#also about 10 seconds before disaster

[bullion-minty]

Omg it’s the dogs

[theokusgallery]

Trashing that in your askbox or something *disappears in the wild*

(I know you've already seen it but idk funny)

Fun fact if you call Arsenic (normal version) babygirl he will fucking kill you

[honeybadger16]

Honey Badger in the Lion's Den

Pairing: Max Verstappen x reader x Dan Riccciardo

Warnings: smut, threesomes, fmm, swearing

Word Count: 1.5k

a/n: Maxiel is real, prove me wrong. Let me know what you think about the pairing, I hope you enjoy it!

Summary: Being the girlfriend of Max Verstappen has its perks: traveling all around the world, attending luxurious parties, and grabbing the attention of a certain Australian driver who can't stop staring at you and Max.

You and Max had been dating for two years, and enjoyed every second of it. From traveling around the world to attending the most luxurious parties, Max made sure you were always comfortable and happy during the busy racing season. For him, most weekends consisted of tough practice sessions and grueling workouts.

You made it your mission to help him relax when necessary in order to prevent burn out. This consisted of massages or venting sessions before bed. If it was a particularly bad day rough sex in the bed or shower was usually the solution.

This weekend you arrived in Australia, just as Max and Daniel were doing media duties. You couldn't imagine any serious answers were given as the two drivers loved to mess with other during interviews. Watching the two interact from a screen there was no denying Max's boy crush on Daniel. This had been a long running joke online between fans, but it wasn't far from the truth. Max had been idolizing Daniel since they first met, and considered him a best friend. Max would never tell a soul, but whenever his imagination ran loose, the idea of Daniel on top of you made his pants get tighter. He thinks to himself it's wrong to imagine his girlfriend with another man, but it's just a harmless fantasy right?

Australia had been a total disaster for Max, not finishing the race due a gas leak was the last thing any driver wants on Sundays. Daniel had finished 6th, a respectable position considering he was driving in a shitty McLaren tractor-like car. Max was still in a bad mood as night fell on the racing city. Most drivers wanted to go clubbing and celebrate their earned points, including Daniel.

That's when the two of you heard knocking on the hotel door around 10 P.M. Opening the door you find Daniel's signature smile pulling you into a hug. "Hey y/n I haven't had a chance to say hi all weekend, how are you?" You responded by giving him a recap of the shops you visited and the restaurants you tried- his recommendations of course. Max hadn't looked up from his phone, not in the mood to match the Australian's cheery mood. "Are you guys coming out with us? The club we picked has the best champagne."

Max responds by telling him he's too tired to go out tonight and to have fun without him. Daniel could see through Max's bullshit response and looks over to you for an explanation. You shrug your shoulders not exactly sure what to say. Usually when Max had a rough race, him fucking your brains out helped him feel better. That's when you thought of an idea to cheer up Max. It was risky and could ruin one of the closest relationships Max had, but you were positive it would exciting.

Leaning closer to Max, you whisper, "what if we let Daniel watch as I suck your cock?" Max turns quickly around to face you, turning red in the cheeks, "what?" You snake your hand to palm his crouch, already hardening. You turn to face Daniel who's eyes glaze over with desire as he stares intently at the two of you sitting down on the chair nearby. "I think he also wants to watch me take you in my mouth."

Kissing up Max's neck, you unzip his pants and continue to palm his hard cock through his boxers. Max had given in to the pleasure and began making louder noises in response to your touches. You could hear the zip of Daniel's pants as he takes his semi-hard cock out beginning to slowly stroke it.

You decided it was enough teasing for one night and helped Max take off the article of clothing that was separating your mouth and his cock. He was already painfully hard, his tip was colored brightly red, begging for some sort of relief. You began at the bottom licking the shaft and taking his balls in the hands, avoiding the head. "Fuck-please take it all in y/n." You could see how much pre-cum had collected on top of his cock and collected it all on your tongue.

Max soon becomes confused as you get up and walk over to Daniel. He can only watch as you sat on you on one of Daniel's thighs and connected your lips together. After releasing your mouths apart you ask, "How does Max taste?"

"Like fucking Heaven" Daniel is quick to putting his hands on your shirt tugging it off of you. He was pleased to see you opted for a braless outfit as he began to fondle your breasts, kissing you once again. Max began to notice your hips moving against the Australian's thighs, in an attempt to give your clit some attention. Your hands found Daniel's cock and began rubbing him until he was fully erect.

Max thought he had died and was in his personal Heaven, this scenario only played out in his head when he was jerking off by himself, giving him the most intense orgasms. Yet, here they were, his girlfriend and best friend making out as Max got unbelievably harder. He could see y/n whispered something to Daniel as they both got up to remove the remaining pieces of clothing they both had on.

