#this is not shocking to actual Jets fans

[russellsppttemplates]

Reader having an absolute baby fever while seeing Lando interacting with little fans during a race weekend.

Note: I have been in my Lando feels so much recently (who knew, right? With what I've been posting 🫠), and the little ones near him just send my ovaries to the moon, I swear!

It first happened when the little boy with a Mclaren cap Lando waited for him at the entrance of the McLaren unit after qualifying. You walked with Jon in front of Lando as he was giving Sky Sports a quick interview, spotting the little boy immediately.

"Oh my goodness, look how cute!", you gushed as you approached him and his family who seemed to recognise you, "are you here to see Lando?", you asked, crouching down so you were at eye level with him. He got really shy and hid beside his mum's legs as you smiled at him, hoping would finish his interview soon.

"Well, hello!", Lando greeted the little boy as his parents ushered him gently to take a picture with him, "come here, buddy!", Lando smiled as he walked up to him, "I really like your cap!", he tried to settle his nerves and as his parents were about to take the photo, he ran away from your boyfriend, "oh- okay", he chuckled before the little boy stood back next to him, "you have to say cheeeeese!", Lando exaggerated as the little boy giggled.

"That was such a cute moment, I snapped a couple of pics to put in my photo dump! And I'm going to send this one to your mother!", you cheered.

.

Walking through the paddock, you noticed it was quieter than usual at this time of day, scanning your pass and trying to stay out of the way of the people working there and saying hello to the ones you were familiar with as usual until you spotted a little McLaren driver.

"I'm sorry, miss!", the man you assumed was his father called for you. You had on your McLaren rain jacket, and the grey pants you were wearing did make you look like you worked for the team, so when he asked you at what the time Lando would be doing autographs, you apoligised, "Oh, I don't work for the team, I'm sorry!", you explained, "Oh, it's just Liam wanted to meet him, we'll ask someone else, thank you", he smiled warmly as Liam waved at you.

"Actually, I can make that happen for you", you smiled as you explained the whole situation as you walked to the unit, calling your boyfriend's trainer to make it happen.

"Who's this?", Zak asked you as you walked hand in hand with Liam into the garage, "this is Liam, and he's a big fan of...", you encouraged him to speak up, "Lando!", the boy said loudly, "Oh - thank Goodness! I thought someone had done some magic and Lando shrunk!", Zak said, feigning relief as he out his hand on his chest to emphasise.

"Look, it's Lando!", Liam yelled as he saw your boyfriend walk to where you were, "Hi Liam! I was told I have a very special fan at the track today!", he said as he crouched down, talking to him about all things related to racing and then showing him around the garage.

"How much do you want to have his kids after this? I promise I won't tease you too much about it", Max jokingly whispered on your ear as you watched your heart eyes directed at your boyfriend as he let Liam touch the steering wheel.

"In a way that concerns what I believe and questions feminism, as in I would happily give him a football team, bench players included, so, yeah, that much", you looked up at Max with a stern face as he seemed shocked by your words, "told you, it's been hitting me pretty hard lately", you shrugged your shoulders.

.

Max had space on his jet for you and Lando, and since you were all flying back to Monaco, you accepted the offer to fly with them.

"There they are", you nodded with your head as you spotted Kelly, Max and Penelope by the passport verification counter.

"LANDO!", the little girl yelled as she jumped in her spot in excitement at seeing your boyfriend, who ran up to her and crouched down against the wall.

The little girl was quick to hug him, small arms wrapping around neck as she smooched his cheek, "Ugh, that's it", you groaned as Kelly looked at you, "I'm sorry - I don't mean it that way!", you quickly apoligised, "it's not your cute daughter I'm complaining about, she's the sweetest girl, look at her", you smiled as she happily did a few turns to show Lando her dress and then her bracelets, "it's the sight of my boyfriend near her that made me groan - it's been like this every single day, I swear. A cute little kid goes up to him and he's all cute and cuddly with them, and boom! My ovaries are doing somersaults", you chuckled at your own words, "my baby fever has been alm over the place! Oh, they're trading bracelets!", you gushed, "I think I might cry, actually!".

(Thank you for sending this in ✨️)

[f0point5]

You’re an amazing writer!!! Please do a piece about Emilia being the WORST patient when sick.

Like idk she’s sick during summer break or something but refuses to be sick and is all “I’m not sick!!!” but then it becomes unavoidable so she just becomes the absolute worst sick patient and makes all these crazy demands and stuff and max is just very amused.

Thank you 🫶🫶🫶

I hope you like where I went with it!!!!

✨Set in Australia 2023✨

(He’d build) a fire just to keep me warm

You don’t get sick. So when you wake up on the morning of Australian Grand Prix with a churning stomach and a tightness in your throat for the third day in a row, you take an ibuprofen and a lozenge and get on with it. You fill yourself with orange juice for the vitamin C and even say no when Daniel offers you some TimTams, but you power through.

Sure, you’re tired, but that’s just the jet lag, and you’re a little dizzy, but that’s just the fact that you haven’t eaten properly. You’ll be fine by the time the race starts. That’s what you tell yourself, and everyone in the garage, when they point out that you look uncomfortable.

“This weather is making me all sweaty,” you complain, fanning yourself with spare Red Bull cap even though you’re not even hot, just clammy.

“You’re sweating because you’re sick,” Max tells you, collecting his gloves and water bottle from the small cubby hole behind you.

You glare at him. For the past two days he’s been fussing around you, worried that you have the same thing he had before Jeddah. Even though you’ve been nowhere near as sick as he was. What’s making you feel ill is the hovering.

“Remember when I was sick last week I was sweating all night,” he says pointedly and you roll your eyes.

“And here I thought you’d just found the only Saudi porn channel,” you tease, and Max drops his worry to laugh, which you like. “And I’m not sick. I don’t get sick.”

“Except now,”

You nudge his shin with your foot. “Max, shut up.”

“See, if you weren’t sick, I’d be pissed off with that attitude,”

“Max, she’s not well, be nice.” GP says as he takes the space next to you by Max’s helmet shelf. His eyes narrow as he looks at you. “Do you want someone to take you back to the hotel? You’re looking very pale,”

“No, I’m fine,” you say, harsher than you meant to as you take Max’s water bottle out of his hand. “Just need a drink,”

“You can’t drink from that, you’re sick,” GP argues in shock.

You make a point of unknotting the straw, opening the cap, and taking a long sip of coconut water which frankly tastes like lukewarm bilge water.

You swallow with a small wince and the water actually turns your stomach more. GP looks disgusted, while Max just looks slightly amused as you hand him the bottle.

“I’m not sick.”

****************************

You don’t get sick. So you resist the urge to tell every paddock photographer that stops to take pictures of you sitting with Daniel outside Red Bull hospitality to fuck off. You’re not looking your best by any stretch, and you are starting to come round to the idea that it might be more than the heat. Not illness, per se. Just feeling slightly under the weather, desperately in need of a spa day. You’re fine. Just too spoilt and under pampered lately. It’s a dangerous combination.

“Why are you outside?”

You turn towards the voice to see Lando and Max making their way towards you, fresh from the driver’s parade and already sporting a sun kissed glow.

You’re out there because the fresh air feels like it’s helping, and they’re serving lunch inside. Despite being so hungry you can feel it in your bones, your stomach was protesting idea of food, and the contradiction of your insides was worsening your headache.

But you’re not going to tell Lando all that.

“What happened to you?” He says when they reach your table, a quizzical look on his face. “You look like shit,”

“Thanks,” you tell him, raising your middle finger.

“Lando, don’t be a dickhead. She’s sick,” Daniel chides, winking at you as if that was him having your back.

You groan. “I’m not sick.”

“I think she has the stomach flu I had last week,” Max chips in as he pulls out the chair beside you and sits down.

“Can you get stomach flu from sex?” Lando asks.

“Yeah, like crabs,”

You smack Daniel in the arm and debate reaching for Lando but can’t find the strength to move. “It never stops being fun being the only one in the room who has ever attended a biology class,” you say dryly, unfolding the pair of sunglasses clinging to your shirt and putting them on.

“Anyway, we haven’t…” Max says, clearing his throat as you all look at him. He gestures to you vaguely. “You know, so,”

The boys laugh like they don’t believe him even though they do, and you roll your eyes even though no one can see.

“I can always count on you to focus on the important part, Max, thank you.” You say, reaching over to pat his thigh.

That sets the boys off laughing again.

Jesus, why is it so cold all of a sudden. Are there sweat patches on my shirt. I think I’m going to be sick. No. No, I’m not. Because I’m not sick.

You don’t really pay attention to what they’re talking about after that. The pounding in your head gets worse and it’s hard to follow along with the conversation. You feel like every inch of you in stuffed with cotton balls. Through all of it, you feel Max’s hand on your back, his fingers tapping a gentle rhythm. It’s something he only down you’re sick, and not you’re not sick so you should tell him to stop.

You don’t.

******************************

You don’t get sick. The garage is just ridiculously noisy today. It’s so noisy that you have half a mind to see if one of the wheel guns can be used to drill a hole in your head and let out some of the pressure. It’ll be okay once the race starts. You’ll put on some headphones and take another painkiller and it’ll be fine.

“Are you sure you don’t just want to stay in the hospitality?” Max asks.

You’re loitering with him for the last few minutes before he has to get to the grid. Normally you’re teasing him by waving a snack he can’t eat in front of his face or discussing dinner plans, but today you can’t muster the energy, and the thought of food is a step too far.

“You really don’t look okay,”

You feign offence, smacking a hand against your chest with a gasp. “And just think, today is the day I was finally going to give you a good luck kiss,”

“Now I know you’re really sick,” Max snorts, and the offence isn’t as fake this time.

“I’m not sick,” is all you say in response.

“I thought you liked being sick,” he says, slipping his arms into this race suit to shrug it on. “You get to be even more demanding than usual and I can’t even say anything,”

“Yeah, but not…”

Not when Max needs to win this race to stay ahead in the championship. Not when for the last week he’s been recovering from the last of his own illness as well as dealing with several media attacks on everything from Checo edging him out for the championship, to Jos’s reaction to his loss in Jeddah.

You don’t finish the sentence. This is not the time to bring any of that up, just like it’s not the day to be sick.

“Max, I’m fine,” you insist, noting the way his jaw is ticking. Whether he’s worried about you or the race you can’t tell. “And I’m not demanding,”

He scoffs. “Sure,”

He picks up his balaclava, but doesn’t it on right away. He runs a hand through his hair, looking at you and then out to the track and back again.

