#what the fuck does the netherlands have?

[aphemorpha]

one of these days im going to finally hyperfixate on my own culture instead of just looking at other’s with soft eyes.

[renee-mariposa]

So I'm reading Utopia For Realists

This book feels very frustrating to read because he talks about social phenomena, wonders aloud about them, then puts forth his conclusions - and it feels like he's missing a huge piece of the social phenomenon, and as a result, I'm wondering if his conclusion is flawed. And it's infuriating!

Most recent example I've read so far: he talks about the history of the Reduced Hours Work Week (4 day work week, 15-hour work week, etc), noting the rise in popularity of the idea in the twentieth century, then the sudden halt of progress in making the idea reality, noting that women entered the workforce in the 80s (attributing it solely to "the feminist revolution") and workers in the Netherlands ("the nation with the shortest workweek in the world" he claims) being expected to be on-call more and more in the 2000s. He presents these things without any context or commentary, as if they were just an incidental finding in 'our modern life'. Like, 'gosh, everyone wanted a shorter work week but then women entered the workforce and now everyone is just required to work more hours! Crazy stuff, huh?'

Along with this, it really feels like he's looking at populations in a country as one unified whole, wealth-wise. So, for example, he makes claims several times to the tune of, 'the US is several times as wealthy [today, in 2014] as in XYZ time." So he goes on to ask aloud, 'how are Americans so wealthy and yet so overworked and stressed?'

And like. It feels like there's this huge elephant in the room he's missing: why is he not addressing the presence of and effect of stagnant wages and skyrocketing rent/grocery/daycare/medical costs when talking about these social problems he's addressing? Why is he not addressing Regan's empowering of corporations to be as greedy as possible i mean the effect of Trickle Down Economics on the US economy? Why is he not addressing the fact that 1% of Americans hold, what, 99% of the wealth in the USA? Why isn't he addressing the decline of unions? Why does he make it sound like 'the people' loved these ideas then turned away from them, when it was more likely 'the people' have always loved these ideas and it's corporations who hated them and gained enough power to stamp the ideas out? I know that the term 'enshittification' didn't exist when this book was published but I can feel the absence of the idea like a cardboard cutout in almost every argument he makes. Has the US econonomic situation really gotten so much exponentially worse in the last decade that these problems are only clearly visible now vs 2014???? I read his book and all I can think is, the problem is unchecked corporate greed, the problem is corporations being allowed to grind people up for profit, the problem is the government being allowed to treat the poor as less than human because "people can only be poor if they're bad people, and bad people don't deserve any help".

Like. I can accept that I am probably not the target audience for this book. I already believe that laziness does not exist, and if we give people UBI and more leisure time people will be happier, healthier, and more 'productive' (i.e. do the things they actually want to do). I already believe whole-heartedly that to improve the health of the population, poverty must be alleviated, and to alleviate poverty, you just gotta give people enough money to live on with no strings attached. I am convinced that we need to crack down on corporate greed, but I'm absolutely overwhelmed with how much legal power corporations have in the USA. I feel utterly defeated by how my corporate employer treats the entirety of their workforce (cutting the budget at my hospital while the CEO of the head corporation makes 395 times the median wage of non-C-suite employees), how much bitching and moaning and furious lobbying they'd do if they had to comply with a four-day workweek or even a four- or six-hour workday for all employees. And if that got passed into law they'd find a way to make an exemption for nurses, so nurses would have to keep working 12- and 14-hour days. Mega corporations - unchecked corporate greed - monopolies - are a fucking tumor on the human race, but shrinking them would fundamentally alter our economy as we know it.

I guess this book is frustrating to read because it feels like he's trying to convince regular people that these ideas are good. Which is admirable! If I would've read this book in 2014 it would've blown my mind. Convincing people that helping the poor helps everyone is very admirable! And I suppose if enough regular people become convinced of these ideas, then there will be more power on our legislature to actually implement them. It's just frustrating to me that he's utterly ignoring the presence and effect of corporate greed. And he's not necessarily addressing the people who have the power to get the ball rolling on these changes.

[yugocar]

preparing to go to the netherlands by calculating my expanses be like "okay so im gonna save on groceries and eat cheap meals so i can spend 500 milion euros on train travel with which i will see my friends and reach my accomodation"

[yauchfilms]

so american ✢ max verstappen

pairing: max verstappen x singer!reader

warnings: none; just some silly shit, some swearing, google translate dutch, max's home race is belgium and not the netherlands for timeline related reasons

summary: y/n is teasing way too many things at once…..can the fans keep up? 

author's note: this is NOT an original concept i am aware of this. but this hasn’t left my brain in days. i’ve got a very specific vision so let me cook. i know i haven't posted on here in over a year but i've returned an f1 fan. enjoy!

yourname added to their story! 

liked by delwatergap, maxverstappen1, and 3,491,842 others

yourname: i think i'm in love with montreal. sorry i’ve been so off the grid but i am Loving Life so hard. so much inspo in my life rn. will talk soon i promise. love u all bunches 🫶🏼🌷

ynsbestfriend: hey queen you have done it again!

-> yourname: ugh i love you so bad

user1: UM BAE WHOS THAT IN THE LAST SLIDE?

-> yourname: beats me! 

-> user1: i do not trust you. 

lilymhe: hiiiii pretty girl

-> yourname: stop im blushinggggg

user2: i fear she’s in her lover girl era 

-> user3: girl help im so fucking scared right now what’s happening

user4: so does any of this have to do with your story from yesterday??????

*liked by yourname.*

maxverstappen1 added to their story! 

yourname added to their story! 

liked by honeymoon, danielricciardo, and 3,572,679 others

yourname: life's been a beach lately. clearly i've been loathing my time in spain ://///

user5: IS THAT MAX

-> user6: no bc it HAS to be

heidiberger_: Loved spending the week with you! 🤍

-> yourname: same!!!!!! let's do it again sometime 🥰

-> user6: NOT DANNY RIC'S GF COMMENTING?????? AND LILY MUNI HE ON HER LAST POST???????

user6: no bc even if her and max were dating and she's been traveling with him why have we not seen her in the paddock

-> user7: to throw us off our rhythm????

-> user8: what if they debut at his home race in spa ijbol

liked by landonorris, taylorswift, and 4,683,892 others.

tagged: maxverstappen1, redbullracing, and ynsbestfriend

yourname: hahaha felt like dropping 2 things at once on u guys LOLLLLLLLL. thank u to redbullracing, spagrandprix, and the city of spa for letting me and my friends crash the race the other week to film the “so american” music video, and to maxie for winning in ur home country. it was so fucking special to be there supporting u. i love u baby!

ps. another thank u to max for thinking i'm the funniest person in the world and making fun of my americanness for as long as i've known him (which is quite a while).

enjoy this tune guys. it's urs forever and i hope u love it as much as i love the person it's about 🫶🏼 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 TU DU DU DU!!!!!

user9: OH NMY GOD I FUCKING KNEW I SAW U IN THE GARAGE

ynsbestfriend: thanks for letting me third wheel mommy

-> yourname: no one else i'd rather drag along!!!

danielricciardo: Welcome to the family! Song's a banger although I can't believe it's actually about Max of all people 🤢 GROSS!!

-> yourname: jealousy is a disease danny.

user10: i actually cannot fathom this this is so me core

alexandramalsaintmleux: I am so glad to know you! Your happiness is everything 🩷

liked by sabrinacarpenter, carlossainz55, and 4,783,522 others. 

tagged: yourname and ynsfriend

maxverstappen1: Spent a week away in New England with my talented, gorgeous girl. Loved getting away and experiencing America through her eyes! Consider me an honorary American now! Also, stream “So American” wherever you choose. It's about me 😉 

yourname: does this mean i can stop hiding in the garage now???

landonorris: Happy for you mate! Love the song as well yourname 🤍

-> yourname: awe thank u lando 🥺 i got more to show u when i see u next!!!!!!

redbullracing: ❤️💙

user11: MAX IS IN HIS LOVER BOY ERA

danielricciardo: How many more times can you say American?

liked by charles_leclerc, chappellroan, and 3,694,849 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

yourname: nothing like celebrating the best 2 weeks of my life than showing my boy around ye olde stomping grounds #soamerican

liamlawson30: This is so American of him

-> yourname: like he fits in so well!

lydianight: u'll have him in the american flag board shorts in no time

-> yourname: baby steps :///

user11: she really is in her lover girl era 🥺

clairo: did you take him to the chipotle that is also a historic landmark downtown??

