#if you look at the trailer you can see a shot where the team looks devastated and Zava's lockers no longer has his name on them

[catastrophicbleus]

Can we all agree that "shite in nining armour" is Jamie? He's Richmond's No.9, Roy called him a piece of shit in 1x04, and Beard once called him a "poop in the punch bowl". Then, obviously, there's the fact that it's a play on "knight in shining armour" implying, I think, that Jamie - who's finally the best version of himself on and off the pitch thanks to Ted, Keeley, and Roy - is going to save Richmond when Zava inevitably disappoints them.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

OK Guys. I get the skepticism esp after the Knuckles disaster, but we also need to keep in mind "this is a trailer that won't spoil literally everything about the movie." ESPECIALLY in regards to GUN. They're not gonna put in the trailer "the military shot a little girl and that's why Shadow is mad so Sonic is going to never work with them ever." That's a great way to get parents to bring their kids to the theater, especially in America. (/s)

It's WAY more effective as a plot twist halfway through, where Sonic thinks that he's finally being accepted onto Earth via working with the government only to find out that they're exploiting him and Shadow the same. I can't guarantee this is gonna happen obviously but it's like a 90% chance just knowing how, like. writing works.

Esp considering the government has not had a good track record in the last two movies, I dunno if they'd do a heel-face turn into "actually they were always right" in the movie where a little girl needs to get shot by the government.

And I'm not gonna say "trust and form a parasocial relationship with a film director" but we should keep in mind that Jeff Fowler got his start working on Shadow's title game and has stated in interviews that he understands how important Shadow's backstory is to his character. Not to mention how the internet has been exploding the last two years with enthusiasm over this story actually getting shown onscreen, enough that a studio would fucking notice at the very least that this is what the people want. I can't guarantee they'll actually listen, but saying that they're absolutely not because "Sonic was in a GUN helicopter in the trailer" is insane. Especially with the fact that GUN is not with Sonic when he goes to Eggman. We just see Team Sonic alone meeting with Stone, and I will bet you it's because there's no way in hell GUN would let them near him, what with the Robotnik connections to the ARK.

Also the Gerald thing is rather worrying, esp with the lack of shit they gave Pachacamac in the miniseries, but honestly I think that was just a marketing push of "Jim Carrey will be playing TWO characters!!!" Considering he's only seen in one trailer scene AT the ARK (where all of Gerald's technology was and, more importantly, where the Eclipse cannon he needs someone to set off is) AND we know from movie 2's credits scene that there was a fifty-year timeskip, I severely doubt that's the real Gerald who's just completely unaffected by his granddaughter being murdered.

And ofc there's things to be concerned about in the trailer. The lack of Rouge for instance– I obviously keep posting my theory that Krysten Ritter's character will be her undercover but the fact we don't know how much time she'd actually have with Shadow, if at ALL, is worrying. The fact that Rouge might not be here period. The weird pacing of the Knuckles show and the fear that could bleed over into the movie. But there's also stuff to get excited about– the epic fight scene choreography, the brief glimpse we got of Maria and Shadow's bond. Reeves's voice actually fits Shadow and at least from what the trailer showed us it looks like the Green Hills storyline is taking a backseat to the action and mystery of Project Shadow.

tl;dr guys calm down for like five minutes. if the movie sucks in december we can riot then. right now let's just band together against mufasa

[alotofpockets]

Confidence | 18+ MDNI

Pairing: Reneé Rapp x Reader

Summary: Reneé asks you to come to her first day off shooting Mean Girls to give her the confidence she needs to play Regina George. (based on this scene)

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, smut

Reneé Rapp Masterlist | Words: 1.2k

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Reneé usually didn’t have a problem with showing off her body, she was proud of the way she looked, and often showed the world her confident side. She wore revealing outfits all the time, and never really gave a care in the world what others thought about her appearance. However, as the first day of shooting Mean Girls came closer, she started getting more and more nervous about portraying this confident character in front of the cameras.

Of course, Reneé had played Regina before, and knew the character well, but in front of the cameras it was different. On stage she got into character and played the part in front of a lot of people, but they were all sitting at a distance, and observed not only her but also the rest of the set around her. On set the cameras and the crew would be focussed on her playing the character the way they had envisioned her, of course they did the same for the other actors there, but the scene she was most worried about was Regina’s opening scene. 

It didn’t take much convincing on your girlfriend’s end to get you to join her on set for the first day of shooting. You loved supporting her in person whenever you were able to. Supporting her didn’t just mean her music and her acting, you supported her in every aspect of life, and she did the same for you, that is why your relationship worked so well. 

While it was an early call, Reneé still took some time to show you around the set. You hadn’t been to the Mean Girls set yet, and were looking at everything full of amusement. When you were younger, you had watched the original, and you always loved the movie, so seeing the set of the remake made you feel very nostalgic.

You sat to the side as Reneé was getting ready in the hair and make-up trailer, talking with her costars and the hair and make-up team. It was nice getting to know the girls she’d be working with for the next couple of months. 

Before you headed to the set they’d be shooting at this morning, you took Reneé to the side. “I just wanted to say that you are amazing, and you look incredible. You are going to crush this scene, and every scene after. You are the perfect Regina George, and I cannot wait to see the lines we rehearsed together come to life. I love you, baby. Have fun out there, and I will be right behind the crew supporting you.” Reneé pecked your lips, “You’re the best, but shush now or you’re going to make me cry.” You both laugh, and head into the hall the scene would be shot in. 

They were shooting the scene where Cady met Regina for the first time to the song ‘Meet the Plastics’. It included a close up shot of Reneé signing the song, while the camera slowly panned out, revealing more of her. It took a few takes to get the close up right, but when the crew was happy with the results, they moved on to the part that Reneé was most nervous about. It was a shot where she would sensually open her leather jacket and show off her boobs.

The first few takes were cut, “Reneé can you give us a try with some more confidence please?” The director asked and she nodded in response. Reneé looked up to you for some reassurance, and found you clenching your thighs together. You hid it well, no one else around you would notice, but Reneé knew. That familiar look in your eyes, and the subtle movements, she knew all too well. That sight alone gave her the confidence she needed to act the scene exactly how the directors had in mind. 

Once the scene was done, and Reneé had quickly said bye to her co-workers she walked up to you, “I knew having you here would do the trick. Wanna head back to my trailer?” Reneé wouldn’t be in the next couple of scenes they were shooting, so she had some free time. She knew just the way she wanted to spend that free time. 

After entering the trailer door behind you, Reneé pressed you up against it. Your breath hitched at the sudden movement, but a smirk started playing on your lips once you saw the look in your girlfriend’s eyes. “I told you you looked incredible.” You tease, letting your hand drag over her chest. When your hands found the zipper, you undid it the rest of the way, and took off the jacket. Your hands moved up her arms slowly until they reached the nap of her neck. “You are so beautiful, baby.” You tell her before she crashes her lips onto yours.

The kiss was instantly heated, you were very turned on from watching the scene Reneé acted in, so every small touch of your girlfriend letting her hands explore your body sent electricity throughout your body. Her lips made their way down your neck, kissing, sucking, and licking the spots you knew were going to have small bruises later. Your soft moans filled the trailer.

Reneé pulled you towards the bed in the back of the trailer. Only breaking the kiss, once you made it to the bed, so she could take off your shirt, and your bra. “So pretty.” She said before taking one of your nipples into her mouth, and swirling her tongue around the hardened bud. With one of your hands behind her back to pull her closer, and the other massaging her breasts, you fell back onto the bed. 

It didn’t take long for both of your clothes to be thrown onto the ground, and your moans filled the trailer once more, as Reneé drags her finger through your folds. “Fuck, you’re so wet baby.” Between moans you manage to say, “I told you, you looked incredible.” Reneé chuckled, “Once again proving that you are a boob girl.” Her comment made you laugh, but it got caught short as she entered one of her fingers into you, and started fucking you at a fast pace right away. 

Your moans start to get so loud that you’re afraid that someone will hear you, so you pull Reneé closer and crash your lips together to muffle the noises. You felt yourself nearing your high fast, as she entered a second finger, and used her thumb to run circles around your clit. “Baby, I-” Reneé’s darkened eyes meet yours, “Fuck, I’m close.” Reneé fastens her pace even more, loving the way she can feel you tighten around her fingers. “Come for me, baby.” Her sultry voice brings you over the edge. You moan her name loudly, no longer being able to control yourself as she fucks you through your orgasm. 

You let your head fall back onto the bed, while you come down from your high with a heaving chest. Reneé cleans off her fingers on the sheets, before she places soft kisses all over your face. “You did so great, baby. I should take you to set with me more often.” She says smiling down at you, admiring the way your sensitive body reacts to her soft touches. 

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💗 If you enjoyed this fic, please consider liking, commenting, and reblogging! You can also supporting me by leaving a tip 💗

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜

Nathan: "This team has done some amazing work 😍" [source]

devs Mack Carruthers and Greg Towner worked on Morrigan's transformation in the new trailer [source]

Violet: "🥰 can't wait to share more with you guys 👀" [source]

Violet: "Happy to finally have my first authored blog (with help from my AMAZING TEAM of course!) to share with you guys!!! Check it out and pre-order DATV now! 🥰🥰🥰" [source] [bloglink]

In this thread, Derek highlights a compilation of shots from the trailer that he made, worked on in-tandem with others, or polished

Derek: "And that’s all the stuff from me in the trailer! I feel so incredibly lucky that so much of my work made it into this AMAZING trailer. Can’t wait for you guys to see more. 🧡 I wanna add: it takes an army to make these scenes. While I did character layout, camera animations, animation polish, bug fixing and technical stuff, there’s still a plethora of folks who touched these scenes. Matter of fact, our work still isn’t done. So I gotta thank: writing, level art, VFX, lighting, sound, character art, performance capture, actors, production, and my fellow Cine folks who I worked on these scenes in tandem with. It all came together into one incredible package. 🧡 For anyone who’s curious, here’s a breakdown of what I do: - mocap assembly - scene layout (characters, props, cameras, mocap) - camera work (animations, framing, polish, etc.) - scene polish (character and camera animation polish, bug fixes) - integration - bug fixing" [source, two, three, four] Derek added: "PS: I count these as Cine folks, but to clarify - also huge thank you our incredible Creature and Character animators. They did some really insanely mind blowing shit. Dunno how they do it." [source]

User: "Okay, but is it on purpose that the drink/flask thingie is positioned almost like the stomach in Manfred It's like kinda in the correct area too if I'm not mistaken [image of Manfred]" / Derek: "Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what character art was going for here 😂" [source]

Dev Tony: "Been hard at work bringing these scenes to life with an amazing team of cinematic artists and designers. Enjoy a small teaser of our work." [source]

Derek: "I worked on a few of [Lucanis'] best scenes. HE OWES ME." [source] / User: "Very much looking forward to seeing where his story goes. I have a feeling it'll be spicy." / Derek: "Oh it’s a doozy." [source]

Derek: "The hair in our game is ASTOUNDING." [source]

Derek: "Our lighting team are absolute MASTERS at this, every bit of work they did was incredible!!" [source]

Derek: "I can absolutely tell you that there are a PLETHORA of dialogue options, major choices, and a huge amount of variability. Trust me - it’s been challenging to work with all the variability LOL" [source]

Carly: "game dev is so collaborative, a lot of stuff in the trailer i've helped out on! most of the work id say i "own" isn't gonna be in flashy trailers, but hope we get to see some of it over the next two months ! :)" [source]

Crystal: "Some really beautiful cinematics shown off in this one. So proud of our team!" [source]

Carly: "ive worked on at least one romance scene for each follower and i still squeak when they flirt with me im With y'all" [source]

Dev Matthew: "👀 This is so hype! Might be a tad of my work in there as well. 😉" [source]

Siggi: "It's so exciting to see the some of the shots I worked on and worked along-side come to life! I was afraid that my work would never see the life of day. I can't wait for October!" [source]

Siggi: "My biggest contribution was the assan work I think. I got to do a lot of look and movement development on him. I even animated his whole intro scene." [source]

Siggi: "Look at my babies! LOOK AT THEM! They're smiling!" [context: Assan and the dragon that rises from the water, and having worked on them] [source]

Carly: "forever grateful to siggi for helping me onboard but okkkk their animation work is sooooo killer, set an amazing standard for the cines !!!!! 🙏🙏🙏 so excited for y'all to see" [source]

Dev Zara: "October 31st!! So excited for folks to enjoy it. And to finally be able to publicly share my animation work." [source]

Camille: "Time for you to meet some of them dragons ! And I don’t think you’ll be able to slay them so easily hehe" [source]

Varric's Bianca: "That’s us!! That’s our game!! 😭❤️ never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted that I’d end up where I am, working on my dream project. I’m so immensely grateful to this amazing team!" [source]

ikhandle: "Congratulations team! This has been an honour to work on! Amazing job all around." [source]

Michael: "the team really, really cares about PC." [source] / User: "The trailer was awesome! How soon do you think we'll hear about PC specific features? 👀" / Michael: "pretty soon! i know its in the works." [source]

For a while there was an error on the Steam listing of the game's PC specs. it said the recommended PC spec is the same as the minspec. the recommended PC spec is PC spec is i9-9900K. it looks like this has now been fixed [source]

ikhandle: "One of my dragon shots just made the trailer! 🐉🐉 Huge shoutout to the Cinematic team for absolutely crushing it—these are some of the best cinematics I've seen in years. Truly an honor to have the privilege to work on Dragon Age. Congrats to the whole team on their outstanding work!" [source] (context: dragon shot at the end of the trailer when the red one pulls a pike out its body)

ikhandle: "Had a lot of fun animating this big boi. Y’all not ready for him 🦴☠️🪓" [source] (context: the giant skeleton) / User: "Does he have a name? 👀" / ikhandle: "I’ll ask 😂. I’ve named him SeñorBones for now." [source]

The cinematics in the trailer are running REAL time in engine [source]

ikhandle: "Everyone has done such an amazing job… a lot of hard work to get these out. Shout out to the whole team!!’" [source]

Jess: "😎 I'm uncontrollably hype and I work on this….." [source]

Dev Yanni: "Dragons go roar! *internal screaming in excitement*" [source]

Nick: "Nuts to see how far this has come. Way to go to the BioWare team." [source]

[charles-leclerizz]

EPISODE 01 : Start your engine

🏁 EPISODE AGE RATING : U/A 16+ [contaings swearing]

🏁 GENRE : Drama, Action, Sports, Romance

🏁 WORD COUNT : 10 K [ 10 , 366 WORDS ]

🏁 MUSIC SUMMARY : THE GREATEST BY SIA, PUMPT IT - BLACK EYED PEAS

🏁 CREDIT [S] : "BEHIND THE SCENES" BANNER, NETFLIX PLAY BAR BY ME [@charles-leclerizz], TEXT DIVIDERS BY @cafekitsune

🏁 TAGS : MUTUALS GET INSTANT TAGS [@vroomvroomcircuit, @disneyprincemuke, @verstappen-cult, @starkwlkr, @sailing-with-100-ships, @foreveralbon], OTHERS [@weekendlusting, @woozarts, @mellowarcadefun, @paintedbypoetry, @33-81, @kazuha-pista-badam, @inejghafawifesblog,d3kstar], IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED, PLEASE SEND IN AN ASK !

