#2025 is NOT a real year and as long as i get this done before then it cannot hurt me!!!

[mqfx]

i need to lock the FUCK in i only have such a short 3 day weekend i MUST at least get out of ch4 by tonight

[imaginespazzi]

Part 4: Warning Bells

Masterlist - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11

I don't think I can do this again (do you remember it too?)

(In which a self-admittedly all over the place writer takes you on a bit of a rollercoaster)

Pairing: Paige Bueckers X Azzi Fudd

Themes: Fluff, Angst, Pining (the usuals)

Words: 6.1K

TW: Swearing, Mentions of Divorce

A/N: Hi lovelies :) Guess who made a deadline again? I'm as shocked as y'all are but I do wanna just warn y'all that August is gonna be really busy for me so as much as I'm gonna try to stick to schedule, there's a pretty good chance I won't. I really appreciate y'alls feedback with live-reacts/long reviews and it's truly the motivating factor behind my writing so pretty please keep sending them. I did edit (as usual) but please let me know the most likely existent typos anyway. As always, let me know what you liked, disliked and what you wanna see next. Have a lovely rest of your week my loves <3

March 2033 

Here’s what Azzi has learned about motherhood: having kids means that there will come many times in your life, when you will look around you and wonder how the hell did I get here. It’s that thought that’s currently plaguing her as she finishes hanging up the WELCOME HOME banner on the living room wall in her ex-girlfriend’s new apartment. And when she’s talking about kids, she’s not talking about her five year old who’s currently sticking purple hearts on every surface she can find. No, she’s talking about her 6’5 teammate who she’d once “adopted” as a joke in college, but who’s basically become her surrogate child ever since they’d ended up on the same WNBA team. 

It had started as a casual conversation when Jana, as she often did, had shown up for an impromptu lunch. The topic of Paige was hard to avoid considering it was Stephie’s favorite subject, heightened by the fact that Paige was coming back soon and Stephie was far too excited to finally have her Miss Buecks back. Jana was more than happy to indulge the little girl in conversation about what Paige had been like at UConn. And if Azzi had lost herself in those memories for a moment, transported back in time to a world that had once been blooming with promise before wilting in a darkness she’d created herself, well, she’d done an excellent job not letting it show on her face. 

The real issue had started when Jana had casually let slip her idea of surprising Paige with a little welcome party. And as Stephie had started reciting all the different things they could do -because of course me and Mama will help you Aunty J, Azzi had glared at Jana, only to receive an innocent smile in return that told her everything she needed to know. She’d been set up. 

That’s how, instead of spending her Saturday curled up on her comfortable couch with a book in her hands, Azzi is here instead and in true fashion, she’s the only one actually getting anything done. Jana, who had just left about twenty minutes ago to pick Paige up, had invited some of the other girls on the team to come help out yet, something about more hands on deck. Those supposed helpful hands had spent the last hour blowing up and popping balloons and getting nothing else done.

“I can’t believe y’all have me decorating for the woman who cost me my first national championship,” Joyce laments, “I still have nightmares from that game.”

“You gotta let that hurt go Aunty Joy,” Stephie says impishly, mimicking what Jana would normally say whenever the infamous 2025 South Carolina vs UConn national championship got brought up. 

“Don’t sass me Miss Stephanie,” Joyce sticks out her tongue at the little girl, throwing a purple balloon at Stephie’s head, “hasn’t your Mama taught you that we don’t mock people’s pain.”

“Ignore her Steph,” Tessa says, bumping her former Gamecock teammate as she shares a devilish grin with Azzi’s daughter, “she’s just upset she only won one. Some of us have two.”

Joyce guffaws, throwing another balloon, this time aimed at Tessa, “dude we’re supposed to be on the same team. What would Coach Staley say to you teaming with UConn people of all things to bully me?”

“She’d thank me for making sure you didn’t get a big head,” Tessa snipes back. 

Whatever response Joyce has to that quip is cut short by the doorbell ringing and Azzi feels her heartbeat quicken as Stephie lets out a squeal, dropping everything to go answer it. Things had been different since the facetime call almost two weeks ago. They’d accidentally on purpose settled into a routine where Stephie would call Paige at exactly 7 p.m. and Paige would answer on the first ring, promising to stay on the phone till the little girl fell asleep. And it would’ve been fine if that’s all it was. But then Paige started staying on the phone till after Stephie fell asleep and suddenly it was like they were back to their teenage selves, talking about everything and nothing, trying to learn every page of each other’s story all over again. 

Azzi had missed so much about Paige in the last couple of years but there was nothing she’d missed more than just talking to her best friend. She’d missed the way Paige would tell a story, going off on a million tangents in between. She’d missed the way her eyes would light up when she got to a particularly exciting part of the story, specks of gold shimmering in the blue like sunlight hitting the ocean. She’d missed the way Paige’s hands would be flying animatedly all over the place, even when she was whispering. She’d missed the way the blonde would pause halfway through to observe if Azzi was still listening, making sure all of the attention was still on her. And she’d missed the way that when it was Azzi’s turn to speak, Paige would hang onto every word like it was gospel, intently listening like she’d never forgive herself if she couldn’t recite everything Azzi had just said from memory. She’d missed the way Paige would let her emotions freely flicker across her face, because whatever happened to Azzi, Paige felt it too. 

She’d missed and missed, convinced the pain would be the end of her, until she’d tricked her mind into forgetting. And now Azzi’s beginning to realize that remembering it all again, might just be the thing that kills her. 

“Nevermind,” Stephie walks back to the room, sulking slightly, “it’s just Aunty Liyah.”

“Oh thanks Stephie babe. That makes me feel so wonderful,” Aaliyah says, walking in behind Stephie with an offended expression on her face, “and here I thought bringing cupcakes would make me popular.”

“Tell me those are store-bought Chavez. I ain’t trusting them if you made them yourselves,” Joyce says, side-eyeing the cupcakes. 

“Trust me I would never waste my precious time baking for y’all ungrateful ass-”

“Aaliyah,” Azzi shoots her younger teammate a sharp look.

“-ungrateful people,” Aaliyah corrects sheepishly, “cupcakes because y’all clearly don’t appreciate me.”

“I pre-ciate you Aunty Liyah,” Stephie says innocently, trying to get a better look at the aforementioned cupcakes, “you got the pu-ple ones right? They have to be pu-ple for Miss Buecks.”

Aaliyah bends down to Stephie’s level to show her the box of sweet treats “the perfect purple cupcakes for your Miss Buecks. How come you never wanna do nice things like this for us Stephie?”

“Because Miss Buecks is special,” Stephie retorts matter-of-factly.

“Oh so we’re not special?” Tessa asks, raising an eyebrow at Stephie.

“‘Course you are but Miss Buecks is special-er.”

And while her teammates all pretend to dramatically gasp at that, shaking their heads at Stephie, Azzi feels like someone’s squeezing her heart, twisting and twisting but never fully breaking it. She wonders if that might hurt less.

It’s another 10 minutes later when the doorbell rings again and Azzi watches her daughter’s face break into an incandescent grin, filled with hope, as she rushes to open the door because it has to be Paige this time. Azzi follows after her, trying to keep her breathing under control as anticipation clings to her nerves. Azzi’s gotten so spectacularly good at lying to herself that she tells herself this next one with ease: there’s not a single part of her that’s eager to see Paige again. 

“SURPRISE,” Stephie screams, flinging the front door open with as much strength as she can muster. She doesn’t give Paige a chance to react before she’s throwing herself against the blonde’s legs, hugging her thighs. 

It takes a second for Paige to register what’s happening, but when she does, it’s Azzi she’s looking at. Everything seems to move in slow motion as they stare at each other, the reality of the moment suddenly settling in. Paige is here. In Oakland. They’re going to be teammates; they’re going to see each other almost every day. Just like they used to. Except nothing is like it used to be and as that bitter truth comes up like bile in Azzi’s throat, she has to force herself to look away. 

“Miss Buecks,” Stephie calls out, tugging at the hem of Paige’s white shirt to get her attention, “do you like my surprise?”

Paige tears her eyes away from Azzi, leaning down to pick Stephie up before peppering her faces with kisses and making the younger girl squeal in delight, “best surprise ever.”

And Azzi really, really, can’t watch this. Not when it makes her want to walk over and cocoon herself in with the two of them, makes her want to pretend that she’s living in another life, one where she hadn’t thrown away the chance of a happily ever after with the girl she’d fallen in love with at fourteen, 

“Oh yeah Stephie, your surprise. Take all the credit. Not like the rest of us did anything,” Joyce rolls her eyes goodnaturedly, before pulling Paige into a one-armed hug, “welcome to the Bay Area Bueckers.”

Tessa and Aaliyah are next, both sharing warm hugs with their new teammate. Once they’ve had their turn, all eyes seem to turn to Azzi expectantly and the brunette blanches under their gaze. Other than Jana, who suddenly seems pretty heavily interested in the doorframe, the rest of her teammates don’t know about her past with Paige. So it’s only natural they’d expect her to greet Paige with all the cordiality of an old friend. 

“Y’all good?” Joyce asks slowly, looking between the two of them, “do you want me to introduce y’all or?”

“Shut up,” Azzi murmurs before drawing in a deep breath and stepping towards Paige. She tries not to fixate on the way Paige’s jaw flexes when the blonde swallows, tries not to think about all the patterns she’d once carved against that little patch of skin because she knew it drove Paige insane. The thing is Azzi can’t even really remember the last time they hugged beyond a for-the-cameras one at a game. But as she wraps her arms around Paige, the older woman’s breath tickling against her ear as she grips Azzi’s waist, it doesn’t feel that much different from how it used to be. Paige’s arms are still safe and strong and Azzi still wants to melt into them. But what’s different is that Stephie’s in between them now, tiny hands securely fastened around both of their necks. And Azzi almost, almost gives into the feeling of belonging as she whispers two simple words that mean just a little too much.

“Welcome home.”