-> yourname: dude of COURSE i did. he said it was "interesting"

yourname added to their story! 

[landograndprix]

everybody talks ✾ m.v

summary – in which max's teammate & girlfriend isn't as loved as she should be.

a/n – requests are open, also don't know what this is but felt max was the perfect guy for this 😭 had to channel my fuck red bull & fuck max persona for this, warning a lot of sour men in here 😂

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername

Barcelona, Spain

liked by maxverstappen1, landonorris and 218,761 others

y/nusername barcelona'23 ☀

tagged: maxverstappen1

view all 376 comments

victoriaverstappen have fun you two ❤️

y/nusername ❤️❤️

y/nnmax99 my favorite couple 🥰

jamesxvier I was today years old when I found out these two are dating

charloss1655 have been dating for a while now actually Don't blame you though, they don't post a lot about it.

verstappenmaxie ...because of the shit they both get for it, I would keep my relationship private too

mercgirl how much does red bull pay you to be his girlfriend? 🤡

y/nusername a wdc, don't tell him though.

landonorris can i get the same when I go out with Max?

y/nusername I'll ask..hang on

hannahhh having my fingers crossed for a good weekend for both of you!

☆☆☆☆☆

☆☆☆☆☆

redbullracing

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

liked by yourbestfrienduser, victoriaverstappen and 115,762 others

redbullracing another phenomenal race for our favorite paddock princess, p1! 🏆

#F1 #RedBullRacing #BarcelonaGP

view all 426 comments

zhoueey let's goooo women for the win 🏆🏆🏆

maxverstappen1 the best there is!

redbullracing she sure is 👏

cal092 🤮 🤮

sarahh1 @/cal092 you're a grown man, are you not embarrassed.. 🤮

timothytim sad we didn't get a 1-2 for redbull but we'll keep fighting!

teamy/n that's our girl 🥰

y/nusername just me and my lil' illegal car 🥰

maxmaxverstap in your little illegal rocketship 😭

chilisainz not a red bull fan but would die for this woman :')

frank1971 disgusting, women don't belong in f1.

y/nusername sorry you feel this way frank, however your opinion doesn't make me want to switch carreers. Hope you sleep well tonight, i certainly will. 😊

landoscar 💀 💀

bott-ass lmao that's some queen shit

tifosi200 I hate redbull. 🤮

yourbestfrienduser you're aware you're on the redbull page? You follow them, you stalking them despite it all?

1990m your ferrari ain't doing so good stfu

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername posted on their story

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername

Zandvoort, The Netherlands

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbestfrienduser and 198,002 others

y/nusername zandvoort'23 🇳🇱

tagged: maxverstappen1

view all 291 comments

yourbestfrienduser okay..where was my invite?

supermax33 hoping for a great weekend for both of you!

norrlan loving all this max content you've been putting out, love you two together 🥰

zaza29 heard you were sick, please tell me you're well enough to be on the grid this weekend 🥺

char_lec let's hope not lol let others have a chance..hope she'll be sick for a couple of weeks

zaza29 wtf? hoping people stay sick? 🥴

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername

CM.com Circuit Zandvoort

liked by redbullracing, yourbestfrienduser and 236,542 others

y/nusername p2 this weekend wasn't something I was expecting this weekend since I wasn't feeling 100%. A big shout out to my doctor for fixing me up the best he could and a big shout out to the team for guiding me through the struggles that I experienced today!

tagged: redbullracing, maxverstappen1

view all 361 comments

maddieb sis struggled to breathe over the radio, looked like a hot mess when she got out of that car, looked like she was about to empty her stomach and was visible shaking and still managed to get p2..and y'all still want to tell me she ain't got no skill 💀

maxverstappen1 proud of you ❤️

y/nusername ❤️❤️

carlitosainz stop making me like you dude omg 😭

redbullracing beast mode was on! 👏

lucie2000 I'm not a fan of max but the way he waited for y/n to drive into the pits with a big fat smile on his face was adorable

norrisoscar enemies to lovers always hit different 😂

lucie2000 true true 😂

danielricciardo you might be good at this.

y/nusername yeah, you think I can make a carreer out of this?

danielricciardo with a bit of training? Absolutely.

Tiffie2 pregnant maybe, does look like you gained some weight?

charlus16 wtf is this question, what's wrong with people?

y/nusername it's called bloating tiff, something that happens to a female body when they're ovulating. I thought a woman your age would've known this by now.

bott-ass and I oooop– 💀

supermaxmax @/maxverstappen1 if you don't marry her, I will 😭

yourbestfrienduser another 1-2 with your man 🥰

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername posted on their story

☆☆☆☆☆

y/nusername

liked by danielricciardo, maxverstappen1 and 278,761 others

y/nusername december'19 – december'23, four years of us. Hoping I can be your pain in the ass for for many more years and may I be able to stop myself from driving you off the track when you once again 'forget' to do the dishes. love you lot, hou van jou ♥︎

tagged: maxverstappen1

view all 401 comments

maxverstappen1 love you lots and hou van jou ❤️

maxiel333 congrats you guys 🥰

dannyricric the cutest couple for sure

danielricciardo ❤️

lunaferrari 4 years already?! 🤯 happy 4 years!

norrizz4 happy 4 years you guys 💞💞

posiexo power couple for real

bennyd14 man bagged his 3rd wdc, drives for the best team AND bagged the prettiest woman of them all. He won for life.

yourbestfrienduser and now get married..

charlie16cl honestly, what's this man waiting for? 😂

bott-ass @/maxverstappen1 you better before I do

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for entertaining a friendship with a child?

okay so this might be a weird one or even a controversial one i honestly have zero clue how other people will receive this, apologies in advance if i ramble!

to begin, i (23ftm) and this kid (15f) first met about a year ago. one of my best friends (23m) is a pretty big model and tiktoker and she was a fan of his, and she was pretty recognized online for making cool edits and stuff of him and coming to meetups etcetera, so he knew of her from there, and over time with always seeing each other at meet ups and her being in his discord server (where i mod) she kind of became pretty well known to us.

an important thing to note is that she's SUPER neurodivergent and she's had a really tough life. she lost her older brother a few years back and she's (i'm not sure of the correct way to put it, her family is originally from the netherlands and their english is kind of in the works so this is how they put it) developmentally behind a few years - her parents describe this as her being "mentally more 13 than 15" but her behaviour to me is even younger than that. she's very very innocent and trusting, very overemotional and sensitive to criticism etc, loves stuffed animals and pink and cartoons and all of that. she's told me she feels like a little kid sometimes and will talk/act like one so maybe there's an element of trauma-rooted age regression there, i'm not super sure - i'm not gonna get into detail but she's talked to me about her life a lot and she's had some pretty fucked up shit happen to her.

from the beginning she pretty much imprinted on me - she's told me before i remind her of the big brother she lost, and ever since then she's called me her "big brother" and "family" etc. at first i was more just playing along with it to make her happy but over time she really has become something like a little sister to me, i feel super protective of her. i want to become a teacher after college (not to mention eventually a parent with my fiancee) so i think at least part of it is that taking a kid 'under my wing' so to speak is giving me experience with it all. i've always been kinda paternal/protective over kids in general but i was the youngest sibling in my family so i never really had anyone to utilise that on before

she does rely super heavily on me emotionally, especially because after i found out she was being bullied pretty badly at school i started dropping by to keep her company during breaks/lunch and making sure shit was okay (which her still-living brother used to do, but he's a famous?? - unsure How famous, i don't know sports at all - footballer/soccer player who's often in another country and can't see her often anymore), and i've been working with her to curb that. i'm actually currently working with her parents to find her a good therapist and support system. she's no longer in the tiktok friend's discord just because it was getting a little all-consuming for her and we encouraged her to take a break, but she's done a TON of work on herself and maturing since then and she does plan to rejoin at some point soon.

however, i find it really really hard to gauge whether being so close with a child is... like normal? or not. i honestly can't tell if it's kind of the internet caution about adults talking to minors kind of warping my brain and making me overly wary of what people will think or if i'm doing something wrong or if it's genuinely like a weird situation, so i guess i'm looking for outside perspectives.

the things that make me question it is that like i said she's very 'mentally young', she's very sheltered, and there definitely seems to be an element of her kind of replacing the older brother figure she lost with me. on top of that, we met through her being a fan of my friend, and though she's now separate from that i worry there could still be an element of power there because i'm close with the guy she calls her idol. her family knows me and seem totally chill with everything, but they've told me she tells people at her school that i'm literally her brother and basically 100% talks about me as if i'm her biological family, which i find super sweet but at the same time wonder if it's healthy.

she obviously needs therapy and hopefully soon we can get her it, but: AITA for entertaining a sort of found family dynamic / friendship at all with someone very vulnerable and young or is this genuinely helpful for her?