You came up to Max, while Daniel came from the back. Stroking his cock Max let his head fall back onto Daniel's chest. "That's it baby keep going" You however had another idea. You took one of Daniel's hands and placed it on Max's cock, molding it to go up and down the shaft. Max opened his eyes and began grunting louder turning to face Daniel. The two began to make out as Max was reaching closer to his orgasm. Daniel's lips tasted like the pre-game vodka he drank before he knocked on their door. Even though the taste of alcohol lingered on Max's lips he could get drunk on the feeling of having Daniel so close to him only. Why hadn't they done this sooner?

You removed Daniel's hand and instructed Max to lay down as you climbed on top of him and began rubbing his cock on your wet pussy. Finally, you push yourself down, having to adjust to his size no matter how many times you take him inside you. Riding on Max's cock you take Daniel in your mouth moving up and down. Sounds of moans and grunts could be heard as the three of you reach closer to the end.

Max moves his hips at the same time as yours to reach into deeper and faster. Max's cock curves perfectly into you pushing on your walls as you bounce on him in a faster, more desperate pace. He takes his fingers and rubs your clit, "come with me y/n." With the combination of Max deep inside you and stimulation on your clit, you explode first, Max following soon after. The two of you feel as Max's cum fills you up to the brim.

Daniel grabs your head and brings it down on his cock until your nose pressed against his abdomen. "Shit I'm going to cum." He pulls you off and releases his cum onto your lips and face, groaning as waves of pleasure ripple through his body.

You pull off of Max when Daniel puts you on your back, legs open towards him. Max's cum had started dripping out of you when Daniel began licking at your pussy. Throwing your head back in pleasure you couldn't believe you were close to cumming again so soon. He stuck his tongue inside of you licking up all of Max's cum and swallowing it. You finally reached your end as you tugged on Daniel's dark locks and made eye contact with him. As you rode through your second orgasm of the night, you noticed Max had gone to the bathroom and brought water and washcloths for the three of you.

Still breathing hard, you sat up on the bed and accepted the water giving a soft thanks, while Daniel helped clean you up. The room was silent, but comforting. Daniel and Max put on their boxers once more, while you wore one of Max's shirts. In the middle of the bed Max welcomed the embraces of both you and Daniel. He first kissed you also whispering a soft thank-you. He turned to Daniel and kissed him tenderly as the older man accepted the show of affection. Cuddling up all together the three of you drift to sleep, not worrying about the questions you would receive the next day from the other drivers about your absence.

[ctimenefic]

(whispers) swank + strap + galex xoxo @testarossa

from the very silly nyt prompts

okay so because I wrote, jesus, 4k of strap-on fic for the other fill, I've taken a slightly sideways look at this one. Hope that's okay @testarossa!

also, this is v obviously inspired by and owes a debt to @lagerloutfic's hot rookie slagsss series, which is a marvel you should read immediately

It’s George who sends the photo in the old group chat; her and Lando, done up to the nines, in a hotel corridor somewhere in Kuala Lumpur. Lando’s clearly tilting at the space Lewis has left for high fashion at FIA events, with- well, Alex will kindly call it limited success. And George-

George is in a suit. 

Alex tries not to be basic about George all dolled up. 

Yes, anytime George wears tights Alex can’t resist putting a ladder in them with her fingertips, or her teeth. Yes, some of George’s skirts have met terrible ends. Yes, ranking George’s outfits by tit accessibility on her Instagram stories was probably taking the ‘joke’ of George’s known cleavage addiction a bit far. 

But this? George with her hair slicked back and her tits taped artfully up behind her starched skinny shirt and tapered trousers making her legs look mad long and- fuck yes, she’s even foregone the heels, avoided some terrible Doctor Who converse disaster. Those are neat black Oxfords, gleaming. 

It’s not even strictly butch. But the look is tailor-made – literally – to get Alex foaming at the mouth. In short, she wants to fuck the shit out of her. 

She’s still wearing makeup, of course. A slash of dusky pink-brown that Alex is almost certain she’s picked to match her nipples, the fucking minx. Maybe she’d been thinking of the same night Alex is, when the last trace of her red lipstick had run down to her chin by the time they were done. That stuff had staying power; in the shower, Alex’d had to scrub it off her thighs. 

Swanky and swanker, Alex eventually texts back, damningly long after the ticks will have turned blue on George’s end. 

Sure enough, George replies on their private chat in seconds. You sure you want to accuse someone else of wanking right now?

And then, Alex’s downfall: George calls.

“Hello George. Are you having a nice night?”

