#blinds factory direct

[heritageposts]

🇵🇸 From Friend of Al-Aqsa (FOA):

What exactly is Coca Cola’s role in Israel's occupation? Coca-Cola has a factory in Atarot, an illegal Israeli settlement built on stolen Palestinian land. Palestinian communities are forcibly removed for illegal Israeli settlements like this to be built. These settlements are illegal under international law. By having an Israeli franchise in the illegal Israeli settlement of Atarot, Coca-Cola is ignoring international law and profiting from the illegal occupation. There are currently up to 750,000 Israeli settlers living in at least 250 illegal Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jeruasalem. By drinking Coca-Cola, we as consumers are turning a blind eye to the illegal occupation of Palestine. In 2022 American food company General Mills announced it was divesting from Atarot as a direct result of pressure from human rights groups, activists and others. Let's keep up the pressure on Coca-Cola to stop operating in Atarot! Join our call to #BoycottCocaCola until it stops operating in Atarot illegal Israeli settlement. Make a pledge to boycott Coca-Cola until it stops operating on stolen Palestinian land.

For more info, check out FOA's webpage.

If you're in the UK, they have several upcoming campaign and events you can participate in.

[bargainshuttersandblinds]

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[lucyrose191]

BROKEN DECISIONS| T.WOLFF

Pairing; Divorced!Toto Wolff x fem!engineer!Schumacher!reader

Summary; The news of Toto Wolff divorcing from Susie has just hit the media and you, Michael Schumacher’s eldest daughter and George Russel’s race engineer, are beyond shocked, even more so as your relationship with your boss begins to evolve.

Warnings; angst, light smut, heartbreak, pregnancy trope.

F1 Master List , Part 2

The paddock was overwhelmed with media reporters and cameras, way more than usual for a race weekend, the Mercedes garage was surrounded by people as well as the entrance to the track, all waiting for one man, Toto Wolff.

You had been more than taken back by the joint statements released this morning which both effectively said the same thing.

mercedesamgf1: Team Principle Toto Wolff announces divorce from wife Susie Wolff, both will continue to co-parent son Jack Wolff and will continue to work together happily, they wish nothing but the best for each other in the future and wish for the privacy and support they need during this time.

SusieStoddart: Toto and I have mutually decided to part ways and divorce after 12 years of marriage, both of us will continue to co-parent our son, Jack and will continue working together in the future. I wish nothing but the best to him for the future, please respect our privacy during this time and I hope you guys will continue to support us both from this point on, even on our separate paths. Thank you.

It all seemed so sudden to you, nothing has seemed out of place whenever they were in the garage together but you suppose that’s how the saying you never know what’s going on behind closed doors goes.

You squeezed your way through the crowd, ignoring all of the questions fired your way and the cameras and microphones that were shoved in your face, it wasn’t your job to be making comments about a relationship that had nothing to do with you and it was entirely unprofessional.

Huffing out a breath as you finally crossed the threshold of the garage, you straightened out your clothes and bag before making your way over to your desk that you sat at whenever George was out on the track.

Bono was already in his chair and looked up when he heard you pull your hair out, taking note of your flustered state. "I take it you’ve seen the news."

"It’s everywhere! It’d be a miracle if I hadn’t seen it," you huffed. Looking around, you noticed how flustered everyone else seemed to be whilst trying to do their jobs, you didn’t blame them because right now no one knew what mood the boss was going to be in when he arrived, if he arrived.

"Is he even coming today? I certainly wouldn’t." You asked.

Bono shrugged, "you know what he’s like, that man would be here even if his leg was falling off, he’ll be here and god help him when he is."

"Yeah, true. Am I blind though or did anyone else not see this coming because they were both at the factory two weeks ago and everything seemed fine to me."

Bono turned away from his monitor and completely turned to you, huddling closer. "I didn’t suspect anything either but they’re really good as keeping work life and private life separated. Have you seen some of the rumours though?"

You snorted and nodded your head, "I’ve seen the ones about Toto having an affair which is ridiculous, that man does not have the time to be hiding an entire relationship."

Bono laughed at your choice of words but abruptly stopped as he stared behind you causing you to look at him in confusion before turning around, pausing at the sight of your boss walking in with a face of stone.

"Ahh shit," you muttered, hearing a small hum of agreement coming from Bono.

Then you saw him heading into your direction.

"Double shit," You heard Bono mumble causing you to bite your lip, trying to prevent yourself from smiling.

"Y/N. Bono. Good Morning," Toto nodded his head in greeting.

You smiled up at him, "Morning, boss, feeling positive about today?"

Bono sighed from behind you which caused you to internally wince at your own words, now realising that might not have been a good question to ask.

"Yeah," Toto looked between the pair of you suspiciously. "Are you?"

"Very," you tried to sound convincing, "I’m sure George is going to drive like it’s his last race and if not then I’ll boot him up the arse."

Toto looked at you amused, "I believe you."

After he walked away you turned to Bono with a pained look on your face meanwhile he was trying not to fall into laughter. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

He laughed straight in your face as you sighed at yourself. "How an I supposed to talk to him normally when all I want to say to his face is ‘hey, heard about your divorce, that sucks and now everyone thinks you can’t keep a wife’."

"Yeah don’t say that," Bono grimaced at your words.

Everything was real now, it had been real for a while but now the news was out for everyone to gossip about.

Things hadn’t been right for a long time between him and Susie and whilst there hadn’t been any constant arguing or disloyalty between the two of them, there hadn’t been much else either.

You’d have thought working within the same industry would have built an understanding between them about their schedules and commitments and it had in the beginning but as formula one became more popular, their lives had only gotten busier to the point they hardly saw each other and even when they did it was only to ensure Jack was getting enough quality time with both of his parents, it was as though they had been coparenting with each other whilst they weren’t even split.

A year ago they had accepted the inevitable fate of their marriage and had been figuring out the logistics of their divorce but just like they had kept their struggles silenced, they had kept the news of their parting silent too.

But it had been over a year now and quite frankly the fake shows they were putting on were getting exhausting, they were both moving on and pretending to still be a happily married couple wasn’t doing well in helping them in the process.

Toto had found a particular thing that hadn’t allowed him to dwell in the sadness of his private life. Something, or someone, that didn’t even know how much they were helping him.

You.

Everyday you showed up to work with a smile on your face, eternally grateful for everything life had offered you. You had achieved your dreams of working within formula one, it might not have been on the track driving at record breaking speeds like your father but you had one of the most important roles in the team and you enjoyed it.

Even today as he walked through the doors trying to ignore all of the sad, pathetic looks people were giving him and the onslaught of invasive questions people were attacking him with and even if they weren’t verbally shooting words his way, he could see the unasked questions in everyone’s eyes, you greeted him like you did every other day and whilst he knew you were aware of the news, nothing in your face showed the slightest bit of curiosity towards the end of his marriage and he couldn’t express how refreshing that was and how much he needed it.

Slowly, he found himself looking forward to the days ahead where he could bump into you and witness the smile on your face as he tried to ignore the way your energy made his heart feel funny and when Mick signed as the team’s reserve driver he would use the fact that he was ‘mentoring’ your little brother as an excuse to see you, knowing that naturally he would be around you more.

You jumped up from your seat in excitement as you saw both Mercedes cars pass the checkered flag securing second and third place behind Max, obviously.

"George you fucking beautiful human bring!" You shouted through the radio before turning to look for Toto, hoping that these results would have put a smile on his face only to find that he was already looking at you intensely, not even acknowledging the pats he was getting on his back by team members.

He winked at you? And sent you what seemed to be a grateful smile before turning away to celebrate with those around him. You were thankful he did so and didn’t see the pink hue you could feel spreading through your cheeks.

A sudden weight on your back didn’t allow you to dwell on it. Mick had launched himself at you in his exhilaration causing you to quickly latch onto his legs so you both didn’t go tumbling, you laughed and spun the pair of you around before putting him down so you could all go outside and gather in the pits to watch the podium.

You always went out of your way to be a kind person but the moment your team was standing under the podium all manners went out of the way and you barged your way to the front of the barriers to watch, mumbling half-hearted apologies, you knew no one would take your behaviour the wrong way as you’ve known them for so long.

Looking up, you were happy to see the smiles on Lewis and George’s faces, tough seasons can really take a told on the mental health of the drivers and it can be easy to lose motivation, especially when you were part of a team that was so used to winning but they looked as happy as ever now and it made all of the hard work that everyone had put in worth it.

Two hands clamped down on your shoulders startling you, followed by the feeling of a firm chest being pressed up against your back. You looked up and saw Toto but he wasn’t looking at you, he kept his gaze up on the podium and the happiness on his face hadn’t subsided so you didn’t question it and turned back to the celebrations.

His behaviour was really confusing you and you wanted to talk to him about it but decided to push it away for another day.

His behaviour hasn’t been limited to that day alone.

The entire season has been filled with soft touches from him, from a small brush of his hand against your back as he walked past or light touches of your hips to guide you to the side when you were in his walk way.

Let’s not forget about the way he started to look at you. Toto’s stare was always intense but now you couldn’t ignore the soft shine his eyes held as he looked at you.

You hoped you weren’t reading too much into things otherwise that would be embarrassing but you couldn’t stop noticing the little things he would do and what was even worse was the way these things were effecting you.

