#AND I ONLY THOUGHT THIS UP ON MY 4TH REWATCH

[1nephthys]

Okay, First, I love your writing. Second, could you please make and imagine base on grey's anatomy? Like, I'm rewatching grey's anatomy, you know when Derek loses that pregnant patient, and then he goes into exile in the forest, and when Meredith goes to the forest saying that she knows about the wedding ring and she wants it, and then he throws the ring in the woods, and afterwards he laments that he lost her. I love that scene, I need an angst similar to this for Charles, I don't know, it might be inspired by last year when he flies to Monaco and binotto had to pick him up. With fluff in the end pleaaaaaase

The ring.

Thank you so so much, also thank you for the request! It took a second and I changed it a little bit but I hope you still enjoy it!!

Part 2!!:)

Word count:~4.9k

Warning: my English and as requested - angst; little, tiny suggestion of smut.

Four years ago.

Charles' mom stood up with a smile on her face announcing that it was time for her to do the dishes. She prepared the biggest dinner she ever had done before when her son finally decided that he want to introduce his girlfriend he was talking about for so long. She had always seen those sparks in his eyes when he was bragging about her.

"Let me help you." Y/n stopped herself from adding "Mrs. Leclerc" as the older woman told her not to do it because she felt old.

She also stood up but Pascale touched her arm and said "You stay there sweetheart, you are our guest tonight" She said to the girl with warm tone "Charles will help me." She looked at her son right beside y/n and he stood up and pick up both of their plates without any protest.

Y/n got herself in conversation with his brother, Lorenzo about something while her boyfriend was washing the plates in his mom's kitchen. "And? What do you think about her, mama?" He asked quietly, afraid that his girlfriend might hear from the other room.

"I don't know. I just met her but she seems really lovely. And with the way you look at each other, I feel like I will have to like her" She answered his son and it made him so happy. He might had a few girlfriends before and he always asked his mom for her opinion about them but never once her answer was this satisfying.

"I think I'm going to give her the ring dad gave me." He told her. They were dating only for a few months so his mom was actually terrified, even though her son looked like he was really in love. The ring he was talking about was really important to Charles because his father brought it for when his boys find the right girl. He noticed every thought on his mother's face, so he added quickly "Relax. I'm not planning to propose now... But when it's the right time, I really love her mama. I just feel it's her"

His mother could just smile at his statement because she - as well - felt like this is the one for her son.

---

Back to the present.

"...and Charles Leclerc finish his home grand-prix right behind the podium, at 4th place!" Everybody could hear through the speakers. Everybody in the Ferrari garage cheered, not for Charles but for Carlos who manage to finish second in this race. Y/n on the other hand knew, that her boyfriend wanted more. She was there before race, when all he could talk about finally starting from the pole position and having the win within his reach but his team failed him.

He got out of the car, mad to the point that he didn't even want to scream and yell at anyone, just stay quiet. He didn't even go for a hug with y/n like he ALWAYS does after race. He just wanted to finish his interviews and go home.

And that was exactly what he did. He told the interviewer about his disappointment, trying to control himself with the rest of the faith he had in his team.

He took a quick shower as y/n waited in his driver' room. The drive home was quiet. Y/n didn't forget to congratulate her boyfriend but when all she got in response was quiet "thanks" and glossy eyes she knew that he didn't really want to speak now. She decided to wait 'till he was ready to talk to her.

"I'm going to take a shower again" Charles said. Both of them knew that this shower was just an excuse to spend time alone and cool down. Before he had gone to the bathroom, he checked his phone, which was on the dnd since his warm-up back before the race.

Hey mate, congrats on P4!

We have to celebrate!

There's an afterparty in *name of the club* you have to come with y/n!

He read all three messages from his best friend, Pierre and he really, really wanted to throw his phone out of the window at the first one.

"Pierre asks if we want to go to the afterparty" Charles asked y/n looking at her with his phone in his hands.

"We can, only if you want" She answered, still worried about her boyfriend mood.

"I will tell him we will be there." He said while putting his phone down and heading straight to the bathroom, before y/n had any chance to say something.

She decided it was best if she also took a quick shower in the guest bathroom of their house and started getting ready. She put on some makeup and a comfortable, yet pretty outfit and she was ready to leave. She was ready but the shower was taking Charles longer time than usual so she decided to knock gently on the door.

"Charles, sweetheart? It's already 8 p.m. Just letting you know" She said through the dark wood. What she did not expect was her lover opening the door with an angry face.

"Jesus, will you at least let me shower in peace? Or I can't do that too?" He asked her angrily, passing her on his way to the bedroom to put on some clothes and leave. She didn't even answer him because he didn't give her time for that and she wouldn't had know what to say anyways. "We can go" He told her, grabbing his keys and walking to the car, without turning around.

She let out a long breath and stopped herself from saying anything, as she knew it was already a rough day for him. Even though his cold tone hurt her a bit. She already knew that she wasn't drinking tonight because he was going to get wasted. She closed their apartment and sit in the passenger seat.

Charles got to the club pretty fast but all the drivers were already there most of them on their third drink. As always, he passed his car keys to y/n and she put them in her purse. They entered the club and Charles went straight to buy drinks.

"I'm not going to drink tonight. You feel free though. I will be with the girls." She told him. She for sure will keep an eye on him but she had mixed feelings and was afraid of him attacking her again. So, she kissed his cheek and was off towards Lily and Kika that were dancing together on the dancefloor.

She greeted both of them and she was glad that it was just like every time they were at a party because she really didn't feel like explaining that her boyfriend was mad at her for a bad race result.

It was already some time at the party and Y/n's mood was actually better now, she had a great time with the girls. Charles also seemed like he was having fun, he definitely did not want to save any money on drinks.

It was around 1 a.m. that y/n noticed that he was leaving the club so she quickly grabbed her purse and said her goodbyes to go after him.

"Charles! Charles!" She yelled after him as he was walking in the opposite direction of their house and totally ignored her. "Charles, wait! I can't catch up!" She yelled which made him stop in his track.

"Maybe I want you to not catch up, huh? I just want you all to leave me fucking alone! Today was shit and I don't really need more of your shit on top of it!" He yelled back.

"Charles, you are drunk, let me take you home, and then you can be alone all you want. Please, c'mon." She said quietly. She was actually glad that he tried to run away from her because at least they were far enough from the club that people outside can't hear them over loud music. Now he might not care about it but he would when he sober up and read headlines and messages from his PR management.

"No. I'm not going with you anywhere. You can go back to having fun with the girls" He said with a mocking tone. He never seemed to mind her dancing with others when they were at the party together so she was surprised at this. "At least you will leave fucking alone. You know what all of this go fucking nowhere. I thought you would be there for me but I feel like I can't count on you, too" He said.

Oh.

"Charles, you can always count on me, I'm here whenever you want to talk to me. I thought that wasn't what you want. And I'm so, so sorry for misunderstanding you. Please, let's go home and talk." She tried again. She actually felt like shit but there wasn't much she could do now, when he was this drunk.

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you." He said and reached into his pocket taking out a beautiful ring, the one his dad gave him. "You know what, I was so fucking sure you were the one to get it..." She knew it, she knew it for years, she just waited. "But fuck this stupid ring, because I can't imagine someone else wearing it and for sure not you now." He finished his sentence by throwing the ring in whatever direction.

Both of their eyes were on it for a second but they both lost it before it hit the ground. She stood there. Stunned by his words and stunned by him throwing the ring that was so important to him.

"Go away." He added, as if what he just did and said wasn't enough. She didn't know what to say or do. So she did actually turn around and started walking in the opposite direction, to their shared apartment, holding her tears for dear life.

The walk home took her longer than usual, on her way she was repeating everything in her head. When she looked through her small purse she noticed his car keys which suddenly made her feel guilty, she just hoped that someone would help Charles get home safe, even after he hurt her.

What she didn't know, was that Pierre was already there. He also was bloody worried about Charles, so he get out of the club not far behind her. When he noticed she started walking in her direction and Charles in totally opposite, right after he threw away the ring he told him so much about, he knew he needed to run after his best friend. He had a few drinks too, but he definitely felt better now.

"Charles!" He yelled. And this time, Charles actually stopped and break out in tears.

"I lost her mate, I'm so fucking stupid" He put his palms on his eyes, to stop the tears from running down his face but there was no use in it. "And I lost it too!"

"Charles, you know she won't give up that easily. And you still have a chance in the championship. You did not lose it yet." Pierre tried to cheer up his friend, he put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not talking about championship, mate. The ring. Why did I even do it? I will never fucking find it, I was just so angry and-" His cries were getting worst and worst so Pierre decided to call for a taxi before somebody take a picture that would be all over internet by tomorrow morning.

'Charles Leclerc crying outside the club! There's no more alcohol for him!'

'Charles Leclerc lost the chance for the championship and his long-term girlfriend in one day! That man must had f**k up in his previous life'

Yeah, that was not something he should be dealing with in one week.

He texted Kika too, explained the whole situation, and told her she could stay and he would ask Alex and Lily to get her home later but she said she want to go home too.

All three of them get into a taxi, Charles still sobbing, now also telling the couple about all his happy moments with his love. "I told her I can't count on her. While all I fucking did this whole day was throw mean comments at her. Or comment. I didn't talk to her the whole day. And she still tried to get me home. Because she was worried about me. I'm the worst boyfriend ever. Now probably ex-boyfriend actually. I lost the girl of my dreams mate, I waited so long to ask her to marry me and now I fuck all of this up. Four years mate, four years. And I never once regretted any second of it. But now she probably thinks I am." The car stopped. "I will never forgive myself, so how can she forgive me?"

"We are here." The taxi driver said.

Pierre and Kika thanked the heavens for that, because the drive never felt this long. Pierre paid the driver, with an apologizing, small smile hoping that the old man will not told the media about what just happened in his car.

Both he and Kika get him to the lift and then to their apartment and laid him on the bed in their guest bedroom.

"No, mate. I have to go to y/n. I have to apologize. And I have to find her ring before someone else does it." Charles argue but he gave up quickly when Pierre hold his shoulders down with Kika and that was enough for Charles to not be able to stand up.

"You will do that tomorrow, mate. It will be better if you catch some sleep now." Pierre said but Charles already had his eyes closed. He looked at Kika with understanding eyes and she returned the look. They both quietly exited the room to get to sleep themselves.

---

First thing Charles felt the next morning was his head. The pain was terrible, but as he looked around and noticed he isn't in his bedroom with his sweet girlfriend, he remembered the events of last night, and suddenly the headache wasn't so bad.

He want to the kitchen, where Pierre was already standing looking for something in the fridge. He turned around when he heard footsteps.

"Charles." He looked at his best friend. He didn't look any better than last night. His eyes were red and puffy his shirt was stained, probably with alcohol. "You should take a shower."

"Did you hear from y/n?" He asked straight away. He might be hella drunk, but he wasn't the type to forget the whole night because of it.

"Go take a shower first. We will eat breakfast and I will drive you home." Pierre told his best friend. He actually did hear from y/n last night, way later than both of them left the club she texted him, asking if he knew if Charles was okay. The next thing she asked after she was told that Charles was with her was not to tell him that she asked. And Pierre was actually on her side in this.

Charles had enough of arguments, so he did as his best friend said and closed himself behind the door. He noticed a clean set of clothes on the counter and he knew it was meant for him to borrow.

After his quick shower, he put on Pierre's shirt and pants and left the bathroom to join his best friend and Kika at the table. He sat at the chair that had a plate ready in front and he noticed the small piece of metal right next to it.

His eyes instantly became teary as he grabbed it with his right hand. "But- how?" that was all he managed to get out of his mouth as he lifted his gaze from the ring to his best friend's face.