Alex would say she does a 10/10 job at keeping the lust out of her voice. She has, after all, had fucking years of practice before Georgie had looked over at her, big eyes all wet and wide, and asked if- maybe- Alex would consider- and every rule she’d ever had about straight girls had gone out the window. 

George, on the other hand, doesn’t even attempt to keep her pout quiet. “Aren’t you going to say I look good?”

“Depends,” Alex hedges. “Is Lando still there?” She’s not actually jealous, it’s Lando, but sometimes leaning into the implication makes George pinken. Alex isn’t above exploiting a little internalised heteronormativity, for the bit. 

“No. Took that before we left, I’m at the gala now. In the bathroom.”

Alex feels herself perk up, the alertness washing through her. “Bored, baby?”

“Terribly,” George sighs. “Wish you were here.”

If wishes were horses, the Williams might have enough bloody horsepower for Alex to have a shot at the gala. Still. “So I could rumple that suit of yours, gorgeous?”

George audibly brightens. “So you do like it. I wasn’t sure if…” She trails off, and Alex wonders if it’s meant to say a bit more, the suit, than she thought. 

“Objectively, you are fit as fuck, George. Unobjectively, if you didn’t already have a plane ticket I’d be getting in the car right now to pick you up.”

George giggles. “I’ll wear it on the flight then. You can fuck me soon as I’ve arrived.”

Alex doesn’t try to stifle her groan; she’s not the one hiding in a bathroom. George undone in the passenger seat of her car, seatbelt on but tits out. Or no, better; up on the kitchen counter, jacket still on but trousers round her ankles, and Alex standing between her legs, with her-

“Fuck, Georgie, please, let me use my strap, let me-”

“Yes,” George hisses, and Alex is almost too turned on to realise how fucking lucky she’s got. It’s the first time she’s dared bring up her strap on. She’s kept it buried at the back of her drawers, worried it might be, well, just a bit too fucking gay for George. But George sounds almost frantic about it, like she’s rubbing her thighs together in a fucking bathroom stall, with half the world of motorsport a few meters away. Probably because she is. “Yes, please, Alex, I want it, I want it so much.”

“Okay, baby, I-”

“How many are you going to give me?”

Alex’s mind stalls for a second, trying to parse it. She has a brief vision of George stuffed; toys in her arse, her mouth, as Alex fucked her cunt but-

Well, it seems a bit much for George to have come up with. And it doesn’t really fit. How many are you going to give me? There’s a pretty firm upper limit.

And then Alex remembers George’s fondness for period dramas, old books about tall ships and a misty-eyed view of the Empire that Alex tried not to prod too often, for fear they’d actually have to talk about it. The way George had sniffled during Master and Commander, her voice wet when she’d explained “it’s about the duty, Alex.”

Let me use my strap

How many are you going to give me?

George’s round arse, striped. Pink and pale. The clink of a belt buckle. 

Alex swallows. “As many as you want, baby.”

[buddiebeginz]

For everyone hoping and or expecting there to be something huge in the mid season finale on Thursday and who will feel let down and upset if there's not I wanted to point out some things.

First of all Tim just came back in s7 and it was a shortened season. I know we all had issues with how that season was handled but I also think Tim had a lot to figure out for having just come back to show. He was bringing 911 to a new network had only 10 eps to tell the entire seasons stories in. It was also a rather important season considering it was where they finally had Buck come out and where the pieces were finally being put into motion for Buddie to happen eventually (like in episode 704).

But I also think a lot of stuff Tim wanted to do in s7 he didn't get to and instead carried it over to s8 where he felt he had more time. The majority of 8a was spent closing out storylines that started in s7. What people have to realize is that a lot of this likely would have been the second half of season 7 had that been a full season. Now going into 8b I expect to see more focus put on Eddie's coming out and more movement towards Buddie happening.

None of this means that the mid season finale will necessarily be a huge ep or have a nde or have Eddie come out or Buddie kiss or anything like that. This ep may be pretty similar to the one we saw last week especially because like some have pointed out Tim and the others may have been expecting 809 to be the mid season finale not 808. And besides that 911's mid season finales have rarely been these huge events. Those were usually saved for other eps.