These touches would leave your skin feeling tingly and your head fuzzy to the point your mind just turned blank and now whenever he was so much as in the same room as you, your mind became hyper-fixated on his presence to the point it felt like you were compelled to constantly glance in his direction.

You had worked for him for nearly eight years and not once had you even considered looking at him in any other way other than as your boss and a friend.

You acknowledged that he was handsome and had the charisma to match but you had never been attracted to him up until now, how was this year any different to the last seven?

Hands slamming down into your desk startled you from your thoughts, you looked up wide eyed at the grinning face of your younger brother causing you to grumble in annoyance and throw the pen that was sitting on your desk at him.

"What’s wrong with your face?" Mick easily dodged your attack and asked.

"What do you mean?" You asked.

"My big sister always has a smile on her face and for the last twenty minutes you’ve been sat there staring at nothing with a frown on your face."

"Nothing," you muttered, turning back to your laptop screen that had long since shut off.

"Right," Mick replied sarcastically, "Come on, tell me what’s wrong."

You pursed your lips as you debated telling him or not. "You promise not to tell anyone?"

Mick’s face lost its teasing look as he realised you were actually troubled. "Of course." He replied sincerely.

You hesitated for a moment longer before asking "have you noticed that Toto has been acting strange lately?"

Mick looked at you surprised for a moment before smirking and nodded, "you mean the fact that the entire season he’s been staring at you like you’re the finest piece of meat he’s ever seen?" He asked teasingly.

"I wouldn’t have worded it that way but yeah," you responded.

"Then yes, I’m surprised it took you this long to acknowledge it."

You shook your head, "I noticed it at the beginning of the season but I thought I was imagining it and now I can’t stop noticing the fact that he-"

"Fancies the hell out of you?" Mick finished, a shit eating grin on his face.

You groaned and placed your head against your desk. "This is wrong, he’s my boss!"

"Tell me about it, he’s mine too and he fancies my sister!"

"Stop saying he fancies me!" You told him resulting in him just laughing at you. "Seriously Mick, what am I supposed to do?"

Mick sighed and looked at you seriously, "Do you like him?"

"I dont know," you replied honestly, "before this season I wouldn’t have even looked at him as anything but my boss and a friend but now he keeps looking at me and taking any opportunity to touch me and it’s confusing me."

Mick pulled an uncomfortable face at your words but gave you some advice. "Then do nothing until you know for sure."

You nodded and he smiled before walking around your desk and wrapping you in a tight hug which was more like a headlock but it was a hug nonetheless.

"Smile! We’re in Abu Dhabi and we’re partying tonight," he fake cheered as he walked away causing you to laugh at his behaviour.

And that’s exactly what you did. It had been a tough season for Mercedes, the team hadn’t nearly performed as well as they were used to but through a lot of hard work the season had ended on a high note and and no one was going to dwell on this years difficulties tonight.

You were definitely allowing yourself some freedom tonight to drink away and forget about the confusing thoughts that had been swimming around in your head all season.

The club was dark except for the colourful flashing lights that were roaming the entirety of the room that the FIA had rented out for all of the f1 teams celebrating tonight. You were already feeling more relaxed from the three drinks you hadn’t wasted time on consuming and had dragged poor Bono, who had zero rhythm, to the dance floor.

The man looked traumatised as he simply stood there awkwardly with you holding onto his hands, swaying his arms to try and encourage him to dance and have a bit of fun.

You kept him there for an hour before eventually taking pity on him and letting him go, you walked over to the bar to get another drink, not seeing the person approaching you until he was right beside you.

"You look lovely."

You turned to your right in surprise, Toto was mimicking your stance, leaning his side against the bar as he looked into yours eyes. "Thank you," you replied, a little shocked at his words.

"I see you were having fun with Bono," he commented absentmindedly.

You laughed, "Me? Yes. I don’t think he was having as much fun as I was."

"He’s not much of a dancer," Toto smirked.

"Oh, I know. He can’t move to save his life but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try."

The bartender placed your drink in front of you and you took a sip after giving him a thanks. "Have you been having fun?" You asked.

Toto tapped his fingers against the bar top and signed. "As much as I can after the shit season we’ve had."

"We’ll be better next year," you replied confidently.

He simply nodded in response, dragging his gaze down your body and back up again.

The feeling of his eyes trailing you left a burning heat on your skin and an unfamiliar fluttering in your stomach.

"I like this dress," he told you, nodding at the tight fabric that clung to your figure.

"I got it yesterday," you knew he didn’t care but for some reason you felt inclined to share that information with him, fighting the urge to look away and hide a smile.

"You picked wisely," he immediately responded and this time you didn’t fight the smile, his smooth responses settling within you exactly how he wanted.

"I’m glad you like it," your voice was quiet in the midst of the loud music and voices but it didn’t prevent him from hearing you words.

The way he smirked down at you made you feel much smaller than you were, the idea of how his stature and strength would help with the power he held over you made you burn with need and the want to find out for yourself.

You huffed out a breath.

You needed another drink.

You threw your head back into the pillows and gasped as Toto thrusted into you, pulsating pleasure rushing through your body with every movement.

You didn’t know how you got to this point, the night was a haze of drinking, close dancing and longing looks but the one memory that stood out was the warmth of Toto’s hands against your hips, after that everything blurred up until this moment.

Your arm wrapped around the back of his neck, your hand burying itself into his hair as you tried to ground yourself but you were hopeless within the haze of his kisses against your throat and hands holding your thighs spread for him.

"Toto!"

His breath was heavy against your skin. "You feel so good, schatz." The guttural groan he released sent you feral, you tightened your grip on him and pulled him closer so your chests pressed against each other.

Your vision went white as Toto just grazed that sweet spot inside you with one particularly hard thrust before he angled his hips in a way that with each bruising snap of his hips he made, the tip of his cock would brush against you just right.

As you felt yourself approaching your release, your back arched and the air remained trapped in your lungs, your grip tightened on Toto’s hair causing him to groan into your neck while your other hand shot up behind you and grabbed onto the headboard.

Just as you were at the precipice of your release, Toto reached down and circled your clit with his fingers providing the last bit of stimulation needed for you to let go and dive into a river of overwhelming pleasure.

The sight of your face completely blissed out made Toto’s cock harden more inside of you, he continued to thrust and work you through your orgasm whilst chasing his own, chasing his release as he felt his body fill with an indescribable need to continue rutting into you.

The groan of relief he let out followed by a warmth in your core brought you back to reality, Toto allowed his body to collapse onto your own and simply lay there as he caught his breath and recovered from his own orgasm.

Your hand continued to run through his hair, grounding his mind to reality and encouraging him back from his high.

Moments later, Toto removed himself from you and curled up behind you, wrapped an arm across your stomach and pulled you into his chest.

Both still feeling the haze of the alcohol in your systems, no words needed to be spoken between the pair of you as you both succumbed to much needed sleep.

You woke up feeling as though your brain was swelling beyond the capacity of your skull and dehydrated to the point you felt like you could drink about forty litres of water.

Every part of your body ached as you moved beneath the covers, flashes of last night flickered through your mind causing you to groan at the reminder of your drink choices.

You were definitely regretting it now.

A particular memory caused you to pause and look beneath the sheets, grimacing as you realised you were naked.

Then you froze, Toto.

Your head shot to the side and instead of laying your eyes upon your boss’ 6ft5 frame you were greeted by an empty half of the bed with only crumpled white sheets.

Your heart dropped as you looked around the room, there was no indication that anyone else had been here but the ache between your legs made it very clear that last night did in fact happen.

He had left.

After an entire season of fighting with your feelings and the way he made you feel, you had given in to him only for him to leave.

You felt sick and dirty and disgusting and used.

You pulled yourself into the shower and tried to to push down the need to cry but you were filled with an overwhelming sense of betrayal and couldn’t stop the rogue fear that fell down your cheek.

Waiting to board the plane back to England, you looked down at your phone, you had a feeling Toto was already there by now and you had messaged him ages ago but no response.

Had you been crazy believing that he could have feelings for you?

You were so mad at yourself for being as affected as you were by his actions, it felt like someone had your heart in their fist and found amusement in squeezing it, filling you with the need to just let go and allow your emotions to flow freely.

You didn’t need to be back at the factory until after Christmas so you went straight home and unpacked your bag before repacking to go and spend your time off in Switzerland with your family, Toto still hadn’t responded and you were positive he was just ignoring you now and you didn’t try to get a response.

You’d deal with that after Christmas.

Normally you’d wait a week or two after the season ended to go back home but you really had no reason to stay, you’d changed your mind on attending the FIA awards which had confused Mick when you told him but he could tell something was wrong and chose not to pry.

You seriously didn’t think the year could get worse, you were so wrong.

The last three weeks in Switzerland had been hell to put it lightly, Christmas was just around the corner but it was hard to be excited when you had caught the sickness bug, the amount of time you spent in bed throwing up was disgusting at this point and the coddling of your family wasn’t helping.

You knew they loved you but you wish they’d just leave you alone to wallow in misery.

Toto was still a lingering thought in the back of your mind and it was only adding to how rubbish you felt but you hadn’t made any other attempt to get in touch, he hadn’t tried either so you knew where you stood with him and that was enough.

New years had passed and you were now back in England to go back to work, you had never dreaded going to work in all the years you’d worked for Mercedes so the unsettling feeling in your stomach was new.

But that could also just be nausea.