“If you feel bad just for back to hospitality, or even go and-“

“It’s a couple of hours, less if you drive like I know you can. I feel fine, I promise,” you tell him. Normally, you’d hug him, but you hesitate, shoving your clammy hands into your back pockets. “Now go destroy Checo’s hopes and dreams,”

He laughs at that as he pulls his balaclava over his head.

“I’ll see you at parc fermé,”

*****************************

You don’t get sick. So when Max finishes first after what feels like the longest, choppiest race in history and heads over to his team only to find you missing, he worries. He high fives the engineers with a full smile, wondering if you just decided to stay inhospitality after all. Because you’re not well. He knows you’re not well. When he saw you before the first restart you looked unsteady on your feet, and now you weren’t even there.

It’s Helmut who tells him, over the cacophony of cheering, that you had gone to lie down after the second red flag. Max immediately feels his chest tighten.

He remembers how bad he felt all week when he’d come down with whatever that was. He remembers feeling like his lungs had migrated somewhere else in his body and were being crushed. He remembers everything tasting awful. He remembers the shivering and the exhaustion. It was hell.

And right now, he wishes he could have it again just so you don’t have to.

He’s on autopilot through all the interviews. When he makes it back to Red Bull, he doesn’t find you in hospitality, or the garage. He heads to his driver room to get his phone to call you, barging into the room only to be greeted by the sight of you curled up on the small grey couch in a Red Bull hoodie, asleep.

Something in his chest eases, but only slightly. When he thinks of how bad you must have been feeling to not even finish watching the race and sleep through the noise of the podium celebrations, he gets even more worried. And when he thinks that you spent all that time alone in here because no one was there to take care of you, he feels like shit.

He crouches down in front of you, knowing that he has to at least know you’ll be okay for another couple of hours, because if you even hint at being in any discomfort he’s going to skip the race debrief. Your face is covered in a glow, your cheeks a little flushed, and your breathing is heavier than normal.

“Engel?” He says, his voice barely above a whisper, his hand gently shaking your shoulder. You let out a short groan. “Engel, du musst aufwachen. Es tut mir leid, schatz,”

Your groan again, but this time your eyes flutter open, and Max feels an almost ridiculous relief.

“Maxy?” You smile when your eyes open properly, and you lift your arms over your head to stretch, back arching. You look like Sassy after her mid morning nap. “Did you win?” It’s asked through a yawn as you settle on your side.

“Yeah,” he says, brushing some damp strands of hair away from your face.

“Good,” you say with a contented smile, but it only lasts a second before the pout is back. “Maxy, I’m sick,”

“I know, Leibling,” he says, fighting a smile. He shouldn’t be smiling, you being sick is doing something terrible to his heart rate, but there’s something undeniably sweet about you when you’re like this.

“Can you get me a coke? A Zero, not a Diet, but not from a fridge because I’m so cold,” you say, your voice a pitiful whine.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Max says, surprised that it could be that easy, but it turns out you were just taking a breath.

“And a SmartWater,” you sigh. “If they don’t have SmartWater then some kind of energy drink and a Voss but if you can’t find the Voss then just the energy drink,”

“Yes, I know the water hierarchy,” Max says, thinking to himself that that might be the strangest sentence he’s ever said.

“And a blanket, please, this hoodie is so thin,”

Max nods, getting to his feet, already thinking where in a thirty degree paddock he is going get a blanket, but you’re not done.

“And could you close the blinds so I can sleep until you’re back from debrief,”

He nods, turning to go to the door. He stops halfway. Maybe he should do the blinds first. But the couch is front of the blinds so he’ll need you to move and he doesn’t want to move you-

“Actually, Max?”

Did he say he liked you like this? Yeah, he’s an idiot.

He turns back to you. “Yeah?”

“Could you just sit with me for a minute?”

He melts.

“Yeah,” he says, giving in to the smile this time. “I can do that.”

[trentlife]

PARIS LOVE & SIGHTS

summary: you walk in on a shock surprise of trents new hair and the day after you both attend louis vuitton fashion show in paris, and he's obsessed with you and your perfectly fitted dress.

authors note: im still getting used to writing smut, so bare with.

warnings: language, smut 18+

♡♡ ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

a long day of shopping for your 3 night trip in paris was finally finished. your boyfriend wanted to treat you, like he always does, to go out and shop for yourself. along the way, you also picked trent a few bits up too for your upcoming trip to ibiza after paris, just the basic, shorts, tops etc.

you walked over to your car, full handed with your bags, and placed them into the car trunk.

"finally" you mumbled to yourself, as your hands were literally about to fall of if you didn't put the bags down.

you made your way out of the city centre of liverpool and went back to trents house. you hadn't seen him since this morning, and you couldn't lie to yourself saying you hadn't miss his little face.

when you pulled up, there was a car that you hadn't seen before, and didn't look familiar, but you just went on thinking it's probably a worker or someone trent knows.

you took the bags out of the trunk and opened the door to the house. you were greeted with koba and prince jumping all over you, and their tails wagging happily, as you leant down and fed them with hugs and kisses. until you heard the sound of slippers approaching you which made you look up to see your man. but strangely looking very different.

"w-woah, hang on, when did this happen?" you were shocked, even though, he was looking a little too hot you had to say.

he placed his hands out in front of him, and you placed yours in his as he helped you off the floor.

"do you like or not?" he asked you giving you a spin of his head.

"i actually love it, different, but very cool" you gave your opinion to him and felt his hair as he gave you a smirk.

"i've missed you" you told him as you wrapped your arms around his neck, as he placed his hands on your bum.

"ive missed you more baby" he replied, closing the gap, and connecting your lips together.

the next day

today was an exciting day. you, trent, his brother and tylers girlfriend, we're all heading to paris for a louis vuitton fashion walk. the excitement you was feeling was amazing. i mean, louis vuitton? it felt surreal.

you finished packing up yours and your boyfriends last bits, like chargers and your makeup kit.

you where stopped when you had a trail of kisses up your neck, and big hands curling around your waist.

"t-trent" you gasped, with the feeling making your heart beat so fast.

"trent let me finish this, maybe we can do that tonight ok love" you said squeezing his cheeks, and he gave you a pouting face.

the car that was taking you to the airport was finally here, you got your suitcase and handbag while trent got his. you texted livvy, that you were both on your way, and you took a seat in the car next your boy.

he placed his hand on your thigh and gave it a quick squeeze.

"omg, no way kim k, zendaya and beyonce will be there tonight" you we're scrolling through your socials, and that news was like a present, you were such a big fan of beyoncé and loved zendaya in her films, and kim, she's just iconic.

"it will be packed there, but it will be boss" your boyfriend replied to you with no we're near the same energy.

you pulled up at liverpool airport, and met up with tyler and livvy. you all gave your passports in before being escorted to the pj. (private jet)

as soon as you got comfortable, sitting next to trent and opposite livvy, the first thing you done was eat one of your favourite snacks in the world, nutella and strawberries.

"so trent, what was the inspo for the hair do?" livvy asked him, looking at his hair.

"you know what, i was thinking, this is like the only hairstyle i haven't had, so why not." he replied, running his hand over his hair.

you couldn't help yourself, as you sat there, you leant over and started twirling your finger at the end of his braids, getting ready to finally took off.

you fell asleep on trents shoulder, with his hand still on your thigh, and his head leant over yours.

eventually you touched down in paris airport, and woke up. you picked your bags up and walked off the jet to the cab, and made your way to the hotel.

"being her is giving me flashbacks of last year" trent spoke, as he watched out the window.

"yeh when we got robbed, and them poor fans" you interrupted him, because this isn't a trip you wanted him to feel down on.

when you arrived at the hotel you checked in, and you and trent made your way to your shared room. as you went in.

trent's outfit was already sorted by his personal shopper, a cream lv jacket, pants and shoes, but you knew the main attraction of this look would be his new hair style and everyone would go insane over it.

you had a quick warm shower and then began getting ready doing your hair, slick back, long braid and then began doing your bronze eye makeup.

your outfit was classy to say the least, a long black maxi dress, that showed your figure well, and it also held your boobs nicely, and they looked. perfect.

you matched it with black diesel denim heels, lv earrings and jewellery and obviously your lv bag.

you where finally done and you were just waiting on your boyfriend to come out of the bathroom so you could leave.

"y/n have you seen my a-"

he walked out, and as soon as he saw you, he couldn't take his eyes of you, he was lost for words.

"omg, you look insane y/n, fuckkk" he said making you twirl around him to get a better look of you.

"so do you my love" you smiled up at him and held his face in your hands, and slowly gave him a few pecks making sure to not get your red lipstick on him.

"allow me to undress you later?" he asked unable to take his eyes off your perfectly placed boobs.

"of course mr handsome." you giggled and started walking out of the hotel room with your hand in trents and waiting in the lobby to get picked up.

you all arrived at the event, and your hands were still locked with your boyfriends as you walked threw the crowds to get to the red carpert.

the photographers shot a few pictures of you both and you knew how much of a hot couple were, but then you decided to leave him so he could get a few solo shots.

you and livvy were walking together behind your boyfriends linking, as they lead you to the seats. you sat down carefully, making sure not to crease your dress and waited for the show to begin.

trent kept whispering his opinions to you about each look that walked past, and telling you what he liked about each one.

"oh my fucking god trent, there's beyonce!" you tapped his knee, and your excitement was bursting out of your body right now.

trent just looked at you and giggled, seeing how happy you looked, seeing your favourite singer just across the runway from you.

the show eventually finished, livvy and tyler went out on their own and on the way back you stopped at a restaurant in paris city centre for the after party, where trent met up with his best friend jude and his brother jobe.

trent was welcomed by them both and he introduced you to them. "jude and jobe this is y/n," trent said.

"ah hi y/n nice to meet you" they both said pulling you into a hug to greet you.

"you too!" you smiled at them.

you sat down and ordered your food and it eventually came, you were so hungry after a busy long day.

the conversations flowed so naturally between the three of them. they got along so well, especially trent and jude, and you where happy for him because he was like another brother to him.

trent and the boys were already onto their 5th drink and you only on your 2nd, you wanted to be sensible, so in case your boy got a little too tipsy you could be there and take care of him, but although it makes you giggle when he's like that.

later on when you all left, you and trent said your goodbyes to the boys and they went home to their hotel, while you and your boyfriend waited for your taxi to pick you up outside the restaurant.

the car ride was rather intense. trent wouldn't take his hands off you, especially your boobs, he already told you about 20 times before you came out how good they looked in the dress you where wearing.

"trent, we are in a cab right now, when we get in." you warned him, making sure the taxi driver didn't hear.

"but you just look to good y/n" he spoke, as he still didn't let go.