What are these acronyms?

[demilypyro]

Okay since this doesn't seem to want to go away here's me addressing every single "allegation" that I've heard about. I hope to have at least given a good explanation where the horrible things being said about me came from, and why I consider them either just totally not true or badly misconstrued. Some of my friends have recommended I don't say anything at all, but I've always preferred openness and honesty, so I hope that's appreciated.

I understand that some people will still dislike me even though the things being said about me are not true. That's fine. I don't need everyone to like me, but it's when I'm being consistently harassed and lied about that it interferes with my mental health and ability to work. So I'm gonna try and end things with this.

"She's racist"

From what I can tell this is about one time when I said I keep my interest in anime to myself around new people. I do this because showing you're a Huge Fucking Nerd right off the bat can make a bad impression. I could have said the same thing about Star Trek or comic books, I just happened to be talking about anime in that moment. Someone seems to have misconstrued this as me finding Japanese culture something shameful and lesser than other cultures?... Which I would call a total willful misinterpretation. The rest of this seems to stem just from being Dutch, because the Netherlands is a country that has a problem with xenophobia. This is true, but uhhh I'm mixed myself so I'm pretty well aware of that, and I obviously don't support our infamous "blackface holiday." Just because I live here doesn't mean I agree with everything this country does, be that historically or in the modern day.

"She's friends with racists/misogynists/transphobes"

The only thing I can guess this is about is when I was mutuals with a user called porko-rosso at least 5 years ago and didn't really believe it when people told me they were a bigot. I haven't interacted with this user in over 4 years but people still claim we're like best friends, which was never true in the first place, we just knew a lot of the same people. Most of the resentment from the people who repeatedly spread these rumours about me seems to have started here. So for the record: no, I am not friends with any racists, misogynists or transphobes.

"She thinks she's better than other trans women because she passes better"

This is just not true. This idea seems to pop up just whenever I post about enjoying the benefits of HRT or surgery, but most recently this was misconstrued from a post where I said being trans is about being yourself as much as possible. Since this was in response to someone saying that me trying to pass is "erasing my identity", people thought I meant trying to pass is the same as being good at being trans, which was not what I meant, but some people didn't seem to want to believe me when I clarified. My apologies for the misunderstanding I guess, but that's all it was. So no, I do not hate people who don't pass as well as I do, nor do I think all trans people should be transitioning medically, and I resent the implication.

"She has a secret discord server where she makes fun of pictures of other trans women and calls them slurs"

I had absolutely no clue what this was about when I first heard it. I was sent screenshots that supposedly prove this but all they show is me being rude about someone's appearance one time in january of 2022. I actually thought these were faked because I don't remember this happening and the things said confused me, but one of my friends says she found it was in her server, where she had showed a picture of someone and asked everyone present (mostly other trans women) if they were hot. Apparently I did not think they were hot. So yes, I did insult someone's appearance back in january 2022, but it was an isolated incident. Frankly even I find my remarks in these screenshots distasteful, I don't know what I was on when I wrote that stuff. I'm sorry to that person specifically. What I said has weighed heavily on me and I apologize for it. It's not something I approve of, and don't intend to repeat that mistake. Still, to say it means I hate trans women and I love to make fun of them in my secret discord server and call them slurs is just... a super-villain level of exaggeration. I didn't even know about the word that was named as an example. It's not true.

"She's often rude"

I can't deny this one. Autism gonna autism. I've seen many therapists, doctors, experts, what have you, to try and help me with this, but it seems my particular brand of autistic in combination with the cultural differences between mine and other countries just really often ends with my foot in my mouth when I speak English. I apologize! I have never meant to personally offend anyone. It just keeps happening and I can't stop it from happening.

If after reading all this, you still consider me bad enough to hate my guts, I can't stop you, but I wanted to have at least had my say. I swear that everything in this post is the honest truth as I understand it, and that I've never acted with purposeful malicious intent.

[clxja16]

Enough

Part IV

Charles Leclerc X Wolff!Reader

Genre: Toto Wolff's Daughter Au!

Warnings: swearing, mentions of cheating

Word Count: 3.5K+

Author's Note: AHHHHH I think I'm done. well idk, if you guys want more, I could probably write one more. However I don't think anything will top the scene after Charles DNF in the Netherlands. I could literally talk about that scene for hours on end. I need to know what you guys think of that scene, because it's probably some of my best work ever. I hope you guys enjoy though. A lot of time and dedication went into this fic. Also this is in no way a reflection of these people in real life. This is not based on real life events. Nothing in this story is fact. This is a work of fiction, purely for entertainment purposes.

Part I, Part II, Part III

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

“I cannot believe you,” Susie says after she hears the front door slam shut from you walking out.  She slightly shakes her head, as she looks to the gods, praying for strength.  The strength to not kill Toto at this moment.  

“Me? You can’t believe me? I cannot believe our daughter, does she even think about how the rushed marriage will look to the public?”  

“Toto,” Susie sighs, “you’ve gone too far.”  She doesn’t know how she can get him to understand that you’re not a little girl anymore.  “She’s chosen Charles, and you have to accept that already.” 

“But she could do so much better…” 

“She doesn’t want better,” Susie raises her voice in disbelief.  “Toto, she doesn’t want anyone else, she wants Charles.  That’s it, that’s the end of the discussion.”  Susie doesn’t know what more to say on the matter.  

“He’s going to hurt her…” 

“Toto, that is enough, just because you had an affair that ended your marriage, does not mean Charles is going to do the same!  Why can’t you see that?”  Susie doesn’t like that she brought up Toto’s affair but it must be said.  “Pack your stuff, you’re leaving for the Netherlands first thing in the morning.”  

“I don’t have to be there for a few more days…” 

“Well, then fucking go to the factory Toto!” Susie can’t handle it anymore, as she stands from the table, “I don’t want to see you, until you apologize to our daughter.  Hopefully before her wedding, so help me God.” 

-

Charles had left, around the same time that you had earlier that night to attend a work dinner.  He returned home after you and when he did, he found you on the bedroom floor surrounded by all the legal paperwork for the wedding.  He could see your eyes were red from crying, and he knew that it wasn’t from happy tears.  You were holding a white out pen and the paperwork to change your name stood out among the bunch.  

“Ma cherie…” 

“Hi,” you greet Charles with a weak tone, you couldn’t even look at him properly. 

“What happened?”  Charles moves the papers out of the way to take a seat next to, pulling your face to look at him.  He can see more tears roll down your cheeks.  

“Daddy asked if I was pregnant…” 

Charles' brows are furrowed together at your statement, “Why would he think that?” 

“Because…” you smile a sarcastic smile, “the only people who get married this fast are people who are knocked up.”  You cry, and laugh at the same time as you recall the evening to Charles.  You take a moment before you pull away from Charles, wiping away your tears.  “I don’t want anything more to do with my father.”  You grab the paper for the name change off the floor, and prepare the white out pen.  

Charles places his hand on yours stopping you from continuing, “maybe you should wait.”  Charles’ watches you carefully, he doesn’t want to say the wrong word, “just sleep on it for now.” 

You look up at Charles, and you can see his worry for you.  He doesn’t want you to make any decisions that you will regret later on.  You stare back at the name you have written across the paper, Wolff-Leclerc.  

-

The next morning you and Charles set out to drive to the Netherlands.  The drive surprisingly doesn’t take as long as you anticipate, time travels fast with Charles.  However when you do arrive at the hotel, you realize how much the drive took out of you.  The two of you pass out, practically right away, and you don’t wake up until the next morning.  By that time, you guys have to be at the paddock.  

You make it a point to showcase that you and Charles are together.  You arrive at the paddock with Charles, dressed in Ferrari red.  Part of you does this to spite your father, the other part of you does this because you want Charles to know you pick him over everything else.  While Charles is in the driver’s briefing with the FIA, you make a stop at the Mercedes motorhome.  

