#a lot of people seem to be going out of their way to get upset on ncuti's behalf

[evieelyzabethh]

"what dreams are made of"

⭒"sunsets or something, aren't you lovely" ⭒~ crush phase Arcane head cannons {fem reader}

cast ✧ Vi, Ekko, Jayce, Viktor, Mel

cw fem!reader, massive amounts of fluff, slightly pervy jayce, not beta read

an ☞i know this blog has been very Buffy related for a bit but i wanted to try something new. Not that Buffy is abandoned forever, i just wanted to write for more than one fandom

♞Vi ♞

♞Vi tells herself she doesn't have a crush on you, nay, she doesn't even believe in crushes. She thinks they are childish and beneath her and would never even admit she has one. That being said, she is definitely "sweet" on you as Vander would've called it. Vi when having a crush would be an absolute disaster, and this she would be more than willing to admit on her own. Her words never seem to come out right, and even when they do, they're never taken the way she means. She said it herself, when presented a set of options, she somehow always manages to chose the wrong one. For a relationship with Vi to work, you would have to be patient.

♞She certainly doesn't know when enough is enough. She will hang outside of your place of employment, be it the Last Drop or Babette's and insist you allow her to walk you home. Her fists are the one thing she's confident in because there is no nuance in fighting. She doesn't think it's possible for you to be upset with her for beating the shit out of the guy who looked at you funny and would be confused when you get mad at her for this. It's not even that she thinks you are incapable of taking care of yourself, that's just the only way she can think to protect you without it going wrong (and it sometimes still does)

♞She would be into old school chivalry. In a modern, less serious AU, I think she would be the type to stand outside your house with a boombox to apologize because she accidentally shrunk your favorite expensive sweater in the wash. Even within Arcane, I think if she was feeling soft and comfortable enough, she would be the type to carry you over puddles so your shoes didn't get wet or throw stones at your window to get your attention. Not even to go on a big adventure, just to sit on a rooftop and to listen to her hum.

♞I don't think she'd be into getting her crush flowers. She's one of those types who is already hyper exposed to death and wouldn't want to get you anything that has the potential to die. She's not above having Jinx make you some trinket and trying to lie that she made it to impress you, but you know that it's not her handiwork. She does try, though, her and her sticky fingers. Anything your gaze lingers too long on somehow finds its way into your room with a handwritten note from her (her handwriting is shit by the way)

♞As stated above, she is terrible with words yet is most romantic in the most unexpected moments. She is totally the type to hang around doorframes just to lean on them and subtly flex. Does this work? No, but it's funny to see her try and be suave. She succeeds in smaller ways. She is always watching. She notices the small changes in the ways you look at her, knowing when you're trying not to laugh or need her to rescue you from a terrible conversation. The slightly deeper baritone she puts on when she asks, "you alright, pretty?", the way she guides you by the small of your back on instinct. She one of those people who is naturally hot and doesn't realize she doesn't need to try (and don't let her find out she'll be insufferable).

♞I don't think she would confess on her own, it's far more likely you'll have to do it yourself. She would get in her head too much, and her communication skills are awful. She worries that she'll hurt you and won't know how to fix it. She knows relationships are harder work than friendships and she is not confident in her abilities to handle all the responsibility that comes with that. She's reckless with her livelihood, but never you and your wellbeing. Even after a confession, it would take a lot of reassurance that she wouldn't destroy everything.

✭Ekko✭

✭I don't think a crush phase with Ekko would last all that long, especially if it's developed after the Firelight society. I think he's far more self-assured than Vi is and wouldn't see the point in dancing around a relationship. If he wants you and you want him, why make things complicated if they don't need to be. For these reasons, I think he would crush from a far rather than it being a friends to lovers type relationship.

✭Ekko is sappy, let that be known. The first time he sees you time stops. If he's figured out his machine, he may just rewind time to stare at you for a second longer. He becomes a mini-stalker, not breaking into your house or anything, but slyly asking if anyone knows you, where you came from, why he's never seen you before, if you're single? Scar makes fun of him for this, of course, but encourages and indulges him with all he knows

✭The glimpses he sees of you make his whole week. Those short moments you pass by him in a crowd, or he sees you playing with children or passing around food, and he curses himself every time for freezing instead of taking action. And when he does take action, Scar is somewhere around the corner eavesdropping on the conversation and nearly choking on his own laughter when he hears Ekko's opening line, "Tree." Just "Tree". He had meant to say more than that, but when you looked at him, his mind went blank and all he could manage was "Tree" and died inside as you looked up at him confused. Like Vi, he too would stumble over his words at first, or even worse, fall victim to a terribly timed voice crack. He tries to cover it with a cough, but there's really no coming back from that.

✭Lucky for Ekko (who still lays awake at night because of your first interaction), you liked his tree a lot and you talked for hours under it. He walked you home like a gentleman after and shows up the next morning to give you an exclusive tour of the entire place and treats you to lunch

✭After that he pops up everywhere. You need company on an errand, he's some how at your door, checking his watch trying to look nonchalant when he is one of the most chalant people to walk the earth. You get caught in the rain, your eyes aren't deceiving you, that is indeed Ekko in the misty distance with an extra umbrella he 'found' lying around somewhere. You wanna go out one night, that's hilarious because Ekko had the exact same idea and if you're both going out might as well keep each other safe at night.

✭Don't be mistaken, he allows you space. He himself is a man who enjoys solitude, but what is the point of a commune if not community. He can do things alone, and he does, but if he's craving company and you are too, why bother with it. Being together isn't often a big ordeal anyway, sometimes its lounging around in his lab reading a book while he's tinkering away with some good music playing in the background. And sometimes, if the stars align and the moon allows, you slow dance to whatever's playing while talking about your day, even if you spent it together.

✭Ekko can certainly cook. He got quite good at making something out of nothing before his tree, but after, you try convincing him every day to open a restaurant should he ever need some cash on the side. He likes his kitchen a lot, actually, its his private sanctuary. A place where his love of the arts and science come together. In a modern AU, he would totally be on the track to have a degree in biochemistry and plan to open his own restaurant.

✭You two would hang out in his kitchen a lot, and out of the kindness of his heart, he would allow you to lick the spoon anytime he bakes something. It would also be where he confesses, a candlelit dinner for two already set up while both of you prepare what will be your first meal together as a couple.