You still hadn’t completely recovered from your sickness over the holidays, you were no longer bed bound but the urge to throw up and the loss of appetite was still there, the loss of weight was visible in the sickly paleness of your face so you had booked a doctors appointment for the upcoming Friday.

Your stomach churned as you walked through the doors of the Mercedes headquarters, as the daughter of Michael Schumacher you got a lot more attention in the building as you would’ve if you were just a race engineer so the nods from almost everyone as you walked in weren’t strange to you but the sympathetic looks were.

You hoped it was just because you looked as if you hadn’t seen sun for the past ten years.

Deciding to stop by hospitality on the way to your office for a bottle of water, you paused in the doorway at the sight of Toto and didn’t hesitate to turn right back around before your mind even processed his presence.

You got a few funny looks by the people in there but you truly didn’t care.

It stayed like that for the rest of the week, whenever you found yourself in the same room as your boss there was no time wasted before you left even if there were still things needed to be done in that room, you didn’t even try to be subtle about it either.

As soon as he entered the room you immediately took your leave, it was rude but you couldn’t find it within yourself to care and you doubted he cared either.

You had taken the day off work today to attend your doctor’s appointment so thankfully you didn’t need to waste your efforts avoiding him.

"Symptoms are nausea, sickness and weight loss," The doctor listed and you nodded in clarification.

She looked at you knowingly, "When did your last cycle finish?" She asked.

You pulled a face and leaned your head back in thought, it was probably before Vegas, but that was….. your face grew even paler than it already was.

"November," you whispered, your body filling with complete and utter horror.

The doctor’s face grew sympathetic at your reaction, "and you’ve had unprotected sexual intercourse since then?" She asked though your face gave her the answer.

You were at a loss for words so you resulted in nodding; the idea of you being pregnant only made you feel more sick.

"Okay," she replied softly, "We’ll have you take a test to confirm."

You didn’t even register the next ten minutes, lost in your own mind as an emptiness settled within you, your chest ached with pain at the idea that your whole life could be changed in just a few short minutes.

"Miss Schumacher, are you okay?" The doctor asked worriedly.

You snapped back to reality and nodded numbly.

"The test came back positive, Y/N, so I’ll refer you to a midwife and during this time you should think about what you want to do, okay?"

How you didn’t crash on the way home was a miracle because you definitely weren’t concentrating, you carried your body straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, you looked like hell.

Just the sight caused your eyes to well up and this time you didn’t fight the emotions, you welcomed the tears and allowed the pain to consume you, the pain of realising just how alone you were in this moment.

You slid down against the bathroom door and curled yourself into a ball, buried your face into your knees and sobbed until you no longer could.

The weight in your chest was still present as you walked into work the following Monday but you no longer had any tears to spare, you had made up your mind about what your future would consist of and today would mark the beginning of it.

Knocking on the door to Toto’s office, you waited for confirmation to enter and he clearly hadn’t anticipated you on the other side from the look of surprise on his face but you didn’t mention it and closed the door behind you.

"We need to talk," you wasted no time in pleasantries and sat down in the seat opposite him.

"Is there a problem with the car?" He asked, his formal tone cut through you like a knife but you refused to show the effect it had.

You wouldn’t have thought the pair of you were friends just two months ago.

"There’s nothing wrong with the car," you told him.

"What do we need to talk about then?" He asked.

He was royally pissing you off with the way he was pretending to be ignorant. "We need to talk about what happened between us-"

"This is unprofessional," he interrupted and you scoffed in disbelief.

"Unprofessional?" You laughed in his face. "Do you know what else in unprofessional? Sleeping with your employee."

His face dropped at the bluntness of your words, "look, you shouldn’t be bringing private matters into the workplace."

"How else am I supposed to bring them up? Over text message where I never get a response?" You looked at him incredulously. "This is important-"

"I don’t want to hear it, Y/N," he cut you off harshly. "What happened between us shouldn’t have happened, it was a moment of weakness and it will never happen again."

You looked at him stone faced before nodding, "fine." You got up from your seat and left without another word, not bothering closing his door.

You didn’t go to your office, instead you went to HR.

Walking past the different offices you went straight for the head of HR. "Chloe?" You knocked on the door quietly, opening it once you received a response.

She smiled at you in greeting, "Y/N, can I help you with something?"

You nodded softly and sat down on the sofa she had against the wall. "How many holidays do I have?"

She looked at you suspiciously, "All of them, you didn’t put one in for Friday so that went unpaid."

"Okay," you muttered under your breath, "I want to cash them all in, starting from tomorrow."

"What?" She looked at you shocked. "Are you sure? If there’s something going on we can figure out a better solution for you."

You smiled and shook your head, "Uhm no I’m sure, I want to use them all and then after that I’ll be taking early maternity leave."

Chloe’s eyes widened in shock. "Wow, okay, congratulations."

"Thanks, I want to spend my pregnancy in Switzerland so you won’t see me around."

You could see that she had questions but didn’t ask them and you appreciated it, "I understand, I’m happy for you Y/N, I’ll get it all sorted for you."

"Great," you stood up and headed towards the door.

"Y/N?" You turned around, Chloe looked at you sincerely, "Give me a call if you need someone to talk to, yeah?"

You probably wouldn’t but you nodded and left.

To say Toto was surprised when he found out they were down their usual race engineer for the season was an understatement.

It was completely unexpected and he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy about it, George was not at all in agreement to having a new voice in his ear.

It wasn’t even for a couple races either, it was for the entire season.

No one in the team had any information on what had happened except two people, Mick and Chloe.

No one could ask Mick because he had left to do the world endurance championship and when Toto had went to ask Chloe all he got was a shrug and words that sounded as though they’d been read from the companies handbook.

"It’s against an employee’s confidentiality rights to discuss the matters with you, even if you are the boss, all I can tell you is she’ll be back at work next year."

Meanwhile, in Switzerland you were slowly but surely feeling much better.

You were putting the situation between you and Toto behind you, you were recovering and as you did, your bump grew and the sight made you smile.

The horror and fear you felt when you found out about your pregnancy had dissipated weeks ago, leaving you filled with excitement and love for the journey you had ahead of you.

With your mother and sister around you, the loneliness you felt had evaporated as well.

You were doing good and felt amazing and that’s all that mattered right now.

[gremlins-hotel]

From the notes of Capt. Alfred Jones: "Davie was a bus and the 'Flying Fortress' moniker seemed to pass her by, but it was a ship with a brave crew. The trudge of getting back to England from enemy territory is a story for another day. I miss her and sometimes I miss the boys we lost that day."

-✪- -✪- -✪-

B-17F "Dear Davie": *U.S. Army Model B-17F-65-BO Air Corps Serial No. 42-29670 Delivered Cheyenne 31/1/43; Pueblo 18/2/43; Salina 15/2/43; Brookley 19/3/43; Smoky Hill 23/3/43; Dow Field 18/4/43. Assigned to the 333rd Bomb Squadron/94th Bomb Group [TS-L] "DEAR DAVIE" 22/4/43; Missing in Action near Hamburg 25/7/43 with Alfred "Comet" Jones, **Co-Pilot: Daryl "Speed" Reed, Navigator: Richard Reed, Bombardier: Charlie Marstaller; Radio Operator: Johnathan Graves, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Clyde "Pepsi" Ray, Ball Turret Gunner: William Ortlieb, Waist Gunner: Leslie Lipsey, Waist Gunner: Paul Rapoport, Tail Gunner: Thomas Pugh (6 Killed in Action); "DEAR DAVIE" lost to flak/anti-aircraft fire, crashing near Uetersen, 15 miles NW of Hamburg, Germany.

-✪- -✪- -✪-

[nerd things & acknowledgements below cut]

Notes on the B-17F... The B-17F was an upgrade of the previous E model, with several notable changes: A one- or two-piece plexiglas nose cone, as opposed to the ten-paneled cone of previous versions. Reinforced landing gear allowed for a greater maximum payload, from 4,200 lb (1,900 kg) of ordnance to 8,000 lb (3,600 kg). Flight and combat range of the F model was improved by 900 mi (1,400 km) with the addition of nine self-sealing rubber fuel cells in the wing root, aka, "Tokyo tanks". The F model was generally characterized by being tail-heavy - which lead to part failure - and woefully undefended from the front; the early F models had no front-facing armament, leaving a 60° blind spot to the direct front of the aircraft - a flaw which was exploited by German pilots, who held air superiority. Later F models would see a list of possible available modifications (factory and field) such as inserting two .50 caliber machine guns into the nose cone to solve the blind spot. Other modifications to later F models were bulged cheek turrets, as opposed to the window-mounted guns of earlier iterations, and the available addition of the iconic "Bendix" chin turret. The chin turret is far more common on the subsequent G "gunship" variant. ("Dear Davie" is an early F model without the nose mount, bulged cheeks, or chin turret.)

*This model production block, serial no., and fate are borrowed from real-life B-17F #42-29670, "Thundermug." "Thundermug" was an aircraft that originally served in the 333rd Bomb Squadron/94th Bomb Group alongside my great-grandfather and his usual steed, "The Gremlins Hotel." It was transferred to the 544th BS/384th BG, at which point it went Missing in Action over Hamburg from flak/aa-fire; 8 of its crew became POWs while 2 were KIA. I have had the honor to speak to descendants of both of its crews and help them research "Thundermug"; I wish to voice a mere glimpse of their stories in a unique way.

