pretty solid round the middle, too. not exactly thick thighs for a girl but they're definitely there. generally looks quite neat, more than fashionable. sometimes she wears lando's bracelets, these days.

i actually drew her in her gala dress at some point just so i knew what it looked like in my own head but i can't find it now.

edit oh here we go. barely even a doodle lol - it's her talking to reporters, messy updo by boyfriend via teen vogue

[synnthamonsugar]

Otter o Otter, how would the Hive Gods dress? From most fashionable to fashion disaster (including their kids)

OOOH this is a fun ask. I don't know whether you mean in their canon forms or as humans so I'm going with general vibes rather than specifics.

Honestly so much of this is up to individual tastes that I don't feel right ranking them. I put the worst-dressed at the end, but the others I think you could make arguments for in any direction.

Savathun. Inclined toward theatrically feminine styles, like if a drag queen was a woman. Stylistically at a juncture between "witch", "gothic" and "catholic-core": you know the girls who are all about cathedrals and stained glass and crowns and beseechingly eyeing the heavens for the aesthetic. Florence Welch but more. However, she understands the assignment and will dress accordingly. There's a picture of her for each point on the butch-femme chart.

Oryx. Nice. Classic. Understated pieces in quality materials. Think handcrafted cashmere sweaters and pima cotton shirts and wool trousers. More than one tailored three-piece suit. Likes hats and can pull them off. Cassocks and stoles for his religious duties, these are more ornate than his day-to-day wear given their ritual significance.

Xivu Arath. @planet4546b once described her as (paraphrased) a "varsity femme jock" type and that's always stuck with me. Very girly, very sporty, lives in athleisure when she isn't dressed specialized for activities e.g. fencing suits or soft armor for sword fighting practice. You know when she takes her helmet off she's going to have immaculate hair/makeup. (How?) Holds onto and still wears her varsity jacket. Likes leather; has at least one studded motorcycle jacket / pair of motorcycle boots / skirt in the material. Piercings.

Ir Yut. Elevated dark academic. Bit of a librarian vibe. Tailored pantsuits, blazers and pencil skirts and stockings. Plaid and jewel-tones. High heels always. Glasses.

Ir Anuk & Ir Halak. Elegant gothic lolita. Matching everything. Red & green colorways, but stylishly. Prominent musical theming, staffs and notes on their skirts. The silliest little pointy fascinator hats you ever did see, but they pull it off.

Nokris. GNC as fuck. Takes after Aunt Savathun. Classic goth with witchy vibes. So much eye makeup. No hive symbol goes un-blasphemed; whatever the hive equivalent of the "inverted cross necklace" is, this guy's wearing it.

Dul Incaru. 90s-adjacent whimsical gothic. Silk, velvet, long slip dresses, corsets, boleros/shrugs, chunky jewelry, stars and celestial patterns.

Crota. Styleless fail son. Goes to walmart in his fuzzy Cookie Monster pajama pants, Monster Energy shirt and lime green crocs. Ill-fitting suit for formal functions. So bad it almost circles around to being a fashion statement.

[sunsetno4]

Canvas, texture, hair for Ven! (And Deja, if you're up to it :] )

Ah, thank you so much! :D And, yes! I can add Deja when she fits~~ Although, minor apologies in advance because this will be a bit long. I like rambling. u__u;; Questions are from here too. <3

Also, a trigger warning for the scar section for a brief mentions of self-harm scars.

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

Scars. Vendetta definitely has a metric fuck-ton of scars, but I've never sat down to honestly figure them out (which is why I rarely doodle them in). I need to get on that. u__u; For the few I have planned out, ne had ugly one of the top of nir hand from a time ne got stabbed, a few methodical-looking self-harm ones along both nir lower arms and an odd and very out-of-place carved c-shaped one on of nir arms too. Ven doesn't really care to cover them up, except maybe the ones of nir arms? Ne doesn't like the looks or questions. Deja has a few faint ones, but nothing to write to home about. They look more like old piercing holes that have since healed over, lol.

Piercings. For Ven, there's nir nostril stud, tongue stud and a fuck-ton of earrings. Like, so so many earrings, absolute maximalist vibes. Like a bit like these? (link) (link) (link) And if Ven ever gets rid of nir tattoos or loses the hyper-paranoia around them, ne would def like to get a few more done, nipples being the top of that list. God, ne would love that.

Deja just has her earlobes done. Like I said, there's a few faint scars that Ven thinks are from old facial and ear piercings but they're pretty closed up if true. She normally wears jewelry with a gambling aesthetic, either like based around the card suits or like poker chips and post-backstory reveal, Ven feels a little weird about that.

Tattoos. Ven just has the Re-Gene ones that ne feels …complicated about. :l If ne ever gets rid of them tho, I always imagine ne would eventually get a few tattoos of nir own in a similar orange design, but not shiny and probably around nir wrists and lower arms. They'll be theirs then~

Deja doesn't have tattoos, but as for other marks, she does have two beauty marks: one under her right eye and the other on the top of her right breast. If she get away with showing off both, she's a happy person, lol. It's normally pretty easy too.

texture: Does your OC favor any specific kinds of cloth or textures? Is there anything they can’t wear or don’t like? What sort of fabrics do they prefer?

Anything old and worn, breathable and loose! Clothes don't have to meet all three, but Ven prefers at least one box checked. Ne wears so many layers, let nem not die because of too much polyester. I don't imagine Ven enjoys buying new basic clothes a lot, especially anything denim or more stiff in general. But thrifting feels a little gauche with how much money ne has in nir many bank accounts. :'l Beyond that, ah. Vendetta's used to being uncomfortable especially regarding clothes so it doesn't really register in nir head anymore. That's kinda always been the norm.

hair: How does your OC wear their hair? Does it have some kind of meaning?

Vendetta has a bit of a fashion mullet, two-toned between nir natural copper orange hair and whatever shade of blonde Ven got out of the bottle this time. It was entirely unplanned, but Vendetta doesn't really plan out nir hairstyles. Ne normally just lets it grow out until it bugs nem and then, snip snip snip! Always done nemself, sometimes in very odd places like a diner because sensory issues are damning.

Ah, Ven had meant to cut nir grown hair into a more choppy pixie (because the helmet hair was really annoying nem), but ne stopped mid-way through and thought the mullet look was Neat. c: The fact that Themmy also had a copper orange mullet never really crossed Ven's mind until ne thought ne spotted them out of the corner of nir eye, and was so gutted to see it was just nemself. It's why ne started bleaching it half-blonde. Anything to keep the ghosts and heartbreak at bay.

Deja's is loooooooooong and naturally wavy-curly and it's been the pale blue-grey shade since Ven found her. And as much as Vendetta hates salon, ne goes to them to keep up the color that whoever Deja previously was clearly enjoyed liked. It feels like the least Ven can do for her~ It's normally worn down too because outside of braiding hair, Ven is pretty garbage at styling hair. Ah, it still looks pretty. c:

And I just enjoy them having complementary hair colors, especially with Deja's very unintentional Re-Gene blue hair. It's cute to me, lol.

And thank you again! <33

[gundam-bailey]

Wrote a short story about my oc, Clay.