The motorhome is mostly empty, the majority of the team being in the garage at this moment.  However you knew your father would be in his office right now.  He scheduled all his online meetings with the factory at this time, because the motorhome was quiet.  When you make it to his door, you don’t hesitate to knock.  

“Come in,” he says, right away.  You walk in and hand him the letter in your hand.  You don’t say a word to him, you’re trying to make this as clean cut as possible.  He takes the letter from you, “what is this?” He asks as he begins to open it up. 

“My resignation letter, effective immediately.” 

“You’re resigning, what are you planning on doing with your life?” 

“I’m going to let Charles take care of me,” you lied to your father.  You tell him this, purely out of spite.  He always raised you to be able to take care of yourself.  His biggest thing was he never wanted you to rely on someone else.  So you tell him this, just so he can suffer.  You don’t stay to see his reaction, or hear anything more he has to say.  You eventually go on to spend the rest of the weekend avoiding him.  

-

You spend Sunday watching the race in the Ferrari garage.  The beginning of the race was chaotic to say the least.  You knew Charles was making his own calls, when the pit crew is yelling at each other, and no one seems to know what is going on.  You see Fred look at you, like you have an idea of what’s going on.  You’re too amazed that Fred can see this far back into the Ferrari garage, to even give a reaction to his stare.  

As you continue to watch the race, you know Mercedes messed up the strategy.  Especially when George had a good qualifying.  Then you noticed that Charles couldn’t keep up with the Haas, and you concluded that there must be a problem with his car.  When Ferrari does decide to retire him, you see him come out of his car.  You can tell by the look on his face that he’s not happy in the slightest.  He ignores you as he makes his weigh-in and goes straight to the media pen.  You look at Andrea, and you see him shake his head. 

You head to Charles' driver's room, knowing he would go straight there after the media pen.  It doesn’t take much longer, as you hear Charles’ heavy footsteps.  When he enters the room, he doesn’t say anything.  He shuts the door, and takes a deep breath.  Then he launches the water bottle he was holding across the room, the cap comes loose as it hits the wall, water splattering everywhere. 

He takes another deep breath, before saying, “sorry.”  Charles runs his hands over his face, he paces the room as he talks, “I know I fucked up the pit-stop, I didn’t give them enough time to grab the tires, before I came in.”  He doesn’t look at you as he talks, “that was my fault, I know that, but for fuck’s sake, they left me out there to get overtaken by Hulkenburg in a fucking Haas.”  Charles sighs, his shoulders drop, he doesn’t look like himself. He takes a heavy breath, now looking at you and he says, “I’m tired y/n.” Charles sits on the floor, instead of on the bench next to you.  He sits by your feet, leaning against your legs, resting his head in your lap.  He reaches up to hold your hand, and he repeats, “I’m tired.”  His head feels heavy in your lap, you place your hand on his head, playing with the ends of his hair, while your other hand continues to hold his. He looks straight on at the wall.  

“Just rest Charles,” you say, you’re not sure how you can comfort him at this moment.  “You can rest now.”

“Can I really?” He asks, as he looks up at you.  You can see how the season has weighed him down.  You slowly nod your head at him, and he closes his eyes.  You know that he doesn’t actually fall asleep, but the two of you stay like that for the rest of the race. You stay right there, in that same position, for Charles, for until he’s ready to move. 

When the race ends, Charles finally moves, he changes out of his race suit. He heard Pierre got promoted to P3, and insisted on staying to see the podium.  You see him put on a smile for his best friend.  You watch them make plans to celebrate Pierre’s podium after Monza, during the weekend they have off.  You watch Charles pretend he isn’t tired for his friend’s sake.  And you feel your love for him grow.   You love that he can be vulnerable with you, and you love that he will always be proud of those he loves accomplishments.  

-

As soon as the Dutch grand prix was over, you and Charles hopped on a flight to Milan.  The Italian grand prix was a home grand prix for Ferrari, so there were events all week long.  Charles’ schedule was packed through and through.  You don’t bother him with the wedding stuff, you allow him to focus on Ferrari this week.  

Susie comes out to Monza, and she helps you plan for the wedding.  Although it’s a small event, she insists on getting you a dress, maybe not your dream dress, but a nice dress nonetheless.  Charles is at the Ferrari Ray-ban event, while you and Susie are going through Milan, looking at several dress shops.  

You are in one particular shop, trying to pull a few dresses to try on, when you look at Susie and say, “thank you coming Mamma.” 

Susie can see as tears line your eyes, she knows that you and your father being at a cross like this hurts you.  “Of course sweetheart, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” 

“I wish Daddy felt the same,” you say somberly, “has he said anything to you after that night.” 

Susie turns to look back at the dresses, “I-”  She pauses for a second, “I haven’t seen your father since that night.” 

“What do you mean, you haven’t seen daddy since that night?” 

Susie sighs, “I told him that I didn’t want to see him until he apologized to you, so I haven’t see him.”  

You can’t help but let out a cackle of a laugh.  You slap your hand over your mouth, catching yourself, as Susie looks at you wide-eyed.  “I’m sorry,” you say, as you begin to giggle some more, “I’m sorry, but that-”  You can’t contain your laughter at this point.  You know part of you is laughing to stop yourself from crying, but it feels so good to laugh.  And oh do you laugh, “that is too funny, you kicked daddy out of the house?” 

“Well,” Susie can’t help but to laugh at your reaction, “I had to sweetheart.”  She looks at you fondly, pushing your hair behind your ear, and you stop laughing.  “You didn’t deserve that from him,” she says seriously.  

You feel a few tears fall, “thank you Mamma.”  

Susie shakes her head, “now enough talk of your father, let’s focus on you sweetheart.”  She smiles at you, and you nod your head.  You try to push all thoughts of your father from your mind, focusing on the task at hand.  You and Susie spend the rest of the day shopping.  

-

Being in Italy does good for Charles, you can see it clearly on Saturday.  He qualifies in P3, but it makes him happy.  The fans make him happy.  And even though he didn’t really rest, he isn’t tired.  You watch him fondly from the Ferrari garage as he does the post qualifying interviews.  After he wraps up on Saturday, the two of you are walking back to his car to head back to the hotel.  You can feel the bounce in his step, how light he feels. 

“I love you,” you say, as you look at Charles, as the two of you walk. He stops, and looks at you.  His eyes full of love, as he displays a fond smile.  You take all of him in at this moment.  You can’t help yourself from falling deeper in love with him.  You’ll never love someone like you love him.  

“I love you too,” he says.  To anyone else it’s the same ‘I love you’s you said to each other over and over again, but to you, it’s so much more.   

-

It was another Sunday, another Grand Prix, and your second time watching from the Ferrari garage.  Although there is nothing technically different from the Mercedes garage, it all felt different.  Being at Mercedes it felt like a business, it felt like work. Mercedes was cold, it was calm, it was like a normal nine to five workplace.  While being at Ferrari it feels like passion.  You feel the desperation to be great like they once were.  You understand why Charles remains so loyal.  Being there, in the garage it makes you cheer for Ferrari.  You see them trying, you feel their need to win, and you want them to be great.  It only took two races, but you’re definitely a Ferrari fan.  

As you watched the race, you felt yourself constantly holding your breath.  Carlos was brilliant defending against Max, Checo and even Charles.  He drove to the absolute limit and you were amazed that he held onto the lead for as long as he did.  Charles drove the wheels off his car.  Going for ridiculous moves, and pushing it to the absolute limit every chance he got.  Although you must say, you felt like you were going to have a heart attack watching the last five laps.  Yet, when you saw the smile on Charles’ face after  the race, you think your almost heart attack was worth it.  

Watching them race makes you miss it even more.  Watching them push the car to the limit, to the extreme and hold it all together to bring it home, makes you itch to have that feeling under you.  When Charles makes his way back into the garage, after all of his requirements, he doesn’t waste any time in finding you.  He pulls and holds you close.  You let him, sweaty and all.  You can’t help but to just smile stupidly at him.  Seeing him this happy, makes you happy.  

“I know,” he smiles and drops his head bashfully, “I shouldn’t be this happy about P4, but I had fun.”

“I think you should be proud,” you say, making him look at you, “proud that you gave it your all, and you could give it your all.” 

Charles doesn’t need to say another word, as he pulls you in for a kiss.  

Toto was trying to meet Fred to discuss some things, when he sees yours and Charles' interaction within the Ferrari garage.  He witnesses the private moment, away from the crowds, from the cameras, from everyone else.  He sees you being deeply in love with Charles.  Toto has been watching you all weekend long, and last weekend too.  He knows now how much you love Charles.  He sees it now.  Toto can finally see what everyone else saw.  