**All names of Alfred's crew are either cobbled-together family names throughout our history here or entirely fictitious - though some were inspired by real people whom I grew up with stories of. All inspirations were individuals that lived good lives post-war.

[blorbocedes]

Why is there such intense sexual tension between gp and max

I really think the meat of the dynamic is max can trust him to be honest with him, and in turn max can be his most unfiltered honest self.

the driver and race engineer dynamic is a very intimate one. if you think of the car and the driver as the horse, the raw power that wins the races, then your race engineer is your rider -- calm and firm in guiding you to victory. f1 is a huge team production, each driver has a whole factory of people behind him making sure everything goes smoothly. but during the race the driver's only direct connection to the team is the voice in his ear, relaying strategy, warning them of other cars and track limits, encouraging them and even admonishing. this is the man you trust with your life, literally, coming out of blind spots like out of the monaco tunnel and trusting your engineer to tell you whose behind you.

with max and GP, GP's been his race engineer since 2016. that's a very long time and a very long relationship. max is obviously redbulls golden boy and literally everyone's job in the team is to keep him happy, from his tp to helmut it's all praise (and he's doing an outstanding job to get it), but GP in a way is the only person who isn't and by the function of his job can't be a yes man to max. he has to relay him the truth. you'll see GP isn't often impressed by max, and even bets against him making pole. The guy who knows your data and braking points and how you keep crossing over track limits isn't gonna be too impressed by you even if you're god's gift to racing. He makes max earn his post race praise. He's even curt, and outright direct when max is whining on radio. Likewise, max knows he can be aggressive in high pressure situations, yelling at him to not talk to him in the braking zone and that GP can take handle him. There's trust in that too. And if he feels he went too far, he will sheepishly get GP ice cream post race. Their dynamic on radio is one that makes us the viewers we're witnessing a couple having a domestic tiff. that's because GP gives back as good as he gets. He doesn't coddle max, if max makes the wrong call then GP will call him out on it. my favourite radio is when max was yapping why didn't we do etc etc and GP was straight up do you want to switch jobs? how about you do your own next lap.

this is the man you can be your worst self in high stress situations to and he will take you as you are. that's basically a marriage.

obviously despite all the headache max causes, GP loves working with him. he literally said max is the driver he wants to retire with. he has a photo with max in his living room, instead of his wife 😭 likewise, max literally has a clause in his contract that he gets GP. max is someone who is loyal to a fault and GP's been with him since his very first f1 win. that's his emotional regulator baldie.

the sexual tension comes from the fact that GP is 17 years older than him and max wants to get rawed by him 🧑🏻‍🦲❤️😋

[yourtongzhihazel]

Why I hate the '89 天安门广场 protests

In 1991, the Soviet Union was illegally dissolved. A few years later, the piece-meal destruction of Yugoslavia ended in war and genocide. The western, liberal/neoliberal world celebrated their destruction of state socialism. What had they accomplished?

CW: child prostitution, drug use, violence, death

Child prostitution in post-USSR Russia during the 1990s

The Children of Leningradskiy

Homeless children drug use

1993 constitutional crisis protests

These videos are about Russia only. There were 15 republics in the USSR. The dissolution of the USSR was an unmitigated humanitarian and economic disaster. All standards of life metrics from income to lifespan dropped to the floor. The GDP of Russia plummeted. Billionaires, bureaucrats, and especially foreign capital snatched up formerly Soviet state assets for pennies and reduced millions to poverty and destitution. At least 12 million people died as a DIRECT result of the dissolution of the USSR. Look at the former USSR: 15-20 countries (depending on who you ask) fighting each other in perpetual regional warfare. The concrete and cement plants in Turkmenistan sit empty and decaying. The Ukrainian shipyards on the Black sea, too.

So why bring up the USSR or Yugoslavia at all? Because they are a case and point in why you cannot let attempted color revolutions and liberalization protests take hold. The imperialists found that by employing this trick, of 'peaceful protests' they can destabilize then split apart nations then rob them blind. When a color revolution succeeds, people suffer on an unbelievable scale. The protestors in the USSR during glasnost wanted liberalization of the economy, freedom, democracy, so on and so forth, the usual western imperialist dog whistles. What they got was Yeltsin (and later Putin), poverty, and death.

Thankfully, the color revolution in China failed. It was crushed. so now we have a compare-and-contrast game (how fun!!!) between the handling of color revolutions in the USSR and in China. The MATERIAL EFFECT of the color revolutions in the former Soviet-bloc was the destruction of state socialism, the robbing of state assets, the destitution of the whole population, the penetration of foreign capital, the splitting of a once unified country into warlord states. On the other hand, the Chinese state remained and by 2020, eliminated absolute poverty.

IF the protestors had gotten what they wanted, IF the Chinese state was destroyed, we would see the EXACT same thing that happened to Yugoslavia, the USSR, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Albania, and so on and so on repeat here. Except on an UNIMAGINABLE scale. 1.1 BILLION people were living in China in 1990. 1.1 BILLION reduced to poverty like you see in those videos, if not worse. Hundreds of billions of dollars of state assets in banks, factories, military, science, would have been stolen. Every bit of progress that Mao had accomplished would be rolled back to line the pockets of western imperialists. The country would most definitely be split up into warring regions, Xinjiang, TIbet, the Northeast, the Southwest, as much carnage as can be wrought to a people. THIS is the material reality that would greet the Chinese people if the '89 protestors got what they wanted.

They were chanting for child prostitution. For mass slavery. For mass poverty. For mass starvation. They stood on the side of the most evil entity to ever grace this planet. I will never forgive them.

Some reading on the '89 protests

[cawsceries]

your ocs 🔫 tell me everything and anything you wanna share

HI CRYPT i have a lot :]

so i have four main guys with an actual storyline (avry arlo rass rocks). technically five but the fifth doesn't have a name yet so we're not talking about her. and then i have funky little guys (moth, some other clones who i havent posted, and my newest guys cobra and lio!!)

avry is in her early twenties! she was knighted roughly a month before the clone wars began and wasn't supposed to lead a battalion at first. the jedi master who was going to lead the 409th battalion was several weeks away from kamino as the clone wars started, though, and avry was temporarily assigned to the 409th because she's closer and there isn't time to wait.

this temporary assignment is when she first met arlo, who at the time was a captain. in their third or fourth battle, the LAAT/i that was carrying arlo was shot down and his helmet was knocked off in the crash. avry lifted the rubble of the LAAT/i off of the survivors of the crash using the force-- if she hadn't been there, arlo probably would've bled out from his head injury before anyone managed to get to him.

shortly after this, the jedi master in charge of the 409th finally arrives! she's an older rodian training her second padawan, rass. she and avry's master are padawan siblings. avry leaves the 409th in the jedi master's capable hands and is assigned on several small relief missions.

of course, a few months later the 409th has an encounter with general grievous. the jedi master does not survive, but she does make sure rass will make it out alive.

avry is in the area, so she returns to the 409th. rass is supposed to go back to the jedi temple but they can't fathom leaving all of the clones they've befriended and fought beside-- they've already lost their master. so avry (impulsively) offers to take rass on as her own padawan.

and. well. this solves some problems. this also creates more problems. avry is already absolutely terrified about being responsible for a battalion. now she's also responsible for rass as well, who's basically her little sibling. she's not prepared for either of these things, but she's good enough at faking it so she's not going to think about it too much because she might break down and there isn't time for that. she can process everything when the war is over and everything goes back to normal.

she's very good at convincing herself that things will go back to normal.

arlo is doing better overall-- he's been promoted to commander (the original commander died a few weeks after avry left). he has a lot of confidence in avry. between avry saving his life early on, and the jedi master's competence and poise, he's a little ridiculously loyal to the jedi.

he's also a little bit blind to avry's flaws.

hold on. about arlo's pronouns: she is not thinking about her gender in universe until pretty late in the clone wars. i swap between she and he because she will end up using she/he pronouns.

rass meets rocks when their first master is still alive, while scouting out a droid factory. rass is leading rocks' squad and there are droids coming their direction. rass asks the clones if any of them have something that rass can throw to distract the droids. rocks hands over a rock. a few minutes later rass asks for another object. rocks hands over another rock. he has at least ten more.

rass nearly compromises the mission by laughing at the fifth rock produced. after this rass and rocks are inseparable. rocks, who is about an inch and a half shorter than the average clone, is delighted that he's no longer the shortest person he knows.

rass and rocks are my beloveds i love them dearly.

i also have a fair amount of info about avry here and some assorted info about all of these guys here

beyond my "main" four, i have moth (can be summed up by this and this) and cobra (very new guy. hes living his best life. having an affair with lio.) and lio (full name lio veniid. senator. a bit pretentious. not very significant politically. extremely disappointed by cobra's lack of appreciation for wine, has made it his goal in life to change this. its not working very well so far but they're both having a great time)

also fun fact: i have a curse in which i am incapable of drawing arlo's scar correct on any full piece. it's on the left side of her head. (forgot it) (flipped the canvas too many times)

[eyeodyssey]

When it comes to books that act as ephemera for the Tokyo Grand Guignol’s plays, most collectors would seek out items like the retrospective 2-MINUS magazine Ameya Style or the volumes of Theater Book and June that featured contemporary articles about the TGG’s plays. The information included in these books is incredibly valuable as many production stills, descriptions and even whole screenplays were printed in these publications. That isn’t to downplay the importance of other adjacent books though, such as the Suehiro Maruo magazine Only You, which features a digest version of Galatia Teito Monogatari’s screenplay. There are even more magazines that have since been shrouded in obscurity, two of which acted as the direct source of several of the most iconic images affiliated with the Tokyo Grand Guignol. The above image is from the October 25th, 1985 volume of Emma magazine. My knowledge of these publications is pretty much nonexistent outside of the fact that on the auctions I found this (and the next featured book) on, both volumes were listed as “photo magazines” or something like that. They definitely contain pictures, that’s for certain. Either way, this photo was a specially shot production still derived loosely from a scene in the TGG’s first play, Mercuro (1984). Despite the close association, this photo is usually given with the play, there was no scene in the original screenplay where Ameya emerges from Kyusaku Shimada’s torso. It was said on the Twitter account TGG_Lab that this scene was based on a variation of the play that was performed at an event hosted by Peyote Workshop known as End of the Century Live, said version of Mercuro being a loose descendent of the iconic televised performance of the play that was shown on Tokumitsu Kazuo's TV Forum. Both renditions were heavily abridged variants of Mercuro’s most iconic special effects scenes, with the televised version specifically being a crossing of the openings of act one and act two. One thing of note is that near the end of the article on the side, a special teaser is given for the upcoming December 1985 debut of Litchi Hikari Club.