Meet Clay

On a sunny, cloudless afternoon, a mobile home flew down a fairly empty highway. The driver was a man with short-medium brown hair and striking pink eyes, though one eye was covered by his hair. Beside him in the passenger seat was a little frog wearing a skateboard helmet, custom made for a frog. “Hello, the name’s Clay.” He spoke into a video camera, recording him at this very moment. “I’m filming myself, mainly because I’m bored and while Hoppy hear is a great conversationalist, he’s a little quiet right now.” He said, in a tone where one wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. “Anyway, may as well talk about myself. Where to start…well, I guess the most important thing to cover, is my unique….condition. I’m a shape-shifter. Have been since birth. Mom told me her great grandparent was also a shape-shifter. Guess it skipped a couple generations. I never knew them, but Mom said they were nice when they were alive. I say they cause…they were like me in another way. Gender fluid. I’m gender fluid, sometimes I feel like a guy, other times a gal. It’s not something I pick and choose, sometimes I just wake up and feel off, then I change how I look and everything feels fine again. It can be days, months, even years till I feel that way. Oh, speaking of my parents. Wonderful people, seriously, I wouldn’t be who I am without them. Most people would be put off with raising a shape shifter, but they didn’t care one bit. I was Clay, pure and simple. Though, they did shelter me a bit. Which I totally get, I mean, there’s a bunch of assholes in the world that don’t take kindly to people like me. But, being sheltered had made me curious about the world. Which is why I’m on a trip around the world, I wanna see everything I can see. You might be wondering how I can afford this, well. I’m a fashion designer. I know, you look at a guy wearing a blue hoodie and black jeans and the last thing you think is fashionista. But hey, I just wear these cause it comfy. I love fashion and I guess people think I have a nack for it. Many brands have hired me, so I have a decent amount of money. That’s another reason I’m on this trip actually. Inspiration. Tons of people live in this world, I’m bound to be hit by inspiration.” Clay took a long breath, about finished with his ramblings. “Who knows? I must just find someone to travel with, in this crazy world of ours.” He finished speaking, turning off the camera and flicking his spongebob bobblehead, enjoying this sunny day.

[thats-it-im-fallingdown]

Alrighty! after finishing the prequel trilogy and the clone wars, here are my initial thoughts on season 1 of Star Wars rebels, which I also had not seen.

Spark of rebellion duology

-oh, ezra is straight up Aladdin but without the orientalist (so far. i have low hopes) imagery.

-Hera and kanun are going to become my favorite characters, I’m calling it now. i can just tell

-my only knowledge of sabine comes from the mandalore arc, since i wanted to be up to date for the mandalorian. I won’t pass judgement on her character yet, a single episode (at time of writing) is not enough have a full read on her. what i can say is that I’m always happy to see female Asian (coded) characters get to be something other than a racist caricature. she reads as southeast asian to me, but that’s probably me projecting [redacted story about Vietnamese family member explaining why i get that vibe] and not an intentional choice on the designers part.

-going into this, i know via osmosis that rebels is not as suitable for older audiences as clone wars was. I’m going to do my best to let this show stand on its own and not make comparisons. but no promises on how successful I’ll be!

-there’s going to be romantic tension between Ezra and sabine and i doubt I’m going to enjoy it much. i can already tell from the swishy helmet removal.

-the stormtrooper helmets look so wrong. i think it’s the shape of the mouth thingy? it makes the whole thing look terrible and bizarre

-how is kallus getting away with that facial hair. totally against military regulations and fashion laws

-zeb you’re a seemingly seasoned rebel, you know damn well the empire never goes easy on anyone. my boy is getting the pg version of having your fingernails torn out.

-where.. where was he hiding that holocron from the imperials?

-the wookiees also look uncanny. their faces are bigger and it’s like they’ve been stretched out. I’m trying not to compare rebels to tcw, buuuuuuuuut tcw adaptation of Wookiees worked better for me

-yes, I’ve been nitpicky. i have been a wet blanket. i admit to the good women of the jury that I’ve fallen short of the cinemawins attitude i strive to maintain here as i maintain a ruthlessly optimistic attitude in my lived life. in my defense, your honor, the characters have hooked me, ezra, hera, and kanan are especially promising to me

Droids in distress

-man, i miss being able to organize these posts into multi episode arcs. so clean and neat. hey, it’s a fair trade for getting an episode order that matches the chronology

-the Spanish translators didn’t seem to know what to do with sentient being used as a noun. can’t blame them, it’s not like I know either, but creature doesn’t seem quite right. actually fluent Spanish speakers please feel free to offer your opinion in the notes

-threepio looks fucked up too! i grew to tolerate tcw styles though, so it’s only a matter of time

-i mean, Garel’s sky looks lovely

-i was not expecting zeb of all the characters to be a genocide survivor, I’m glad he gets to be more than just The Big Guy of the band. hope the show runners follow up on zebs relationship with kanan

Fighter flight

-if it wasn’t Star Wars this would be a show about shitty shitty roommates

-Ezra’s slingshot is cute, but someone needs to give that boy a blaster

-sabine, top contender for worst roommate on the ghost for her use or spraypaint, which is especially effective at inducing headaches when recently applied

-this is kind of a filler episode, but I’m fond of it! there’s a little bit of Ezra’s background in there (the farmers knew his parents) and zeb and Ezra have settled into an older/younger brother dynamic that i like a lot.

Rise of the old masters

-if either zeb or Ezra had been a woman, the way they fell on each other would have been textbook anime romantic tension

-maybe do or do not there is no try is just what you say when your padawan is whining

-i knew that luminara wasn’t going to be part of the ensemble cast, she’s too firmly rooted in the prequels for a show that seems focused on the imperial era, but using her dead body as a trap is.. dang, okay. was not expecting this from the fruit stealing show I’ll admit

-ughh the skinny lightsabers. girl they look like they’d snap like a pencil if you dueled with them

-and the spinning too naur

-making kanan an insecure jedi because he didn’t get to completely become one is such an inspired choice to pair him with ezra

-you’d think the stormtroopers have never seen grenades before. did you guys not learn to get out of the way in basic training?

-they are playing space baseball <3 i am loving it

Breaking ranks

-ezra became heroic.. too quickly imo. i feel like a little more time should have been spent on that part of his character

-seeing how leonis could reappear at some point is kind of neat. i don’t really have much to say about this episode though? it’s not bad, but it’s a little bland for me

-take kell, for example. Ezra betrays him in a challenge so he can work with leonis, but except for kell initially thinking the inquisitor was a trick, it never comes back up again. I’m not expecting anything profound, but i would like follow up on stuff that walks and talks like a checkovs gun

Out of darkness

-I’m not a fan of this “the imperial academy didn’t allow questions” being equated to how intel sources need to remain confidential. so the fulcrum intel underestimated imperial defenses, but got everything else correct. I’m not convinced that enough of a reason to suspect it’s reliability, so it makes sabine come off as a brat to me

-but I’m looking forward to Sabine and Hera development, so I’m trying to let it slide

-argh sabine it’s so obvious fulcrum is working from inside the empire stop complaining about secrecy. sabine is physically coded as Asian but not at all culturally, and it’s not because she’s a mandalorian. if i spoke to any of my older Asian (not even east or southeast specifically, I’m talking west to south to east) relatives like that I’d get shouted into the next year

-okay, at least she apologized. sure, she’s still being an annoying teenager about it, but I’m a kettle, she’s a pot, etc etc.