DIRECTORS CUT : first episode children, better get soome snacks and a drink, and i highly reccomend looking at the masterlist, aisha's profile and the porsche f1 team links, since they will explain everything. It is also recommendeed you first read the trailer, which is once again found on the masterlist below.

Masterlist · 🪷 Aisha · 🪷 Porsche F1 Team · 🪷

The opening credits of the series begin to play, revealing bold block letters reading,

“Bahrain 2025”

And in the background, the black fades to reveal an aerial view of the landmark circuit, a staple of the history that defines Formula One. As the shot zooms in, we see the morning mist rolling over the grey, freshly re-laid tarmac of the track leading up to the garages of each of the 10 teams, most of them shutdown and blocked away from prying eyes. Though, as the camera moves forward, the view widens and we can see at the very end of the line, the Porsche garage emitting a yellow glow.

The acrylic entrance leaks hues of gold whilst we finally approach the opening where we see Aisha jumping in place, a set of Bose x Porsche headphones sat on her ears, the white body and metallic automobile logo on the muffs bouncing with her movements.

She looks up from her focussed point beneath her, facing the camera that zooms in and captures the determined flare within the pools of her eyes.

 The music, already beginning its powerful bass bursts, dims and briefly we can hear her laboured breathing as she stretches her hands above her and unzips the tight athleisure jacket that she had worn previously for warmth. The adidas logo crumples as she throws it away, revealing a cropped sports bra, white with grey stripes at the sides containing an embroidered Porsche logo on her left breast.

Soon enough, the music comes blaring back and the camera merely turns to follow her body as she begins to run away from the safety of her team enclosure. The scene ends with her exiting the shot, running down the initial straight of the first ever track she will race as a formula one driver.

“Aisha, what drives you in the world of Formula One?” A deep, cryptic voice off camera asks the driver sitting in shot. She smiles menacingly and leans back against her seat, her hands planted on her elegantly crossed legs as she adjusts the low cut, ‘V’ collar of her waistcoat, the colour matching the iconic Porsche guards’ red, of the rest of her risqué pantsuit.

“What drives me?” She chuckles, a low, raspy amusement that reverberates against the stormy backdrop behind her, “The competition, the domination, it runs in my blood;” She leans forward, as if the camera crew were privy to her obvious need to achieve. Aisha’s thin, golden bangles on each of her wrist’s jingle as she goes to adjust her volumous hair, “it’s not about the winning, it’s about obliterating the finish line.” She shrugs nonchalantly, despite the aggressive competitiveness that crackles in the air.

The voice chuckles at her threatening demeanour, yet continues, “Some media outlets commented on your driving style, since F2 and F3. They say it’s violent. What’s your response?”

Aisha bites her lip, thinking on the best way to diplomatically answer the question, despite her need to curse the people who doubted her.

Instead, she sighs with faux disappointment and her wide, mascara rimmed eyes move down to her rouge and gold nails whilst one of her fingers comes to slip beneath the platinum stud that sits comfortably on the left of her nose.

“Violent?” She asks, her voice barely above a murmur, “They could’ve been more descriptive.” She rolls her eyes once before inhaling, “Try...relentless. When I’m on track, behind the wheel, it’s war. And I aim to be the last one standing, if you can’t get with the program, move out the way. Cause I’m here to win.”

Her promise of no mercy is palpable as she shifts minutely in her seat, tapping her nails against one another whilst waiting for next question.

“What about the rest of the grid?” The interviewer prompts, treading carefully with his words, “Any words for them?”

Aisha scoffs under her breath, uncrossing her legs and flipping over the golden dainty necklace that rests within her exposed cleavage, the glinting logo of her team catches the light whilst she adjusts herself.

“Why words? They’ll know what I’m here for when I pass them. They’ll feel it, the fear, the resignation. I’m a whirlwind, all they can do is get swept up in it, this season, I am not racing against them, their teams or even their car; I’m racing against their hatred of losing to me.”

She smiles at the camera, eyes crinkling at the sides as her nose scrunches, a pure juxtaposition to the threat that peeled out of her mouth like scalding, hot water.

“Before we end. For your fans, what do you want them to know?”

“Hold on for your life, they’re about to witness history on the track. Cause I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to fuck shit up.” Aisha grins wickedly and laughing loudly at the flurry of reactions off camera from the crew that stood behind the myriad of wires.

Three different scenes are overlayed one another, the first being of Lewis Hamilton, giggling at someone off screen before focussing his large doe eyes onto the interviewer who also sat behind the large camera.

The second being 3X world champion Max Verstappen, who sits heavily onto the provided stool and sips at the can of the sugary energy drink in his hand, Max stared at the camera, a bored sheen coating his crystalline blue irises as the third, and final driver’s scene overtakes his.

This time Charles Leclerc enters the identical set, the Ferrari golden boy had narrowly escaped his fans-who’s screams of joy could be heard in the background as he waved a final time and pocketed a bright red, branded Ferrari pen whilst sighing, glancing around haphazardly.

“Lewis”

Hamilton perks up at his name, smiling serenely, prompting the interviewer to continue.

“The world of Formula one is ablaze about new entry, Aisha Patel. Do you think, as a seasoned professional, she has what it takes to compete?”

Lewis whistles lowly, leaning back against his seat and wraps his arms around himself, “Damn- starting strong huh?” He snorts once before re-adjusting his posture, “Y’know, we’ve heard of her up here. And she’s talented, but obliterating F3 and F2 does not directly auto-translate to domination on our track.”

“Is that scepticism that I hear?” The interviewer chases after the hesitation in the driver’s voice, like a dog after a juicy bone.

“Call it...” Lewis arches an eyebrow as he mulls over his words, “Healthy cautiousness. I’m waiting to see how she handles the pressure after the lights go out.”

“Max”

Max hums lazily, as though he had one too many bubbling seltzers that sat, pristine on the refreshments table, “Yeah?”

“Aisha Patel.”

Max clenches his jaw at the sound of her name.

“She’s said to rival your aggressiveness on track, what are your thoughts on her joining your world?”

Max scoffs at the seemingly preposterous statement, “What about her? She’s aggressive, so what? It’s skill that matters here in the big leagues. Give a baby a steering wheel to a supercharged car, that’ll be aggressive. I’m not holding my breath for her. “

“That sounds like someone who’s threatened?” He probes the already on edge driver.

“A threat?” Max chortles as if someone had offered him a mere penny for his thoughts, “I haven’t been threatened since kindergarten. I’ll let her have her try at the status quo, take one for the team and all.”

“Charles”

The alarmingly red adorned man tilts his head inquisitively at the interviewer, his gentle smile popping his dimples.

“Miss. Patel has been said to be relentless on track, throwing caution to the wind. Your thoughts on her violent debut?”

Charles hums as he nods his head, “It’s nice to see fresh blood on track, bonne, she’s certainly caught people’s attention. Let’s see if she’s all bark and no bite.” He mummers the French praise before shrugging at the end of his sentence.

“You’re excited to compete against her?”

“Of course- who wouldn’t be? New team, new driver. The more varied the sport, the more interesting.” He answers neutrality laced into his words, despite the excited glint in his eye.

“Thank you for your insights.” The interviewer thanks the men in their tapes, each of them reciprocating with equal politeness.

“Of course,” Lewis grins and claps his hands, turning to start chatting once again as he dismounts from the chair, already walking away.

“No problem,” Max nods his head once, stepping down from his seat whilst receiving a fresh can of Red Bull.

“Cheers mate,” The camera captures Charles leaning forward to shake the interviewer’s hand whilst patting his shoulder, before detaching to go and talk to the gaggle of Ferrari personnel who had gathered within the filming shed.

The 2025 drivers had gathered onto the Bahrain track, the relentless mid-day sun beating down on them as a few of them had the pleasure of black umbrellas being held above them, whilst other’s held small hand-fans in the large palms, basking in the cool breeze that the battery powered trinket provided.

Aisha walked out, her racing shoes tapping against the tarmac as she made her way towards the others. A few Porsche employees trailed behind her, one of them stayed closer behind her, offering her a metallic, grey hand-held fan along with a chilled bottle of water.

“Thanks,” She murmured, brushing the hair that managed to escape her ponytail, “It’s fucking boiling.” Aisha complained, tugging at her fireproofs whilst another employee came up to her, patting her face with a setting powder as an attempt to dry her skin.

“Can’t really help it, love.” The media admin, Sarah, pointed out removing her focus from one of the jittery interns to the driver, “Now- you’re going to walk out, fans are going to see you. Are you sure you don’t want to hide your face right now?”

Aisha cracked open the bottle in her hand, having pressed the condensation coated plastic against her forehead long enough. She faced away from 2-3 people surrounding her to peak past the acrylic barrier, onto the track, where the rest of the drivers stood haphazardly scattered around the starting position boxes that had been freshly painted onto the concrete polymer.

“It’s fine, I think I’ve already heard all their opinions on me.” Aisha groaned, fanning her face again as she kicked a non-existent pebble beneath her toe, “What could go wrong?”

She peaked out again, like a tense meerkat, only to be surprised with her teammate, Pierre chatting with his former partner, Esteban Ocon. His racing suit was already zipped up fully as he basked in the fan’s unintelligible shouts and squeals, the thick, grey fabric stretched over his body nicely as the different sponsor logos morphed to the wrinkles and dents of the cloth.

“He’s already out there.” She hissed, “Making me look like shit.” Aisha banged the back of her crown against the wall that provided her with the much-needed shelter, from both the sweltering rays and the assessing gazes of the crowd above.

“Nonsense lovey.” Sarah assured her, picking at the hem of her fireproofs and pressing a few of the sweaty, stray strands of hair back into position, “Pedro’s just catching up with some friends.”

“Pierre.” Aisha corrected, pulling up her identical suit from hanging lowly from her waist to her shoulders, thankfully she still had time to leave it unzipped.

“Whatever.” She flapped her hand dismissively, “Baguette man isn’t doing anything you won’t have to.”

“Okay,” Aisha breathed out, keeping her lips taught and still as her rouge lipstick was touched up by another Porsche jersey adorned worker, “My helmet?” She looked around, patting herself, as though it would appear out of thin air.

Sarah looked around her surrounding, panicked, before snorting and pointing to the ledge behind the group, “There ya go babe.” She leaned past Aisha to knock on the head gear.

“I’m a mess,” Aisha whined, picking up her helmet whilst rubbing the glossy exterior with an open palm, she runs her fingers over her last name that’s printed on the back.

“A hot mess.” Sarah corrected her, hooking their elbows together whilst ushering forward the teenage interns next to them- their hands shaking with apprehension as they gripped the phones in their hands, the gadget recording each moment.

Aisha stilled slightly as her foot contacted the tarmac, the crowd already hushing with undivided interest on her mere shadow. She could feel anxious sweat begin to build up on the nape of her neck, flushing her face and glistening against her skin.

Finally, after a few minutes of inner turmoil, she allowed Sarah to guide her out within the crowd of other team’s media escorts and her fellow drivers. The grandstands erupted with chaos, the rushing of footsteps- scrambling to take the first photos of her in her debut, the unravelling of flags, the patriotic colours burning against the pristine plexi-glass barriers and multiple little girls shouting happily at her image.

Aisha forced a smile onto her face, the unexpected praise soothed her blushing ears as she waved up at the viewing boxes.

“Well, well. Nobody’s ever screamed like that for me.” A voice creeped up behind her, causing Aisha to whip around with a cautionary hand on her chest.

A cheeky grin greeted her, “Lando” Aisha breathed out, leaning to the side of his stature to acknowledge the rabid paparazzi behind of them with a tight-lipped nod.

“Hey,” He greeted her, bouncing on the balls of his feet and tapping the top of his helmet that sat squeezed between his arm and waist, “You nervous?” Lando tipped his head boyishly, his curls falling over his forehead, hazel eyes softening as he watched her.

“Not really,” Aisha lied, “do you need to pee?” She looked at him anxiously, watching as he stopped bouncing like a full bladdered toddler, and stood still. Lando chuckled under his breath and opened his mouth to answer, until he lurched forward under the weight of a heavy arm that hung from his shoulders.

“Little Lando Norris.” Daniel chuckled, rubbing his knuckles over the younger’s head, and snorted when Lando pushed his hand away stumbling out from his hold, “Already chatting up the newbie?” Daniel looks at Aisha with a smirk, “I think his pubes finally grew in.” He faux whispered, his voice gritty as he winked.

“I’m not chatting up anyone,” Lando smacked Daniel between the eyes before walking backwards, next to Aisha, “Just catching up.” He shrugged, side-eyeing her, gauging a reaction from her steely expression. Luckily, he got one, Aisha’s eyes widened slightly, her eyelashes fluttering to match her hearts faster pace as she slowly turned her head to meet his eyes.

“Catching up?” Daniel inquired, suddenly interested, “You guys know each other from before?”

“Yeah, we karted together.” Aisha crossed her arms over one another, before accepting a cold can of thumbs up from a staff member, “Still remember how he shit his pants.” She mumbled.

“I did not!”

“What the fuck.”

Both men exclaimed at the same time, Lando blushing a furious red and Daniel cackling loudly- leading to not only the attention from the other drivers that stood in a 200m vicinity but also Aisha snorting out her drink from her nose.

“I did not shit my pants.” Lando gritted out the last part, to stop prying ears of the other men approaching to become privy to his humiliation.

“You did though?” Aisha arched a brow at him, “I passed by you on the last lap, therefore winning-“ She poked her outstretched pinkie from her can into his puffed up chest, “And that made you so mad, that you shit your pants.”

“Oh god,” Daniel wheezed, taking support on his shorter teammate who had trotted up to join the conversation. Yuki scrunched up his face, tilting away from the force of the elder before looking at Aisha sympathetically,

“You excited?” He grinned slightly, showing off the gap between his front teeth.

“Definitely. How could I not be?” Aisha looked down at Yuki, shifting her weight slightly as an attempt to lower herself, “The crippling pressure? The thousands of viewers? The weight of both of my country’s on my shoulders?” Aisha blew a nonchalant breath from between her lips whilst waving her hand in front of her face, “No biggie.”

The three men stared at her, blank expressions on their face, one of them pressed their lips together, smacking them and creating an equally awkward “popping” noise for the group to bask in.

“I meant more like, the race and stuff..” Yuki mumbled, scratching the back of his head before yelping when Daniel smacked the nape of his neck, “But yeah, what you said works too, fo sho, no doubt, no doubt.” He corrected himself hastily.