❂Jayce❂

❂Probably the only one (and Mel) who can pull of being suave. Though he can pull it off, it is not authentic at all. He certainly woos you with it though!! He is a very classic romantic, buying you dozens of roses and wine-and-dining you with fancy champagne and furry rugs, but it's all a facade. He's a really big dork. Unlike the previous two, being suave is the defense he plays rather well. He's a bit scared that when you realize he's really pathetic deep down, you'll be disappointed. He's the man of progress and built like a brickhouse and he is slightly very insecure that's not his personality deep down

❂He enjoys walks in the gardens once you get a bit closer to him. Usually you two will talk in his lab or in your place of work and he'll drop a few cheesy pickup lines with a charming smirk and you'll both laugh it off. You think he's just a flirt for a while and he's really trying to work on you (just very unsuccessfully). It's not until he (very inorganically) tells you he's tired and wants a change of scenery and asks if you'll accompany him to the gardens. For the first time ever, you get one of his toothy smiles instead of those stupid forced smirks and you're really fond of it.

❂From then on, things start progressing much faster. He starts to tell you about Hextech and his theories about the runes and how it all works and babbles about scientific drivel until the sun goes down and, unless you're one of the sciency-types, it goes through one ear and out the other. He's ok with this, he likes having a sponge around to talk things through with, but if you can actually engage, he'd probably get a boner.

❂I feel like out of everyone, after you got close enough, he would do relationship things, creating a very vague space that can leave you questioning whether or not you're together or if you're reading into things too much. This is entirely because he wants to ask you out and he is like 90% percent sure you'll say yes but he's worried about the slim chance you won't and wants you to take the leap for him because he's too scared to.

❂He's a big physical touch guy. Like the type to leave his hands in your back pocket, not even because he's trying to grab your ass, but because he wants to touch you (and your ass). He likes hugs!! He gives such good hugs. While it's usually him leaning on you for touch, placing his head in your lap, grabbing your hands, or letting his hands linger on your hips to rub little patterns, he is beyond excited when it's you are initiating. What do you mean you want a hug from him!!! What do you mean you want to hold his hand!! He is so over the moon excited.

❂Slight side tangent, but if you went out in something low cut he would constantly be staring at your chest. Not even in a perv way (most of the time), but to make sure it doesn't fall down. He has gotten very sly at pulling it up for you in an unnoticeable way. There are a lot of similar acts with him, casual touches here and there. Unsticking your hair from your lip gloss, pulling stray leaves or flower petals out of your hair, making sure the clasp of your necklace stays in place at the back of your neck.

❂I know he smells nice. Dior Sauvage warrior right here!!! He would go slightly overboard with it on the day he confesses just because you said you liked it. He would plan everything to an absolute 't'. A walk in the gardens where you had what he considers your first date, a written speech that become illegible because his hands were sweaty while he was holding it, a specific spot to eat dinner so you got a perfect glimpse of the stars. He would even wait for the day that a specific constellation was in place to perfectly set the mood. He asks you to be his girlfriend like he's proposing, with a single rose and matching bracelets to commemorate the occasion.

☽Viktor☾

☾Viktor is another one I don't really see having a crush just because he is so busy all the time, but I don't think you'd need to work in the lab to catch his attention. I think simple things, like kindness, would really be all he needs. He appreciates someone who doesn't coddle him or look at him funny because he's from Zaun or because of his leg. Someone who is considerate to his disability while also treating him like a person, not like some porcelain doll

☾I think once he found you, he would find it slightly hard to know what to do next. He likes your banter when you come around and he knows he likes you, it's the pursuing part that gets him tripped up. He is someone who likes to have it planned out and he has no idea where he would take you on a date or what you enjoy or who you are really

☾Every hang out would eventually turn into a game of 21 questions. What's your favorite color? What do you like to do in your free time? What's your least favorite chore to do? It all seems very random you two jump from topic to topic when the conversation stills. He also just adores hearing you go on and on about things. They could be the simplest of things, like going into very heavily deep detail as to why your favorite colors purple, or something more substantive, like a full and deep analysis of your favorite book, or just gossip. This man is a D-1 gossiper!!

☾He likes having you around in general. Like Jayce, he enjoys having someone to bounce ideas off of or just being able to hear them out loud. He also feels more at ease around you. Unlike pretty much everyone else, he wouldn't freeze up around his crush. If anything, he's more prone to fault without them there. He gets too wrapped up in work, he forgets to take breaks, he forgets to eat. You're always there to remind him to do what he forgets to the point that you don't even have to say it anymore. He's gotten so good about it, sometimes he makes lunch for the both of you.

☾He absolute adores your banter. He's not as serious as people think he is. He can crack a joke or two. He's sarcastic and witty and a leader of the sassy man apocalypse. He would absolutely die without hearing your laugh at his stupid jokes.

☾On a different note, he would start using pet names so smoothly. It would start slowly with a simple nickname and then eventually progress into one of those old, classic nicknames. Dear or darling would definitely be his go-to's and he would only get bolder as you start to blush more. He's cocky too, he is very aware of the effect he has, and he likes pushing your buttons. It's like a game, the more he picks and prods, the greater his reward is.

☾I also have a feeling he'd be a slight neat freak. Like his lab is a different story, his work is chaotic, but he cannot come home to chaos. I think if you let him into your space, he wouldn't definitely tidy it up subtly. Wiping dust off books and slightly moving objects on your desk so they look more orderly. I feel like this carries over to appearance too. He has a specific way of tying his shoes and he's very meticulous about what ties he wears and knows how to do like every type of knot.

☾He also definitely smells good. You can't convince me he doesn't have like a 12-step shower routine and takes advantage of all of Piltover's fancy soups and colognes. In contrast to Jayce, however, his smelling good is him smelling super clean. Like it's not a scent out of a bottle or anything, nor does he smell exactly like soap, he smells distinctly like himself and very clean.

☾I think he would confess very simply and nonchalantly. It would be a late night in the lab by candlelight or some sort of low lighting has him feeling romantic and bold. He peppers it into conversation smoothly, something like "It's too late tonight, but tomorrow we should go on our first date." And you are taken aback, which he knew you would be. You do ask if he was officially asking you to be his girlfriend and he tells you "he doesn't really like labels", but the wide smile and kiss he gave you said otherwise.

☼Mel☼

☼Probably one of the smoothest talkers out of everyone here. She would have absolutely no problems charming anyone into a relationship. Similar to Jayce, it would be a bit superficial at first. Feeling like she would need a relationship to feel complete, not in a self-esteem way, but rather in an aesthetic way. She is always trying to look very put together and like she has everything under control, and the "complete" life looked like one with a significant other. She eventually realizes a complete life doesn't need a partner, but her complete life wouldn't be complete without you.