"Yesterday after we left I told some guys about the ring. We left and they were looking for it. Carlos bring it earlier this morning. He said it took them over an hour to find it but at least it is here." Pierre explained.

He couldn't even explain in words how grateful he was for his friends, he made a mental note to thank his teammate and friend for it.

"I- I don't know what to say. Thank you, Pierre. Thank you, guys." He looked at Kika, too. "It would be even worst without you"

"I accept thanks in the form of wedding invitations." Pierre commented which got him a kick under the table from Kika. Was it too soon for that kind of joke? "Sorry, but you really have to apologize to her, mate. What you did yesterday was shitty."

"Okay, less talking, more eating. The faster you eat, the faster you will get to explain yourself." Kika reminded both of them. That left them without any comment as they both looked at each other, Pierre with a little smirk while Charles - still not in the mood for jokes.

"I think I will take a taxi" Charles said after they ate. Pierre just nodded his head, as much as he wanted to hear his best friend and his other half makeup, he knew that it should be done just between them.

Charles grabbed the ring, put it in his pocket, and left the apartment when he read the text that the taxi was already there. He felt like the drive took hours, when in fact it was only ten minutes. But it was enough time to overthink what was waiting for him at home. He even considered that all of his things were already packed and waiting for him at the door.

He, finally, got out of the car and made his way towards the lift to get to their apartment. He didn't even have his keys so he really hoped she would open the door for him.

It took him one knock at the piece of wood and only a few seconds for her to open it. As if she was already waiting for him.

"Charles." She said quietly, trying to control her voice so bad so it won't break, like she had any chance fighting the tears in her eyes.

"Y/n," He said, not doing any better. He considered so many options what would happen when he get there, yet he had no idea what to say now, that she actually opened the door. "Can I come in?" He asked her, realizing they still standing in the hall.

"It's your house as well" She answered and moved a little aside.

They both walked to the living room and Charles looked around. Their pictures together were still all around. Not a single one was moved. As if nothing had happened, as if he didn't throw away her propose ring right in front of her before she even get it.

"Y/n I- I don't know what I was thinking. I want to say sorry to you, but that's not enough for what I did. Never ever did I want you to leave me alone, I was frustrated by the race and the team but I had no rights to take it out on you. I'm sorry for blaming you for not being there when actually I'm the one that can't communicate. I know I can count on you and you can count on me, I will spend my whole lifetime proofing that to you if it is what it takes for you to forgive me." They both had tears streaming down their faces but that didn't matter now as Charles grabbed both Y/n's hands and squeezed them to tell her that what he was saying was meant from deep of his heart. "I'm not sure if you can do that but if you are, please take all the time that you need. I just really need you to know that I would go with you anywhere, just tell me where and I promise you I will be right by your side."

"Charles, I can't tell you that I'm alright- that we're alright because I am hurt" She said which had him in another wave of tears "But I will not throw away all those years together. But I really need time."

"Cherie, please take as much time as you need, just never leave me, please." Charles begged her but she didn't trust her voice enough this time, so all she did was pull him close for a hug.

So Charles was willing to give her time. As much as she needed. Even when the ring in his pocket were more and more heavy.

---

One year later, Monaco Grand-Prix.

"And finally, after many years Charles Leclerc finish his home grand-prix first! Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Leclerc is the winner of this year's Monaco grand-prix!" The commentator's voice could be heard anywhere.

Y/n hugged Arthur, her boyfriend's brother who was standing right beside her in euphoria. Everyone around them was screaming, throwing their hands in the air and clapping for her boyfriend. He got out of the car and run to her first like he always did. She hugged him so tight and he returned it.

"I'm so, so proud of you! You are the winner!" She screamed and his smile grew even bigger now if it was even possible. She kissed his helmet, in the place where his lips should be right before the couple was torn apart when Charles was pulled for other hugs and then interviews.

He returned to y/n as soon as he could and before he hoped to take a shower he told her "I'm glad you're here with me, I wouldn't have done it without you."

"You are an amazing driver, you are driving this car, not me." She answered. It's safe to say that their relationship had never been this good before.

"Take a shower with me?" He asked with a little smirk as he wrapped his arms around her waist, hers went around his torso in a matter of seconds.

And how she could say no when he was standing in front of her with his little smirk, fireproofs and his race suit hanging low on his hips?

She kissed his lips and they made their way to the shower and what happened there, was a whole different story.

---

Everything will be ready at 8 p.m.

You better not chicken out this time.

Charles read two messages from his best friend answering quickly.

I didn't chicken out, I just wanted it to be more special and keep it a surprise.

"Pierre asks if we want to go to the afterparty" Charles asked as he was sitting at the kitchen table, watching y/n making some food for both of them.

"We can, only if you want" She answered him, quickly returning to cutting vegetables.

"He said that this will be smaller, on a yacht so we can celebrate P1 with closest ones, not whole club" Charles explained, hoping he didn't sound susceptions.

"Yeah okay, dinner will be ready in 10, then we can start getting ready, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I love you." Charles said casually, with his heart-shaped eyes which sent off millions of butterflies in y/n stomach. She answered him with the same.

---

All dressed up Y/n and Charles finally get on the yacht, that seemed to be totally empty, no party in sign.

"Are we first? That unusual." Y/n commented as it usually them both to make an appearance when everybody is already drunk.

"Yeah, c'mon" Charles answered all uptight as he took a few steps and hopped on the yacht. He held his hand out for y/n to grab it and step there too.

It was already past 8 p.m. so it was quite surprising that no one was there, but what was even more surprising what that the lights were turned on. Turned her back to Charles to look if somebody was coming from port but when she didn't see anyone, she turned back around.

Only to be met with Charles on one knee.

No fucking way.

"Y/n, you've been there for me for the past five years. And for all those five years, I knew I wanted to marry you one day. I knew it damn well when I almost ruined our relationship a year ago. You took me back and I promised you to give you time. And I'm still willing to give it to you. I want to give you all the time I have. I want to give and share with you every second of my life for the rest of it. I want to be anywhere you are. I want to be able to count on you and make sure you can count on me. Y/n, my cherie, my best friend, my partner in crime, will you marry me?" He may or may not have tears in his eyes, his hands may or may not be shaking as he anxiously waited for an answer.

"Charles- I- of course, I will marry you!" She answered, fighting with the tears in her eyes. She went for a hug as well, noticing how beautiful the ring he was now putting on her finger. "It's perfect" She said, kissing his lips.

"Sweetheart, you have no idea how glad I'm you like it." Charles answered her after their kiss. It wasn't really needed because all he had to say was already in this kiss.

"Time to drink for our soon-to-be bride and groom!!!" Pierre yelled getting out of his hidden spot in the cabin. After he went Arthur, their mum, and actually too many people looking at how small this cabin was. Charles and y/n were too busy to think how all of them squeezed in here but surely five more minutes and they all would pass out due to lack of oxygen.

"Congratulations sweethearts! I knew since Charles introduced you to us that one day you were going to be Leclerc." Pascale said, as she was the first one to come to them when the music started playing.

"Congrats, mate!" Pierre hugged Charles while Kika by is side hugged y/n.

"I hope I will be your bridesmaid! I promise I will organize you the best bachelorette party ever!" Kika said to y/n which had her giggling. She just got proposed to and now she already had to think about bridesmaids!

"Hey, if she's bridesmaid I have to be best man!" Pierre answered.

"Ey, ey, not that fast amigo!" Carlos appeared out of nowhere behind Pierre, putting his hand on French driver shoulder "He said I will be best man after I found the ring last year! You didn't forget right?" Carlos asked.

"What?! You told him he can be best man? C'mon..." Two drivers started arguing over who was going to be best man at the weeding while Charles attention catch y/n voice.

"Wait, so this is actually the ring, like the one from your dad? I thought it was lost" His now fiancée asked.

"Yeah, it is. But wait, how do you know that my dad got it with me? I wanted to tell you that later tonight" Charles asked shocked, maybe he wasn't good at keeping secrets, especially not from her, but he would remember if he slipped this.

"Uhh.. that actually might be my fault." If it wasn't enough people appearing out of nowhere that night, Arthur was now standing right next to Charles with guilt in his eyes.

"What?" He asked his brother what did he mean it's his fault.

"Five years ago. You were helping mom in the kitchen after you introduced y/n to us. She was talking with Lorenzo so I decided to help too but I overheard you talking about the ring so I came back" He explained.

"Okay, but that still..." Charles tried to say that did not told him anything, but Arthur started talking again.

"Your secret was safe with me, I swear. For a whole ass year, I kept my mouth shut but then there was that party. I drunk a bit and she just-"

"Hey, don't put it on me!" Y/n laughed, as much as she liked Arthur alive, she wanted to hear really story.

"Okay, I came up to her and told her that I can't wait for her to be Leclerc and for you to give her the ring you choose with dad. I told her it was meaningful and everything. I'm sorry" Arthur got to the end of the story and looked up at his brother.

"So you telling me, I kept my mouth shut, bite my tongue like hundred times but all this time you knew about it? Unbelievable!" Charles said with a look of betrayal on his face. "And you, you little shit? You couldn't tell me sooner? Like every time I was panicking that I almost spilled the surprise?!" He asked his brother this time.

"I said I'm sorry!" Arthur argue back.

"Kids, please calm down. It's time to celebrate. My son is a double winner tonight!" Pascale said. And Charles couldn't agree more. Even though for a second he had forgotten that he actually won the race today, because now he had much more important win.

"You are right, Mrs. Leclerc! It's time to drink for them!" Max yelled, with a beer in his hand.

It definitely wasn't his first tonight.

a/n. It took me a second to write and it was also longer than I expected but I still hope you enjoy it! Especially the person who requested it because it was fun to write! I changed a few things but defo strong inspo from this grey's anatomy ep. Love you:))

[wastedwastelandme]

It took until my 4th rewatch to notice the fact that when Edwin and Charles are having their beautiful and personal heart-to-heart on the hell staircase that Maxine is only like. six steps below them the whole time. I saw that they had passed her but I thought they had gone up at least a flight or two before stopping but no they pan out after the confession and she is literally right there.

[spid3namy]

— DIFFERENT UNIVERSE PT.1

pairing : e!42 miles x mixed!female reader

summary : miles was being weird, not how he usually acted. he somehow found himself in the wrong universe, unbeknownst to you.

contains : a little angst, fluff, kissing, implied cheating??, cussing, they are in their late teens, happy endings i promise 

word court : 1142

notes : i rewatched atsv for like the 4th time and for some reason i decided that i wanted to write about what would happen if e!42 miles and e!1610 miles switched places like how it is at the end of the movie except nobody is like tied to a punching bag LMAO. this was my attempt at writing a longer fic too 😍

How did he end up here?

This wasn’t his earth. He didn’t understand how or why he was here but all he knew was that this was the wrong place. 

He couldn’t help the way that he felt stupid for allowing himself to get into this whole situation. 

“Miles..? You okay?”

Miles blinked and looked over at you, furrowing his eyebrows to try and adjust to his new surroundings. How did you get into his apartment? Or… what he thought was his apartment? He really had no idea anymore.

Everything was confusing him at this point. He didn’t know anything anymore.

“Miles.”

You snap your fingers in front of his face to gain his attention, not understanding why your boyfriend was acting so weird. Miles blinked once again and shook his head, running a hand over his face.

“Yeah.. yeah, ‘m fine.”

Okay. That was definitely weird. Since when did Miles have an accent? And since when did he have braids in his head? 

“Uhm.. okay?”

Miles let out a puff of air and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. How the hell was he even supposed to get home? How did he even get here? He had no idea. 

“Qué pasa, Miles? You keep starin’ off into space.”

