#good luck to worlds 2022 i guess?

[youkissedareaderinthedark]

Overdue

Synopsis: Red Bull is known for two things, winning and having the best driver pairing on the grid. Not because they have great chemistry, but because everyone is waiting for the day they get together

female driver reader x max verstappen

(kelly and penelope im sorry but you don’t exist in this world)

@mirrorball-6

2022...

You first met at your seat fitting. There had been rumors about it all season long, some sounding so true you started second-guessing your own information, but it all worked out the way it was supposed to. For most people.

Red Bull was notoriously known for being harsh with their drivers, and Sergio Perz was not an exception. He had first signed for Red Bull at the end of 2020 and was supposed to drive for them until the 2024 season ended, but after a disappointing race season and a half, Christian Horner was yet again looking for a replacement. His first choice was Daniel Ricciardo, and he was about to call Marko to set up a meeting with the Australian but came up with an idea instead.

Y/n L/n, the 23-year-old in the Alfa Romeo had come as a shock to everyone in the racing world, and while most people saw you as “luck” he saw opportunity.

2022 was your second year in Formula 1 and your rookie year had been almost as impressive as this year. You went P12 in your first F1 race and by Abu Dhabi, you’ve grown quite comfortable sitting at P9 every race. He told himself to keep an eye on you throughout 2022 and had basically made up his mind once you beat Segio to P8 in Baku. He approached you with an offer to test the Red Bull at the factory in England, even though there was no need for it, and once you came up with the time Max had the last time he was on the track, he knew you needed to be the second driver in 2023.

That was all that was supposed to happen until Red Bull randomly announces you as their driver for the rest of the 2022 season. After a disappointing Canadian Grand Prix, Christian decides “why wait?” and put you in the car as soon as possible. Everyone at Red Bull knew, it was something they kind of expected, but it still didn’t take away the the second driver’s surprise.

Max Verstappen knew who you were, he knew what you were accomplishing, and he knew what you could become in the future. He knew you would join him at the top of the ranks eventually, he just didn’t expect it now. But he also didn’t expect to fall in love with you, and he was quite wrong about that too.

The seat fitting was happening mid-June, five days after Canada’s race and attendance wasn’t mandatory, but he would be racing with you in July and figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to become acquainted with his now teammate.

He walked into the garage to see you in the cockpit of the second Red Bull car, talking to one of the engineers in charge of your seat, gesturing to the head rest. You smiled a lot, gave suggestions he would’ve made, and was polite with everyone working around you. He didn’t think plenty of you personality-wise before this; You and him haven’t talked much on or off track, so he didn’t have any impression of you to think of, but he figured you were making a good one.

You officially meet an hour later when the fitting is considered over, and you pull yourself out of the car.

“Oh, hey. I didn’t expect to see you here. I don’t think we’ve ever really talked before, so it’s nice to officially meet you” You offer a smile and a handshake, and he can’t help to do the same.

“It’s nice to officially meet you too. Yeah, seat fittings are not mandatory for me to attend but I figured I should come and meet you, y’know?”

“Thank you, I don’t know if I’ll see you again before the race in two weeks but if I don’t, I’ll see you in the paddock” You smiled again before saying goodbye and turning to leave.

Even though you have to go into the factory multiple times within the next two weeks, you don’t talk to Max again until you’re walking into the paddock Sunday morning for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Your paths don’t cross through media day, Free Practices 1,2, and 3, and Qualifying and while it might be a bit concerning, you’re only friendly with the guy and the racing world has given you a lot of things beside your teammate to focus on.

It seemed like every journalist in the media pen was already waiting for the announcement of Daniel Ricciardo replacing you and even though you thought you shut them up with your performances in the practices, the anxiety in your body doesn’t let up during Qualifying. You manage P5 and are glad the weight in your stomach lessens when you think of Sunday.

The fans you encounter on your way into the paddock help your nerves melt away and you walk in with a smile on your face. Martin Brundle tells you he’s rooting for you when he interviews you for his grid walk and it helps you focus on the task at hand. Your team principal told you to give it your all and we’ll work from there, but you plan on staying in the top 5. Your idle vision includes a podium but you’re careful not to get ahead of yourself.

You’re taking your headphones off and preparing to start your formation lap when your teammate comes to your side of the garage. “Good luck today, Y/n. You’ll be fine, yeah?” Max is clearly not the best at pep talks, but you smile at him anyway.

“Thanks, good luck to you too” And then you’re exiting the pitlane with three minutes until lights out.

“Okay Y/n, you’ve got Russell, Sainz, Leclerc, and Max in front of you. Just give it everything and we’ll see where it gets us, alright” Your race engineer, Paul, comes over the radio.

“Understood”

“Alright everybody, it’s a beautiful day in Saudi Arabia, all twenty cars are lined up and ready to go. The five red lights come on... and its light’s out and away we go! Max Verstappen gets away, but Charles Leclerc is right behind him” David Croft commentates.

“He has his teammate Carlos Sainz just behind him who is pulling away from the Mercedes of George Russell. Russell isn’t as lucky as Y/n L/n has a better start behind him, she’s already pulling away from Esteban Ocon and is getting close to the Mercedes”

“Lap 24, we’re about halfway through this race and we’re waiting for some action through the top five here. Max Verstappen leads with a 7 second lead to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Carlos Sainz is in P3, behind his teammate with a 4 second gap, and the on-going battle between Mercedes and Red Bull continues behind him. George Russell is in P4, but Y/n L/n is not making it easy for him to maintain it. They’ve been overtaking one another since Lap 6, let’s see in L/n can make it happen” Martin Brundle commentates.

“They’re nearing turn 27, L/n is closing in on him, she makes her way down the inside, they’re going wheel to wheel, can she pull it off? Yes she can and she’s not letting up either. I believe she’s trying to shorten the 5 second gap to Carlos Sainz”

“Lap 40 and Y/n L/n is making another attempt on the Ferrari in front of her. They just exited turn 13 and she’s going around the outside this time. She’s taking the long way around- there’s almost some contact there, no damages to either car I think, and it’s P3! L/n takes P3 from Carlos Sainz, let’s hope she can keep it”

You almost couldn’t believe your ears when you heard Paul come over the radio as you cross the checkered flag

“P3! P3, wonderful job Y/n, beautiful drive, really” You’re smiling so much you have to take a deep breath before you can respond. “P3 is great guys, thank you. Really proud, we did great today”

You’re halfway done with your cool down lap when you finally notice the cheering from the crowd and remember to wave at the sections with the most Red Bull colors. P3 is your best race finish yet and you park your car in front of the paddock with joy. You pull yourself out of your car and run into the awaiting arms of your race engineers. It’s an entanglement of hugs and cheers and you couldn’t be happier.

When you step onto the third-place spot on the podium you think it’s a spot you never want to leave. You spray the overside bottle of champagne into the crowd first before moving to drench Charles and Max. When you’re sticky with the fizzy drink and grinning into the bottle, you catch Max’s eye and for a second, it’s just you two smiling at each other. He offers a handshake and a smile. “I have a good feeling about this” You beam back at him. “Me too”

2023...

“So Y/n, just coming back from the summer break, do you have any doubts about this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix?” A reporter asks you and you snap your glaze from the paddock behind her to the camera in front of you.

“Um, well no, it's been about three weeks since the last race but me and Max are both excited and confident about Sunday” You speak for the teammate you’re trying to discreetly look for.

“And with it being Max’s home race, what are the expectations for Red Bull?”

“As always, it’s for both of us to get on the podium-” You suddenly shriek at the hands that hit your shoulders from behind.

“What the- oh Max!” You turn to find your teammate and best friend grinning behind you.

“You scared me, oh my god- I missed you, it’s been a while” He pulls you into a hug. “Hi. Missed you too”

You and Max both go home to your families every summer break and even though you’re training on the sim together every other day, you still missed him.

“What a cute Red Bull moment. Y/n, can I just get that last question from you?” You pull away as the journalist interrupts.

“Yeah of course, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted” You roll your eyes jokingly at the man next to you.

“As always, the expectations for us are to get a 1-2 finish, if not that, then at least one of us up there”

“Right, thanks Y/n, good luck this weekend” You wave at the woman before walking towards the Red Bull garage with Max.

“I am not rude, if anything you are the rude one. Always coming up to my interviews and distracting me” He says.

“You love it when I interrupt. You said, ‘a lot of media stuff is pretty boring, but usually I am paired with Y/n, so it ends up being fun-’ Max cuts off your impression of him.

“I have never said that!”

“Yes, you have, you said it like a month ago” You’re recalling a moment during a press conference after a few drivers were joking about doing media stuff for hours and a reporter asking about it.

“Go do another interview or something. And don’t forget-”

“I’m meeting you in the hospitality at 3:00, I remember Max” You smile before the two of you separate and say goodbye.

It had been over a year since your first podium at Saudi Arabia and it’s been nothing but positive things at Red Bull. Since joining the team, the lowest you’ve placed is P7, and you and Max have grown accustomed to being next to each other on the podium. You and Max have grown accustomed to being next to each other most of the time, actually.

That win at Saudi Arabia was the day you and Max started to become friends and you two haven’t looked back since. Red Bull have become the team with the favorite driver pairing on the grid and there is always more content being asked of you two. When you train, it’s usually together, if an engineer can’t find either of you, you’re probably in one of the driver’s rooms, talking or just sitting together while you’re on your phones.

Which is what you’re doing now, on a Sunday morning, waiting for the race briefing to be held. As you said earlier in the week, expectations are high for Red Bull and while you do usually meet them, that doesn’t mean you aren’t nervous.

“Hey, we’re going to do great, yeah?” Max says to you as you stand across from each other in the garage, about to get into your cars for the formation lap. “Of course. Good luck” You bring Max into your usual pre-race hug before walking back to your side of the garage.

Max is almost always right about these sorts of things, so you’re not entirely surprised when you end the race in P3.

“Great job, Y/n. Ferrari was difficult today but you really pulled through. Congrats” Paul radios and you reply, grinning.

“Yeah, today was great. Good job to everyone”

You pull your car into the third-place spot and high-five Max when he comes over to your car.

“What did I tell you? You’re a great driver, Y/n, I don’t know why you get nervous” The Dutch man smiles at you as you take off your helmets and balaclava’s.

“You did great too, P1, amazing drive” He pulls you into a hug and kisses your cheek and you’re glad your face is already too flushed for anyone to tell you’re blushing.

George’s Mercedes comes in P2, and you make sure to drench him in champagne. “Oi, watch the champagne, L/n. We’ve still got to celebrate after this” The Brit grins at you and you can’t help but return it.

Said celebrations are held at a nearby club a few hours later and because it was a good race for nearly the whole grid, the place is packed.

You’re in a gorgeous outfit, floating around, talking to everyone, and laughing into your drink. You dance with whoever you can find, and at this moment, it’s Max. “Hi Max!” You smile and he laughs because you’re definitely tipsy.

“Hi Y/n, are you having fun?”

“Yeah, you should come dance with me” Max is about to say no because he doesn’t dance but then he looks at your smiling face and discovers he can’t say no.

Your smile turns into a grin when he lets you grab his hand and pull him onto the dance floor. You’re surrounded by a couple of other drivers, but he finds himself only interested in you.

You make him twirl you around before telling him to twirl, all while laughing and moving to the music blasting out of the speakers. The Dutch feels an arm wrap around his shoulders and turns his head to find a smirking Daniel Ricciardo.