☼Mel would feel like she's being obvious towards her crush when she in reality is not. She has this very professional tone about her, and she eventually has to learn that even the sweetest things sound manufactured in that manner. She would talk very softly with her crush, a lot of whispers during council meetings and sweet mutterings while it's just the two of you. This reminds me, if you're shorter than her, she has the very attractive habit of leaning down to speak to you.

☼Big on eye contact. She could talk you unto circles, your pupils dilated and just nodded at anything she says. She finds this very amusing. She is aware of the effect her voice has on people, and she would be lying if she said she didn't put into hyperdrive when it came to you. It's not even a different voice she put on, it's just the way she speaks and looks you in your eyes that's so captivating. She also gives it right back when it comes to listening to you. Though she has the habit of wanting to fix your problems for you, she's gotten good at asking if you even want her advice or just want her to listen.

☼She would love matching with her crush. Once again, someone who visuals are very important to, she likes the idea that you look together, even if you aren't. This also applies to her finding any way for you to be together at public events. Inviting you as her date to a gala or not wanting to do a grocery run alone, she would ask you to come with. She loves looking like you two are dating.

☼Gossip sessions would go insane. It's definitely a scheduled weekend event with face masks and nails, she'll braid your hair and in return you'll pick out new charms and styles for her to put hers in. Part of it is because she likes being well informed about what everyone is up to and part of it is bonding over despising the same people in the council (this is directed at Salo). Her favorite part of it is being around you; it's a very intimate activity that she can't get enough of.

☼I feel it in my bones that she's the type to open doors for you. Car doors, carriage doors, your hand will not grace a single doorknob or handle around her. She would also be on top of the weather, festivals and fun events happening, and things concerning to your interests. You will never regret not wearing your rainboots because she would've told you the forecast the morning. Your favorite music artists are coming soon, good thing she told you like a month ago so you could get tickets before everyone else.

☼She is another chef, but of the comfort food variety. Her food just tastes like a warm hug, and she is the first you go to when feeling under the weather. She takes great pride in this. She doesn't cook often and she doesn't even enjoy the activity that much, preferring to eat out or have a private chef, but she likes that she has something that she can do for you.

☼I don't think it would take her very long to ask you out, especially if she felt like the feelings were reciprocated. To her, there's no point in prolonging the inevitable and she really likes the way your names sound together. I think she is also sappy; she is just incredibly well at hiding it. All of the acts of service mentioned above are usually done casually. She wins the nonchalant Olympics even when she's not trying to. She thinks it's incredibly clear, but the way she comes across doesn't convey that. Thus, her sappy moments are few and far between and she gets very bashful when they're mentioned.

☼Definitely has a scrapbook of your times together as well as a diary where she talks about you for pages on end. The discovery of this would lead to the confession. It would be uncomfortable for her just because it would be so impromptu and that is not how she likes to do things. She would be very vulnerable and honest about her feelings and would call this your "unofficial" confession. She would later go all out as she had always intended during her confession

[whorrorbvby]

an update:

hey friends a lot of people have been asking where ive been on other socials and im sorry for being m.i.a and ignoring everyone’s worries. im not getting into it right now and i dont know if i want to talk about the details publicly. 

i deleted tumblr from my phone about two and a half weeks ago and ive had a friend keeping a queue going on main for me. it might be that way permanently now i don’t know. I don’t know that I want to come back to tumblr if im being honest. a lot of things happened and i just can’t handle seeing certain people anymore so i’ve been hanging out on two of the more safer socials where tumblr people people generally leave me alone. not that im upset with you any of you or anything it’s more of a personal relationship and it just turned me off of basically everything and i just can’t handle a lot right now.  

i didn’t want to stop posting my own content for obvious reasons but i really can’t bring myself to come back it’s too hard and my heart can’t handle it right now. i also haven’t taken any new photos or anything and as of right now i don’t really feel super comfortable in sharing my body in that way. situations have made me feel disgusting as a person and i can’t look at myself. im trying to post more on ig to boost myself back up but i don’t know my self image is kind of ruined now. plus i’ve lost 15lbs from stress and inability to eat because of it and with how many people already harass and bully me for how scrawny i am i don’t want to subject myself in my current mental state to even the possibility of anyone saying anything. 

but like i said i have a friend running main for me and i might have them run this account too and my pepper page just because i do want to go back to making content i just dont know if i can handle posting or being in certain spaces right now. 

on top of what im currently dealing with in my personal life this is just a really hard time for me in general because of the holiday season and close to the anniversary of my best friends death so i tend to shut down a little anyway it’s just my entire world came crashing down again and im honestly starting to give up on even existing. i know im being melodramatic and i need to suck it up and just go back to status quo it’s just really hard this time and i cant force myself into a positive headspace like i used to even for a second. i have honestly never felt this empty and i barely know who i am or what my worth is anymore. 

i dont know if i’ll turn my asks back on. my friend offered to answer anything for me but its better for my mental health if i dont because i know people will ask questions and i dont trust myself to not completely go off on a tangent. im sorry i know im rambling but i feel like a proper update with zero room for misunderstanding is needed and i dont want to sugarcoat or lie to any of you to make myself seem or feel better cuz i respect the hell out of you guys and you deserve honesty if for nothing else. and i appreciate so fucking much you all continuing to support me and hype me up through all the bullshit life keeps throwing at me. 

im mostly on ig and threads right now and on threads im talking about games and movies with new people im meeting and it’s been really helping through shit. if you follow me on snap you saw me say im thinking about deleting everything. my accounts are still up and as long as my friend still wants to help me out i’ll at least have a queue running on main but i’ve deleted every social app other than ig and threads. i wholeheartedly planned on deleting snap last night but it’s the only way some of you get any updates from me so for now i wont delete it but i might make a new one instead just to get away from situations that are bringing me down. we’ll see. if I make a new snap i’ll post it everywhere n put it in my bios. that being said i don’t have a private/nsfw snap and i wont make one im sorry. i still wont sell content outside of what i post on peppers and i wont do customs im sorry. maybe in the future but right now i need to focus on myself and getting out of this headspace before i do anything else. 

but truly thank you for sticking with me and just genuinely being the best crew around. i promise to try my best to get out of this mess of a headspace im in as quickly as possible and im really sorry for basically abandoning everything again but i really am hopeful for the future and just trying to focus on myself and my happiness at the moment 🙏🏻🧡

[kacchanrawr]

mha final volume spoilers

For the past few months I've kinda just come to accept MHA's ending to be whatever. Not the best, but not the worst I've seen it's fine whatever. But seeing the final volume extra content honestly just has me genuinely hating the ending. I'm trying to keep an open mind cuz it's not officially out yet and leaks can be kinda dubious, but I'm genuinely so upset.