***

Seven pairs of eyes watch as the movers move box after box after box into Paige’s apartment, until there’s more cardboard than floor visible. The three non-UConn girlies are wide-eyed as they watch the pile grow endlessly. Meanwhile Jana is laughing while Azzi tries to hide a smile behind her hands as the realization that she’d have to unpack all of her stuff hits Paige in waves, and her expression grows more and more somber. Once the movers are finally done, it’s Stephie, whose hand is still firmly clasped in Paige’s, who breaks the silence. 

“You have a lot of things Miss Buecks,” the little girl crinkles her nose, as she points out the obvious, “do you really need all of this stuff.”

“Of course I do Stephie,” Paige says indignantly and Azzi scoffs, earning her a withering glare from the blond. 

“Aight well it was nice to meet you-” Joyce starts, slowly backing away from the mess until Jana blocks her way. 

“Oh no you don’t. I told y’all we were all gonna help her move in. Call it team bonding,” the Egyptian says, her voice vaguely threatening. 

“Most of the team isn’t even here,” Aaliyah points out cautiously. 

“That’s not the point,” Jana rebukes, “alright team listen up. Here’s how this is going to go-”

“Maybe Paige should take charge. It is her apartment,” Tessa says slowly. 

“If we put Paige in charge she’ll tell us all to go home and procrastinate doing anything until after the season,” Azzi says, a knowing smirk playing on her lips. 

Paige pouts, “hey! I’m not that bad.”

“Oh you absolutely are.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“O-kay,” Jana claps, breaking apart the bickering, “it’s good to see the two of you are apparently younger than Stephie,” she holds up a hands a both Paige and Azzi start to splutter in their defense, “now as I was saying before being rudely interrupted. We’re gonna split this up. Joyce and I are gonna do the living room. Aaliyah and Tessa, y’all are gonna fix the guest room. Which leaves,” Jana smiles, and it’s only because Azzi knows her so well that she can read the menacing sparkle behind it, “Paige and Azzi to tackle the master bedroom.”

They both open their mouths to protest but are quick to get cut off by an excited Stephie, “I’mma help Mama and Miss Buecks!”

“Of course you are, why would you ever help anybody else? Clearly you don’t love us anymore. Not since your precious Miss Buecks got here,” Joyce says dramatically and while Paige smirks and the rest of the girls pretend to act mock offended, Azzi uses the distraction to sidle up to Jana. 

“What the fuck are you playing at El-Alfy,” she hisses under hear breath.

Jana shrugs innocently, “the master bedroom is the hardest because Paige has so many fucking clothes so I’m letting y’all old heads do it. Some of us are below 30 ya know.”

“Cut the bullshit,” Azzi snaps. 

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about Fudd,” Jana says airily as she starts to unpack a box, leaving Azzi muttering curses under her breath. 

“Hey-”

Azzi spins around at the soft voice, only to find herself crashing against a solid body. It’s instinct, the way Paige’s hands immediately reach out to steady her and it’s instinct, the way Azzi’s hands grab at the lapels of the blond’s shirt. Goosebumps trails up her skin as Paige's breath, hot and heavy, fans across her face. They’re too close; way too close and yet the idea of stepping away feels like a sin. Azzi gulps as her thumb accidentally brushes Paige’s collarbone and the other woman shivers under her touch. She thinks she could probably get drunk off the feeling of knowing that she can still affect Paige like that. 

“You uh-” Paige swallows, fingers squeezing involuntarily against Azzi’s hip, “you don’t have to listen to Jana. I can- I can figure it out myself.”

“N-no,” Azzi stutters and she wonders if Paige feels a high from the way she still affects Azzi too, “there’s um- you have- uh- you have a lot of stuff. I can-,” she sucks in a deep breath, “I’ll help.”

“You sure?” there’s a vulnerable edge to Paige’s tone and any resolve Azzi could ever have melts immediately. 

“I want to help,” she says softly, letting a small smile slip onto her lips. 

The smile she gets in return is bright and sparkling, just like Paige herself and Azzi’s heart lurches, pleased to be the one receiving it, pleased to be the one who’d elicited it, “Good, cause I really wanted your help.”

Azzi shakes her head, trying to ignore the warning bells blazing in her head at the fact that they’re still holding each other, “why’d you pretend you didn’t?”

“I just wanted to hear you say it first,” Paige says, biting at her bottom lip. It leaves a light mark and Azzi finds herself wanting to soothe it over with her own tongue.

She thinks it might have been easier if it was just a little harder to fall back into Paige. It shouldn’t be so simple to fall back into late night conversations, so simple to fall back into easy teasing, so simple to fall back into feeling at peace in Paige’s arms. But it is. 

“Mama, Miss Buecks,” it’s Stephie who breaks their bubble but instead of jumping away from each other like they should, they step apart only enough to let the little girl into the space between them, so she can lace her hands through both of theirs, “are you ready?”

“Before you go Paige,” Tessa calls out, holding up a clear bag of corner guards and edge protectors, “what are we doing with these?”

Paige shuffles her feet nervously, “you um- you put them on the edge of like tables and stuff.”

“Bro but they’re for people who have children?” Joyce says, giving Paige a weird look, “you have a kid we don’t know about?”

Paige’s eyes flicker to Stephie for a brief second and Azzi freezes, a warm realization tickling up her spine. Butterflies erupt in her stomach, their wings fluttering to the beat of what’s mine could have been ours. 

“Of course not. I’m just super clumsy so precautions and all that,” the blond explains, shooting Jana a glare when the taller woman barely masks a giggle, “quit procrastinating by asking all these questions and get to work.”

“Has anyone ever told you the importance of first impressions? Because I’m telling you Bueckers, using your teammates as unpaid labor the first time you meet them is not it,” Aaliyah gives Paige a pointed look. 

“This wasn’t even my idea in the first place,” Paige defends. 

“True,” Tessa nods with a sickly sweet smile, “but you’re gonna pay for the pizza anyways.”

“I’m not pay-”

“PIZZA,” Stephie squeals, “Miss Buecks you’re gonna get us Pizza?”

“Yeah Miss Buecks,” Azzi smickers, crossing her arms as Paige’s stubborn retort dies on her lips, “you gonna get us pizza?”

Paige glares at her before she’s swinging Stephie up onto her lap again. And she really needs to stop doing things like that because it’s not remotely good for Azzi’s mental health to watch the way Stephie seems to fit perfectly in Paige’s arms, “of course I am Steph, what do you want?”

The two of them are lost in their own world discussing pizza toppings as Paige starts walking over to the master bedroom, until suddenly they're both turning around, looking at Azzi with identical expressions. And the brunette feels her heart tap out this could be my everything against her ribcage. 

“You coming Azzi?”

“Mama, are you coming?”

I’d go anywhere with the two of you, Azzi thinks as she nods her head, a light skip in her step as she moves to catch up with the two of them. 

“Of course I’m coming.”

***

Less than 10 minutes into trying to unpack, Azzi realizes that she’s the only one trying to unpack anything when she looks up from where she’s been folding t-shirts -trying and failing at not breathing in their familiar scent- to find Stephie decked in a colorful cardigan that goes all the way down to her toes, her feet clad in a pair of PB4’s that must be three times the size of her own shoes. A pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses hide almost her entire face as she strikes pose after pose and Paige diligently takes pictures of her. 

“YES Stephie,” the blond indulges, “work it girl. There you go babe, hold that pose for me. You’re a natural in front of the camera.”

Stephie giggles and Azzi feels her heart constrict. Her favorite sound in the whole world has never sounded more like a signal for danger. 

“Ahem ahem,” she coughs, narrowing her eyes at the two people in front of her, “doesn’t look like y’all are unpacking to me.”

“Mama Miss Buecks has so many pretty clothes,” Stephie gushes, completely ignoring what her mother just said. 

“They’d look even prettier folded in her closet,” Azzi says pointedly. 

Stephie pouts, “you don’t think I look pretty?”

“You look really pretty in my clothes Stephie,” Paige cuts in, tapping the little girl on the nose before she turns her gaze towards Azzi, “just like your Mama used to.”

The silk material shirt slips out of Azzi’s hand as Paige’s words drizzle around her, like the rain after a drought. It takes every little bit of strength she can muster to force herself to ignore Paige’s words and pick up another shirt to fold even if she can’t stop the rouge tint that colors her face. There’s this part of her that’s been dormant for years but every little interaction with Paige threatens to awaken it and Azzi’s scared that if she lets that happen, she’ll never be able to put it to sleep again. 

“Just- just focus on unpacking,” Azzi mutters darkly. 

She spends the next hour or so, keeping her eyes downcast, her complete focus on the task at hand. Because if she looks up, if she lets herself see the way Stephie and Paige are folding clothes together while giggling about something, if she lets herself see the way Stephie climbs onto Paige’s back so the woman can give her a piggyback to the closet to deposit the folded clothes, she thinks she could fall in love with this moment, capture it behind her eyelids and let it live there forever. But this moment doesn’t belong to Azzi. Because Paige doesn’t belong to Azzi. Not anymore. 

Azzi’s taken away from her thoughts when she feels a tiny hand wrapping around her neck from behind, Stephie’s warm body pressing against her back and just like that, all the tension in her muscles seem to dissipate. 

“What’s up sweetheart,” she asks, turning her head to press her lips against her daughter’s temple. 

“Nothing Mama,” Stephie says sweetly, “just wanted to give you a hug.”

“Sure you’re not just trying to get out of helping Miss Buecks unpack?” Azzi asks slyly, pulling Stephie from behind her, so the little girl’s lying on her lap instead. She can feel Paige’s eyes focused on the two of them and even without looking, she thinks she knows what she’d find in them if she did. 

“Of course not Mama,” Stephie grins and then squeals as Azzi begins to tickle her. 

“I think you are,” Azzi sings-songs as she continues to poke at her daughter’s stomach, reveling in the way it makes the child laugh. 

“N-no Mama stop, stop,” Stephie manages to wrench herself out from Azzi’s grip, darting to hide behind Paige’s legs, “Miss Buecks save me.”