-ahh, this isn’t about trust, it’s about Trust. I’m cheating a bit by knowing Sabine’s weapon thing, but at this point, i don’t think sabine really knows why she’s with these rebels. to stick it to the empire, sure, but that’s not enough. you’ve got to have goals, or principles. sabine is a Mandalorian, I doubt she cares about bringing the republic back, and i don’t think she knows what she’s doing beyond simply clawing at the empire anyway she can. or maybe I’m way off the mark and I’ll be shown up by the end of the episode

-tumbeasts in their natural habitat, not in captivity

-that base looks like it’s been abandoned for a while, so i wonder what those things eat when tasty tasty rebels aren’t on the menu

-alright, so things between ezra and sabine haven’t been unbearable, mainly bc it’s mostly comedic and also one sided

-oh I was reading way too much into the sabine/Hera/principles thing. still, an interesting enough train of thought to warrant leaving it up there

Empire day arc

-kanan, not forming attachments was uh. one of the main Jedi things. right below lightsabers and above wearing beige robes. but then it seems like he contradicts himself when he tells ezra not to hold on to his past— in other words, don’t be attached to what’s come and gone

-kallus = callous. it took me way too long to realize that

-is there an in universe reason that trackers aren’t registered by shields?

-i didn’t realize how badly the obi wan kenobi shoe fumbled reva until watching rebels. the spinning lightsaber is stupid, yes, but the writing is solid. this pau’an dude is a welcome addition where reva felt rushed

-this ezra being being vulnerable to the dark side is shaping up to be really interesting. I’m a little surprised to say this, but i think Ezra’s my favorite character at the moment.

-aw, the ending was so sweet

Path of the Jedi

-i wonder if the Jedi we see who have visible connections to their native cultures (depa billaba, luminara, barriss, shaak ti, ahsoka, etc) received some amount of training at temples on their homeworlds. if there’s an outpost on an outer rim out of the way planet like lothal, there could have been temples almost anywhere. we focus on coroscant in tcw because that’s where the action is, but that’s just one temple in a big galaxy

-I’m digging the temple design a lot

-disembodied yoda voice looks like qui gon jinn before he completed his force ghost training, but I’m almost certain he’s still alive on dagobah at this point?? it’s probably just a coincidence, or they didn’t bother doing a different mystical effect

-I’m usually not into dream/illusion sequences for doing character development at speed easily, but this one is doing well enough for me to be okay with it. i can’t help but enjoy force shenanigans

-declaring it now: kaiburr is a better spelling than kyber, and I will be sticking with the Spanish version for the foreseeable future. i will not accept any criticism at the time thank you

Idiots array

-technically, it’s a fine adaptation of lando put to animation but.. his mojo isnt there. I’m not convinced that this is a man who has sex. i simply am not.

-I’m not convinced his voice actor has either, honestly. where’s the smooth confidence?

-Jedi were statistically speaking, rare even before order 66. lando has canonically met three.

-this gambit he’s pulling with Hera.. L3 would never have allowed this to slide

-yes! beat his head in with his own gluttony! have I mentioned how much I like hera? because I like her a lot

-the fucking. puffer fish pig. lando slapping it like a car. if i wasn’t slightly loopy from the heat of my period cramp hot water bottle i would probably think this was dumb, but it’s really, really funny. unreasonably so.

Vision of hope

-p a d a w a n j a b b a

-trayvis is really beginning to seem like he’s working with the empire… i could be wrong, maybe he’s just a little incompetent

-aha! i was right, i have a good nose for genre conventions from all the Star Trek and x files I’ve watched

-for example: i can sort of feel that there’s still a twist about the Bridger parents that hasn’t been revealed yet

-have i mentioned how much i love hera?

Call to action

-a tarkin episode? let’s see how this plays out

-his animated model is more facially exaggerated than in the clone wars, which is.. I’m not keen on it, it makes him feel off, but it isn’t stopping me from enjoying how shady he is to the grand inquisitor. just like in tcw, all this hocus pocus gives him a headache!

-some times it’s like this show was made in a lab specifically to appeal to people with absent fathers. congrats laboratory, you’ve succeeded

-I’m glad there’s (kind of) an in universe explanation for why the rebels of the ghost aren’t as violent as in other shows. obviously it’s because of stylistic choices and age targeting, but tarkin saying that this group must have more pacifist principles relative to other cells makes things click more

-from five minutes is my optimistic estimate to three to you only get one minute. the life of an engineer.

-kanan, you say you’ll be right behind ezra but the sacrifice music is playing

-man I feel for ezra. weaponizing comms against the empire is how he lost his parents, and now it’s happening to his father figure despite getting a bad feeling about the mission

-tarkin in that helmet is so cursed

-hey, we’re going to see how the rebels form the alliance in this aren’t we? that’ll be a fun plotline.it’s crazy that this is the same era that Andor is taking place in.

Rebel resolve

-walking robots are always way, way, way harder to program, build, balance, design, and drive than something that’s wheeled. i shudder to imagine what piloting one of those walkers must be like.

-I’m not sure why telling vizago that kanan is a Jedi is a big deal? if it’s already a rumor, and you’re telling to somebody people probably won’t trust as far as they can throw, there can’t be much harm, especially if clues to kanans location are on the table

-assuming vizago is a devaronian with an unusual skin tone, he still looks very devilish when he cuts a deal with ezra

-really playing up the Hera as a mother figure with the particular way she gets angry when her son ezra gets mixed up with a bad crowd

-ships with folding parts, my beloved. you make Star Wars worth it

-so chopper just straight up threw that other droid out into the sky. okay, jealous much

-how would kanan know about mustafar being where Jedi go to get royally screwed up? i must be forgetting some fight that isn’t the obi wan-darth Vader/anakin duel

Fire across the galaxy

-I love the implication that sabine regularly tags and then blows up the empire’s stuff at this specific base

-aha, the starbird in the smoke. glad to see the animators having a good time with it

-sabine has the art style of a homemade racer I love this character so much

-if the inquisitor could force push him back on that bridge over the chasm, why couldn’t he just… force shove him off of it to his death

-tie fighters are much bigger on the inside than I remember them being for some reason

-so I was fucking wrong when I thought that fulcrum was an inside agent within the empire

-darth vader seems kind of overkill for a planet that’s supposed to be a backwater

But this season was a fun ride! I’m weak for tv shows that are more episodic and less.. overarching plot focused. (Think Star Trek snw vs Star Trek discovery. episodic vs main plot heavy. both are good, but episodic is getting rarer and rarer as seasons have less and less episodes) rebels delivered on that, though I expect subsequent seasons to have grander narratives now that ahsoka tano and darth vader are on the playing field. Overall, a solid setup that sold me on the ensemble!

[detroit-grand-prix]

Wildest Dreams Chapter 19 - exile

Chapter summary: Bee is about to race her first race in Formula 1. She's made a leap that very few women have made, and now she has to deal with some newfound fame… and a global pandemic.