“You havin’ fun, lover boy?”

“What?” Max laughs confused.

“Don’t worry. You’re secret safe with me” The Australian winks before pulling away and Max puts on a weirded-out face but deep down, he has a feeling he knows exactly what Daniel means.

Your teammate decides he’ll unpack that interaction later and turns back to you, because, it’s you, why would he want to pay attention to anything else?

You soon run off to the bathroom with Carmen and Lily, George and Alex’s girlfriends and Max goes off by himself to get another drink. He talks to Lando and Daniel for a bit but spots his teammate sitting alone in a booth and excuses himself.

“You okay, Y/n?” You look up from your phone.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready to go home though” You yawn, and he notices Uber open on your phone.

“Don’t take an Uber, I will take you back to the hotel”

“Max no, stay here, have fun, I can manage myself”

He shakes his head. “I know you can, but I don’t want a stranger driving you back, you’re nearly drunk and we can’t trust everyone”

“But-”

“Y/n, it’s fine, I’m ready to go as well” He isn’t lying about that. It’s been a few hours since everyone’s arrived, and people are starting to leave.

“Okay” You get up and Max takes your hand in his. Daniel catches his eye and grins like a cheshire cat once he spots you behind him. Max just lets out a little smile and shakes his head.

Your teammate leads you out of the club and towards his car before opening the door for you and going around to the driver’s side.

Once he’s seated, he catches you looking at him. Instead of turning away, you say, “You have really pretty eyes, Max. You know that?”

Then you turn on the radio, shift in your seat to face the window, and close your eyes. “Thanks Y/n” he says quietly and is glad that you can’t see his reddened face and stupid smile through the dark.

The rest of the drive is in silence and when Max parks the car at the hotel, he shakes your shoulder slightly to wake you up. “We’re here”

He gets out and opens the car door for you and again grabs your hand in his. He walks with you up to your floor and stops when you pause at a room that must be yours. “I think I’m good from here. Thank you, Max”

Before he can say anything, you wrap your arms around him in a hug and kiss his cheek, mirroring what he did just after today’s race. “Goodnight, Y/n” he says, barely above a whisper, as you step in and close the door.

“Don’t worry. You’re secret safe with me”

Abu Dhabi, 2023...

It’s the last race of the season, and for Red Bull, it’s the biggest one yet. Max is set to receive his trophy as official 2023 World Champion, and even though everybody has known for months that he’d be the one to win, it’s still exciting. Bets are on you to win today’s race. You qualified P2 yesterday and even though it’s raining heavily, you’re expected to outdo the other nineteen drivers.

By now, you’re not nearly as nervous before races as you once were but the weather adds a touch of unpredictability you’re sure Formula 1 doesn’t need. You’re minutes away from getting into your car and are filling the time by double checking the weather reports with one of the race engineers.

Just as you pull on your helmet, you feel a tap on your shoulder, and turn to find your teammate. “Good luck today. And be careful” Max draws you in for a hug.

“Good luck to you too. And don’t worry, I’ll be fine” You assure him.

Since the party in the Netherlands, you and Max have been closer than usual. When you hug, it’s for longer and you find yourself wishing you had his touch more often. When you have press conferences with other drivers, you always hope Max is one of them. And according to Paul and GP, Max often asks about your race when he’s leading with a big gap and is bored of his own. You just blush and smile under your helmet and reply to whatever your teammate has asked through your race engineers.

Drivers haven’t had any big gaps between races since the summer break but when there’s a week or two before you all see each other in the paddock, you’re on the sim everyday training with Max, sometimes on Twitch but mostly by yourselves.

“Alright everybody, it’s a wet day here in Abu Dhabi but as you all know by now, in Formula 1, the show must go on. According to the weather reports, the rain isn’t set to stop for four more hours, but down here, the red lights are going off in five minutes” The usual commentators, David Croft and Martin Brundle speak.

“Let’s take a look down at the track as the formation lap begins”

The formation lap is exactly what you expected and you’re trying to wipe the rain off your visor as you park your car in P2.

“Through the Abu Dhabi rain, it’s lights out and away we go! Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Y/n L/n get away beautifully here, the two Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc following behind. I think it’s safe to say, most of the action is going to be between these four cars”

Crofty is, of course, right, and you spend your race defending against the two red cars. They are relentless in their attempts, but you’ve been dreaming of winning an F1 race for as long as you can remember, you weren’t going to let anybody else stop you.

This includes Max. He was in P1 at the moment, and Christian is dreaming if he thinks you won’t overtake your own teammate for a first-place trophy. You’ve never done it before but today seems like a good day to be bold.

“The rain is still coming down as we’re entering our last lap here, the Ferrari’s are in P3 and P4 with a gap of 9 seconds between Y/n L/n’s Red Bull. Now, the bets have been on her to go P1 today, a lot of people think it’s the perfect day for some writing in the Formula 1 history books. Let’s see if L/n can make it happen”

You’re accelerating to add pressure on Max as Paul comes over your radio.

“Alright Y/n, Christian’s decided to let you two fight. I believe you can win this, alright? Keep pushing”

“Understood. Thanks” You turn off your radio and enable DRS just as you’re approaching Turn 12.

“Ladies and gentlemen, she’s going for it. 20 feet before turn 12, Y/n L/n has enabled DRS, she gaining on Verstappen, she’s going through the inside, they’re wheel to wheel as they’re going around Turn 14, I can’t even tell with the mist- is she through?

“Yes she is! Y/n L/n is P1 and just like that, she’s won! Y/n L/n is the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix! Y/n L/n is the first woman to ever win a Grand Prix! Oh my word, we can only image how she’s feeling right now. What a move! What a historical, historical moment. Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve just watched history be made”

When you pass the checkered flag, it feels like something that should’ve happened ages ago. You’re afraid you’re daydreaming for a moment but then feel the rain hitting your helmet and hear the roar of the crowd and you know it’s real.

You're almost shaking from the adrenaline but as soon as you get your hands to cooperate, you’re pulling yourself out of your car and standing on top of it, cheering with everyone around you. You jump off to run into the arms of all the engineers on your side of the garage and they’re just as excited as you are.

You see Max after you pull away and you don’t hesitate to embrace him. He spins you around and he’s laughing, and you can tell he doesn’t care at all that you overtook him.

Just as he puts you down, you take off your helmet and balaclava to close your eyes and tilt your head up towards the sky to feel the relentless rain on your face. When you open your eyes again, Max has taken his balaclava and helmet off and he’s staring at you. Just as you once were at your first race for Red Bull in Saudi Arabia, for a second, it’s just you two staring at each other. Instead of offering a handshake this time, Max puts his hands around your face and leans forward to press his lips against yours. It takes you a second to realize what’s happening but once you do, you place your hands around his arms and kiss back. Then it’s just you two smiling into the kiss, while the rain pours from above and the people around you cheer. You’re beaming at each other once you pull back and Max pulls you into another hug. “I really like you, y’know” Your grin somehow widens. “Yeah, I know”

David Crofty speaks one more time and even he’s smiling at the sight. “Ladies and gentlemen, two never-before things have happened today in Abu Dhabi, both have been long awaited”

[xxatinyminionxx]

EN- Legal Line’s Reaction to You in Lingerie

Genre: Smut 🔞, Reaction

Requested?: Yes - “enha legal line reacting to you in lingerie?”

A/N: I got this request nearly a year ago, I hope you’re still here anon 🧍‍♀️

Heeseung

You’re just asking for it if you approach him with one of your sultry sets on. At first he’ll behave, entertaining your little surprise for him with a light smirk he can’t hide and compliment you as he normally would whenever you show him a new outfit you got. But then you teasing him is what will set him off if his dirty thoughts don’t get to him first. Once that happens he will scoop you up into his lap, or pull you flush against his chest, and start kissing down the side of your neck. Let’s just say he loves the lingerie so much that he considers it a nice set piece for the floor…

Jay

This man buys you lingerie all the time, but this time you bought a set on your own. You thought it would be fun to surprise him after the long day he had ranted about having today over dinner last week. You decorate the bedroom in a way that compliments the lingerie you picked out. Candles and wine are definitely at the top of your decor list. When he sees you, his eyes go WIDE and give you a thorough once over. He immediately puts everything down and walks over to pull you into a heated kiss. In short, he loves your fashion sense. Good luck getting him off you :)

Jake

Oh mister Sim Jaeyun loves you in anything, you drive him CRAZY when you’re wearing lingerie and looking all sexy for him. Something really sweet about him is that he would take time to heavily praise you before anything else happens. Sure he says nice things about you all the time, but his compliments paired with him kissing anywhere that your skin is exposed with those pillowy lips is a whole new experience. He has to remind you how much you mean to him. I think you can already guess who’s going down on who first~

Sunghoon

He still gets flustered seeing you all dressed up for him though it may or may not be the first time. He loves what he sees and he’ll definitely let you know through his stuttered responses and shy laughter. Please help him, he's so obvious he’s into what you’re wearing. Before no time his face is turning pink, he’s running a countless number of hands through his hair, and licking his lips. You usually have to get the words out of him until he gets a hold of himself. Once he calms down, he gives you a sweet peck on the lips and hooks his finger under one of your straps letting you know what he wants to do. Yep, lingerie to him is an invitation for some fun so long as you consent (aka it turns him on).

Sunoo

He’s amazed by how good you look anytime you approach him with lingerie on. He can’t believe you’re all his. He won’t hold back on the compliments so be ready for them and to feel like the most special person in the world. He’s all smiles on the outside but you know he’s gradually getting turned on inside. His compliments turn into sexy, playful teasing and eventually you two close the tension-filled gap between you, sharing a deeply passionate kiss. Things pick up quickly from there and the lingerie becomes a distant afterthought…

—

© 2022 xxatinyminionxx. All Rights Reserved.

[astrronomemes]

THE BAD GUYS : STARTERS

a collection of quotes, phrases, and sayings from the 2022 Dreamworks Animation film The Bad Guys. change & alter as needed.

“Seriously, though, you don’t like cake? Name one food better than cake!”

“Look at that. 4:00pm. Now I know the exact moment our friendship died.”

“These are the cards we’ve been dealt, so we might as well play ’em.”

“I just wanted a longer car chase. That’s the best part.”

“Keep running, [name]! One of these days, your luck is gonna run out!”

“I’ve made a lot of enemies in my time — I mean, a lot — but, out of all the people in the world... I hate you guys the least.”

“Wait, what’s going on? You’ve got that twinkle in your eye.”

“Are we all in this together?”

“Oh, [name], it’s not a competition! ...And if it were, it would really be more of a tie.”

“If you look closely enough, even trash can be recycled into something beautiful.”

“I am definitely going to lose my job, and I will not hesitate to take you down with me!”

“Thank you, dear. You’re such a good boy.”

“There is good even in the worst places.”

“Now let’s make like a wolf, and get the pack out of here.”

“Well... this just got a little weird.”

“Not everyone gets a second chance. Make the most of it, [name].”

“They say experience is the best teacher... and they are wrong. I am.”

“What, may I ask, are you good at?”

“I have never seen him so chipper. Has he been meditating?”

“Don’t you ever get tired of lying?”

“Maybe they will believe you, and maybe they won’t, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t do it for them. Do it for you.”

“This is your chance to write your own story. To find a better life for you and your friends! Come on, what have you got to lose?”