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

S1 -

shortened season - no mid season finale

no real NDE's although you could say the plane disaster was one for Bobby

S2 -

210 - mid season finale - It's revealed that Chim's friend is Doug

*2b*

211/212/213 - Chim begins/ Doug attacks Chim and takes Maddie

217 - Shannon dies car accident

218 - Buck NDE truck bombing

S3 -

302/303 - Buck and Chris NDE tsunami

308 - Hen NDE car accident (a few eps before mid season finale)

Bobby radiation exposure 309 (one ep before mid season finale)

310 - mid season ep - Michael cancer diagnosis

*3b*

314 - dispatch center/Maddie held hostage

315 - Eddie NDE well

317 - Athena NDE r*pist

S4 -

shortened season because of Covid no mid season finale

405 - Buck NDE fire

409 - Albert NDE car accident

413/414 - Eddie NDE shooting

S5 -

506 - Buddie kidnapping

508 - Hospital (where David worked) fire

510 - mid season ep Eddie leaves the 118

*5b*

513 - Eddie breakdown

516 - dispatch fire

517 - Hen/Chim - NDE - jonah

S6 -

Mid season ep - Bobby's sponsor dying

*6b*

610/611 - Buck NDE lightning strike

618 - 118 NDE bridge collapse

S7 -

shortened season - no mid season finale

701-703 - Bathena NDE - cruise ship disaster

708-710 Bathena NDE - Cartel/Fire

S8 -

802/803 - Athena NDE plane emergency

805 - Denny NDE

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

Looking at the way 911 has structured it's seasons in the past it's far more likely that if we're going to get a nde for Buddie or one of them we're going to get it later in the season and not at the mid season. We could get a more surprising moment like we've seen in the past like with Eddie leaving the 118 but like I said before I think it's highly probable that 808 wasn't meant to even be the season finale so a more shocking or surprising moments might not even be until 809 when the show comes back.

I just really think we all need to take a look how the show operates and prepare ourselves so we're not too let down. Also as much as I love coming up with theories and love listening to theories everyone else comes up with I feel like it's become a habit lately in our fandom for some people to get everyone excited and expecting certain things from the show. Then when the show doesn't deliver every single episode people are left feeling angry. This isn't just the fault of the people talking about their theories it's a fandom issue in general I think. I wish our fandom would just be more realistic going into each ep and not so quick to turn on the show if expectations aren't met immediately.

I 100% believe Eddie is going to come out and Buddie is happening. I've been watching the show for years and things have never been as close to Buddie canon as they are now but that doesn't mean it will happen instantly. Everything that's being shown and said (in interviews) is telling us that the show is playing the long game. We have to be patient and wait for them to get there, which I know can be really frustrating, trust me I've been waiting for Buddie's love story to be canon for what feels like forever. I think we will see more movement in Eddie and Buddie's story this season but maybe not this episode coming.

----

I also think it's important that we show our love for the show and the people who work on it more. I feel like a lot of the stuff I see out of our fandom lately is pretty negative. I'm not saying it's not warranted or that I don't do my own share too (I was talking just the other day on twitter about my issues with Athena's storylines) but I also can't help to think of how Oliver and Ryan and the others must feel. Imagine working really hard on something and then going online to see how the audience feels about it and the predominate reaction is about how awful the episode was. I definitely believe it's possible to love 911 (and any media really) and still be critical of it at times but I also think sometimes our fandom focuses too much on what we're not getting from the show and less on what we are.

We are incredibly lucky to have two amazing actors who put such love and care into playing Buck and Eddie and who have always been supportive of our ship. We're lucky that pretty much everyone involved with 911 (minus maybe KR) seems to be supportive of Buddie happening because trust me that's not common among a lot of other non canon queer ships. We're lucky that Buck has finally come out and that all signs are pointing towards Eddie coming out too. We're lucky that the show is even still on the air because it was seriously on the brink of being canceled before abc picked it up. If it had been not only would we have no chance of Buddie but Buck would never have come out and both men would have ended their run on the show with those lackluster partners. And speaking of lackluster partners we're lucky that Tim got rid of Tommy. I know he could have done it sooner but he also could have kept him around longer. I think some of you need to realize that making Buddie a reality is still a risk for the show and for abc. Having another main come out is still risky but they seem ready to take the risk.

Sorry this post got so long. I just had a lot of thoughts with the new ep coming and seeing everyone already prepared to be upset about it. Let's just go into this ep with limited expectations and be happy we get to go into a hiatus for the first time in a while without b/t being a thing. Thanks if you taken the time to read all of this. ❤️

[improvapocalyps]

"Okay, yeah. If you kill a red name, killed a red name-" "I'll give you a life for that. That's the deal." "We'll be back together like buddies again, Bdubs."

In participation of Extreme Timed Challenge Gift Exchange hosted by @extremetimedchallengeexchange!