“Fo sho?” A fourth voice chimed in, this time with a French lilt to his words, “Who’s got yuki talking like that?”

Aisha looked away amusedly from the smaller driver to the voice, her eyes widened at the blaring red that adorned the man in front of her.

“My period wasn’t due until after the race.” She commented, meeting the man’s intense gaze, “Are you here to ask if I’d like to continue watching?” She tilted her head innocently.

“Ah, I see.” He scrunches his nose at her, “You’ve got our baby Yuki talking like that.”

“Hey, fuck you man.” Yuki protested, throwing his arms up with a huff.

“I know you want to,” The seemingly french-man retorted back with a shameful wink,

“You wink like you’re trying not to cry.” Lando pointed out.

Aisha clapped her hands at her revelation, “That’s what it looked like!”

Lando shrugged, as though it was obvious.

“Okay I’m sorry, I’m not here to start the next French revolution or whatever-“ She mumbled, holding out a polite hand as a civil greeting.

Though, she was not met with his acceptance immediately, instead the three men surrounding her grimaced and hissed through their teeth- Daniel shook his hand out like he had just burned himself. Aisha looked around, oblivious to the reason for their reactions and jolted her hand out to the man.

“I’m from Monaco,” He snarked, accepting her hand begrudgingly, “Not France.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” She shrugged in reply.

“Charles” he gritted out, squeezing Aisha’s hand tightly- a poor attempt to veil his distaste, “Charles Leclerc, Ferrari driver.”

“Really?” Aisha squeezed harder, taking a step back to roll her eyes over his bright red suit, “Couldn’t tell.” She snorted.

“Right, well” Lando coughed, reaching forward to peel away both of their hands simultaneously, “This was fun. Meeting new people.” He took Aisha’s hand in his but dropped it quickly when she looked down at their conjoined fingers. Lando coughed, the tips of his ears blushing a furious scarlet, before he shifted to glance at his oh-so-interesting boots.

Luckily, the situation was saved by one of the administration workers clapping their hands and speaking robotically into a megaphone, “drivers, please make your way to your positions.”

The seasoned drivers around her began to exit their conversations and walk towards the bleachers style setup at the start line of the circuit. At least 12 black, metallic chairs sat in a row behind a small plaque, displaying bold white font that detailed the circuit name and the iconic formula one logo sprawled along the edges of the display board.

“Didn’t need this fucking helmet.” Aisha hissed to herself, jogging to one of the Porsche employees that stood at the edge of the camera shot, handing off the piece of equipment, before making her way back to the crowd.

She zipped up her suit and removed the piece of elastic from her hair, letting the noir waves fall down her shoulders as she scanned the already in place men in front of her, thankfully Pierre waved at her and ushered for her to take place next to him, standing behind the pair of Mercedes drivers who were snickering at some joke the other had just told.

Aisha huffed, clasping her hands behind her waist whilst jerking her head side to side due to odd strands of hair tickling her eyes and nose, before she could exasperatedly wipe her face with her hand, a pair of fingers had come and brushed against her nose. Aisha minutely followed the soft pads across her cheek before trailing her gaze up to the origin, Lando met her eyes, his own irises blown out as his hand lingered by her cheek- his thumb twitching across her skin before he coughed and re-took his position.

“Thank you,” She murmured beneath her breath, neutralising her face against the onslaught of obnoxious camera shutters and piercing sun rays.

“No problem,” Lando nodded slightly, his eyes flicking back to her face, tracing her features with his shy stare, “You did great in qualifying, yesterday.” He hastily complimented.

Aisha tried to fight against the blush that made its way up her neck, “thank you,” she snipped, pressing her lips together as a futile attempt at hiding her girlish smile.

Lando huffed out a laugh, turning his neck to grin at her, “anytime.”

Finally, the pictures had come to a stop, and the long-barrelled cameras were packed away and the grid were herded to a large, open roof truck. Another admin worker trailed behind the last driver into the pen-like vehicle, stepping up the stairs to hang back from the railing after locking the gate, “everyone’s here?’ she asked, giving a once over the flocked in men, and woman.

“Aisha, you’ll be first to talk to Lawrence,” She met eyes with Aisha, who was already waving to the rowdy fans who had collected at the banisters of the grandstands, “And then it’ll be whoever’s closest.”

The lady nodded once when the drivers thanked her, then she caught Aisha’s gaze again and she smiled reassuringly, “See you guys around.” She waved and dismounted from the railing with a jump.

The large platform began to move as the truck silently hummed to life, Aisha moved from her comfortable position at the back of the area-leaning against the matte, black railing towards Lawrence who smiled excitedly at her approaching figure. As she knitted through the small groups of 3 drivers littered in her path, she continued to wave at the fans who shouted and screamed at each subtle view they managed to glimpse of her.

“Aisha! Hi!” Lawrence greeted her, offering his hand for her to shake and swivelled around to collect a microphone.

“Hello, hello.” Aisha grinned back, accepting the long piece of tech from him, comically rotating it in her hands observing the porous black material that had been painted with a flaring red to create the F1 logo.

“So, you’re finally here! The big leagues, and yesterday’s qualifying must’ve been very exciting.  We’ve all been so blown away with Porsche’s car, and your performance. P5 ! Amazing. Walk us through what you’re feeling right now?”

“I mean, it’s a confidence booster of course, qualifying top 5- but I think that along with that it’s proving to myself and other little girls like me that it isn’t about who you are, but what you can do, regardless of gender or background.” Aisha nods once, leaning her elbow against the railing to crane her neck around and take in the track that lay ahead of the speedily moving vehicle.

“It’s great that you can showcase your talent and inspire young minds, but with that said- there’s obviously a pressure that comes with entering such a male-dominated sport.”

Aisha stilled slightly, her eyes wide and unblinking for a beat, “I mean, there’s always going to be extra expectation on you when you’re breaking barriers. The way I see it, this is an opportunity to pave the way for future generation, so really, its fuels my success and goes to show that gender or race, doesn’t correlate to your ability on track.”

“Well said, and while we’re on the topic of your determination, whilst being in the spotlight almost 24/7 and the battles on track, how do you maintain focus? It must be overwhelming.”

Aisha chuckled, turning to look at the other drivers, a few of them had tuned into her interview not-so-subtle whilst others were still deep in conversation, “I mean, when you’re battling against jumbo sized toddlers, and then being put under the loving spotlight of the media, I agree, it can be pretty overwhelming sometimes. But then I remind myself, why am I here? What am I here to do? And at the end of the day, it’s just me, the car, and the track, so I really don’t mind it too much.”

She shrugged at the end of her sentence, flipping her hair over her shoulder before unzipping the thick race suit. Revealing her tight, fireproofs beneath, the Indian flag sat proudly on her shoulder whilst her team logo lay sprawled across her chest along with the sponsor logos littered across the rest of her front.

“You make it seem so easy Aisha,” Lawrence laughed, oblivious to the tension that had gathered in the young woman’s shoulders and the tightness of her eyes that had increased tenfold throughout their conversation, “Last question before I let you go, to all of  your young fans gathered here today-“ he pointed up to the bleachers that came into view on the straight that the truck was approaching, where multiple younger children stood, jumping in their spots as their Porsche hats bobbled on their heads, “-what would you tell them? Especially those who are most likely facing challenges in their racing journey?”

Aisha smiled serenely, imagining herself in the seats that sat so far away from her, what her younger self would long to hear to make her racing career just a little bit easier, “To all the younger dreamers, never let anyone else tell you your limits. They may say to stop, but you need to believe that you can keep going. Chase your passions relentlessly because if you do, then the only barriers will be the ones we allow ourselves to see. Keep fighting, because one day, you’ll see that you’re right where you need to be.”

“Wow” He sighed, hand on his heart, “That inspired me.” Lawrence laughed heartily, “Finally, maybe just a few words in your native language, now from what I know you spent at least 3 years living in India? For your education?” He looked at her questioningly, waiting for her response.

Aisha nodded happily, “Yes, I did! so you want a message in Hindi? There are so many languages in my country, but sadly I’m only fluent in Hindi, despite being Gujarati myself.”

“That would be great, please do.”

“Sabse pehle, main apne sabhi fans ko bahut saara pyaar dena chahti hoon. Aap log mere liye inspiration ho, aur main hamesha aapke saath hoon. Aap sabka support mere liye bahut important hai, aur thank you kehna chahti hoon.”

[First of all, I want to give a lot of love to all my fans. You are an inspiration for me, and I am always with you. All your support is very important for me, and I would like to say thank you.]

“Amazing, thank you so much Aisha,” Lawrence gently took the microphone away from her and offered a grateful smile before looking towards Fernando who had made his way towards the pair.

“No problem,” Aisha stepped away, patting the eldest driver’s back once before turning away and making her way towards Lando, who had already been looking towards her, waiting for her to approach him, along with Oscar and Logan who were engrossed in conversation.

The scene fades away from the three seasoned drivers and in the blackness another title appears, “RACE DAY” and following this the Porsche garage is finally revealed for the first time, much like the other teams the hard acrylic surfaces were decorated with the team colours and many engineers, technicians and workers were rushing around whilst other’s begaan to detach the hydraulic tubes from the cars in preparation for the first race of the season.

Before the first car revved up with anticipation, the halo was shown displaying the driver number and surname, “GASLY 10” and with that, the tubes were removed and the driver’s engineer pulled away, removing the iPad from Pierre’s gloved hands, allowing him to speed off towards his starting position.

The camera pans over to the second car that is yet to exit the garage, the driver within seemed to be hurriedly re-reading the car statistics, consuming that data over and over again, the scene rotates from the back of the car towards the front, where from beyond the middle column of the halo we get a glimpse of the large helmet following her heads sporadic movements, the Indian and British flag printed onto the front side of her head gear, peeped in and out of view as she handed away the tablet and she pulled on her gloves that lay waiting on the chassis in front of her.

With a confident thumbs up, she followed one of the Porsche employee’s guiding movements towards the other racers who sat in their cars, waiting for the start. Maintaining an even pace, she passed by the other cars, the exposed carbon fibre of Esteban’s Alpine in P10 and bright orange of Oscar’s McLaren in P7. She found her box waiting for her car as she pulled in and slowly removed her foot from the acceleration as she joined the grid in waiting for the formation lap.

The music faded away, to allow Aisha’s monologue to play over the still of the onboard camera, “This is it, I thought to myself, all the years of hard work and sacrifices have led up to this moment. This isn’t like F3 or F2-“ the live replay of the sleek interior of her F1 car is replaced by exhilarating moments of on track battles from her previous racing leagues, “- this is F1, where dreams are trampled on and shattered if you can’t keep up.” Her voice trembles slightly as we hear her take a deep breath in and the cars are overtaken with a new scene.

We see Aisha, in the same deep red sultry pantsuit, her side profile contrasted in the shadows as her chest rises and falls, “I remember the moment exactly, I told myself ‘Aisha, soak it in, the cheers and the feeling of other’s dreams, their expectations, cause it can make or break you.” She laughs incredulously at herself, “dramatic I know.”

“But it was electrifying, the whole thing, the thrum of the engines, the anticipation. I have never felt anything like it. But it’s everything I’ve trained for and everything I’ve wanted since I was little and racing go-karts.” Snippets of the raging, overwhelming sound of spluttering go-karts overtake the screen as one after another, we see young Aisha, drowning in an oversized sponsored uniform cut through the chequered ribbon.

“To the other drivers on the grid, it’s just the first race of the season, but for me, it’s my debut, it’s the first and only chance to prove that I’m meant to be here.” Aisha claps her hands, and the bursting flashes of her karting days cease, and we’re brought back to her, sitting in the tall stool, legs crossed over elegantly as she waves her heel back and forth, “The countdown began, and it’s lights out and away we go.”

The red lights above the Bahrain track fade away one by one, Crofty’s voice is matched with hers, and just as the sound of the engines crescendo, the scene ends.

“Right Lando- “

The young British man makes his way into the stool, wobbling slightly as he flails his hands before rocking back to stability. He lets out a relieved breath and crosses his arms over his chest, his fingers absent-mindedly playing with the golden, volt bracelet on his wrist the Luis Vuitton logo glinting in the light from his absent-minded movements.

“Hi, yes, I’m here.” Lando looked up at the interviewer, his eyes bouncing between the 3-4 different camera’s capturing him from odd angles, “Which-“he pointed at one of them, “-which one am I looking at?”

The interviewer laughed before leaning forward and tapping the lens of the middle-most camera, “This one.”

Lando breathed out, “great” before adjusting the pillowing fabric of his hoodie and stared straight into the glass barrel in front of him, “I’m Lando Norris, and I race for McLaren Formula one team.”

“We ehm we didn’t need that. It- it’s different from Drive to Survive,”

Lando cringed and rubbed the back of his head, causing the bracelet to ride up beneath the sleeve of his hoodie, “My bad- “

“Don’t worry about it, Now-“The sound of cue cards being shuffled could be heard, “Onto the first question, we’ve heard rumours about you and Aisha, especially during your karting days, care to elaborate?”

Lando sucks air through his teeth as he smirks, “Me and Aisha…” He looks down to his hands, fingers finding purchase on the angled charm of his bracelet, “We go way back, I mean, it was either me or her who were winning the races, she was,” He sighs heavily, his eyes starry as he looks back up to the camera, “She was, no, she is everything.”

“Can’t help but notice the bracelet that you have on, anything significant?”

“It’s symbolic, I guess?but nothing too big.” He shrugs it off, hiding away the jewellery from prying eyes.

The interviewer presses their lips together, humming whilst shuffling the cards once again, “Right, of course, but some fans have already started to notice that you and she are…close.”

“Close? We’ve always been close, it’s like electric with her, it’s hard not to be attached to her talent.” Lando smirks playfully, winking at the camera, “Karting with her was so intense, we pushed each other to the limit, and I will always hold her and those memories close to my heart.”

“Seems like obsession,” They laugh.

“Oh, it most definitely is, I mean, have you seen her?” Lando flourishes dramatically with his hands, as though the woman was sitting right next to him.

We are brought back to the first driver’s briefing of the season, mere days before the Bahrain Grand Prix, Aisha had just sat down next to Pierre and began to chat amicably with her new teammate, bouts of laughter erupting from the pair momentarily.

The camera pans from the bonding partners to Lando, still hiding his head between his palms in embarrassment, though from between his ringed fingers we see his emerald irises peeking through the gaps, staring thoughtfully at the enrapturing driver who was currently fiddling with the van clef, indigo bracelets that shimmered around her wrist.

Oscar, who was also curiously watching the woman jogged Lando, snapping the man out of his trance, “Mate- you’re drooling,” He poked his teammate’s cheek.

Lando slapped away the finger that prodded his face, “I am not.”

“Whatever you say,” Oscar hummed, turning his attention back to the administrator who was flipping through a few data filled papers, bringing their mouth closer to the bendable microphone. Oscar leaned into Lando, bumping their shoulders together, “Just be careful.”