“Believe it or not, I’m rooting for you, [name].”

“No, it’s okay! It’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you! I know you’re scared. I would be, too, if I were you.”

“Truth is, we actually have a lot in common.”

“I must say, you’ve really turned a corner. You’re really getting it.”

“I don’t waste time thinking about stuff that’s never gonna happen.”

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that you were avoiding me.”

“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping you were going to ask me to dance.”

“So... how does it feel, to have everyone not fear you for a change?”

“Tonight’s headline: change is impossible, you should always judge a book by its cover, and all stereotypes have been affirmed.”

“I’m tired of being scary! I’m tired of being an outcast!”

“Guess I’m still the best bad guy the world has ever seen.”

“Just like riding a stolen bicycle.”

“Now, instead of hurting people, I’m helping them. I’m still me, I’m just... me, on the right side.”

“You’re doing the right thing. And someday, your friends — if they’re real friends... I think they’ll understand.”

“You stole my car?! ...Respect.”

“You did a good thing! For me!”

“...Okay, yeah, it was a trap.”

“I’m starting to see why your friends dumped you!”

“When I woke up this morning, this is not where I saw the day going.”

“What happened? Did we blow up? ...Is this heaven?”

“I’m proud of you, [name].”

“You’ve got a good thing going here, [name].”

“Is he seriously going to get away with this?”

“Good luck out there, guys.”

[samueldays]

'Effectively, Ukraine has eliminated Russian ground forces'

...claimed an 'Eastern Europe expert' in this thread in March 2022, one month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I was reminded of him when looking through some chatlogs today. At the time, I thought he was making absurd predictions, but figured he might try to water them down to claim something like accuracy if Ukraine won in the next month or two, stretching the definitions of words.

Now it's been a year and a half, and I want to revisit Sergej Sumlenny's bluster, not just for him being thoroughly personally wrong, but as a general reminder that anyone can call themselves an expert, and still be completely wrong.

In the first month of the war, this guy was saying shit like:

Russia and its army are about to collapse. RU obviously has no reserves left

Russia has been "about to collapse" every month for the last twenty months, somehow.

According to Ukrainian intelligence (and they get much info from the US I guess) Russia has already used 95% of all its ground forces gathered for the invasion, and it makes almost 100% of Russia's active ground forces. Effectively, Ukraine has eliminated Russian ground forces

If Ukraine would resist several more days, I am sure Russia will face the biggest defeat in its history. Nothing comparable. It will also trigger independency movements in Russia-occupied countries of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ichkeriya, Sakha, Komi and others

I am not seeing these things that were supposed to happen after "several more days".

When Moscow army will be eliminated (and it nearly is)

I am also sure - very soon we will face a shiny glorious future without the Prison of Nations. Thank to brave Ukrainians.

"very soon" has come and gone, Sergej, why are you still here?

The simple explanation, IMO, is that this guy is a pure propagandist, nothing else.

Perhaps he was never attempting to say anything true at all, he was completely disconnected from the evidence, Ukraine paid him to say pro-Ukraine things so he said the things his paymaster wanted. If Russia had paid him, he would have said the opposite.

But the thing about the Sumlennys of the world is that someone has put quite a lot of money into making them look expert. A Twitter account is free and can be set up in five minutes. A website for the European Resilience Center, maybe fifteen minutes and ten bucks to host. The content over at European Resilience, with regular updates, takes a bit more work. But Sumlenny being interviewed by external sources like France24 is not so easily manufactured.

For more on Ukraine's planned counter-offensive and all of the latest in Russia's brutal year-long invasion, FRANCE 24 is joined by Sergej Sumlenny, Journalist, Political Analyst, and Managing Director of the European Resilience Initiative Center.

Sumlenny got similar treatment in a wide variety of news outlets from ABC to Al Jazeera. Journalism delenda est. Both for Sumlenny personally, and for the many other journalists who interviewed him, respected him, failed to fact-check him, treated him as an expert, and gave him the prestige of an expert. There's two different meanings of "expert":

"expert" as in "has a credential and is used as a source on the subject being discussed"

"expert" as in "consistently produces good results and correct predictions"

and Sumlenny was very much the first sort. Which also has two meanings when I say it: that he was not the second sort, and that people did cite him and invite him and treat his opinion as being worth more than some random Tumblr blog.

(One might like to have a word that only means the second sort of expert. Good luck keeping it!)

The information ecosystem is polluted by Sumlennys. It's easy and common to go "Russian bot", but one should also have a mental space for "Ukranian bot", and then expand that term far enough to include Sumlenny, or have some other term for the less-obviously-bot-like people performing expertise as they spout nonsense. There is no side that is free of lies and nonsense, there is no credential that is clean, there is no institution that is clean. The clown world experts are everywhere. Sumlenny was not acting alone, nor is he unique, Sumlenny merely happened to get my attention, and the "factcheck" system that journalists love to talk about didn't catch him. It's not going to catch slightly more subtle lies. Epistemology is hard.

[i-am-church-the-cat]

Excuse me “Carlos was ahead of Charles last year”??? You do realise Charles got p2 in the wdc in 2022 right? P3 was checo. Charles was leading the wdc at the beginning of the season that year. Until max and rb got their car together and overtook them in the standings.

Yes Carlos might have been the only non rb winner last season but other drivers said that you can drive significantly slower than the rest of the pack and still lead because they can’t overtake. And that happened in Singapore. And if Singapore would have suited the rb19 max or checo would have won that race too.

Carlos was only ahead of Charles at the beginning of 2023 because Charles had lots of issues with his car. Non driver related issues. Ferrari had to change his pu or something after the first race in Bahrain because the car wasn’t working at all. Charles had a penalty through Ferrari in the second race in Jeddah. Charles had lots of bad luck over this season. He had dnf, dns and dsq. All in one season. Carlos had a dns and a dnf. Carlos got null points in 4 races while Charles got zero in 6 races.

It’s not a good look for Carlos to still fall behind Charles in the standings when he scored points in more races.

Carlos would never be allowed in the same team again as max. There is a reason max was promoted to red bull mid season in 2016. And that reason as well as his talent were the tension and fights in toro Rosso between sainzs’ and verstappens’. And there would be the same problem as in Ferrari for Carlos. Carlos likes the opposite of max. And red bull will do anything to make the car amazing for max.

I don’t think Carlos’ fans want him to be absolutely humiliated by max as a team mate. They are already throwing a fit when Charles fans aren’t appreciating their star driver.

Carlos would have a similar season like checo and everyone was talking about how humiliating last season was for him when he was argumentatively in the best car. There was a fight for p2 still until shortly before the season ended because check kept on screwing up. Carlos’a season would look similar to checos season last year because they have a similar driving style.

Did you miss that Charles has one five races? 3 of them in 2022? He got a grand slam as well that season.

And no that’s not the difference between them. By the way did you know that Carlos is racist as well? Said some things about Chinese people in particular.

Oh and Carlos is a nepo driver. He got his seat in toro Rosso because Carlos sainz senior is sponsored by red bull. Carlos was constantly rumoured to Audi because guess what. His father drivers for them. Carlos got most of his things in formula 1 handed to him by his fathers connections.

Charles on the other hand doesn’t have that. Hell jos verstappen praised his talent back in karting and was reportedly saying Charles would make it to f1 one day.

To compare Charles and Lewis in the last two seasons: Charles managed to win 3 races in those two seasons. How many did Lewis win since 2021? Right, none. How many races did max win in 2022 and 2023? 34. How many did Carlos win? 2. Those odds favour the new Ferrari duo massively. Yes Lewis has 7 titles I’m not forgetting that. But just looking at the facts that if you add up the points of Charles and Lewis from 2022 and 2023 Charles beat Lewis as well. Meanwhile max became world champion in those seasons and beat every other driver. Meanwhile Carlos was beaten by all three mentioned drivers. Not a good argument for him.

And let’s not forget this sport is absolutely brutal. And the news of Lewis to Ferrari was leaked and every team involved kind of had to announce what was happening.

And did not something similar to this happen when Carlos signed with Ferrari?

And it’s interesting how many rumours about Charles have been made up from Spanish press. Meanwhile no other countries journalists have started rumours about Carlos like the Spanish do about Charles. I also heard that the news got leaked to the Italian press about Carlos leaving by Spanish media. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? So many things got broken by Spanish media because their sources are either the saint family directly or people close to them. Meanwhile other drivers and their personal teams don’t leak anything to the media.

Not to forget that sainz senior tried putting pressure on Ferrari by talking about how Carlos will leave the team for Audi soon enough. He said that in interviews.

Oh and Carlos never was a team player. He always did things he thought would benefit him. He screwed over Charles multiple times. Even when he was told they are team orders. While Charles complied to them and even did things to benefit Carlos. He never got the same sentiment back. Carlos is a selfish driver and just because the radios of him basically calling out Ferrari and telling them to shove their pit stop in that moment are funny, doesn’t mean he gets his own strategy right. As his fans like to say Carlos is a better strategist than the people on the pit wall. If they truly would be as stupid and incompetent as all fans say, they would have long lost their jobs. I’m not saying they never screw up, but if they were truly as bad at their job they would have long been fired.

And well all this talk about Carlos might leave Ferrari and goes to Audi and the pressure the sainz family tried to put on Ferrari through that was enough for the team and they basically said if you have other teams that want him, fine you can join them! He won’t give him a new contract.

And to be honest my problem with Carlos is his attitude and that he thinks he is the second coming of Christ.

*furiously scribbling down notes in my laboratory journal*

[joe9cool]

So Good-Joel Farabee-2

A/N: I do not know or associate with anyone on The Flyers, I only own my characters. Also you do not have permission to copy or post my stories anywhere. Thank you

December 2022.

“Atta boy guys! Way to battle and fight hard!” Joel cheered along with the locker room. They had beaten the Rangers at home. So far the season had been a bunch of ups and downs (mostly downs) but they were a rebuilding team. So there was hope for the future.

Upon exiting the locker room to the family area. He looked around to see the usual guys with their families. Sometimes parents flew in. He was fortunate that his family didn't live too far away and that they could drive Or fly to see major games.

“Hey Joel” He looked to his right to see Claire smiling at him. He had seen her at some games with Laurence and Ella. He had purposely avoided her since that night and had so far been successful. At the most he gave her a smile and a wave. Once the anger had worn down.

He had tried to push her into the back of his mind and that was the only way to successfully do that.

Until now.

“How have you been?” She asked.

Fuck she looked good. She must have just come from work and she dawned what he would say was ‘Professor Attire’ that she filled out perfectly, complete with square frames. Claire looked like every college kid's fantasy.

All of the sudden all of the memories from that August night came flooding back.

He was fucked.

“Joel?” He Realized he spaced out as Claire looked At him confused. “I'm sorry Claire, I spaced out. Happens often.” Fans didn't call him empty Headed for nothing.

“I asked if you were joining the team for Christmas at my family's house? My mom hosts some of the team And the families every year. I know you didn't come the past few times and then COVID happened. But its always a blast.”

“Umm I'm not sure.. I mean I still haven't finalized Plans with my family…” He trailed off, knowing That his parents or His brothers weren't able to come with the busy schedule.

“It's the 20th Joel.” and Morgan said you probably will be Attending with him.”

He made a mental note to murder Frosty. “Yeah I guess I'll show up for a few hours.”

She smiled. “Great! You don't need to bring anything. My family is making Everything.”