Content warning: N/A

Chapter word count: 4,271

Author’s notes: I'd considered whether or not to make COVID-19 a thing in this AU, but considering how big of an effect it had on the calendar in 2020, I didn't think there was really a way to avoid it and maintain the degree of accuracy I was striving for when I was writing this.

Not a lot of notes this time though, at least, because I didn't rely on very many outside sources other than season 3 of Drive to Survive when they depict all of this happening in the beginning.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Late February, 2020

Every year, Bee wondered how her winter breaks kept getting busier and busier, but moving a few times seemed like nothing compared to the break between the 2019 and 2020 season. She felt like she was all over the world, hardly even in the UK, let alone home.

Shortly after her being announced to be Williams’ driver, she had flown out to New York City for a few days. She had interviews with a few magazines - mostly fashion magazines (which was strange, as she’d never been much into fashion). She didn’t mind, though, especially with the magazines - women and girls were their primary audience, and she wanted to be as visible to that audience as possible. She also had an interview on an American late-night talk show, a German-language magazine, and an appearance on a German sports show.

There was also the FIA Prize Giving Gala, which meant a trip to Switzerland. Before the gala, Bee decided to get a haircut. She’d mostly had the same hairstyle since she was a teenager - she always left her brown locks to grow past her shoulders - long enough to put into French braids. It kept relatively neat under her helmet and spared her some awful, sweaty helmet hair because she didn’t like wearing hats. But now, it felt like it was time for something different. She didn’t do anything drastic, just cut it short enough to graze her shoulders (and made sure she could style it to disguise her large neck a bit). 

Her rising fame was something she sort of saw coming, and now had to deal with. She still didn’t get recognized in public every time she went out, but it happened more now than it used to, and she tried to be good natured and friendly to people. It was less of a shock now than it was on her last trip to Michigan. She’d been lucky that nobody had yet been invasive or too weird about her, at least in person. It happened on social media every once in a while, but at least it was easy to block people there. 

She also hired a performance coach. She’d previously just relied on company-contracted athletic trainers and nutritionists, but with her step up into F1, every other driver she’d talked to said that she would need someone to work one-on-one with her.

Other drivers’ performance coaches seemed to do much more than just plan workouts and meals - they were almost personal assistants, in a way. She hired a German woman named Emilia, who was attached to the company that a lot of the other drivers used. The two of them met up in Germany before the F2 season ended for a sort of mutual job interview. Emilia said she had previously worked as a performance coach and trainer for a women’s soccer team. She cut a striking figure - she was tall, muscular, and had a face with very distinct, sharp features. Despite looking a bit intimidating, Bee thought Emilia was very kind, and very funny. Their “interview” in a Stuttgart coffee shop began to feel less like a job interview and more like a conversation with a friend in short order. 

Emilia was a few years older than Bee was, and was from Dresden, in eastern Germany. 

When the two of them met, Bee made it a point to discuss her thoughts on diet and nutrition, since that would be Emilia’s job. In her early teenage years, Bee had started to develop some poor habits with food that may have led to disordered eating, if Josephine hadn’t been eagle-eyed about that sort of thing and set Bee up with a counselor to help her course-correct. Thankfully, Emilia seemed to have views in line with her own, which was reassuring.

It was an easy hire, which was a relief, because Bee didn't want to have to interview a bunch of candidates - it was a lot of time that she'd rather spend doing other things.

Bee liked Emilia a lot. Emilia came to the last few F2 races with Bee, just to get an idea of what she’d be doing over the course of a race weekend. Emilia hadn’t ever been at a race track. She said that there was a lot to take in. Bee had grown up around race tracks, but could see how it would be overwhelming to someone who had never been to one. 

George send her a WhatsApp message the Sunday before winter testing started and asked if she was going to be flying out of Oxfordshire with Toto like he was. She had flown back to Stuttgart pretty much immediately after the launch event for the FW43 because she hadn’t gotten to see her parents for almost all of winter break, other than a few days at Christmas.

“No, I’m in Germany, quick trip home for a few days. I’ll be in Barcelona tomorrow, I’m flying out in the afternoon.” 

She wished she was flying with Toto, though. She liked to listen to NPR, an American public radio channel - the American equivalent of the BBC. She usually listened to the livestream of a station based in Michigan (she found listening to the nasal Midwestern accents, with their shifted vowels, comforting), and the news reports about some virus in China were starting to sound a little concerning. Airports were already a test of your immune system in ideal circumstances, never mind with a possible epidemic brewing. Josephine chided her to start taking some Vitamin C, just in case. 

“I don’t think that’s gonna do anything, mom.” Bee said, as she was packing her bags.

“Couldn’t hurt though, could it?”

She arrived in Barcelona on the Monday before testing was scheduled to start and got settled in.

George would be getting in later, and they had plans to get dinner and catch up. Most of the drivers and staff all stayed in the same hotel, so she saw a few other drivers and staff here and there. A few stopped to congratulate her, including Sebastian.

“I always knew you could do it,” he said, pulling her into the bone-crushing hugs he always gave her. “I never had any doubt you’d get here.”

She laughed. “Well, that makes one of us, I guess!” 

They made plans to get lunch sometime during the days between testing, as Bee was staying in Barcelona over the long weekend.

Once George had arrived in the late afternoon and had a chance to get settled, they went out for dinner with Alex Albon from Red Bull and Lando Norris from McLaren. The four of them had more or less been competing with each other for a long time in junior formulas, and the other three had stepped up into Formula 1 the previous year. Bee was always closest to George, but George was good friends with the other two of them, all of them having come up through the British karting ladder. 

They went to a Mediterranean place near the hotel and the three of them shared a paella (Lando wasn’t big on seafood - “Just don’t eat the shrimp!” Bee told him. “But it was touching the rest of it!”) and then, after probably a few too many glasses of Spanish wine, they all decided to go to a karaoke bar that Alex had heard about near the hotel. Bee was almost a little impressed, she didn’t really see Alex as being into that sort of thing - she always thought he was a little quiet - introverted, maybe, but she had an amazing time with the three of them that night. Bee hadn’t ever done karaoke before. They walked back to the hotel, the four of them arm-in-arm like they were in the Wizard of Oz, perhaps being a little obnoxious, but they didn’t really care. She popped a nurofen and downed a glass of water before bed, just in case. 

Tuesday was a filming day, when they did all of the shoots for the official television and previews, intros, and some filming for Netflix. George kept making stupid faces and kept getting told off by the director, which made Bee laugh at him because she was standing closest to him, which meant that she also get told off by the director. She couldn’t really take the director seriously anyway, when he said something about picturing your goals for the upcoming season so it would make you look determined, or something. She just felt kind of silly. They also filmed some of the segments for the Formula 1 Youtube channel, like Grill The Grid. 

Williams was also able to avoid its folly from pre-season testing last year, and, indeed were actually the first ones to get the car on the track on Wednesday morning. George was testing in the morning block, and Bee in the afternoon block.