Aisha breathed out a sigh, capping the black, matte Bulgari pen, slipping it into the awkwardly small purse that hung from her shoulder. She slammed the driver’s door of her car, having just finished a load of signing and smiling with fans, her main objective was to get through the security scanners peacefully.

“Hey stranger,” A voice came up behind her, tapping her arm.

“Lando,” Aisha tried to contain the quiver in her voice, “I thought you already got in.” She adjusted the neckline of her top, the tight sleeves hugged her shoulders and left her skin exposed to the warm sun.

“I did, I just needed something from my car and then I saw you,” He grinned at her, tapping his key card against the scanner, walking seamlessly through the rotating barrier, “You look like you’re about to walk a runway.”

Aisha laughed, tucking a straightened lock of hair behind her ear, “Thanks, you look…” Aisha assessed his outfit, a pair of light blue baggy, Levi’s and one of his own merch hoodies, “normal.” She cringed at her unnecessary honesty.

Yet, Lando just laughed and nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah- compared to you.”

Aisha continued to walk through the paddock, the British driver at her side whilst she waved to those personnel that passed by. She looked down at her own clothes, a neat, navy, off-the shoulder top that hugged her chest in all the right places was tucked into a grey mini-skirt, compliments of one of the many brand ambassadors of her team, the item was paired with a thin brown, gold buckled belt along with knee-high go-go boots.

“You could say that” She conceded, adjusting the golden Porsche chain that clung to her neck, “I was wondering…”

“Yeah?” Lando pocketed his hands.

“I you wanted to get dinner. For old times’ sake?” Aisha leaned forward on one foot, tilting her head hopefully before coming to a stop and waiting for his response.

Lando beamed widely, his eyes sparkling, “Definitely, I would be an absolute idiot to turn you down.”

Aisha blushed and looked down at the bracelets on her wrist, multiple layered golden chains which reflected light against her face in the most euphoric way, “Great, I’ll ju-“

“AISHA, oh my god it’s really her, AISHA!”

A shrill, young voice erupted from behind the pair, and a group of 3-4 young girls came running up to the pair. Aisha laughed to herself, plucking out the pen once more.

“Hello,” Aisha greeted the pre-teens who surrounded her, two of them dressed in a signature papaya orange whilst the other two sported metallic, silver Porsche merch, “You guys look so good!”

She accepted the hats and odd poster that the girls shyly handed her, “We’re so excited to see you race! You’re the only one who looks like us.” One of them spoke, her copper toned, youthful cheeks bobbed up with her smile as her long, black ponytail weaved with her excited movements.

“That’s so sweet, I think I might just win the race for you.” Aisha opened her arm for the girl to step into as they took a photo.

“Ehm, Lando, could we get an autograph as well,” Another one asked, already unfurling a second poster along with presenting the enraptured male with a sharpie.

“Absolutely! How could I resist?” Lando accepted the pen and began to sign the poster along with some newly presented items that the other two girls had produced.

“Thank you, guys, so much!” Aisha waved off the girls and turned back to Lando, already handing over her phone for him to enter in his number.

The young fans were squealing on their way back to their parents, who were just as excited for their young daughter’s interaction, “Did you guys see the bracelet?”

“What bracelet?” Another one asked, carefully rolling up her poster and handing it to her father, who tucked it under his arm and offered his hand for her to take.

“Lando’s, the one he wore for the whole of last season…” She adjusted her cap, looking confusedly at her three friends.

“Oh…I didn’t.”

“Neither did I.”

The screen faded away from Lando, sitting with his teammate whilst gawking at Aisha and we’re brought back to the present, the on-board camera of the Porsche is aimed at the lights that have just gone dark and all at once, a symphony of rubber against concrete fills the scene.

Aisha navigated turn one with ease, emerging from the throng of cars still in P5, her grip tightened on the steering wheel as she focussed every ounce within her body on the track ahead. The bright spotlights above her cast a blinding hue over the grandstands, illuminating the eager fans from around the world, their flags waved in their air as they watched with anticipation when she approached Lewis from behind, pressuring the world champion ahead as they weaved into the next turn.

Aisha aimed for the apex, seeing the slightest gap for her to slip past, as she pointed the head of her car towards the opening, she held her breath and pressed on the throttle. Aisha lurched backwards as she could feel the crackles of her under-board hit the track with each increase in speed she made, yet she managed to dodge the Mercedes car and fly down the straight, maintaining her tyres as best as she could.

The radio thrummed to life in her ear as her race engineer, James, began to speak, “Great work with Lewis, already around 1.15 behind you. Take care of your tyres for now and defend.”

Aisha breathed heavily as she continued to meet the corners and walls with barely an inch to save herself as a highly effective attempt to prevent more overtakes, “Got it.”

She continued her pace throughout the laps, the continuous build up over 20 rounds had inched her closer and closer to Carlos who was struggling in P3, his braking getting worse and worse with each sharp turn.

“James- how much closer do I need to overtake?” Aisha gritted out, flitting her eyes to the large, white metallic DRS sign that entered her limited field of vision.

“Only a bit more Aisha, it’s time to push.”

Aisha stepped harshly onto the gas, her engine thrumming all around her as she charged closer to the bright red Ferrari ahead. She could see the rubber of the tyres in front burn and smoke with every swerve. The roar of her engine filled her ears, drowning out the noise of her own heartbeat as she braced herself for the challenge, “Here we go,” she murmured, voice firm and steely with determination.

She surged her car forward, pushing her machine to the limit as she matched Carlos’ pace with precision and determination, the desert heat bore down in mirage-like waves as the two drivers danced on the razor’s edge of competition. One by one measly lap, the distance shortened until they were wheel to wheel, and all Aisha could do was grit her teeth until she could taste the tangy calcium as she continued the precipice of a wipe-out, the promise of a podium too good to lose.

Aisha’s heart pounded with exhilaration as they hurtled down the straight once again, soon enough the pair were met with the sharpest corner yet, Aisha pushed further and Carlos relented, edging away meekly to allow her to slip by. The crowd’s cheers washed over her, a wave of euphoria crashing over her senses as her heart swelled with triumph.

“WOO! P3!”

“Amazing work Aisha, halfway there. Get some distance between you two.”

“I can take on Checo,” Aisha promised, her aggressive spirit burning deeply within her core as her eyes narrowed into the back of one of the red bulls.

“Go for it, but be careful, your tyres aren’t that good.” James warned her, his voice crisp with caution.

“I got this.”

Aisha revved up once her power had flashed a promising green on the screen in front of her, “It’s time to pounce.” She promised herself whilst flicking the DRS button with her thumb, letting the flap behind her quiver open, the force launched her forward like never before as the lap count leached into the 40’s, Checo hadn’t yet pitted, neither had she, and suddenly, it was a battle of the wills.

She tried all that she could, nudging her nose into the smallest of gaps and backing out when he had angled himself predatorially, grazing her front wing enough for her heart to jump into her throat, “What the fuck is he doing? Fucking cocksucker, he wants to kill me or what?” Aisha had to remind herself to lower her voice.

“It’s within regulation, keep pushing you’re approaching DRS again.” James assured her.

The car trembled beneath her, like a jaguar waiting to pounce again after one failure, she pressed again. This time she nipped Checo’s wheel, causing for him to quickly move out of the way, narrowly missing a spin-off and allowing Aisha to speed into P2.

“FUCK YES! HOLY SHI-“

Aisha’s celebration was cut short when a dangerous thrum approached her rapidly, she attempted with all her might to duck and weave into and out of his path, but Checo was relentless, continuously rubbing against her wheels and forcing her to utilise her power.

“Fuck, fuck what the actual shit?” Aisha screeched as she continued to sloppily defend, her anger bubbling up like hot water.

The red bull growled and pounced in front of her, clipping enough of her front wheel to send her spinning. Aisha shouted with malice, throwing up her hands as her wheels began to rotate rapidly, “BASTARD!”

Her vision blurred as the world around her continued to haphazardly shift, the fans above stilled with trepidation as they watched her strangle her wheel with both hands and wrangle the car back into position.

“Okay, so that’s P5- P5, Piastri, Sainz, Perez and Verstappen in front of you,”

“Copy.” Aisha grumbled darkly, manoeuvring the vehicle so that she could continue to viciously speed down the final lap, murderously defending her position as her stomach finally settled and head stopped pounding with adrenaline.

The race ended with Crofty heartily congratulating her over the commentary,

“And Verstappen has won the Bahrain grand prix! with Checo in P2 and Sainz in the Ferrari in P3. Now the fans have spoken, and new-comer Aisha Patel has been voted driver of the day, rightfully so, securing a solid P5 finish after a challenging battle on the track. it's fantastic to see her scoring valuable points in her debut race. And let's not forget the incredible debut of the Porsche F1 Team! It's clear that they're a force to be reckoned with in the championship.”

A view of Max passing through the finish line is shown, sparks flew behind his car as he speeds through and turned into the parc ferme. Aisha is also shown, her eyes steely from within her helmet and as she stops her car she clambers out of the cockpit and rips of her headgear, a scowl evident on her usually cool face.

She pushes open the gate to the media pen, narrowly avoiding Max, who spared her a dark glance from over his shoulder before turning back to the interviewer.

“Yeah, people make stupid decisions sometimes,” She heard him answer the unintelligible question. Aisha could already feel the anger burn her throat as she whipped her head around and met Max’s eyes, he stared back, an inferno raging within his blue iris’. She opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by her Media manager, pulling her away gently, Aisha followed tearing her eyes away from the Dutchman. Yet, she could still feel his heated gaze on her.

Aisha scoffed passing by Carlos and Checo, who were conversing in fast Spanish, and headed towards the common media area, where eager and ravenous reporters began to clamber on top of one another as they caught sight of her sweaty face and stringy hair.

“Aisha! Aisha!”  They called, loud voices breaking through the microphone and blowing through the audio.

Aisha huffed and went towards the tell-tale white microphone, the sky sports logo sprawled all over the foam cover,

“Hi Aisha, congratulations on the P5 today,” Mark started, holding the microphone out for the visibly annoyed driver.

“Thank you,” She snipped, but blinked a few times before forcing herself to continue, “Y’know could’ve been a P2 finish for Porsche today, but I’m happy with both Pierre and I’s finish, at least we scored some valuable points.” Aisha robotically recounted her PR training.

“Definitely a tough break for you out there,” He nodded solemnly, “Care to walk us through what happened with Checo on lap 43?”

Aisha sucked in a breath, looking behind her where her PR person stood, arms crossed over her Porsche shirt as she shrugged, “Yeah, of course, it’s disappointing end to my race, P2 would probably be a dream, but Checo made a-“ Aisha bit her tongue momentarily, looking into the few dozen camera’s pointed at her, until she noticed Checo’s reflection walking behind her, heading to the cool-down room, “-a dickhead move absolutely dangerous, there was contact because he couldn’t use his eyes, and that caused me to spin out. It’s racing, I know, but you don’t see race winners or legends making moves like that.” Aisha hissed.

Mark stared at her, mouth agape before he recollected himself and forced a flabbergasted laugh, “Well, that’s one way to put it.” The other surrounding reporters were close to drooling at the mouth, their own mics pushed further through the gaps as they imagined the debaucherous headlines they could create from her outburst.

“How were you feeling during that moment?”

“Truthfully?” She tilted her head, “Pissed, but you probably didn’t you marky-moo, my radio probably told you that. But after I managed to regain my original position, I was more determined to just finish the race with a solid end.”

He laughed at that but stilled when Checo emerged once again from the cool-off room, “Checo!” Mark called, oblivious to the thunderous haze that overtook Aisha. She checked behind her shoulder, and her upper lip curled with malice,

“I’ll let Checo say his bit- “She murmured, “Excuse me.” And left the pen, heading towards the Porsche garage whilst avoiding eye-contact with Lucy, her fuming PR manager.

“Hey! Checo!” Aisha called out, throwing down her headphones, leaving her race engineer in concerned confusion as she approached the red bull driver, amid his team, oblivious to the storm about to hit him.

“Oh, hey Aisha-“

“Do not, hey, me.” She snarled, “What the fuck was that on track? Were you trying to kill me back there? You could’ve overtaken me in so many other ways.” Aisha approached him, prompting Checo to take a simultaneous step back, hands raised.

“It’s racing Aisha, I had to make a split-second decision.”

“We all make decisions, Perez,” She snarled, hands balling up into fists, “You don’t see Charles or Carlos or anyone with half a brain doing what you did? You messed up my race!” Aisha’s voice begins to raise, drawing attention of the red bull personnel, since the pair had manged to slowly move up to the entrance of the garage, and prompting a few camera men, who were following around Lando and Oscar to pan over to her.

Aisha groans, smacking her palm against her head a few times as a display of aggression before turning back to a very sweaty, nervous driver, “Never mind my race- you had fucking so many other options, why? Why did you decide to clip my wheel? Is it because being overtaken by a woman was so embarrassing, for red bull’s number two, you couldn’t handle it?” Aisha mocks him, before starting to approach his frozen form, a violent fire burning in her eyes and spreading to her limbs, igniting them with her fury.

Just as there was merely a centimetre between the two, a pair of strong arms hooked themselves around her elbows, holding her hand away from Checo, who had started shouting about his “personal safety”.

“Are you fucking stupid?” A gruff voice whispers into her ear.

Aisha kicks out, a futile attempt to free herself, “Let me go,” She whips her head around, her hair flying,

“Can you stop? I will literally knock you out.” The voice continues, grunting when her foot narrowly misses his groin.

“Fine-“ She huffs, going limp as she shoots daggers into Checo’s retreating back being escorted by a flurry of blue clad workers, “Fine, let me go,” She mumbles.

The man drops her onto the floor instantly, allowing her to stumble over her feet. Aisha finds her footing once more and spins around to meet his eyes, “Max?”

Max stares down at her, his eyes squinted with annoyance, “Who else? You’re in front of the red bull garage.” He rolls his eyes and steps a large stride away from her.

Aisha blinks once. Twice. Before scoffing and crossing her arms, “Yeah. Thanks.” She snarks before walking away from him, leaving the dutchman standing, fuming in his spot. She manages to skip over the McLaren crowd but had attracted almost half a dozen cameras on her, the large intimidating lens’ were pushed into her face haphazardly, narrowly missing her face a few times.

Aisha had to hold herself back from stealing the cameras from their holders and smashing them onto the ground. She could feel a self-depreciating throb begin to build in her head, the memory of all the idyllic children watching her, and those who had felt represented by her made tears prick at her eyes. In that moment, with too many lens’ focussing on her quivering lip, she hoped that they wouldn’t catch the salty sadness that threatened to stream down her face

The post-race interview scene fades away, and a familiar red bull jersey is announced into the scene, the dark blue merging pleasantly with the dark grey background. We’re introduced to Checo’s frame, a placid smile on his face.