The next photo spread is of a similarly iconic production still, this one being a direct capture of (what was likely) the opening of the first act of Litchi Hikari Club. In said opening scene, an execution is conducted to the tune of the S.P.K. song Culturcide wherein the light club hang a student who crossed their strict rules. This student is apparently different from the one who is blinded by a spotlight later on in the same act. This photo is from the April 11th, 1986 volume of Focus, a magazine that happens to contain a fairly interesting coincidence. In my prior essay regarding the parallels between Litchi Hikari Club and the futurist movement, I mention how Ameya at one point cited an airplane accident as a direct influence for Litchi’s story. According to his recollections, the accident occurred not long after the televised performance of Mercuro, which was in 1985. While I originally had a hunch while writing the essay, I’m fairly certain the airline accident he’s referring to was the Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crash on the 12th of August, 1985. The time frame matches Ameya’s descriptions, and to this day it’s still recalled as being one of the deadliest airline accidents in history. In the same volume of Focus that this image came from, an article is featured a few pages earlier that concerns the accident. A description of Litchi's opening can be read in this excerpt from a lengthy Twitter thread by user Shoru Toji where she gives an in-depth description of the play's 1986 rerun and the subculture around it: I saw Litchi Hikari Club on March 27th, 1986, the first day of its rerun, at a live house called Super Loft KINDO. It was a renovated iron factory in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The place was previously destroyed by Hanatarash with a live set where he went through the space with a bulldozer. If I recall correctly, the hall was illuminated by fluorescent lights from a high ceiling with exposed steel frames. The walls were painted black. The curtain separating the audience seating from the stage was a set of white sheets, like the kind you’d find in a hospital. There was no announcement when the play was ready to begin. Instead, the fluorescent lights suddenly went out, and a set of speakers in the ceiling emitted hissing noises. The stage was dimmed to the opening queue of Culturcide from the Seppuku Dekompositiones EP, and I thought to myself “This is SPK!”. And with the sounds of synchronized stomping and a ringing flute, the curtains were drawn back to show the scene of a line of students marching through the darkness in single file with lights hoisted over their shoulders. The way the lights aligned in their rows reminded me of spotlights. They marched all about the stage, going right, left, forward and to the back, all at once in an orderly manner. They were taking orders from a man standing on a podium. That man was Tsunekawa in the role of Zera. He stood with an overhead spot bathing him in red light. He pointed in many directions, with the students loyally following each command he made. Eventually, the left side of the stage began to loudly rattle with the starting of a U-shaped quarry conveyor belt. Another student is carted into the stage from the belt, screaming “Please, don’t do it! Please, forgive me!” as he’s suspended upside down from the belt. The light club place their lights in the back of the stage and hang their first victim at the front with a chain.

Sources: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

[bad268]

hey lovely! hope your well.

I was wondering if you could do a Arvid Lindblad x reader story please?

I have a couple request if that's okay?

First

Arvid and Y/n both like each other, and Dino and the other drivers make a plan to get them together.

Second

Where the reader has curly hair and they try to show Arvid how to style his curls.

Third

Arvid and Y/n just being adorable, him being cliny, Arvid having to hold their hand, everyone bullying Arvid because of how whipped he is for Y/n

Thank you (sorry if its too much to ask!)

Love your written BTW!

Trio Shorts (Arvid Lindblad X Reader)

Fandom: RPF/F2/F3

Requested: Clearly (I did all three as shorts, I hope you like it, and thank you love <3) (Also, special gift since we're getting close to the follower celebration <3)

Warnings: None

POV: Second Person (You/your/They/them)

W.C. 1365

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Pinterest)

First (driver! Reader)

You were a last-minute addition to Prema, moving from FRECA to F3 after Gabriele had to leave the championship. You were nervous to meet your new teammate. You had raced against Arvid before, and you loved hanging around him in the Prema factory. You two were teammates in the Italian F4 championship before you split to FRECA while he did the UAE Championship. Dino, you had only heard of, so this would be the first time you met him.

You walked into the paddock early, probably earlier than you needed. It was the first time at this track, so you were going to need all of the help you could get. You got approval from the team to do an early track walk, so you were currently about to start it.

The plan was simple, do one lap, feeling the turns. Then the second lap would actually be you memorizing changes in the tarmac and thinking about the braking zones. You did not even make it to turn one of the first lap before someone cleared their throat behind you.

“Mind if I join?” They asked, causing you to turn and see Dino standing by the pitlane exit. You found out during that lap that Dino is quite the gossip person, so you two really hit it off. That was the start of your weekly paddock gossip session.

You two talked about anything from other driver’s personal business to engineers and team personnel. You even started jokingly shipping different drivers together. One day you joked that Dino and Sebastian would be a cute couple, so he thought that you and Arvid would be a better match. You went silent because you never wanted to admit those feelings, but clearly, other people noticed them. Dino stopped walking when he noticed you not laughing it off like you had both done before.

“Do you actually like him?” Dino asked.

“Is it that obvious?” You asked back nervously. That was all Dino needed to hear. He was already forming a plan to get you and Arvid together. The rest of the walk, though, Dino played it off as a random pairing since most of the others had been completely random too.

It wasn’t until nearly a month later that it was brought up again. It was the second to last race of the season, and you were told that there was an emergency meeting in the Prema facility, so you were on your way there.

However, Dino, Sebastian, Tim, and Luke had a plan. They told Arvid that they were setting him up on a blind date.

“Oh, is it with Y/n?” Arvid laughed as Tim handed him flowers, ones he recognized as your favorites, and Dino fixed his hair. Suddenly all of the guys stopped, causing Arvid to also stop laughing.

“No keep that energy!” Sebas said as he grabbed Arvid by the shoulders. “Yes, it’s Y/n but they don’t know it’s a blind date, so think of this as a push in the right direction.”

“They may or may not have said to me that they like you, so this is the solution,” Dino concluded with a clap. 

“It’s not like they’ll say no to a date,” Tim chuckled. “They said they were lonely last week.”

“You know, I don’t think this may have been the best option,” Arvid tried to interject.

“They would never say it to your face,” Luke said with an eye roll as he sat down. “Are you doing it or not?”

“We already made your reservations for their favorite place in the area,” Dino reasoned as he had a nervous smile, trying to convince Arvid.

“Plus, they’re waiting for you, so it would suck if you backed out now,” Sebas said, trying to push Arvid out of the room. “It’s rude to keep your date waiting. Have fun and thank us at the wedding!”

There’s no way he was turning this down.

~~

Second (curly hair! Reader)

“You have a bird’s next up there or what?” You asked as soon as soon as you saw his messy curls. They were normally all over the place, but now they were just frizzy, and they lost their form. His hair was still wet since he just got out of the shower, but even then, the curls were still crazy.

“What do you mean? This is what they’re always like,” He defended as he walked through the room, putting his clothes away. He had just returned from training in Milton Keynes, so it would make sense if he forgot to take care of his curls. Plus, you were the one to remind him most of the time, and you didn’t go.

“When you finish putting your stuff back, meet me on the bed,” You sighed as you walked into your ensuite to grab your spray bottle, curl cream, and a comb.  You made your way back to the room, setting the stuff off to the side, and putting a movie on the T.V. You sat crosslegged in the center of the bed as Arvid finally finished up and laid down down with his head in your lap. “I’m just gonna form your curls real quick, then we can go get dinner.”

“I’ll fall asleep.”

“Well, I’m not letting you leave this house looking like that.”

“Fair enough,” He chuckled as he reached to grab all of your supplies to hand them to you when you need them. “Spray first?”

“Just a little,” You said as you felt around his hair, “It’s still fairly wet, so we shouldn’t need to spray a lot.”

“Okay,” he responded as he sprayed the water around his head before handing you the curl cream. “Do you want to start mixing the cream while I comb this?”

“Look at you learning from the hundred billion times I’ve shown you how to care for your hair,” You teased as you leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead and grabbed the container. Arvid sat up a little to comb through his hair while you mixed through the cream. When Arvid was satisfied with his job, he laid back down again and handed you the comb. 