"t!" at that point you literally had to slap his arm off you.

you arrived to the hotel and said your thanks to the taxi driver and walked into the hotel holding hands.

there was no words when you got into your room. only with trent already pinning you onto the wall when the door was shut, and kissing up from your lips down to your chest.

"see these, these are mine." he told you pointing down at your boobs.

"yes all yours." you replied to him, slightly rolling your eyes, knowing hes was basically drunk.

you took your shoes off and he locked his soft lips with yours and he roamed his hands around your hips and then to your ass, and gave it a squeeze.

he reached the bottom of your dress and slowly began lifting it up off your body and chucking it on the floor beside him.

his hands landed on the back of your bra, and he unclipped it as soon as he could.

your nipple was in his mouth before you could even say anything, and he cupped your other breast in his hand.

he circled your nipple with his tongue, while he was in the process you ripped off his jacket, and started tugging at his pants, until he was left in his boxers.

he picked you up, and you wrapped your legs around his waist with your arms around his neck.

he placed you on to the bed and hovered over you, slowly reaching his hands to your panties, and began pulling them over your curved hips.

you did the same with his boxers until you were both complete naked.

he placed his finger over your clit and began rubbing over it slowly, while he reached down and gave you a passionate kiss, as he slipped his tongue into your mouth.

"t please," you moaned into his mouth, before he eventually slipped two fingers inside of you.

"your so fucking beautiful, why did i let you go out looking this hot?" his voice tickled in your ear.

you didn't even reply to him, you where just lost in the moment. he slowly removed his fingers from you, and slipping them into your mouth.

"trent please, fuck me good, especially with that new hair, you look sexy." you begged him, you just couldn't get over how bad boy he looked with the new braids, they were doing stuff to you.

trent wasted no time, and slipped his length slowly into you, and gently adjusted himself.

you grabbed him and kissed his face off. your surroundings were going blurry as he fucked you passionately, just how you liked it.

your back arched into the covers on the bed, as you began coming on his hard cock, until you reached your orgasm, and trent eventually pulled out and cleaned up the mess around you both.

he settled back into bed with the both of looking out of the balcony and seeing the eiffel tower in the distance, with trent stroking your back as your bare chest laid on his, this really is the city of love.

the end.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

[angsthology]

☾ intro to jupiter nightshade (ft. the commentary by yours truly)

-> series masterlist

Jupiter Nightshade.

How do you even begin to describe her?

Jupiter was everyone’s dreams and everyone’s nightmare.

You love Jupiter, you hate her, you admire her, you’re terrified of her, you want to be her, you want to be with her.

Some people even say that she’s a real daughter of the sky — others even dared say she is the God Jupiter of the sky.

But those were just rumors, probably.

Hard not to believe those when the woman looked like she belongs in a museum of fine art. Models envy her, they kiss the ground she walks on and thank whatever higher power that she decided to join the world of motorsports. She would render them all jobless if modelling was her actual career rather than it being an occasional obligation.

The gods really took their time with her. Dark, jet-black hair cascades down her back — she never really keeps it long, she had to wear layers a lot and she was not a fan of the itch and heat restrictions it gave her so she always opted for a short messy haircut. Her skin glowed olive, under the sun, it often looked like she was made of part-gold. But, oh, dio mio!—as she would say—her eyes, her eyes; they’re the magnet to all that is deserving, they’re blessed to those lucky enough to have been even looked upon with those eyes. Both a piercing shade of emerald green—only, here’s the twist, the drop of uniqueness to it; her left eye was split into two between the striking green and a soft brown.

Call it dramatic but what I say doesn’t stray far from the truth.

That was her looks. I can’t even begin to describe the talent, the spirit she possesses.

“THAT’S P1, KID! P1 ON YOUR FIRST RACE!” her engineer yelled in her radio, his words coming out of his mouth along with breaths of disbelief.

The racer hadn’t even heard a word he said, she was far too busy taking in the glory of the shock coming from the stands. There were occasional boos of course, but of course that doesn’t begin to beat the cheers coming for her. The rookie.

She was on a high, one she has never felt before. Not even when she was named F2 champion or any other race she’s won before. Formula One was a new kind of glory for her and boy she was already hungry for more.

That hunger? Never went away for the rest of her rookie season. Jupiter Nightshade was a mad woman and that made everyone (all the good ones anyway) fall in love with her.

God, she could never be full of the glory. Every moment she managed to get more it only makes her even hungrier for more.

“JUPITER NIGHTSHADE YOU ARE A GOD!” the energetic yells of her team principal boomed through her radio, almost making her flinch.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” she said smugly.

Ugh, what a smug little shit.

I still think she’s cool or whatever.

Think what you want to think about Jupiter Nightshade but everyone can always agree that she’s full of surprises.

Really, she didn’t know where it came from. One second she was kissing her winning trophy while perched up on the second and third driver’s shoulders, the next; champagne was everywhere and she was in the air — mouthful of champagne, (she’s young, she’s free, and most importantly, she was a winner. She thought.) she sprayed the liquid that was already in her mouth to the P2 holder, completely surprising them—not that they’re mad or anything about it, they were just taken by surprise by it and let it happen. Then she turned to the lucky three with a smirk on her face; the man was quick to try and duck away but she was faster than that (on-track, off-track, there isn’t much difference between her), spraying right into his face.

And, really, that was how it started.

It was… an interesting, but hot nonetheless—according to the Twitter sapphics anyway. (They’re right.)

But being one of the greatest always came with its negatives — worse when you’re a woman.

She was the world champion.

She was a rookie driver in a Renault with a world champion.

And yet… they are boo-ing her.

On the internet, anyway.

Which makes it even better. If they’re not brave enough (or, rich enough to even attend a Grand Prix) to say it to her face, what real value do their words even have?

But for now, she can only accept her first domination under the building lightning storm in the sky.

And hence, born was her first nickname—and I’m not talking about the world driver’s champion—no; from then on, the daughter of the sky was born.

What a scam! — 2019 spat out, Jupiter was called the rookie with immense beginners luck.

Cunt. She thought.

The media that once ridiculed her then acted as if they never doubted her a day in their life was once again turning their back on them.

Typical, she thought. Fame-hungry-worthless-losers with no sense of wording in their body whatsoever.

When asked about it, her answer was simple; the only answer she had given to the world that retched year:

“The car is finally realizing who’s driving it and just couldn’t keep up.”

Renault was angry.

How. Dare. She.

They gave her an F1 car for the first time in her career, they catered her to a championship in it, and this is how she repays them?

At that, she rolls her eyes, “What, like I’m wrong?”

You make a car that accommodates a champion’s needs, you get a champion.

Nightshade is not for the weak.

So when she made her move to Red Bull in 2020 many was not surprised — ‘it’s been a long time coming.’ (I know right, why didn’t she do it sooner?) — ‘of course, she did.’ (the fuck you mean by that?) — ‘oh, great, more overconfident Red Bull drivers, just what we need.’ (damn, right it’s what we need.) — and my personal favorite: ‘was she not already in Red Bull?’ (oh they wished they had hired her sooner.)

By the time her third WDC came around, people have already treated her like an evil dictator taking over Formula One.

The internet (and, Netflix too probably) have successfully painted over her spirit turning her into this soul-sucking, dream-stealing, non-caring of others’ well-being person.

Everyone was suddenly far too busy looking for her faults; everyone.

Did they care that she’s a woman dominating in a male-dominated sport? Not anymore (they miss having their favorite white man win.)

Did they even bother caring about who she was doing this for? (No, why should they? She’s not of any relevance.)

Did they even bother opening their eyes to the fact that Jupiter Nightshade is a good person.

To look past her brash personality, interesting habits, and behavior and just see her for what she stands for, to what she is proving; that how the media—the world treats her gender unfairly when the opposite can do the exact same thing (hell, sometimes even worse) and not be bashed as much as she was getting.

They can say what they want about her but she’ll be the one hearing “You are the world champion!” in her ears at the end of the season.

not proofread | taglist; @disneyprincemuke (no one was surprised) + ask to be added 🥳

[bebx]

One of the things I love about Lokius is that, if you're someone like Thor and you're introduced to Mobius, and you had to appraise this funky lil dude in 10 seconds, you know the immediate, visceral reaction is: HIM?! This folksy guy with the ugly brown suit, haircomb mustache, corny dad jokes, average height, and middle-aged tummy? This guy?!

Because if you've only ever known up to Phase 3 Loki, it's not unreasonable to think he'd go for someone up to his "standards"; someone sexy, alluring, powerful, fashionable, and a little bit dramatic. Heck, that's what present Loki expected, too.

But no, it turns out it's very much THIS GUY, with the slight southern twang, no mystical powers whatsoever--not even basic super strength--and a love for snacks. THIS GUY who has a general calmness about him and whose epitome of joy is jet skis. THIS GUY who manages to find a little bit of purpose in bureaucratic paperwork.

It's objectively hilarious and, from a trope perspective, very sweet. Because a healthy, healing individual would see past the superficial and fall for the heart. All those quirks? Endearing. But what matters most is this person believed in you from the start, when you were at your worst and lowest. The wrinkles? Memories of all those times he laughed, smiled, or worried for you. The white hair? Very stately. Gorgeous, like a silver fox. But maybe Mobius is more of a coyote. With that silly knee-slapping laugh and wily mind. The soft tummy? A reminder of every time you had a heart to heart at the cafeteria or "detoured for refreshments" during a mission. So huggable. So perfect.

And past Loki would be appalled. He'd call it pathetic. This puny mortal? Oh, how low you've fallen ... A disgrace!

Present Loki would be so /offended/ by his own arrogance. By his own blindness!

"Yes," he'd say, chin up, eyes firm. "HIM."

this reminds me of this fic I wrote here where Mobius meets Thor and the rest of the Avengers as Loki’s special someone and they’re all shocked because Loki???? The Loki????? with This Guy????????!!!. I mean not to shamelessly promote my own fic or anything but Loki, a god, ending up with Mobius, a little guy, is the concept that is so precious to me I had to write a fic about it.

and yes, Mobius being just a Little Guy is what makes him so special as a character. we have all these superheroes Marvel introduced us to and then you have Mobius. and somehow he still manages to be such a popular fan’s favorite and also I think Mobius just being who he is is what draws — mind you, not just Loki but also so many fans towards to him. like everything you’ve described about him here is actually what makes me a fan of him. so really, we can’t blame Loki for falling head over heels in love with him here.

Thor’s reaction to meeting this boyfriend of Loki would be so hilariously precious too. but also, I believe it wouldn’t take long at all for Thor to grow overprotective of Mobius because Mobius is a good man with a heart of gold and most importantly, Mobius makes Thor’s brother happy. and Thor will do anything to make sure no one looks at Mobius the wrong way.