“Hi checo,” The interviewer greets the driver, who nods in acknowledgement, “Well, Bahrain was an intense time for you, especially the on track accident with Aisha, would you care to talk us through the whole thing?”

Checo clears his throat briefly, “Yeah, uhm, it was a tight battle with her, and she was holding her ground y’know, but I saw an opportunity to make a move and I took it.” He shrugged once, reverting his gaze away from the camera, “And, as an unfortunate by product, she ended up spinning out, but it’s racing, these things happen.”

“I think everyone knows that she seemed quite upset about the incident, did you have a chance to speak with her afterwards?”

“uhm, people say things when they’re angry, and Aisha was frustrated but I’m here to win races, that’s what I’ve been hired to do. Once again, it was a choice that I had to make, and it’s hard to consider everyone’s emotions while I do it.”

“Max, we recently interviewed Checo, and he had some…words to say about the situation in Bahrain, specifically with Aisha after the race. Now, we saw that you had intervened just in time, what was going on during that moment?”

Max shifted in his chair, slipping down slightly, and crossing his arms over his chest, “Yeah, I could see that the situation was escalating, with Aisha getting increasingly angry, it would’ve ended pretty badly.”

“You sound so sure about that.”

“Trust me, I know anger when I see it, and I know that races can get heated especially when avoidable occurrences aren’t avoided, but I also think that emotional regulation is crucial to compete.” He distractedly runs a thumb over his bottom lip.

“Does this change your initial views on Aisha entering the sport? Since you were pretty, pessimistic.” The interviewer cringes just as the words escape their mouth.

“I wouldn’t say I was pessimistic,” He quickly rejects, “But I think she had something to prove, just like any of us, she isn’t exempt from it. And she, raced like any of us would’ve in the moment, so do I suddenly think of her as a saint? No, but do I think that she’s building up to something? Maybe.”

“Aisha!” A voice calls from behind her, Aisha smiles at the fans who had offered her a notebook to sign, she watched them walk away before responding,

“Yeah?” She tucks away her pen into the silver, Porsche gym bag that hung from her shoulder.

Lando jogs up to her, tapping his card against the scanner before pushing through the gate and reaching her side, “Great race, you handled it...well…” He trailed off, unsure of how to spin off his compliment.

Aisha laughs at that, throwing her head back, ”It’s okay Lando, you don’t have to say anything” She tugs at the sleaves of her tight black jacket, the hugo boss label stretched over her chest as she pulled at the fabric, “I- I can get pretty mad,” Aisha shrugs, kicking an imaginary pebble with her shoe, rustling her oversized tracksuit bottoms, the three parallel lines on both her legs fluttered with the airy clothing.

“Yeah, that probably didn’t go down to well on camera,” He itches the back of his head, “I actually came to ask if you’re staying at the same hotel as the rest of us, Oscar took my car and I’m stranded.”

“Lando…” She sighs, adjusting the strap of her bag, “If you wanted to ride in my Porsche, you could’ve just said so.” Aisha gestured to her silvery 918 Spyder, the high-end sports car shimmered beneath the spotlights of the private car park.

Lando hissed through his teeth and grinned, “You caught me.” He held his hands up, “It’s the only way I can be photographed in the car without causing an uproar.”

Aisha tilted her head at him, “Oh, so nothing else is convincing you?”

“Hmmm, that, and maybe the very beautiful and scary woman who drives it?” Lando offered, holding out his hand for her to take.

She looked down at his open palm before searching the area around them, the rest of the grid had departed long before, leaving just her car and another in the parking. Aisha squinted her eyes at the remaining automobile, a Honda NSX, the only owner being none other than a certain grumpy blonde, who was more focussed on his back seat than on the couple who still stood in the middle of the concrete.

Accepting his hand, she revelled in the feeling of her fingers intertwined with his, soft skin against coarse knuckles, a warm aura enveloped her being as she guided them towards her car, pulling out the flat fob to click open the expensive machine.

Yet, as she watched Lando retreat into the passenger’s seat with an amazed, “oh damn.” and went to unlock the trunk to slip her duffel bag into, she felt an icy gaze glued to her back.

Aisha turned once behind her to where Max was sitting in his driver’s seat, eyes glued at first on Lando, an unrecognisable expression painted on his face before he slowly slid it up to her face, and his once oddly neutral gaze turned into an annoyed squint.

With that, the dutchman tore his eyes away from a now, slightly agitated Aisha, towards the open road and pulled out of the car park, speeding away to what she assumed would be the hotel.

“Hey,” Lando leaned over the dash, reaching for her hand that rested on the headrest of her seat, the other braced on her car door as she watched the retreating Honda, “You okay?”

Aisha jumped out of her disturbed haze, and back to where Lando was now rubbing his fingers over hers that had tensed enough to turn her milky brown skin into a pale white, “Yeah- I’m fine, just checking for reporters.”

“I’m that embarrassing?” He teased, watching her intently as she fastened her seatbelt and smiled at the sound of the purring super engine.

Aisha snorts, “No- not at all, just making sure that McLaren’s golden boy isn’t photographed inside a Porsche- with the grid’s certified crazy woman.” She pressed on the gas.

“Yeah, but…what if I want that?”

“What?” Aisha’s eyebrows knitted together; eyes still glued to the unfamiliar roads ahead as the GPS stopped squawking at her for a brief moment.

“I don’t care if you’re the crazy woman…You’re just, you. I don’t care about the rest.” Lando smiled lazily, his eyes studying her quickly flustered face.

“You’re a horrible flirt Norris.” She grumbled.

[thebeast-dennis-etcetera]

Always There

Note: I know I’ve been MIA for a while but the ��writer block” bug bit me good. Anyways, hope I can apologize better with this Gibbs Prompt!

Prompt: Gibbs has a panic attack after hearing old military footage.

"Tony, knock it off, you're gonna make me drop it and then we're all gonna be in trouble," you warned the overly excited agent as he made grandous hand motions near the tray of coffees you had.

"Oh come on, Y/N. I know you're just as excited as me. You're the biggest crime noir movie nerd I know."

You just smiled at his theatrics as the both of you exited the elevators and walked towards the bullpen, where the rest of the team was waiting.

"Tony been talking your ear off about the new Gregory Haines film?" McGee asked as you handed over his coffee with an eyeroll.

"You have no idea. It took him 10 minutes just to order his coffee because he was busy talking about the trailer with the barista."

You handed Bishop her loaded breakfast bagel and latte before finishing with Gibbs' tall black coffee. He was quietly engrossed in whatever case file was on his desk, barley looking up to greet you. It was unusual of him since you two were kind of a thing now. Of course no one knew about it, but for the last 3 months or so, you and Gibbs had been going on late night dates and hanging out at each others houses, occasionally sleeping together.

You blamed his distant behavior on keeping a professional cover with you so as not to arise any suspicion from the team, but kept a reminder in your head to ask him about it later.

"But she just can't help going back to him, totally oblivious to the fact that he's actually the town murderer-

"DiNozzo. Are you able to focus today?" Gibbs inquired in irritation, irrupting Tony's lengthy synopsis to Bishop. His tone was a bit more gruff than usual, even throwing Tony off a bit.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry boss. Back to work."

As Tony took his seat at his desk, McGee pulled up a picture of a very obvious decomposed body being pulled from the water. "Master Sargent Gantry, was found by local police, washed up on the shore 2 days ago. Shot in the head, the county's ME determined the cause of death to be a suicide after tracing the trajectory of the bullet and the linking it to the Master Sargent's missing sidearm that the police found when doing a sweep of the lake." Using the clicker, he changed the screen so that it showed a picture of a plastic bag filled with what looked like letters and a personal recording device. "Unfortunately, a couple days later, they also found this vacuum sealed bag containing letters to the Master Sargent and a recording of an unidentified male admitting to friendly fire during a firefight back in Iraq of 1991."

"1991? Wasn't that-

Before Bishop could finish whatever historical fact she had in mind, she was interrupted by Gibbs.

"Operation Desert Storm."

All of you turned to look at him as he stood up from his desk, coffee in his hand.

"DiNozzo and McGee, I want you two getting all the information you can from Master Sargent Gentry's time in the Marine Corps. Find out if anyone had any problems with him that would suggest motive. Bishop, I want all the records pulled from the ME that did Gentry's autopsy, talk with Ducky and Palmer. Y/N, you're with me. Abby and Sloan are going over the recording found with our victims body."

No one dared asked any follow up questions as all the clues were adding up. His more than usual grumpiness, the distant look in his eyes. You all knew Gibbs served in Desert Storm so seeing what looked like a fragging on a superior officer and possible friend, would definitely offput him.

You caught up to him as he entered the elevator, destined to the lab. It was quiet for a few seconds before you decided to speak.

"You ok?

He just nodded, but didn't speak further on it. Once the doors opened, you were following behind as he entered Abby's lab, where Sloan was already waiting. She looked just as worried as you felt.

"Whadya got Abbs?"

"Ok, so luckily for us, the letters and recording were vacuum sealed in a plastic bag, preserving them perfectly. The letter don't give any names or clues as to who wrote them but when I listened on the recording, I found something."

Gibbs nodded to her, to which she turned to her computer and clicked a button, immediately filling the lab with loud sounds of machine guns firing. It was the only time you had ever seen Gibbs visibly flinch. As you all listened to the audio clearly describing a firefight with enemy forces, you noticed the change in Gibbs' demeanor. He seemed to stand rigid as his free hand slowly closed itself in a fist, while the other adjusted holding his coffee in almost a nervous manner.

Are they coming from the south side or not?!

Who's got eyes on that treeline?!

The sounds of bullets ricocheting off of metal could be heard as a couple of men cursed before returning fire.

Check your fire Watts!

Did I hit him?! Tell me I didn't hit him Sarge! Is he moving?!

You could see the hard swallow come from Gibbs as he turned towards the exit, glancing quickly over you before looking away. In that split second, you identified exactly what he was feeling. Panic.

"That's enough Abby," you spoke, making her quickly stop the recording in concern. You looked over at Sloan who was also know focused on Gibbs.

"You alright Gibbs?" she asked tentatively.

He cleared his throat and nodded before heading to leave. "Send the recording to DiNozzo and McGee. Have them identify the voices."

As he walked out, he threw his full cup of coffee away in the trash, confirming that something wasn't right. As Sloan made an attempt to follow him, you stopped her.

"I got it. You stay with Abby."

He had almost managed to escape you through the elevators but you threw your arm in between the doors, causing them to open back up as you slipped in.

As the elevator began it's accent, you watched as Gibbs leaned his head back against the wall, eyes shut, and began breathing a bit heavier than before. Knowing, he would never want anyone to see him like this, you hit the emergency stop button and went over to him.

"Gibbs. It's me, y/n. Can you hear me?"

He didn't answer, but instead turned to face the wall, hands gripping the railing till his knuckles were white. You knew at this point, he was fully immersed in a panic attack and couldn't talk. He was now breathing through his mouth, eyes still shut and you knew if you didn't so something, he was gonna start hyperventilating.

So you squeezed yourself underneath his arms so that it was you between him and the wall and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hear you.

"Jethro, it's me. You're having a panic attack and I need you to slow your breathing for me, alright?"

He shook his head in defiance as his jaw clenched and unclenched.

"Just listen to me. Listen to my voice. You're here with me. We're in the elevator, no one else is here."

You were surprised when he used one arm to wrap around your waist, squeezing you tightly, as the other stayed gripped to the railing.

"I- I can hear them-

Your heart broke at the sound of his voice. He sounded defeated and almost scared, causing you to hold him tighter. Still, you whispered the same words over again, hoping to bring him out of the obvious memory he was reliving.

"You're not there anymore. It's over, you're here now. With me. In the elevator. Bishop is down in the bullpen. Ducky and Palmer are in autopsy. Vance is in his office."

You recited everything to him, describing all the details.

"Just breath with me Jethro. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Keep doing that."

You practiced normal breathing with him until you finally felt some of his body relax. His other hand eventually let go of the railing and joined his other arm to wrap around you. His grip was still tight and his face was buried in the crook of your neck but his breathing was a lot better. Now you began to feel his body start trembling as all the adrenaline was slowly finding ways to leave him.

You knew the worst of it was over and you didn't need to talk anymore, but just hold him and stay with him until he was back in control. You ran your fingers through his hair in the same motion over and over again while making sure to take in deep breaths.

Once you felt his grip loosen and take a step back, you wiped your own tears that had fallen and smiled gently up at him. He quickly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat, obviously somewhat embarrassed about what happened but as he turned to look away from you, you pulled his face towards yours and kissed him.

You heard him sigh into the kiss as he pulled you back into his arms.

"Thank you," he said, moving to nuzzle your neck again.

"Of course. I'll always be there for you Jethro."

The both of you took a few more minutes to pull yourselves together before facing the rest of them team, which you knew were gonna have a lot of questions after Abby filled them in on what happened.

But none of it mattered as you smiled slightly to yourself, feeling closer to Gibbs than ever before.

[xblubotx]

THE COLLAR EXTENSION in the FNAF film.

If you’ve seen the fnaf trailer and posters, you know just how amazing the animatronics are, looking like they came straight out of Scott’s computer. However, something that caught my eye in the trailer and posters was the back of Freddy’s collar seen here.

The front rim of the collar is extended. This might not seem like much, and you’re right, it isn’t anything too amazing. But as a veteran fan and artist who studied the original models religiously, I knew why they did this.

Something that some people kinda forget about the earlier FNAF days is that the models always had a tendency to clip through each other. You can see this in the trailer and images of this shot on Freddy’s hand, where his endoskeleton clips through it. It was probably not rotated to the same angle as the outside hand.

But that’s not all. Back when I use to draw the Freddy Cast as accurate yet expressive animatronics, one of the things I noticed was that Freddy’s jaw would cover most of his tie. This is something I still struggle with even after turning them organic. But even so, this can still be seen in the games and trailers. It’s what I call the JAW problem.

The JAW problem is an issue where an animatronics head is too low for their jaw to REALISTICALLY move down without being blocked by the collar/torso, so they end up clipping through their bow tie. You can even try this yourself with fanmade accurate models and SFM.

(Note: the images below are from the official games. FNAF, and FNAF 2.)

I think this is all because of how Scott makes 3D models though. It doesn’t make them bad, it just shows how simple these models are. And that’s kinda part of their charm to me. With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the design team making the animatronics noticed this, and realized they’d have to make slightly adjustments. That’s all I wanted say lol. Can’t wait for the movie!

[edgy-ella]

The Sonic 3 trailer finally dropped!

You better believe I was ready

Here are my thoughts from watching the trailer:

First thing that jumped out at me is the GUN commander hiring Sonic to take down Shadow. Looks like they’re not doing the mistaken identity/framing Sonic subplot. Sonic saying ACAB (his win quote against the first boss in SA2 is literally him sarcastically saying “Hey GUN! Take care!”) was probably too edgy for a family friendly Paramount movie. Sadly, this means we’re probably not going to get a proper City Escape scene. Best I can see happening is Shadow driving The Truck™, which, to the movie’s credit, he does do in IDW.