“There’s no saving you now Stephie-bear,” Azzi roars dramatically as she picks herself off the floor, smirking at her daughter as she wriggles her fingers menacingly. 

“You know what the best way to stop someone from tickling you is Stephie?” Paige says slowly, sending the little girl a conspiratorial wink.

“Don’t you dare-” 

“You tickle them back,” Paige yells and Stephie eyes widen with excitement, “did you know your Mama’s extremely ticklish?”

“Paige no,” Azzi starts moving back, hands held in surrender. 

“You started it.”

“Yeah Mama, you started it.”

“Paige. Stephie. Ple-” Azzi cuts herself off with squeal as two sets of hands start mercilessly prodding at her ribcage. She can’t get away, not when Paige has her securely wrapped from the back and Stephie’s pressed against her front, both of them laughing maniacally. They’re a mess of limbs that’s becoming harder and harder to tell apart as the three of them topple onto Paige’s bed. And Azzi thinks maybe she doesn’t want to escape it at all. She thinks she’d like to freeze them in this moment instead. Forever. 

“Pizza’s here,” someone yells from the living room and it’s Stephie who stops first, immediately jumping off the bed at the mention of food, leaving Paige and Azzi alone. On Paige’s bed. Barely an inch of distance between them as they try to catch their breath. It’s Azzi who sits up first, smoothening the wrinkles on her shirt. And just as she’s about to stand up fully, she feels a hand circling around her wrist. 

“It’s gonna be weird being alone tonight,” Paige confesses softly and Azzi feels her breath hitch.

“Didn’t you live alone in Dallas? At least after the divorce?” she tries to keep the bitterness out of her voice at the last word, a bitterness she knows she has absolutely no right to feel. 

Paige shrugs, her shoulders brushing against Azzi’s, “I did but I knew Dallas. I don’t know this place.”

“What exactly are you asking me?” Azzi asks even though she knows. 

“I’m not asking you anything. I don’t know if I have that right anymore” Paige says softly, letting go of Azzi’s wrist as she starts to walk towards the living room, turning her head back slightly once she gets to the door, “I’m just telling you I don’t wanna be alone tonight.”

***

Damn Paige Bueckers and her vulnerable eyes and her earnest tone because Azzi would, really, really like to be enjoying her slice of pizza right now. Instead everything tastes like ashes as Paige’s unsaid plea rings in her head. There are so many reasons why Azzi absolutely shouldn’t give in, why she should grab Stephie, get into her car, drive home and never look back. This involuntary dance the two of them are starting is far too familiar to what they’d done when they were teenagers and the vivid memories of the day the music stopped and they’re feet stopped moving still haunt Azzi every time she lets herself think of it for a little too long. And she shouldn’t push herself into this fire again, not when there’s Stephie to think about, but there’s a tiny little problem. She thinks she might be addicted to burning in Paige’s flames. 

So when the pizza’s done and the house is more or less in order, and her teammates are ready to leave, looking expectantly at Azzi, she finds herself leaping into lava, “um- I think Stephie and I are gonna stay for a little bit longer.”

“We are?” Stephie asks, a huge smile stretching the length of her face as she looks up at her mother. 

“Yeah. Um- Paige’s bedroom still um- still needs some work,” Azzi tries to justify her decision, ignoring the heat of the blond’s eyes that seem to be perpetually stuck staring at her. 

Joyce raises a perplexed eyebrow, “it looked done to me.”

Paige clears her throat, “there’s definitely uh- a couple more things that need to be handled.”

“It’s almost Stephie’s bedtime. I could stay and help-” Jana begins, eyeing the two of them suspiciously.

“No,” Paige says, a little louder than necessary, “I mean you’ve already done so much for me today Jana,” she manages a smirk, “let Azzi pull her weight a little bit too ya know.”

Janna narrows her eyes but doesn’t push it. It’s oddly domestic, standing side by side with Paige bidding goodbye to their teammates, Stephie in between them happily waving at the people that are leaving. The warning bells get louder and louder; Azzi continues to do nothing to stop them. 

“Mama, how long are we staying?” Stephie asks innocently. 

“We um-” Azzi chews at her lip, finally giving into the temptation to look at Paige, “we’re gonna stay with Miss Buecks tonight so she doesn’t feel alone.”

The shrill scream that escapes Stephie’s mouth could probably break glass as she turns herself around to grab at Paige’s waist, “Miss Buecks I’m gonna stay with you! We’re gonna have a sleep-over.”

Paige laughs, kneeling down so she’s face to face with the little girl, “yeah we are.”

“Are you scared to sleep alone too Miss Buecks?” Stephie asks cautiously, cupping Paige’s face with tiny hands. 

“Just a little bit,” Paige admits, leaning into Stephie’s touch. 

“Me too,” Stephie whispers shyly, “that’s why I sneak into Mama's bed and she gives me lots and lots and lots of cuddles. Mama’s cuddles are the best,” she turns to Azzi, “Mama will you give Miss Buecks cuddles tonight too?”

“I uh-” Azzi swallows, taken aback by the question, “I thought you didn’t like sharing Mama’s cuddles?”

“I don’t,” Stephie agrees, “but I’d be okay sharing them with Miss Buecks.”

***

Azzi had planned -a loose term because really she hadn’t planned on any of this- for her and Stephie to take the guest room. Paige had been ready to give up her own room on the grounds of politeness. And Stephie was insistent that she needed to sleep in between both Mama and Miss Buecks tonight because it’s a sleepover we all have to stay together. Obviously out of the three of them, only one of them was going their way and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who that would be.  That’s how they’d ended up here, dragging chairs and pillows and blankets into the middle of the living room to create a makeshift fort. 

Azzi’s putting on the finishing touches, stringing purple fairy lights Paige had produced out of nowhere, when Stephie emerges from Paige’s bedroom where she’d gone looking for something to wear in lieu of pajamas. 

“Mama look what I found,” Stephie beams, proudly pointing at the black t-shirt she’s found that covers her whole body, “it’s you and Miss Buecks when you were littler.”

It’s their SLAM cover t-shirt and Azzi feels tears prickling at her waterline as she’s met with the picture of a younger version of the two of them. Back when they’d been so hopeful and carefree, ready to take on the world as long as they could do it together. Back when they’d been 2 in a million.

“I can’t believe you still have this,” Azzi whispers, unable to stop herself from running her fingers across the version of who they used to be. She wonders what those girls would think of them now; those girls who’d laid and bed and pinky promised forever. She thinks they’d probably be appalled at the fact that Paige and Azzi had spent eight years barely speaking. She thinks maybe they’d hate her for what she’d done. She thinks maybe she hates herself a little bit for what she’s done to them. 

Paige is leaning against the wall, her voice quiet when she speaks, “I couldn’t let it go.”

And they both know she’s not talking about the shirt. 

“Can we watch a movie?” Stephie asks, diving into the fort and peering up at the two adults. 

Paige recovers first, “yeah- yeah of course Steph,” she looks at Azzi, “do you- do you want something else to sleep in?”

“I’m good,” Azzi says, trying to inconspicuously brush away a rebellious tear. The shirt she’s wearing feels itchy against her skin but she doesn’t think she could handle wearing something of Paige’s. She scooches into the fort, leaning back against one of the pillows and Stephie’s quick to curl into her and Azzi absentmindedly rubs her hands down her daughter’s back. Paige switches on the TV, letting Stephie dictate a movie choice before letting herself into the fort, laying down on Stephie’s other side. 

“Miss Buecks come cuddle,” Stephie demands from where her head is laying on Azzi’s chest. When Paige hesitates, the younger girl takes it upon herself to pull Paige’s arms over her, making the older woman lie on her side so she can drape her hands over Stephie's stomach, accidentally brushing against Azzi’s ribcage. Stephie lets out a satisfied sigh, lying back down against Azzi, crossing her arms so she can hold Paige’s hand with one and latch onto her mother with the other. 

“Perfect.”

And it is. The sound of Stephie’s chatter slowly fading away mixed with Paige’s quiet breathing is the perfect lullaby and Azzi finds herself drifting off into the best sleep she’s had in years. 

***

Sunlight peeks in through the window and Azzi groans at the interruption. Her whole body feels a little stiff, not used to sleeping on the floor like this. A quick glance at her phone tells her it’s 7 a.m. and Azzi’s just about to let herself fall back asleep when her eyes land on the two sleeping figures next to her. Stephie’s face is buried in Paige’s neck, one arm slung over her waist. Paige, mouth slightly ajar as she sleeps, has both hands fastened on the younger, holding her tightly against her chest like she’d fight the world if someone tried to steal her from her grip. They look happy, content, at peace. And Azzi can’t breathe. 

The warning bells in her head create a cacophonous commotion that she can no longer escape. It hits her like whiplash that she can’t do this. She doesn’t know what had gotten into her last night, why she’d agreed to this, to any of this. But she can’t do this. 

“Stephie,” Azzi whispers urgently, trying to pull her daughter out of Paige’s grasp, “Stephie wake up.”

“Az?” Paige asks groggily, stirring in her sleep, “what’s going on?”

“We need to go home,” Azzi says and she can’t bear to look at Paige. 

“What?” Paige is far more awake now as she glances at her phone, “it’s 7 am Azzi. What’s the rush?"

Azzi ignores her, still trying to wake Stephie up who groans, “Mama too early.”

“Steph-”

“Azzi,” Paige’s voice is firm as she wraps her hand around Azzi’s wrist, slipping Stephie off of her, “what is going on.”

Azzi grits her teeth, “nothing’s going on. We just need to go home.”

“Azzi-”

“We shouldn’t have stayed last night Paige,” Azzi bursts out and Paige freezes. 

“Come out of the fort Azzi,” the blond says, her voice eerily calm as she stands up. Azzi follows after her, heart beating rapidly against her chest as she tries to keep the tears at bay. 