“That's a ton of food.” She laughed. “My mom owns a restaurant, remember? She is accustomed to the Chaos”

“True.” They smiled at each other, and Joel's heart skipped a beat. 

“Well I'll see you at my house for Christmas. You know where Danny lives in Haddonfield right?”

He nodded, thinking of the former player turned assistant GM. “Yeah I have been to his place a few times.”

“Then my mom’s house is literally next door. Its obnoxiously decorated so you cannot miss it. Think of the Griswold’s house in Christmas Vacation.

Joel laughed.. “Nothing wrong with that, that’s my favorite Christmas movie. Her smile brightened. “Mine too! I’ve annoyed everyone around me by quoting the movie. 

“Hey Claire, we’re heading out.” She turned back towards Sean and Laurence.  “Oh they are my ride. I’ll see you on Christmas, and good luck against the Hurricanes!” They had one more game in Carolina before they could enjoy Christmas break. As he watched her retreating figure his heart did another flip confirming what he already knew

He. Was. Totally. Fucked.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just as Claire said, her mother's home was the most decorated on the block. As he pulled up he took a deep breath. Even on the plane ride back he was lost in his own world. He wondered if her boyfriend Luke would be there. Then chastised himself for thinking that he wouldn't. It was still a family event, and it was Christmas.

The past couple of days he felt his hand hovering over the follow request on her Instagram. She was private, but had a ton of followers, practically the entire team and their wives or girlfriends. Past and present members even had some friends in common, no doubt cause of hockey. He looked at Laurence's photos to see if maybe Claire was posted with Luke. No such luck. Not even wedding photos were she was a bridesmaid.

Taking another deep breath, he got out of his car and saw Travis Sanheim and his girl right Behind him. After exchanging Pleasantries they walked up together. The door opened right away to see a middle aged woman who resembled Claire and no doubt that was her mother. 

“Hello everyone! Merry Christmas!”

“Hi Vero.” She hugged the couple before her eyes were on Joel. Feeling awkward he waved. “Hi I'm Joel. I'm on the team.”

She laughed before pulling him into a hug. “I know who you are! I'm Canadian and have lived here for over ten years. We bleed black and orange. I'm Veronique, But call me Vero. I'm so glad you could come.” She gestured them inside, and once again Joel handed her a bottle of wine. It was becoming his thing. “I'm sorry I know Claire said no gifts, but I can't come empty handed.”

The older woman laughed. “Oh that's so sweet. I raised my daughters the same way. He went to find some of his team in The massive living room, however his Eyes were surveying the room and he very quickly Found who he was looking for.

He smiled brightly when his eyes came across her. She looked beautiful, her dark hair styled to perfection. Her red dress looked cozy and festive. 

However his smile went away fast when he took in her facial expressions. She wasn't happy. In fact, she looked ready to cry.

Then he saw the person next to her and stiffened. 

A tall blonde-haired guy. Was standing next to her, his back angled towards Joel so he couldn't see his face. This had to be Luke.

And based on what he saw, He could already tell this guy was a major prick.

He was luckily distracted by Kevin and his wife coming up to greet him. It was a good distraction as it got him mingling with other teammates and his mind was off Claire. 

Until dinner was ready. As he took his seat at the long decorated table Claire and Luke sat diagonally Across from him. 

“Joel! I didn't see you. I'm glad you made it.” She smiled and he returned it. “Oh and I'm sorry this is Luke, my boyfriend.” 

He tried to refrain from making a grimace as he leaned over the table to reciprocate The handshake the other guy was holding out. “I'm Joel Farabee.”

“Luke Cross. Nice To meet you.” He sat down and took a sip of his wine. “So are you a hockey player like everyone else?”

He didn't miss the tone in Luke's voice when he said ‘hockey players.’ “Yes I'm with the Flyers.”

The blonde shook his head. “I don't know how you do it. I mean, I'm sure the money is nice. But is it worth nearly killing yourself for a hunk of Metal?”

The room seemed to be silent with the Last comment. Luke looked Around and laughed. “I'm sorry. I meant “The Cup.”

“It's more than a ‘Cup’.” York interjected and Sean shook his head. “I've tried to explain it to him”

Luke laughed. “I just don't get sports. I mean I feel like it's not necessary. You're not contributing to anything.”

Joel wanted to take the bowl of mashed potatoes in his hand and aim right towards his smug face. The fact that he was so comfortable trashing someone’s passion in front of his own girlfriend, who was Canadian and a hockey player herself. He didn’t want to imagine what went on in private 

Vero, who Was trying to keep the peace, changed the subject to focus on her other daughter Alexandra and her husband. While Alex was a lawyer, her husband Noah was a tattoo artist who ran his own shop in Philadelphia. “Do you mind showing me some of your work?” Owen asked. Noah was more than thrilled to show off his art, which Joel had to admit, was really good. “How did you and Alex meet?”He asked Noah in a separate side conversation. As it was any more possible, Noah’s smile got even bigger as he was about to talk about his favorite subject, even more so than tattooing 

“Last year Claire came in to get a tattoo, and Alex came with. We got to talking, and I just..” He trailed off and stared down his plate. “I just knew.”

“You guys just met last year and you’re married?” Tyson asked, not being able to comprehend such a short timeline. Noah laughed and began playing with the black band on his inked finger. “Yeah. We spent all of Claire’s session talking and began seeing each other immediately. Asked her to move in six months later, and then bought the ring two weeks later.” Alex now joined the conversation. “We were both cynical, as we have had our hearts broken, but it just felt right. When he asked, I said yes and we practically ran to city hall.”

Claire smiled. “We were all a bit shocked, but they are perfect together, and hey I get free tattoos now.”

Of course, the moment had to be ruined by Luke. “That’s crazy. Getting married so quick. Marriage is a serious commitment not to be taken lightly. You got to take your time. Get your life together first.”

Joel observed both sisters. Alex looked ready to rip his head off, while Claire looked dejected. “Yeah, but things are falling into place now. I just got my masters and I start my PhD program next fall.”

“Oh my god.” Luke interrupted. “Sean I got to show you what I just ordered.” He whipped out his phone and after a couple scrolls he turned the phone to face the group. “Its coming next month, my new toy.”

It was a picture of a truck, with an obnoxious shade of yellow. Sean’s jaw dropped.  “Dude you got a damn Hummer?”

Joel didn’t miss the way Claire stiffened. 

“Yep! Paid cash and customized it. Its got all of the features-” Claire excused herself to get more wine, while Alex followed her. If Joel had to guess, it wasn’t to fill up her wine glass, or maybe it was to down an entire bottle.

He chimed in on the conversation, trying to make his silence obvious, however not one person seemed to notice the sisters absence, so Joel told Travis he was going to get more water from the kitchen hoping that was where the girls were. 

The house was huge, so when he stepped into the kitchen he was confused, until he heard voices. Walking towards them, he stopped in front of the clear glass door when he saw they were in the wine cellar, Claire on the verge of tears while Alex was speaking. They looked at him and he realized he was probably looking like a massive creep. Alex opened the door.  “Are you lost Joel?”

He shook his head.  “Um no. I uh- just wanted to see if Claire was okay.”

“Alex, he can come in.” 

The door opened, and Joel came in. “I saw your reaction to his comment.” He couldn’t say his name. She sniffled.  “He didn’t tell me he bought a Hummer. I mean he mentioned it, but I didn’t think…” She trailed off..  “God this probably sounds soo stupid. We’re not married, and its his money, he can do what he wants with it. So I don’t know why I am upset.

Because he’d rather buy a sixty thousand dollar car than a ring. Joel thought but he didn’t dare say it. “Look I know I don’t have much experience with relationships, but if it upsets you you need to talk about it. Isn’t communication important or something like that?”

Claire laughed. “Oh Joel, you’re so young, but wise. Some girl is gonna be very lucky One day.”

that stung. “Yeah well. I'm not focusing on that.”

She smiled. “Let's go. I'm sure everyone is wondering where we went.” The group lect the huge cellar with a bottle of wine so it didn't look suspicious.

“Where did you go?” Laurence asked. Claire shrugged. “We all ran into each other trying to find another bottle of wine.”

“Darling. Not too much, don't want to be drunk.” Luke chimed in with a smile. Unaware that his own girlfriend was in tears over him. Claire ignored him.

Despite that hiccup, the rest of the night went off perfectly, and Joel found himself forgetting about Luke. He also couldn't help but notice Claire being drawn to him more.

However it none of that mattered as at the end of the night, Claire and Luke left together to go back to their life and Joel was going back to his condo alone.. well he had Morgan and Tyson. 

A.N. I am posting this quickly while I work on Chapter 3. Let me know if you guys are feeling this story.

[onboardsorasora]

Updated Dewis Fic Rec List

Here is my current incomplete Dewis faves list. Still wild to me that Dewis is a rare pair and I am doing my part to try and change that 🫡

In the interim, here are the Dewis fics I regularly go back to lol. They are in no particular order. I just went with the easiest way to put this together.

I will add on as I read more fic :)) also, I'll always shamelessly recommend my own Dewis fics lmao

Mainly doing this for myself so I can like put it in my pinned so I can reference later.

Valentine by dr3writings Words:828 “Are you asking me to be your Valentine?”

Aloha - The Art of Saying Hello and Goodbye by WaitingtoBloom Words: 16,210 Daniel travels to Hawaii in an attempt to shut out the world and find his bearings after a tumultuous start to the season, but Formula 1 ends up finding him anyway in the form of one Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Active Love by f1errari Words: 1,638 Daniel grins, one eye closes, he forgot how sharp the sun is at home but he looks at Lewis anyways who smiles softly and tips Daniel’s cap down just a little, Daniel scrunches his nose up in response but opens his eyes ‘well, let’s hope it goes better then last time huh’ (aka Daniel thinks about Lewis a lot and how good they are together before the 2022 Australian gp)

Lewis x Daniel Extended universe by Bones_2_be Words: 18,533 Works: 3 It starts with Lewis and Daniel seeing each other at Coachella

A Kiss for Good Luck by dr3writings Words:1,222 Daniel takes a deep breath and looks at his own reflection in the mirror, the number three glaring at him from the edge of the red bull cap for just a moment before he forces himself to take it off. Not yet.

Don’t need nothing by the_orange_one

Words:9,493 Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time Grammy winner. He’s a fashion icon, a hugely successful R&B artist, adored all around the world. The pandemic brings his 2020 world tour screeching to a halt, leaving him stranded in Brisbane.

Enter struggling ex-band member, newly-solo, Daniel Ricciardo. He’s taking a creative break (read: having breakdowns about his stalling career), living on his farm in Western Australia, and he’s exactly the type of friend to invite someone to live with him during a global shutdown. Especially if it’s Lewis.

or, Lewis and Daniel write a song together, take care of one another, and reconnect while riding out the global shutdown on Daniel’s farm in Perth. Not necessarily in that order.

wrapped in gold by Anonymous Words: 1,162 Daniel had gotten the address from the photographer he’d messaged on Instagram. She’d said it’s beautiful and Lewis trusts her judgment, he’s not all that familiar with the area in the summer anyway.

Love not given lightly by Anonymous Words:2,937 Lewis is all soft, soft skin on luxury Italian leather, limbs ringed in ink and sturdy cuffs. It almost feels criminal to handle him roughly. But Lewis had asked him specifically, and well, they were always accusing Daniel of being too nice for his own good.