Shadow looks like he breaks himself out of Prison Island rather than being freed by Eggman. More on that in a bit.

There’s this shot here, where Shadow and Gerald(?) sit crouched over something in a burning hellscape with military/GUN soldiers approaching them. If this is a flashback, my guess this is where Maria dies. She takes a bomb instead of a bullet.

Shadow just starts blowing up shit in Tokyo? Okay. His original motive in SA2 was to collect the Chaos Emeralds and “fire” the Eclipse Cannon (actually send it hurtling towards the earth), but with the new lore the movies gave the emeralds, I have a feeling that won’t be the case here. I’m curious to see what Shadow’s goals here actually are—I remember hearing someone on Twitter say something about “finding Maria,” but Shadow buddy you’re not going to find her by blowing up Shinjuku!

Admittedly Shadow’s skating animation looks really cool. Keanu sounds fine as him, even if we only get to hear him say one line (this was the same case for Knuckles in Sonic 2’s trailer).

Eggman. What the hell’s going on with Eggman. It looks like Sonic and co. actively seek him out for help taking down Shadow rather than Shadow and Eggman staying on the same team for most of the story. My guess is that this won’t happen after like, Shadow beats them up so badly they need to ask him for help—I assume they come to him wanting to learn more about Gerald and Maria. Still, I can’t deny this is a weird direction to take him for this story.

Even weirder than that: Gerald! Turns out Gerald is still alive, flesh and blood. He’s also played by Jim Carrey. He also gives Eggman a hug, proving he’s not a hologram or ghost.

Shadow gets to ride his bike!!!! Yay!!!! I’ve said it before but bike shadow is way cooler than gun Shadow. He even gets to do the Akira bike slide

I’m sorry but this orchestral cover of Live and Learn does NOT do it for me. Put some rock in your movie, cowards.

Notable omissions: Rouge, Amy, Biolizard. Black Doom can’t show up because Paramount legally can’t pull from Shadow 05 for the movies as per their contract.

That’s all I got for now, but I’m sure I’ll be posting extensively about this in the near future.

[tan1shere]

oooh maybe a part 2 to film wife: where you get booked with someone else on the same day that miko wants you, and she gets upset that you went to the other job first, but then you finish that job and show up for her and she’s making out with someone else for the video and you get pissed. maybe some like confrontation/being cornered in a trailer type of thing 🤭 can end in smut obvi - 🥸

Film Wife pt 2

Young Miko x female reader !

A/n: oh my god I absolutely adore this !! Thank you anon I have the perfect idea ;) not the best but I still hope you enjoy

Warnings: SMUT OFC MDNI ! bit of a argument but it doesn't last long, strap usage, language ? Squirting

Pt 1 , pt 3

Masterlist

Appointments after appointments. You seemed to be really popular for music videos lately and well, you weren't exactly complaining. The pay was good. You were currently grabbing your bag as you were done for the day, when Stacy comes over to you. "Ok, a little pickle but- tomorrow this singer wants you to be in her music video right... Miko called." Your face lights up. "Wait really?" Stacy nods. "But this singer called first it starts at 1 pm- Mikos at 1:30 so it's it's bit tricky, you may have time to go to Mikos if she waits." You ponder her words, that's so close together. "I'm sure it'll be ok if I'm a little late to Mikos right?" She shrugs. "Hopefully."

It was the next day, you were walking into the studio of your first singer, she wasn't very famous so you hadn't heard of her before. "Darla." She extends her hand out to shake it. You introduce yourself too. "Its nice to meet you." "Likewise." She says with a smile. "Right so I'll run through what you'll be doing in the scene." You nod as she speaks, walking along with her to the area the shot will be taking place. "Not too much of an intimate scene but there will be kissing." You smile softly. "Yeah course, I'll just go set my things down." You tell her, quickly going over to do just that.

"Action!" The director calls out. The music begins to play, and she was such a good singer, how had you never heard of her before. Even if she wasn't as well know, you were close with the industry because of what you do, surely you would've heard something. The kiss was coming, she gently grabbed your face going to lean in. It was more sweet and delicate than anything, you weren't complaining ofcourse. Nothing compared to Miko tho. It didn't last too long either, but when you pulled back you gave a soft smile. She seemed to be really sweet, she intrigued you to say the least.

Once everything that needed to be done was finished with you go to grab your stuff to head over to Miko. "Hey." Darla sprints over. You turn to look at her flashing your smile. "Youre really good to work with." Your smile widens. "Thank you! Heaps of people think so apparently." She smiles now. "Well I made a good choice hiring you, I saw you in some other music videos and begged my team to get you in here." You blush slightly. "That's really sweet, thank you for this opportunity, really."

You pulled up to Mikos studio, grabbing your bag and heading in. Stacy was yet to arrive so you decided to just go on in. As you go in you spot her and some other girl kissing for the shoot. Impatient. You thought to yourself. She spots you briefly, smirking at you. You hated it in all honesty. But you sat down anyways you don't know why you clearly weren't going to be in it. The way she was holding her, the way she was kissing her- you needed to stop thinking like this as if she was yours. Which she wasn't. Once the scene was done she strides over to you. "Well hello." You look up at her. "Hello to you too, see you couldn't wait a little bit." She gives you a look. "Hey not my problem you had other plans before me." You keep looking at her. "Its my job-" "And this is mine." She quickly adds. There was a silence. "Meet me in my trailer once I'm done with this yeah?" You furrow your brows, going to get up. But she sits you right back down. "No no. I want you to watch this." You keep your stare on her, a little confused but also a little annoyed. She smirks at you. Again. Going to head back over.

It was killing you, the way the girl would touch Miko the way she did. But why on earth would you feel this way it wasn't professional whatsoever. You averted your eyes just wanting this to be done already. Finally, when it was. She comes over to you heading for the door of the building. "Come on." She says. You hesitantly get up and follow her outside to her trailer. "Why do you even want to spea-" "what was the job you did." Your brows squeeze together. "What?" She waits a second. "What. Was, the job." Your brow now raises. "What's it to you." Leaning on the door just looking at her. She walks closer to you.. Impossibly closer. "Was it a kissing scene?" You genuinely couldn't believe this right now. "Mi-" "Was it. A kissing scene." You shake your head with a scoff. "Why do you even care, I could say the same about what you were doing, so what's the big deal." She glares at you. "First you were late, and all because of-" "because of what? Go on. I'm all ears." You stare right at her. For what felt like forever as the silence overtook. She was jealous, she knew it was a kissing scene. "Yeah, yeah it was."

Your posture straightens getting closer to her too. Her expression looks a little cold. Sexy. "She was all over me, and her lips.. mmm." Your smirk grew as you finish your sentence. She was a statue, staring at you. "What?" Moving even closer to her face. "Don't like the thought?" When all of a sudden her hand was wrapped around your neck, lightly pushing you back and against the door. She pauses before immediately kissing you. And God how you had missed it. When you're ready for air, you pull apart looking at one another. Her grasp still around your neck.

"No, no I don't." Her voice was low. "Huh. Shame." You speak, looking straight into her eyes. Her hand tightens, and out of nowhere slams your back against the door again. Not that you minded. But your eyes did go wide at the impact, when you then felt her knee, slowly wedging into your cunt. You let out a breath. Her face leans down to your ear. "Hmm, wondering who got you this wet then. Can feel it on my knee mama." You swallow thickly, that confidence evaporated. You had no idea what to even say. "Cat got your tongue?" She then says pulling back to look at you briefly. Her knee still in that position, moving a little bit. Making your mouth run slack. "She would never make you feel like I know. I can. And you know it too, isn't that right." She says, but oh boy was she not nearly done. "I mean, why else would you even come here. You knew damn well I could've gotten someone else considering your late arrival. So, why. Bother?" You had no formable words for her question. Because in fairness you didn't know. Or did you.. "go on, might as well say it hm?"

Taking a moment, letting out a small breath, her grip loosens. "W- wanted-" You swallow. "Wanted to see you anyway. M-missed you." You pathetically breathe out. It shocked you how weak she could get you, within seconds. "There you go." But you wanted to wipe the smirk off her beautiful face. "Mm, but what about with that girl." She glances at your lips. "Know you were thinking about me when you were kissing her, right?" Nothing, she's silent. "I'll take that as a y-" "bet I can fuck you so good. Oh wait, know I can. Does she get to?" That shut you right up as she gets closer again. "Didn't think so." She smirks again going to kiss you. Her hand slowly moves down into your jeans, past your underwear and straight to the point. "Didn't realize you were this wet." Your breath hitches, getting caught in your throat. "Who did this to you mi amor." Your eyes shut. "Y-you did." This only increases her ego, swiping her thumb along your neck as she still had it in her grasp. "Good. Good." Her lips were back on yours.

Kissing you hungrily. You gasp as her hand tightens, resulting in her slipping her tongue into your mouth. Her hand resumed it's actions in your pants, going straight to your entrance. You pull away from the kiss slightly. Breathlessly, letting a moan escape your lips. She speeds up. "I want you to cum on my fingers." You go to lazily kiss her again. "Miko.." You breathe out her name, feeling her thumb pick up on your clit. Her fingers pumping inside you, moving her lips to your neck. "So wet.. hungry for me huh?" You almost choke on your saliva, feeling your body go to mush in her hands. "P-please.. I need more." Her pace doesn't slow. "What more could you want angel. Go on. Tell me." It's like she knew exactly how to get you. Knew how inaudible you got during sex, especially when she made you feel the way you did. "I- mhf." You groan out. "Sorry, what?" She gets close to your face, staring you straight in the eyes.

"P- mmm." You started getting embarrassed at the way she had you, exactly where she needed you. But you were too far gone to give a shit. "Spit it out baby." You moan. "Need you to fuck me. Begging for you to." She swears she could go insane by your desperate voice. She quickly grabs your waist, beginning to bend you over the small couch in her trailer. Her swift movements, immediately taking off your pants. The cool air hitting directly on you. Your breath is uneven. "Miko.." "Getting there pretty girl." And she was, you felt the tip of her strap soon enough, making you hum gently. She slowly slides it in making your jaw drop, putting your hands down for support. Her pace was antagonizing slow. "F-faster." You blab. You feel her hands grope at your ass, eventually speeding up. "Know how you wished it was me today. Kissing you, bending you over like this. All you could think about huh mama?" The dirtiest moan comes out of you, feeling yourself coming to that breaking point. "S- fuck." You almost go cross eyed. It hit the perfect spot. "All I need to know." Miko smirks at your reply. "I'm so close.." But she doesn't respond, keeping that speed the same.

"Go on then, cum on it. Let me know just how much you wanted me, today." Your mouth runs dry as you felt it approaching. Her hand makes its way down to your clit, going at an ungodly pace. The action only speeds up your ogasm, making you squirt shortly after. Her eyes go wide only for a second as she wasn't expecting it, but she's left with a proud smirk.

"Good girl."

[user-without-a-cool-acronym]

New trailer just dropped in french and you know what that means! Time for a new analysis

So we first see the team in cloud kingdom(ignore the notification) and it looks like the mask in the first trailer was indeed Nya, not Jay

Then some clips of Ras, holding a speech to his troops, with Cinder looking devious over there. He seems to be overall much more convinced of Ras plan then Jordana was in previous trailers

Then we have Cinder, powering up what‘s probably shatterspin, already wearing that armorpiece he got in the first trailer and spinning in this gorgeous tornado of red lightning

Afterwards he seems to fly upwards in a cloud of smoke and absolutely punch Wyldfyre into the ground, which is probably where her injury in the other leaks comes from

He then either turns into smoke or leaves a trail of smoke, as he flies down towards her. I feel like we moght be getting into some anime levels of fighting with him and i love it

Wyldfyre hits the ground, which can‘t be good for her health

In a short scene that probably takes place before the battle, on their way to Cloud kingdom, Lloyd says something to Nya (and probably the others off screen)

Glacier shippers are gonna get fed, i can feel it in my bones

Arin and Sora are concerned, while Riyu has officially completed his transformation into a shocked pikachu

And then we finally get a look at the one, the only… PLACE FROM THE BOX OF THE EGALT SET! I‘ve been waiting for so long. We also get a rather blurry look at Egalt himself, landing

Sora and Ryiu are training their balance, which just looks goofy with Ryiu

The others seem to train under Egalt and we finally get a better look at him and OH MY GOSDWFEJHF , this dragon is gorgeous. The beard, the little braids of fur on his neck, THE HAT

Beyblade let it rip! Lloyd, Nya, Kai and Arin seem to be training in some sort of special spinjitzu arena, while Egalt flies overhead

So it looks like Sora isn‘t the only one, who gets one of the new hook pieces. And at least the one Lloyd has, seems to be able to split apart, with a rope made of energy connecting hilt and hook, a lot like the box art on the sets

Rock Cole! Rock Cole! looks like he is fighting in the land of lost things, judging by the background

Another clip of Riyu fighting the wolf warriors in cloud kingdom, the only really interesting thing here is, that the standard wolf warriors seem to use that new dual molded blade piece from the march wave, so that seems to just be a standard weapon

Kai‘s climber mech looks awesome

The shot of the gong being hit in Lloyd‘s vision, which we already got in the first trailer, nothing new here

And lastly an army of wolf warriors in the land of lost things, who can apparently summon their claws out of thin air? That‘s cool i guess

Sp that‘s it for this trailer, really hope some of this stuff is in the trailer reportedly releasing on the 7th and i personally cannot wait for this season

Edit: higher quality clip now available

[galadrieljones]

Chartreuse, P.A.D.R.E., The World Beyond coda, and some other potentially wild connections to Daryl Dixon season 2 (Team Delusional)

Hello friends. This post contains spoilers pertaining to recent script leaks, outlined in this helpful post by @bookqueenrules. If you don't want to know anything about these leaks, you can read this post all the way until I post a WARNING. At that point, you should stop!!

Anyway, here we go. Let's look at the shot above.

When I saw this shot in the DD2 trailer, I paused for several reasons. First of all, and most obviously, I saw the Mona Lisa, which is housed at the Louvre. Recall this shot from season 1, which draws a visual connection between the Mona Lisa (shot in the left side of the forehead) and Beth. Daryl literally stops to look at her, as if he is seeing exactly what we are seeing.

Now, the second big thing I noticed in that shot from the trailer, and what I want to talk about today, were several bottles of some sort of green liquid...

These are definitely bottles of CHARTREUSE.

Chartreuse is a unique French liqueur made of alcohol infused with 130 different herbs, flowers, and plants, and which always appears to be either bright green or yellow. Of course, the color green is always interesting to TDers when it is used out of context (ie: on things that are not usually green). It reminded me of two other important out-of-context examples of green in TWDU: the green chlorine gas from The World Beyond and The Ones Who Live, as well as the green corrosive substance which causes Amanda's death in the Tales episode "Davon."