“Charles,” Fred calls from across the garage, as he beckons for Charles.  You let him go, as he catches up with Fred.  At this time you notice your father standing there watching you.  

“Darling,” Toto calls out to you, as he steps closer.  

“Hi,” you say. 

Toto doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t know how to make this better, how to fix this.  He knows he messed this all up.  He knows it’s his fault.  He just doesn’t know where to start, when really there’s only one place to start. “I’m sorry.”  

You’re taken aback by your father’s apology.  You never expected him to actually apologize.  You thought that eventually you’d feel guilty enough to make up with your father.  

“I’m sorry, y/n.”  Toto repeats again, “I should have never suggested you were pregnant and that’s why you guys were getting married.  I know now that you really love this boy, and that he really loves you.”  

You smile, as you feel a few tears line your eyes.  This time you are certain they’re happy tears.  “Thank you daddy,” you say, as you hug your father.  And just like all the times when you were a little girl, your father has made all your problems go away.  

“Now,” Toto starts off, and he pulls back from you, “may I please come to your wedding, if it is still this Tuesday?” 

“I hope you do come,” you say genuinely.  

Just outside of the Ferrari garage, Charles and Fred watch you and Toto.  Fred shakes his head at your father for being so stubborn.  While Charles just smiles fondly, because now he sees you genuinely happy. 

-

After all the festivities, you remembered the news that you had to tell Charles.  Charles had just walked out of the bathroom, freshly out of the shower.  Towel in his hand drying his hair.  He sits on the edge of the bed, while you come up behind him, wrapping your arms around him.  Pressing your cheek against his shoulder blade.  

“I have something to tell you,” you say softly to Charles. 

“What is ma cherie?” Although you don’t see it, you can hear him smiling.  

“I got a call from Zac Brown,” you say.  Charles doesn’t need to hear more as he turns around to look at you excitedly.  “Apparently, someone has been constantly raving about me to his drivers,” you say knowing exactly who has been raving about you to Lando and Oscar.  “And his drivers keep telling him about it.”  You laugh as you see how excited Charles is to hear your news.  “Zac asked if I wouldn’t mind doing some simulator for Mclaren.” 

“Oh this is great news,” Charles says as he pulls you into a kiss.  

“I know it’s not really back to racing…” 

“But it’s a start.” 

“Yeah,” you smile, “It’s a start.” 

“I’m so happy for you,” Charles says, as he kisses you again.  You wrap your arms around his neck pulling him down.  Charles falls against you, planting more kisses over your face. 

“Thank you Charles.” 

Charles pulls away to look at you, “no need to thank me, I love to brag about my fiancée.” 

-

Today was finally the day.  Although it wasn’t a big or traditional wedding, there were certain things that your parents and Charles’ mom insisted you guys do.  Like how it was bad luck to see each other before the actual wedding.  So you were getting ready in your hotel room, while Charles and his brothers all got ready in another room.  

You tried to tell your parents that this wasn’t going to be a big event, that you would make it up to them and plan an actual wedding, however that all fell on deaf ears.  They fussed and doted on you all morning before going to the courthouse.  You look into the vanity mirror and behind you, you can see Susie and Toto.  In between fussing over you, they make up.  Your father apologizes and he makes amends.  Your mamma forgives and she loves continually.  The pieces of your family begin to slide back into place.  

As you make your way to the courthouse, Toto insists on walking you in.  You smile, allowing your father.  You wrap your arm around his, in front of you is Susie and Jack walks in first.  Just behind the door, there stands Charles.  His brothers by his side, all dressed in matching casual suits.  His mother stands just off to the side of them. You don’t know why but the sight has tears falling from your eyes, happy tears.  

“Ma cherie,” Charles exclaims as he sees you crying.  He comes up to you wiping away your tears with a smile, “no more crying already.” 

You giggle, you know a lot of tears have been shed these past few weeks.  “It’s happy tears, I promise.”  

Charles smiles at you.  At this moment, Toto unwraps your arm from his, and gives your hand to Charles.  He takes your hand, and both you and him look at Toto.  You know what this moment signifies, nothing more needs to be said.  

One thing about courthouse weddings, they are very efficient.  The officiant says what he needs to, you and Charles both say your ‘I do’s, kiss, and they announce you married.  “I now present the two of you married, as Mr. and Mrs. Leclerc.”  The officiant looks back down at his paper, “or I should say Mr. Leclerc and Mrs. Wolff-Leclerc.”  Your family and Charles’ family cheers at the announcement.  

-

While you and Charles took pictures down by the lake, your families watched on.  During the picture of you with your parents, did Toto whisper to you, “thank you.”  

“For what daddy?” you question, looking up at your father innocently.   

“For being proud to be a Wolff.” 

“I am your daughter,” you say, as you look back at the camera and smile.

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

taglist: @christianpulisic10 @lunnnix @honeybunchiesofoats @catswag22 @lazybot @coffeewhore18 @siovhanroy @peachiicherries @pizzalover57 @livingnotthriving@noodleboyluke@mirrorball-6@elijahslover @luciaexcorvus@styles-sunflower @nosebeers @topguncultleader @janeholt3 @perfectmilkshakeruins @coffeewhore18 @ivegotparticulartaste

[reasonsforhope]

Is it true some parts will be under water in 2025? I'm kinda of worried cause someone told me about it bc it was on the news

Eh, not really. Like, technically, but that's a very dramatic way to put it.

What that person told you about was probably this prediction, which says that some roads on some of the Florida Keys might be underwater by 2025.

Does that suck? Yes. But it's also pretty limited in scope.

(And by the way, that's probably not "underwater all the time." There will probably be a number of years of "the roads will be underwater at high tide specifically." I can't currently find a source on this, but that's how tides work, and the Florida Keys article does specifically mention them as a main problem.)

The areas in danger first are pretty universally small, very low islands. Actually, a dozen or so small islands have already gone underwater in the Pacific Ocean, but very importantly, none of those islands were inhabited.

They were mostly small reef islands (that is, the entire island is exposed coral reef detritus) and other uninhabited shoals. Mostly, they were so small scientists had to check old satellite images to even figure out that they disappeared. Literally, we're talking about chunks of land that are just 100 square meters/300 square feet. Again, not great, but still very limited in scope.

As this Live Science article thankfully explains, it's pretty unlikely that any countries at all will disappear before 2100.

Also, just because land is below sea level doesn't mean it will be underwater, and there are very real steps we can take to defend a lot of endangered cities/islands.

For example:

Much of the Netherlands is already below sea level, but the country isn't disappearing, because the Dutch have put a lot of work into building and maintaining coastal defenses.

Multiple surveys (including the one that found the missing islands in Micronesia) also found that not all low-lying islands are vulnerable to erosion and flooding. This is because many islands are protected by mangrove forests, lagoons, or both

Mangrove reforestation in particular is genuinely a super effective anti-flooding strategy that is being deployed pretty widely, and is expected to increase a lot in the coming years. Mangroves are effective at not only preventing short-term flooding, but also mitigating sea-level increases (in part by preventing erosion)

Some islands, esp Pacific Islands, have actually grown during the past couple decades, not shrunk. It really depends on what the island is made up of. Not all land is automatically doomed

You can read more about how sinking countries are fighting back here, and the lessons we can learn from them:

-via Time, June 13, 2019

And finally, and this is good news for reasons I'll explain in a second:

Some of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world are at the top of the danger list. (Note: the predictions at that link are based on some fairly severe warming predictions. They do NOT necessarily reflect what's going to happen or when.)

The cities that are going to be in danger the soonest (still away btw) include New York, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Dubai. Lots of very rich people in those cities! Who would really like to not have to move (any of their ten different homes lol)

So, flooding aside, we're going to (by necessity) get a lot better at figuring out the quickest, cheapest, most scalable, and most effective types of coastal defenses real fast.

Are rich countries going to be way more able to get strong coastal defense systems up quickly? Yes. Does that suck? Sure fucking does!! But these solutions don't all require a lot of money or tech to implement, even at a large scale, especially when it's local communities driving the effort.

And, importantly, when rich countries pour a ton of money into figuring this out, that will hugely expand our understanding of what techniques work best, why, and how best to deploy them in different situations. Unlike physical structures, that's valuable knowledge that can be shared very, very widely.