You parted a section and combed through it one more time to be sure, and then put the curl cream in it. You used your fingers to make sure the cream was evenly spread through his curls before twirling the hair between your fingers. Then, you unraveled it and moved on to the next section.

It was therapeutic for you, and for Arvid, too. You were able to mindlessly form his curls in no time. And Arvid was right. He did fall asleep.

~~

Third (established relationship!)

 “Arvid, I’m cold-” You didn’t even have to finish your sentence before he was taking his jacket off and putting it around your shoulders. You were sitting with a group of drivers outside before free practice, and it was a little colder than you prepared for. “Thank you love.”

“Anytime,” He replied, disregarding the laughs from the other drivers as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his side. Then he grabbed your hand to keep your fingers warm, as he said. 

“You’re a simp, Arvid,” Dino laughed when everyone calmed down.

“Do you have a significant other?” Arvid teased, causing everyone to laugh. “Huh, didn’t think so. When you get one, you can talk shit.”

“Arvid, that was rude,” You jabbed him in the ribs immediately, “Apologize.”

“Sorry, Dino,” Arvid groaned, glaring at Dino but his eyes melted when they fell on you. “Does that work?”

“Don’t ask me,” You replied simply, “I’m not the one you’re apologizing to. Ask Dino.”

“They’ve got you on a leash,” Dino laughed, “Anyways, I guess I can forgive you.”

“See?” Arvid gestured to you, “I’m forgiven.”

“Good for you,” You teased, patting his head before standing up. “I’m gonna go get a smoothie. Wanna come with?”

“Always,” Arvid said immediately, jolting up to follow your retreating figure as you didn’t wait up for him. 

“I swear,” Dino said to the group, “They are the cutest and most insufferable couple I’ve ever seen.”

~~~~~

© BAD268 2024. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[generalhumancloudalmond2]

Blindness

Platonic!Yandere!Paul Verlaine x Blind! Fem!Child!Reader

Going against his own plans, against his own nature, was unbearable for Verlaine, and yet that's exactly what he did to you. He planned to kill you in order to free his younger brother from the shackles of humanity and allow him to accept his true identity. However, this plan failed miserably when he saw you: a blind, defenseless child. You couldn't even figure out where to look because he roughly broke through the wall of the underground factory where you worked.

The way you looked around that day reminded him of himself. After all, in the past he was also blind in some sense, but even so, unlike you, he had power. That was the first time he made concessions to himself.

"If you obey me and voluntarily come with me, then I won't kill you."

Finally your eyes found him and your gaze was directed at him. You were shaking all over, and your ears were still buzzing, but afraid of losing your opportunity for life, you tried to keep the last pieces of calm and respond as quickly as possible. But your throat turned out to be dry, you coughed, and tears flowed from your eyes.

"Al...alrig...ht"

Suddenly you were grabbed by the arm just above the elbow and your first desire was to escape, but for your own good, you had to suppress this desire.

To date, you've been living in his hideout with him. You understood his presence by the smell of men's perfume, since Verlaine walked soundlessly, even for you. During this short period of time you have been here, you have practically not allowed yourself to walk around a new place. To be honest, you were even afraid to breathe loudly in front of him. Who knows what might come into his head?

He usually didn't talk to you much and only on business. However, everything changed dramatically when he made his decision and you don't like what he told you at all. After all, even knowing that it was a lie, you could not completely refute it, and his confident and at the same time soothing tone made you doubt everything that was obvious before.

"That's not true... Stop it... Please..."

"There's nothing shameful about it, Y/n, it can be sad to you, but it's true. You're just like me, like Chuuya, just not as successful."

"No... I have parents... There were parents... It seems to me...I don't have the ability and I... I..."

So many discrepancies, so many inconsistencies, and you still succumbed to his influence. First because you were afraid to contradict him, now because, knowing nothing about ability-derived life-form people, you stop to believe yourself.

"Y/n, I just want you to know your true face."

You feel his gloved hand touching your cheek and you shudder. It's not true, he's doing it on purpose.

You unsuccessfully try to pull away, but your cheek seems rooted to his palm, and even through the panic and emotions that overwhelmed you, you feel his heavy gaze very well.

"Please..."

"Y/n, you are my dear little sister and I will take care of you."

And if he can't be a part of your world, then he can force you to become a part of his lonely world.

[skribblezcorner]

Half-baked zosan fic idea

I will never get around to writing this so heres the shitty grammatically incorrect outline :pppp enjoy

~~~~~~

OK SO BASICALLY SANJI is very physical with everyone - hugging them, forehead kisses, ruffling their hair and kissing their hands n shit - but up until like after the timeskip hes never done it to zoro bc theyre like arch nemeses or whatevs.

One day after like WCI zoro is sleeping on and deck sanji reaches out and ruffles his hair and zoro is like WHATT. It activates so many things hes not prepared for. He goes stiff as a board and sanji backs offf

This happens a few more times - sanji bumps hips w/ zoro when he comes into the kitchen to steal booze and zoro has to act like nethings wrong this time but sanji notices and frowns at him like “tf is wrong with you” and zoro just takes the booze and leaves bc hes so awkward. I love him

Another time theyre at a bar and sanji is drunk and kicks his legs up into zoros lap. Zoro looks over at him and sanji’s making DEAD EYE CONTACT IN THE FACE while raising one eyebrow like.. “What are you gonna do about it/??” zoro doesnt move.

After that day in the bar whenever sanjis close to him he will js use zoro as a leg rest/stool for no apparent reason.

One day theyre exploring an island to go get groceries and some random dude tries to come after their bounty so they beat him up and then they wanna head back to the sunny.

zoro starts off in some random direction but then sanji’s like “thats not the way” and. Grabs. His hand. Like full on fingers intertwined and stuff and zoro just. Full on factory resets 

Sanjis like “wtf is wrong w/ u” for like the 2nd time now

Zoros like “why are u doing all this”

Sanjis says “what” and then zoro says “....touching me.”

and then sanji js looks at him so distraught and is like “sorry” and puts like 3 feet of distance in between them meanwhile Zoro has NO IDEA WHATS HAPPENING. So they walk back to the ship in tense silence and zoro is like ‘i did something wrong… i can feel it in my bones’

And sanji starts backing off after that. like he goes back to the way he acted pre-ts and zoro is now also distraught and sometimes he catches sanji looking at him very strangely (its cause hes YEARNING zoro open your eyes).

 like sanji doesnt even want to fight anymore and theyre both depressed womp womp

this goes on for like two weeks and then NAMI comes up to him and is like “what the FUKC did you do”

zoros like “wtf…. Are you yapping about” and namis like "Sanji is SO DEPRESSED WHAT DID YOU DO“

zoros like ”I DONT KNOWWWW????? WHY WOULD THAT EVER BE MY FAULT”

and then namis like “well there’s obvi something wrong and i will bet 2.5m beli it was YOUR FAULT so go fucking fix this you green-headed dunce.”

and then Usopp shouts from across the room “add the couples therapy bill to his debt” and nami laughs and is like “i totally should”

Zoros like. BACK UP “couples’ therapy????” and nami’s like “oh….OH” and then is like “WHAT ARE YOU BLIND???? HOW HAVE YOU NOT SEEN.”

and then zoros like “I THOUGHT THE COOK WAS STRAIGHTT”

and then Nami’ looks him directly in the eyes. “he wears 5-inch stilettos.”

Zoro’s like… “i thought those were for combat reasons” and nami smacks him upside the head and tells him to go apologize right tf now. Usopp solemnly agrees

That night zoro hears the clack of sanjis footsteps as he goes out to take watch.

Zoro finds him smoking a ciggie in the crows nest and sidles up to him and sanji is like surprised??? Hes like “hi” and tries to put distance between the two of them

Zoro. COMES CLOSER TO HIM. and sanji’s like “what are you doing”

zoro says “why didnt you tell me you were flirting with me” and sanji accidentally inhales his cigarette. Like it fully goes into his mouth and he hacks it back up over the railing of the ship while zoro js stands there. 

After Sanji is done dying he comes back to stand next to zoro and is like “the whole point is to kinda not tell the person”

and then zoros like oh. And then sanji says “well like i backed off so like dont bring it up-” and then zoro cuts him off and is like “I LIKED IT.”