“We need to go home,” the brunette repeats, struggling to breathe, “this was a mistake,” Paige flinches and Azzi feels a knife turn in her own hurt, “we can’t do this.”

“Do what Azzi?” Paige asks exasperatedly, still trying to keep her voice low for Stephie’s sake. 

“This,” Azzi all but shrieks, throwing her hands up, “it’s too much, too quick and Stephie- Stephie’s getting attached and I can’t- I can’t let that happen.”

“Why not?” Paige argues stubbornly. 

“Because these last two weeks she couldn’t fall asleep without you on the phone. Because you’re all she talks about sometimes. Because she’s gonna want you forever,” Azzi’s voice breaks, “and she can’t have you forever.”

“Az-”

“And you’re getting attached too. I see the way you look at her and it’s amazing but it’s not- it’s not sustainable Paige. For either of you. Because you’re gonna find someone soon,” the words taste sour on Azzi’s tongue, “and you’re not gonna have time for her and missing you is going to kill her and the guilt of that is going to hurt you. I’m trying to pro-”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Paige’s voice is hard now, eyes gleaming with fire, “you’re basing all of this on a hypothetical that might not even come true. You’re not protecting anybody. You’re projecting.”

Azzi reels back, “I am not projecting.”

“Yes you are,” Paige hisses, “you’re not scared of Stephie or me getting too attached. You’re scared of yourself getting too attached.”

“Mama? Miss Buecks,” Stephie’s tired eyes look warily between the two of them, “what’s going on?”

Azzi plasters a smile on her face as she picks up her little girl, trying to pretend that the truth in Paige’s words haven’t just made her feel hollow, “we’re going home Stephie.”

“I don’t wanna go home,” Stephie fights against Azzi’s grip, looking helplessly at Paige, “Miss Buecks I wanna stay. Can I please stay?”

“You have to listen to your Mama sweetheart” Paige says softly, heartbreak written over her face as she moves to press a kiss against Stephie’s knuckles, “but I’ll see you soon okay. I promise.”

“Miss Buecks,” Stephie whimpers and Azzi has never hated herself more as she rushes out of Paige’s new house, willing herself to not look back. She buckles Stephie in the back, pretending she doesn’t see the way Paige is watching them leave from the porch, like she’d do anything to stop it. And then she drives away. 

It isn’t until she’s safely in the confines over her own room, that Azzi finally lets the tears fall. And she consoles herself with the fact that it’s okay to crack her daughter's heart, to crack Paige’s heart, to crack her own heart, if that’s the only way she can stop their hearts from breaking altogether.

[cassandraclare]

A bit of publishing stuff (if you get my newsletter you've already seen this)

So by now you lovely people have all seen the announcement about what books I have coming up next. Ragpicker King is coming March 4, 2025, and The Last King of Faerie is coming early 2026.

I know a lot of you were hoping for LKOF to come earlier. It’s going to be a big gap between the last Shadowhunter book and the next — three years. Previously the longest gap between Shadowhunter books was two years, between Mortal Instruments and the Dark Artifices.

I announced last year that I was taking time off — six months. It was the first time I’d taken any real time off since 2005. The pandemic had just happened and I was wiped out physically and mentally. I also needed to take stock of where I was in my publishing journey and really think about what I wanted — it had been years since I’d had time to consider whether I was happy, because I always had another deadline and that was always more important.

  When I came to the end of The Last Hours, I was “out of contract” — meaning I didn’t have any further Shadowhunter books that were owned by or owed to a publisher.  it was the first time that had happened since, again, 2005. Being out of contract is your one chance to change anything you want to change about your career, and I knew I was going to leave my longtime US publisher of the Shadowhunter books and move to Random House, who published Sword Catcher.

This isn’t a small decision for any writer to make. It sometimes happens when a writer has been at a publisher for a very long time that the nature of the publisher changes. Maybe all the people you worked with when you first came to that publisher have gone elsewhere, so your team has inherited you rather than having chosen you. Maybe your publisher has been sold to another company whose vision for that publisher doesn’t fit with yours. Maybe your publisher isn’t interested in your genre anymore. 

I spent a lot of time agonizing over the decision—I certainly could have stayed where I was, but I knew that was no longer the best decision for the books. So those of you who pay attention to these kinds of details will note that where the other Shadowhunter books have all been published by McElderry Books, these next ones will be published by Knopf. (Who are an amazing imprint. They make great books.)

Normally a writer wouldn’t really address switching publishers — it happens a lot, and most readers don’t care who publishes a book. I’m talking about it now because I know there will be a lot of people who are angry and don’t understand why Ragpicker King is coming out before Last King of Faerie. The short answer is: Ragpicker King has been under contract since it was sold along with Sword Catcher, years ago now, and I’m obligated to get it done when I said I was going to. The books of The Wicked Powers are only just now securely under contract enough to be announced, as you just saw! So Ragpicker King is planned to be turned in in a couple of months, and after that I will be able to focus entirely on The Last King of Faerie (which I already began, but since it was only sold to Knopf last October, I was only able to get started after that).

And it takes a a year at least to write a book and another good year or so to publish it, and that gets us to the pub dates we’ve got. I would love if I could get it to you earlier, but multiple factors have brought us to this point, and in the end, not rushing through them is the best thing for the books, and will produce the best version of those books. I always want to get you my best work — that’s what is important to me above all things.

In terms of other publishers in other countries — I’m staying with all my longterm Shadowhunter publishers. Nothing’s going to change for y’all — Walker Books is still publishing Shadowhunters in the UK, even though a different publisher is going to publish In Fire Foretold there (due to spiciness.) ;) 

For those of you who backed the Kickstarter, that will mean you do get new Shadowhunter content between now and early 2026* — which was part of the reason I did it! I’m also talking to my new publisher about bringing Better in Black out — with at least a six month gap for the Kickstarter backers to have it to themselves — so fingers crossed. There’s also Black Volume of the Dead, the final Eldest Curses book, which is still planned and which I am still excited to write, but since it is set after Last King of Faerie, it hasn’t been scheduled yet. More news on that as it develops—for now, I wanted to talk directly about the schedule in the next couple of years, since I feel confident it is set and will reliably happen this way, something I can’t yet say about 2027 and beyond. The point is, I’m really excited to bring you Wicked Powers just as soon as it is ready, and I know enough about it to say  it’s going to be quite a ride!

And also an early look at In Fire Foretold.

[omar-bb]

notes & quotes from omar's live today

he wanted to release Red Light sooner but he and his team wanted to get it right

he's excited to headline at Gröna Lund - gonna be playing a new song there and at his other shows this summer!

"one of my favorite songs. i'm telling you, you will fucking choke when you hear that one. it's dark, it's dirty, it's groovy..."

"should I leak some of it? it would be fun for you to be able to sing along..."

"i hope it's fine by my team that I just leaked that"

"maybe it'll be the next single after Red Light. only maybe. I'm not promising anything"

someone asked about an Asia tour - "I cannot be live bc I'm gonna leak a lot of shit. But you wanna know something funny? This song .... it is actually a k-pop pitch song from start. it was made with k-pop in mind. it is not fully k-pop and now that i've been doing my touch on it, it is a little less k-pop but.. they actually wrote the song k-pop in mind."

teased doing a tour in the future

another "leak" - "I was actually meant to go to korea like right now or a month ago, like after the oscars ... i was supposed to go to korea. but it never happened. i was very sad. but maybe one day.

he had a scared moment where music started playing in the other room and he thought it was an unreleased song but it was just his alejandro tiktok lol

inspo for red light? "I didn't write the song ... it was a demo that got sent to me. at first ... it was a girl singing red light, and when i heard it the first time i was like yo this sounds like fucking rihanna ... i was like is this a long lost rihanna song? this is the greatest thing i've ever heard. and then i just fucking took it. i was like this is my song before rihanna takes it from me. and now it's my song."

Red Light music video when? "we shot a visualizer, so it's not a music video ... it's very beautiful. very stunning. i've never done anything like that. ... it's not a real music video. it's more visuals for the song."

will be doing red light on 25 may and also a new song

"you'll hear a whole new omar when you hear that song"

he has been replying to messages in his community on whatsapp and sms. they'll be leaking more stuff through there

new OMR Beauty product when? "....................... stay tuned"

"you will die when you see the next launch of OMR Beauty. that's all I'm saying. Next!!!"

will he start a fashion brand? "i don't really have the time for that unfortunately. ... not for now"

thinks he is not gonna bleach his hair

Someone asked red light spanish version when? and he sang a bit of it in spanish

omar backflip when? "when i'm in heaven"

is he going to act again?"i'm actually reading some scripts right now. just reading, it's not anything happening really yet, just testing the waters. we'll see, i would love to act. i actually miss acting, it was a fun time ... nothing will ever be like YR obviously, but just the thought of meeting new ppl, new friends, being together for a few weeks or a few months, and filming smth very special, that would be so much fun. ... i'm actually reading a really cool script right now" but more focusing on music right now

he has 40-50 new songs from the last year apparently??? Maybe i misunderstood this

album when? "don't know, we'll see" - he has a lot of songs and could drop an album but he wants it to be perfect so it'll be awhile

there will be red light merch this summer

he and edvin hang out sometimes

not doing Rix FM this year

there will not be 12 red light remixes lol "but maybe a few"

Eurovision 2025? "absolutely not. sorry not sorry." something about always being thrown out of the competition

he's stopped drinking coffee regularly and drinks matcha instead

someone suggested hoemars as the fandom name and he laughed lol

a lot is happening in May he says !! "y'all better eat good, sleep well" lolol

he said he might do another live next week once Red Light is out

[myobsessionsspace]

Pre Release of Travel Show Thoughts

This might be a bit all over the place 🙈

Just some random thoughts after talking with my friends.

Remember when Hope on the Street came out and it was on Amazon Prime. I think many of us were thinking that was the end of the set shows, programs etc that were gonna appear on Disney+ from BTS.