[moosh2727]

I FINALLY GOT ACCESS TO ISSUE 71 OMG

this took forever but finally i get to see him!! spoilers ahead :3

first of all, amazing cover. jet and the gang look amazing just in that one snippet

extreme gear dodgeball... thats interesting, reminds me of the multiplayer modes in riders zg that was not racing but fun!

HOW DARE YOU MAKE MY BOY ANGRY wave helping jet focus is nice like in zero gravity 💚

the rouges being in shock is always so funny, im glad to see wave and storm join in on the fun 💚

WOAHHH LOL dang sonic's going hard!!

i now headcannon wave has a mindfullness youtube video she makes jet begrudgingly watch LOL 💚

i love seeing them using their gear more, it fuels my autism 💚💚💚

THIS IS SO FREAKING FUNNY I LOVE IT, AND HOW DARE SHE CRASH IN JETS GEAR!! anyway love him /p 💚

AMAZING I WANNA SEE HIM ANGRYYY, BEAT THEM UP JET!!! 💚100 gonna use this part for art ref because it looks so good

the silence is so loud in this picture i love it, i wonder what jets gonna do? 😊

oh my gosh this is so heartbreaking actually what the heck- ALSO WAVE TELLING JET TO RUN IS SO ON POINT

the story telling via art is on point, theres not much words needed to convey the emotions the characters are feeling

THEY HAVE A NEW ROOM, I REPEAT THEY HAVE A KITCHEEEEEEEEN, storm being the cook fits so well i love it.

the food (curry im guessing) fits their background and double points for looking extra yummy.

jet's first sentence fits him so well, im really glad they're doing good depiction with him and everything relating to them, considering the idw special where jewel broke her wing SUCKED because of idw ppl not thinking about where jet lives on the ship, so they made it SUPER inacurate.

it makes me happy to see storm contributing and not being a stupid fat joke like in free riders. we need to appreciate this silly guy who got brain damage from amy hitting him many times, and he still manages to fulfil jets orders.

storm doing this with his eyes is as good as his eyes in free riders, but way better than his weird blink in the zero gravity black hole cutscene

jet being ahead of the game and i love it!!! NEW MISSION LETS GOOO!!!!!! 💚💚💚💚

these riders designs are really helping me in the future with my own oc 🫶

OMG THE WIFE OF THE TRAIN CONDUCTOR FROM MURDER OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!!

ouch my heart

oh gosh thats so sweet but sad ugh

jet has become more thoughtful! i just hope he doesn't lose his edge, but even if he does i'll love him anyway /p 💚

i love how much talented ppl are in this community, im so glad for more jet content via idw and fan creations. jet needs all the praise and love. 💚

Overall i loved this idw issue, i can always make the excuse " use more jet content!" but they did a really good job with expressing all the characters fairly. (still, i still want more jet tho :P)

i waited so long for this issue its crazy, idk why it took so long to come out digitally since i don't have the money to buy them in person.

knowing more rooms, might create an accurate layout of their blimp soon!

anyway, i got a gaming pc and not a stupid mac earlier this week, meaning that i can finally play free riders yayy!!!

[mikefaistslut]

anything for you

chapter 3

“So, I googled you.” It was the first thing I could think to say. I wish I’d gone with “you look nice,” or maybe “good to see you again,” but I went with, “So, I googled you.”

“Did you find anything good?” He was perfectly relaxed, and he really did look nice. Suit and tie, hair perfectly fluffy.

“Broadway isn’t exactly a small stage.” I said, easing into it. He could see where I was going with this.

“I liked that you didn’t know who I was. Also, I would’ve seemed like a dick if I’d read off my entire professional resume. ‘Did you want my extra bag of peanuts? Also, I wanted to let you know I was nominated for a Tony.’ I’d only bring it up in casual conversation if i’d won.”

"West Side Story isn't exactly a 'short film' either. There's pictures of you standing next to Steven. Spielberg." I talked about it like this was news to him, like it wasn't literally his life and his memories. He seemed amused.

"Are you angry I didn't tell you?"

"Not angry so much as just shocked. I assumed I was flirting with a super low-key struggle-for-your-art kinda guy. Not a guy who knows what Steven Spielberg smells like."

"Kind of citrus-y. Maybe a little earthy tone to it." I hated myself for all the questions I had to ask. But I couldn't not ask.

"So if you're that famous, how come you weren't flying on a private jet situation?"

"I'm not private jet famous. I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely get recognized, it's just more by theater people. Dear Evan Hansen fans, West Side, Newsies, you get it."

"See, that was you reading off your professional resume. But I figured that's what it was. I was never super into musicals. I tried to be, I could just never get it to stick in my brain. I went in and out of a lot of phases as a kid." I was dying to ask more of the juicy details, but I couldn't. Not yet. On the other hand, I found myself just wanting to know more about him personally, and I wanted him to know more about me. All the lame stuff like his favorite color, his favorites movies when he was a little kid, what his parents are like, etc. But I also wanted to know what it would be like to touch him. To kiss his beautiful face. To breathe him in. I asked all the questions and I let him go on and on. He'd try to steer the conversation to something about me and I'd turn it right back around to him. Anything just to stare at that gorgeous face just one second longer. Dinner was coming to an end and I hadn't even noticed how much time had passed until he brought it up.

"I'm sorry, I feel like I've just talked about only myself for the last three hours. Is that a total turn-off?" He was so fucking adorable.

"You could talk to me about anything and it wouldn't be a turn-off." And I meant it too. He seemed to like this answer.

"So if I started to talk about calculus or hip dysplasia or microbiology, you'd still want to go back to my hotel room with me?"

"Do you even know enough about those things to have an actual conversation about them?" I was avoiding the question.

"You're avoiding the question.. and no, I don't. I'm a dramatic arts school drop out. Sexy, right?"

I was eager, and he could tell. "Are you ready to go now?" I asked, gaining confidence.

"I was waiting for you to say that." Mike quickly paid the bill and stretched his hand out to mine to lead me out of the restaurant and into the cool, London air. He placed his hand on the small of my back as we walked to his hotel. I began to feel so incredibly nervous. Would he want to see me again if I gave it all away so soon? Would he still respect me? Does he even respect me now? A million questions were flooding through my mind, but I did my best to just relax. I decided to take things slow and let him take the lead. Maybe I was over thinking everything and he was just leading me back to his hotel room so we could order room service dessert and watch movies together, fully clothed and sitting six feet away from each other on opposite ends of the room. Maybe I was completely delusional and nothing remotely exciting was going to happen.

When we got to his hotel and the elevator doors shut to take us up to his room, I felt the sexual tension. At that point, I didn't care if he respected me. I needed to touch him and I needed him to touch me. I started slow, taking my hand from his and reaching further up his arm to wrap my hand around his bicep.

"Are you nervous?" He was a mind reader apparently.

"A hundred percent. But I really like you. Really really like you. I'm trying to be present and in the moment and spontaneous, and-"

He cut me off by pressing each of his hands on the sides of my face, pushing my hair behind my ears and walking me back against the wall of the elevator. He looked into my eyes and whispered, so delicately, "I'm going to kiss you now, okay?" Him asking only made it a million times more attractive. Cheeks flushed and heart in my stomach, I could only nod. He pressed his lips to mine. Slowly, our mouths melted together as I wrapped my hands around his slender waist, pulling him into me. Needing him even closer than he already was if that was even possible. As we both grew more passionate, more needy for each other, the elevator doors opened to his floor. We both pull ourselves away at the sound of someone clearing their throat, clearly not prepared to walk in on the scene we'd created.

"Oh! Uh, um- we're very sorry," Mike says as he grabs my hand and pulls me out of the elevator, rushing me down the hallway while simultaneously fishing for his key in his pants pocket. I laugh so hard my stomach begins to cramp.

The second we're inside his hotel room, I feel myself being picked up and thrown over Mike's shoulder. Both laughing, he places me on his bed and leans over, propping himself up on his hands.

"I'm going to fuck you now, is that okay?"

[triple-starsss]

Since I am now hyperfixating on this au and keep listening to music I got this very cool (maybe? Idk it might make no sense) idea while listening to N.M.E. by Set it Off.

I kinda imagined triple stars performing this song. The song is an encouragement to escape a toxic relationship, so I think Ivo would be okay with it cuz it's still in the "songs about relationships" category. But the interesting thing is the part "We need a break from you!" wherein there are more voices singing which can be Shadow's and Sonic's voices. That can actually be addressed to Ivo. And even if they're singing about a relationship they're actually hiding a different meaning in it. Especially how the main singer (which is Silver in this case) accentuates

"You should escape, skip town

No more excuses

Abandon ship or drown"

Or another message addressed to Ivo can be

"You pull the strings day after day"

Basically trying to tell people (or maybe just letting their anger out) that they're forced to do things they might not want to do by Ivo and that they want to ditch him

(ofc the actual song doesn't have a secret meaning it is actually about getting out of a toxic relationship lmao)

Idk this silly idea just spawned in my mind when I first heard this awesome song and wanted to share it with you XD

I'm literally in love with this au

ANOTHER SONG TO SHOVE INTO THE PLAYLIST YAHOO!!

loove triple s hiding ulterior messages within their songs hehe i've got a similar thing in mind with 'In Too Deep' by Sum 41 (also about a bad relationship!!) for the au!!

now that i've added Jet into the story i can also definitely see fans interpreting some of their songs as Sonic indirectly shitting on Jet after their whole exes reveal thing ABDJSFH!!

BUT WAAAH TY FOR SHARING!! genuinely shocking to me that people think about my au outside of interacting with the blog

[adharastarlight]

Tis The Season

Five: Calendar

The marauders are in a band, and discussing potential merch ideas... a slutty calendar is suggested as Regulus - who's been accompanying them as they tour - is very interested in at least one of the band members participating in that. (It's not quite smut but it's very obvious where it's heading... oops?)

“I think it’s a great idea! Our fans would love it!”

James shook his head at his madman of a best friend. They’d started the band in uni, with Rem and Pete and hadn’t expected so much success. He still got shocked sometimes by the size of the crowds, by how loud they were. It was mental to him. Not as mental as this though.

“Love, we’re not making a fucking nudes calendar!”

“Remmy, you’re so dull! Please?”

“No! I’m not having the whole world seeing my boyfriend like that. No.”

Sirius flushed at the possessive tint to Remus’ voice but didn’t concede, “I didn’t say nude, I said slutty!”