In the morning, while George was doing his test run, Bee had to go to the interview trailer that Netflix had set up for her first interview for Drive to Survive. She hadn’t been sure what to expect - she hadn’t watched the show yet herself, but it was very much a standard interview, all of it very pro forma and pretty much the same questions she was always asked - they asked her to give a summary of how she got to Formula 1, from karting in Germany as an American, why her family lived in Europe, what it was like being the only girl in the sport as a child, to what it felt like being the first and only woman on the grid in some decades. When they were wrapping up and the production assistant was disconnecting the microphone pack, Bee asked the producer, “Are you guys going to ask me about anything else?” 

The producer stared at her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but these are the kind of questions everyone always asks me in every interview I do.” Bee said.

The producer cocked her head. “I know, I’m sorry, but this is… I guess, your kind of… hook for now. But we’ll see what sort of storylines develop through the season.”

Bee shrugged. Same as it ever was. 

She left the trailer and headed back into the direction of the Williams motorhome, and spotted the back of Toto’s head as he was walking past. He was headed in the same direction she would be. She had to jog a little bit to catch up with his long strides. 

“Good morning, Toto!”

“Good morning, bienchen. First interview with Netflix?”

“Yeah, just wrapped up.”

“And how was it?”

Bee rolled her eyes. “I feel like I should have a t-shirt made, or something. It’s to the point where every interviewer I’ve ever had has asked me the same questions, you’d think they could just all copy from each other. I’ll just pre-film something for next time and send it out to anyone that requests an interview.”

Toto laughed. “Well, we’ll see what happens with this season, hopefully you’ll give them something more interesting to talk about.” 

They chatted a bit more until they reached the Williams motorhome - Bee hadn’t even realized that Toto had walked right past the Mercedes motorhome at the other end of the paddock to talk to her more. 

“You’re testing this afternoon, right?” 

“Yeah, I am, and I should actually go get ready now. Thanks for walking with me. I’ll see you later!”

She headed into the garage and into her drivers’ room (still strange to see her name and face on the door), where Emilia was finishing setting up a massage table and various other things.

“Good morning, Phoebe!” she said. She was always so awake. Bee didn’t feel nearly as alert as Emilia looked, even after having already been up for a while and doing her interview.

“Morning, Emilia.” 

Emilia handed Bee her drink bottle. 

“Here. It’s going to get warmer out today when you’re doing your run, and I know you went out last night and probably didn’t drink that much water when you got back in.” Bee rolled her eyes a bit, but obliged, chewing a little on the end of the long silicone straw as she sipped.

The isotonic drink wasn’t pleasant - it tasted kind of like drinking warm tea, but it was effective. “You’d think if they could develop this stuff, they could at least make it taste better.” Bee said, shuddering a bit from the taste.

“We’ll get started with some stretching and a warm-up in a second.” Bee wondered if Emilia was being a little excessive for just a test today, but she had hired her for a reason, so it was probably just best to do what Emilia told her to do.

They went through a short warm-up sequence for her neck and core, some stretches, and then Emilia started some assisted stretching with Bee’s neck, shoulders, and hands. 

“You’re anxious again, aren’t you?” Emilia said, pushing on Bee’s trapezius muscles, attempting to release them. “Yeah - ow, shit - you can tell?”

“Of course. I’ve already noticed that you always carry your tension in your shoulders, probably more than anyone I’ve ever worked with. You can even tell from the way you stand, sometimes.” Emilia said. “Arms behind you.” 

Bee rolled her shoulders back to roll her arms behind her back, and Emilia gradually guided them back, stretching out Bee’s pectoral muscles, easing the tension on her back. She felt a lot better afterward.

Bee changed into her race gear and headed out to the garage. She talked things over with her new race engineer, Gaetan, about their run plan for the session. Gaetan was French - from Toulouse, he told her, and had done internships at Porsche and Renault before becoming acquainted with Toto, who had a hand in getting him hired at Williams. He spoke English with an accent Bee found oddly charming. During their testing sessions, his voice would sometimes drop to almost a whisper over the radio, and it had somewhat of a calming effect on Bee. He was fairly tall and thin, and had hair that was shaved at the sides, but long on the top, and was always combed neatly off to the side. Bee thought his facial hair - a mustache and patch of hair on his chin - made him look very stereotypically French. 

The engineers this year had also finally managed to give her a steering wheel with a more compact button configuration. It was much more comfortable than last year’s, where her small hands had to do a lot of awkward stretching - it kept causing problems with her previously-broken wrist as the tendons were prone to inflammation.  

Once she got the car on the track, it started to actually feel pretty good. Still nowhere as smooth as the Mercedes she’d tested last year, but the FW43 was a huge improvement over the FW41 and FW42. The fact that they managed to get it out on track during the first day of testing was a huge victory in and of itself. She proceeded with the run plan that she and Gaetan discussed, until she suddenly felt the car die under her without any sort of warning. She was about 150 laps in, and her times were decent. It was unfortunate.

“Losing power.” Bee said, pulling the stricken FW43 into the grass.

“Okay, Phoebe. Looks like it’s an oil pressure issue.” Gaetan said. “Car off, please, car off, please.”

She sighed, turned off the car, released the wheel, and climbed out. The session was red-flagged and she got a ride back to the garage from a marshal. It was irritating that it happened to her, but it was more of an issue with the Mercedes power unit in general, as it had affected the Mercedes works team as well - Lewis’ car also experienced the same issue on the session.

“Well, better now than during a race,” Claire told her when she got back into the garage and was pulling her earbuds out. “But you and George looked great out there, you’re 11 and 12 right now.”

Better than Bee expected.

Testing wrapped up and was fairly successful, all things considered - there were a few reliability issues with the power unit. It was surprising, because normally Mercedes power units were fairly bombproof in comparison to the others, but they were things that could be resolved.  Williams wouldn’t be fighting for wins any time soon, but their pace looked promising enough for them to finally break into the midfield this year, and more points would mean more money at the end of the season, which would just help them improve for the season after. Williams’ decline hadn’t happened overnight, and it wouldn’t be fixed overnight, either, but it felt like they were on the right path now.

Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia March 12th, 2020

Just as she expected, the first race weekend arrived sooner than anticipated. It came in an atmosphere of uncertainty, though. COVID-19 seemed to be spreading globally, and Italy was one of the countries impacted the worst outside of China, which would likely affect Ferrari and AlphaTauri, both being based in Italy. For a while, it was not even certain if their staff would be able to leave the quarantine zone established in the northern part of the country. They managed to make it over, though, so as far as anybody knew, the race was on.

Bee had the foresight to at least buy some surgical masks for her flight. Wearing one wasn’t comfortable, given that it was almost a full 24 hour flight from London to Melbourne with the layover, but she felt like it was a necessary precaution. 

A lot of the Williams team were on the same flight, and she and George sat next to each other. Bee read and watched a few movies on her laptop, slept, and she and George chatted a bit. Emilia was sitting next to George's trainer, Aleix Casanovas. Bee imagined they spent the entire flight talking shop and comparing notes.

“So this was your first race last year… were you nervous?”

“Course I was,” George said. “Absolutely shitless. Could barely get any food down on Sunday morning. But once the helmet was on and we’d lined up for starting, it just felt like any other race.”

“What about qualifying?”

“Oh. Well, just take it one run at a time. You don’t have to give it everything on your first run out there, if you don’t have a good pace at first, you get another chance as long as you don’t bin it.” 

“Ah, see, that’s the key.” 