[gifs, full storyboard, behind-the-scene rambles under cut]

past 48h animatics: MCYTETC2023, ETC2023

[Red Lives-Suspicion; Prayer-Determination; Fireworks]

Fiddled with gradient maps this time for some additional colors :D I would have colored in the eyes as well, but I didn't have enough energy left when the event hit the 47th hour xD

Also played around with camera movements. Respect to people who do fan edits and other forms of video/ assets editing 'cause keyframes are so 😭

13 hours to draft storyboard this time! Last year I used 16 but with waaay more frames idk how I accomplished that. Probably bc this year I'm drawing more than three(3) characters lmao

Progress Timeline:

[13th hour] finished storyboard/ draft (plany off time...) [25th hour] lineart for the first 10 seconds (wuh oh) [36th hour] lineart for the first 25 seconds (oh shit oh fuck gotta shorten it) [45th hour] finished Bdubs' part (NOOO I DONT HAVE TIME FOR ETHO)

ngl kinda glad i cut it in half rn 'cause i'd have to spend time figuring out shadowDog's design /lh

Designs I used for Lizzie and Joel (old art from 2022 and 2021 respectively) (holy shit i've been here for 3 years???)

Joel *shakes fist* i hate u and ur stupid beard

[Lyrics vibe/scene planning; hours before disaster]

I think most of the drawn parts didn't deviate from the initial idea. Mostly timing adjustments and building upon the vibes. The parts that were changed the most was the "And you caused it (×3 combo)".

Went from "vague flashbacks" to "following Etho and co. out of the cave and back to Scott's base while implying who Etho blames with single character focus shots".

The first one is Scott because he suggested the idea. Like, obviously he's to blame. It's not like Etho went along and cemented the deal himself. Scott totally peer-pressured him into it.

The second one is Etho because... well the scene ends up kind of being like. The sight of the Snow Fortress triggering a flashback. (EthosLab the content creator deliberately turned his camera towards the Snow Fortress and holds it there for a second instead of looking at the huge lava pillar right in front of him. What is WRONG with him.)

But also like. Clocks are kind of special to Bdubs right. Whoever gave him a clock basically has his (temporary) loyalty or at the least earned a favor from him. So like. If he hadn't gifted Bdubs the clock, which signifies a closer(?) bond, maybe Bdubs wouldn't be so devoted to him (wrong). Also serves as a call-back/ reference to the "Prayer-Determination" shot ("pray with clock" in the scene planning screenshot). I like to think that Bdubs weighted his options and thought about "if he will kill/ who to kill" a lot while following the other Red Names. And in that scene he's like, convincing/ motivating himself. Remembering who/ what he's doing this for.

(It is also meant to be part of my giftee's other prompt: "an exploration of the doubt one or both of them felt during the heart transfer that didn’t happen after Bdubs killed Lizzie, and the following guilt Etho felt." The Etho section starting from "we're setting fire to our inside for fun" til the end of the animatic is based on that prompt.)

After a brief period of self-blame, it's time to shift it onto someone else! Because you're in denial! If Bdubs hadn't gone red, then Etho wouldn't have to offer the deal. If Bdubs hadn't want to stay as teammates, then he wouldn't agree to the deal. If Bdubs wasn't so devoted to Etho, then he wouldn't have attacked Lizzie and gotten himself killed.

Then the animatic ends with the end of the session :D

...That's longer than I expected but also not that long. If you read through all that, tysm :] Tell me your thoughts! Have a good day/ evening/ night :D

[yallthemwitches]

Jilytober/ Kinktober 2024 Masterlist

All of the Tumblr links for all things jily in October 2024

JILYTOBER

You can also find them all compiled on AO3 Here!

Until the Light Takes Us :Before the dawn I hear you whisper in your sleep, ‘Don’t let the morning take him.’ 

October Country : A: “If anyone does X I’m going to love them forever.” B: Does X.

A Fragile Reminder : Spoiling Harry

4. Responsible Parties: Featuring McGonagall

5. Inconspicuous and Warm:“Get the car packed, throw me the keys. Run away with me.” 

6. The Best Fun: Food Disasters

7. Free Fall: 🎶“No grave can hold my body down, I’ll crawl home to her” - Work Song by Hozier

8. House Guest: “Maybe we can find out what the hell your problem is over dinner sometime.”

9. Talk to Me: " You Literally Checked your phone 3 seconds ago"

10. A Trick of the Light: Matchmaking Parents

11. A Thing: 🎶“Uncovering feelings unfound”🎶 - Out of the Blue by Katie Pruitt

12. Small Touches: "Sometimes I wonder if you're in love with me”

13. Real Sports: Muggle Technology

14.Too Much Birthday: Surprise Party!