“I personally think it’s a great idea.” The voice drawled from the corner of the room, the man sprawled out on the sofa. The man who was also short-circuiting James’ brain. Sirius’ brother was just as dramatic as the band’s lead singer, but he was also just as, if not more, pretty, and it was entirely unfair. He’d joined them on their tour to avoid being at home and it was beyond distracting to see him every time he walked into the trailer. Especially when he walked out of the shower in a single towel, jet black locks dripping down pale skin in tantalising trails James wanted to follow with his tongue. Not that he would. Sirius would kill him and the bloke probably wasn’t even interested.

“See! Reggie agrees with me!”

Regulus smiled a devil’s grin and ran his eyes unabashedly over James, once, twice, a third time, “I think your fans would appreciate the view.”

The brunette swallowed thickly and just stared at him, willing his voice to work after the blatant staring which apparently no one else had noticed. Pete luckily cut in before he had to think of a rebuttal to that, “I think it’s fine, but I’m not stripping. Pads, you can be in charge of the sex appeal.”

Sirius jumped up, apparently deciding this was his victory, and tugged his boyfriend up after him, “great! We’ll go and get outfits now! And I’ll tell Marls to bring her camera over!”

His boyfriend sighed but relented, “yes, fine. Come on, Pete, James, you have to help me stop him going overboard.”

The blonde laughed and stood up to follow them out, nudging the brunette who was still staring and drooling at the younger brother, who’d gone back to idly picking at his nails. “You coming, prongs?”

He cleared his throat and nodded, stretching as he stood up. He felt the weight of the gaze on him before he looked and had to force back a smirk, “yeah, sure.”

Reg’s voice drawled out again then, “actually, Potter, the hot water’s not working. D’you think you could take a look at it? I want to have a shower.”

His brother shrugged and tugged on Rem’s hand again, “I’ll get you something good, Prongs. A hot shower would be nice when we get back, right, cheri?”

Remus scoffed and urged him out, muttering as they went, “yes, baby, we can stay in there longer if it’s hotter.”

Peter grimaced as he followed them out, letting the trailer door bang closed behind him. Leaving James alone with the gorgeous man who was currently eyeing him up as though he was a three course meal and he were dying of famine.

The brunette swallowed thickly and forced a carefree smile, “I’ll go and have a look at the water.”

“Thanks, Potter.”

He nodded and headed into the small bathroom. He hollered when he was done and almost cursed when the younger man walked in, almost pinning him against the wall due to the small space, “all sorted.”

Reg smiled that goddamn grin again and turned his back to him, “grand, could you help me with the corset? It’s awfully fiddly.”

“God help me.” He hissed the words under his breath as he started loosening the ribbons, training his eyes on the ceiling as cool skin was slowly revealed under his touch. He carefully pulled it up over the other’s head when he lifted his arms and rested it on the side.

“Mm, thank you.” He turned back to the brunette, his smile fixed in place.

James stared at him, letting his eyes track every freckle and mark and along his chest, over his surgery scars and down, down to the V and the trousers which he realised a moment too late were being undone. He almost choked, “Regulus-”

“Mmhm?”

“What’re you doing?”

He shrugged daintily and ran his hand up the other’s torso before resting it against his chest, “having a shower, why?”

The older man shivered and forced himself to look up and meet his eye, “don’t you want some privacy?”

Reg laughed, head thrown back and fuck, that neck was right there and it was almost impossible to resist, “are you playing dumb or are you really this innocent, darling?”

“God, what’re you doing to me?”

“Do you think I don’t notice you staring?”

James flushed crimson and ran a subconscious hand through his hair, “sorry, I-”

“Don’t apologise.”

“I think I should, this-”

“Don’t think. Don’t think about it.” He gripped the tee his hand was resting against and tugged him slightly closer, “don’t think at all.”

The brunette almost died on the spot before he managed to get his brain to cooperate and surge forwards, cupping the younger man’s jaw and dragging him up into a tantalising kiss which had him feeling like if he died right now, he’d die happy.

Reg groaned against his lips and buried his free hand into messy curls, he gasped as a warm hand covered his lower back, pressing him closer, dipping lower until just the tips of his fingers had slipped under the waistband of his trousers, “James.”

“Tell me to stop, Reggie.” He breathed the words against his lips, trailing kisses across his jaw and up to the spot just below his ear, whispering into his skin, “tell me to stop before I forget why this is a bad idea.”

“Not a chance.”

James cursed against his skin before kissing the same spot, biting lightly to drag out a breathy moan. He pushed against his chest gently, urging him to walk backwards out of the small bathroom. At the indignant huff he smiled, trailing his kisses black up to his ear, “I need more room to work.”

“Mm, someone needs to teach you the joys of fucking someone against a wall.”

He smiled and lifted him up, humming appreciatively when those legs wrapped around his waist, lazy arms draped around his neck, “next time.”

Reg scoffed but it was breathier than his usual, “bold of you to assume there’ll be a next time, Potter.”

“James, if you want me to touch you.”

The younger man huffed again but tilted his head back without an ounce of resistance when the brunette’s lips started their descent again, “we don’t have this much time, James.”

“I’ll bloody make time.” He almost tripped on his own drumsticks on his very distracted path to his bed, lowering the other down carefully and leaning over him, “fuck, I’ll steal time if I have to.”

“If you were so desperate, you should’ve just said something, darling.”

[pensat-i-fet]

Shoot your shot 🏀 (Pedri x Reader)

**This one was requested by myself to myself 🤗🤭 to any man that might be reading, please take notes. An NBA match is the way to my heart 😅 any events that are the same for you? Let me know. And enjoy reading this!! ❤️**

Word count: 3070

Masterlist

Wattpad

"What are you doing during this break?", you asked Gavi while you were treating his injury.

"Just spending time with my family".

"That's nice. But please be mindful of the injury. Don't forget about your exercise routine, ok?"

"I won't. Don't worry. What are you going to do? You get a break too, right?"

"I do, but I'm not doing anything special either. I'll just catch on sleep probably", you laughed.

Not far from where you two were chatting, Eric and Pedri were sitting, waiting for a physio to attend to them...and listening to your conversation.

"Tell her to come with us", said Eric.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, it's the perfect excuse to spend some time together outside of work".

"And why would I want to do that? She's just our physio".

"Sure, Pedri", he said, rolling his eyes. "Everyone can see how you two act around each other".

Once you were done doing Gavi's treatment, you moved to join his teammates.

"Alright. Who needs some help?"

"Pedri", said Eric.

"Just say you don't like how I do my job, García. No need to throw me at someone else", you joked.

"Joan has a fitness plan for me, I have to wait for him".

The explanation made sense to you, but Pedri knew what was behind that request.

"Any plans for the break?", asked you Pedri, wondering if he should invite you to join theirs like Eric had suggested.

"Not really, what about you?"

"Eric and I are going to San Francisco". "Oh wow, that's fancy. What for?"

"We're watching an NBA match", said Eric, staring at your reaction and trying not to laugh.

You were the biggest basketball fan they had ever met. Once, they saw you at a Barça match and ever since, you've been having long chats about the Spanish League, the Superleague, the NBA, ...all of it. They often joked about how you were going to leave them to work with the basketball team.

"That's...you know? I'm not usually jealous of your lifestyle but I am now. I wish I had the money to do that".

It was now or never, thought Pedri. "Come with us".

Eric actually couldn't believe he had done it.

"What do you mean?"

"To the match. Come with us. We have a spare ticket so why not give it to you".

"That's too much. It's too much money and...", you kept babbling. Shocked by his offer.

"I think you should come too", said Eric.

"When are you leaving?"

"Wednesday. I could give you the details. I...I don't have your number, but...".

"I mean, if we are travelling together, I'd have to give you my number anyway", you laughed. "For any emergencies".

Seeing you and Pedri just nervously staring at each other, Eric took his friend's phone and gave it to you.

"Add your contact, then".

You bit your lip and took the phone, doing as Eric asked. It just felt...too much. Like you were overstepping. This wasn't professional but you couldn't lie and say you weren't excited about the idea of traveling to watch an NBA game. And also about the idea of spending time with Pedri. And with Eric too, of course.

"Done", you said, feeling shy all of a sudden and just trying to concentrate on your job.

"We are going to have the best time!", said Eric, winking at you and leaving you confused. And making Pedri blush.

                                     **

"Hey, Eric!"

He looked up from his phone to look at you. "Hi. You're early".

"Not as early as you".

"I actually got the time wrong and I've been here for a while".

You laughed, shaking your head and sitting down next to him.

"First time on a private jet?"

"Me? Nah, it's how I always travel".

"Well, you never know", he shrugged.

"It is the first time, yes. Also first time in the US and at an NBA match. Little trip full of firsts".

Eric was itching to ask if it would be your first time with a football player, because he was sure something would happen between you and Pedri, but that was crossing a line and he didn't want to make you run away and cause Pedri to kill him.

"There he is".

You looked where he pointed and saw Pedri and another guy approaching you.

"Hi, this is my brother".

"Nice meeting you".

"Let's go inside so we can get comfortable", said Eric, leading the way.

You felt so out of place all of a sudden. There were people you didn't know and the two you knew were coworkers. Sort of. Not really friends. The only player you could probably call a friend was Gavi and he wasn't there.

Also, flying wasn't something you were scared of per se, but the idea of such a long flight wasn't the most exciting to you. Worth it, of course. But still.

"Do you need a blanket?", offered Pedri's brother while everyone was getting ready for a nap to make the flight go by faster and get some rest for the trip.

"Sure. Thanks".

But you knew you weren't going to be able to sleep knowing how high up in the sky you were. So when everyone was resting, you got your book out of the bag and started to read.

Slight turbulences distracted you sometimes and your eyes always went to the same person. Pedri. He looked so peaceful while sleeping. So...handsome. But you didn't allow yourself to go there often.

A lot of the players you worked with were handsome. Eric himself was but what you liked about Pedri was something else. Not just looks. The little glimpses of his real personality you got to see were always hard to ignore for you because you liked what you saw. A lot.

"You can't sleep?", his voice took you out of the story you were then so immersed in.

"No, it's fine. I'll sleep when we get there".

"I could ask for a sleeping tablet or something. It's too many hours awake and the jet lag...".

"I'll be fine, Pedri", you said, smiling at his worry. "But thank you".

"Do you want to watch a movie with me while they are sleeping?"

You nodded, book now forgotten.

It was so weird to be sitting next to him. Arms almost touching. But it was also weird to feel weirded out by that since your job meant you were touching him all the time. Yet it was different. This wasn't you treating an injury.

Still, his presence relaxed you and soon you ended up falling asleep. Pedri noticed after a couple of minutes, when your head started to get closer to his shoulder.

He couldn't wake you up, he reasoned. You needed the sleep. So he just continued watching the movie, enjoying the weight of your head on his shoulder and the scent of your shampoo. He was never going to move on from this crush now.