We’ve had a number of shows from the group since Chapter 2

I kinda forgot about their Disney deal when the talks of Jikook’s travel show started to become real. My friends and I started guessing if it would be on Weverse only, like Jimin’s Production Diary or on YouTube like Suchwita & Jin’s The Drunken Truth. We were hoping and praying it wouldn’t just be one Bangtan Episode or on a South Korean nft platform like the HYYH series Begins ≠ Youth.

To be honest we hoped for a Jikook YouTube Channel (still dreaming for one🥲), where after service they could come back and carry on with more adventures and content, but we would have settled for Prime too.

I say all of this to say, how come it’s on Disney+ again after the switch up with the last HYBE show Hope on the Street being on Prime?

It makes me wonder about the start of the show’s planning. Like Jungkook said in Suchwita it was kinda spontaneous and following a years old conversation between Jimin & Jungkook. Them seizing the opportunity of the both of them being together in New York, after Jimin went to support Jungkook’s solo debut performance.

I wonder about if Jikook knew if their application for companion enlistment had been approved yet. Many have covered in detail the program and the kinda 1 in 100 chance of getting approved for it. BTS already have done many unique things and why should their military service be any different, all members aiming to at one point in time be serving at the same time and have all completed their service to not have to worry about it again?

There’s only one other group I know of before BTS

**see comments for extra info**

Anyway back to the the point 😅. As all the members wanted to enlist and return as one unit in 2025 and with Jimin being in his last year of eligibility due to age criteria, if they hadn’t have been approved Jikook wouldn’t have been certain of being together for their 18 month military service.

It makes me wonder about their plans. If they wanted to create as many memories as they could in as many places as they could together just in case they weren’t going to be able to enlist together.

If they wanted to take the moments in between the end of FACE promotions, the little gap at the start of SEVEN promotions and the gap in between the rest of GOLDEN’s recordings, MUSE’ recording and also squeezing some more travel at the end of GOLDEN promotions, Jungkook’s Japan promotions and the Usher remix video Jungkook had to do straight after Japan.

It feels to me like Jikook knew that regardless of if they did enlist together, they wouldn’t have been able to travel as a duo for a long time as if we can take Jim as an example, the members will most likely be going straight into OT7 work mode once they complete their service in 2025.

It feels to me like if Jikook hadn’t have gotten their companion enlistment approved, the travelogue was a was to permanently keep record of the many memories they wanted to make.

That with everything on Jungkook’s plate it wouldn’t be feasible for one GCF Tokyo style video like before.

For starters their travels were on a much larger scale than their 2017 trip to Tokyo.

Not just one hotel in one destination, walking around the city, visiting some shops restaurants and Disney but multiple countries, multiple hotels, villas, camping, kayaking, yachting, skiing, indoor adventures, restaurants etc

They are way more globally recognisable than in 2017 where there were still some sightings but not as many as if it was 2023.

Jungkook and Jimin literally had to squeeze these moments in between hectic schedules tight time constraints.

It makes sense that they would utilise their company to help with areas to visit to help with descretion, with bookings, as they’d have to book out whole villas, hotel floors, activity locations etc. it makes sense that because they’d need security.

Unlike Tokyo 2017,

dropped off by their fathers and Jimin’s brother

No security detail with them at airport

Sightings around Tokyo

which was a gift to Jimin from Jungkook, where Jungkook planned everything, paid for everything, filmed everything and edited and uploaded GCFT, this time round it was for both of them. Not for one to have to shoulder the planning, payments, filming and editing.

How would they coordinate everything in the midst of recordings, rehearsals and flying around the world for international promotions?

ding ding ding

Their company and staff are still a company, whose main directive is to make money, beginning and end of it all.

I’m sure the company are nice enough to the members but how would such time, resources and expenses be written off if Jikook asked on the company to help them with security details, with flight planning, whole hotel floor booking, villa bookings, closing businesses down for the duration they wanted to visit or opening ski resorts up a day early etc.

Their airport arrival streamed by news outlets

Management and security accompaniment vs when they were spotted alone in 2017

Fans falling over to picture Jikook, camping out for hours at airports, protective barriers errected at Japanese airport for theirs and fans protection etc

Yes they are millionaires but I’m sure we all know millionaires who earned from the bottom up and are sensible with their money. We all know the members and joke about how they’ll wear expensive watches and clothes but still fight over a rice cooker as a prize or Jungkook take home hotel toiletries or ingredients from run cooking episodes etc

So for the company and staff to help Jikook make this a possibility in the time the had before enlistment how would it make sense financially? How would it benefit everyone? We know Jikook love sharing with army, Jungkook’s lives of 2023 show us, their predebut days of vlogging to now show us, Jungkook’s GCFT shows us. They share.

So a show, sure, Jikook are used to cameras, the members are able to retain their authenticity through they years since day one of being in front of a camera.

That’s it, I’ll stop cos otherwise I’ll keep on musing forever 😅

💜💛

[chussyracing]

what's been happening in the world of motorsports lately?

a long overdue summary which is not including absolutely everything but at least some important stuff. there is a lot, so i'm putting it under the read more button :)

Jack Doohan confirmed to partner Gasly in Alpine for 2025

Ferrari will be bringing upgrades for Monza (and Fernando had something to say about their performance over the next two races……)

after the court decided that Haas owes Uralkali they were told to send unspecified amount of money as unpaid sponsorship bid to them but their trucks were literally held hostage in Zandvoort (after Uralkali got help from Dutch court), not allowed to leave with the rest of the teams until the transaction was finalized and the money ended up in Uralkali’s account, but that is sorted for now so they don’t expect to miss out on Monza

Liberty Media are selling a share in F1 to have enough funds to get Moto GP

if you weren’t already tired of it, there is another rumour of Logan losing his seat mid-season, this time either to Mick or Liam Lawson that James Vowles apparently spoke to after Logan crashed in FP3 and ultimately broke the upgrades he was fitted with for the weekend (Wolff confirmed that Kimi won’t be going to Williams for the rest of the season but didn’t rule out Mick as he “offered” him to James… he might get sold to 1d you guys), there is also possibility for Franco Colapinto to actually choose from their own junior academy

Helmut Marko said that Liam Lawson will have a seat in one of their teams in 2025, Horner said he might be on loan to another team at the same time (choose your fighter)

Lewis’ current race engineer Bono (Bonnington) will stay in Mercedes and even gets a promotion as Head of Race Engineering after Lewis’ departure, while Lewis will inherit Ricky (Adami) from Carlos in Ferrari

also Checo’s race engineer is leaving for paternity leave, so they prepared a switch up to make his current performance engineer Richard Wood (sorry but you mean to tell me there is a guy and his name is Dick Wood????? in a world where Prince Albert is real well? ok) temporarily his race engineer

Toto had a lil Freudian slip and said that they had a small chance to get Max which has now passed but they are happy about their Goerge-Kimi line up for 2025

Kimi will also have junior outing in fp1 in Lewis’ car in Monza

there are rumours about a potential F1 race in Rwanda as Domenicali had more meetings to ensure that over the summer break, it should be a permanent track and not a street circuit, so I take this as a big win (now if only we took existing track and upgraded them instead of making new ones)

Lando’s gap between p1 and p2 was the biggest winning margin all season not as big as his ego though, knowing he said “simply lovely” after crossing the checkered flag as a dig at Max lol (Sauber drivers were lapped twice I think, as much for the cars being close in performance we thoughts we could see this year)

Alex was disqualified from quali in Zandvoort because his floor was outside of compliance of the rules, so he had to start from the pitlane although he got to p8 on merit

Liberty Media are officially under investigation for rejecting Andretti’s bid to become 11th team by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division

Charles is on the new edition of Beyond the Grid podcast which is now also available in video form (all I saw about it so far is that he wants to win with Ferrari only and he believes they can do it, he name dropped Elon Musk ew and he said Leo pees everywhere)

Zak Brown refused McLaren would be signing Adrian Newey

Nina Gademan was the wildcard for Zandvoort’s F1 Academy race and she SLAYED

Isotta Fraschini ends in WEC before the season is done so you won’t see the only private team on the grid for the last three races

despite (or maybe because) being Ferrari reserve driver, Robert Schwartzman got a chance to have a junior outing in fp1 for Stake in Zandvoort

FIA officially banned asymmetrical brakes in fear it could bring advantage (in turns) – it can be either a reaction to someone’s grey area shady business this year or reaction to teams questioning the new technical rules for 2026 onwards

Oscar got his rib broken because of wrong seat/seating position and it happened around Austria/Silverstone, but he is fully healed by now

Audi is looking at Mick and Liam Lawson as some potential candidates for the seat (but also Valtteri and now apparently Robert Schwartzman and Guanyu too – Valtteri because he posted an Audi car with number 77 on it, Robert because of his junior outing in fp1 and Guanyu because of possible sponsorship deals)

Helmut Marko yapped about Seb Vettel and that it is no secret besides Red Bull he was asking one or two other teams if they have a free seat for him

there was also the one Kyle guy from??? Nascar I think? thinking he is overall better driver than Max Verstappen which is honestly just a bit funny

gentle reminder that the drivers now have to be way more careful on the radio about swearing and talking about stewards and race control, because FIA will now be penalizing such behaviour as misconduct (Ben Sulayem also linked it all to online abuse which is a campaign he focused on with his presidency)

Mattia Binotto will have “full responsibility” in Audi because they are apparently happy about how much experience he has, especially in the technical department

Peter Bayer said that if it goes like that Yuki will be considered for 2025 Red Bull seat

Peter Windsor said that one driver is doing rally testing in secret and doing good results among uncertain F1 future and that he won’t tell who it is but it’s not Max (and then Val was asked about it because he could be the one with uncertain future and he denied it)

Ferrari will be switching to pull-rod front suspension for 2025

Oscar started his own app similarly to Logan

Porsche said after they failed to partner with Red Bull, they closed the F1 chapter and don’t wanna pursue another entry into the series

David Malukas is no longer jobless, he signed multiyear contract with AJ Foyt in Indycar