15. The Act of Listening: " you can kiss me, you know"

16. After Dark: 🎶“My words are my faith, to hell with our good name”🎶 - Hum Hallelujah by Fall Out Boy

17. Predatory in Nature: "It's cute when your face gets red like that."

18. The Golden Rules: Neighbors

19. Old Habits: “You could say it a hundred times and I still won’t listen.”

20. Twist of Fate: 🎶Try to move on, it's back to you that all my roads keep leading 🎶 - Before I Fall Apart by Elle Coves

21. Film Studies: "Let me distract you"

22. A Tiny Spell: "How long have you been standing there?" "Longer than you'd like."

23. The Gift: Indulging in Hobbies

24. Traditionalists: 🎶Then I know everything is gonna be fine, Because you are mine🎶 -You Shine from Carrie - The Musical

25. The Question: "Are we going to talk about it?" "I'd rather not.”

26. Only Sleeping: 🎶One bright morning goes so easy. Darkness always finds you either way🎶 - First Light by Hozier

27. Level Headed: “What if it doesn’t work” “What if it does work”

28. Nothing But Treats: Holiday Fic

29. The Storm: Cold Winter Nights ( Also check out the smutty sequel: The Storm, the Aftermath)

30. Sticking the Landing: 🎶"where's the trophy? he just comes running over to me"🎶 - The Alchemy by Taylor Swift

31. Army Dreamers: Unintentional Halloween Costumes

JILY KINKTOBER ( All are E for Explicit for obvious reasons):

Find them also compiled on Ao3 here!

O For Outstanding: Day 1: Praise Kink.

Strong Enough Day 3 and Day 6: Angry Sex and Hair Pulling

A Needed Distraction Day 4: Toy under clothing

The Act of Giving: Day 5: Face Sitting

To Be Missed: Day 7: Wall Sex

Study Session: Day 8: Dry Humping

A Quiet Moment: Day 9 Accidental Voyeurism

In the Interim: Day 10 Cockwarming

Putting in the Effort: Day 14 Lingerie

The Prize: Day 17 and Day 18: Jealously and Quidditch Win

[heloflor]

Was in the mood for some teen + adult Timmy Turner headcanons (3.2k words below):

- Not actually teen related but still about Timmy: I like to think he actually got his fairies when he was 9 (which as I learned after watching “Abra-catastrophe” is actually canon, though in New Wish the fact Timmy had fairies for 7 years raises some questions on that front, like did he lose them at 16 instead of 18?), Poof/Peri was born when he was 10, and by the end of the show Timmy’s around 12-13 (since Poof/Peri turns 2 in season 9).

- Speaking of the end of the show I’m kind of ignoring season 10 for those headcanons, or if I do include it Chloe only had Cosmo and Wanda for a few months before not needing them anymore, hence them going back to only having Timmy (and it was probably awkward for Timmy to interact with her for a while after she lost them. Unless Chloe moved away afterwards or something).

- Vicky stopped being his babysitter when he turned 13, hence why Peri remembers her as a nightmare (if fairies age at the same speed as humans, Peri would have been 3 then). Oh and she stopped being hired because his parents thought he was old enough to take care of himself, and yes he still needed fairies even with Vicky out of the picture.

- Not sure when exactly (between 12 and 15) but at some point he just stopped bothering with his parents. They still mainly interact with him to tell him they’re going out so he just stopped engaging with them. As far as he knows, Cosmo and Wanda are his parents.

On that note, the more it goes the more those two would genuinely see Timmy as their own and raise him as such, even with the knowledge that they’re meant to leave eventually (and it wouldn’t surprise me if by the end of their work with Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda got yelled at by the Fairy Council for being unprofessional by getting too attached to their godchild).

- Timmy would start having Cosmo and Wanda go to school events where you have to bring your parents or similar stuff. If his parents catch wind of those events, Timmy would tell them bringing parents is optional, which they would be happy about bc they’d have something planned for this evening anyways.

- Timmy would also casually start bringing up Poof/Peri in conversations with his friends, calling him his little brother who his parents never talk about because having a second kid is difficult and also you guys can’t meet him because he’s in a boarding school and only comes home during the holidays.

- I could also see him start talking about Cosmo and Wanda, being like “oh yeah they’re family friends who are like my godparents and they’re great! No don’t worry about how weird they’re acting, just don’t question it and don’t bring it up to Crocker” especially for family events.

Tbh if he starts talking about those two he would probably also admit that his little brother is their kid who he calls his brother because “I’ve been in his life since his birth and I’m close with his parents so you know!”

- You just know Timmy and Poof/Peri were being gremlins growing up together. Like Wanda refusing a wish and convincing Cosmo not to do it either, only for Timmy to ask Poof/Peri for it behind their backs. Then one day when Peri’s around 6 years old Cosmo and Wanda don’t want him granting wishes without one of them around anymore because he “hasn’t lost his baby strength” meaning he might be as powerful as Cosmo and they want to avoid disasters (huge fan of Cosmo being op as hell). Timmy wasn’t very happy about that.