And any technology that comes out of this is going to work like solar panels and other green energy: as more people use it, it will get cheaper and cheaper. Probably really quickly.

So, all told, no one's going to be swallowed up in the next few years. We have time to work on this and a lot of people are already doing so.

Mostly, experts predict that the first wave of large-scale issues will be happening around 2050.

Three decades doesn't sound like enough time, in the face of something like this. But you know what? Responses to climate change are speeding up exponentially, and different types of responses are multiplying and magnifying each other.

We went from inventing flight to landing on the moon in just 66 years.

I wouldn't count us out of the climate change fight yet.

(...I wouldn't count on retiring to Florida either, though)

[maxybabyy]

cross-posted on ao3

Lando is asleep on the couch when he comes in.

His jeans have been kicked to the floor, soaked where a bottle of apple sourz must have tipped over. He looks fine if a little sweaty, hair flat from the pillow but not worse for wear than when Daniel left. Had a night in then, he thinks and pulls the blanket over him.

He heads to the bathroom, breath still rank from the bar.

Lando had wanted to come and almost threw a fucking tantrum when Daniel had told him no. Lando may be allowed in bars now – a proper adult, their father would say –  but that doesn’t mean Daniel is any more inclined to watch him and his friends get sloshed off mixers and shots.

Daniel almost doesn’t notice him as he walks in, head in his phone when he goes to take a piss. Scotty’s trying to settle the bill, the fucking uber ride and bottle of vodka they shared, Chloé conveniently left out of the budget breakdown. He doesn’t care, sends him his share with a quick, ok.

“Hello, Daniel,” someone says just as he’s about to pull his dick out, hand already in his pants. “Lando of course did not say you would be here.”

“Lando’s passed out on the couch, reckon he isn’t up for saying much right now,” Daniel says and turns towards the voice.

It’s one of Lando friends, because of course it is. Max, he decides, watches the kid as he sits on the counter next to the sink. There are two of them he knows, Fewtrell who’s been nipping at Lando’s heels since neither of them knew what it meant. And this Max, the hot one.

“Always he is bad at drinking,” Max says, mouth stretched into a wide smile. “He is very sloppy after one beer only, and then he gets very tired also. Like a little kid, you know?”

“Yeah,” Daniel says with a smirk. He steps closer to lean against the sink, feels the warmth pouring off of Max. “Not like you, right?”

Max shakes his head, touches his tit with an open palm like he’s going to swear on it, sucks in a breath when his nail catches on his nipple. It looks swollen too, hot and pink, heavy against the swell of his pectoral. Daniel’s eyes flicker down to where he also isn’t wearing pants, the pile of clothes just inside the door.  

“Sometimes I think of course that you and Lando cannot be brothers,” Max says, kicks his feet against the cupboard underneath him. His legs look long, strong and tan from the summer sun. He must be bigger than Daniel now, taller too.

Daniel remembers the gawky nineteen-year-old Lando had brought home. Max on exchange from the Netherlands, taking the same courses that Daniel had done only three years before, with the same instructors too. “Let me know if you need anything, yeah?” He had told him just to watch Max blush, cheeks scarlet as he ducked his head, stuttered out a quiet, “Of course, Daniel.”  

“And why’s that, Maxy?” He asks now, touches the side of his knee to watch Max scramble to move, spread his thighs so Daniel can dig into the drawer underneath him.

“Always you are so handsome and funny also,” Max says, waves his hand around like that somehow adds to it. And maybe it does, because Daniel’s chest burns, overwhelmed. He feels almost sick with it, with how easy it is for Max to say, knows then he must be more drunk than he thinks. “Lando is just – Lando.”

Daniel laughs, squeezes Max’s knee. He watches the jolt of the muscle, the buck of Max’s hips up into nothing. Hears the sharp whine that escapes his lips.

He should tell him to leave, to put his shirt back on and go back to Lando’s room. Sleep it off so Max won’t hate himself for running his mouth when he wakes up. But he cannot, asks instead, “Is that a toothbrush in your hand or are you just happy to see me, Max?”

Hazy blue eyes stare back at him as Max squeeze his thighs shut. It’s rhetoric, almost. Redundant at best, and mean at its core, maybe. Because there is a toothbrush in his hand, the bright pink tool held in a slack hand against his thigh. But he’s hard too, obvious in the tight grey boxer-briefs he’s wearing.

“Always I am happy to see you, Daniel,” Max says. He spreads his thighs against and watches with dark eyes as Daniel steps between them, presses against the counter until there’s almost no space between them. “I have a toothbrush also, but I do not think –“

“Want me to brush your teeth, Maxy?” He asks, feels the shame as it flushes his chest, violent. Desperate. But he wants it, can almost imagine how it would feel if it was something else in Max’s mouth. The head of his –

“Please,” Max begs and lets his mouth fall open.

Daniel has done it maybe once before, brushing someone’s teeth. It had been a necessity then, a favour to a friend who had been too drunk to move, vomit still on his shirt. So far away from this, from Max watching him squeeze out the toothpaste and bring it to his mouth, his thighs squeezed tight around Daniel’s waist.

He starts off small, brushes over Max’s front teeth with tiny back-and-forth motions. The movement feels awkward from this end, like jerking someone off when you’ve been masturbating your entire life. Max keeps still, breathes through his nose like Daniel told him to.

Daniel reaches his molars, the toothbrush shoved deep into his mouth when suddenly Max shuts his mouth around it. Daniel is slow to realise it, keeps up the motion of the brush and watches Max move with it. Lips working over the shaft over it until he’s close enough to kiss Daniel’s fist.

“Max, mate. I cannot see what I’m doing,” he says, forces himself to laugh. He pulls back too quick, listens to the way Max chokes on nothing. “Let’s try the other side, yeah?”

It goes great until it doesn’t. Max deep-throats the toothbrush again as he watches him through hooded eyes. His hips rock aimlessly into empty air, pre-come soaking through his briefs.

“Max, no,” Daniel says. He pushes down on his bottom lip to keep his mouth open, ignores the way Max whines. “Be good for me, yeah?” He keeps a hand in Max’s hair, holds him steady as he tries to move with the brush, push it further into his mouth.

The top of the mouth is harder, the angle awkward from where he stands between Max’s thighs. “I don’t think I can do the rest, Max. My wrist,” he says, shows how limited his wrist rotation is.

But Max barely pauses, slides instead to his knees in front of Daniel, “Like this, no?”

Daniel chokes on his breath, feels the way his dick twitches in his pants. There’s barely any room between Daniel’s feet and the counter, but still Max fits perfect. His head tips back against the cupboard, thighs spread wide to make room for Daniel.

“That’s perfect, babe. Yeah,” he tells him softly, cups Max’s cheek in his hand.

Max’s eyes stay closed as he lets himself be moved, tongue wet and pink inside his mouth. Daniel doesn’t know how long it lasts, knows at least they’re above the designated two minutes. His dick strains against his pants when he strokes Max’s cheek to let him know they’re done.

Max is slow to come back, eyes blinking slowly until he refocuses on Daniel. A sweaty hand grabs the crook of his knee, pulls him in until his leg is pressed against the heat of Max’s chest, the tip of his chin resting too close to his dick.

Max tips his head back and opens his mouth, shows off the mess that sits on his tongue. It isn’t – doesn’t really look like come, too foamy with the paste Daniel uses. But it’s enough to pretend, to imagine what Max would look like if Daniel did come in his mouth.

Daniel lets himself look for another moment, soak in the sight before he nudges Max up against the sink so he can spit it out. “That’s it, good boy, Maxy,” he says, watches Max through the mirror.

If he looked drunk before, he looks downright indecent now. Cheeks flushed and chest wide as he sucks in breath after breath. Looks just about ready to pass out too.

Daniel pats his back and nudges him over to grab his own toothbrush, feels the way Max shudders underneath his hand. He’s just about to tell him to go to bed, when Max drops back to the floor, knees loud on the tile.

“Daniel, please,” Max says, begs.

Daniel leans against the sinks, angles his hips away from the space Max has created. He knows what Max wants, mouth open even now. But he can’t. Not when they’re both this drunk. So he does the only thing he can think of, shoves three fingers into his mouth and tells him to be quiet.

It works.

Daniel goes through a condensed skincare routine one-handed, feels the warm, wet suction of Max’s mouth around his fingers. The increase in pressure whenever Max swallows, how he leans into it when Daniel presses down on his tongue, sick with want.