Hearing movement behind you made you wake up and realize the position you were in. How embarrassing.

"Sorry".

"It's fine, you didn't bother me at all".

Eric walked past you two on his way to the bathroom and smirked at Pedri when he saw you sitting together. Now he only needed to get you alone at some point during the trip. And he had an idea of what to do.

                                    **

"We are going to lose her", said Eric and you could barely hear him because seeing the outside of the basketball stadium had hypnotized you.

When you felt a hand grabbing your arm, you turned to see it was Eric who stopped you from walking further so you wouldn't separate from the group.

"Sorry. This is just so unbelievable. How am I even here?"

"All thanks to Pedri", said Eric, putting his right arm around his friend's shoulders to bring him close while he used his other arm to do the same to you.

Before you knew it, he had moved back and now you were standing next to Pedri, who was trying not to shake his head at his friend's actions. He was being too obvious.

"Is this a bad time to say I'm a Lakers fan?", you asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, you're going to lose then".

"We'll see".

While you were finding your seats, a journalist asked Pedri and Eric if they had a few minutes to do a quick interview and they said yes. So you waited until they were done to sit and seeing they were both sitting together, you just moved to sit next to Eric.

"Why are you sitting here?"

"So Pedri can sit next to his brother", wasn't it the obvious thing to do?

You noticed Eric frowning but didn't stop to think why he was doing it. He was thinking about how he should have thought of a plan so you two were sitting together. But thankfully, he came up with a simple idea quickly.

"I need to pee before the game starts", he said, standing up and leaving.

You took a quick look at the seat Eric left empty and saw Pedri picking up his phone out of the corner of your eye. That reminded you about yours and so you started to take photos and videos of the place.

Pedri was surprised to see a text from Eric but when he read it, he let out a little chuckle. He'd have to repay the favour if his friend ever crushed on a girl like he was crushing on you.

"Sorry! Sorry! ...I didn't mean to step on your foot, sorry", you turned to see Eric returning to your seats, and struggling. "Guys! Move so I don't have to step on more feet".

"Smooth!", said Pedri under his breath.

"What was that?", you asked.

"Nothing".

But he did move and now he was sitting next to you.

The match was pretty entertaining and you kept chatting with Pedri about it, despite how loud it was.

"Popcorn?", he offered, moving the bag in your direction.

"Thank you".

And he kept offering you more, just by moving the bag so you could reach it easily, until he just decided to put it between your seats.

"Cute", said his brother, and Pedri slapped his leg so he would shut up but only made him laugh.

At half-time, only you and Pedri stayed in your seats thanks to another one of Eric's interventions.

"Are you having a good time?"

"Yes, this is even better than I expected. And I had high expectations", you laughed.

"Same".

Pedri moved away from you a little so he could take his hoodie off. It was warmer than he expected.

"Do you always wear that same hoodie? I think you can afford to buy a few more".

Pedri rolled his eyes and pretended he was leaving offended, so you grabbed his arm and made him sit down again. You've touched him so many times at work, but that felt different again.

"I mean, it does look good on you. But I was wondering if it was like a lucky charm or something too".

He tried not to stay on the thought of you thinking he looked good for too long. "No, I just like it and I'm boring, I guess".

By the time the match ended, you didn't even care about Lakers losing. Just being there had been so amazing, the result was secondary.

And also, you were all really tired, so it was time to go to the hotel and rest. Another long day awaited you tomorrow.

                                        **

Everyone fell silent when you got to the table where the boys were having breakfast.

"Were you talking about me?", you joked. But they actually had been.

"No, just about today".

"What are the plans?"

"We'll go meet a couple of players we met before when we were here", explained Eric. "And then we are going to a baseball match".

"Baseball?", that didn't sound very appealing but you guessed it made sense to go to all the American sports.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. Pedri isn't coming. You could go see the city with him while Fer and I are at the match".

Pedri tried not to react to Eric's kick but kicked him back.

"You sure you don't want to go to that match?", you asked him and he nodded. "Then I guess we could go play tourist. I don't mind going alone but it's good to have company".

"And it'd be good to have the two English translators with the people who don't speak English".

"Eric, stop pretending you're bilingual. She speaks English so much better than you", said Pedri, making you blush.

Plans were made while food was being eaten and then it was time to go meet some basketball players. You couldn't deny how excited you were about that. You had met the whole Barça squad, of course. But these were NBA players.

You felt like you looked so out of place there but everyone was being nice to you so far. Even if they had no clue who you were and what you were doing there.

"Which one do you belong to?", asked one of the players, pointing at the men you were with and making you raise an eyebrow.

"I belong to myself. But since you mean which one is my boyfriend, the answer is none of them. We are just friends".

Eric noticed the one you looked at when saying that was Pedri. But Pedri didn't know what was going on because Eric was right when he pointed out he barely spoke English.

What he did know was that some of the players were flirting with you. No need to understand what they said when he could see the way they looked at you when they talked. But you weren't interested, at all.

"Ask her out. She'll say yes and then you won't have to be jealous all the time".

"Eric, I'm not jealous".

"Right...just do something while you two are alone. It's exhausting for me to just see you being so stupid".

And Eric wasn't wrong. He had to do something.

                                     **

Yourusername 🔒

Pretty San Francisco 🇺🇸

-pablogavi: looks good! But watch out because Pedri and Eric are there too.

   -yourusername: I know.

   -pedri: she knows.

   -ericgm3: we're literally with her. Keep up, Pablito.

   -pablogavi: how was I supposed to know?

   -pablogavi: wait, why wasn't I invited? 🥺

"Gavi is so silly", you said to Pedri, looking at your phone.

"But he's your favourite", he joked. But it was something that bothered him a bit. Even if you two acted more like siblings than two people who liked each other in a romantic way but...Gavi got too much of your attention. And that was attention Pedri didn't get.

"I'm not allowed to have favourites, Pedro".

"And yet...".

Being alone with him for a couple of hours had made you a bit more confident. Also noticing how Eric was always trying to push you to be with Pedri. Perhaps he felt the same way about you as you felt about him.

"No need to be jealous".

He laughed at being called jealous a second time in just one day. But both times, it was true.

"I'm just wondering what he has that I don't, you know?"

"He's more reckless on the pitch so recovery takes longer".

"I get kicked a lot".

You looked at him and...was he pouting?

"And it's also easier to spend more time with him than with you", you confessed, but he didn't understand what you were saying and you noticed it straight away. "I don't mean it in the way you think, but the opposite".

"Spell it for me then", he said and your heart sunk seeing his hurt look.

"Gavi is my friend. Just that. You are...you".

"That's not really explaining much", he added, but his look had changed from hurt to curious.

"I don't have a crush on Gavi".

There it was. No way back now after that confession.

"That's not a line I hear often", he joked, making you laugh. "And...the feeling is mutual. About the crush, I mean".

"You don't have a crush on Gavi either? He'll be devastated".

Pedri chuckled before walking in front of you so you stopped moving.

"Can I kiss you?", he asked, and you nodded.

Yes, that wasn't very professional. You didn't even know if it was allowed but you'd worry about it when the time came. First, it was time to enjoy the kiss you had been dreaming about for months.

                                        **

One of the first things Eric did when he got back to the hotel was call Pedri to see how your date had gone.

"Nothing happened".

"You've got to be kidding me! Do you want me to go on the dates with you to tell you what to do?"

"Just leave it. Let's enjoy our last day here tomorrow. It's fine".

"So stupid...the both of you!"

Pedri couldn't help but laugh seeing how annoyed his friend looked. And he laughed again after telling you about the conversation.

The next day, your final day there, was a repeat of the first one. Eric trying to get you alone with Pedri all the time. But what he didn't know was that whenever that happened, you really made the best of that alone time. And when Eric and Fer were back, it was back to pretending for the both of you. You were having a great time teasing them like that.

But all good things come to an end and soon you found yourself on the jet, on the way back to Barcelona. Same as on the first flight, the boys decided to go take a nap. And same as on that other flight, you couldn't sleep.

This time, however, Pedri didn't want a nap either. So he invited you to watch another movie with him. He brought you closer to him so you could cuddle and his warmth made you fall asleep almost immediately.

He wanted to remain awake to both fully enjoy the feeling of having you in his arms and to make sure no one saw you like that. But he was very tired too and soon his eyes started to close.

It was when Pedri wasn't still fully asleep that he noticed a presence near him. Eric.

"Nothing happened, right?"

[hooked-on-elvis]

Want to read yet another story of Elvis being generous?

How Elvis' friendship with Tom Jones gathered the King with The VOICE

[1] Elvis wearing the 1973 Arabian jumpsuit. Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas. August, 1973. [2] Donny Sumner, letf, Shaun "Sherrill" Nielsen* and Tim Beaty of the Voice, a pop-rock-gospel trio, warm up before their performance at The Villa at 1711 Hayes St. in Nashville on March 1, 1975. They are still recovering from injuries causes by when their van veered off the highway and rolled down an embankment a month before.

LATE JULY - EARLY AUGUST, 1973 Elvis was in Vegas to rehearse for his second 1973 Las Vegas engagement (Las Vegas, Season 9 - From August 6th to September 3rd 1973) While in Las Vegas Elvis had the opportunity to help out his friend Tom Jones, who was facing the possibility of having to replace his vocal group the Blossoms on his current show. When Elvis heard about his predicament, he thought he might do Jones a favor by presenting him with a substitute group. One of the members of his entourage, Kenny Hicks, knew that former Statesmen Sherrill Nielsen and Tim Baty and J. D. Summer’s nephew Donnie had formed a new Nashville vocal group called Voice. Elvis knew all of them well; he had worked with Sherrill in 1966 on How Great Thou Art, and once introduced him to an indifferent Las Vegas audience as “the greatest tenor in gospel music.” Why not fly their new group out to Las Vegas to help Jones out?

#FYI

On the picture above, Elvis is leaving the Anaheim Royal Inn to perform his evening concert on April 24 1973 at the Convention Center in Anaheim, CA (8.30 pm). EP is with his entourage, some of them known Memphis Mafia guys, and his father, Vernon Presley. Kenny Hicks is the one guy on the left, next to Red West. There's not many pictures of them together. Kenny worked as a valet/aide to Elvis, between 1973-1975. In 2010, Hicks published the memoir book, "Elvis, As I Knew Him" (photo 2, book front cover). Kenny is told to be the one letting Elvis know about the Voice group has been formed.