“‘M fine.. I promise”

Miles gave you an awkward smile and cleared his throat awkwardly, shoving his hands into his pockets. You looked familiar to him, like he’s seen you somewhere before. He wasn’t really sure. Maybe it was in his universe. Whatever it was, it was weird.

Miles flinched slightly when you touched his face. 

“What? You mad or somethin’?”

“Huh..?”

Okay, so that was definitely weird. Why was he acting this way? Have you done something wrong? You didn’t really know. But all you knew was that Miles, or whoever the hell this was, flinched when you touched him. That never happened. 

“Miles, quit fuckin’ playin’ around with me right now.”

“I don't know what you’re talking about..”

You let out a sigh and shook your head, your thumb caressing his cheek lightly. Miles couldn’t help the way that he felt comfort from how you touched his face. It was wrong, he knew that much, but it still felt so nice. 

He couldn’t enjoy it for too long though.

You pressed a kiss onto his lips, not one that was long, only a peck but Miles flinched back a little too fast. It made your eyebrows furrowed together at how he was acting. He couldn’t kiss you. Couldn’t even be with you because this wasn’t his universe and you weren’t his girlfriend.

“Estás bien? You’re fuckin’ actin’ weird, Miles”

Before he could even get a word out, the front door suddenly swung open. 

“Ay, Y/N.. you’re still here? I thought you would’ve gone home by now?”

“Sí but I figured I would keep Miles company ‘til you came home.”

“Well, I appreciate it.”

Miles blinked and looked over at the woman that was supposed to be his mom. 

What happened to her eyes? Why weren’t they green anymore? It was weird to him. 

Well, he already knew why her eyes weren’t green. This wasn’t his earth. This was someone’s earth. It wasn’t his and he hated it.

“Woah, Miles, what’d you do to your hair?”

“Huh..?”

“You like braids now? You’re no longer tender-headed?”

Miles blinked and squinted at Rio, almost like he was confused on what the hell she was talking about. And he was. 

What the hell did she mean tender-headed? He had been tender-headed a day in his life! 

But to make himself seem less suspicious and weird, he just nodded his head. The best thing he could do right now was blend in. 

“He’s been actin’ weird since he got here”

Miles looked over at you as he talked about him like he wasn’t even there. That annoyed him. He hated when people did that.

“Oh.. well I’m sure me and Jeff will be able to figure out why. Thanks for staying Y/N.”

“Of course.. Let me know if you need anything”

Miles watched as you left the apartment. It was weird. Jeff? That didn’t make any sense to him. Jeff was… dead. Had his mother found another man with the same name? That couldn’t be.

He knew his mother; she would never find someone else. 

Rio suddenly looked over at her son and took a step towards him, inspecting his hair and the way he looked. He was much shorter than before. 

“How did you get here so early? Your father said he was gonna take you home.”

“Uh.. Uncle Aaron took me home?”

Rio stared at him and blinked before she shook her head, moving her gaze away from him. This wasn’t a time for him to be bought up.

“Son, you know that ain’t possible.”

“Huh?”

Rio sighed and shook her head, rubbing her temples and walking into the kitchen. She had no idea what was up with him but she knew that something was definitely wrong. 

He was being so weird. 

“Miles, I know you miss Aaron.. We all do but that doesn’t mean you can just say stuff like that.”

“Sorry?”

Rio sighed heavily and shook her head, clearly fed up with her son’s antics. It was a little annoying how he was acting. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with this. She was too tired for all this.

Miles seemed to notice how annoyed she was and turned on his heels, walking further into the apartment and into ‘his’ room. 

The moment he opened the door, he saw so, so, many fucking posters. God, the room was a damn pigsty. How the hell could anyone live in this filth? 

Miles notices a sketchbook laid on the bed, his body now peaked with curiosity. At least they had one thing in common. He walked over and grabbed the book, flipping through the pages. A lot of them were so random. He took note of all the drawings he had of Aaron and some.. girl. 

Wow. Must’ve been the girl that was there earlier. There were also a few drawings of some other girl in some stupid superhero suit. Apparently this Miles is a fanboy. Totally not weird at all. He had to admit though, his counterpart was really good at drawing. Well, of course he was. 

They were the same person, just a different universe.

Miles could hear talking from outside the door. He slowly opened it and peeked outside, his eyes scanning around the apartment as he saw some guy, presumably Jeff, walking in the front door.

His.. his dad was still alive? Was he not captain here? He didn’t know for sure. He saw another figure behind the man. He was taller and had a wack ass ‘fro.

The other Miles was also here.

Shit.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

So my brain won't let me rest, so I was rewatching episode 1 of 4 MINUTES and noticed some things. I have no idea if this matters or not, but I just thought I'd collect them in case it sparked something in my brain. Or someone else's. Also this is obviously not everything, just things that I didn't necessarily notice or gave it much thought before. Also the tag is gigantic at this point so these are things that probably others have noticed but there's no way I could read, or honestly remember, everything that has been posted.

-So the first cold open is both Great and Tyme 'dying'. The way it's edited, we see it happen at the same time. Great's heart stopping in the hospital and Tyme collapsing from the gunshot. I did notice this before obviously but I'm wondering if this has any meaning in the timeline discourse. Perhaps they are both experiencing alternative timelines or OOBEs.

-Great's first 'cardiac event' comes in the elevator at his building. 4th floor. However later he's in the elevator in the hospital and get's off on the 4th floor and nothing happens.

-Then we see Great in the car, and we see the car's clock.

The two times, before and after the accident.

The time is significant because this is where we first get the four minutes time travel/vision thing. But also, and this is what I didn't noticed the first time. The day is Wednesday 29th of August according to the car. Which would be 2024 if it wasn't a leap year. It falls on a Thursday this year and it fell on a Tuesday last year. The last time this happened was 2019 for whatever that's worth.

-When Great and Korn are talking in the street an he experiences the whole weirdness with the watch and something also caught my attention. So Great checks his wrist watch and it shows 11:00.

And then he goes to check Korn's watch and it fine. But then this

The thing is, he never checked his phone up until this moment and it says the correct time. He was looking at his wrist watch. So why is he now talking about his phone clock? This could just be a translation thing so I'm not sure. Also he doesn't check his wrist watch again even though it's still stopped at 11:00 when he's talking to Korn.

-We see the clocks again in another time jump in the desk in the hospital.

Before and after the time travel/vision.

And although the times match, the temp/humidity does not. The temp and humidity drop. Again it's one degree/percentage point so it could just be the temp at the time of filming.

-A bit after this we get our first sex vision. And in that vision Great's watch show it's 4 o'clock. Although I guess it could also be 12:20.

-So I also have been keeping track of who wears analog and digital. And in the first episode Great/Korn/Dad/Title wear analogs. So the rich folk. The docs all wear digital and everyone else does not have or show a watch.

Anyway, I didn't note the other clocks and all the numbers because I wanted to only note what I was noticing for the first time. Anyway. I might rewatch the second episode today since there's only one bl show, and if there's anything that jumps out at me, I might post. I need to stop wasting paper on this show.

[eularin]

I was watching some scenes from Naruto, and then I saw the one where Obito summons the Kyuubi in the cemetery, apparently next to Rin's grave and I was like "WTF you crazy? Right there next to your crush's grave? What the hell man" and then I remembered that Obito always does things with some justification (every villain does), but it is Canon that Obito likes to prove his PoV to others, and also to himself. So I asked myself: why the hell did Obito summon the Kyuubi near Rin's grave? What could he be thinking? And I came to the following conclusion:

He wanted to prove to Rin, and to all those other dead ninjas who probably sacrificed themselves for Konoha that their sacrifice was in vain. Obito's story, and especially Team Minato's story, is about sacrifice, promises, and tragedy.

Obito sacrificed himself for Kakashi (and the Team) bc he thought it was the right thing to do and the most important thing. He was more loyal to the team (his friends) than he was to Konoha (am I the only one who noticed that by going to save Rin, Obito basically abandoned the Kannabi Bridge mission?)

On that mission, Obkk made his promise, Kakashi gained his Sharingan, Obito "died" believing that by joining his power with Kakashi's, it would make them stronger and in a way invincible to protect Rin (his precious people) so of course the cruel world and cruel destiny proved to the two that the sacrifice and their promise were worthless.

When Obito finally realized that his shared power with Kakashi was not enough, and that Rin's loyalty to Konoha far outweighed her loyalty to the Team, Obito had a meltdown (another meltdown). I can reflect on Rin's character later. Let's focus on Obito.

When Obito chose the graveyard to summon the Kyuubi, he was making a strong statement. He literally wanted to tell Rin (and the other ninjas who sacrificed themselves for the good of Konoha) this: "hey Rin, look! You killed yourself to stop a Bijuu from destroying Konoha, but your sacrifice can't stop this Bijuu now. See? No sacrifice is worth it. You only delayed the inevitable. You died for nothing and without meaning" - Obito must have been very angry with Rin and Minato. At least I think he was.

During the 4th war he was literally mocking Minato and his acclaimed speed. Basically he was saying "there's no point in being the fastest man in the world if you don't arrive at the moment that matters most", and I don't think he was referring to the Kannabi Bridge mission. So there's that weird conversation where Obito tells Kakashi that Rin is an impostor?!? I don't remember that dialogue anymore (I watched it with subtitles, so I really don't remember what I read years ago)

the only thing I understood was "Rin killed herself, so she's not the real Rin, she's just an impostor that this world created!" – Obito is so... crazy? logical? delirious that I couldn't keep up (I always rewatch the 4th war arc)

also, i'm thinking about it 🤔 i think obito might have been bitter towards Minato bc out of all team 7, Minato was the only one who got along in the end. get my drift: obito "died"; kakashi and rin were devastated and minato probably suffered too, but the anime only shows kakashi for most of the whole story, suffering much more. (unfortunately, the anime shows almost nothing of Rin and her personality. she's portrayed as... idk, easily disposable background character. we don't see anything about her dreams, her struggle to be a great ninja, we don't see her other friends or family... she's almost an empty character, even though she's important to the story of two big prominent characters.)

So back to the main focus: Obito "died"; Rin and Kakashi suffered, then Rin died and Kakashi was left to wallow in his guilt and pain, then Minato went and put a traumatized child in the ANBU. And we know that Obito was already spying on all of them. He certainly didn't like seeing Minato being a beloved hero, enjoying his laurel leaves after the war, so he fulfills his dream of being Hokage, marries his wonderful Kushina, plays house and has a child. In other words: Minato moves on while Obito doesn't (and Kakashi doesn't either). I bet that made Obito pretty angry. I can imagine his anger at Minato's good life. So he went there and ruined it all. 💁🏻‍♀️💀

Well, that's it. That's my theory (?) about why Obito summoned the Kyuubi at the graveyard that night.

So, what's your take on this?

[herefortheships]

What is your opinion on the Beetlejuice 2 Dream Theory?

My short answer is that it's plausible, but not likely that that's what the writers or Tim intended. That said, every viewer is entitled to their own interpretation. When a piece of media leaves the author's hands, then it doesn't belong exclusively to the author anymore; the story takes on a new form when it falls in the hands of the audience ("the death of the author is the birth of the reader" etc).

I'd have to rewatch the movie with my brain prepared to point out references that may show that everything we're witnessing as the movie plays out is not real.