Love, In All the Hard Places to Reach by IICarpeDiemII Words: 15,270 Daniel’s been living on his own for almost a decade. He’s forgotten how it is to live with other people. He’s forgotten how hard it is to hide things from someone you’re sharing the same bed with.

Walk ahead and don't wait for me, I'll follow your footsteps anyway .by soulhead

Words:3,033 He can't allow this annoying, emotional and demanding part of him to distract him as it seeks a kind of companionship his racing lifestyle cannot provide. This force of his own that moves for and against his own wellness at time, that bites and scratches when he swallow yet another suppressant : it needs to be muzzled and he's never second-guessed his decision on the topic until very recently.

Or, Daniel is an Alpha on suppressants, but Lewis just wishes he would be himself for once.

Golden days by its_a_yoke Words:2,257 Lewis is happy to have Daniel on the podium with him again and they have a nostalgic one night stand just like in the old days.

it's not a crime to steal from a thief by Anonymous Words: 1,228 Max is still celebrating when Lewis posts the photo with the caption: You win some, you lose some. Today, I won.

one bright moment by pronoe for Gertika Words: 1,345 Daniel wins the race, Lewis wins the championship, they kiss in parc fermé.

loved you for years by Anonymous Words: 1,665 “Now that you’re back at Red Bull, will we see a mating announcement between you and Max? You two have always been so close.”

And in that moment Daniel knows, his mate at home isn't going to be thrilled with that question.

I've had the time of my life (and I owe it all to you) by Danubius Words: 2,147 Daniel realized he shared his bathroom's wall with his negihbor after a long shift at work, when he heard the singing from the other side, and singing back seemed like a good idea.

He didn't think things would escalade so quickly from there.

let's just dance by dr3writings Words: 1,374 “You done with your work?” he mumbles, leaning further into the solid body behind himself and feels a light exhale on his neck that makes him shiver pleasantly.

“Yep, just in time too I saw,” Daniel whispers, the song still playing on repeat in the background and his fingers have started tapping out the beat lightly against Lewis’ stomach without a conscious thought.

can't stand the heat by @toastandvegemite Words: 2,839  Lewis is most irresistible Alpha on the grid. Daniel is the most untameable Omega.

It should be a match made in heaven, but for some reason Lewis is determined to resist Daniel’s charms.

rocking, raftered by leafmeal0ne Words:33,428 Daniel knew it would be generous to call himself an up-and-comer in the music industry. Probably a little generous to call himself anything other than a farm hand.

It seemed that Lewis Hamilton, actual country music legend, disagreed.

the MET by dr3writings Words:969 Daniel feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and hurries to make an excuse to the people he’s in direct vicinity of as he walks down a slightly hidden hallway to answer, no one really pays any attention too caught up in each other so he sneaks off pretty easily. He feels Blake’s eyes on him but just gives him a thumbs up and shows the phone display quickly where it’s still ringing earning a fond eye roll as the other goes back to talking to some of the other guests.

tbc...

[ilikedyourablogithere]

going off of some google translates so be kind

But it looks like they're going to launch Dislyte in china or something I guess

It's a bit of a head scratcher for me. They clearly been uploading stuff for The Chinese version this whole time but at the same time the article dated today says they're getting ready. So good luck over there I guess

one of the names they were going to go with was "Awakener" which .... doesn't stand out at all. So ya "Dislyte" was a good call

something called "Party of the Gods" returns to national server (the chinese version? right? that's what that means?) on December 15? so next week? and public beta launch on January 18? ... again I'm using google translate

"In "Party of the Gods", a "miracle" arrives and opens Pandora's box to the world. The incoming monsters turn the city into hell or paradise. Because this catastrophe may be a test of the gods, some of the humans who have awakened their power have been given a new title - agents. Agents with diverse aesthetics and different styles like Valkyrie Brynn are Hope you can count on in Party of the Gods." this part confuses me because that's clearly the description of the Dislyte 2021 beta verison of the game . but it's saying this is coming next week so 0 clue about that

the writer likes the characters and likes the music

Anyone else whose better at reading got a better understanding of this?

[nancywheeeler]

oo so curious abt all of these but how about "and if you don't love me now" and "whatever happens to me, i know it's for the better" ?? good luck on writers block also that shit is EVIL <- currently trying to shake it off rn

writer's block truly is so awful, like why am i staring at a blinking cursor and forgetting every word in the english language, can't it all just be easier. but alas. i hope both of our writer's block clears up soon!!

okay so, a significant aspect of "and if you don't love me now" is in the year of our lord 2024, eddie roundtree's first (and only) solo album goes viral on tik tok. so every scene is connected to a track from that album and there are little multi-media snippets that open each scene. i've had a lot of fun trying to mimic various pop culture and music publications. here's probably my favorite:

track eight: second-place finish “ my love’s a god you don’t believe in / my love’s a house that you don’t sleep in / i know, i know ” Roundtree took his time arriving at his album's thesis statement, but here it is, in time for the finale. The title is depressing in its irony; the singer has lost every two-man race he has competed in over the course of his life, but finally recognizes that even if the winner were to disappear tomorrow, he would not be called up to wear the crown. He had never been in the running in the first place. With a brutal honesty he evades on other tracks, Roundtree determines, “You’re a lover; you just don’t love me.” The brutality is served by how spare the musical arrangement is: a lone but faithful acoustic guitar, reminiscent of an old Townes Van Zandt song. Out of pleas or places to hide, Roundtree is left with only his guitar and his final testament’s fading refrain. He knows, he knows, he knows. — from “We Break Down Every Track on Eddie Roundtree’s Album, Secondhand Sounds” Pitchfork || June 30, 2023

meanwhile, "whatever happens to me, i know it's for the better" is even more sports rpf. background: at the us open in 2022, one of the greatest tennis matches ever was played between carlos alcaraz and jannik sinner. it went until like 3 AM. highly recommend watching it if you have a spare four and a half hours. in this match (spoiler alert), jannik sinner had a match point in the fourth set that he failed convert. carlos alcaraz ended up winning in the fifth set and then went on to win the entire tournament, his first grand slam title at only 19.

so...what would have happened if jannik had converted that match point? coming to a fic near you (hopefully)

“Advantage, Sinner.” The crowd inside Arthur Ashe was screaming, and the noise shook the stadium like a minor earthquake. Carlos had stopped trying to guess where their loyalties lied three hours ago. It seemed to him they weren’t on the side of Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz anymore, but on the side of the tennis itself, cheering at the end of every hard-fought point not because of who won it but because of the pure magic spun off their rackets. They needed Carlos to save this match point, because of how desperately they wanted more. It was the tennis Carlos dreamed of playing since he was a kid. Tennis that left the world breathless. Tennis, ten years from today, someone would reminisce about to anyone who’d listen. I was there for Alcaraz and Sinner’s US Open quarterfinal. I watched Alcaraz save a match point at the bottom of the fourth set. Mopping the sweat off his face, Carlos readied himself to make it so. Advantage, Sinner, but not for long. Carlos watched Jannik walk back to the baseline, anticipated him blowing on the base of his racket before he brought it to his lips. Already, he knew so much about Jannik, how his body moved, his on-court ticks. How he clenched his jaw with the same ferocity as he clenched his fist when he won a crucial point. How he planted his hands on his hips when he couldn’t believe he had missed. How he never let up, not for a second. Carlos had dreamed of him, too. The greatest players needed a rival, someone who pushed them to their breaking point, then past it. He knew now, if he hadn’t known already, that rival was Jannik.

[sunskate]

I’m guessing Skate Canada lost a ton of money in the 2020-2022 period. They didn’t have any skating events with ticketed crowds in person starting from 2020 worlds through 2022 nationals if I recall correctly (except for a very limited crowd at 2021 Skate Canada). And this kind of went down the line, including synchro and some of the local competition so they would have been in some pretty dire financial straits.

That’s said, they’ve also had some bad luck and skaters not quite panning out, especially in men’s singles. I think, unfortunately, the prevalence of the Eteri/doping machine has decimated a lot of women’s skating, because so many high-quality skaters left the sport because they knew they couldn’t get anywhere. Like maybe Katelyn or Gabby would have had a different mental state if the playing field had been fair.

Pairs has been a rough go for many countries. The discipline itself has not been able to attract top skaters. But obviously the choice to support Eric and Vanessa in their stunt of trying to make the 2022 Olympics likely didn’t inspire confidence in the teams just below.

Sadly, I don’t think they’re inspiring anyone with the way they’re going about trying to promote younger dance teams. This year will be telling to see whether or not LaLa are rewarded if they skate better than Piper and Paul.

i thought they made a good amount of money from the lower level access programs last season (CAN skate? i forget). but that makes sense that they might have still have been financial issues left from the lockdown seasons

i stopped watching women's skating altogether from around 2019 til Beijing because it was so depressing and toxic feeling. i just couldn't get into it. i'm sure it was incredibly discouraging to a lot of clean skaters

ugh Evelyn Walsh seems happy at college, but the way the Olympic selection for Eric and Vanessa went down after Nationals also sucked. the unfairness of Russia still getting team bronze is upsetting, but did Skate Canada say a word to advocate for their team to get bronze at all in the past two years?

i don't know if this relates, but Meagan Duhamel is one of the very few people in Canadian figure skating who's outspoken, but she's now unwelcome with Skate Canada - it gives the impression that speaking up is discouraged. there are more important things than being nice, if nice is at the expense of what's true or right

Canada is one of the biggest skating nations, but they're sending fewer skaters out to compete internationally than some smaller ones. are they really that strapped for cash? maybe it's easier for European feds to send skaters out because so many of the B and C competitions are relatively nearby? we've had North American Worlds for the last 2 seasons, but there hasn't been a JGP here since 2019, and we get zero or one Challengers in ice dance on this continent per season - this year it's zero

[oraclekleo]

Hi! This is my feedback for your latest free reading.

First of all, thank you for this reading. If I could summarize into ome word what this reading made me feel, it would be this: WOW.

Yes. Wow. In capital letters. I mean, I am so flattered and grateful for how the cards perceive what I bring to the world. To be honest with you, this reasonated a lot with me. I do actually love to take care of animals. We have more than 10 cats at our home, and they're all strays. Also, you were right with me wanting to babysit. I remember back in college (pre-pandemic times), whenever I have free time, I loved visiting my cousin and my baby nephew just to babysit and play with him. I'm not sure about plants since I don't think I'm not that good at taking care of them, but I'd love to try once again in the future. You were also on point with attracting broken people and "healing" them in some way, which to a certain extent, became a weak point of mine before. I learned more of how to use and share my energy and whom to share it with now.

I've also been described by past friends as someone who likes to take care of them. I guess the card fits with some of my past friends calling me the "mom of the group".i have these experiences but I never realized I am motherly figure. I never realized a lot of abundance, empathy, and compassion stems from me probably because of lingering issues I had before.

This is so beautiful. I love it so much. This also made things in a different perspective. I've never experienced scarcity, but sometimes I fail to see that because I focus on the wrong things. This was a good reminder of how abundant I am, and how lovely it is to share it with people who do not degrade you in any way.

And I say WOW to your lovely feedback! Thank you so much for the details! 💖

And it's so lovely you adopted those cats! I can't imagine having 10 of them but I myself have two dogs rescued from dog meat farms in South Korea, adopted them from a private shelter. So yeah, adpoted pets are the best. Their love is pure and unconditional.