Transported by private jet, the nervous trio arrived at Elvis’s suite, only to be put on the spot to sing for Elvis, Tom Jones, and country singer Bobbie Gentry. Jones was impressed with the group, and he was touched by the offer — but as it turned out, he told Elvis, he had an unbreakable contract with the Blossoms. It may have been the opening Elvis was looking for all along: After giving the group the bad news, with a flourish he produced a piece of paper for them to sign — a year-long contract, he explained, guaranteeing them $100,000 to serve as his backup group and sing with him in private whenever he felt like hearing them, while signing them to his new publishing company. They couldn’t help being shocked, but they gratefully accepted. Before the group left the suite Elvis called his father to announce the news; Vernon, though, was less than enthusiastic to learn of his son’s latest whim, which only supported his constant fear that his son’s indulgences would someday leave them all bankrupt. Excerpt: "Elvis Presley: A Life in Music" by Ernst Jorgensen. Foreword by Peter Guralnick (1998)

Cool, isn't it? EP didn't need to do this, he was in no need for another gospel group (he already had signed The Stamps Quartet to back him in concert for a while now - since 1971), but he signed the Voice, aside from admiring their talent, clearly just to make up for something that went not quite as expected — something he was actually doing to help another one of his friends.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FURTHER INFO

"Sherrill" is Shaun Nielsen's birth name, and it is the name all Elvis fans best know him with, but he changed it to "Shaun" at some point. He said that after enough instances of hearing himself paged 'Phone call for Miss Sherrill Nielsen', he thought changing his name would be a good idea. (Source: elvisoncd.com). Sherrill is a gender-neutral name but, since is not very common for a male, people currently take it as a female name right away.

[transbeamrooikat]

some killjoy hcs/rambles :3

big fan of the HC that Ghoul has hearing loss like. look at that fella and tell me he has any sense of safety precautions

i also think he knows how to shoot his raygun and obviously has his explosives but if a fight ever becomes close range she just starts Biting

and that fucker can bite HARD he has dogshit dental heath (but that's pretty much a given if you live in the zones, i think) but his bite is so strong he often would rather use his teeth than scissors

also playing around (like. considering) with the hc of him being bigender? idk, thinking about that

cause i hc him as being raised in the zones + his crew died when he was young, i think he doesn't really have like. a strong idea of binary sex/gender/sexuality? like, i feel like labeling people is mostly a City concept, and killjoys just do whatever (although some killjoys do label themselves, it's just not an often occurrence)

SPEAKING OF THE CITY!!! i think Party and Kobra where both raised there and escaped together

Party realized they were NB and probably some flavor of queer when they were pretty young and tried to repress it at first, but that's obviously not health so it lead to them having really shit metal health/had a mental health crisis, but eventually they told Kobra and he tries to give them advice/ just be someone for Party to talk too

i also think they stopped talking their pills pretty young (like, i think Party stopped around puberty? so 10ish) and Kobra stopped a bit before Party came out to him (which is why he didn't report them and was able to help them)

Party's queerness is kinda what led to them leaving the city (i think there also may have been a confrontation with their parents that narrowed down their options to either running away or getting turned over for "reprogramming" but hey ho)

i think they would've met Jet Star and his crew pretty soon after them leaving the city, and they helped them to get to Dr. D

Jet couldn't convince the crew to let Party and Kobra stay any longer so they parted ways there

i actually don't have many Jet specific hcs other than that his eye patch is probably either due to an accident Ghoul caused or due to a clap with a drac

i think about a year after meeting Party & Kobra he leaves his own crew to go form his own/traverse the desert

which kinda leads to a general killjoy hc that they tend to be in crew with their families till they leave to form/find their own at around 15-20 (although some killjoys do stay in their original family crew)

there's probably zone-wide gatherings/parties where a tone of killjoys meet up to relax and have a good time

i flip flop between Party and Ghoul meeting at one of these and them meeting in some abandoned area while Party's doing a supply run

Ghoul speaks Afrikaans because i said so :3 (don't ask how it makes sense in canon - it doesn't really)

He reverts back to speaking it when angry/feeling very strong emotions (although it tends to be very choppy cause although speaking afrikaans is like his coping mechanism, he wasn't taught much of it by his family before they died)

I think she'd try to teach the other killjoys at some point cause it'd make communication easier, but Party's the only one who's remotely good at it cause they're the only other person in the group who can roll their r's

Party & Kobra r very shocked when they learn that other languages is a thing like. at all. cause growing up in the city they wouldn't have been taught that other languages r like. a thing ++ they would kinda also be taught at the same time that "everyone only speaking english is better cause then there's no error in communication ^_^" or something like that

idk whether or not i want Ghoul to be the reason they find this out… it'd definitely make for a good fic idea

like I said, I hc Ghoul as having bad dental health, but I think that also applies to Jet

Party and Kobra's good dental health is actually pretty unusual -- people tend to be able to tell they're from the city because of it

I also think they all have some kinda acne/acne scarring

for Party (and to a lesser extent, Kobra) it was a (bad) way to cope with the stress and anxiety of living in the city, and it became a habit that's still very hard for them to break

for Ghoul and Jet i think it's more a background thing they've never thought too hard on? like, oh there's red spots on my face now and some of them hurt? slay /pos

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

The Mudman, snippet #3

This one goes out to Julius Root's #1 Fan, @valhelos.

Previous parts can be found here and here.

-=-=-=-

The thunderous report of destruction still echoed through the halls of the otherwise silent research library. Dozens of shelving units laid flat, almost as if they had knocked each other down in a domino effect. Sheafs of scattered papers drifted lazily downward like so many curious birds coming in for a landing. Priceless bits of information, once meticulously ordered and organized, lay scattered in heaps and piles all around. In the middle of it all was a young woman who looked nearly as uncomfortable in the midst of her most recent scene of destruction as she was in the floor-length skirt she currently wore.

The doors at the far end of the archive room burst open, parting to reveal the profile of a man who had already started to shout before he even witnessed what had happened. “Short!” he bellowed, his voice gruff and nearing on obstreperous. “What in the blazes…” his shouting suddenly ceased when he paused to survey the scene before him.

Julius Root was not known for being a particularly patient fellow. In fact, during the back during the Great War the men under his command quickly began to call him ‘Beetroot’ on account of the way his face turned as red as a beet at the slightest of inconveniences.

Holly Short, the incredibly destructive daughter of one of his facility’s most helpful benefactor families, was often the source of far more than slight inconvenience.

“What happened here?” Root bellowed, though by the tone of his voice the question came out as more of a declaration than anything. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear a single word out of your mouth until this entire archive is back exactly the way it was. Do you understand me?” As he spoke, Julius’s voice rose in pitch and volume until he was shouting. He glared down his nose at the young woman.

To her credit, Holly didn’t back down. “Sir, it-” she began, but Root cut her off with a raised hand.

“Not a word, Short,” he repeated himself through clenched teeth, his complexion one of such vibrant scarlet that Holly would be entirely unsurprised to learn he could glow in the dark. He worked his mouth open and shut several times in thought, then turned on heel and began pacing about. “What did I do to deserve you?” he asked no one in particular. “I swear, I’ve seen bombs go off that did less damage than you do on a good day.”

He turned back toward Holly, jabbing a finger in her face. “Spotless!” he hissed, his scowl only deepening as he stared down at her. “I want this archive spotless by the end of the day!” And with that he was gone, storming out the door as thunderously as he had entered.

Holly looked around at the wreckage, groaning tiredly. This was going to take half the night… if she was lucky. She was still trying to figure out just how to lift the fallen bookshelves back onto their feet when she heard the door swing open again. “Julius, I’m going to take care of this,” she said, turning around quickly. “Just-”

She fell silent when, in place of a stocky, well-built man with a full head of gray hair, she found herself face-to-face with a slight fellow with a shock of jet-black hair that contrasted sharply with his extremely pale complexion.

“I love what you’ve done with the place,” he said, turning over a fallen book with the toe of his extremely well-shined dress shoe. “It is certainly a step up over the previous design structure. More hands-on, as it were.”

In spite of herself, Holly raced forward and flung her arms around the man’s neck, colliding with him with nearly enough force to throw him to the ground. “Artemis!” she gushed happily, “What are you doing here?”

Artemis offered her a rare, sincere smile. “Well, how could I possibly come to town and fail to visit my favorite little sister?” he asked with surprising charm. Maybe his most recent trip home had finally actually done him some good. Their parents, particularly their mother, had always had a way with people. It would do Artemis very well to try to absorb some of their social grace.

Still, Holly knew Artemis better than anyone… and she knew that Artemis didn’t tend to travel across the world just for a social visit. “What are you doing here, Arty?” she asked more seriously, stepping back to hold him at arm’s length and inspect his mismatched eyes - a perfect match to her own heterochromia - for any sign of deception.

She watched the thought cross his mind. A momentary pinch of his brow as he considered lying to her, a tightening of his eyes when he realized it was no use. He sighed, effecting an approximation of bashfulness. “Alright, alright… I have a job.”

Holly lifted one eyebrow curiously. A job. Usually Artemis’s jobs were extremely lucrative, albeit of a… less than strictly legal nature.

And judging by the twinkle in his eye, he knew exactly what she was thinking. “I know how you feel about this kind of thing,” he said quickly, reaching inside his pocket. “But this one is different. I’ve found something… something that I believe is going to help us find a lot of gold.”

Holly’s second eyebrow joined the first on its way to her hairline. “Artemis, you’ve been a lot of things before… but a treasure hunter? That’s a stretch, even for you.”

A vampiric smile crossed Artemis’s lips. “No, I’m certainly no treasure hunter. Though I happened to meet one. An American, quite the swashbuckling and head-bashing fellow. You’d like him.”  As he spoke, Artemis retrieved a small puck-shaped object and tossed it to her. “However, there’s no use hunting down any treasure until we know how my little discovery ties into our expedition.”

“Our expedition?” Holly remarked dryly as she studied the object in her hands. “Getting presumptuous, aren’t we?” Still, she found herself sucked into the excitement. The artifact Artemis had given her was clearly ancient, or at least designed to appear as such. It was octagonal, about five inches across and three inches high. Glyphs ran along the side, and it had a most peculiar symbol on its face. “Where… where did you get this?” Holly asked softly, staring intently at the item as if it might give up its secrets under the proper interrogation.

Artemis only grinned. “The ‘where’ doesn’t matter, dear sister. Even this device itself, fantastic though it may be, is only the beginning.” 

As he spoke, Holly’s fingers hooked on a peculiar notch along the side of the object. “Device?” she asked absentmindedly, pressing against the notch inquisitively. “What do you mean, ‘device’?” Her question was answered a mere moment later when the nub Holly had been worrying suddenly depressed, and the face of the artifact sprung open in a star formation. Nestled inside what turned out to be something of an ancient jewelry box was a folded piece of parchment.