Zane Maloney tested with IndyCar in Indianapolis

BBS won’t be supplying wheel rims after 2026 to everyone so it will be one of the parts teams can get from any supplier they wish

Domenicali wants more changes to the weekend structure in the future – probably more sprints and less FPs or none at all (or points for them), maybe even reverse grid

(not sure if I already wrote this down in previous round up but) Nyck de Vries will go to Super Formula starting round 5

Fionn McLaughlin and Scott Linblom joined Red Bull junior academy

the complaint against Horner has been dismissed (are you kidding me)

Marta Garcia debuted in GT racing in Ligier European Series JS2 R and lost podium from the first race due to penalty only to win the second race

Zak Brown is apparently trying to take away team’s veto/voting rights for the new Concorde Agreement that is being finalized for future decisions

Adidas is apparently in talks with Audi to become their clothing partner

Juri Vips was meant to drive an indycar race but I didn’t put enough effort into this to find out if he really did teehee :)

(Bonus from my fave gossipers: They are set on Newey going to Ferrari, the talks about Aston bring up his value though, something his manager Eddie Jordan is well aware of. Also there are talks about the Ferrari upgrades for Monza and that they will be black – deleted everything else because they already posted the black merch and suits so they were right about this lol)

[sgiandubh]

"He's actually paying those PR people? Whatever for? A drunk wombat would be better at the task." I LOL'd because my god have we been asking this very question of both Sam and Cait for years. They're PR is actually the worst. It's honestly hard to believe at times. Absolutely zero idea who either of them are trying to reach. The recalibrating after that VF disaster sent Cait into hiding, I'm not sure she's done another print interview since Belfast promo ended and if the Sam articles are going to continue on this way, he can quit too. Boring.

Dear Quit Anon,

I am flattered I managed to bring a smile or even a LOL, but I am not particularly glad about it. Unlike droves of people who think this PR shitshow is sad, I actually find it mystifying.

You are right. Goddess C went into occultation after that cursed VF interview. There are clear reasons, I think, for that. Also, please take into account the fact that, despite the illusions peddled by some fuckwits in this fandom, there are many things we simply do not know (nor should we, most probably).

As for S, I guess that ever since she went totally MIA (as I said, make-up and fash-un promo don't really compensate), he is overexposing himself. On purpose. Perhaps to protect her (I think so). Certainly to hide something. Since this is no way in hell about being gay (I will die on that hill and I know I am right), the only thing he could hide is well... I don't really need to draw it, do I?

Smoke and mirrors is always a risky strategy. S simply hasn't got what it takes to play that game long term, probably for the same reasons he was never a serious shortlist candidate for Bond. At this point in time, he'd mechanically go with whatever merde du jour is thrown by his imbecile PR on the table. Still, it's high time he'd seriously pull himself together. He can do better, as I wrote in a comment: he can do NYT and he did it very well, recently. And I was glad to see that. But Metro is just disappointing, clueless and tasteless. And it's padding up a press portfolio with amiable, meaningless bullshit that goes nowhere. Or at least nowhere near he wants to be or see himself in, let's say, five years from now.

OL is going to end. It has to. It's been both a blessing and a curse, I said that before. Then, it will be high time to end the fucking Truman Show. He (abstractly) knows that, he keeps hinting about it. “I’m ready for new challenges, but also nervous about what it’s like in the real world” - for some reason, I found this phrase very telling. But I doubt he internalized what probably still feels like a safely remote occurrence, right now.

What are his real projects? For the moment, zero. Directing? I'd love to see it, but he's got no real credentials for that. Bond? I mean, publicly gushing and insisting is not going to manifest it. He needs a real movie, a good one to break that glass ceiling. Is he going to get it? I hope so. But his personal brand awareness is still low. The PR clowns should stop talking to us, in here: we are already here and not going anywhere. All of us: antis, mommies, shippers, fencers, haters, trolls. They should talk to the people who have no clue who S is, and do it differently. He should step out of his comfort zone, ditch the leeches and refuse to discuss his personal life, for a while. There, I said it.

What are her real projects? For the moment, not much. Sure, we have The Cut, where I gather her part is minimalistic, to be kind. We also have The Amateur, of which very little is known at the moment. However, if I am correct, she is not one of the leads. Enough said. And beyond that? Crickets.

Make no mistake. The real litmus test is not now. The real litmus test is 2025. And then we'll see. And I'll still be here, taking weeping Anons because I don't know who said I don't know what I don't know where. Mark me.

[staxtacular]

It's wild to me that there will prolly be a point where One Piece has more chapters in it than the rest of the ongoing series in the physical Shonen Jump magazine combined.

Next week in a post-mha world, there should be 1984 chapters in all non-OP series combined (assuming every other series is present in that issue.) Since OP will be at 1123, this'll give us a surplus of 861, which will also grow by about 20 chapters every week.

However, the three longest series after OP (Jujutsu Kaisen, Undead Unluck, and Mission: Yozakura Family) are all either in what seem to be their final arcs or at least rapidly approaching them and will likely be done within the next year or so. These three will take prolly about 850 chapters from the surplus, considerably more than they're gonna add.

For the bottom half of Shonen Jumps lineup (all under 100 chapters,) there will be some likely long runners (Kagurabachi, RuriDragon) but also some that almost certainly ain't seeing 2025 (Kyokuto Necromance, Yokai Buster Murakami.) Plus, given Shonen Jump's cutthroat nature, I'd guess around a half of the rest won't be around this time next year. These smaller series (and whatever series come after them) will nickel and dime the surplus over time, though prolly not enough to really pull it down on their own.

The middle six series (all currently between 100 and 200 chapters) I'm less sure on. Akane-banashi I expect will be around for at least a few more years. Sakamoto Days and Elusive Prince both seem like they've got at least a year but prolly not much more than 3 before they end. I don't follow Me & Roboco, Blue Box, or Witch Watch, so I can't really say if their gonna end soon or not. I'd guess that once most of these six series have ended, that's when the surplus is gonna get real low.

So while it'll prolly not be until like 2028, I'd be willing to bet One Piece's chapter count outpaces the rest of Jump before it ends. It most likely won't stay that way, it'll be funny while it lasts.

Thanks for reading

[markantonys]

Another take it with a grain of salt update from WoT Up, but he's saying a March or April release for s3!

oh! i feel like his "an amazon insider told me a leak about this studio-related information" leaks are the most unreliable of all his genres of leak haha so for my own peace of mind i will continue 100% assuming september 2025 until and unless i hear official news otherwise, and will also make this post unrebloggable so no one can yell at me for spreading false hope if it turns out to be wrong jkdfg

but let's think about this hypothetically! i do remember at a relatively recent interview (might've been the FYC panel back in the spring) rafe said something about seasons coming out "18 months to 2 years apart" which DID kinda set off my "could s3 be coming earlier?" bells a little since if the plan was september again then why wouldn't he have just said "2 years apart"?

i was also wondering recently since i was reading up on past ROP production timelines and was surprised to learn that for s2, they started filming in october 2022, aka AFTER the current season had aired, and still got the season out a little less than 2 years later, end of august 2024. similarly, s2 is almost done airing and they haven't yet started filming s3*. this is quite a contrast to WOT starting filming s3 in spring 2023, 6 months BEFORE the currently-upcoming season would air and 2.5 years before a september 2025 airdate for the currently-filming season. so if you look at it that way, it could be entirely possible that they're trying to move WOT onto a spring schedule instead, either a permanent every-other-spring schedule to replace the current every-other-fall, or a permanent every-18-months instead of every-2-years.

(WOT s2 also started filming before s1 had aired, i believe, but s1's entire production schedule was so fucked and all-over-the-place because of covid and i think cast & crew have mentioned that even s2 filming got hampered by covid to a greater extent than we might think, so it's not the most useful for production schedule comparisons.)

(*on a similar note, the strikes must've had major ripple effects through the industry that are still manifesting now, so it's impossible to say whether ROP s3 not appearing that close to production yet is intentional or a result of the strikes. it would be equally fruitless to try guessing at what a spring airdate for WOT s3 might mean about the fate of s4. but i'm not going to worry that WOT s3 starting to air without s4 being underway yet Must Mean the show is cancelled, because we're seeing now with ROP s2 & s3 that that isn't at all the case! s2 is almost done airing, and not only is there no s3 filming start date in sight, i don't think they've even officially announced that s3 is happening! although the showrunners have unofficially said so. thus, i think we still have a pretty long time before we have any real cause to start getting nervous about WOT s4.)

oh, and my final musing is that i'd wondered before if fallout could perhaps be joining WOT and ROP in the category of prime's big-budget long-time-to-make scifi/fantasy shows. if so, then maybe they're wanting to get 3 shows rotating every 6 months with 1.5 years between each season of the same show, rather than 2 shows rotating every year with 2 years between each season. again, even if they did have a plan like this in mind (which, who knows), there's no telling how the strikes might have affected it, but it's an interesting possibility to ponder.

[verladyweek]

DAY SEVEN: All things end, Dante. Even Verlady Week.

Verlady Nation, I am so happy to be a part of you and to have been a small part of this amazing event week. While the day is not quite over yet, it's getting late in my part of the world, and I want to take the opportunity to say a few things before we all give ourselves and each other a well-deserved pat on the back and say farewell to Verlady Week 2024.

First of all: Thank. You. To all of you. To each and everyone who left a like, shared a post, saw a post and forwarded it to their one (1) friend who they thought could maybe get a kick out of it. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time out of their day to hop over to AO3 and leave a kudos or even a comment on one of the (so far) EIGHTEEN! (pardon my excitement, but that number necessitates all-caps) wonderfully intriguing short stories that have been created for this week - and I know that there are still some stories in the works that are not quite done editing yet. To put this number into perspective, there are - as of the moment of me writing this post - 131 stories in the Lady/Vergil tag on AO3. Which means that almost 14% of all VL stories on AO3 were created in the span of this event week.

Like. You guys. Are beasts. And I say that with awe and adoration.