As for my personal interpretation, I don't think that's the case. There was indeed a dream sequence at the end though; we have to decide, when does the dream start? Was it when Betelgeuse and Lydia were dancing in midair? (Betelgeuse does break the 4th wall to tell the audience "I love a good dream sequence", so that's possible). Or was it later after Lydia says her goodbye to Delia? I've only watched the movie once so far, so my thoughts may change when I rewatch it, but for now, this is where I think the dream starts:

I think the dream started with Lydia quitting her show. She may not have quit it at all, as a matter of fact, but her dream started with this because she's now hoping for a fresh start and quitting her show is part of what she has identified as her ideal life, going forward. She's dreaming about a perfect life, believing herself rid of Betelgeuse and Rory and her past, and starting fresh with Astrid, focused on being her mother and being there for her this time. Astrid and Lydia only have each other now after the loss of Delia and Charles, as far as family goes. All of that from that moment on is the dream. In truth, she isn't rid of Betelgeuse, and she is pretty isolated now. So she is shaken awake by the nightmare (I already made a detailed post about that, so I won't go into detail about the dream and what I think it means here). I think the dream ends when she hears/feels Betelgeuse in bed with her. Betelgeuse isn't gone and he's still very much in love with her, which may not be a very comforting thought to her just yet lol.

Now as I'm writing this, as a matter of fact, her little jumpscare when feeling Betelgeuse in bed with her might have a double meaning. Why was she dreaming about him being in bed with her? To be honest, when I first saw that in the theater I thought the wedding had gone through, since they were sharing a bed now! Lydia may be beginning to realize her feelings about Betel have changed, which understandably scares her right now. Then she wakes up again and he's gone. There is a question here, was he part of the dream or was he truly in bed with Lydia? Maybe he was there after all (which is what I personally believe).

Anyway, I am beginning to ramble, but Tl;Dr: There was a dream, but it starts when Lydia quits her job (or maybe after she quits, when she and Astrid are in vacation together).

Again, if it's the same theory I read (which I totally love and find super intriguing), it does make good points, so in short I would say it's plausible. Today I read a post about how the name "Richard" repeats in the movie in several instances, which may add to the "none of this is real, it's all a dream" theory. But to be honest, for me at least, there is more reason to believe that what we witnessed in the film did happen, and Astrid, Rory, Richard, etc are all real and part of Lydia's life.

That Lydia isn't married to Betel by the end of this film doesn't mean her feelings about him will remain as they are and that she will never accept him or even love him, though. This movie was SO a setup for a third film and I am sure of that. It was left open ended so in the event it didn't land well, the franchise could be set to rest with this sequel which was mostly a passion project for those involved, but now we know the movie was a massive hit, so it's very likely and I have no doubt we will get a final third part. There is a LOT of "the rule of three" around Betelgeuse, starting with the fact that you need to say his name three times to summon him. "Third time's a charm", you know what I mean? So I believe the final movie will see them married (yep, not just together or just friends, but married). Marriage is a very important theme in Beetlejuice, both for the series and the titular character himself, so that wedding will happen and it will go through next time, for better or worse (and I hope for better!) Again, rule of three applies here. I think the story is prime for either a soulmate story, or a tragic "true love will set you free" kind of story in which Lydia has to marry Betelgeuse in order to free his soul so he can move on (it was pointed out to me that this resembles the story of Corpse Bride, which is also a movie directed by Tim Burton). If he goes with the latter, then that doesn't mean Lydia won't love him and will just marry him to free him (as in she’s his true love but she doesn’t love him back romantically); she may still fall in love with him, but will find a way to break his attachment/curse to set his soul free and "let him go" for now (it could go either way tbh 😭), and they can still find each other in the afterlife. And wouldn't that be nice? If the two of them can move on to a better place in the great beyond in the finale? To spend eternity together in peace.

Anyway, rambling again! This is my answer. Sorry for replying a little late (and "yapping" so much lol), but trust me I was thinking about this question all day.

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E8

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. We’re on THE BEGINING OF THE END

So Mordred and his possible father come to Camalot for suplies. Okay the only reason for a druid to come to Camelot for supplies is that it cannot be found anywhere else. The man he talks to looks to be a Spice and Herb Merchant. If it was an herb that just grows only in Camalot you would think the druids would find them themselves. This argues it's an herb of spice that is NOT native to Albion. JUDGING from this we can say Camalot likely has a very impressive trade network going.

If we go out on a limb we can say its likely actually more impressive than it's neighbors. Because why not just get it from another kingdom otherwise? I'm going out on a limb because if they needed it urgently enough they might have no choice but to use camalot.

So the guy snitched on them to the guards or the guards found out he was selling to druids and made him play along. If its the first it's not the only time we see common people seeming to agree with Uther and the no magic ban. I think this hints as I mentioned in the first one of these that magic was used for more "Bad" things then just Arthur's birth around that time. I think this has really intersting implications on magic returning to Camelot that we see in a lot of fics because there likley would be People VERY against that ruling. and not just nobles. Though I'm sure minds could change.

So I've been starting to notice that people tend to use a lot of different hand gestures for magic. (I think sometimes people use none at all will keep an eye on that) But I just think it's intersting. It doesnt always have to be the full hand out merlin tends to use. I keep wondering if the choices mean anything. Are hand gestures nessasary? Is it just what the sorcer feels like and Merlin is all Go big or go home with it?

Same dude different hand gesture. I think its whatever you vibe with.

Arthur: The druids are a peaceful people

Uther: they preach peace but conspire against me

Okay but is there a druid conspiracy? We know by season 5 some of them had turned violent. But was that because Arthur didn't immediately bring back magic? Or was there a sect from the beginning?

Yet Arthur talks about them being a peaceful people. Is this just commonly held knowlage? WHERE did he learn that from. Not from Uther by the looks of it. OMG DID HE LEARN IT THAT TIME HE RAIDED THAT CAMP AND THEY DIDN'T FIGHT BACK OR SOMTHING? Or did he learn it from someone else. Gaius perhaps? Also lets talk a bit about druids Historically. Druids were high ranking members of a Celtic priestly class

They served many purposes from being In charge of legal proceedings, to being religious leaders, To being healers, to Advise in politics, to keeping lore. to divination. Only we don't really know what lore. See druids while thought to be litterate did not write anything down, Its thought their doctrine forbade it. So they likley had a strong Oral history but most of what we know actually comes from the romans and the greeks. They are first mentioned in writing in the 4th centery BCE by jullious ceser. byt the second century BCE they were pretty much whiped out (Thanks rome) However there are mentions of them in tales throughout the middle ages. Druid Lore according to ceaser was make up of a huge number of memorized verses and it could take up to 20 years to learn. Because this was Oral it was pretty much lost when they got wiped out (Thanks again rome.) So the druids passing down the Prophasy of Merlin and Arthur fits their MO they are also said to be exampt from military service so so does being a peaceful people. However from what is recorded they were again more a priestly class then a specific people. While it is mentioned later that druids looked for people with magic skills to train they are refered to as a "people" not a class. HOWEVER Again everything we know about them comes from the assholes who wiped them out (Thanks rome) so who even knows how accurate some of it is.

Okay so the Triskel symbol I get. It could represent earth water and fire, or the tripple godess. BUT WHAT IS THAT AMULET I think it might just be a very weird variation on the symbol for Yule.

Maybye. Perhaps. Possibly. The only other thing I could find is The Axe of Perun. Slavic God of Lightning. what is known a "hatchet amulet" And yeah I don't think its that. It could also mean nothing at all, but for this rewatch we are refusing to go down that road.

Dad has one too... I think it must mean something special to the family or group of druids Mordred is a part of. And likley something to do with yule.

Mordad: (Yes we are calling him that) You have let your fear of magic turn to hate. I pitty you.

Is he refering to the purge? Or was Uther always afraid of magic? We know he welcomed Nimue. But was that only for using her for the make Arthur ritual? I gotta wonder. And evaluate my headcannon about Nimue being court sorcerer. I think there are references to her I frinds with Uther. I'll keep an eye out.

Merlin: Do you know much about the druids

Gaius: very little, They're a very secretive people, especially now that they're being hunted by Uther. Just wanted to point out the reference to them being a "people" And how this is possibly another reference to their Oral tradition. Gaius would not have been able to read much about them in books.

Merlin: I heard the boy calling out He was nowhere to be seen, But I could hear him like he was inside my mind.

Gaius: Yes I've heard of this ability.The druids look for children with such gifts to serve as apprentices.

So there is a training system with apprentices, and it's not all families, I wonder how many people if any are born into being a druid. If the children are adopted, and how they get the children. "Your kid has magic bro, send them with me? Perhaps it was viewed as a great honnor in the old religion?"

Heather has a lot of uses herbally so it makes sence Gaius might need a lot of it. It can treat Arthritis, inflammation of the joints and muscles, kidney stones, inflammation of the kidney and bladder, Some eye diseases, Bronchitis, diarrhea, high blood pressure, Even Anxiety or sleep disorders. It's possible he even uses this as part of Morgana's treatment.

So this is a white paste he uses to treat Mordred's infection, I can only guess that it's mostly made up of mashed garlic. (possably baking soda) Which would in fact treat infection, However, its said later this was not useful. He must have put something else in it that was wrong. Or its made up of somthing else.

Emrys does in fact mean Immortal in Welsh and in the original wealth legends Merlinw as known as Myrddin Emrys The greek version is "Ambrose"

Merlin: how does the boy know who I am. I've never even met any druids

Great Dragon: There is much written about you that you have yet to read

Wait so do the druids in merlin actually write things down? Perhaps they write down some things but not central doctrine. Killy mentions this in response to Merlin's question so it kind of implies the druids wrote things down. HOWEVER these things must not be for general people to see because only certain magical beings and the druids refer to him as Emrys. ALSO how does Mordred know he is the Emrys. Do the writings actually describe him? Is it because he mind talked and is near Arthur? I expect its a bit of both. It cannot be because magic since Morgana has that too.

This is a good point. It it the seer in her showing her though instinct? That's my theory. I mean we know Arthur and Merlin have a mental connection that is used twice, but it seems different.

Okay lets talk about this. We know Uther conqurred the kingdom when he was around Arthur's age in season 3. So early 20s. But Anarchy? Thats big. That means government did not exist or had no control over the people. WE know There were earlier kings of Camelot than Uther. (Bruta who we will talk about eventually) So what would have led to Anacarchy?

My guess would be a succession crisis happened. Small lords who had a blood claim were so busy fighting each other that no actual governing happened, As they fought borders changed and so what might be law in one land could then be different in a day. None of them were undisputed leader so there was no leader.

Now often historically when this happens a kingdom would split and become a lot of smaller kingdoms. However, we know Camalot is pretty big. My guess? Uther was one of the possible claimants or a blood relative so distant that no one took him seriously he then defeated all the other claimants and conquered the kingdom. This is a pretty impressive feat.

Now he likely would want to legitimize his claim (As many new rulers try by having a child or themselves marry someone who will help or give status) and that might be why he married Ygraine du bois. The Du Bois family is ancient in France. and can be traced back at least as far as the 9th century (More on them in later posts) Anyhow this is just my speculation based on what I know of history and such.

The implications of Arthur knowing how to send word to the druid people are huge. HOW does he know to do this? Did he know of a former druid living in Camelot? I can't think he actively has communications open with them. My guess is this: Arthur knows of some merchants that do trade with the druids, He found out about it somehow, but did not tell his father. Thus he could use them to make sure a message reached the druid people.

[inkdragon1900]

Finished my umpteenth Arcane rewatch ( it’s 100% above 30 now but I lost count around 25 about a year and a half ago ) anyway so here’s some character headcanons.

Vi realized she was a lesbian due to developing a crush on an older girl in a gang when she was younger and 100% adopted some of her stylistic influences.

Caitlyn due to her sheltered upbringing didn’t realize she was a lesbian until she was older.

Mel’s father taught her how to paint.

Sevika was the powder of Vander and Silco’s group growing up.

Silco had the statue of Vander erected.

Smoking originally became a symbol of power in the undercity cause younger Vander nabbed a pipe off of an enforcer.