“Do you remember those stories Father used to tell us?” Artemis asked as he began carefully unfolding the parchment on the nearest semi-flat surface. Never one to miss an opportunity for dramatic flair, he pressed on before she had the chance to answer. “Tales of a sunken city, lost to the ancient gods. Of a place so fantastical that it was deemed too powerful for mere mortals to possess.”

“You don’t mean…” Holly trailed off as the paper unfolded and presented a map.

“I do,” Artemis responded smugly. “I’ve already dated it myself - it’s been hidden in that little box for nearly three millennia. The cartouche there in the corner?”

“That’s the signet of King Seti the First,” Holly cut him off, her mouth dropping open in shock. “Artemis that means… this is a map to the City of the Dead.”

“Hamunaptra,” the siblings breathed in unison.

Holly stared at the paper in shock. It certainly looked authentic, if she was reading the hieroglyphs correctly. She trusted no one more than Artemis to root out a fake - he was something of an expert on the subject. Still… the ancient Egyptian city of gold? It was too much to believe. It was a fairytale.

Finally she shook her head and set the map back down. “I don’t know, Arty,” she finally said. “Even if I wanted to go, I have my job here. I can’t just up and leave.”

“Yes you can,” shouted a gruff voice, calling Holly’s attention to the door to find Root’s head poked in. “In fact, you should. Don’t even worry about cleaning up your mess… the sooner you leave, the better.”

Holly’s jaw dropped. “But Sir,” she protested, “that hardly seems –”

“Don’t ‘but Sir’ me, Short,” Root interrupted once again. “Go. Take as much time as you need. Some experience in the field will do you good… not to mention the good it will do for my archives.” Despite his gruff attitude, there was a certain playfulness in his tone. “If you’re gone long enough, I may even be willing to let you come back to your job.”

The young woman’s jaw worked open and shut as she tried to formulate a response. Before she did, Root vanished once more from the doorway.

Artemis’s hand clapped down on Holly’s shoulder. “Well, that settles it I suppose,” he said with uncharacteristic cheerfulness. “You’re coming with me, making a load of money and shoring up the family’s gold reserves, and I’ll try to keep you away long enough to ensure your future employment.”

Holly shook her head, running a hand through her short auburn hair. “Alright, Arty,” she sighed tiredly. “I’m in.”

[insect0idfreakaz0id]

HI!!!!! THIS IS CENTI!!

I haven't posted anything and probably won't for a while, so why not post an introduction?

IM CENTI (as mentioned above)

I'M TRANSMASC & LIBRAMASC, GAY(OMNI?? I DON'T KNOW!!), AROACE, AND XENOGENDER/NEOPRONOUNS USER. i don't mind explaining any of those if someone is confused. any masculine or neutral neo or noun pronouns are okay !! Call me whatever

I will probably only post OC content!! I don't make much fandom art, and when I do, it's usually not the best!! Sorry if you don't love OC art!! I DO A LOT!!! TEEHEE

I LIKE DIALTOWN, REGRETEVATOR, DSAF, TWF, A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING, SPIDERVERSE, DHMIS, WILL WOOD, SPARKLECARE, RIDE THE CYCLONE, BUGS, ROBLOX, MSM, ANIMATION MEMES, DELTARUNE/UNDERTALE, FNAF, AND THAT OF THE LIKES OF OTHER NORMAL PEOPLE!

I'M OTHERHEARTED (namely centipedes — chinese redheaded & chinese giant tiger leg, jet black variant)

I POST CONTENT WITH BUGS (no shock), BLOOD, OCCASIONLLY GORE & SUGGESTIVE THEMES*...idk if there's like Erm filter or censors here but if not you maybe not want to follow Meee

I LOVE MAD SCIENTIST CHARACTERS LIKE CRAZY!!! IM INSANE!!!!!!! PLEADING INSANITY, I TELL YOU!!

I have an artfol under the same name but with a FUN AND CUTE UNDERSCORE between the D and F ... if anyone has it (I know some of you do)

I HOPE TO MAKE STUFFS SOON BUT I DO HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK THE APP

DNI IS GENERAL CRITERIA METHINKS...MISOGYNISTS, TRANSPHOBES, RACISTS, ABLEIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBES GET OUT!! THAT INCLUDES TERFS & TRANSMEDS AND SIMILAR STUFF! AS WELL AS PROSHIP/COMSHIP/DARKSHIP/ETC...WHATEVER YOU GUYS CALL YOURSELVES NOW, APH FANS, AI "ARTISTS", OR NFT BUYERS/MAKERS, anyone who doesn't tolerate other religions and/or tries to make others join theirs...YOU GET THE IDEA! if you're not sure just ask ...I hope this will not be an issue. also anti-xeno/neo... if you don't understand them or don't want to use them that's fine !! But don't come at my throat for using them, thanks!!! also NSFW only blogs or those people who post NAKED SEX GET AWAY FROM ME!!!! I HATE SEX!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE IT!!!!!

*suggestive themes usually means posts with sexual jokes (though I may post actual suggestive stuff, never NSFW, or at least not for a long good while...? probably won't ever post that)

I figure because I reblog a lot and post so little here I might should make a tag to find all my art with, so # centis art should be able to be searched on my profile 2 show all of it

EDIT: PLEASE VIEW MY CARRD BEFORE FOLLOWING

[lets-go-hurt-someone]

Just sitting here thinking about the StakeBros (as they have been dubbed on Reddit) who come out of the woodwork to tell you they killed Astarion whenever they see any mention of him.

Like it’s wild to me that these boys (it’s always boys) will see people discussing a character and feel the absolute overwhelming need to make sure you know they killed the flamboyant elf. I assume they are afraid not killing the flamboyant elf will make them seem gay? Why else are you feeling some type of way about this, my guy?

Anyway given that Astarion fans tend to be women, and not only that, but also people who identify with him as a sexual assault and abuse survivor — there’s so much irony in dudebros seeing that and thinking “This is about me. This is definitely about me and my need to be very straight, these people (mostly women) are definitely interested in how straight I am in comparison to this pixel man.”

Babes, shut up and listen for five seconds and you might learn something shocking. It’s called self-reflection!! Try it!!!! Astarion actually has this whole character arc related to it if you can just cool your jets and not kill the guy whose face is on the cover of the game you bought…

I know this is a bit “local woman learns gamer guys can be tone deaf idiots, more at 11” but it still amazes me. I am lucky enough to live in a small progressive city and play dnd with chill normal adult men, so sometimes I take a peek out of my box and get scared for y’all.

[slugdragoon]

RPG Role Analysis Series #9 - Paper Mario vol.II

Time to finish out the second half of the party members in Paper Mario 64. Vol.I (Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, Parakarry) here.

Bow - Lady Bow's main attacks are Smack, and at Ultra Rank, Fan Smack, which each do multiple hits. For Smack, each hit deals only 1 damage, so each hit separately gets reduced to 0 against enemies with armour. For Fan Smack, each hit deals 2, so an enemy with 1 armour would cut the damage in half, but she can hurt them with her strongest attack. This makes her not good at all at armour-busting, but she can at least target most enemies. Instead, she gets two other abilities, Outta Sight, which hides Mario and herself for a turn, waiting out incoming powerful attacks, and Spook, which might cause weak enemies to run away. It fits well for a Super Mario Boo, who both scare, and are scared, but Spook is essentially like a luck-based multi-target instant death attack from any RPG, or perhaps a Whirlwind-like attack. Having fewer enemies, without getting experience for defeating them, helps you escape, which fits with Outta Sight as being very rogue-ish, maybe some kind of illusion rogue. Bow's damage isn't reliable in all cases, but she helps hide Mario to help him pace himself and wait out stronger attacks. She also helps sneak by enemies by turning you invisible in the overworld.

Watt - Watt only has one damaging move, her basic attack, Electro Dash, and this one actually has somewhat less power, but bypasses any Defense an enemy has! Power Shock attempts to paralyze one enemy, and later Mega Shock attempts to paralyze them all, stopping them from taking their turn. All of these can hit any kind of enemy. Turbo Charge gives Mario more attack power temporarily, but does not stack. Watt is obviously very focused on stalling enemies, buying Mario more time to do his thing, and has Turbo Charge to help him setup to overcome armour. Watt herself though, can bypass it entirely. She can also help see in dark areas, and reveal hidden things. Given the combination of status infliction and buffing in service of helping Mario land, I almost want to call Watt a kind of bard-like character., or maybe the combination of a blinding-light flavoured paralysis, buffing and illumination of darkness makes her some sort of light cleric.

Sushie - You can swim around on Sushie, so out of combat she's a boat. She can either Belly Flop to target any enemy, but can take relatiatory damage from spikes, or Squirt them with a jet of water to snipe safely. Either way, she can target anyone. Water Block is a ward that increases Mario's defense temporarily, which in this game can nullify the weakest attacks. Attacks that deal 1 now do nothing, and attacks that deal 2 do fully half, giving enemies the same issues that Bow can have. Tidal Wave is just a strong all-target water element attack. Sushie is some kind of warding mage, with a water theme, but can obviously attack, about as good as Bombette, who I called a damage-dealing mage.

Lakilester - Lakilester can float, helping Mario avoid floor hazards in dungeons, like Safe Passage from Dragon Quest, but at will, and for free. His first two battle abilities, Spiny Flip and Spiny Surge, attack one enemy and all enemies, respectively, and can target anything with no risk to Lakilester, but both do less damage than some of the other party member's attacks. Cloud Nine temporarily boosts Mario's evasion, and Hurricane is really just like Bow's Spook and attempts to blow away all enemies. Maybe it's because by the last member, I've seen it all already as was analyzing them, but I really can only compare Lakilester to other party members. He feels like a mix between Lady Bow and Sushie, except with a ward that focuses on evasion instead of defense (both mitigate damage and are very similar), which is also like Lady Bow, except gives Mario a chance to avoid an attack instead of skipping a turn to guarantee it. Besides raw damage output, his attacks are what you want out of only two slots, single and multi-target options without restricting target choice at all. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades, maybe close to a red mage. Two basic, but different kinds of attacks, one buff, one (potential) instant death/escape spell, and hazard-warding/travel utility on the field, everything he does is different from the other.

That's it! That's every party member in Paper Mario 64, and I'm not planning to cover Mario himself because his constant presence in the party and power level is a core game mechanic, and I don't think he fits a class fantasy very specifically. I think I will do a couple of posts about The Thousand Year Door and compare those party members to these, as they fill a lot of the same roles, but with changes. There are also some unique ones I'd like to examine. Probably will take a look at a few other Mario RPGs eventually, likely Super Mario RPG.