And you are absolutely right about people sometimes abusing the care we are willing to give them. You can only be the best care taker if you also have healthy boundaries. The better you yourself feel, the better care and help you can provide for others. Not wasting your energy on those who don't deserve it is surely something we all need to work on. I have had my share of energetic vampires in my life, too, toxic people and more. I wish you the inner strength so you can protect your life energy and lovely vibe. 🌟✨

It's a human nature to overlook all the good things in our lives and focus on the negative ones. But it's always good to sometimes take a moment and be grateful for what we have because no matter what, we are living so much better lives than anyone 100 years ago. 😊 It reminded me of a scene from British mini series about Dracula (I think it's on Netflix). Dracula is trapped in his coffin under the sea and he wakes up in 2023? 2022? Doesn't matter. Modern times. And he breaks in a house in Dover countryside and when he's talking to the woman living there, he's telling her how royal life she has because all that luxury wasn't common even for kings in his times. And she's confused because she's living in a shabby house but she has TV, fridge, dishwasher, carpets on the floor, big bed... All the things she considers to be just like basic or middle class equipment. But for Dracula she seems to be living a life of a queen. And that's why we should be grateful for the abundance we have. 😊

Anyway! Sorry for the Dracula detour. Thank you again for your feedback. It means a world to me. I wish you all the best of luck!

And hopefully see you soon for my next game!

[daekie]

so...... ⚾ Blaseball, huh?

see the thing with putting all my work in a one-last-hurrah message in the fanwork channel is that i don't have enough characters left to talk about almost anything else. so INSTEAD here's a masterpost of my work i guess!

and it's all of the eyes on the way it's going

There was something... there was something they were supposed to say. Something they were meant to carry through the rift. Some information Wyatt Mason wanted to hold close to their chest, because it could change everything, if they just - but there’s nothing there except the same crackling static that would make them jump, if they felt alive enough for that. Wyatt Mason III was pulled through the Rift. Wyatt Mason III Localized into the Georgias' lineup.

2938 words, 1 chapter. Written before I actually had any real feelings or opinions on that wet little guy (said with immense fondness) & the first real piece of writing I did for Blaseball. I think I've gotten a lot better since this, but it's not bad, and I'm still pretty proud of the workskin I made for it.

for you, home is a cemetery

The light shining overhead casts everything in dangerous gold, and the players standing in perfect rank and file are no better and no safer: the Aequitas Representatives, here to take the challenge proposed by the Seattle Garages, here to remind a pesky little team what their place is and how foolish it is to fight a god. 6x200 snapshots of those terrible, brittle years, smothered and kept and preserved under a god's thumb for her purposes and her purposes alone.

1200 words (6x200), 1 chapter. AO3 says it's 1201 but it's lying I think. The Wyatts Mason, in a world where the Coin arranged their Localization and corporate drone teenagers scare the living shit out of me; inspired by @zayphora's original Aequitas AU.

you'll lead all your friends like lemmings to a slaughter

Season 14, Day 86. Wy█tt M██on III Ech█ed █yatt Mas██ ███ — ECHO Wyatt Mason III STATIC ECHO Wyatt Mason VIII STATIC

3387 words, 1 chapter. The aftermath of and it's all of the eyes on the way it's going. Wyatt Mason III Three hasn't even picked an actual name yet besides 'not Wyatt', and they've only been alive for fourteen days, but they know they're not walking off that field at the end of this game. Written after I'd been playing them on Twitter for some time, so it's a lot more consistent with a lot of things!

i'm no ghost, no fool

The first thing David Gray needs you to know is that their name is not David Gray. (is this worth crying for? is stepping up to bat worth dying for?)

2852 words, 1 chapter. Dialogue-only. In a Short Circuits world, Atlantis Georgias shadows player David Gray has some things they need to get off their chest, and a Fan's the only person who can hear them say it (literally). Good thing they can spot a Fan at a hundred paces.

a short list of stars that died this year (or: i’m screaming every requiem i know at the suns)

i’m screaming every requiem i know at the suns & someone is singing a mourning song. Nagomi Nava reflects, after the end of the world.

6967 words, 2 chapters. Written as part of the Sunbeams' 2022 Solstice exchange for orionexperiment#0951. Nagomi Nava experiences the Semi-Centennial, makes an odd friend in Tillman Henderson while she's at it, and makes her way through Season 24 and the end of the universe. This thing fucking rocks honestly, I don't even think it reads too well but I'm incredibly proud of it still.

radio station 19.14

11666 words spread across two fics. Written for the Tokyo Lift Fic Exchange. Jessica Telephone Voicemail and Wyatt Mason (Season 14 birth) Jasmine Mason have a midnight talk about not being that person you took your name and face from, and what it means to be you, and the team that loved a girl they barely even got to know. Fics can be read in any order. Includes:

the only way i know how to say sorry is "better luck next time"

One day, in the static she hears every time she picks up a phone, she hears a voice. The voice doesn’t sound like Jessica Telephone. If it did, she’d put the phone down immediately; deals like the kind Jessica made can’t really be taken back, but that was a determined girl, and she’d make a determined haunt, too. But it doesn’t sound like her voice, or her own, or otherwise. It sounds like a teenage girl. Jessica Telephone isn’t the only girl here who might as well be someone else's ghost.

5533 words, 1 chapter. I tagged this with Minor Parasocial Relationships / alt jess is weird about jessica. its parasocial its antagonistic its envious its Really Something / JESSICA ISNT EVEN HERE GIRL. WHAT ARE YOU HUNG UP ON and I stand by that. This is Jessica Voicemail's side of the conversation!

my theologies strewn out in the dark

At least she herself was able to say that’s not me, that’s my name, that’s not me, I want to be something else. She doesn’t think Jessica has said that, or maybe even thought it to herself; who wouldn’t want to be Jessica Telephone? From the outside, wouldn’t it be a gift, to live a life so rich? (Wouldn’t it be a gift, to be a splinter of a god who saw everything but never saw it coming? It always looks better from the outside.) Jessica Telephone isn’t the only girl here who might as well be someone else’s ghost: or, what that looks like from another camera angle: or, hey, who decides what the real Ship of Theseus is, anyway?

6133 words, 1 chapter. Jasmine's side of the conversation. Eldest daughter syndrome applies even if you're a weird sound ghost and Jas has got it bad. When she can't do anything, why would she ever let herself do anything less than as much as possible?

spinning on this infinite road

a collection of fics written for the game band's blasetober 2022 prompts, all written as 12x100s.

8675ish words, 6 chapters. Covers prompts THE BOOK, CERTIFIED BLASEBALL MOMENT, BIRDS, PEANUTS, A BLESSING, A CURSE, and PARKER.

oh, it's time for another vendetta

This is a body he hasn’t known since before the PODS. This is a body he had no say in leaving behind. This is a body that is his and is not his. York doesn’t know he’s crying until he feels the heat on his face. or: york silk backslides on his mental health recovery, because who ever put 'being eight years old again' in their twelve-step plan?

1628 words, 1 chapter. Set in Sonder's Salmon & Snake AU, where post-S24 the League resets back to S1 but with randomized rosters, and the only players who remember the original timeline are Hall Stars and Legends.

I've also done some ficlets from ask memes -- York Silk's protagonist halo & the vault's heel population, and Trip Mason & Jaybot and accepting the fact things won't get better. And I roleplay(ed) Wyatt Mason III & Siobhan Chark on Twitter!

Non-fanfic stuff I've made includes the following (it's 99% community-billboard stuff):

Everything on this I can back up except putting the Wyatts and Wyatt Prime on separate levels.

(at some point i WILL make a final version of this; this one doesn't include s24 + short circuits i think. but. yknow. it is what it is.)

mock takeovers for fan-entities the Archivist (the first two) & the Catalyst (the third one)

propaganda for early expansion era -- i think this is s13-s14?

late expansion era propaganda. the second one isn't even a good edit but i still think it's funny.

propaganda for short circuits. we could've been the atlantis peanuts.... i wanted it so bad

& some coronation era propaganda. very happy with that first knight ump one.

...and then i also did some playlists (raw meat, static echo)...

and during coronation, i drew my design for mckinney vaughan...

...and i did a moodboard for MaX (Wyatt Mason X)...

oh yeah and I also did text post memes. first set, second set, third set, georgias set.

it's been a good run, yall! onwards to whatever comes next. (& ofc i'll still be blaseballing -- i'll probably be playing around in this setting forever and ever.)

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Two Pixar veterans, Angus MacLane and Galyn Susman, are out at the Emeryville studio following layoffs that axed 73 other employees...

MacLane and Susman, most recently, directed and produced last year's LIGHTYEAR, respectively.

Susman's tenure goes way back, all the way back to the first TOY STORY. She is the very woman who, while working at home on maternity leave, kept a backup of *a version* of TOY STORY 2 after the files for the film at the studio had all accidentally gotten deleted. I say *a version* specifically, because this was for the TOY STORY 2 that we never saw. The one that was being developed as a direct-to-video sequel and done by a B-team, that Pixar heads ended up throwing out - deliberately - less than a year before the film's projected fall 1999 release. Even then... Talk about saving the day! In a studio that was, for many years, predominantly a "boys club", she was a prominent woman there and managed to have a long career within those walls: All four TOY STORY movies, MONSTERS INC., FINDING NEMO, RATATOUILLE, WALL-E, etc., she had a hand in.

And now she's no longer there...

MacLane, who helped make TOY STORY 2's epic Lightyear video game opening sequence, who went on to direct TOY STORY OF TERROR!, co-direct FINDING DORY, and direct LIGHTYEAR... Among many other endeavors... Now also gone...

Whatever the reasoning is for these layoffs, they're unfounded. But this is what happens in capitalism-land... A studio faces hardships, or is about to face hardships, they or their parent company land the hammer... And often times, it's the filmmakers and talents and creatives that get hit the hardest.

If you ask me, Susman and MacLane are not at all to blame for the failures of the people on top. Unless they were toxic people to work with for so very long, there - to me - is no good reason to axe them like this. No matter who ordered it, whether it was Bob Iger or Pete Docter. LIGHTYEAR might not have been considered a good movie by many, but it was no less a labor of love than the other movies made at Pixar. MacLane, Susman, the crew, give it their all and they all felt during its 5-year journey from idea to finished picture that they had something going. That they made the right choices, but the late screenwriter William Goldman will always be right about this kind of thing: In that, no one knows anything when a movie is being made, and if a picture hits it big at the box office, it was luck. A good guess. June 2022 was not the right time for LIGHTYEAR, and the world is an ever-changing place... How could the film crew behind LIGHTYEAR have known what 2022 was going to look like when beginning production on that movie circa 2018-2019? It failed to make much of a stir at the box office...The first two months of its existence... Its infancy, never mind that the movie will exist forever and that a movie's life merely begins at its original theatrical release. Nope, its status is defined by existing for two months in a building with big screens. Box office is often fun to predict and watch, but the deification of it... Especially post-COVID-outbreak, is all utterly silly and not really conducive to moviemaking.

This makes me worry about other directors and creatives at Pixar. Peter Sohn, whose new film ELEMENTAL is out in less than two weeks, made his feature directorial debut with THE GOOD DINOSAUR... Which was Pixar's first money-loser, and yet, he locked another picture. I fear, if ELEMENTAL doesn't do well for whatever reason, his long and impactful career at Pixar might be on ice as well... Which is why I don't get why many so-called animation and film lovers online, armchair experts they are, seem so gleeful about its possible floppage, much as they were with LIGHTYEAR last year. In a very condescending "that'll teach'em!" manner...