Jinx tried to play her and Vi’s monster game to try and chase the hallucinations of Mylo and Claggor away the first few weeks after getting taken in by Silco.

Xemina Talis started calling both Jayce and Viktor her boys whenever anyone asked about them after like the 4th family function Jayce brought Viktor along too. She’s never outright asked if Viktor has any living family but his near nostalgic expression as he observes from the sidelines is answer enough for her.

Jayce and Viktor talked a lot after their hextech discovery but as the council debated about letting it continue they talked a little less until Jayce sent Viktor a new cane he built to replace the one that broke with a note asking to meet him for dinner.

Caitlyn and Jayce consider themselves siblings and started to correct any idiot that thinks otherwise in a lie about how they’re biological siblings that has become more and more elaborate by the year. Cassandra thinks it’s stupid but goes along with it, Tobias thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and joins in every now and then to add another incredibly elaborate lie or two.

Cassandra and Tobias are both trans and supported eachother through their transitions, going as far to delay their wedding so Cassandra could find the perfect dress and Tobias could get the perfect tux.

Viktor is bi and after a rousing game of never have I ever between he and Jayce admitted to having actively dated more than 30% of Piltover academy’s student body.

Jayce drunkenly admitted that he is also bi and has dated exactly three people in his lifetime.

He also found out that night that he and Viktor have three mutual exes.

Caitlyn likes writing love poems.

Ambessa came to Piltover not only for weapons but because after finding out about her son’s death her stomach dropped thinking about Mel in danger.

Silco loves the opera and once when he was younger successfully snuck into one.

Ekko personally painted the portion of the mural of Benzo, Vander and his friends.

Ekko and Jinx have had a running contest of who can tag more of the city since they were kids Ekko thought the game had ended until he started seeing Jinx’s pink and blue monkey everywhere he started tagging the green hourglass back.

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Hi it’s me from the previous rant.

Okay so having rewatched the first episode again I noticed a few things. First, Sonic says that the construction crew Knuckles scares off is the 4th one in a month, so most like that’s how long it’s been since the end of the 2nd movie to the series starting.

Next and my main point: Sonic only refers to Maddie by name once, and it’s when talking to Knuckles. This fact could actually lend to why he doesn’t call her “Mom”. Sure he could have said “don’t mess with Mom”, but given how new Tails and Knuckles are to the family it’s not likely they’d view her that way…. (Hopefully) yet. While he could have phrased it as “don’t mess with MY mom”, that might seem exclusionary toward the other two. And since Knuckles calls her Pretzel Woman and Tails calls her Maddie, it makes sense Sonic would also call her name in a similar manner. So maybe no “Mom” yet from Sonic, but I have more hope that the context of the phrasing could explain its lack of use. Maybe like with Tom, Sonic might call her “Mom” when talking directly took her.

We can only hope.

As a side note, the 1st ep also gave us a pretty clear area of where Green Hills is supposedly located; somewhere slightly north of Flathead Lake in Montana. Potential, this is the same lake Tom took Sonic fishing in the start of the 2nd movie.

I thought of that, too! How Sonic technically never used a direct name towards Maddie in the scenes we got, so technically he might be calling her "mom" by now, but we just haven't seen it.

(what I really want to figure out is whether the Knuckles series happens before or after Sonic Drone Home 🤔)

Yes!!! I love getting tidbits on their hometown! And upon seeing this, I went and looked up that lake, and just the thought of "aw, that's where the Wachowskis go fishing 🥹" made me so darn happy. I definitely can't wait to visit Montana! 💙

Honestly I just cannot wait to see this family grow together! And with all the projects they have planned for this universe, here's to hoping we'll get our food! 🤩🥰💙

(can you imagine if we'll ever hear the full name treatment - if Tom or Maddie ever yells "SONIC WACHOWSKI!" when he's in trouble with them or the same basic thing with any of their boys, I'm going to lose it in the best way 🤩🤣)

[chaifootsteps]

i wanna share my own two cents about the 4th episode. also trigger warning for suicide attempts mention.

i cant talk much about the portrayal of SA since im not a SA survivor but what legitimately triggered me was the "loser baby" song.

when angel vented to husk i felt him tbh. i could relate to him to some extent and it even made me tear up a little. i was thinking we're gonna get a wholesome scene with husk but NO, they had to ruin it. the lyrics in that song actually triggered me. of course i haven't been in the same situation as angel but i did get called "whiny bitch" and not taken seriously when sharing my frustrations due to my parents' abuse that literally made me attempt to take my life a few times. the lyrics brought me some horrible flashbacks. and the fact that this song is portrayed as a GOOD bonding thing in the episode that somehow cheers angel up????? he's been through worse shit than me and the writers decided that *realistically* he'd be ok with what husk was saying????

im gonna be honest, i wanted to like hazbin hotel. i liked the premise and i thought the first 3 episodes were fine. but that song really left a sour taste in my mouth and i cant even rewatch it because of the lyrics. not gonna watch the show anymore

Episode four's like an Indiana Jones temple of triggering booby traps. If Poison itself doesn't get you, the context with Raph and Viv just might, and a lot of people have made it through all of that, only to be suckerpunched by the sheer tone-deaf cruelty of Loser, Baby.

Also, Anon?

[knightsofeclipse]

(Facebook ate this twice as I resized my window, I'm gonna cry)

Light spoilers for the ball, I reference the events but really don't get into them.

A little background, I have been obsessed with what we can ascertain from "non-canon" events. The character lore and insights that might be hiding there. (So we're all on the same page, I'm using "non-canon" here to refer to events and episodes that do not share continuity with the rest of the series. The Freaky Friday episodes share their own continuity).

The events of the ball put the last piece of the puzzle (or so I thought, we'll come back to that) together for me about the first "non-canon" episode. That would be "In an alternate universe" which was uploaded to Facebook on January 4th of this year (2024).

Just to be clear, I am not making assertions on whether this was planned and intentional or not. I just think it's really interesting that a lot of this, I was only able to pick up on in hindsight.

In the episode, we follow Charlotte in the staff room with Sorscha. They're talking about annual leave and Charlotte falls sleep. When she wakes up, she's in an alternate universe where everyone is out of character.

Or that's how it seems at first glance.

Sorscha is dismissive, telling Charlotte to "tell someone who cares". Autumn is overly complimentary and approval seeking. Marjorie is hungover and moody, shouting about hating kids. And Carly is a bully.

Initially, I had read this episode as what it appears to be; a flip of everyone's personality. Just for fun with no real impact on anything.

Now, in hindsight, what it looks like (to me anyway) is Charlotte realizing these things about her friends that don't necessarily line up with how she views them and her looking, mentally, for a way to rationalize what she's being forced to acknowledge:

Autumn is lonely. She's desperate for approval from the people around her. She's just distanced herself from her father as she starts a relationship with Winter, essentially losing the approval of the last person she had felt close to while still being new to feeling close to someone outside her family. She's intense about it. I'd even go so far as to say, in this alternate universe, she becomes a parody of herself as she tries to gain Charlotte's approval.

Marjorie is short tempered. She makes bad choices. She's human. But she also tends to make those bad choices, and the resulting consequences, everyone else's problem. Listen well because you won't hear this from me again: Janice was right to call Marjorie out on this. Marjorie is not a very self-aware person and before Janice laid it out for her, she probably had no idea this was something she does.

And Carly. Carly is selfish. The events of the ball showed us her true colours and that she's only ever been out for herself. She makes her choices based on what will be the most entertaining for her with little regard for anyone else involved. And she rarely gets called out for this because most of the time she isn't hurting anyone with it.

Now, if we can go back to my "or so I thought" from before. Sorscha. I had forgotten her involvement in this episode. And going back to rewatch, she kinda threw this whole thing off. She is who I've been simmering on since the ball. We don't see a whole lot of her other self. But she's there. And we're reminded she's there at the beginning and end of the episode. And when Charlotte wakes from the dream, she's concerned that Sorscha "doesn't care".

Now, if I weren't so invested in this, I would probably count this as disproving everything I've just said. But then I remembered something Winter said recently (What in GODS name does that mean.. uploaded on September 2nd 2024). Sorscha was envious at how Charlotte has been talking more about her relationship with Mia, who she only started dating this year, than Sorscha has been able to talk about Clodagh, who she's been married to for ages. This connection turns what Sorscha said when Charlotte woke in the alternate universe, "tell someone who cares", around into Sorscha's own insecurities that no one wants to hear what she has to say if they also have something to say on it. She feels talked over. Which, like, same. Me too, queen.

Looking at everything we've learned about these characters from that point to the present, they were never out of character. It was an exaggeration of their worst traits. Really, their core characters. The flaws that plague them.

And if that was intentional, fantastic. Amazing. 10/10. I'm speechless. I love a long-haul payoff. And if it wasn't, that's so cool that things turned out that way!

I understand I am probably way overthinking this. Not everything needs to be this deep. But, just because it doesn't have to be, doesn't mean it's not incredibly cool that it turned out to be anyway.

I probably won't do an analysis like this for the Freaky Friday episodes. This episode just always felt kinda out of place and like it was trying to be something, I just could never figure out what that something was. Now that I feel like I've connected the dots, I'm satisfied.

[gorgonstaringcontest]

Dog has been getting fussy and picky about the food I was giving her. Nothing's wrong, it's just a natural consequence of her life up until now.

The first night she was with me and for the first couple of weeks, I cooked her food myself to get her eating comfortably and up to a healthy weight. Then tried introducing actual pet foods because I was worried she wasn't getting exactly the right nutrients.

The brands swapped around because of availability and finding better options and did my best to smoothly transition between them. In the meantime, I'd give her things just for the joy of seeing her try things for the first time - chicken, roast lamb, blueberries, egg. She loved them all.

Then, she really started eating a lot. So I did what I thought was logical - bought in bulk of the food she liked. She'd tried a lot different things by this point so the newness was dying down, but about 3/4ths the way through the bulk food I bought, she just... Stopped being interested.

She went off the wet food first, and seemed to only want dry and to drink more water. Seemed fine. But then, she got sick of the dry food - only eating it begrudgingly after I'd eaten like "well, if this is all there is". So I bought different dry food, and it was okay for like a week and a bit and then, meh. Tried mixing the wet and dry together (actually mixing not just in the same bowl) and that was apparently the worst of both worlds.

So... Dog is apparently a gourmand now. She has a refined palate, and seeks new experiences.

According to advice I could find on the matter, the suggestion was to mix new things into the existing food to spice things up a bit.

I bought things to do this today, and she just... Didn't eat her lunch. Not interested, but kept doing the "feed me" things. So I decided that if it was a flavour sensation she wanted, she'd get it. And this way I could see if she didn't like any of it and could cull it from being mixed in in future.

Now we all understand dogs don't taste things the way we do, which is good, because although each individual thing is something I eat, the resulting mix was a bit more adventurous than most people would be. I made a plain rice congee, roasted off some sweet potato, pumpkin, and carrot, steamed some peas and corn, and sauteed some beef strips and - the real star of the show - liver. Topped it off with a few blueberries and some diced dried apricot as well and decided to really spoil her with a drizzle of peanut butter.

Dog was ecstatic. Ate her whole dinner. Licked the bowl clean. And then came and gave me lots of attention, very clearly pleased with the evening's offering, before going back to lick the bowl again in case a single molecule of flavour was left behind. She licked my hands, because I can only assume they smell a bit like the food from cooking it.

Every time I go NEAR the kitchen, she goes and sits by the fridge, because she saw that I cooked multiple meals worth of food and put the rest in there - the mana from heaven is trapped in the food prison, as far as she's concerned.