The thing is, while it seems out of context here, it's really not. Chartreuse is supposed to be green. Very green. As far as alcohols go, it, just like moonshine, has quite a bit of symbolic significance pertaining to what's going on in TWDU...

A Quick History of Chartreuse

Chartreuse has many imitators, but much like French Champagne, there is only one real Chartreuse. Real Chartreuse is very expensive because it is in limited supply, literally produced by Carthusian monks near Paris. It is named for a monastery in the Chartreuse Mountains near Grenoble, France. It began with an alchemical recipe in 1605, presented to the Carthusian monks in the monastery outside of Paris by French King Henry IV, called an "elixir of long life." Over 120 years later, it was enhanced by a monk named Brother Gerome Maubec, and over the next 60 years became quite popular in France.

Anyway, during the French Revolution in 1793, the Carthusian monks were exiled from France. They took refuge in Spain until 1816 during Napoleon's reign, when they returned to France and continued to hone and develop their "elixir of long life." But in 1903, they were exiled again, their distillery confiscated by the French government, and they returned to Spain, specifically a city in Catalonia named Tarragona where the French monks would remain, distilling the only authentic Chartreuse in the world, until they were finally invited back to France after World War II.

Parallels to French History in DD season 1

Okay, why is any of this important? To answer this question, we need to return to the World Beyond season 2 coda, but first, we should recall the events of Daryl Dixon season 1. In season 1, Daryl is taken in by Catholic nuns in an abbey near Marseille. He befriends a nun who implores him to embark on a journey to Le Havre, a place called the Nest, where he will deliver Laurent, a "sacred" boy whose "power" we don't really understand. When they finally arrive at the Nest with Laurent, we meet Losang, who is, in fact, a monk, and who has just come from Spain. Losang is not just a monk, and he wasn't always a monk. Though we know little about his past, we do know that he is originally American, and that he came to Paris to study before the fall.

In season 1, we also meet Genet whose movement The Power of the Living (or Pouvoir des Vivants) espouses strong French Revolutionary vibes. She wishes to return the power to the people in France, implying that in order to do this, the people must rise up to "usurp" said power from somebody else. We don't know for sure who Genet's true enemies are, but it does seem that Genet's enemies have some relationship to Losang, The Union of Hope, the Nest, and the USA, hence her relentless hunt for Daryl and Laurent and her impending assault on the Nest. She even shouts "Vive le France!" during the arena fight at the end of season 1, an exclamation associated with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789.

Losang's faction the Union of Hope is described in season 1 as a movement that unites all religions and all people. While it is helmed at the Nest in Le Havre, it knows no borders. We meet several sub-factions in France, including Lou's group of "Lost Boys" as well as Fallou's people in Paris. We also get some sense that there are arms of the faction in Spain, as Isabelle mentions a spaniard on the radio, and Losang has come from a pilgrimage in Spain, one that @frangipanilove has written about brilliantly. Read here.

The World Beyond: The Science of Wildfire

Let's return now to the World Beyond coda. In the coda, we meet a nameless French scientist who downloads the contents of several hard drives onto her laptop at what appears to be an old bioresearch laboratory, somewhere in France. One of the hard drives contains several folders of interest, including one titled "TB Ellis Papiers" and another titled "Slingerland," which is currently still a mystery, though very interesting, as it is the name of a prominent American musical instrument manufacturing company from the mid-to-late 20th century, which mainly manufactured drum kits and guitars. (If anybody has their own theories on Slingerland, let me know, as it's an obsession for me lol).

The French scientist proceeds to watch a video of correspondence from Dr. Jenner from season 1, who discusses at length many scientific angles on producing or addressing a cure or some sort of treatment or mitigation factor for the Wildfire virus.

As she is watching, an assassin enters with a gun and asks if she is on the "Primrose Team." She corrects him to say that she is on the "Violet Team," and that the Primrose Team was in Toledo, Ohio at the time of the fall. The Teams, as we can gather, are groups of scientists, possibly dispersed internationally, who developed the Wildfire virus and, in their efforts to curb its effects, the French teams specifically, created deadly variants, which, according to Jenner in the video, are not endemic to the US. We believe that the Jenners were members of the Violet Team, given their correspondence with the French scientist on the Violet Team and the fact that Jenner's computer assistant is named "Violet." Of course, that's just speculation...

The assassin in question seems to be unaware of the details of what's gone on with the French teams and is only carrying out assassinations on his leader's behalf. He mentions that they are no longer simply jailing the scientists. They're killing them. His faction, which I believe is the Power of the Living, blames the scientists for causing the Wildfire spread, and also for "making it worse." He shoots the scientist in the head and leaves, at which point, even despite the headshot, she turns into a walker and runs violently toward the door.

In this interaction, we learn that at some point in the first ten years after the fall, a major faction (likely the Power of the Living) began hunting the scientists responsible for the Wildfire virus, jailing, and killing them. Some of the scientists were in America at the time, in Ohio, and we think that some of them are still there, and that they possibly attempted to migrate down to the CDC in Georgia at the beginning of the outbreak. The reason for this is that there are variants of "smart" walkers which seem to exist *only* in Ohio and Georgia and *not* in Virginia. In seasons 1-4 and 11 only, we run into walkers who can run, climb, and use tools. Some even have keepsakes, such as the very first walker we see in "Days Gone Bye." She reaches for her stuffed bear, which implies some semblance of "memory" hanging on from her old life.

Mainly these walkers are encountered in Atlanta and later at the Commonwealth. Since Jenner verifies in his video that he hasn't seen any evidence of variants at the American CDC, this suggests that the variants arrived in Georgia at some point in the first three weeks of the outbreak, or before Rick enters Atlanta for the first time.

Anyway, given that we meet one of the scientist in the WB coda, this suggests that there are more in existence, but that they've simply left France. She came back to see if the Primrose team might be there, after all this time. She was wrong, but this scene has given us many massive clues. This is where the folklore of Chartreuse becomes very interesting.

When the Carthusian monks, or the makers of the "elixir of long life" were kicked out of France, BOTH times they went to Spain.

In Spain, they continued their operation until the French were so threatened by it, they finally invited them back after WWII. Given all the WWII callbacks we get in DD season 1, including the revelation that Daryl's grandfather died on the beaches of Normandy, it may be that we are currently entering into a "proxy" situation, in which Daryl fights alongside his allies in France to defeat an existential threat. Only this time, unlike his grandfather, he will survive, and he will live to see his home and his loved ones again, and soon, the "cure" or science which could mitigate the Wildfire virus, could return to France.

The "elixir of long life," aka Chartreuse, could be a compelling historic and symbolic proxy for the Wildfire virus, which I have speculated, based on its regenerative effects in walkers (ie: slowing down their rate of decay, a scientific process that is discussed in World Beyond, but which is not well understood) could have started as a cure for death or the aging process, or a way to heal and regenerate mortal wounds. A literal fountain of youth. The holy grail. A true "elixir of long life." Unfortunately, it was leaked and allowed to infect humans en masse before it was adjusted beyond its most destructive phases. This is just a theory, mind you. It's just based on a hunch.

Either way, remember that the holy grail, which is determined to be "holy blood," is the object of an intense search in the book and film The DaVinci Code, which has been cited multiple times in relation to the lore of TWD, particular TD theories, and which was the inspiration for the TV show DaVinci's Demons, which Scott Gimple wrote for prior to his work with TWD.

Like the Carthusian monks, the scientific teams in France were hunted, jailed, and exiled by a revolutionary cause and took their science with them. If this comparison is intentional or holds any water, it creates a very likely scenario for why season 3 will take place in Spain. If Genet is behind the exile, then this would also explain why Genet is so intent on attacking the Nest and neutralizing Losang and his forces. She wants the scientists dead and out of France.

What are Losang's Motivations?

Returning to Losang, my fellow theorists and several other TDers are suspicious of Losang after his motivations come into question in the ten minute preview currently available on AMC+. Losang is hesitant to attack Genet even though she has taken several of his people as prisoners. He is also critical of Daryl's attempts to teach Laurent self-defense. Why would that be? He says that it is unhealthy to expose Laurent to so much violence, but he says this knowing that Laurent traveled all the way to the Nest with Daryl and Isabelle, and was almost killed multiple times, that he already had to kill a walker to save Isabelle's life, and that said walker was his own biological father. In what way will teaching him to protect himself in a dangerous world keep him from experiencing the same trauma that he's already experienced?

One reason could be to keep Laurent as helpless as possible, ignorant, focused only on the intellectual and the spiritual, not the physical. It could, of course, be innocent but we believe Losang may have ulterior motives or plans for Laurent, who was born to a walker. The speculation that Laurent may have inherited some sort of immunity to the Wildfire virus has been rampant in the fandom, prompting many to make comparisons to Ellie in The Last of Us. Within TWDU, Laurent having any sort of immunity would make him very valuable to cure research and very interesting in terms of deepening the Wildfire origins lore.

If Losang, as an American, was in Paris to "study" at the time of the fall, it is likely he was at one of two major research universities in the region: the Sorbonne or the Pasteur Institute, the latter being at the forefront of vaccine technology in the modern world. While, of course, we don't know for sure, and we could always be wrong, the notion that he could be a scientist or medical/research doctor is not unfounded. Eastman, a good character proxy for Losang, and who counsels Morgan in the season 6 episode "Here's Not Here," found a similar spiritual awakening in the Eastern philosophy of Aikido after the fall. Eastman was a psychiatrist in his previous life.

I also believe that, logically, it is time for Daryl Dixon to follow through on the connection to the World Beyond coda, considering the fact that Scott Gimple verified a connection between the two some time ago. The set-up with Losang, a highly intelligent leader and "pilgrim," reformed monk who has just come from Spain despite being an American with an academic past, would be the perfect opportunity for the writers to draw a strong connection between two major themes in TWDU, which have been percolating for a while: science and faith.

Child Abduction, the Nest, and P.A.D.R.E. (***Major Spoilers Ahead***)

This is where you should stop reading if you don't want spoilers!

Something my fellow theorists and I have started kicking around, in the wake of a recent script leak, which is apparently the final moments of the final episode of season 2, is the possibility that Laurent will be abducted, or that he'll be lured away from the Nest by someone he trusts, perhaps Losang.

Note that the leaked script implies that, by the end of season 2, Isabelle has apparently died. Laurent is also not present in the final scene. I do not believe the writers will kill off Laurent, but that instead, they'll use him to broaden the scope of the world (and to soften the hearts of both Daryl AND Carol). I also don't believe that Daryl would leave Laurent behind in France with Isabelle dead, or that Laurent would want to be without Daryl, given all they've been through and their attachment to one another. In the trailer, we hear that Daryl and Isabelle have begun to discuss taking Laurent back to America. After the war in France, if Isabelle is gone, it might be that Laurent will still want to go back with Daryl and Carol. But since we don't see him in the final scene re: the leaked script pages, and we haven't heard anything about him in Spain, could it be that, when Daryl and Carol return to the Nest to retrieve him (in a coda, perhaps) he's just gone?

Let's talk about child abductions and missing children in TWDU. While the notion of child abduction starts with Jocelyn in "Scars," it comes to a head in Fear, seasons 7-8, in which we learn that children are being abducted by mysterious "snatchers" and taken to a highly secretive place called P.A.D.R.E., where they are trained to fight, essentially, a walker war. P.A.D.R.E. began as a US Military operation, designed by politicians, military personal, and other experts to maintain sustainability after the fall of civilization due to the Wildfire virus; however, for reasons I don't have time to get into, it turns into something else completely. The children at P.A.D.R.E. are all given BIRD NAMES, ie: Finch, Dove, Wren, etc. Madison Clark, who turns up alive in season 7, is nicknamed Lark, and she starts her journey toward redemption as one of the "snatchers" who steals "eggs" or babies and children from "unfit" parents and returns them to the safety of P.A.D.R.E..

This is very interesting. Let's consider the terminology, which greatly revolves around BIRDS. Children who are good prospects for "snatching" are called "eggs," and where might eggs be stolen from?

A NEST.

The children are then nicknamed after birds and taken to P.A.D.R.E.. "Padre" is a SPANISH word. It means priest or father.

So we have bird eggs being snatched from their nest, taken to a place with a Spanish name related to themes and inventory of Catholicism. Is it possible that P.A.D.R.E. was foreshadowing for the events of Daryl Dixon? Is this why the writers chose bird names for P.A.D.R.E.'s wards?

This is also where we might consider Beth coming in, because Beth's main job when she was with Team Family was taking care of Judith and the children. When they escape the prison, she survives because she leaves the bus to go searching for the children. In "Inmates," she leads Daryl on a search for missing children, which ends badly.

Beth also has a bird cage in her cell in "30 Days Without an Accident."

Is Beth in Spain? Will Laurent be taken there? Is this where the French scientists are hiding out, continuing to develop their "elixir of long life" in secret? Some sort of "Spanish Slabtown?" Are they conducting research on children who are "special," people who have "immunity?" Was Beth part of something bigger than we realize? Bigger, even, than the CRM? Something that spanned international borders? Something related to the origins of and cure for Wildfire?

For a very long time, the season 5 templates have lead us to believe that Daryl and Carol will leave together to search for Beth, but what if they're searching for Laurent, and they find Beth by mistake? OR, what if, while they're searching for Laurent, Beth finds THEM? In any case, it's very important that Carol be there for it, as she is the only other living person who we know of that has been inside of Grady and might have memory of what went on there.

Only time will tell. For now, it's fun to speculate...

💫

[mama-qwerty]

Okay. So.

The Sonic 3 trailer.

First of all, I watched this with my whole family, so didn't see it until about 2:30 this afternoon. My son is the one who got me into Sonic in the first place, so I thought it was only fair that I wait until he got home from school so we could watch it together.

We all absolutely loved it, and think it looks like a really fun ride.

I've rewatched it a few times, and a few things stood out to me.

The Race Scene

The little bit at the beginning when the three are having what looks like a race into the forest back home. Maybe they're actually racing or playing capture the flag or some other kind of game to give them some enrichment and exercise (so they don't cause shenanigans). Based on a few other quick shots, it looks like they're having fun.

Now, further into the trailer we see Knuckles kicking off Big Ben, and Sonic zipping up the side of a bridge, much like he did off the log back home during this game. I'm thinking we'll see a parallel of the game at some point, where they maybe need to work together, or just need that connection to home to really focus and get the job done. (I'm guessing they're going after whatever that ship is that's coming out of the water. Maybe. I dunno. The time of day looks right, though.)

Team Sonic Working With GUN

Walters isn't recruiting the boys out of just desperation. He wants to see them in action, wants to know what they're capable of. And he's only going to tell them what he wants them to know. They're not chomping at the bit to join the very organization that tried to capture them (Sonic and Tails) or likely hold them accountable for partnering with Robotnik the last time (Knuckles).