Ig the main feeling I have is: genuinely what's the point??? I mean there's a lot of things going on in mha and depending on what you care about ig you could feel like everything's fine and resolved, but personally? Just no. My main problem a few months ago was with Toga's death, but now I'm just even more pissed.

As so many people have probably already discussed: killing the villains off after all this stuff about saving them is a fucking problem right?? With Toga's case specifically (cuz she's my fave and I care the most about her), it's her just dying after she finally found the love and acceptance she's always wanted from Ochako. Like why? Even if you can technically make sense of it with her explanation of "I want to live life as I please", it's just stupid and distasteful. It would be one thing if she said that cuz she was just running away to be free, but to kill her? Of bloodloss of all things? Idc abt people going oh thats sooo poetic, no i think it's stupid. So many other characters have lived after going through worse like for fuck's sake, Edgeshot's still around.

What's the point of that emotional resolution if you don't show the aftermath, of her being able to live happily, or at least how she'll go on with life from then on? She didn't have to die, she could've just escaped or whatever (I was hoping that was the case when there was no mention of Toga's body). But by killing her, the only message I got from mha's whole saving the villains thing is: "sooo maybe having empathy for the deviances of society is important actually, but it's kinda inconvenient to deal with them." And even if that wasn't Hori's exact intention, that's what his story seems to be saying by killing off the villains.

And then the fucking nail in the coffin is the fact that Hori used Toga's death to drive Izuocha. It was one thing when he did it with the cliff talk when Ochako was mourning Toga (I always found it distasteful okay), but it's so much worse to write Toga literally pushing Ochako to Deku. So not only did Hori kill off the queer character who finally had her resolution and romance so he won't have to deal with her, but he's really following through with the Bury the Gays trope by using her o push the girl she loves to a man? Ew.

The worst part is that even if Izuocha got together and they're canon or whatever cuz of that last part, the way Hori did it is so fucking mid. Like seriously, if you were gonna do my girl dirty like that for that het romance, at least make it good?? But noooo. I mean they don't have to be like kissing and getting married and having babies or whatever (that'd just be shit), but at least have them properly get together. What is that "implied romance" ass handshake?? There's no fucking reason to make it implied, they're not queer or forbidden or complicated or anything. Bro just didn't wanna commit to actually fleshing out their romance. And you used Toga and her death for that, for absolutely fucking nothing?? The funniest part is that everything Togachako did is infinitely more romantic than that handshake, so how am I supposed to be convinced by this "implied romance"? (anyone who says implications enough for izuocha I'd say the bar's just on the floor for you cuz they're het)

And then there's Bakugo. I mean I was fine and whatever with the original epilogue, but what the fuck? So you're telling me bro lead Project Deku Hero Suit or whatever for 8 years, only for Deku to reject him when asked to be a part of his agency? It may or may not have been explicitly stated that they'd be in a hero agency together whatever, but I feel like it was a natural conclusion that they'd end up working together/closely as a hero duo? Win to save and save to win, wonder duo defeating ShigAFO together, that hospital talk about competing together for the rest of their lives, him being the one to reach out to Deku at the epilogue chapter, hello? DEKU REJECTED THAT AND FOR WHAT. Also ok fine this may sound stupid to be upset over, but why the fuck is Bakugo rank 15. Like we do just be writing whatever I guess

I'm still holding on to some hope that the leaks were ass and inaccurate. Or maybe even completely fake cuz the chapter's been getting a lot of AI art allegations? Though it's also probable that's just the leaker who used AI to get high res pictures of the leaks. IDK MAN JUST PLEASE DON'T LET THIS BE COMPLETELY ACCURATE PLEASE LET ME STAND CORRECTED

[laura1633]

You can tell when other fans are being obtuse or don't pay attention to a specific team or driver. I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall last week with the number of people who didn't seem to get Charles had finally cracked because of a pattern of behavior going back years, not just because Carlos didn't get out of his way in one race.

Anyone who pays attention to Max would know that he doesn't normally go off on other drivers because they snitched on track or went to the stewards. Like he said, he's been back with the stewards a lot in his career and getting heated like this is not his normal reaction. He's also very blunt and honest, so if he said he's angry about George being two faced in public vs private, then that's why he is angry. I also suspect that just like with Charles last week, based on the severity of the reaction, there's a longer story here, but this time we just have fewer details.

You are absolutely correct. I have almost fallen into this myself in the past when I have seen a headline or something about a driver and almost jumped to the wrong conclusion before actually looking into the bigger picture. 

I am probably going to annoy some people with this answer so I will put it under the cut (plus it turned into a long response!) . If you are going to read it then just know that I am not going to start hating on other drivers all the time but I am upfront about this being a primarily Lestappen blog so I think its clear where my loyalties lie. If they do something absurd and awful then fair enough I will point it out, otherwise those are my drivers and I am defending them. 

This is all my opinion on my blog, I am happy to discuss anything respectfully but I don't want to turn this into anything hateful. We all have our favourites and we all like to defend them.

With the Max and George thing, you are spot on. Max is blunt and honest, I don’t even think he was being particularly mean about George. People are talking as if they know exactly what went on in the stewards room which they don’t, clearly whatever it was was enough to upset him. I have never heard him talk like this about another driver and this wasn’t even in the heat of the moment, this was after he had won. 

The thing I dislike most is when somebody purposefully plays up to the “I am the innocent party”, “I am the nice guy”, or “he is the unreasonable one” to the press when it’s not the case. Max tends to get the brunt of this because he is just straightforward with what he says and doesn’t try and make people like him. I have seen it happen a few times to him now. I am sure this will drag into next weekend and there will be an effort to make Max look like the unreasonable one. 

That pole position belonged to him and his team who were able to fix the set up of the car, it wasn’t just being taken away from him it was being taken away from all of the people who had been able to turn things around so quickly from the sprint. 

The Charles thing drove me insane and I tried not to get into it too much because everybody was fighting online and I was trying to just enjoy Max’s championship win. In my opinion people absolutely misunderstood the whole context of what has been going on. It was definitely not frustration at just that one race, what happened in that race probably encapsulated a lot of the issues though. 

The comments about Charles not wanting to race and wanting Carlos to not fight him infuriated me for so many reasons. 