He leads Max down the hall of rooms when he’s done, opens the door last on the left and lets him in.

[kropotkindersurprise]

does "i wont speak without a lawyer present" still apply in other countries besides the us? (specifically the netherlands) or is the 'script' different?

I only know the rules for the Netherlands: We don't have the ridiculous miranda rights song and dance you have to do with the magic phrases to make sure the cops won't argue that you want a lawyer-dog, but otherwise yes. You have the right to be silent, you have the right to speak to a lawyer before your first official interrogation, etc. When you've been arrested never speak to the cops about what happened, why you were there, who you were there with, or anything. They'll try to be chatty and friendly and pretend that they might release you if you explain yourself, but they're just gathering information to fuck you with. Just shut up, or tell them no comment, or say "Ik beroep me op mijn Zwijgrecht" (I'm using my right to be silent). Dont worry, you dont have to attempt to say that in Dutch if you dont speak it. There's a lot of good info on the sites of the Arrestantengroep, made by experienced left-wing activists and lawyers: https://arrestantengroep.org/downloads/ https://arrestantenhandleiding.nl/2023/08/15/rechten-van-arrestanten/

For German activists look here: https://rote-hilfe.de/

[ghostselkie]

White raven Dracula au

So that first post I made about a White raven Dracula au was partly a joke, but then I started thinking about it more, and well this is the result of that brain worm.

Warning: this is a bit ramble-y.

Lenore is in the role of dracula, and annabel, at first, is in the roal of jonothan harker.

Lenore being a vampire is a secret that has been kept by the Vandernacht family for generations. Also they live in the Netherlands in this au.

Like in cannon the Vandernacts are ludicrously wealthy, and they using that money to help keep Lenore's vamp-ness a secret. Also cause vampire immortality, and a lack of male heirs when she was a human, she still has the money that existed when she was alive. Now Dutch families can be big, so only the main line knows about her.

As for why they keep her a secret, and not kill her for being an unholy creature of the night is because she is useful. She is probably at least a hundred years old at this point and has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge over the years, she knows more about the families wealth and how to handle it than anyone else. Also her vamp powers make getting info on competitors easier. They have a deal, as long as she does stuff to help them they wont murder her in her sleep.

Now this relationship has kind of soured in reascent years. There is no longer any one who remembers Lenore when she was alive, and no one who remembers hearing stories from people who knew her when she was alive. To the current Vandernachts she is a mysterious and potentially dangerous entity. So Thaddeus comes up with a convoluted plan to get rid of her.

He can't just reveal the secret, cause that would cause Lenore to retaliate. So he comes up with an idea for some one to discover Lenore, and say if they die, there would be enough rage to get people to investigate. This results in Thaddeus getting in contact with Ira, and therefore Annabel getting to stay at castle Lenore.

Now the intended result was that Annabel would either discover that Lenore was a vampire, or she would become one of her victims, as Lenore kind of has a taste for the blood of young women (she doesn't kill them though). What ends up happening is gay as fuck.

Lenore is not nearly as evil as book Dracula. She's more of a nuisance than any thing else, sucking just enough blood to satisfy her, but not leave the human with any lasting damage. She is unholy though, and therefore people are still scared of her, they just can't really do anything cause of the Vandernachts.

Now, Lenore has been a vampire for a long time now. There is no way she is still acting or dressing like a normal victorian woman. Shortly after she became a vampire she realized "wait, I'm an unholy creature of the night. I don't have to be straight," and started cutting her hair short and wearing pants. Current Lenore often wears things akin to her dreamland outfit now, or just men's clothing. So yeah, Annabel will defiantly be gay panicking over Lenore in her dreamland outfit.

It's going to start similar to Dracula, sans the racism (old stories are like that unfortunately), and the fear Jonathan Harker had felt in the original story with Annabel's horny. So this, isn't going to be a horror story, at least not from Annabel's perspective.

Now, as for why they fall in love with each other. For Annabel, the reasons are similar as in cannon. For Lenore though, the reasons are also similar, but with the add on that, Annabel is the first person who is not immediately scared of her, and who doesn't become scared of her once she sees all the spooky vampire shit.

Gayness ensues. The social season happens in the Netherlands, but Annabel and Lenore do stay in touch cause Lenore kinda had to act as her translator, since Annabel didn't end up learning much Dutch. So they get to be together, but Lenore has to watch Annabel meet with other suitors, all while their inevitable separation is looming. Unlike in cannon, however, they both know of a way to be together, but neither of them want to talk about it cause it would involve Annabel being turned in to a vampire. Annabel does end up going back to London to be engaged to her child hood friend, and Lenore, in good old Dracula fashion, fallows her home. Now this is when Annabel transitions from the role of Jonathan to Lucy, except the whole being turned in to a vampire is a lot more consensual.

Vampire lore for this au

[milaswriting]

Teasing Firsts

⇢ you, B, banter & a first date.

Happy birthday to my darling B! I’ve never loved another werewolf more <3 and thanks so much for being my comfort character asdfghjkl.

I wrote this whilst travelling back home from the Netherlands, so I hope you enjoy it.

B’s cool, calm and carefree approach to many things in life is something they’re always commended for. Their heart of gold, their lack of anxiety, their ability to put others at ease amongst a load of other things.

So, the simple concept of a date with you shouldn’t make them feel so on edge. But it does. B remembers casually asking you out, with a smile on their face and a hammering heart — they almost talked themselves out of asking. Prepared to hear a rejection and console themselves afterwards, but that never came.

Instead, after a confident leap, you said yes without hesitation.

And they’re thankful. Truly. B’s excited, there’s a skip in their step. But the nerves are bubbling. It can be shown by the state of their bedroom. Their wardrobe is all over it. Literally.

Shirts. Trousers. Gold jewellery. Sunglasses. It’s as though their bed isn’t even visible under it all.

Standing shirtless, B gazes at the mess around them before clicking their tongue. “Shit then,” they murmur, and their thoughts would still be on their outfit if their phone hadn’t started ringing.

They scramble to it, all whilst flinging a pair of socks over their shoulder.

“Hello,” B says after swiping across.

“Hi,” you reply in a cheerful tone.

You.

B can’t help but let a smile press across their lips. “Hi,” they reiterate before pulling the phone from their ear and checking the time. They haven’t got long at all. In fact, they’re running late.

Fuck.

“I’m almost ready,” they say, their tone of voice a little more high-pitched.

“Uh-huh,” you utter back with a laugh. “Try again, B,” you add with a smile.

They raise a brow. “Should I be concerned that you picked up on that so quickly?”

You snort. “Maybe I just know you so well,” you murmur before positioning yourself to feel more comfortable. “So what’s up?”

B clears their throat and takes a seat at the edge of their bed. “I just don’t know what to wear.”

“Hm, we’re going out to eat, so something casual,” you say. “Whatever you usually wear. The two of us have been out before.”

B taps the speaker button on their phone. “But we haven’t been on a date before.” They inhale a short breath, wondering whether they’ve misread this whole thing and this isn’t a date at all.

“True,” you say, your voice ringing out in B’s bedroom. “But that makes our date, and future ones, exciting.”

B smirks. “Oh, future dates?”

“If you play your cards right,” you utter, and B can hear the teasing smile in your voice. “But, seriously, you look good in everything.”

B stands and picks up a necklace before wrapping their fingers around it. “Throwing out compliments before our date’s even started, aren’t I lucky?”

“Of course you are,” you say confidently. “You’re about to go out with me.”

B nods. “I can’t deny that.” Their words trail off as they glance at their hopeful outfit. “Are you ready?”

“Why? Are you trying to colour coordinate?”

“Are you into that?” B banters back, genuinely curious about your answer.

“I’m into you,” you utter quickly.

“Oo, very smooth. I’m rubbing off on you.” A little laugh escapes B but they’d be lying if they said your teasing phrase wasn’t music to their ears. “I think I’ve found an outfit.”

“You have?” you ask. “Go on, FaceTime me and show me.”

They begin to slip on their shirt. “Where’s the fun in that? You know I like to compliment you when I’m looking at you.” B pauses. “And before you say the smart-ass thing like, ‘it’s FaceTime, you will be looking at me’, I mean when I’m looking at you in person.”

You snort. “Aw, you beat me to it.”

This bit is nice for B. It’s easy when the two of bounce off each other like this, when there are no supernatural worries to contend with. When B can show the much happier version of themselves without the fear of their supernatural side causing a sudden burst of fatigue.