I don't root for animated movies I dislike to fail, because it's a loss for a team that worked hard for years on, and honestly, we kind of all lose when this kind of thing happens. It hurts employees more than it forces a studio to make the kinds of movies you specifically want to see. Hell, LIGHTYEAR (and ELEMENTAL, knock on wood) flopping could have an adverse affect and make Pixar greenlight nothing but franchise movies and a slew of movies that are required to be something people don't like. They could very well turn around and say "let's make movies for 3-year-olds for here on out, and compete with Cocomelon!" Okay maybe that's an exaggeration, but you catch my drift, right?

I think, ultimately, MacLane and Susman will be fine. Their experience speaks for itself, and other studios would be silly to not hire them, and I wish them well in the endeavors they pursue...

But, this is very saddening news no doubt. Much like director jail, this is obtuse punishment, not at all a reflection on the real meat of the problem: The ever-changing zeitgeist, how Disney themselves handled the release of the film in question, how management up above messed around, how much money was spent...

I know people online like to cut to the chase and say "Well, they should've made a better movie!" THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE made over $1.3b at the worldwide box office, but most of its critical reception has been mixed to negative, and many have called it a subpar movie. That's all subjective, and box office doesn't validate or invalidate a picture. In another universe, movies like INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE or COCO or PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH or ZOOTOPIA would've flopped hard. In another universe, the likes of LIGHTYEAR and GOOD DINOSAUR and STRANGE WORLD and TURBO and RISE OF THE GUARDIANS would've been blockbusters.

You see how silly this all is? Strip away the recognizable IP, pretend this is a world where the Mario franchise never happened: How would THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE had done at the box office? As an original weirdo-cutesy isekai adventure picture about two plumbers and a fantasy world with little mushroom guys and funny turtle bad guys? That could've been a massive flop. Heck, Mario itself literally exists because Nintendo couldn't get the license to adapt Popeye into an arcade game circa 1980, so Shigeru Miyamoto and crew chose a similar concept - a man who uses powerups, a woman to rescue, and a big brute bully - to make a marketable project. Because, what Nintendo games before DONKEY KONG do lots of people know? Is there any pop cultural footprint that RADAR SCOPE left? Or SHERIFF? I thought so... And little did they know what this simple concept-turned-game would metamorphose into some four years later...

No one knows what'll work, and in the world we live in? You gotta make an impression, or else. It's a brutal game, like these big works of art enter an arena and have to survival the initial brawl.

[amariss-613]

재등장, bts | scene 09: lights, camera, action!

{resurfaced, bts}

summary: the biggest group in the world has their scandal resurface as the former female member the world thought was done become the best new artist of the year at the grammys.

face claim: yeri of red velvet

original is on archive of our own: amariss_0613, and wattpad: amariss_amaryllis, just decided to publish it on here~

this story mentions non-consensual things and includes some mentions of drugs, depression, and sasaengs.

. . .

scene 09: lights, camera, action!

chapter summary: it was time to be a queen.

normal- english

bold w/italic- korean

! warning: sensitive topics are mentioned, such as sexual assault !

playing: zoom | jessi

zoom | 2022

|no one's pov|

"i guess we'll see you during the show! bye y/n, good luck!" hoseok exclaimed waving at y/n who made her way towards her dressing room with kwan following shortly behind. "yeah, i'll see you guys during the show." y/n said, waving back at the 7 guys who were also making their way to their dressing room.

"ok so that went better than I thought it would." kwan commented, staring at the backs of the boys. "oh really? so what did you think was going to happen?" y/n smirked, raising her eyebrow. "well, i just thought i was gonna need to buy you ice cream, tissues, and tickets to dpr's next concert." y/n immediately perked up, "i think i'll just need those dpr tickets this time." y/n giggled, her mood suddenly brighter than before.

"i almost felt like i was suffocating when i was near them. other than that, nothing has really changed with them." y/n sighed, walking into her dressing room as kwan walked in right after her. soo-ah immediately turned away from where she was setting up her workspace towards the two, "oh your back already?"

"yep, and i got some tea to spill unnie."

. . .

"wait, so you guys actually had a conversation?!?" soo-ah exclaimed, before continuing y/n's eye makeup. "trust me, i was not expecting them to come up and talk to me all cheerful and happy." "i guess you're not getting those dpr concert tickets anymore then." soo-ah blurted, y/n stopped all of her movements before speaking again, "wait what? who told you about those? did you and kwan make a bet again?"

soo-ah and kwan shared a glance before she cautiously spoke,

"um, well... wethoughtthatyouandtheboyzweren'tgoingtotalksomeandkwanmadeabetthatifyouguystalkedyouwouldn'tgetfreedprtickets."

(we thought that you and the boys weren't going to talk, so me and kwan made a bet that if you guys talked, you wouldn't get free dpr tickets.)

"you better be joking. i'm expecting those dpr tickets since you guys made a bet about my non-existent love life," y/n exclaimed, grabbing her shoe, throwing it, and almost hitting kwan.

"hey! she started it, i told her it was a bad idea!" kwan yelled, standing up while grabbing my shoe and holding it up in a defensive position. kwan and soo-ah were like partners in crime...

well, more like mother and son in crime since soo-ah had just turned 30 last month and kwan was barely gonna turn 23 in a few days. y/n was more of a father who witnessed everything that they did and kept her mouth shut before she could get yelled at by either one of them.

"alright, stop fighting and move out of the way. i have to do the queen's hair." joon-seo declared, lightly pushing soo-ah out of the way once she was done with the final touches of my makeup.

"yah! you're a brave one! i can't believe you guys talk to your noona like that!" soo-ah exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and herself beside kwan.

|y/n pov|

"alright, how does the dress fit? do you like it?" chaerie stressed, fixing the smallest of details on my dress. it was the first time i was wearing an outfit that reminded me of promotions on music shows in korea. it was also the first time i would be in public looking like this, besides those times i would occasionally model for chanel and gucci where the clothes were far from normal.

(i love this outfit sm, i just had to use it!)

"it fits good, and looks amazing as always, chaerie." i complimented chaerie as she stood back to get a full look at the outfit i was wearing. "t-thank you, and you look as beautiful as always, y/n." I smiled, "it's all you girly." although chaerie had only barely joined the company and my staff, she was already becoming comfortable with us and was starting to open up more.

the dressing room door opened, "10 minutes! we should start heading up to the red carpet!" one staff called, peaking his head in. "ok! let's start going then, kwan?" i called, staring at the said man who was spaced out looking at me, I smirked, "getting distracted on the job, aren't we?" he shook his head before standing up, "nah, just thinking about how aged you look." he grumbled, walking past me,

such a little shit.

"hey! your one to talk donkey kong, you look like a gorilla!" i scolded, following him out to the back entrance to walk to the front.

As we were walking to the front with foreign guards and escorts, i could already hear the crowd and paparazzi going crazy. "you think you're going to be okay? it sounds like it might be too much for you to handle." kwan spoke, getting closer to me, so as too not to draw attention to ourselves, even if the other guards and escorts didn't understand korean.

we made it to the front, and the crowd muted me before i could answer him back. i just held my pinky up before following the escort along the red carpet.

it was time to be a queen.

|no one's pov|

the crowd were going crazy, it wasn't every day to see one of the biggest boybands' former female member attending one of america's biggest music award shows after leaving the group and going dark for four years straight.

no one could stay still as she walked on top of everyone on the red carpet, looking as if she was ruling the world.

as soon as the paparazzi caught sight of her, the questions came spilling from their mouths.

"y/n, how do you feel about attending and being nominated for a grammy only a year into your career after leaving bts?"

"y/n, have you seen or spoken to bts as of lately?"

"y/n, how are you doing queen?!"

well, at least there were a few people that were nice and respectful.  in others' eyes, she looked fearless, like she didn't give a fuck about what people were asking and saying.

"well, today is a day to honor some amazing artists and their impact on music history. we have artists like lady gaga, duo silk sonic, olivia rodrigo, and are there any bts fans out there? bts are the first kpop group to be nominated twice for a grammy! and last but not least, we have y/n! she is the first female kpop artist who is nominated for best new artist of the year! actually, she's coming this way! y/n! girl, you gotta get over here!" one female TV interviewer had called, which y/n had 'recognized'.

"oh, hi! it's nice to see you too!" y/n greeted, shaking her hand while bowing. "so, i heard that it's your first time being nominated, how does it feel?" y/n was quick to respond, as if she was a natural born talent, "well, since i just released my debut album about a year ago, i was not expecting all of this attention and support, especially the nomination. the album is very special to me and holds a lot of what I felt and experienced growing up in korea and being a part of the idol scene." the interviewer continued, "i've also been hearing about a special intro/skit collab before your performance, with another artist?" "ah, yes but it's a secret, you gotta wait and watch the performance!" "we'll be sure to watch, thank you for your time, y/n. also, love that dress, it looks good on you." "thank you, i'll see you later!"

emotionless, back at it again.

once she stepped off the red carpet, kwan appeared right by her side. "ugh, thank god your back, i thought i was gonna run off." y/n sighed, as kwan bent to her height, "are you sure you're okay? we can start heading in if you want?" "no no, i'm fine, let's take our time getting there, i don't want to be early." "alright."

before kwan and y/n could turn to continue their way past other artists and interviewers, the crowd once again went wild.

and wouldn't you know, bts came in all their holy grail, out of their limo. instead of y/n turning away from them, she continued to stare and witnessed their popularity from afar.

"bts! bts, over here!"

"bts, how do you feel being the first kpop group to be nominated twice for a grammy?!"

"bts, how does it feel after 4 years of being a 7 member boy group?"

"how does it feel being in the presence of y/n?"

'you mean, how does it feel to be in the presence of bts, i'm nothing compared to what they have become without me.' y/n thoughts lingered, before making eye contact with one of them.

she smiled and turned towards her dreams.

|yoongi's pov|

"can you all just shut up! y/n seems to be okay with our relationship right now, we don't want to ruin it right when we have already just worked things out." i sighed, frustrated with all of the guys stressing about the mini skit and just seeing y/n in general. i predicted that taehyung or

hoseok would be nervous, but no, it was the maknae who was bouncing his leg and poking the inside of his mouth with his tongue since we left our dressing room.

"hey, calm down. this is the first time we're gonna be in close contact with y/n in public. of course, we're all gonna be freaking out." taehyung expressed, laying against his seat, spacing out. "well, at least you can control yourself, i'm quite literally shaking from nerves right now." jungkook exclaimed, while hoseok just patted him on the back, "you'll be fine jk, plus she used to be even closer to you then taehyung was with her at one point, you know that she doesn't hold anything against us."

"how do we know that she's just not saying that?" jimin blurted, glancing at hoseok's reflection in his window. "why do you think that?" namjoon asked, leaning his elbows on his knees. "we literally lied to her about her own safety and that the company was taking care of everything, that caused her to be sexually assaulted! if only we had told her about the situation and reported the female staff member to the police before she got too close, then maybe none of this would have happened and we would still be in a group and relationship with each other." jimin shouted before scoffing and crossing his arms.

"y/n isn't the type to lie about that stuff," i commented, feeling the atmosphere become awkward.