Thank you to everyone who shared a song - I made a Spotify playlist out of the suggestions and will share it in the masterpost I will compile sometime in the next week.

Thank you for sharing your headcanons and your personal thoughts regarding the intricacies of how you view Verlady's dynamic.

Thank you for all the funny memes! For the photo manipulations! For the renders! Thank you for sharing how Verlady has influenced your real life in small ways, like tiny heart/cheeks on your fingernail.

And I know that was already a very long section of "first of all", but I just wanted to add one last thing:

Thank you so much for every single person who has started a project inspired by this event, regardless of whether you actually finished and shared it or not! All I ever hoped for, was that people would find ways to enjoy this ship and maybe even engage with each other, and I am so happy to say that you have literally made my whole week, I am completely blown away by all of your hard work and the love and support you show each other.

You can still share any works you have not finished yet, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, it doesn't matter, I got you. Just yell at me give me a ping and I'll reblog your post and add you to the masterlist!

If I have - for whatever reason - NOT reblogged a post you made for this event, please reach out to me! I am so sorry. I promise it was a genuine mistake on my part. I check the event tag regularly, but I might have missed a post or two by accident.

Now, second of all: some of you have already expressed that they would like to see this event return, and I absolutely 100% agree. Next Verlady Week will run from September 8th to September 14th 2025 - and if you happen to have the time or energy for a side hustle, there's always VXLENTINE'S DAY 2025 on February 14th.

Before I go into more detail about the latter, I want to talk about the former for just one more second: I will post a link to a Google form sometime next week, allowing you to anonymously suggest prompts that you'd like to explore or see others explore for Verlady Week 2025. I actually have this huge mountain of unused prompts leftover from brainstorming this year's event, but if any of you have any unfinished WIPs and you think that "oh well, maybe participating in next year's event is that final push of Motivation(TM) I need to finally finish this", then please, toss a fitting suggestion my way and I will do my best to include it. Or if there is any concept you've always wanted to explore with Vergil and Lady, just yell at me over on Google Forms, or in my DMs (@verladyweek or @kintsugicore) or just write a frenzied post here on Tumblr one morning, explaining in excruciating detail how you are haunted by visions of Vergil accidentally becoming a stripper and Lady running into him on her friend's bachelorette party and I will probably nod in agreement and mutter "I bet that is all just one of Dante's elaborate ploys to do the And Now Kiss(TM) with them" and add something like Striptease to the prompt sheet.

There will not be any prompt voting because VXLENTINE'S taught me that there are certain limitations to how well I can restructure my RL to allow me pockets of time to organize forms and polls and put together necessary graphics, etc. But as of now, I don't think voting is necessary. Verlady nation is tiny, and if any of you want to suggest any prompts (would love ideas for any misc. prompts, tbh!), I think it will be easy to fit at least one suggested prompt per person into next year's prompt sheet!

Now. VXLENTINE'S! I am so so sorry that I didn't manage to put together a poll or a prompt post yet. To simplify the process of choosing the next prompt, I have decided to show you the suggestions I received and explain which suggestion I chose to use and why.

Now, different first meeting is the one person who left empty-handed, but I have decided to carry that prompt over to Verlady Week 2025 instead (so, there's your first prompt, ha!)

VXLENTINE'S DAY 2025 will have the prompt "Sweet Surprise" because I felt it checked the most boxes for prompts suggested. It can be made to fit for a gift, but also for a blind date or first date or any of the other things person #2 suggested, really. Technically, depending on how you envision that Different First Meeting, it could probably work for that one, too.

I will make a proper announcement post for next year's VXLENTINE'S DAY when the dust has settled for a bit and we've all had time to read through everyone's wonderful contributions to Verlady Week and the stress we may have experienced the past few days no longer feels as draining. (And again, you were all so amazing! You did so well! You've put the D in Dedication.)

To close out this already very long post: Verlady Nation is probably among the tiniest little fringe existences in this fandom. It was so nice to be a little louder than we usually are. Thank you again, so much. I hope to see you again in February, and maybe September 2025!

Godspeed and keep on shipping!

[evansblues]

Hi dear EvansBlues,

Red Flower,

I just wanted to share another message I received, because I'll be less present on Tumblr these next few weeks, but I'll stay tuned to all your interventions, of course. ;)

It's about CE's career in general. There's something going on in his team right now, like a kind of catch-up strategy. It's all over the place, because they realize that as soon as they develop something, it doesn't work for very long and quickly the flaws show up. Instead of making things better, they make them worse. There's also a lot of resentment from CE towards some of his friends, I don't know which ones. He can't get rid of them yet because he doesn't have the strength, but as soon as the relationship with AB is over, there'll be a change in tone. During the festive season perhaps, early January. I hear him said : I'm fed up with your bullshit ! You don't help me, you make me feel worse than anything else ! He is going to have a severe row with some.

There's also something with his mother, as if contact had been interrupted for many months and the holidays would bring them together, but there's a lot of resentment on both sides. She blames him for recklessly exposing the family, and he blames her for his lack of compassion and impulsiveness.

The Shift is coming and it's for 2024. We will all face it too from a personal standpoint ! If you think that what's happening now is complicated, the time after AB will be just as complex. That will be the real challenge for him.

He won't have much work to do in the coming year. He'll be announcing things but nothing concrete will come of it, it'll just be to say that he's not done, but no major projects will be proposed to him. In 2025 or 2026, he's going to make a very great movie. It's going to be a drama, he won't have the lead but he'll be important in it and people's perception of him will change at that point. It's a film that will allow him to explore his true dark side. We won't see him acting, but interpreting his characters from then on. After that, I see directors who had never thought of him before say to themselves : maybe there's something to do with this guy ? It's as if maturity has given him extra charisma. He's going to be surprised by this sudden change in tone about him in the industry, because he'd made up his mind that he wasn't being taken seriously. He'll want to surprise with every movie, as this will become his trademark.

That's why everything is perfect. What happened recently had to happen for him to achieve this result. Could he have done otherwise ? Of course he could have ! But it was his soul's choice to learn this way. We're just spectators of his evolution. A tragic and pathetic show but you have to admit, it doesn't leave you indifferent. Again, don't get too emotionally invested in this because you have no control over it, as it's not your life but CE's. The only difference between him and you is that any lessons he learns are public.

Once again, thank you Evansblues for everything, your knowledge and great spirit. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, it lifts the ambient energy and that's all that matters.

Namaste. Infinite Gratitude ;)

Ooo predictions.

[strscrossed]

fic schedule roughly for the next 8 months

it hasn't been a good year for updates or my imagination. but my aot juices have been flowing much in the last week thanks to all the new stuff and well...though i'd update y'all on my wips for the rest of the year and first half of 2025.

so my updates are: warlord, royalty, alg in that order but there are one shots i am writing as well. so just know what's next in terms of multichapter wips.

victorian serial killer au: i'm making it a christmas treat (so like during that week). i'm sorry i wanted to write it fast but unfortunately thanks to real life (as well fighting this damn cold) and being in a rut thanks to the election, i'm pushing it. i want it to actually be good. so i'm reworking the whole outline and motivations. if the fic gets too long i'll split it up but i intend to finish the whole thing before posting it.

monsterfucker au: i revamped the whole concept so while most of it will stay the same, it'll be more of a meetcute and it will end with them starting their life together after running away. it also has a name! possibly a february/march release.

swiss summer au: probably early summer 2025. i'm not trying to stretch myself too thin here.

zine fic (milfkasa omegaverse au): i'll be posting this on ao3 on january 25th!

royalty au 9: this will be my next update! i'm hard at work and plan to update this some time in the next week or two!

alg: i've been feeling really inspired with this fic lately so i'm probably aiming for very late november or early-ish december.

warlord 11: this probably won't be posted till the new year thanks to everything else but now that it's halfway done and we've gotten to the actual but parts, i might be better motivated.

[crawlthesky]

general screencap project: monthly progress – october 2024

[cracks knuckles] alright, let's get to it.

screencap 12 episodes a month (10/12 done) bakugan 01 beyblade x 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 ouran 01 pokemon 01, 02, 03

organize 24 episodes a month (11/24 done) beyblade g-revolution 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 beyblade x 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

forgot to screenshot before → after progress for the organizing stuff but meh, i probably won't be super focused on getting progress shots this time around anyway, so whatever.

overall, not the worst start i could've had. much like the digimon project, any progress is better than none at all. and i definitely managed some things!

that being said, i can already see i'll have to shift stuff come 2025. screencap a little more, organize a little less – organizing is a nightmare, really, to motivate myself for. it's just so boring compared to actually getting the episodes done lol

project-wise... i don't have any real direction at the moment, but i'll be in spinning tops hell for a bit at least. trying to finish up g-revolution finally because i've been putting it off for way too damn long, and once it's done, i just have to tackle the movie at some point to finish up bakuten shoot. and then i'm trying to catch up on x because wow i fell behind and season 2 is already going and [screams]. if i manage both of those, maybe i can finally start screencapping metal fight next year...

at any rate, there's october done! hopefully november will treat me a little better.

[lastoneout]

hi idk if you're a huge kalos fan but how are you feeling about the direct

I haven't watched it yet, but ngl Kalos wasn't my favorite OR my least favorite pokemon game, I was pretty neutral on it overall. My main complaint was how annoying the map was to traverse before you got fly, but aside from that it was fine, introduced some cool pokemon and had a decent plot. Tbh for the next Legends game I would have preferred Jhoto, but eh. It's not a huge deal to me.

My real issue is that it's a little hard to get excited about it when I know how bad crunch is at Game Freak and that despite saying they were reevaluating their tight release cycle bcs like, ScarVi was borderline unplayable at launch and Arceus got abandoned the second they were done with it despite being the most popular game in years....I just have no faith that this game will be good, or at least it won't be anywhere near as good as it has the potential to be :/

I hope I'm proven wrong tho, and I don't think it's wrong to be excited about the game, something something no ethical consumption and I'd be a major hypocrite if I told people to drop any game company that has bad practices bcs almost all of them do, I just can't get hype. I was really, really hoping Game Freak would slow the hell down and stop making new games for a couple of years, put all of their focus on gen 10 and release that maybe in 2026 or 2027, but nope gotta make that money even if the games we release are falling apart at the seams and our devs are working on two or three projects at once.