- And since I keep talking about Cosmo and Wanda being like parents to Timmy, a word about why Timmy is so special to them compared to other godkids.

First off I believe that Cosmo and Wanda remember every single godkid they had and genuinely loved each of them. Hell in “Hassle in the Castle” when seeing the girl who caused WWI Cosmo happily greets her and Wanda calls her “sweetie”. They care for those kids no matter how difficult some of them were.

So to me what set Timmy apart from them is that 1. Timmy got a lot more involved in Fairy World business than former godkids and by the end of the show was low-key closer to fairy culture than human culture (granted this is mostly due to how the show stopped using most humans characters in the last two seasons from what I heard).

2. Timmy reunited Cosmo with his mom (for better or worse), helped him get a better relationship with his brother, almost helped Wanda reconnect with her sister, and allowed Cosmo and Wanda to become parents. So Timmy basically helped mend some of Cosmo and Wanda’s family relationships on top of being familiar with said families and getting along pretty well with them too.

3. Mentioned a bit more later on but Cosmo and Wanda getting a bio child seemingly made them become more parental towards Timmy as well, thus tightening their bond.

4. One episode shows someone losing their fairies as a teen meaning that while probably very rare Timmy isn’t the first godkid to keep his fairies until he’s 18 (at least that’s how I see it, like the teen we seen lost their fairies earlier but that doesn’t mean another teen didn’t keep theirs until they reached adulthood). That being said I like to think he’s Cosmo and Wanda’s first godkid to keep his fairies for so long. And add in the secret wish into the mix, it makes Timmy the godkid Cosmo and Wanda spent the most time with by far and the only one (so far) they raised up to adulthood.

- The months leading up to Timmy’s 18th birthday were very not happy for nether him nor his fairies. Constant apprehension, half-jokingly talking about stopping time for 50 years again, trying to spend as much time together as possible, possibly counting down the days for the last month, having to explain to Poof that he won’t be able to see Timmy ever again. Just really not a good time for everyone involved.

(btw about the stopping time thing, Cosmo and Wanda understood where Timmy came from but were still deeply unhappy about it because 1. It explained why their relationship was going down the drain being stuck in a small fish bowl for years surrounded by negativity and 2. Their son almost died because of it; they did eventually manage to put it in the past though)

- And since I bring up the Secret wish here’s my take as to why Timmy changed his mind after the ending of “Channel Chasers”: Ok so I’m pretty sure the answer is simply that he’s a 10 years old child who’s allowed to change his mind, but if you want a more satisfying answer I like to think that Poof’s birth is what caused it.

Because now Timmy has a little brother. And after rewatching some early S6 episodes, it honestly feels like this is the point where Cosmo and Wanda truly started to treat Timmy as their own, including him in family photos, having a scrapbook of him, showing no difference between how they treat him and Poof, openly calling Poof his little brother etc.

So not only is Timmy now closer than ever to Cosmo and Wanda, he also has a baby brother that he’s attached to. You could even put in “Wishology” which second part opens up with Timmy spending several days in Fairy World having the time of his life, and when going back home his parents had been on vacation without him this whole time and immediately go to a second one, forgetting about him twice in a row. On that note his parents’ neglect becoming worse could also push him towards his fairies.

So yeah, with all that in mind, I could definitely see Timmy panic as his 11th birthday is approaching, causing him to wish for time to stop. Btw I could see him make that wish late at night, telling Cosmo to come see him after/while Wanda is putting Poof to bed, and Cosmo wouldn’t exactly be the happiest about that wish but it’s not like he really has a choice + Timmy forces him to forget afterwards.

(Also this has nothing to do with this post but since we’re talking Timmy and Poof and I’m too lazy to go back and edit my season finale reaction post: I’m part of the people who, while having no issues in New Wish with Hazel having Cosmo and Wanda and Dev having Peri, I can’t help but wonder how things would have been had they swapped fairies, and I also think that them having each other’s fairies would be better for everyone involved, though again I love the dynamics we got in the show, it’s more curiosity over a what-if; but yeah long story short I realized recently that another reason why this swap could work for Hazel and Peri is that Peri can relate to Hazel’s issue of learning to let go of her brother, since he once was the younger sibling having to say goodbye!)