So I'm heading to bed now and, and she's curled up in her bed with a full tummy, which makes me glad. Aside from the extremely deadly liver-tinged dogfart that she perpetrated that is going to lead me to sleep with the windows open even though it's like 13°, I feel like I've achieved responsible dog parent status.

And for those wondering - liver is something I've eaten since I was a kid, no it's not because of rewatching Hannibal, yes I was tempted to see if dogs can have fava beans but no didn't actually check.

[hashashafashasha]

HLAGE FINALE SPOILERS

Alright alright I know nobody cares but I wanted to put my thoughts down so I'd be able to say "I told you so" if I'm right which i'm probably not BUT

I think the reason the gnome had so much power of the real world is because Wayne broke the 4th wall so much while talking to him. In HLVRAI Wayne makes little to no mention of the world outside the game, it's mainly coomer that acknowledges the 4th wall, and so Benrey has no effect on the world outside the game. Maybe

ALSO I think there's someone behind this. At the beginning of the first HLVRAI stream I believe he says Valve themselves sent him the "experimental copy" of Half-life but in the description for the videos it says he "discovered" it, and in the description for HLAGE Episode 1 it says that Wayne was linked a workshop page for the gnome, and goes on to say that Gabe Newell himself told people not to mod the code of the Gnome Run due to the "Myth". This is a new edit since the finale released too, and due to it's insistence on nobody else EVER playing the true Gnome Run, I don't believe whoever linked this mod to Wayne was just some random hacker.

The intelligence of the gnome is another matter. One thing that Benrey and the Gnome have in common is that, as Wayne gets nearer to the end of the game they become more and more reluctant to continue. Benrey doesn't want to hurt Gordon, or at least part of him doesn't, and the Gnome insists that they need to stop and go back repeatedly in the final act of HLAGE, but once Wayne reaches the Peppa Pig Movie (jesus christ I love all this bullshit) the gnome's tone is quite different, obviously leading to Wayne getting Gnomified. But during the Gnome's musical number he yet again sings a different tune, so to speak. I believe the combine did take his memories of his and Gordon's time together. We see him warming up to Gordon and some real character growth in the final act, but once Wayne makes his way through the vault the Gnome seems to be back to his old, derogatory way of speaking. As for the musical number i'm not quite sure, but perhaps seeing gnomified wayne and being in wayne's shoes causes him to change his mind and remember what they had together.

The person creating these mods is still a mystery, but if we connect this to the greater RTVSCU there are a few options. Tucker, the creator of the I. M. MEEN disc for example (not sure about this bit) not only shows the skills that he would need to do something like this, given Meen's AI and the ending, and he would know where Wayne lives, making him an actual threat. Wayne also breaks the 4th wall numerous times during the stream, which supports my previous theory. Of course, that doesn't answer how Wayne escaped from The Shining painting at the end, but this part of the theory is flimsy so it's fine. The most powerful AI character we've ever seen however, is Homer. The fact that this man constantly gets kidnapped by fictional characters is amazing to me. I'd have to rewatch the Simpsons stream, but I believe this metric of power could be important.

TL;DR Wayne breaking the 4th wall may have effects on the power of the self aware AI, somebody has got to be behind the Half Life AI mods, and this could extend into the entire RTVSCU as a whole

[bobbybutterfly]

I'd love to see how you draw Field Mouse #6 and to know if you have some headcanons for him!

Here you go!

To be honest I kinda forgot about him. I got him confused for the stuttering mouse in episode 2 I think. Getting excited about developing more a disabled character. Disability is something I should look into. I only have experience with autism because that’s what I’ve got. But that’s for some other day because I looked up Field Mouse 6 he appears quite a fair bit later. Later then I thought because then I confused him with Field Mouse 2 in the 4th episode!

Field Mouse 2 was quite interesting. Instead of the usual blood thirsty psycho he seemed kinda likeable in a smol bean way. But then I remembered he died at the end of the episode so… kinda hard for him to appear in episode 6.

I rewatched episode 6 before drawing him. It’s quite iconic. Flower Hill’s Animal Games are a good backdrop. I really like the environmental design in the 90’s episodes, as a background artist. We also can’t forget the hedgehog waitress! The definition of Slay Gurl! Slay!

But to be honest, if I didn’t actively have Field Mouse 6 on my mind I would have forgotten about him again. I’m sorry. It’s just that Mulmangcho already serves the sadistic quotes and besides that Field Mouse 6 doesn’t have anything that sets him particularly apart from the previous two mice.

Mulmangcho is in a squirrel disguise if you were wondering.

Non the less, even thought it took me a while to come up with something for Field Mouse 6 I’m pretty pleased with the backstory I gave him. He’s half mouse half squirrel. Instead of him being some biological experiment, like @stju87 ‘s Saccharine, mixed species animals are just a thing. He comes from a town in Mouse Kingdom (that’s what I call the place mice come from) and his father was a squirrel who came to work as a builder. He married a local mouse and that’s how we got Field Mouse 6.

I will call him 6 for short. So 6 growing up struggled a lot with his gender and cultural identity.

He wasn’t accepted as a mouse. Getting bullied and isolated for being a lesser animal. His parents were like, we know it’s hard but you got to pull yourself by your bootstraps child. He didn’t like them very much from bringing him to life.

When became an adult he joined the military. The military looking for mixed species to work as spies (saves on make up costs). They wanted to infiltrate the Flower Hill army so they transitioned him into a male. Which he was surprisingly happy about. I thought it would be nice to have a happy transgender character that’s accepted for who they are.

Why did I make him trans masc? I dunno. We got a diversity of sexualities. Why not gender diversity?

He really likes life in the military. Living life as his preferred gender. Not being the only half squirrel. Getting looked up to as hero for doing something only a few others can. He’s still an asshole thanks to his childhood trauma though.

Kinda makes me want to write a short story about him now. LOL.

Hope you liked my head cannon. Do you have some head cannons for him? I’m also switching up my art style. Moving away from kemono and more towards a western cartoony style.

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 176/332

2016 Austrian GP

Okay I know Baku was boring but buckle up because we have a lot to cover this time again.

Welcome to the Austrian GP! Lewis is back on pole! Very eventful quali session on a drying track. It leaves us with a mixed grid and grid penalties. OH MY GOD MAX IS WEARING LEDERHOSEN?!?! Oh Daniel as well. It's not as funny on Daniel. 

I don't know where to go from there. 

We see Lewis' qualifying lap. It's crazy because the car is very twitchy and he locks up several times but still manages to end up on top. He does well to catch it everytime. 

Okay let's review the grid. So Lewis on pole OVER ONE SECOND AHEAD damn, then it's Hulkenberg somehow, and Jenson??? Okay. Raikkonen in 4th, Ricciardo is 5th, Nico is 6th with a grid penalty, Valtteri is 7th, Max 8th, Seb 9th with a grid penalty and Massa is 10th. Also not that we really care but Palmer, Haryanto, and Nasr all start from the back because of grid penalties and then Kvyat is starting from the pitlane because of a chassis change. That's a lot of penalties. Interesting note on the RedBull front : Daniel hasn't been outqualified by Kvyat nor Max this year at this point. 

Lewis thinks the race is gonna be fun. Johnny asks if it's important for him to get the race win here for the championship given both Nico and Seb are starting from further back. He says every race win is important anyway, none is more important than the other, but it is a good opportunity today so he'll do his best. There's apparently been issues with the ultrasofts so he asks if he's concerned about this. He says no more than anyone else. 

Simon says the issues with the ultrasofts is graining / wear and tear. Apparently they can only get 4-5 laps out of them which is absolutely ridiculous. 

They've also had issues with the kerbs, someone got a suspension failure because of them so that's another hazard we hope won't cause too many issues this race. Ah it was Max who broke his suspension. There were 4 different incidents due to the kerbs and they involved 4 different teams though. So that's not good. Initially they thought some specific yellow kerbs around the track were the issue, but then Nico lost the car and crashed due to one of the regular red and white ones. Brundle and Anthony think it seems to be a cumulative thing rather than a one time impact that breaks the car, as in it depends how old the sensitive parts of the car are. However they also show a video of Kvyat going over the yellow kerbs. In slowmo we can see the car shaking erratically. As Brundle comments you can visibly tell the part that's on the kerb is shaking at a different frequency than the part that's not on it. Then the suspension breaks and the rear right is gone. Big crash. They talked about it with Alex Wurz, GPDA chairman but also track designer, who sits in the FIA safety commission. He says the red and white kerbs are 2.5cm high and the plain red ones 5.5. He says there's the same configuration in Barcelona, but over there they only drive over them for 0.3 seconds. He says the new kerbs in Austria were installed because it's a new FIA standard, and they should come to other tracks as well, but the issue they're facing is the cars stay on those kerbs much longer than in Barcelona and vibrate at a frequency that basically fatigues the carbon fibre which causes damage. No one could have foreseen it, he says. It's a FIA issue and it's not the fault of the organiser. They will learn from it. Ted says the drivers definitely learned that you can go over the red and white ones but not the red ones. Wurz says first of all you don't go on the yellow ones as seen with Verstappen's crash. Then it's correct, short term solution is crisis management aka don't go on the kerbs. Longer term he thinks asking the tracks to change back is not the way because it costs millions and it's up to the teams to come up with cars that can handle that vibration frequency. Uhhh. Okay. Weird take in my opinion. 

Time for the race. Formation lap. 

Apparently Wehrlein is in the wrong spot and will be getting a penalty. Oh no! He’s reversing on the grid?! Are you insane?! 

And they're racing!

Good start from Lewis, Hulkenberg is losing places, Seb is making moves. At the end of the first lap, it's Lewis, Jenson, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Nico, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Seb, Valtteri and Sainz. When we come back from the start replays, Max is ahead of Daniel. And Kvyat is out of the race. Raikkonen is closing on Jenson, and Seb is closing on Ricciardo. Nico overtakes Hulkenberg for P4. Verstappen overtakes Hulkenberg for P5. Seb overtook Daniel and overtakes Hulkenberg for P6. Raikkonen overtakes Jenson for P2. Lewis, ahead, sets the fastest lap. Nico overtakes Jenson for P3. Max attacks Jenson… And overtakes him for P4. Hulkenberg is pitting, as well as Alonso. Seb attacks Jenson who pits. 

Lap 10. Daniel is preying on Seb. Loads of pit stops. Order goes Lewis, Raikkonen +3.9, Nico +3.1, Max +0.3, Seb +2.3, Daniel +0.4, Wehrlein +7.4, Grosjean +1.0, Magnussen +1.4, and Palmer +0.8. But again, mind the fact that most of the midfield just pitted. Nico is in. It's weird that they're pitting him first… Daniel is told they'll be pitting soon and to push, which is also surprising because he's on the supersofts, not the ultrasofts. Nico is starting his way back up the field. Loads of quick action in the midfield. More pit stops. Daniel boxes. Nico sets the fastest lap, on the softs. Max pits. Wehrlein keeps reporting rain but he's the only one. We get a slowmo shot of Lewis tyres being shredded. Seriously. As in we see bits of rubber flying off the edges. Aha, there's drops on the helicopter cameras indeed. It's minimal though. Raikkonen, who's on the supersofts, is slowly but steadily gaining on Lewis since Nico pitted. They need to box Lewis but they're trying to make the ultrasofts last as long as possible. Nico is also coming fast. 