Sanji freezes. Hes like “what…..?” and then zoros like “idk if youre gay or what but first of all if you liked me u could have just said it… but like im sorry i guess” and then he says “i didnt ask you to stop i just asked u why.”

and then sanji is like “so we can..???!?!” and is like gaping and pointing between the two of them and zoros like “yeah you stupid fuckign idiot” and sanji curses him out then kisses him on the mouth. They make out and then fuck in the crows nest duhhh

~~~~~~~~~~~~

i have serious writers block rn and this has been rotting in my google docs for like a month now.... you guys can have this version while i struggle through writing corset sanji for my next ACTUAL ficlet.

ALSO i do have an Ao3 now!! you can find the fics ive written here posted over there as well at SkribblezCorner !! okay bye

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Hello, Anon, this is your Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon™️. I am sorry to keep you waiting. As you’ve probably noticed, vinyl and non-resin dolls are usually not my forte. It took a while to dig up some information for you, but I hope to be able to answer your questions.

The advent of “Cheaper, affordable MJDs” didn’t come from the desire to make BJDs affordable. In fact, the technology that really elevated the production of this kind of MJDs started from what we understand as vinyl collectibles. These small figurines are made from a combination of PVC powders as well as a series of other emulsifiers, lubricators and activators (From the factory that produces them, here: http://www.dgzhonglinhb.com/news_content-859681.html ) Different companies have slightly different recipes, which would explain the different pliability of their final products. The technology was first created as a way to create memorabilia that are of limited edition and they were first considered as collectibles. They’re known internally as “Urbanvinyls” and include signed trinkets that can go for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Some examples would be KAWS, Kidrobot, Tokidoki, Bearbrick etc.

With the rise of “Made in China” soft power, the internally patriotic sentiment had fostered local artist-designed vinyl collectibles, which had eventually ballooned into the blind box craze that we see in the last 4-5 years. It also opened a door for vinyl/PVC based MJDs. I do not think they were specifically made to usurp the DD/SmD market, but since “moe sells”, a lot of the new doll companies go with the cute, anime-inspired aesthetic while the blind boxes cater to more design elements. These newly designed MJDs tend to be small, usually 1/12 and 1/6; larger ones exist, but they are rare. In all, they are created to be much more like their direct inspiration, the “blind box collectibles” than what we would usually consider to be articulated dolls. It also meant their target demographic is very different as well. The lower price point allows more people to impulse buy out of FOMO; these are things you buy on a whim instead of saving up to buy.

In this arena, Imómó is not alone in terms of aesthetic, pricing or packaging. Other companies in this group include Hüa Jüan, Tïny Fóx, UFdóll, CNDóll, Kimdóll, Pópmilk, Mónst and the upcoming YünLai/LückyDoll, etc (but not YMY – who has lost a battle with Piccodo for copying their body design recently). These dolls are created with a higher number in circulation in mind – but still limited enough to stimulate the FOMO behaviour – with shared features (sharing bodies, design elements, etc). To keep the production cost down, these dolls would be considered rather threadbare compared to BJDs. I have seen box opening videos where the floating “blind box” heads were packaged in a brown shipping box and wrapped around in clear plastic bags with no other packaging material. The “accessories” for these dolls are usually close to none as well – no or very simple COAs, basic box, air-filled tubes instead of fabric cushions, etc.A snapshot in time in online stores shows that Imómó is definitely not an outlier in the new era of MJDs: https://weibo.com/1448114577/Nj9fqfog3

https://www.dollyteria.com/product-list/58?page=1

If there’s something that really made Imómó stand out, it was the rumours that spread within Chinese doll collectors earlier in the summer of 2023 about the company not issuing legitimate receipts (usually with the intention to cook their books to pay less in taxes). They accuse Imómó of being a “Three Nothings” company (no date of manufacture, no QC and no source factory) with really awful customer service. They had registered the company as an “overseas-based” one so they would be in a different tax bracket. Some collectors also accuse the owner and their family members infiltrating doll collector groups to hype up their own products and downplay the complaints. A popular agent, SWDólls, were also implicated in helping them to not issue traceable receipts. (Details and screen grabs can be found here: https://weibo.com/7303299294/N8lHE6wGE?type=repost ) I have also heard of owners who complain about the parts not fitting well, the seamlines were wide and uneven as well as other imperfections that should’ve never passed QC, if there was a QC.

I understand that most of us, who are looking in from the outside, would wholly welcome a new era of articulated dolls that are affordable. They are a great entry point for people who want to get into BJDs or just want to collect these dolls on their own. I personally think they are great the way they are, because they are starting to populate a brand-new market for people who like dolls in general. However, the first company that most folks encounter in this group was probably Imómó. I cannot comment on the accusations made by the Chinese collectors; all I can say is, I am hoping that the other named companies start to make headway into the overseas market. We’d been waiting.

Note: The write up here didn’t include previously existing vinyl dolls such as Azóne and Obitsü or the vinyl versions of resin dolls such as Kinókó Jüice and Püyüdolls. This write-up only includes MiC, PVC-based, original, MJDs. My understanding is that they are not on par with the company in question in terms of price range, target market and country of origin. I didn’t think they’d make for a fair comparison, but your mileage may vary.

~Anonymous

[lockboxbooks]

Overwhelmed 1C: Penny (RWBY) is ambushed by two rouge robots that fuck and infect her with a lust based virus.

Penny had been given a directive to explore a sealed section of an older wing of the Atlas RND division. The sole directive she was given was to collect data and blueprint material from sealed weapon files and to return to Central Command of the Atlesian Military Offices to present to Commanding Officer Ciel Soliel and Specialist Winter Schnee all the material she was able to de-scramble. She wanted to happily prove herself as a strong, driven, and utterly capable Android for her fellow soldiers and the commander in chief of Atlas' entire Military complex and centralized government.

Penny had few supplies as she made her way deep into the sealed RND division; including her weapon Floating Array, a collection of data storage devices, and a map of the sealed division with ear-marked locations of interest. Penny watched as both Ciel and Winter stood at the entrance of the RND division and waited until she had passed through to reactivate the doors; enclosing the redheaded android in a dark silence.

Penny had been able to scan through the documents related to the first RND division and why it had been sealed; most had been redacted with only those with Specialist Schnee's or General Ironwood's security clearance. But what she had been able to scrub from the redacted files was that she wasn't the first artificial lifeform that Atlas had created, but she was the first not to fail. Other attempts were plagued with infected code and it had been decided that they couldn't be allowed beyond the RND division lest they destroy Atlas' Information Technology platforms and super-structures.

Penny had been careful, shifting through the dark halls and large libraries of the RND division as she gathered the data Specialist Schnee and General Ironwood demanded she retrieve. Now it was time to return to the origin point and hand the data to her superiors. It was as she passed through what she believed was a shortcut, that Penny knocked over a chair with her curvy ass; causing a booming noise to fill the cavernous chamber. Penny started to run, knowing her position had been given away; stealth was no longer a viable option for her. If only she'd been built to be faster; just as she saw the hallway to the origin point she was tackled by two of the defective automatons.

The backpack containing Floating Array and the data was torn from her and thrown away into the darkness. The soft fabrics she was dressed in was ripped into tatters as the mad machines slapped their massive, throbbing cocks against her pale skin.

"P-please I-I can get you help." Penny pleaded with them but only saw hungry, vacant looks in their eyes. Whoever they had been before their code got corrupted were long gone. Now, they were just savage virus factories.

Penny tried to leave but the Android behind her gripped her arms tightly, he had to have been built to exert more force than she was; she couldn't even budge an inch. "... Pussy... f-fuck pussy.. breed ... pussy... fuck pussy stupid..." The Android droned out as they forced Penny to her knees and slammed into her. Each thrust came with immense power and blinding speeds, Penny felt her body and her software be stretched to their limits as they pounded her senseless. Her asshole and pussy were being gaped as the servos in her face started to fail, leaving her with a slutty ahegao-look as the infected code was being forcefully downloaded into her started to corrupt her central matrix.

"Cock! S-so much cock!" Penny found herself screaming as she let the doomed Androids use her like an onahole. "DRAIN EVERYTHING INTO ME, I AM SENSATIONAL!" Penny screamed as she used her multi-point muscle systems to massage and milk her lover's into cumming hard and deep into her body. Penny came over and over as her body overheated in an attempt to try to protect her from the viral malware; but all her systems were being overwhelmed and overrun by everything she was experiencing.

By the end of it all, Penny had a vacant expression and had no idea how long she'd been between the two infected machines; but she watched as they both slowed to a stop. She barely remembered her mission and lunged, expertly striking their shutdown points and finally freed herself. She tried to ignore the sensations within her as she gathered her things and returned to the origin point. Definite signs that she was now no different than the other machines sealed within this section of Atlas Central Command.

Penny felt her holes all trembling with desire as she hoped to meet with General Ironwood, Specialist Schnee, and Officer Soliel. So she could show all the things she downloaded during her time in the sealed RND division. "S-so many... u-unfucked cocks... so much cum to drink..." Penny moaned as the infected code took more and more of her mind. Floating Array and her case of Data drives long forgotten as the image of her superiors using her like a sex toy filled her mind.

[bunny-hoodlum]

Sharing this because I feel like it. ☺️ The first 900+ words of Idle Hands (rewrite) so far. 🥹 In case you didn't catch previous now deleted post, I gave up on the 'stressful childhood' direction. Now it's more of a retelling, but I'm still calling it a rewrite. This Naruto is interesting imo. Ahhhh, I hope I'm doing this right? I guess bear with me here. Contradictions may be inevitable, Idk. So, he falls under the Obliviously Evil trope this time around. I'm shooting for 'cheerful yet stressed (traumatized) and actually secretly crazy'. Doesn't fit the standard Dark Naruto depiction, so I can't really say one way or another which he leans the closest to. 😭 He hasn't broken yet, but he's going to get there, so we'll see. 🤭 Hope this instills some hype! :3 Becuz I'm making progress babyyyy~🎵