Sonic calls Shadow a "rogue alien", which would be odd if he knew Shadow's true origins. Walters likely told them Shadow appeared on earth 50 years ago and was subdued and put into status, but escaped and now is a danger to the planet. They likely don't even know he's a hedgehog. Which would explain Sonic's claim of not wanting to fight once they realize he's like them.

Which ends badly for all three.

My guess is that line about how "Shadow isn't too different from Sonic" is said later, once the family confronts Walters about who this other hedgehog really is. Walters has no choice but to fess up (to a point) and tell them what happened.

"What did you do?"

Sonic says this line with such a combination of anger and fear and pain that I can only guess that Shadow did something to Sonic's family. Likely Tom. This would cause Sonic to drop all pretense of jovial banter, and get really, really pissed.

I've seen theories that this maybe brings about Dark Sonic, which would be cool, but I have my doubts. But it will test Sonic's heart, calling back to the scene at the beginning that Tom said his heart never changed after everything. If Sonic thinks Shadow hurt (or killed) someone he loves, he would feel very conflicted in how he'd react to that.

Robotnik

Okay. So, he's back, no surprise there, and he's looking really unkempt. Depression does that to a person. I'm eager to see the back and forth that gets him to agree to work with the boys, and wouldn't put it past him to demand the Master Emerald as payment. To which Knuckles will of course refuse, which is why Sonic will give him one of his quills instead.

He likely has no idea about Shadow, as it seems as though Shadow escapes on his own. (Or does he? Could Robotnik have access to whatever containment system Shadow's been kept in, and releases him simply to cause mayhem?)

The group somehow end up at what used to be the ARK for some reason. I take it this is where Robotnik double crosses the boys (shocker!) and chains them up to let Shadow finish them off.

This is also where he meets his grandfather, Gerald. (He calls Gerald Pap Pap, which is a term some people use for their grandfathers, myself included.)

Now, here's where I have a few theories. It could really be Gerald, still alive and running on his anger after all these years. If he stayed at the ARK after the military overran it, that would be 50 some years of solitude, where he's dwelling on what happened, why it happened, and what could have been done to prevent it. He's become twisted and insane, seeing humanity as a plague and releasing Shadow to enact his revenge.

Or, based on how identical Ivo and Gerald look, it's possible 'Gerald' is actually Ivo himself. Maybe a subplot of this is the chaos emeralds, they need to find them so Sonic can be powerful enough to stop Shadow. But maybe they're like the Infinity Stones, and one has the power to manipulate time. Ivo gets hold of it, goes back in time, and proceeds to use the quill that Sonic gave him during their little agreement to work together to create Shadow.

Or the chaos emerald itself was used to create Shadow as well, and that's why he's got so much chaos energy in him that he can't control. He can't find that damn fourth chaos emerald, because he IS the fourth chaos emerald.

Or, Ivo is a clone that Gerald made of himself to continue his research. When the ARK was raided, all of Gerald's experiments were taken, including Gerald IV--that the government named Ivo before placing him into an orphanage.

I dunno. None of these are likely true. But they're fun to play with and think about.

Tails

Adorable as ever. I'm hoping we get some more engagement and action from him.

Knuckles

My boy. Needs an ice pack for that wrist. Just wanna scoop him up and care for him. I hope we see some good interactions between him and the rest of the family.

Shadow

He looks good. Like, really good. I'm not 100% sold on the voice acting, but we've only heard 2 lines from him, so I'm reserving judgment on that. The fight scenes look great, and he's a very formidable adversary for the boys. Unlike anything any of them have seen or fought before. Running on pure grief and anger, he's thrown into a world he doesn't understand, and doesn't care to because it stole his sister from him.

~~~

I found the trailer very fun, and am excited for the movie. And I'm happy to see some excitement for the SCU out there again.

[soyellowcurtainsthen]

Who’s the man at the prison gate in the Pit Babe Series 2 Trailer?!?!?

Hi, I’m an idiot with an internet connection So, here is my totally accurate and scientifically sound analysis in support of my theory that it’s Pete. Grab your tinfoil hats friends and follow me down the rabbit hole.

First, I’m going to need you to turn your brain off and live in a world with me in which we won’t even consider that this is a new character who has not been introduced yet ( jokes on me because change2561 would pull this type of thing).

Now we need to narrow down the pool of candidates from our currently known characters. Obviously if our Prison throuple of Kenta, Winner and Dean are out of prison and spying on the X-Hunter squad we can safely assume the person who got them out isn’t likely to be in the inner circle of the X-Hunter team, so we can safely disregard Babe, Charlie, Alan, Jeff, North, Sonic, and Kim. Now we have three players in the running- Way, Pete and Tony.

So let’s get to narrowing this down, behold Exhibit A

Our man in black stays out of focus for most of the clip, but from what we can see it seems that this man is dressed in a suit and as we never see Way ever dressed in those types of clothes the whole season I think it’s fair to also vote him off the Island.

Now to our final two candidates, it’s time to analyse some heights baby!!! We are going to use Kenta as a control subject, height wise, for this as he is the most likely of the prison throuple to have had scenes with both the remaining candidates.

So let’s start with Tony, it’s ridiculously difficult to get shots of these two together where Kenta isn’t half a mile behind and throwing off the perspective because of that, but I tried my best.

As you can see from these over the shoulder shots, Tony and Kenta’s eye level looks to be about the same, with them being almost exactly the same height ( Tony being slightly taller at a push). With this shot also confirming that they are very similar in height to each other.

Moving onto Pete, we can see that our baby boys have a bit of a height difference, with Kenta being the shorter of the two. His eyeline whenever talking to Pete is directed upward.

Now let’s head back to the original shot of the mystery man’s back and use our new found knowledge, and attempt to solve this by using the ancient scientific method of drawing lines on pictures.

As Winner isn’t standing at full height I’m disregarding him from the experiment, much like I wish I could disregard him from the narrative completely.

So let’s draw onto our screenshot where Kenta and Dean’s eyeline should land if they were looking at someone that was of similar height to them.

And now let’s draw where their actual eyeline ends up, taking into consideration where our mystery man’s shoulders are to give us a rough estimate of where their eyeline should land if they were looking at his face, which they are.

Now as you can see from my totally foolproof scientific method, both of their eyelines are pointed slightly upward indicating that the person on the other side of the gate is taller than both Kenta and Dean. Now there is only one of our candidates who is taller than Kenta and that leaves us with only on option left… Pete.

I rest my case.

( Also just on the logical side, why would Tony get the man who betrayed him and stabbed him out of jail, like that makes no narrative sense)

[felassan]

Just poring over some of the new images. ◕‿◕

Rogue Rook. I love this Rook, I wonder if they could be the 'default'-kinda Rook..? The detail in this game is incredible, look at the different textures and intricate patterns on clothes (in places you can even see where it's raised/three-dimensional when appropriate), carved designs on the wood of the bow, the textures on hairs, the folds of fabric and the way it hangs, the strung bow, light glinting off Taash's jewel-horn and gold pieces, etc. loads of care put into it and attention to detail. on Rook's chest is the Veilguard symbol. Taash and Neve look amazing too, and the team is ready to go! In the bottom right, is that a chest we can loot? ^^ Maybe this moment is from shortly after entering a new area, and the camera is about to transition from a cutscene kinda scene to a gameplay scene? like they've just gotten here, had a lil conversation about it, and are about to head off exploring. where do you think this shot was taken? it kind of reminds me a bit of this concept art of the Deep Roads.

I really like the decision to prominently feature Bellara and Davrin on this cover. Bellara's magic device is activated - are the triangles being drawn towards her, or are they flying out away from her? ^^ its green glow makes me think of Fadey stuff. Harding looks to have the same bow as here, with the Inquisition hairy eyeball symbol, fitting for a Hero of the Inquisition. in the background is the familiar outwards energy burst motif (example one on the right, example two). the rest of the team are present in the foreground, ready to cast or running towards the battle. the ground, dark rock, is aflame. in the background we can see telltale floating rocks and some structures. maybe this shot is 'set' in the same place as the group fight that takes place at the end of the character trailer, as here?

In this version of the image, we can more clearly see tentacle-like objects in the bottom right, which make me think of Blight corruption and what we can see around the dragon here. the other thing I wanna say about this art is you can tell care has been taken to differentiate the companions and make them unique. like both Emmrich and Neve are mages and casting, but they hold their weapons in different ways and have different stances. Emmrich's staff is green with the light of necromancy, Neve's is blue with ice magic. both Taash and Lucanis are fighters, and running, but even from a static image you can see variation in the way that they move. You can almost hear Taash's powerful 'stomp-stomp-stomp' whereas Lucanis has more of a sense of speed and streamlined motion. it reminds me of what was said in the Discord Q&A about "characterful"-ness:

This game contains “the deepest companion arcs” that they have ever done - not just in a Dragon Age game, but in a BioWare game in general. “Being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways.” Each companion has their own story arc you can go through, decisions you can make. “They really do take center stage. As you play through them, you see the care and love that the team has put into each one.” [link]

You know, like they are looking and moving different in very specific and "characterful" ways. Also look at this -

This looks to be Lucanis in early concept art (art by Matt Rhodes). he moves in such a specific, 'characterful' way, and it's carried through from the concept art.

my last thought here is that this cover reminded me of the group/team fight scene in this Inquisition trailer. you know, like the whole gang is here and ready to go, ground aflame, black rock, Fadey stuff going on.

[jadethest0ne]

O.M.G!!!! Did you see the new mutant mayhem trailer yet??? Please give us your thoughts!!

I DID!!!

I get more and more excited about this movie as more is revealed! As for reactions/thoughts, here are the main points (in no particular order):

Lots of cool team shots/poses, and I think I detected an homage to the Mirage Issue #1 cover in there as well

I like where they're going with the plot of trying to be accepted - I feel like that was always sort of beneath the surface of most of TMNT, but this is the first time they're bringing the concept to the forefront.

I'm betting this shot from the beginning of the trailer links up to the later shot of Mikey, so I put them together here

The lighting and the textures of the film are just VISUALLY ASTOUNDING! I can't get enough of them! Everything feels so tangible and real and, to borrow a phrase from a friend and fellow fan, "lived in"! I wanna eat up the art style of this film. It's unlike anything I've seen before

Love how murderous and manic the boys look at various times in this trailer. Yes, one can point out Raph's anger issues, but Donnie looks ready to kill someone here (maybe he already has? XD)

Speaking of Raph's anger issues: "You've got a rage problem, Raph" "IT'S NOT A PROBLEM!!!"

I know he's his own villain, but Superfly is somewhat giving me Lord Dregg vibes (at least in terms of intimidation factor). Mostly 1987 Dregg, not so much 2012 Dregg, to be clear. '87 Dregg had that "I'm pretending to be your friend" but had nefarious schemes underneath that made him interesting so I'm curious to see how Superfly compares (is this a thinly veiled excuse to get y'all to watch TMNT '87? maybe!)

Also SPLINTER!!! I love how dad-ish he looks/sounds! Hearing Jackie Chan's voice coming from him makes me a little choked up

Ok but seriously, I actually didn't watch much TMNT growing up, but Jackie Chan films were my main martial arts inspired media as a kid. To me, he is the martial arts dad, so to hear him voicing Splinter is kinda hitting a specific and personal chord in me

THEIR ROOM!!!

Love this set up! The Raph and Mikey bunk bed. Donnie has a tent. Leo has a piece of calligraphy that says "ninja" in Japanese in his nook. It's the perfect location for late-night heart-to-hearts, which they absolutely are doing in this trailer and I adore it!

And last one, but I zoomed in on this little sunshine duo interaction cuz it made my heart happy :3

I am so incredibly fired up to see this film!

Thanks for the ask! Have a turtley day!

[blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites]

RWBY SIMIN'S ALLUSION

To celebrate the exciting news of RWBY finding a new home, I want to celebrate the fans who kept moving forward & never gave up on our beloved franchise. And what better way than to review the most popular RWBY OC Team? SLVR is a fanmade project by Mark Zhang. These fanmade trailers blew the internet away with just how CLOSE he replicated Monty’s style with the RWBY trailers. Music, settings, weapons, moon shot, everything. One thing he does the best, however, is his incorporation of fairy tales & mythology. Today I want to honor his characters beginning with the one who started it all, Simin Megistus (video linked below if you haven’t watched his Silver Trailer).

Simin Megistus is based on Hermes Trismegistus from Greek mythology. Hermes’s Roman counterpart is Mercury, who has a reference character in RWBY proper with Mercury Black. This explains the similarities between the two characters. Luckily, Simin fights for justice. His name means “silver” which is why it is spelled that way. This can be a nod to mercury also being known as “quicksilver”. His last name, Megistus, means “greatest”, and is derived from Hermes’ last name, Trismegistus.

Hermes was a famous author who wrote several pieces of historic text. His most famous work was Kore Kosmou, detailing several ideals & cosmetology (moon, stars, etc,). The book continuously references the 4 elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth). Simin’s weapon is named Kore Kosmou & can conjure weapons made from the 4 elements. Hermes is often depicted with a traveler’s cloak said to have magic abilities. This is why Simin’s weapon is a jacket.

Hermes practiced alchemy, which is basically the foundation of chemistry. It is the study of changing the characteristics of matter. This is done by extracting, merging, or manipulating elements like metal, fire, gold, etc. Simin’s weapon allows for him to manipulate dust & form different elemental weapons, allowing for various fighting styles.

All of Team SLVR has a moon/lunar theme, but it is the most present with Simin’s character. He represents the element of the moon, silver. He has a moonshot in the trailer (standard). His symbol is a moon & it's different craters. His weapon has 4 different “moon phases” where each of the craters hold a different types of dust. The song used in his trailer is “Paper Moon” from Soul Eater. Also, Hermes & his counterparts are said to be deities of the moon.

Hermes is the protector of thieves, merchants, & orators. This translates to Simin fighting the White Fang in his trailer, thieves who are trying to smuggle dust (merchants) & spread the word for social justice as Faunus activists (orators).

Hermes was also known as the “Argus-slayer” for defeating Argus, the 100 eyed giant, with his mighty sword. This is referenced with the final boss in Simin’s Trailer, Banesaw 2.0. His White Fang mask is significantly more detailed than the others, having emphasis on circles & dots in its design, resembling several eyes.

The white fang is smuggling dust, as they do in Volumes 1-2 of RWBY. Simin in a way represents the dust “fighting back”. Simin can also represent the full moon itself, causing the beasts of the night (White Fang) to ravage. Notice the trailer takes place at night & stars are surrounding him.

Simin has become more than a simple fan character over the years. He is the symbol of the RWBY Fandom, & his creation shows how inspiring & beloved the show is to its audience. Mark Zhang has said that he was deeply motivated by Monty Oum's work, & this led to the creation of the Silver Trailer. Everyday I hope Monty could somehow see the impact he had on others. Rest In Piece❤️

Here is the Silver Trailer for those who haven't see it or just want to look back on it :) love you Mark & keep moving forward.