Firstly, neither Carlos or Charles are winning the drivers championship so there is only the constructors championship left so the expectation of working as a team should be there. Now I know people will then argue that Carlos was let go by Ferrari but to me that shouldn’t mean he automatically doesn’t care about the constructors. In fact I feel like only an idiot would not care. He could be part of the team that finally brings the constructors back to Ferrari, he would be cemented in the history books. Yes Lewis will get the benefit of it next year but Carlos would always be in the team that brought glory back. 

Secondly, and this is the bit I think people just outright ignored - Charles was annoyed because they had discussed the race and agreed on a plan before the race and that was not followed. To me that is pretty significant. 

If you agree to a plan before the race then that is ultimately going to influence the way you race. The fact your teammate then uses that against you puts you at a disadvantage immediately. It’s hard for me to explain what I mean but for example (and I am not using specifics of any race here, just something to illustrate my point); 

If you are both told to preserve tyres in the first stint of the race and also told not to fight each other aggressively on track then you will race a specific way to adhere to that. It might not be the way you would have raced if the plan had not been agreed to. If your teammate then shreds their tyres to get past you or is overly aggressive with you they are effectively using their knowledge of the plan against their teammate and ultimately costing the team points overall. That would infuriate me, especially if it was not the first time and especially if said teammate then goes to the media and talks about how they are doing everything to help the team. 

Again, its the annoying thing of doing one thing behind the scenes and presenting a false narrative to everyone else so the other person looks like the unreasonable or crazy one. 

Oh my god I am sorry for ranting under your ask but I have been trying not to say too much about the Ferrari situation but I needed to say something 😂 

I will turn off reblogs to hopefully limit the amount of people getting angry in my inbox!

[cryingatwindermerepeaks]

would you write for regressor april? caregiver of your choice, maybe she’s just having a rough day and needs comfort

Little!April x Cg!Ann - Bad Day

Word count: 1570

——————————

April had been having an awful day. Possibly, the worst one ever. She’d gotten in an argument with Andy over something stupid, she’d accidentally screwed up the filing system resulting in Leslie yelling at her and she’d forgotten to tell Ron that there was an unavoidable meeting so he was mad at her too.

She hadn’t meant to make everyone so mad today, she’d just been feeling smaller than usual recently and it was getting harder to compartmentalise certain feelings. It was clear that no one was really happy with her in the office so April ended up moping around the corridors of city hall by herself. She was definitely not supposed to be by herself while she was feeling this little but everyone she’d normally go to, Andy, Leslie, and Ron, were all mad at her and she didn’t think they’d want to look after her right now. There was one other option, an open door policy April had sworn to never, ever accept… Ann always seemed so eager to take care of her, and when Andy was little she was really good with him. Would she mind if April actually took her up on it for once? The thought of Ann’s office, safe and secluded, seemed enticing in comparison to the loud hustle and bustle of the corridors. With a desperate ache for at least a little bit of comfort, no matter the cost, April found herself reluctantly making her way to Ann’s office.

The heavy wooden door was open, it always was, and April stood nervously in the entryway. She poked her head in, anxiety increasing when she saw an older looking gentleman in a suit standing in front of Ann’s desk. They seemed to be in an important conversation and April immediately felt silly for coming here. If she just snuck out now, no one would see her,

“April!” Ann smiled, noticing the younger girl out of the corner of her eye. April froze, her eyes wide as if she’d been caught. “Did you need something?” Ann asked with a smile, both her eyes and the eyes of the other man weighed heavily on April.

“I, well,” she huffed nervously, shuffling from foot to foot and wrapping her arms around her torso. Ann’s face softened, recognising the tell-tale signs of April’s regression even though she hadn’t spent a lot of time around the younger girl when she was regressed.

“James, we can continue this conversation tomorrow. I’ve got important parks department work to help out with. Is this about the water fountains again?” Ann asked, directing her attention to April as she guided the man out of this office. April hesitated for a moment before recognising Ann’s lie and nodding.

“Water fountains. Yeah.” She agreed.

The slightly confused man gave them both a final look before Ann closed the door behind him. She turned around again to face April who’d backed herself nervously up against the wall. “April?” She hummed gently, “are you feeling small? It’s ok if you are,” she questioned, not wanting to be too presumptuous because you could never really know with April.

April scrunched up her face, clearly not pleased with the idea of admitting her regressed state to Ann of all people. Nevertheless, she nodded in admission, fiddling with her hands. Ann’s face softened. “Ok, that’s ok, thank you for telling me,” she praised. April huffed, dropping onto the floor with a pout. She tugged her knees up to her chest and pressed her chin against them, abandoning any sense of composure she’d had before. Tears began to roll down her cheeks because she was tired and everyone was mad at her and now she was here with Ann and she hated Ann!

Ann sighed softly, kneeling on the carpet next to April. “Hey, Apes, it’s alright,” she cooed. April sniffled with a scowl.

“Nuh,” she whined. Ann just shook her head, gently carding her hand through April’s hair.

“What happened, why’re you upset bubba?” April whined but reluctantly began explaining through tears how everything had gone wrong and was so bad. “That sounds like so much for you to be dealing with sweetheart,” Ann sighed gently, rubbing soft circles on April’s back. April nodded, rubbing her tears away with the sleeve of her sweater. “You know what I think might make you feel a little better?” Ann smiled playfully. April looked up, clearly not trusting that Ann could make anything feel better. “Why don’t you go look under that spare desk, see if anything peaks your interest,” she urged. April shuffled across the floor on her knees and poked her head under the desk. Very messily there was a pile of toys and blankets strewn where a chair would normally go. Some of them April recognised as Andy’s from home, others she didn’t and assumed Ann had bought for him. The thought made her chest ache weirdly but she didn’t know why. Immediately April recognised a soft toy monkey which Andy had been throwing a tantrum over a few days ago because he had sworn it had gone missing. She picked it up, rubbing the fur across her face and relishing in the comforting memory of Andy.

With the monkey in her arms April felt a little bit safer. She crawled out from behind the desk. Ann was still kneeling on the floor and April crawled right up to her, her face hidden in the fur of the monkey. “Who’s this?” Ann asked, gently prying the monkey away from April’s face. April whined instinctively, immediately regretting it when she remembered how nice Ann was being to her.

“Monke’” she mumbled.

“Isn’t he a cutie?” Ann cooed.

“Nuh,” April huffed, holding the monkey out so Ann could see it properly. “Monkeys ‘an be serial killers,” she grinned. Ann laughed, ruffling April’s hair.