Lap 20. Lewis, Raikkonen +4.1, Seb +5.1, Nico +14.2, Max +10.5, Ricciardo +3, Grosjean +31.1, Nasr +6.8, Jenson +0.5, and Hulkenberg +1.1. Mind the fact that the top 3 hasn't pitted yet. I'm not seeing Merc’s vision with this because if a pit stop takes about 25 seconds, that puts Lewis between the 2 RedBulls pretty much. So behind Nico, notably. Except if they believe he can stay out long enough to 1-stop without being overtaken? Or that he can race his way back up? But overtaking cars on track is generally not your first choice of strategy. The car is not '23 RBR dominant enough to make it a safe gamble. Lewis pits! Oh it's not a perfect stop, 4.2. He's behind Nico on P4. I vastly overestimated how long the pit stops last on this track lol. Max is just half a second behind him as well. Ferrari pit Raikkonen. He's out behind Daniel, not good. OH NO! Minutes after we get images of Seb's (who's leading and still hasn't pitted) damaged tyres, one of them delaminates and he crashes! Ohhh and it's a miracle he didn't collect one of the cars coming up behind him. Ted says he heard the explosion. Safety car is out and loads of people dive into the pits. The good news is that he barely touched the barrier. The safety car is leading the cars through the pitlane so the marshals can clean the pit straight where the incident happened. 

And that's how they get to lap 30. Under safety car. Nico leading, Lewis behind him on fresher tyres. (Don't think about it too much.) Behind them it's Max, Daniel, Raikkonen (Ferrari really fumbled this time again), Valtteri, Nasr, Jenson, Grosjean and Magnussen. They're now letting lapped cars unlap themselves. Hulkenberg and Grosjean are under investigation for speeding in the pit lane. And they go again. Lewis was caught sleeping a little bit. Perez overtook two cars down the straight in a pretty impressive move. Magnussen gets a 5 second time penalty for defending with more than one change of direction earlier. Loads of overtaking in the midfield again. Nico sets the fastest lap. (All of a sudden I realise it's been either Lewis or Nico on the podium in the last three races. They haven't both ended in the top 3 since the Russian GP, and of course they crashed in Spain after that.) Nico sets another fastest lap. Hulkenberg and Grosjean also get penalties for speeding in the pitlane. 

At the end of lap 39, it's Lewis setting the fastest lap (my autocorrect went for "gayest lap" which should be a thing). Nico, Lewis +1.9, Max +6.3, Daniel +3, Raikkonen +2.6, Valtteri +6, Jenson +2, Nasr +0.9, Grosjean +0.3, and Massa +0.5 gets overtaken by Perez who immediately loses the place. Ricciardo is warned of possible rain in turn 2. Lewis is starting to close the gap to Nico. Another fastest lap. Ted argues Mercedes have to pit Nico again to be fair to Lewis because they left him out and that's how Nico got the position. I'm not too sure that's how it works, especially as, as Crofty points out, it would mean relegating Nico somewhere down in P8 probably, and so losing the 1-2. Nico sets the fastest lap again. They're matching pace. Lap by lap. The gap only moved by 0.039 in 5 laps. But Nico goes wide and Lewis suddenly gains a second. He's close to getting the DRS now. He's told the suspension loads are critical on turn 9 and he needs to avoid the kerbs. Worrying. Meanwhile there's a bit of tyre debris hanging beneath Nico's car that's probably slightly affecting aero. He also has a piece of something broken on the side of the car. It's not completely loose and minimally moving but still. 

Lap 50. Ted predicts everybody will be 2-stopping very soon. Nico, Lewis +1.6 cannot or will not close the gap, Max +11.9, Daniel +6.4, Raikkonen +1.2, Valtteri +15.8, Jenson +0.5, Grosjean +2, Massa +2.9, and I can't see who's P10 because Magnussen pits. Plenty of people pitting indeed. No one important yet. Ah nvm Valtteri is in. Lewis is closing fast suddenly. He sets the fastest lap. Is it hammer time? Ricciardo is closing on Daniel as well. And Lewis put Nico in the DRS zone. IT IS HAMMER TIME I KNEW IT! Bono said so on radio hehe. Let's go! He pits first. Not great again, 3.5. He needs a great out lap. HE WENT WIDE NO COME ON. Nico is in. Fuck fuck fuck. It's so much quicker! 2.3!!! Arghhh. He's still ahead. Fucccck. On top of it they put Lewis on softs and Nico on supersofts. Wtf is this. Oh but he closes that gap so quickly now. It's gonna have to happen on track and it makes me nervous as hell. I wonder if they're thinking about team orders. Lewis is unhappy about the situation though. "Nico car ahead, he is on the super-soft tyre. 16 laps remaining, need to attack and pass on-track," Bono tells him. "Why is he on the softer tyre than me?" Lewis asks. "Lewis we think that this is the right tyre to get to the end." The gap is 1.2. 1.1. 0.9. Lewis gets rid of a backmarker. Raikkonen overtakes Ricciardo for P4 as he goes wide. 1. 0.9. 0.8. Nico is gonna find himself stuck behind Max, who's currently leading because he hasn't pitted for the second time yet. 0.7. Max laps Hulkenberg. He doesn't pit. Lewis attacks Nico with DRS in the pit straight. 0.4. 0.7. He went so quick he almost broke the track record. 0.6. There's a lot of traffic. 0.7.

Lap 60. Tough battle ahead. Verstappen, Nico +0.5, Lewis +0.8. Nico attacks Max from the outside but goes wide slightly and can't get past. Daniel pitted but who cares right now. Nico attacks again and this time it works. He's back in the lead. Lewis is going to have to clear the RedBull quickly as well. There's 10 laps to go. Max still doesn't pit, are they planning to go to the end on these??? Jesus fucking christ Lewis doesn't make it down the pit straight meanwhile Nico lapped another car that's 2 cars between them. It's not good. 

10 laps to go. Nico is getting ahead. I'm so frustrated lol. Both Max and Lewis are stuck behind a backmarker then he finally gets out the way, Max goes through but Lewis overtakes them both let's go! Time to hunt! 1.6 to go and 9 laps. 1.4 and 8 laps. 1.2 and 7 laps. Massa retires. Daniel overtakes Jenson for P5 on his fresh ultrasoft tyres. I don't care, that's not the fight we want. Lewis sets the fastest lap. The gap is down to 1 second. 6 laps to go. Alonso retires as well. Hulkenberg retires. I don't care, I don't care! Why are they showing us Raikkonen being 3 seconds behind Max instead of the Mercs?! 5 laps to go. Another fastest lap, 4 laps to go. 0.6!!! 0.5!!! 0.4!!! Nico is stuck behind backmarkers, it's time to go come on! 0.3… 0.2… DRS down the pit straight but it's not enough. 0.4. 0.3. 0.2. Trying down the outside, it's not enough… 0.2… 0.3… Nico's tyres are degrading. He moves ahead of a backmarker as does Lewis. 2 laps to go jesus fucking christ. Nico gets DRS from lapping the backmarkers. He gets some air, 0.6. FINAL LAP. 0.3. 0.1!!! OH MY GOD THEY'RE WHEEL TO WHEEL AND THERE'S YELLOW FLAGS IN SECTOR 2 THEY TOUCHED! THEY TOUCHED! LEWIS IS PUSHED WIDE! NICO HAS DAMAGE, HIS FRONT WING IS BROKEN AND SENDING SPARKS EVERYWHERE. IT DISINTEGRATES! AND LEWIS OVERTAKES HIM! AND PEREZ HAS CRASHED! AND NICO GETS OVERTAKEN BY MAX AND RAIKKONEN! oh my god oh my god what is this ending??? 

It's the end of the race!!! 

In the end, Lewis wins ahead of Max and Raikkonen, Nico is P4. Unbelievable. What did I just watch?!

On the radio Bono says it's not the race they were after but good result. Lewis immediately gets defensive. "I was on the outside. It wasn't me that crashed." I can hear him pouting through the years. 

We see a replay and I feel like I can see the split second when Nico decided he just wasn't gonna turn. Right before the impact. Listen, here's the thing. They both go to the limit every time they're up against one another, it's the dynamic. But you have to say Lewis manages to be more subtle than Nico about it. When Nico gets it wrong it's more often than not super clear cut. This is one of these times. 

Toto is seen banging on the table. That's gonna be a real nice debrief. 

We also see Perez' crash. His car wouldn't turn, maybe it's another suspension failure. Lewis is very happy still. You can tell his conscience is clear. Oh fuck no. The RBR race suits have a lederhosen design. Ugly. Lewis shakes Raikkonen's and Max's hands. It's gonna be a super dry podium though. He lets out a long sighing "whoo" as he walks to the timing screen. "That was intense at the end," he says. "What happened there?" Max asks excitedly. There's a short but noticeable pause. He chuckles dryly and says "he made a mistake into turn 1 in the last lap, and um… I was chasing him on the outside…" He sighs. "and I was ahead on the braking, and I started to turn, he [inaudible as the camera moves back]." Max makes another comment and as the camera moves back to them, Lewis chuckles softly again, turns around with his head bowed but a noticeable smirk, and mutters "ah jeez…" He avoids the camera as usual. 

There's a few boos as Lewis gets on the podium. Then a lot more when he gets his trophy. During the anthem, the stewards decided they would investigate Nico for the collision as well as for driving with a badly damaged car. The investigation doesn't mention Lewis. Loads of whistling and booing during the interview as well. Rancid vibes as always. The interviewer asks if he knows what it is about. "I don't know but it's not my problem it's their problem," Lewis says. That's not gonna help. It doesn't matter. At the end when they get back to him and she asks what happened with Nico, the crowd gets rowdy again. Lewis repeats : Nico made a mistake into turn one that gave him an opportunity on the outside of turn two. He says he left a lot of room on the inside (true), and "guesses" he locked up and crashed into him. He thinks he might have had some issue with his brakes. She's trying to ask another question starting by "did you consider, maybe, to say, who…" but he interrupts her. "I'm here to win. I'm here to win." That's the end of it. Uncomfy.

In front of the Merc pit wall, Toto, Vowles, Paddy and some other guy I don't know are talking. 

Niki says as well he guesses Nico had a brake problem. What he doesn't understand is why they hit each other. When Ted says Brundle was under the impression Nico hit Lewis, Niki says no, the first issue was he had a brake problem. But then why did they hit each other? he says, this he doesn't understand and thinks it might have been Nico's fault. He'll have to look at it again. 

Toto is fucking pissed. Ted asks what he calls that incident. He thinks about it. "Brainless." Furrowed brows, closed expression and all. He's so angry. He doesn't say anything else. "Well from who?" Ted prompts him. He says "we" were marginal on brakes, if not completely over the limit. But they couldn't help the drivers (because of the stupid ass radio ban), and Nico suffered a BBW failure on the straight and defended really hard, and Toto is upset. He doesn't know yet what he will tell them. Ted says of course he won the race but it could have easily been a 1-2 (and right! yet another weekend with only one of them on the podium!) but Toto says it could also have been a double DNF. Ted also asks everyone he can about his theory that they basically owed Lewis the win after Nico's undercut. He asks about it in a more subtle way than that obvi. Toto says you can't play chess. Lewis was on a 1 stop strategy because they thought it was best. It wasn't the case so they converted to a 2 stop. Ted doubles down. He says they gave Lewis an opportunity to undercut with the second stop but they brought Nico in immediately thus not letting Lewis bring the undercut to completion. "No you're getting things wrong here, Ted," Toto says softly but firmly. He doesn't elaborate. 

Okayyy it's gonna be very interesting to hear Nico's version of things. He's gutted and he says he was sure he'd win and then he lost in the last lap, which he describes as "pretty intense". He also says he was struggling with his brakes and his tyres were degrading which gave Lewis a chance. He still felt confident he could defend and bring it home. He had the inside position. Ah here we go. He says he went a bit deep but it's fine because he can dictate as he's on the inside. That's not the rule lol. Absolutely fucking not. Like sorry you know I point it out when Lewis is full of shit but this time it's Nico for sure. He says he was "very surprised" that Lewis turned but bro it's a corner. That's what you tend to do. Still he says "*I* caused a collision", which is honest. She asks what he'll say to the stewards and slips in the question that Toto called the whole thing brainless. He's annoyed. He says he doesn't know he hasn't thought about that yet he's still frustrated about losing the win. She asks to talk about how he got in a position where he could win the race with the pit stops in the first place with Lewis trying to make the tyres last etc. He says to be honest he doesn't know about that, he was in front, he felt great, and he was gonna win the race. That's it. 