“Hey! If I recall, you don’t crash very much at all… well, except for that one race where you took yourself out and brought Tatiana with you, or when Evgeni hit you, but that wasn’t your fault.” 

Bee laughed. He was right. She had been pretty lucky with avoiding collisions through the years.

“Don’t forget Nick deciding to play bumper cars during the cooldown lap at Silverstone.”

By the time they landed and arrived in the paddock, there was a lot of uncertainty whether or not things would actually happen. Information seemed to change every five minutes. They proceeded as normal with the track walk and getting prepped for practices, and one of the support races happened. Emma and Bee discussed the first press conference, but there was a rumor going around that some Haas and McLaren staff were already in isolation for suspected cases. 

Things changed to the fact that they were going to have the race, but no spectators would be allowed in. Reporters kept asking the drivers if they thought the race should continue, and it seemed to be a 50/50 split. Bee was in the same press conference as Lewis and Sebastian, and she happened to agree with his assessment that there was no reason for the race to be going on. Claire also thought there was no reason to be having this race while every other sport, globally, had been postponed. 

The World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 to be officially a global pandemic while Bee was on her flight to Australia. And then on Friday morning, just a few hours before free practice, the race was canceled. One of the McLaren staff tested positive, which meant that it would likely spread to the entire paddock if the race proceeded. Nobody really knew what was going on, other than the fact that the race was canceled, and Bahrain was as well. 

It almost felt like the flight to Australia was longer than she had actually been in the country, but she flew back to the UK on Sunday. There were no decisions made with regard to the rest of the season when they’d landed. The country - well, the entire world, actually, was in disarray. Bee had to consider herself as having been exposed to the virus, which means she had to self-isolate for a while. 

The first three days of isolation were mostly fine, she was so jetlagged from going back and forth to and from Australia in such a short period of time that she desperately needed to correct her sleep schedule. She ordered groceries to be delivered to her flat, and decided to start playing Final Fantasy Online again like she did as a teenager, but she just hadn’t had much time over the last few years. She watched a few movies. She finally actually watched the two seasons of the Drive to Survive that were available, and kept track of how many times she could see herself in background shots. Some of the episodes were hard to watch - the one about the German Grand Prix, the one with Anthoine’s accident and passing, and the Williams episode from last year’s testing. 

One day, curiosity got the better of her. She remembered being on Tumblr as a teenager, and reading fanfictions from the TV shows she liked. She was curious if anyone had written fanfiction about Formula 1. 

They sure did. 

It proved to be an amusing way to distract herself - She started reading a few stories just as a curiosity - but some of them were immaculately crafted and incredibly moving, a handful even made her cry. 

George added her to the 2020 grid WhatsApp group, which she was a little bit miffed about not even being aware of, previously, but she hadn’t even started a race yet, so she supposed it was easy to forget about her. It seemed that most everyone else was in the midst of a lengthy period of self-isolation as well, and she was a little jealous of the drivers that lived in Monaco - Monaco in March was certainly better than the UK in March, especially if you had to stay in the house all the time.

Bee was in regular contact with both Emilia and Natalie as well. Emilia gave her some workouts to do while she was at home, as long as she wasn’t sick. 

By the end of the ten days of mandated self-isolation, she was very much feeling a bit of cabin fever, and the news coming from the BBC was a bit concerning as far as how the UK government was planning to deal with the pandemic. She talked to her mom and decided that she would head to Stuttgart until Formula One Management figured out how the rest of the season would proceed - they were apparently considering a limited schedule, mostly in Europe, but nothing had been confirmed yet. 

She was worried she wouldn’t be allowed to cross the German border - border restrictions were constantly in flux around all of Europe, but she was still considered a permanent resident of Germany and had a permanent resident card, so she had very little issue. 

“Do you know how long you’ll be home?” John asked when he picked her up from the airport.

“No. I’m just gonna be here until Claire says I need to get back, I guess. The factory is closed right now, so I figured there was no reason for me to stay in Oxford for now.”

“Are you worried about getting out of practice or something?”

“Maybe, but… not much to be done about it at the moment.”

Her parents had both pivoted to working-from-home. They were both engineers, so there wasn’t a lot of hands-on work that needed to be completed by either of them for work. She had to admit, at first, it was nice to spend so much time with her parents again. They did start getting on each other’s nerves after a bit, but Bee decided to order a bicycle and spent time riding around Stuttgart, re-familiarizing herself with neighborhoods and streets she hadn’t seen in a while, and she worked her way up to doing 30-40 mile loops some days. Emilia was overjoyed, of course. 

She also decided to order a sim racing setup. It wasn’t really the same as driving for real, but it felt shockingly similar with certain force-feedback settings other than the lack of g-forces on the body. Some of the drivers had started streaming racing on Twitch, and she joined them occasionally, and it was a lot of fun, aside from the occasional troll that made misogynistic comments about her, but to their credit, the other guys usually were quick to block them and move on. She considered streaming herself, but she didn’t think she was nearly interesting enough, so she just stuck to being a guest on Charles, George, Alex, and Lando’s streams instead. 

Finally, in early June, Claire called Bee to let her know that a calendar had been set for the remainder of the year. It would be mostly Europe and the Middle East, and shortened to 17 rounds, with some doubleheaders taking place at the same circuit. She had a lot to do and not much time to prepare, and she couldn’t wait to get back to racing. 

[detectiveneve]

for the OC ask thing: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 :-)

questions here.

Sorry for the late response! and thank you so much for the questions ahhh

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?

I think. that emrys at a party would be the funniest thing ever. for everyone except her. and by that I mean she generally does not have the social skills to even TRY to blend into any sort of society; never tried, doesn't see the point, will never see the point. she would show up to 1. protect someone else, or 2. if dared, perhaps, or bullied into it by someone she cares for. she will stand awkwardly at one of the doors or windows, pet your dog, outline the most likely places one could be attacked from and the flimsy security of your home. eat the food. grunt at anyone trying to mingle with her. then leave.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?

very light sleeper. she was wandering around prior to getting kidnapped by the mindflayers, either living on the road or in peoples barns if they would let her stay, or when she was in baldurs gate, at the temple there, staying in the city literally only to look for trouble & if she cannot find it she will probably accidentally create it (too stubborn for her own good here). anyways, because of that plushy beds make her uncomfortable. slight noises wake her up. she can fall asleep in 2 seconds and take a ten minute nap and be ready to go for the next several hours running on 3 hours of sleep type beat. someone needs to hit her over the head really hard so she can have her full 8 hours.

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?

She does not shop.............. at all. She mends everything she owns until it's obsolete, buys only what is necessary. She keeps exactly what she needs on her and nothing more, nothing less. so she's got two outfits on rotation and they look extremely similar to each other; plain garb, leaning toward "masculine" technically although I dont know how much faerun clocks that. the default camp clothes are pretty close to what she would wear anyways, so. she doesn't think about fashion at all I have to say, and if anyone asked her about it she'd make a 404 error bluescreen face. no indulgences no finesse no panache. she's plain and simple and has never worn makeup a day in her life. doesn't want to, either. if someone tried to doll her up she'd be weirded out. her hair is a little bit past her shoulders and she keeps it in a gay little princely ponytail, but if she let it loose it would be all poofy and curly and the kind of hair that would look 10/10 being shaken out of a helmet.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?