And like, given the current trend in decreasing quality I'm genuinely unsure if the game is even going to be functional enough to be worth playing, especially since I figure to hit a 2025 release they probably started working on this right after Arceus came out, and there has simply not been enough time to make this game good. Plus there were a lot of points in ScarVi where I legit just wanted to put the game down and stop playing entirely bcs the graphics and glitches and framerate drops started to make me annoyed and dizzy, and once I was done with the main story I lost like all motivation to keep playing(I like finishing my dex, I did it in Sw/Sh and Let's Go and have almost done it in BDSP and Arceus, but I don't care about ScarVi's dex at all), and I haven't even bought the DLC yet. Tbh I'm probably not even gonna pre-order this, I'm waiting till it's out to decide if I want to buy it or not.

Anyway sorry to be a buzzkill, I don't fault anyone for being excited, I've loved Pokemon for more than half my life, it helped me meet my fiancé, it really means so SO much to me, so I get it, but like....I think I love the series too much to get excited for this. Seeing what Pokemon is turning into is just...painful and sad. I hope y'all enjoy it tho, and who knows, I could be wrong, maybe it will be fantastic and super polished and we can all breathe a sigh of relief bcs they got their shit together! That would be nice.

Edit: I do want to say I'm glad it has been 3 years instead of the usual 2, and I'm VERY glad they didn't announce gen 10, but unless the scope of this game is narrow as fuck and they also don't release until like November-December 2025 AND this team was NOT the same team who worked on ScarVi's DLC that is still not enough time to make a game with the scope they've been establishing as their new baseline. TOTK took SIX years to finish. Elden Ring's DLC was built on top of an existing game and it still took TWO whole years just to make it. Most open-world games take a really, really long time. Adding an extra year is great, but they need to be taking a lot longer than that between games. This is a step in the right direction, but it's not enough to inspire confidence.

[chussyracing]

what's been happening in the world of motorsports?

(this is a long one since i had no time to write it down, so it will be hidden under the cut in relative chronological order)

Williams and Alpine were the last teams to do their shakedowns before pre season testing (Williams announced it was a strategic move to keep the real car concept a secret for as long as possible)

Helmut Marko has been saying a lot about Ferrari and 2025 Ferrari like that he thinks Lewis only came to Ferrari because Max earning more hurt his pride and Ferrari offered him a bigger pay check or that he considers Charles 2024 season's champion (ok grandpa, let's get you to bed)

after Alpha Tauri departed as title sponsor of current RB team, they became official clothing partner of FIA from 2024 to 2026

RBR was the last team to have their launch (although the livery looks just the same as it did before and although the car leaked a few hours before) and Horner was present just like he is at the pre season testing, he gave an interview during the launch where he denied any allegations, but Viaplay suggested he will be stepping away from the position of Red Bull team principal and it will be announced on 28th Feb which they promptly denied afterwards. Walls Street Journal speculated the victim is Horner's personal assistant and apparently people already spied who it is on Linked in and then made it big on Twitter. If you have names, please PLEASE do not publish them. And finally Craig Slate who followed the case from the start and spoke to related personnel said the investigation is now finished the report (close to 150 pages long) was delivered to the Red Bull Board and now we are awaiting the decision. In the meantime both F1 and FORD urged for prompt resolution of the case.

F1 also officially addressed the situation but only to say they hope RBR resolve it asap

McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted they will be doing something similar to last year in terms of updates, because they wanted to add more to this year's concept before launch, so they will push the updates forward and expect early gains from them

F1 Academy announced more drivers and partnerships: they have partnered Charlotte Tilbury make up brand to have their own livery and Lola Lovinfosse as a driver (for Rodin), Jessica Edgar will drive for Rodin as well, Reema Juffali as wildcard driver for Prema for the first round in Jeddah and FDA driver Aurelia Nobels driving a Puma livery for ART. The grid is now complete and girls are training for first race.

Nico Rosberg broke his silence over the contract news and denied the rumours he would be coming back to Mercedes, because he now has great respect for the dangers of the sport (he also said that besides living close, Lewis gives his kids Chrismas presents every year

Fabio Quartararo claimed that Pierro Ferrari let him know about Lewis coming to Ferrari when he visited Maranello

it was Enzo Ferrari's birthday anniversary on 18th February (or was it?? nobody will ever know when he was actually born and how long it took his father to announce it to the authorities), then it was Niki Lauda's birthday anniversary on 22nd Feb and finally Alain Prost's birthday was on 24th Feb

three day long F1 pre season testing is over and RBR seems to be clear favorite, with almost no reliability issues (spare a few fuel pumps and Checo's brakes catching fire for a bit) but Red Flags still appeared because of loose drain covers [side note: I have detailed summary of each day if anyone is interested as well as some technical analysis and predictions]

fun fact about some changes in testing: Alpine seems to have added a bit more blue color onto the nose and Mercedes changed their suspension for the last day of testing, because their car features a clever solution which allows them to fine tune the suspension setting for each race

Jeff Dodds the CEO of Formula E believes that F1 title for 2024 is done and dusted after he saw the first day of testing and promised to donate 250k to charity of drivers choice if they win instead

We have an F1 group pic to look forward to which we already saw some glimpses from teams like McLaren

Aston Martin presented their new safety car (personal opinion it looks like a green zebra and I liked last year's so much more)

Sauber confirmed Zane Maloney and Theo Pourchaire as reserve drivers for 2024

4 teams complained about Mercedes front wing but FIA deemed it legal

Fred Vasseur confirmed that Ferrari didn't publish the lenght of Charles' and Lewis' contracts for strategic purposes, he also mentioned they are still waiting for compensation for Las Vegas drain cover damage on Carlos' car (and now they may try to ask for the same for floor damage from pre season testing), speaking of Lewis he said that Fred was the main push for him to come to Ferrari and he didn't have to think much about it and didn't even tell his parents until the day of announcement, one of the things he wants to focus on is the diversity of the team

Steve Nielsen who left FIA returned to F1 as a consultant, Guenther Steiner will return in the paddock as RTL presenter and Matia Binotto returns to the world of racing with E-Powertrain of TEXA

there are rumours of issues for Audi caused by two main figures of team possibly leaving

Este said he's like to try Le Mans

FIA warned fans there are two companies claiming to sell unauthorised F1 hospitality ticket packages

if you follow F1 on Sky Sports, David Croft will miss 3 races this year because of his wedding and a wish to spend more time with family among the expanding calendar

RacingNews365 estimated driver salaries for 2024 (Max 55m dollars, Lewis 45m, Charles 34m, Lando 20m and George 18m for the top 5 highest earning ones)

Ralph Schumacher tried to get into the headlines when he said he thinks that Sebastian Vettel wants to race again but Mercedes would be too big for him

F1 and Nascar might be infringing the IMS trademarked phrase "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" (because F1 uses "the greatest spectacle in motorsport"

after McLaren Reece partnership, Haas partnered with Palm Angels for luxury clothing and speaking of fashion, Ferrari introduced their fall/winter 24-25 collection this weekend

Google extended the partnership with McLaren to not just be primary partner for their F1 team but also Extreme E

FIA wants to close up a loophole in the costcap rules about part time and third party workers and include their full year salary into the budget (did teams use it to gain small advantage? perhaps yes. but we should have a talk about possible obstacle this makes for teams to find new workers among "undiscovered" talents)

from fan's point of view:

Guanyu did a photoshoot for Elle Men China (and slayed)

Charles was in Uzbekistan before pre season testing for an event with fans (and for skiing apparently)

Lewis posted a thirst trap from his work out session

Pierre apparently posted a pic (video?) of being stopped by police and performing an alcohol test and later deleted it

Charles with his boytoys made another ad during karting

Arthur Leclerc randomly came on Twitch to stream Fortnite (and mentioned he will say Hello everybody, because he can't pronounce Hello guys 😭)

Lewis hung out with Anna Wintour (for Baftas? I think)

multiple drivers played golf and padel together before the Bahrain gp

REMINDER: the first two gps will be held on Saturday, so don't miss out

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

Megaman Production Art Scan of the Day #1031:

Rockman.EXE Axess Episode 29 (Part A) Storyboards [Pages 48 and 49~ish]

Hastily Translated Summary: [Page 48] 115 - Pan down, inside the IPC research facility Gravityman materializes into the real world 116 - Gravityman looks like he's searching for something He looks left, then right, then ends straight forward before moving on [Page 49~ish] Part A ~ Eye Catch [END]

And with this, so comes to an end this set, as well as being the last unscanned storyboard pages I own. As of now, at least. Since I don't have Part B, sorry you don't get to see any of the Gravity fight, nor the transformation of Blues fully into Dark Blues. Also at this point, I think I'm going to take an extended break. October 1st will officially be the 4th anniversary since I started this little project (I still might post something on that day). And while I'm still technically 64 days away from a full 3 years worth of posts since 2020, trying to be fairly consistent at posting this long does get draining at times. The grind is hard, for anyone trying to have daily content online. So massive respect for those who try, and can pull it off! I started trying to get these scans all on my Google Photos, but couldn't keep up. I was going to try to upload a lot of these at the wiki, but I just can't get time. So maybe if I just stop until the new year starts, I can get a little of that work done, finally. Holiday seasons are just so busy anyhow. Plus, I don't even know how we are going to do Secret Santa this year, with dA group changes, among other issues. So I just need to focus my free time efforts elsewhere, for a bit. Still plenty more settei and genga scans/rescans to come! But for now, most likely little here or on the Twit/Sky until 2025. Thanks for understanding! Full Resolution Scans: Page 48 - https://imgbox.com/0CLsgGOg Page 49~ish - https://imgbox.com/zekJy73T