“Do you want me to get off the phone so you can finish?” you question.

“Uh,” B begins as their trousers go on next, “you don’t have to. I’m almost done and…”

You tilt your head. “And…?”

“Just,” B breathes out, beginning to realise what they’re about to say. And maybe they’re saying it too soon, but they’ve already started. “I like hearing your voice.”

It’s said in such a soft and serious tone that you almost don’t catch it, that you almost don’t believe the words that have fallen from their mouth.

“But if you ever find my voice annoying, you’ll tell me?”

B lets out a humourless chuckle. “God, I’d never find you annoying,” they murmur softly as they slip an earring into their earlobe.

“What was that?”

B clears their throat. “Nothing,” they mutter quickly, wanting to keep the words to themselves for a moment longer. They look in the mirror, and it takes almost a minute, but they finally get the wave of satisfaction they’re looking for. “Are you ready too? I’ll come and get you.”

“No need,” you chuckle. “I’m outside your door.”

B smirks. “Stalker.”

“Last time I checked, you were the one who was supposed to be monitoring me when you got sent out to Lehsa.”

“Hm, fair point.” B suddenly finds themselves sauntering towards the front door. They pull it open and the sight of you takes their breath away. “You look..” they trail off, tongue-tied in the best way. “Wow.”

You can’t help but smile. Though you’ve been speaking on the phone, actually being face to face with B is different. It’s heartwarming, comforting, pulls you in so much that a mere date probably wouldn’t be enough for the night.

“I wouldn’t even be able to tell you spent so long stressing about what to wear,” you say playfully. “And I mean that as a compliment.”

B laughs. “You’re a charmer.”

“I do try.” Despite all this teasing being carefree and fun, being only friends with B is practically long gone from your mind at this point. “Ready to show me what a B Holden date looks like?”

They smile. “Oh, of course.” They close the door behind them and join you in the corridor.

The two of you aren’t far away from each other. In fact, if you both started leaning in, your lips would be pressed together.

You’ve both taken note of that. It’s hard not to when you’re looking at each other like that.

“One question,” B breathes out.

“Yeah?”

“What are your rules when it comes to kissing on a first date?”

[xclowniex]

My full thoughts on Eurovision this year

These are all my thoughts, from ones on more serious topics to those on less serious topics.

I do feel bad for the UK getting zero public votes as Olly Alexander, formally known as Years and Years, holds a special place in my heart for one of their older albums, Communion, even though their eurovision song wasn't something I really liked.

I am really happy that Israel places top 5. Whilst I was hoping for them to win, i was prediciting top 10, so top 5 is amazing

Europapa was my fave song overall but after how Joost has acted, I no longer wanted him to win

Joost's actions were childish and immature. Him covering himself with his flag during Eden Golan's interview was immature and so was his "why not" comment. She does not represent the government of Israel. If Joost was focusing mainly on Israel participating in general and not hating on Eden, I would hold a different view. But he did not. Especially when his song was about everyone uniting. The Netherland itself doesn't have the cleanest track record too.

Like, the question about if her being there put other contestants at risk was disgusting. She should not be blamed. Those wishing to harm her and to have other participants also be harmed, should be held accountable. Not one woman. She had every right not to answer a question which put her life as lesser than others. Joost willingly chose to endorse a question which dehumanized her.

Joost also assaulting a production worker was also bad. I 100% agree that she should not have been filming him. However how he reacted was bad. Instead of assaulting her, he should have reported her to the EBU. Again, Joost's feelings are 100% valid, his actions were in bad taste.

I do think a lot of the reception online about Joost's actions were also very bad. At best there were people who thought he was justified in assaulting her and at worst you had people lying and creating rumors and it was all because of Israel and that Joost did nothing wrong at all. Cause you know, evil joos control the media and world and all that jazz. The lying and rumors were just straight up antisemitism.

Please note that I am going off of the EBU's statement and not the Dutch Broadcasters statement which differ in what Joost did as the EBU is more neutral when it comes to this stuff.

Moving on from Joost

Switzerland 100% deserved to win. Nemo's song and performance was amazing.

People's reactions to placing lower than Israel was again, bad. For crying out loud its a fucking silly song contest.

Lastly, my fave performance from all years is Maneskin's performance.

[stitchtehzombie]

My esc 2023 opinions no one asked for

Way too many ballads

Switzerland having one of the worst ballads, being pretty insensitive

Käärijä on stage:👁👅👁💃🏋

Käärijä in the green room: 🧍‍♂️😐

Irelands literally going down in esc history as "the guy with the golden cameltoe" who was winy about not qualifying

CZECHIA BEING ABSOLUTE GIRLBOSSES although i wish it was entirely in czech cos i didnt really like the english parts

Austria girlbossing their tits off with a funny, original song that fucking SLAPS

Some of the most disappointing results in history. My stomach actually hurt after the final result because i did not expect the generic sweden ballad to actually win points with the audience when sexy finland man was RIGHT. THERE.

No i dont hate her. I hate the jury

And on top of that, even though I got the impression that Austria and Czechia were fan favourites, their scores were soooo low. Which saddens me because they really stood out between all the boring entries

"12 POINTS TO ISRAEL" 👁👄👁???

Im sideyeing anyone who voted israel

I genuinely do not remember anything from italy except for the trampoline and his glitter shirt

Sweden vaguely sounding like "the winner takes it all" by abba

Graham norton going 😐 when he was listening to his earpiece

The hosts utter confusion when the crowd was chanting "käärijä" and "cha cha cha" which they handled pretty awkwardly imo

EBU does not care what we think about the results. Any sort of publicity or engagement is still engagement.

Albania is so overlooked imo T-T i really liked that they were performing as a family and the song was pretty good! The vocals were impressive! And it wasnt an english ballad !

France is tall vampire mommy <3

the jury system is inherently rigged. This is not new. But this year it was just very apparent.

Netherlands was boring and no one was surprised

Australia casually eating sandwhiches during the jury results not expecting douze points from anyone and then having cameras on them while their faces were stuffed gave me life

Germany deserved better

[alpaca-clouds]

We need to finally decolonize

You know what? Thanks to Castlevania Nocturne I got a chance to talk a bit more about colonialism. So, let me just talk for a while a bit about decolonialization and what would need to happen for that.

Also, if you are one of the white guys, who is going to whine about "Arab colonialisation, boohoo", I am gonna kick you ass off this blog, just so you know.

I think like two months ago I already wrote a bit about how colonialism has never ended. And it hasn't. For the most part a lot of land is still not only settled, but owned by settlers. This is true for the Americas (including the US of course), but also true for Australia, parts of the Pacific and also large chunks of Africa.

Additionally settlers have constructed contries and borders often to serve their needs and to allow them to assert control. This is particularly clear in Africa of course, where those straight line borders ignore both geography and original tribal lands, splitting it up and hence adding to local conflicts.

Then there is of course the general effects of the genocides that have happened through colonialism and are - arguably - still happening, given how underserved Indigenous communities are often in terms of infrastructure, but also access to justice in any way or form.

And of course once more: Slavery is still happening. Partly in mines (and the like) in countries where you do not see it - often for the enrichment of white people - and of course in the US through the prison industrial complex.

I could go on and on. But let me turn this around and talk about what needs to happen instead. How do we decolonize?

Short answer: Land back and reparations.

No, that does not mean that all settlers have to move, but that tribes get to manage and make decisions about their own land. And if they do not want your fucking pipeline on that land, there is not gonna be a fucking pipeline on the land. And if they allow it, they can charge you for the use of the land. It is their land, they get to call the shots!

And that is not only gonna be true for the US and Canada, but for all settled land that is currently held by white people.

It also means paying reparations to everyone who suffered through colonialism. The people whose ancestors got shipped around the world as slaves, but also the people whose families had to suffer through genocide and all of that.

And no, it should not only be the US to pay those reparations, but all the countries that enriched themselves on all the horrors committed. Which would also include Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal first and foremost.

A lot of western countries act like they are lord and saviors when they give "humanitarian aid" to the global south, even though those payments are not even a fraction of the money they made on the backs of the people living in the global south right now.

The argument against this is always: "But we do not have the money" and "it is all gonna be taken by dictators", to which I say: "Tough luck" and "who was it again that put those fucking dictators in power to prevent the spread of communism?"

I just really do not have any chill for white people going all "but the money" again. That money was stolen. So fuck right off.