Emrys was brought up in a temple, she made friends with mouser cats and local farm dogs in the her village below. so, no actual pets for her, but she was much beloved by said half feral mouser cats. and she was a bit of a horrendous child that would sneak in rodents and such into the temple to feed & care for & maybe also sneak into other children’s beds if they were mean to her. so…. if that counts.

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it?

Hmmm…. at the beginning of the game, no, she doesn’t collect anything. too austere and “if I have any personal items or desires I will literally die” for that. after the game she collects weird weapons and esoteric books. jocknerd to the end.

[rei-kozuki]

OC Information: Rei Kozuki

Name🪽: Rei Kouzuki (Born Reina Takami). Kouzuki has the kanji for “night” as well as “moon” in it- a reflection of her love for both the moon and the night time. Reina thinks of her occupation in Fenrir as “no place under the sun” or “a place in the shadows”. The world of heroes on the other hand is the opposite- and she´s not a part of it. 

Age 🪽: 21 at the beginning of season 1.

Personality 🪽: Headstrong, intelligent, incredibly sassy. Not to mention the fact that Rei can get incredibly arrogant and over her head some times. Rough around the edges with an incredibly small, soft core (does it even exist? only Reina knows). An unbothered and very unserious qween.

Hero or villain🪽? villain. Hired by the Paranormal Liberation Front as extra help; leads a double life- one as a popular journalist and one as a mercenary of Fenrir.

Code name🪽: Faker (since she forged all of her papers to reenter Japan)

Nicknames🪽: “Diva”- Unfortunately for just anyone around her, if you catch Reina on some bad days she is quite literally one of the worst and entitled woman around. Karen? No, Rei.

“Drumstick, Chickenwing” (or anything other chicken/birdrelated, for obvious reasons)

“moonchild”- Reflects her love for the moon, Reina spends literal hours analyzing the moon and taking fotos of it.

Birthday: she doesn't have an actual birthday. Born at home without any actual records, she just got to make one up- so she decided to be born on the 24.12. Found it cool as a child, now it's just stupid to her. Doesn't celebrate either.

Hair🪽: originally light brown, fluffy like her mother's, however she uses keratin treatment to keep it straight and dyes it black. Occasionally curls it for special occasions. It reaches to her hip- Rei finds it easier to manage while long, easier to tie up and braid and just to “forget about”. Her hair can be complicated, therefore the keratin treatment. It´s simply easier than figuring out a whole haircare routine. 

Eyecolor🪽: Golden. - but Rei wears green contacts to avoid any comments or being traced back to her brother. The markings on her eyelids and tearducts are longer and a bit more pronounced but usually covered by foundation and the likes. 

Skincolor🪽: On the tanner side. She´s spent some time in the desert and returns to it occasionally. So no keeping pale for her.Outfits🪽: a fashionable young woman with expensive tastes. Dresses androgynous and more feminine on the days she feels like it. Always seen with heels. Her favorite brands are: Loewe, Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel, Dior and Alexander McQueen as well as Karl Lagerfield. Due to her being a soldier (explained in backstory) she has an uniform with extra gadgets: - gloves plated with metal so she can grab weapons with ease, claws - a gadget on her wrist that can shoot out chains, helps in combat - uniform is fireproof, thick, has a cooling system built in. - a helmet (protection, communication) - lots of pockets and holsters for extra weapons

"𝕷𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖗𝖚𝖓. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖇𝖊𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖒𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖊 𝖘𝖑𝖆𝖎𝖓 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖒𝖊𝖗𝖈𝖞."

Lead weapons🪽: Rei is a weapon in experts and close-range as well as ranged combat. So anything you give her she can use. Out of sentimental reasons she uses a rifle with a bayonet stuck onto it, can be seen resorting to axes, spears and bigger swords. If left with no weapon, she'll just take anything lying around or even her teeth to rip out flesh (actually got famous for that move in her organization).

→ Reina sometimes tends to choose weapons based on how “fashionable” they are (aka if the fighting style and appearance fits to her outfits?? She´s a diva like that, what can I say.)

Other skills🪽: 

→ martial arts expert: Rei started early on to train in karate, later picked up krav maga and the likes as well as a special nerve-based martial arts developed by the organization called “Fenrir”. Once she hits certain points on the body, she can paralyze a bodypart or lessen the power of a quirk..or take it away. This is only temporarily. If she gets a clean hit, Rei can nullify a quirk for up to 30 minutes.

→  Stamina and determination: Due to lots of training she has a lot of stamina. Is ruthless. she'll do anything to fulfill her mission. No qualms or care about getting injured either. 

→ Bloodlust: Rei can omit an aura fulled with bloodlust to an extent similar to Stain. This either stuns enemies or at least weakens their morale. This doesn´t happen often, due to Rei keeping her composure in most battles. 

→ intelligence/knowledge: Reina has a lot of knowledge about biology, having focused a lot of energy into learning everything about the human body that she could. She also has the ability to pick up on things and skills. For example: Reina can speak about six languages (Fenrirs language, arabic, english, japanese, chinese, russian)

Quirk🪽: “Allseeing eye”- can control birds, however, does not understand them. Does so by screaming/singing/calling. Useless in combat. (She didn´t care about a name but one of her fellow mercenaries/soldiers named it so she´s using that. She thinks its lame.)

Quirk awakening🪽: Rei starts sharing senses with her birds- allowing for more precise commands and even better observation of her surroundings. Rei cannot share her senses with more than two birds at once. Her eyes turn fully golden whenever she does so- one for each bird.

Mutation🪽: has a pair of black wings- originally dark brown, the wings are dyed black (wings similarly built like a peregrine falcon). I HC that Hawks and Rei both have the genetic mutation of a peregrine falcon. Those birds have larger females so she´s way taller than her brother (stands around 6ft). Her wings are also made out of proper flesh and bone and not just feathers. Not to mention that she can´t control them like her brother does. Between the two of them..she definitively got more bird genes in her.weakness🪽: In combat, she's limited in the damage she can do without her equipment. Sure, she always takes a bunch of grenades with her but once she runs out of those, Rei has a problem. And guns and rifles need loading. Personalitywise..She's stuck in her ways of thinking, loves to complain but never does shit about the things she hates. Ready to sacrifice her life, body for whatever mission she's been put on. However..She does have a heart and is a bit more humane than the rest of her companions. 

Strengths🪽: a feral, scary soldier- In terms of strength and skills she's one of the top ten in her organization. her skills and development of martial arts are almost unparalelled. Very strong-willed and quick witted individual..Also a good liar and an incredible actress. The ideal soldier.

Dreams🪽: Acknowledged by the man she calls her father (the head of her organization).

Fears🪽: A soldier does not fear. Fear is the mind killer. 

"𝕸𝖞 𝖓𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝕽𝖊𝖎 𝕶𝖔𝖟𝖚𝖐𝖎. 𝕯𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖒𝖞 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝖆𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖍 𝖇𝖑𝖆𝖉𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕱𝖊𝖓𝖗𝖎𝖗, 𝕴 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖉𝖊𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉."

[thecrystalcharmer]

I shake my head, “I think it’s about time we pool our genes together, don’t you?