HAHAHAHA. God I love Anthony. He saw what I saw. Because he's on the skypad looking at replays. He says it seems indeed Nico had brake issues because in the precedent corner he runs past the apex. But then. You look at his hands on the on-board and that's how Anthony puts it : "it's clear to see that, you know, even if you're running out wide, he doesn't really attempt to even make the corner". And it's true. You see when he gets to the corner, he turns the steering wheel about 45°, they make contact,

and then he actually makes the corner which takes him turning the steering wheel a full 180°.

Ah wow I was wondering about the mistake Lewis has been mentioning into turn 1 and indeed on the replay we see Nico clipping the inside kerb. It's so subtle. What attention to detail it takes. On his on-board, we see he left enough space on the inside as he said and we see him fully turning the steering wheel to make the turn as you expect, or trying to, because they make contact before he gets there.

We also can see that when Lewis tries to make it back to the track after being pushed wide, Nico doesn't leave him space to do so. Then Anthony runs it again from the start. He says any driver seeing this would be asking why didn't you even try to make the turn, brake issue or not. 

Back to Simon, he shows Nico's on-board to Johnny. Johnny gleefully says : "I'll tell you when I'd start to turn. Just easing into now…" Simon goes "No." as the two cars collide. Johnny guffaws : "It's about 5 yards after!" Brundle doubles down from the commentary cabin with Crofty. It's Nico's fault. Lewis was on the racing line, he couldn't have gone more to the left than he did. Brundle thinks Nico will look back on it and "realise that his attempt to intimidate Hamilton and run him wide is a critical error." 

They're talking with Toto AGAIN. Simon says everybody in the skysports team agrees Nico should have turned earlier. Toto reiterates that Nico had a BBW failure into turn one. He says Nico tried to make the corner brake where he usually does but the brake didn't work anymore. But that's bullshit because that's not what Nico says. Nico said he could dictate the turn because he was on the inside. He didn't say he couldn't brake. Johnny doesn't buy it either. He says okay he had a brake issue but he didn't turn the wheel. They show him the on-board. What a uncomfortable position to be in. "See you normally would start now," Johnny comments. "And he doesn't turn, does he?" We hear Toto dejectedly say "yeah." Again I can't overstate how annoyed he is, understandably. The interview started with the journalist being pretty aggressive trying to get Toto to drop the PR act and now the tables have turned. Johnny says it's racing, as if to temper his mood down. Toto says sure but cars colliding is like déjà vu "and I'm ending up with you guys speaking about uh… colliding teammates and it's absolutely not what we want and we just need to think the consequences from here now." Toto also repeats that Lewis was originally on a 1 stopper and when they converted to a 2 stopper is when the problems began for him. He says the pit stops weren't perfect but they're trying new things but that's not where the race was lost. Simon asks what they're gonna do about it though, as he said himself it could have been a double DNF. They mentioned before if it happened again they might have to start giving team orders. Toto says when two cars DNF like in Barcelona the team looks like idiots. It's disrespectful to 1500 people who are working "their nuts off" to prepare the car. Johnny asks again but how can you control that? "It seems that talking doesn't bring us any further," Toto articulates. You can tell he's this close to just losing his shit with his two boys. They need to think of all possible solutions and it can go as far as implementing the unpopular team orders. Simon asks if that's what they're gonna do. Toto says no, but it's on the table, that's what they're gonna discuss. Johnny asks what they were asking last time they had this conversation : is it not gonna dictate the championship? Toto says the same thing he said at the time : he hates team orders, they want to let them race, but if racing ends up in collisions then it's not what they want. The others are also getting closer to them as well so that has to also be taken under consideration. 

Anthony is still playing with the replays and apparently Jenson Button himself reacted to it saying "he doesn't even let him back on the circuit!" after the facts when Lewis tries to rejoin. The thing is, though, Lewis overtook Nico under yellow flags. Anthony argued that given Nico's car was damaged and losing pieces, Lewis was entitled to overtake. I'm not sure that would hold with the stewards. Eventually Nico fell back but Lewis couldn't know that at the time so he went for it. I wonder if that's gonna be an issue. The thing is also the yellow flag showed up right as Lewis was passing by then he slowed when he saw the lights. Anyway he's not under investigation right now. 

Nico is out of the stewards and now Lewis is under investigation for overtaking under yellow flags I'm gonna lose my mind. 

Ted says the fans told him the track commentary was blaming Lewis for the collision as that's why they booed him.

We finally hear from Lewis.

Brundle asks if he was surprised to see Nico ahead of him after his pit stops and he says definitely. Everything was going well, he was doing everything he was asked to. He says he was "with Nico" and was asked not "to let him go any further" cause he's gonna have to stop (?). And then he himself had to come in. He was battling with the order to stop but he obeyed and then he was on other tyres and he was not too happy about that because Nico was on the faster tyre. "So yeah for sure I'm like 'how am I supposed to get by' with the disadvantage of being behind and then also at a disadvantage with the tyre compound". But he dug as deep as he could and thought "it is what it is, I'm gonna do everything that I can whether it's right or wrong". Brundle asks if he thinks he can take any blame for the incident or it's all Nico's fault. He starts by saying we're biased as humans but also he doesn't feel biased which. Great start lol. He says he was on the outside, he believes he was ahead going in, Nico was in his blindspot so he left plenty of space. He got to the white line, he began to turn and "boom, big hit". "So… Pretty sure he hit me," he says with a tentative smile, "rather than the other way."

Another journalist jumps in. Brundle lets him ask his question. He asks if Lewis was surprised by the crowd's reaction. He says for sure but he has a few team LH fans here and they were waving flags and he could spot them because they were wearing his favourite cap "you know the kind of burgundy one I have?" and in all honesty he only heard them.

He says these things "they're not the greatest" but "it happens." Brundle chimes in. He asks if he thinks it was about him, or "about us brits, on the EU ?" (I did see during the brakes ads for some kind of big talk show about whether or not the UK should leave the EU for wider historical context here lol) "I have NO. CLUE. Honestly," Lewis says half amused. He says he's been up there before and other people were being booed "for real reasons" like "taking someone out or doing something intentional, or appearing intentional", but he doesn't see how they got that from what happened today. Brundle asks how his brakes were because they heard they were both struggling with brakes– Lewis doesn't wait for the mic. He shakes his head. Once Brundle hands him the mic again he says "my brakes were fine." He says there's a gauge on the steering wheel and if the brakes get hot they have to take measures to keep them in the window. He says he will see later on but he's guessing Nico was in the red and rather than lifting (he starts chuckling as he talks) and looking after it, he brought them to failure. Brundle says they nearly collided again when he got back on the track. He says he tried to get back without losing too much ground and he didn't leave any space. He laughs. He says usually after such incidents you try to move over, "he stayed, he hugged the white line" and kind of appeared out of nowhere as he came. 

Simon says apparently they met at their apartment building swimming pool the other day and had a 30 minute talk trying to make things okay. Apparently in the written press conference Toto said again they might have to implement team orders and basically says just thinking about it makes him wanna "puke himself". 

Well they've waited for as long as they could but we don't know the stewards' decisions. Time to Google. Annnd Nico got a 10 second time penalty. It didn't change the results though. He was reprimanded and received 2 penalty points for driving with a damaged car. 

[stormclawponyrises]

felt like rewatching the mad max series of films, given its been like 10 years since i watched the first 3, and several years since the 4th. While I was a bit too young to really understand everything that was happening when I first watched the first 3 they're a big source of nostalgia to me.

Something about the production and the way its so familiar in its aussieness, even though it was made decades before i was born.

So here's some thoughts on the first Mad Max film (1979) (obviously the film's like 40+ years old I'm gonna spoil it I don't care):

The film's got a good hook to start us off, a simple car-chase to get the ball rolling, and a good avenue for some character and plot setup. It's interesting to me how Max is set up as a character- he's not properly introduced until 9 minutes in, he's presented in a more mysterious light to the other characters (before being introduced his identity is obscured, setting up that he's important without even telling us who he is), and when Nightrider realises Max is after him, his entire tone of being the cool Nightrider having fun and escaping prison completely shifts to a man who knows death is coming for him.

Still, for the first half of the film there's very little focus on Max specifically, other than a scene or two with his wife. Most of the focus ends up being on Goose, who is even set up as an incredibly important character. We finally get more focus on Max after Goose's accident: he's in tune with his mental health for one (surprised me a lot if I'll be honest), scared to be like the men who ruined his friend's future. This serves as great setup for him becoming "Mad" Max, which was interesting to see!

The scenes with his wife Jessie throughout the film show them as a couple who truly love and adore each other- they enjoy being together and talking. Their feelings are genuine. They even try signing their feelings to each other which is such a cute and silly detail, even if the signs aren't proper ASL or Auslan (based on my research at least- I do not know either sign language).

So when Jessie and their son die, it hits that much harder. Because we've seen over and over a true depiction of love and kinship between these people in such a short time, and its completely torn apart. We don't even see them get hit, just the implication. So the suspense when Max runs up and we get even the tiniest glimpse of the body and the music builds up, we get that emotional intensity that establishes Max's madness developing in the next few scenes.

Pretty consistently, even while mad and interrogating, Max is a fairly soft-spoken and calm man. He's cold - one of the things he said he was afraid of becoming after Goose's accident. You can see rage on his face in multiple scenes, but he's still so quiet and blunt. It makes him far more unsettling and intense as a character.

The only thing I don't like that much about the film is how suddenly it ends, because Max's rampage feels so short. A lot of the bikers were dealt with offscreen or forgotten about, so it feels like there's something missing. At the very least though, the film answers its own question. Max is mad. Why? This is why. It's a good film and a fun taste of 70s Aus but I feel like if it didn't have any sequels it wouldn't have lasted that long in people's memory. With the abrupt ending I'm glad there's something more in the series I can watch.

Fun things about the film that I've heard (truth may vary) or that I just happened to find personally interesting:

The scene where Max ties a man to a car spilling gasoline with handcuffs and tells him to saw off his leg (or he'll explode) apparently inspired the Saw franchise.

V8s have always been pretty big in Australia. V8s are popular long-distance vehicles, which some see as a necessity in Australia, especially with the long distances (not so bad now in the 2020s, but Australia is still bloody fucking big!!!!!!!). I remember my dad watching the V8 Supercars racing on the weekends, he's also attended races throughout the years and even did some racing when he was younger, so hearing that the Pursuit Special (the car Nightrider was driving and that Max takes after Jessie and the child die) was a V8 perked my ears right up.

Jessie actually has some sense of self-preservation! Even though she dies she still actually tries to survive when she's put in danger. The only really stupid thing she seemed to do was trying to run right before she got hit, and that can easily be put down to panic causing intelligence to go out the window- and the fact that there wasn't really a clear way for her to survive there (so you can't really blame her for trying, even if I feel staying with the van would've had better results).

The son isn't named. "Sprog" is slang. No I don't know why and I haven't heard people use it personally. But it's not his name.

I know very little about the actual production of Mad Max, other than that it was filmed in a lot of locations I've been to. It obviously looks different now though! If you're interested in the production there are documentaries for the Mad Max films and some reviews I've seen from Mr Sunday Movies' "Caravan of Garbage" youtube series on the films that go into some detail about the production. I'm sure there's plenty others too.