"yeah, and we aren't the type to just believe people so easily."

"we'll talk about this later, we're already here." jin sighed, fixing up his tie. "let's please be on our best behavior." namjoon mumbled, with hoseok nodding to him, continuing what namjoon was saying, "yes please, we know that stuff as happened between us and y/n but today, just focus on what we're here for."

the limo came to a halt and then the doors were opened by our bodyguards with our escorts shortly behind them. you couldn't even hear what they were telling us as we one by one slowly started to exit the limo. the paparazzi and fans were going crazy and we just stood their star struck by the number of people there to see us on the red carpet alone.

as a group, we stepped on the red carpet as the picture and questions came.

"bts! bts, over here!"

"bts, how do you feel being the first kpop group to be nominated twice for a grammy?!"

"bts, how does it feel after 4 years of being a 7 member boy group?"

"how does it feel being in the presence of y/n?"

they were the typical questions we were expecting, here in america, it was ruthless.

as i kept looking at the cameras, i locked eyes with someone.

it was y/n.

before i could even slightly greet her, she smiled and turned towards the entrance of the arena with kwan following shortly behind her.

maybe jimin was right.

_______

this is officially the longest chapter i have ever written! it was a little quirky but also touches on a sensitive topic aka. the situation that happened between bts, y/n, and now you know: a former female staff. although it might never be revealed in detail in this book, what happened 4 years ago, maybe in the near future, the truth will be found.

[el-yon]

speaking is not communication - but sometimes it helps

or

“Inoue, are you ok?!” and “He’s so nice!”: the origin.  IchiHime Month 2022, day 5: He’s so Nice, and (late) Day 2: Inoue, are you ok? Read on Ao3.  This was originally a drabble that got cut off from the bigger project, but since IHMonth is on and the prompts were right there, I revisited it. It’s fluff, it’s silly, it has some lingering sadness to it, and very short, but I hope you enjoy -- because we’re all gonna need some fluff as TYBW rages on. 

Karakura Town Karakura High School, April 30th, 2001

Damn my old man, that freak…

Ichigo curses to himself as he enters the classroom later than he had planned due to Isshin’s insistent banter.

It had been a month since he started High School and, so far, things were going…

as well as they could be.

He was keeping up with schoolwork, their sensei was a bit whacked, but mostly alright, and there was this odd thing that happened when he entered the room, where he felt slightly better than how he would usually feel walking on the streets, or even on other corridors and grounds at that same building.

If Ichigo were to exaggerate, he would almost say that it felt good.

Somehow, the duo named Mizuiro and Keigo became a constant in his day-to-day activities, and even though the latter was definitely a hyper character, he was getting somewhat accustomed to their company. From what he gathered from their first interaction, it felt like a good thing.

Also, if he would admit to himself, it felt comforting to have Chad always close by, and he was glad to have Tatsuki around again – even though there was this lingering sensation of something being a bit off.

Ah, well... guess it can't be helped.

“Oh! Good-morning, Kurosaki-kun!”

And there was also that.

The first day she greeted him in such a cheerful manner on their entrance day, he thought she might have been over-excited about the beginning of the school year. Or she was being polite – Tatsuki did introduce the two of them just a couple of weeks before.

Maybe it was both.

But for some reason, he was greeted with the same “Good Morning” ever since, and while he was certainly thrown off by seeing someone who had been through what she had, and drew so much unwanted attention like she did bearing such a positive attitude, and he could not explain why she kept happily welcoming everyday… Ichigo appreciated it.

Sometimes he wondered if she had remembered him.

What was there to say, anyway.

... And he would never know how to approach her.

Gradually, the good morning greetings turned into brief conversations, usually with Tatsuki and the others about daily, mundane things.

He never really talked much, but he’d try to answer and participate every now and then. He did gather she liked some odd food combinations, different sorts of music, and she let her imagination run wild.

“… good morning, Inoue…”

He answered back, watching her hum happily to herself with flushed cheeks, and as soon as class started, jump into focus-mode and avidly write on her notebook.

It seemed she finished their assignment earlier, because when he glanced back at her, she was zoning out, gazing at the window.

That was another information he quickly learned about her.

Tatsuki would constantly snap at her for daydreaming, and he couldn’t help but agree with her – not with her methods, though. There have been too many days Orihime showed up for class with band-aids and bandages from bumps and small-accidents, which was bad in itself, but Ichigo felt this intense sense of concern thinking about her happy-go-luck, distracted-self walking around a world that was... unkind.

And to make matters worse, she was a nice, helpful person.

It was a good virtue – it just wasn’t a safe one.

Often, he’d notice her volunteering to help out after school hours, stock and clean things when she wasn’t supposed to, and never turning down a request.

That was probably why he caught her struggling with the cleaning-supply closet alone later that day, trying to reach a higher shelf by supporting herself on a chair.

Tsc, there she goes…

“… Inoue?... Do you need any help…?”

“Oh! Hi, Kurosaki-kun!” She greets, tilting her body back and turning to face him – and he instantly regretted calling out to her, because the second she turned, the teenager lost her balance.

Ichigo was fast, but the chair was faster, and Orihime fell alongside a bunch of cleaning supplies

– at the very least, he managed to prevent the mop from falling on top of her.

“Inoue, are you ok?!”

He asks, a bit panicked, instantly trying to help her get back on her feet – and just as quickly getting his hands back to himself the second she is standing.

“oh dear.... I made a mess…”

“… wha- forget about the mess… did you get hurt?!”

“Oh… hehe, no, no more than usual…” she waves him off, but as she brushes her bangs of her face, her eyes freeze

“… oh, no… oh…”

“What is it…?” He asks, concerned

“… my hairpin… I’m missing one….” She mumbles, checking the floor around them “I can’t lose it…!”

"... o-ok, don't worry, it's gotta be here somewhere...."

Ichigo notices the shape of the blue hairpin over her left ear, and helps her find the missing pair.

He can’t help but smile a bit as he notices the utter relief in her face when they find it.

A few minutes later, everything is safely stored again.

“… sorry that I startled you…” He blurts out - awkwardly - as they walk back, but she smiles

“No, no, you wanted to help… I was the one who lost my balance, hehe... I’m just happy my hairpin didn’t break… they’re very special to me…”

He wants to ask why, and in that particular moment, Ichigo resents the fact that his writing skills don’t make him good at expressing himself out loud.

Thankfully, she seems to read his eyes.

“… they were a gift from my brother, before… he passed away…"

She takes a breath

"... so… I wear them everyday”

Her brother.

“… I see…” His throat itches, and he wants to say more

I am so sorry for what happened, Inoue. I… I know how you feel.

“… I’m sorry about your brother”

Orihime softly thanks him, and he doesn’t know what to say next.

“… are you sure you’re ok? Are you not hurt?”

It comes out of him naturally, after a few seconds.

She lets out a small laugh, blushing a bit.

“Yes, Kurosaki-kun, thank you… but I’m more than fine, you don’t have to worry about me!”

He gruntles something, and soon they part ways as she heads towards Tatsuki’s Judo practice to meet the girl.

He watches as she walks away, and Ichigo is certain that not worrying about her was not an option.

Still worried, he did find himself feeling somewhat close to glad again.

... he managed to approach her.

___________________________________________________________

When she gets home, Orihime rushes to talk to Sora.

“… and I'm so sorry, Onii-chan, I know I should be more careful... but here, you see, they’re intact, shiny as always! And Kurosaki-kun helped me today… he had his scowling face again, but then he helped me and he was really nice!” She comments, grinning to herself, a weird tingling sensation rushing to her cheeks “… really nice…”

The feeling sticks to her as she bathes and cooks – she treats herself with extra-buttery potatoes, since the butter was on sale today (“Ya-ho! Lucky me!”) – up until when she tucks herself in and snuzzles under her covers.

Scenarios pile-up in her head about Ichigo as his concerned – yet gentle – voice echoes, again and again.

She had now picked up on the fact that he was probably the boy present on the worst day of her life, since Tatsuki told her his family ran the clinic, and she did remember – vaguely – that a boy had opened the door.

He probably didn’t remember her.

And there was not much be said, anyway.

Orihime turns around.

… he really was nice…

… so, so nice…

She hugs her pillow closer as the thought wraps her up in comfort, and she drifts into her sleep and enters her realm of dreams, where all imagination ran freely.

[batboyblog]

thank you so much. your words are so sweet and thoughtful, you are a very lovely person for taking your time to talk to a stranger online when you had no obligation to. you're incredibly kind.

it's incredibly funny that you mention challah specifically, because one of the things i did after learning about grandma's story was researching a lot more about jewish customs in eastern europe. in doing so, i learned about babka. it's a bread with chocolate rolled into the dough, something i grew up eating - mostly my mom's version, but when we visited my grandparent's house grandma would make it for us with crushed walnuts. i loved it so much as a kid one of my first worries when my teeth started changing was 'how am i gonna eat grandma's chocolate bread now'. We called it chocolate bread, because up until the point of my research I had no idea it was called babka, or that it was a jewish desert from eastern europe. i keep catching these little things our family does that i thought nothing of until now, and that i keep learning are jewish customs. i have no idea how grandma managed to keep the recipe for it, she was so young when she migrated. maybe it was her sister, she was 4 years or so older. and to think that it survived to me and my cousin is striking. grandma is very old now, so i dont want to talk to her about this and risk upsetting her or making her sad, and i wish id had their brother to talk to - from what our aunt says, he was a lot more open about being jewish, albeit not about having fled Poland. So this has been a unique conversation for me. Thank you for letting me open up.

What you say about learning touches me. I want to learn more, to keep learning about this and to do so before Grandma passes on. She and her siblings were so brave, it's an honor to even think of having that story with me.

i hope you know deep in your heart that your words have given me a warmth like none other. thank you.

I love babka! and it is amazing they kept the recipe (and wonderful)

if you like cooking/baking I'd recommend picking up King Solomon's Table, Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors, The Book of Jewish Food, Modern Jewish Baker by Shannon Sarna, Jew-ish by Jake Cohen

any ways on your grandmother, in the last few years my 3 living grandparents passed away in their 90s and I miss them very much. I found each of them much more interested in telling their stories, talking about people who died before my parents were born. This was particularly true after my grandfather's older brother passed and my grandmother's sister. I think we as people have a need to share and an obligation to speak of the dead. I don't know her, but I hope you get to talk about this or at least some part of it, ask whose babka recipe it is, did her mother teach them both? or just her older sister who showed her? or was it their big brother? were they bakers in the old country? I know it gave my grandmother a great deal of comfort when she got Alzheimer's to share photos of her parents with us and tell their story before it was too late, I think focusing on the end of the story is maybe a mistake, she had a life before that and I hope maybe she can remember it for what it was, good.

We're all running out of time with them, every year they do The March of the Living, a march between Auschwitz and Birkenau, in 2019 the march was lead by 70 survivors, in 2022 the first post-Covid march, just 8 and people are saying it might be the last that has any... time is running out. When they're gone, it won't be gone, but our ability to... touch it, to see past horror to find the people the real people, it'll be so much harder

oh I'd also recommend Born to Kvetch, Just say Nu, and Rhapsody in Schmaltz by Michael Wex since at a guess Yiddish was your grandma's first language.

any ways good luck with all this, I do think you should talk with your grandma, just be sensitive in how you do it

shalom and good luck.