Hunter’s eyebrows raise a little and he smiles softly, giving you a shrug. “You know ‘m not gonna say no. Just wanted you to be comfortable with that, if we did it. I love you.” He kisses your head, walking you inside as the ship finally disappears from sight.

Once Ziro finds a safe landing spot, he lowers the ship down, looking to Ruhn. “You got this kid. You sure you’re ready? I believe in you but I’ll take you home right now, just say the word.”

Ruhn takes a deep breath and straightens his posture before giving the pilot a nod. “Yessir. I’m ready.” He waits for the ramp to lower and salutes the pilot, then hurries into the palace.

Security and check-in goes very easily. It’s… a bit difficult by himself at points, especially when he sees some other kids with their parents. But he isn’t the only one who’s alone, which is a comfort.

He smoothes his name tag over his shirt better as he’s led to the large conference room, studying each kid here. Some of these kids look cold. Feel cold, too. Ruhn can tell just by studying them that they’ll be ruthless Imperials, willing to cut whatever throats they need in order to get the jobs.

He’ll just have to woo Vader with his smarts and the pretty smile you and Papa say he has.

His plan seems solid- until the man actually walks into the room, his presence taking over the space entirely. Oh, he’s so intimidating. So powerful. The power latches onto his body and crawls along his skin, making every hair on him stand up.

Ruhn gulps and sits straighter, watching him closely the entire time as he starts to address everyone.

“Hello and welcome,” Vader greets them, the eyes of his helmet scanning each and every child. It doesn’t yet process in his mind that he just stared right at his son. “I’m sure you’re all very curious about this program- and I can sense the excitement in each of you. Though I do sense some anxiousness, too. I want to assure you that you will be just fine. This palace is the safest place in the galaxy- and all of you are going to become part of the people that make it so safe,” he nods a little. “As you know, the Empire strives for excellence, each and every day. I see the opportunity for excellence when I look out at all of you,” he does a double take as he once again catches sight of Ruhn.

Was that-

He can’t think about that right now. He needs to wait until the interview to study him further. This is supposed to be a smooth presentation. Flawless. Impressive.

“Today will be rather busy,” he continues. “There will be a lot of walking. I am going to have you go in different small groups to tour the palace and from there you will be able to decide where you’d like to apply. I encourage you to apply for everything- but I also, more strongly, encourage you to put your efforts and focus toward the jobs that interest you most. If you have interest in our cloning program, perhaps Ms. Nala Se would benefit from you being in their workspace. If you like the military, and aspire to be a Commander one day, well, my best friend Cody will happily welcome you under his wing. If… leadership, organization, and power excite you… come speak with me. If you are a fashion connoisseur,” he gestures to a little girl wearing a gorgeous gown, “I think you will get along with my friend Zyn quite nicely. If military is your thing but you prefer special operations, which require more intensity and training, Crosshair will oversee your interview and training process. Those of you who like being the center of attention for big crowds can interview with my assistant, Aura. I’m sure you’ve all seen her conducting the press conferences, where she gets asked fancy questions and gets to be the know-it-all.” He chuckles as several kids nod quickly. “I could go on and on- the point is, here at the Empire, everyone has an opportunity. Everyone has a place. It’s just about finding what works best for you. And if that isn’t found today, then I’m positive we can work with you to find something different or more specific. Not to worry.”

“I wish you all luck with your interviews today,” he nods. “And I hope you enjoy the demonstrations and presentations you are about to see.” He gestures to four children and their families. “You will be group one,” the next four, “group two.” Next. “Group three.” And finally, Ruhn and 3 others. “And group four. I hope to see some of you very soon!” Especially the child with striking eyes and hair the color of sand. His child, possibly.

He exits the room and allows for the tour guides to come in, each one of them an Inquisitor.

Oh. Ruhn wasn’t expecting that. Hopefully nobody senses him.

He follows his Inquisitor out the door with his group, studying the young man as he goes. Raven black hair that shines almost blue in the light. Pale skin, sharp cheekbones. He’s a very pretty person. Sad for him that he’s so sad and dark, though. And he’s not very old, either. His life must have been so hard to have him choose this path. You could help him. You could absolutely help him.

Ruhn listens closely during each presentation, resisting the urge to cringe as he listens to the scientists speak about the new advancements in their cloning projects. That’s… his papa, these people are talking about. His papa and all his uncles. They’re more than just a project. More than a number. More than a trained killer. They’re just people.

He particularly doesn’t enjoy when they’re sent to a set of windows that show a few of these new special clones, each one standing so eerily still and unresponsive. Just… staring out the window, dead eyed, through their helmets. Waiting for orders just like they became brain dead for Order 66. It twists his gut, makes his skin crawl. Makes him miss Hunter. Makes him feel very protective of Hunter. Just imagining his dad in the hands of these people, this vile work, this torture… and to think Hunter’s closest brother is here. Part of this. How sickening-

He snaps out of it when Jaspar, the Inquisitor’s name he has recently learned, tells them it’s time for the next presentation.

By the time everyone breaks for lunch, Ruhn grabs a tray for himself and sits down at a table, sighing quietly to himself as he ends up alone.

This… is a lot to take in, without you by his side to talk it out with. He watches the parents coach their children through several questions to prepare for post-lunch interviews. He doesn’t have anyone to prepare with. But… he doesn’t need it. Right? He’s the son of two Jedi and one of the smartest, strongest warriors he’s ever known. He can do this by himself. And he’ll see you guys at the end of the day anyway.

Ruhn takes himself to several interviews, really only focusing on the ones he think will get him closest to Vader. He goes to Aura’s, then Cody’s, wishing more than anything that he could reach out and take his uncle’s hand and ask him to come home. But he refrains.

Vader’s interview is last, and as he takes a seat across the table from this very dark man, he can’t help but feel like it’s a bit more difficult to breathe. But yet again, he stays calm and sure of himself, answering every question Vader gives him with utmost confidence and manners.

Vader also refrains from saying something the entire interview, subtly questioning him on things like how he plans to get to and from the palace. How many days a week he can come. Whether his parents would be willing to call in and speak about him.

“Well, Arthur,” Vader addresses him as seriously as he can without laughing over the fake name. It has to be because of Arthur Morgan. And this has to be his kid. “You are a very fine young man and I look forward to reviewing your application further. Thank you for your dedication to the Empire.”

Ruhn nods and gets up. “Thank you, Emperor, sir. I look forward to working here.” He bows his head before walking out of the room, loosening a breath as he heads for the departure area.

He excuses himself to the refresher and takes out his comm to message you, falling back as he runs into Jaspar, his comm sliding across the floor.

Jaspar’s eyebrows shoot up and he catches Ruhn’s hand before the boy can fall, smiling softly. “I’m sorry, Arthur- are you alright?!”

“‘M okay,” Ruhn nods, removing his hand from Jaspar’s grip and picking up his comm. “Thank you sir.” He ducks his head and hurries into the refresher.

When he’s safely in a stall, he quickly texts the group chat with you and Hunter, so you have a higher chance of seeing it right away.

Mama, Papa,

I’m done! I am very tired. Learned so much. Is someone coming to get me? Or do I take the transport?