“So he’s an evil monkey?” April nodded affirmatively.

“Alright, monkey, I have got to get back to work. Andy usually just hangs out under the spare desk but you can be wherever you’d like.” April thought for a moment, big April would tell her to hide under the desk and pretend she didn’t care but little April did care and she didn’t want to be alone.

When Ann went back to her desk April followed behind her, sitting with her head against Ann’s knee. As she typed on her computer Ann used her spare hand to gently play with April’s hair. April fiddled with the monkey on her lap, soothed by the contact with Ann. Easing into the closeness with Ann, April began to chew on the sleeve of her sweater. Ann tutted at this movement. She opened up her desk drawer and pulled out an unused pacifier. It was purple with a bat in the middle, clearly it had been purchased specifically with April in mind. Quickly, Ann removed it from the packaging. She tugged April’s sleeve away from her mouth and wordlessly replaced it with the pacifier. Initially April scowled up at Ann but after a few seconds she melted into the new sensation and leant her head back down against Ann’s knee.

They stayed like that for a while, both soothed by the safety and silence of the office and the other’s presence, until there was a knock on Ann’s office door. Ann stood up, the loss of contact eliciting a whine from April who quickly shuffled under Ann’s desk. She poked her head out from around the wooden leg and immediately recognised Andy and Leslie’s shoes. For a moment she was hesitant to reveal herself from her hiding spot but despite the arguments of the morning April really did miss Andy and Leslie. She crawled out from under the desk, she felt a little nervous because she knew the pacifier made her look a lot smaller than she usually was. April wasn’t sure when it had happened, or why, but something about being with Ann had allowed her to feel safe. Safe enough to regress more freely than ever before.

“April!” Andy cheered, barely batting an eye at the pacifier. She reached up for him to pick her up and he obliged as he always did, scooping her into his arms and swaying her back and forth a few times. “I thought I’d lost you, you weren’t at your desk, or m, well, you’re never at your desk but you weren’t at any of the places you usually are.”

“And we never would’ve expected to find you with Ann of all people,” Leslie laughed, though the relief in finding April was evident in her voice.

“April was just feeling a bit smaller and needed some company, isn’t that right Apes?” Ann hummed, rubbing April’s back. April nodded, wrapping her arms tighter around Andy’s back and resting her head sideways against his shoulder.

“Well Ron said we didn’t have to work again, ever, actually, but Leslie said that wasn’t true, but we can have the afternoon off. I think they feel bad for yelling at you,” And explained all in one breath, “And I am too… sorry, for fighting.” April nodded tiredly against Andy’s shoulder

“It ok,” she mumbled sleepily around her pacifier. Andy smiled, kissing her forehead gently.

“Do you wanna go home and watch casper?” he asked. April nodded eagerly. She turned her face around slightly to face an and waved shyly. Ann smiled, waving back.

“Bye April,” she cooed,

“Bubye Ann,” April babbled happily.

[bingsoo-jung]

This is something that’s been annoying me so much. Like I get the complaints in some sense, I really do. The game isn’t perfect, there are things I’m disappointed about.

But at the same time the DATV we’re playing isn’t the product of 10 years of development like a lot of people seem to think. The version of the game we’re playing was made in 3 years. 3 years of development made under what was clearly a lot of pressure. There is stuff the devs have said they wanted to include in the game and weren’t able to, and a lot of that content is still in the game files. Like very specifically the devs said they planned on there being an epilogue originally, that they were supposed to go back to the Lighthouse and talk about looking for the “dead” companion and talk about the Devouring Storm, and then the world was supposed to be completely free to run around in and for you to do whatever quests were left over after that. And there are still assets and recorded dialogue in the files that reflect that. Like do people really think they were dawdling and then went ‘let’s not include an epilogue to make our players upset with us’? That it was a creative decision made? Because it wasn’t.

If you’re looking at the art book going ‘well this would’ve been so much cooler’ I promise you, the stuff in Veilguard that they chose to go with probably looked just as cool, if not cooler, in the concept art. The unfulfilled potential of something always looks cooler than the finished product, whether it be a book, movie, tv show, or video game. That’s just how storytelling works unfortunately. But as my dad loves to say, ideas are cheap, what matters is the execution. If all a piece of art has going for it is that it was a ‘cool idea’ then it’s worthless because what matters is the work you put in, not the cool idea itself. (Sidenote: that’s why AI ‘art’ has no worth. It’s all idea and no execution). There is no way to say if the finished product of the idea behind the concept art would’ve actually been better because the idea wasn’t executed. People are comparing a cool idea to hundreds of hours of work, and that is an unfair comparison to the actual work it requires to make art.

Fundamentally there isn’t ‘another better Dragon Age’ out there that could’ve been made or the devs chose to not make to fuck you over. There also isn’t a world where if they’d taken 3 more years it would’ve been the perfect game. It was very likely ‘release a game now, or Bioware gets shut down.’ ME:LE was likely an attempt to buy a few more years of time to make a game. So yes, be disappointed, mourn the potential. But please, folks, stop making asinine comments that make it sound like you’ve never made art before. And remember that the system that video games are made in, is a fundamentally hostile one that does not genuinely value the work that developers put in, and demands a game be pushed out ever 2-3 years made in teams of 100 or fewer people, despite the fact that that’s fundamentally not sustainable nor truly possible. Just… be sensible.

BioWare, for many years now: What we are doing is kind of unsustainable. There aren't enough resources for a massive grand thing with big branching story branches. We have to pick and choose. Internally we have fought very hard for the best, including Keep support for DAV as people now have datamined, but unfortunately resource and tech limitations have forced our hand. Also EA.

Fandom: why didn't BioWare hire NASA to give them the tech are they stupid

[deus-and-the-machina]

ffxiv garlemald discourse is so funny because people will go "ugh people just cant stand it when things aren't black and white" and then you look at how the empire are portrayed in stormblood and shadowbringers and its like hm. that seems like a pretty intense and accurate display of violent imperialism to me! Wow I wonder why people in this day and age may find it hard to feel sympathy for them or even hate them on principal. god its such a mystery.

the games like 50/50 to me on how it tackles these themes because I actually like the garlemald arc in EW, I think it has a lot of horrific and powerful scenes depicting how self destructive fascist propaganda and beliefs are, but I also think it doesn't go far enough on some fronts. the garleans' xenophobia is most notably and obstacle to getting them to accept the contingent's help, which is what they're there to do,

but there's never an admission of harm from any garleans on the uuuuuuuuh massive amount of war crimes the nations around them are still suffering from they're just kind of like "we misjudged you...but you actually wanted to help us all along" like yeah thats great now can we get you all some deprogramming because you keep talking about returning to your prime and glory days and I think we need to unpack some stuff you really SHOULDNT return to. im not even really talking about EW proper but the patches where things are a bit more chilled out and people are recovering.