xxx-xxx-xxx

Idle Hands (2024)

Pairings: NaruHina, eventual NaruHinaSasu

Smut, Freeuse, Dacryphilia

cw: toxic behavior, dubcon, ijime

Summary: There's nothing to do in the sticks. There's even less to do when you're on probation. There's even less than that when: Your dad is the most popular man in town/You've been raised to be a boy and are invisible when you try to be a girl/When your exciting city boy lifestyle has been taken from you.

Or when two losers and a fuckboy choose all the worst ways to have fun. Not that one of them had much of a choice.

There in the middle of an overgrown clearing sat a rusted, abandoned car, wheel-less and sitting atop four cement bricks. The dense forest trees towered in the distance, their foliage deep green and billowing in the wind. Beneath the car, you can follow the remnants of a gravel path out of the clearing, towards an abandoned auto factory – you know, when having an auto factory way the fuck out here somehow made sense. Back before the bubble burst when everything went to shit. But what does he know? He was only six when it happened. Not like that shit ain’t affecting him well into the Y2K or anythin’.

Naruto lounged in the backseat with a nudie magazine and a sage green quilted blanket over his lap, his cheeky eyes devouring the curvaceous models on the pages. Oiled up, lips spread, pouty eyes peering and pleading for his cock.

He nudged his toe in the soft belly beneath the blanket, or maybe he threw it a little harder than he meant to, forcing a slight cough from her throat as her mouth retreated from his cock after gagging.

The blanket rose up from his lap.

“Hey, I didn’t say ‘stop’.” He cupped the back of her head and forced her lips to press against the underside of his rigid girth, teeth sliding and catching against his tender flesh. When the wet, warm vacuum pull of her mouth around his cock returned, he settled back into place, flipping pages like he was reading the newspaper.

Green eyes stared back at him. Earnest, yet cold. White skin framed by black hair. Her tits squished together in a string bikini as she bent forward, her arms crossed underneath their swell.

Shizuka. Didn't matter that she was twenty-four and he was sixteen. There were plenty of ways he could ruin her that life hasn't yet.

His breath quickened, shallow quiet pants puffing past his lips.

Her rich green eyes were growing on him.

Maybe his first girlfriend will have green eyes. If only.

Women like them didn’t exist out here. Not in this dying town of theirs, where their only market street was rows of shuttered-up shops, their storefronts heavily tagged and dirty with runny rust-stains.

Dsy by day, this place was turning into an old person’s home. Or a fucking casket.

Day by day he passed by a chain-smoking mummy, half-deaf and half-blind yet still nosy enough to cuss him out. Every day those same disapproving stares like he was some kind of disease, some kind of curse.

He wanted a woman like Shizuka. He wanted softness like hers to make him forget. He wanted eyes like hers fixed on him in every mundane context, like two lovers, their names signed on the lease just the day before. He wanted her silent worship.

God, he couldn’t wait to get out of here. Couldn’t wait to get a taste of real women.

He was wasting his fucking youth here. His mind too, not that anyone believed he had much of one to begin with.

He imagined someone beautiful, someone way, way, way out of his league taking him inside her, wanting him more than anyone else inside her. She would rewrite his entire history in a single night.

Excitement arced up his spine as pleasure pooled in his groin, building and building–

Naruto grabbed the back of her head. He thrusted into her hot, slimy throat, ignoring her startled whines, the gagging convulsions tightening around his invasive cockhead.

“Gotta train your throat again, huh, Hinata? C’mon, just endure it. I ‘ppreciate you not playing with other dudes while I was away, but you’ve really gotten sloppy. But that’s fine, too, actually. It’s kinda cute.” He threw his head back and closed his eyes, surrendering to the soft, clinging sensations thrumming around his cock. He was melting against her devoted tongue, so persistent to please him no matter what as she licked and laved the ridgid underside with broad sweeps that left echoes of each across his turgid flesh.

Knock knock knock!

A rhythmic tapping on the glass beside his head startled the lewd occupants and Naruto threw his toe into her stomach again.

He lowered the nudie magazine atop her head and turned his face out the window.

Bent over at the hip stood the thorn in his side that his dad personally stabbed in him the moment he found himself in front of the family judge again – no less than two months after his release from the Juvenile Training Facility.

The silver-haired man with the lazy, lidded gaze mimed cranking a handle backwards and Naruto sighed. He reached for the window crank, lowering the window just enough that he and Kakashi could properly exchange words.

“Go to school, Naruto.”

Naruto sank into seat, clearing his face of any hint of expression as he leveled Kakashi with a cold, ignorant stare.

His toe had other ideas, as he nosed around the convergence between her legs, finding the soft resistance of her panty-covered cunt. He idly teased her clit while he waited for the weary douche to give up like he always did.

Not like his father’s favorite student was all that invested in him, anyway. The dude was freaky smart and found ways to make his minor infractions such as truancy go away. Precisely to his father’s satisfaction, and not the system’s.

Obito told him someone like Kakashi would have proposed lifelong marriage to ‘The Rules’ if it had taken the shape he most desired.

The fact that he could give two shits about integrity these days convinced Naruto that his dad knew Kakashi’s state of mind. And that he was exactly what his dad was looking for in a probations officer.

Someone that would take Namikaze Minato’s side, always.

Someone that would protect Namikaze Minato’s image, always.

TBC

[brokehorrorfan]

Scream Factory has revealed the specs for its Blu-ray, which releases on January 23 via Scream Factory. The 1992 serial killer thriller has been newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Bruce Robinson (The Rum Diary, The Killing Fields) writes and directs. Andy García and Uma Thurman star with Lance Henriksen, Kathy Baker, Graham Beckel, Kevin Conway, and John Malkovich.

An alternate cut with a previously unreleased alternate ending is included. Special features are detailed below.

Special features:

Theatrical cut

Alternate cut with never-before-seen ending (new)

Is It Dark Yet? Looking Back At Jennifer 8 - Interviews with writer/director Bruce Robinson and actors Andy Garcia and Lance Henriksen (new)

Alternate ending (new)

Theatrical trailer

They are the unidentified victims of an unsolved crime spree — women linked by a serial killer’s gruesome handiwork … and by police files giving them the alias “Jennifer.” Homicide investigator John Berlin believes he’s made a breakthrough in the case when he uncovers a key witness — a blind woman named Helena. Yet who can truly rely on the testimony of a witness who cannot see? Who can trust Berlin when he ultimately becomes a suspect in the murders? And who can keep the vulnerable Helena from becoming the next Jennifer?

Pre-order Jennifer 8.

[zypria]

Atla The Rift comic sucks part 1

Comparing apples and zucchinis

The past vs future, change vs tradition is very interesting dilemma to explore. And they've chosen two good representatives for each side - Aang, the last of his kind and the avatar vs Toph who refuses to be bound, creates new style of bending utilizing modern structure, does what she wants really. Secondary are acolytes vs factory, same thing. And my God do they suck at pitting these two against each other. Both of these sides take everything in the world and go me. Like those Katara touches necklace memes "lets eat. my mother used to eat". Connecting things that have very little to do each other just so we can have a conflict. misunderstanding but it's unintentional. They just lost the ability to make comprehensive parallels.

100+ year old ritual = bad parenting

Rituals are rooted in tradition. We do them because they are symbolic, we do what we do because that's how it's done. We honor our roots, ancestors etc etc

The phrase triggers unhappy memories for Toph, particularly of her restrictive childhood. Fair enough. But. Some of these aren't even "tradition", her parents were just like that. "This is how it's done" is no logical response to "why can't I play with other kids". There have to be rich kids with friends out there. Blind kids with friends. This is solely Beifong issue. I despise forced parallels

The following statement is just incorrect:

He didn't forget (although 100+ years are justifiable excuse). He was 10 and wasn't paying attention in the first place, figured there is plenty more festivals to remember. It wasn't celebrated because the peeps are dead. A genocide if you will. The world wouldn't end even if there were no humans around, doesn't mean we should just cease all cultural activities

Also it was ESTABLISHED that we're doing this for AANG. You know, our beloved friend the last Airbender? He wants to honor his long gone culture for a special day. Also also past avatar has something important to say, what if something happens (and something ALWAYS happens)

Instead of addressing any of this Aang goes the air nomad philosophy route. just WHY? These are not insults just for the sake of insulting, they have opposing views and should talk about it maybe. Were not even in the place to have change vs tradition argument, we're just having a field trip atm. Simple "this is really important for me and I want to share this day with my found family" solves everything but noooo. Zen mode, it will sort itself out, I'm not actively getting involved (man. this is TOPH. you should know better. rock beats airbender etc etc)

Toph is mean just to be mean. Not the cuddliest character but when did she go around insulting your every move? Especially since they didn't really ask her to do anything. You don't have to actively participate, why are you complaining in every panel? OOC behavior just to keep that gaang rift nice and divided

I can't spend 30 seconds to explain why we're about to be pulverized but I can do ancient history 101

he doesn't deny this! why. to have aang vs toph and co that's why. the most pointless fight in existence. because we have time for that apparently

the spirit is just asshole in the end

I'm not pulling caps for this. Yangchen did everything to keep her promise, not her fault Sozin happened. And let's not forget people ran away in all directions from fire nation for a century, why wouldn't they inhabit this nice empty land? The spirit was angry about his friend's demise (turns out she did that herself and is very chill. And can manifest freely too). Spirit does not ask for balance in any way, shape or form, humans must die so that I can have this land to stare at. What if some spirits decided to reside in Ba Sing Se, we destroy entire city? I thought that refinery screwing nature was going to be the big plot point but nope. Cabbage restaurant -gone. Houses - gone. You can't even walk here, disrespectful, gtfo. Extreme situation that calls for stupid resolution - spirit dead. Although looking back I can find some appreciation for not managing to tie everything nicely, cookie cutter avatar style. But imagine how much better it would've been if conflicts were well written in the first place

We got another festival so all is well?