It feels like they wanted to have their critique of imperialism and also have things end with the beauty of human connection and reaching out and these things just don't mesh well because hey a lot of your modern day audience is not gonna like having to treat people yelling xenophobic things at the cast and your character with kid gloves after you showed them hours and hours of the awful things these people's beliefs have done. especially in the present day hoo boy.

[alchemiclee]

been looking in tags for a few days now to see if anyone else found the whole high cloud quintet and related story to be a bit.....poorly written, nonsensical, contradictory, full of plot holes and loose ends, etc. apparently i'm not the only one. (and i'm not even talking about shipping stuff, because any time I saw someone mad about bad writing, someone always replies to be homophobic and laugh about failed ships. weirdos.) it could have been so good but was thrown into the garbage for the most part (IF you noticed all the plot holes and contradiction. if not, then it's a fine enough story tbh. I expect most people to see it on surface level and not read all the little hidden lore bits and try to piece it together like my autistic brain did. which is ok! enjoy it if you liked it and ignore me 😆)

[kavehater]

Man I just give up.

[medicinemane]

Honestly a lot of the time, it's not even about people having to agree with me, it's about needing to know that they actually heard and listened to what I had to say even if it didn't persuade them

Just... some basic indication that there's enough respect to give a shit about what I said, and also to make sure that they disagree because they actually disagree and not cause they just didn't bother listening

It's all I really ask

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Even if Ncuti had been more available last year, he still never would've directly regenerated from Whittaker or starred in the 60th because that was all planned long before his casting to be a Tennant and Tate reunion. That's how it was pitched to the BBC, to essentially be a gap filler between the Chibnall era and whatever came next, it was just that the BBC had no one lined up to take over and offered the job to RTD in desperation. If he'd said no we probably would've still got the 60th as it is because that was something him, Tennant and Tate wanted to do and was already planned.

[g0dr0t]

So it turns out i think maybe my friend group is bad for me actually

[insanechayne]

~ ~ ~

[mental-skillness]

My last therapy session was... revealing. I've been so hung up on the idea that I can't form healthy relationships with people because I'm just fucked up somehow — I thought I must have either BPD or an avoidant attachment because I couldnt understand why I kept resenting people / pulling away after getting close.

And then my therapist made me tell her about one of my current interests and explain why I like it, and it was so uncomfortable I started crying. So the crux of the issue is definitely insecurity / self judgement

[5sospenguinqueen]

Taste | Max Verstappen x Singer! Reader

Summary: She’ll just have to taste you when he’s kissing her. When Max and Kelly break up, the pair of you start something sweet. But, it only lasts a short while when your conflicting schedules drive him back into her arms. 

Warnings: Kelly Piquet slander. 

Requested: No, I’m just obsessed with making up fantasies whilst I drive home from work with my music on

Faceclaim: Sabrina Carpenter (yes, I know she’s used a lot but I stole her song and her occupation so why not steal her face) 

F1 Masterlist

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f1wags just posted

liked by user1, redbullracing and others

f1wags max verstappen and kelly piquet both confirmed they have seperated, posting a short statement on their instagram stories. the news comes after months of speculation after explosive arguments were caught on camera

3,306 comments

user1 omg did anyone see that red bull admin liked this and then unliked it

user2 thank god! i’ve been waiting for this day for ever

user3 can we see him date someone his own age now that didn’t go after him when he was a teen? 

user4 finally! turns out manifesting works 

user5 he always looked so upset after they argued. hopefully he finds someone good for him

user6 hear me out, but how hot would he look with yn ln

→ user7 like they’d ever cross paths. he’s an athlete and she’s a pop star 

→ user6 yes but my point is that they would look hot together 

→ user8 he did have one of her songs playing in the background of a stream once?

user9 i love how she’s really laying it on thick in hers and he’s just like “yeah, it’s over” 

→ user10 we love an unbothered king

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mclaren just posted

liked by maxverstappen1, landonorris and others

mclaren we have a special guest in the garage this weekend. thank you @/yn_ln for joining us

6,098 comments

yn_ln thank you so much for having me! i had an amazing weekend but i don’t think i’ll be in a rush to do hot laps again

→ landonorris don’t be like that. i know you had fun! 

→ yn_ln idk who trusted you with a licence but they should be fired

→ landonorris idk why they call you short and sweet :( 

user1 she looks soooo good wtf  liked by maxverstappen1

oscarpiastri it was really fun having you in the garage. thank you for making lando seem tall. now he’ll be in a good mood for the rest of the weekend

→ yn_ln f1 girlies, can you tell me if he’s dating the curly haired one?

→ oscarpiastri well played. i apologise for bringing your height into this

→ user2 yes, yes they are, yn

user3 chat, is this real? my fave singer in my fave team’s garage! two worlds colliding 

charles_leclerc omg please stop by ferrari. my girlfriend, alex, absolutely loves you

→ yn_ln come pick me up! (‘cause i don’t know my way around the paddock) and i’d love to meet her

user4 omg somebody tell max. i hope she gets lost and stumbles into red bull

→ user5 my delusions might come true if that happens

→ user6 he saw her when charles was walking her over to ferrari

→ user4 and?! 

→ user6 nothing. he turned around and went back into the garage

→ user7 yeah after he went bright red! 

f1wags just posted

liked by user8, shortnsweet and others

f1wags only two months since his split from model, kelly piquet, max verstappen has been linked to singer, yn ln. the pair have been spotted numerous times on dates and caught in moments of affection

2,999 comments

user8 yn’s clothing brand liked this! 

→ user9 that doesn’t mean anything?

→ user8 well, considering that is her own brand, and they’re a part of her image, i’d say it means something 

user10 anyone else notice that they’re wearing different outfits in every photo, which means they’re all from different days/dates

user11 i’m going feral

user12 okay but you can’t even deny that this is them because it very clearly is 

user13 people said i was crazy when i talked about these two being together! 

user14 they’re so hot together. i might actually combust 

user15 i’m (s)creaming

user16 the hand holding 🥹 they’re not just fucking

user17 my new otp 

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kellypiquet just posted

liked by maxverstappen1, piquetjr and others

kellypiquet my 🩷

2,987 comments 

maxverstappen1 ❤️

→ user1 aha this is such a dry response lmao 

user2 wtf? i thought he was with yn

→ user3 that was just a rumour 

user4 he looks much better with yn 

→ user5 yeah but she can’t give him the stable relationship he needs so no wonder he went back to kelly. she’s always there lmao 

→ user6 yeah because she never lets that man go. she’s possessive and it’s not healthy

user7 max is so cute with p 

user8 my favourite thing about this post is that all of these pics are old because max is currently in a press conference with his long hair, not these short strands

user9 how could he leave yn like this? they were so cute together 

(comments on this post have been disabled)

yn_ln just posted

liked by landonorris, kellypiquet and others

yn_ln in honour of my tour starting, please enjoy my new single taste! 💋

14,033 comments

user1 omg a new album, a new tour and an additional song?

alexandrasaintmleux got this on repeat 

→ charles_leclerc this is true. it’s all we’ve had in the car

→ alexandrasaintmleux don’t act like you don’t know all the words 

user2 this was 100% written because of the max situation

jennaortega but how hot do we look 

user3 not kelly liking this! 

→ user4 i like to think the middle picture is aimed at her for stealing yn’s man

redbullracing blue is definitely your colour

→ mclaren she looks better in orange 

→ scuderiaferrari we think she should try red next 

→ yn_ln i’ll wear whatever colour invites me to watch rich men drive around in circles next

→ alpinef1team pink it is! 

landonorris i liked the parts where you died

oscarpiastri oh so you’re allowed to make height comments but i wasn’t?

→ yn_ln please refer to the middle picture

user5 chat, i can’t stop thinking about “he pins you down on the carpet, makes paintings with his tongue” 

→ user6 max verstappen, i was not familiar 

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yn_ln just posted

liked by redbullracing, oscarpiastri and others

yn_ln i heard there’s some sort of race on so i thought i would show some support. let’s play spot the team

10,001 comments 

user7 omg did you see that charles and alex were there! 

→ user8 and pierre and kika

→ user9 well, we know who got charles in the divorce 

user10 we all know who red bull wants in max’s garage 👀

→ user11 the fact that they liked a gossip post of him dumping kelly and are now all over yn’s insta 

user12 okay but the placement of the bulls has me weak in the knees

user13 who’s your favourite driver? 

→ yn_ln daniel ricciardo

→ danielricciardo showing this to everyone i know

→ user14 does that include max? liked by danielricciardo 

user15 we love a petty queen because you can’t tell me the writing isn’t aimed at kelly and max 

→ user16 and the bull instead of the kiss

mclaren we’re hurt. truly hurt that you didn’t post a pic with our logo 

→ yn_ln you have a whole insta post dedicated to you! 

alexandrasaintmleux the hottest concert i’ve ever been to

→ charles_leclerc still can’t believe she arrested you when i was right there

landonorris does this mean you can come to the race? like you’re practically already there??

→ oscarpiastri i second this

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requests open. i'm just slow haha

coming soon; lewis hamilton baby angst

this wasn’t due out until next week but MAX WON!!! And so I’m posting this in honour of that. I’m just sorry this was planned as angst 😬😂

tag list

@peachiicherries @rosecentury @c-losur3 @heavy-vettel @evie-119 @raizelchrysanderoctavius @lilorose25

[perpetuallyfive]

God, I'm so happy with what they did with Maddie Nolen.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people mad because obviously there was a weird backlash over a character who has sex with one half a ship, so I'm sure some people worry this will lead those people to feel justified in their initial response.

But ignoring people who can't emotionally regulate for a second, because those childish impulses aren't worth dictating the fun things a narrative can do: Maddie is SO INTERESTING as a character and she fills in a lot of the questions people seemed to have about the rest of the season.

Consider for a moment that it wasn't Caitlyn who convinced Vi to be an Enforcer. It was Maddie.

I know that some people took this line to be about Zaunites, a sort of obvious connection to the very racist idea of "one of the good ones," but since Maddie is talking about Marcus and his betrayal of the Enforcers just before this, I'm pretty sure her framing here is something else. The point she's making is specifically targeted at Vi's own beliefs and weaknesses, her desire to protect. That seems clear to me now with all we know about Maddie's capacity for manipulation.

She's not saying, "You're good, for a poor."

She's saying, "Wow, I agree with you, the Enforcers are really bad; it's so upsetting. I think you might be the only one who can change it, but only if you join us." This is what convinces Vi to do something she never thought she would.

Well, this and the fact that Caitlyn believes in her so much which, again, is information she gets fed to her directly from Maddie. It even seems like Maddie seeks her out just to say this, which on first viewing felt oddly convenient. Wow, Vi just happens to meet this naive girl who just happens to say exactly what she needs to hear to do something so out of character.

Except obviously none of it was coincidence. Everyone already knew how much Vi meant to Caitlyn and getting Caitlyn under control would require either controlling Vi or removing her from the equation. This was a push in that direction.

Then there's her more obvious role as the spy in Caitlyn's bed, there to reassure her that the Noxians are only trying to keep all of them safe. Then when Caitlyn expresses larger doubts, she's immediately ready to lay out an alternative. You could just give up, Maddie seems to whisper gently in her ear. Just reestablish things as they were before.

But she knows Caitlyn isn't going to go for that. She's not going to go back to the council as it was, because it's only going to remind her of the empty place her mother left behind. Maddie knows that Caitlyn isn't going to take this offer, which is precisely why she suggests it. She frames quitting as the only clear alternative to going along with everything Ambessa wants because she knows that Caitlyn will refuse, which leads her right back into alignment with Ambessa. She makes continued obedience into an active choice that Caitlyn affirms she's making.

Even Maddie's comments that suggest direct opposition to Ambessa — "you're our leader... I follow you" — are designed to frame herself and her true leader in direct opposition, just as Ambessa's own warning about entanglements is there to further that point. They both make a point of reminding Caitlyn that they are her true ally, isolating her further from anyone who isn't the devil and (other) devil on her shoulders.

This way Maddie and Ambessa can both tug at Caitlyn, pulling in what feels to her like opposite directions, all so that she lands precisely where they wanted her all along but with the illusion of active agency.

And look, I'm not saying my read on her is gospel, because I think they intentionally gave us enough room to really speculate and wonder about her, someone who could have been just a background nothing character but ends up being such a huge part of the second season. That's so interesting!

I especially love that she comes across as really naive and innocent, just some poor little thing swept up in the fervor, when in reality she's a true believer who has been manipulating things to go her way from the start.