- The day of his 18th birthday, Timmy stayed up the whole night with his fairies, not feeling ready at all to lose them. When the time came I could see Jorgen have a message from the Fairy Council about how Timmy was both the best and worst godkid they ever had to deal with but at least he’ll be remembered by all of fairykind. Also Jorgen would probably give them an additional 15 minutes to say goodbye. Also also I could see Timmy give Jorgen a hug because despite all the bullshit Jorgen put him through (most of which Timmy deserved tbh) by the end of the day he’s going to miss the big fella, with Jorgen awkwardly patting Timmy on the head, having no idea how to react.

- That day, post losing his fairies, was also probably the weirdest day for Timmy. He spends the whole day feeling a sense of emptiness, his friends ask him about a couple and a younger brother he has no memory of which prompts him to realize he doesn’t remember half of his childhood, which he would likely freak out about.

- Giving more details, Timmy remembers the humans in his life but thinking about a specific day in detail leaves him with foggy memories. Worth noting that this is what would usually happen to a godkid but since most godkids only have their fairies for a couple months (2-3 years max) that fogginess is usually seen as forgetting some childhood memories. On the other hand Timmy has had his fairies for so long that this absence is much more obvious.

- Also Timmy would vividly remember feeling parental love which he knows for a fact doesn’t come from his own parents, and despite being a single child a part of him tells him he has a sibling. And with his friends confirming he was spending tons of time with two adults and bring up having a brother quite often, he would quickly start wondering where those people are now and whether he’d ever see them again.

Also not helping would be that, since he brought them up to his friends, he’d probably have created some lie about them moving to a different state on his birthday, which could also explain his friends bringing them up after the memory wipe like “it’s too bad those guys you like so much left. You’re gonna be okay without them?”

- I could also see Timmy often pause and stare if he sees pink, green, and/or purple objects right next to each other. On that note, my view for his adult design is basically the end of “Channel Chasers” but with three pins on his shirt (pink, green and purple). If he can’t bring his pins somewhere, he’d have three small earrings instead. He just doesn’t go anywhere without those colors. Also touching his pins gives him a sense of comfort.

- Needless to say Timmy’s in therapy not only to deal with his childhood trauma but also try to find a way to recover his memories. I could see the therapists he visits tell him he might be repressing some of his memories due to trauma. And yeah he’d see several therapists because that answer doesn’t satisfy him.

- That desire to recover his memories is why he’d be interested in AJ’s work (and I could see AJ actually try to help him with it, or even Timmy being one of the reasons why he decided to study the supernatural), though I could see Timmy keeping some distance to it (as in not thinking about it every single day and still looking up psychological reasons for his memory issues) since he’s afraid to end up like Crocker. Also he’d be confused as to why part of him is so convinced that looking for these people would make him like Crocker specifically.

- On that note, he’d probably hear Crocker rant about fairies again and try very hard not to think of the fact that the idea doesn’t sound all that crazy actually.

- If Timmy was to meet his fairies again (in human form), he would find them extremely familiar but not be able to place why (unless he has pictures of them in human form from his childhood I guess, in which case he’d recognize them though not remember them).

Btw I could see a scenario of them hugging him to try and jog his memory, which wouldn’t make him remember but he would realize that they’re the people he’s been looking for. If he were to spend more time with them, I could see him remember a few things like some insides jokes or finding himself call Peri “Poof” on accident (Peri would just start bawling at this because “he remembers me!!!”).

Ultimately, I’m not the biggest fan of the idea of him fully remembering them, for some reason I prefer the idea of him knowing they were important in his life and remembering how much he loves them but still building a new relationship with them, especially if you imagine them hiding their true nature to him (he’d probably figure out they’re not humans tho, but he would not sell them to AJ’s group). That being said he would very quickly start calling them his adopted parents/younger brother because again while the memories are gone the feelings are still there.

(Granted I could see the invasion from New Wish’s ��Battle of Big Wand” bring his memory back, with him wearing sunglasses to avoid the mind wipe so he’d end up remembering his fairies, I still like the idea of him meeting them without remembering though)

- Speaking of Timmy not selling them out, I could see Dale Dimmadome figure out some of Cosmo and Wanda’s scribbles, at least the part about fairies, causing him to go to one of the meetings from AJ’s group, see Timmy, recognize him as the kid who saved his life and quickly realize Timmy might have had fairies given the effects of his lemonade, especially if he sees his pins and recognize the colors of the two people he’s stalking who suspiciously look like Hazel’s stim toys, on top of the purple color of his son’s headphones which Dale couldn’t find any info on online meaning it’s a one-of-a-kind and he has no proof of purchase (also maybe he saw Peri in human form with his parents, thus putting him on his radar as a potential fairy, and again the color matches up with Dev’s headphones).

But yeah if Dale tried to invite Timmy to try and negotiate with him (fairies info in exchange of potentially getting back his memories), Timmy would refuse bc he doesn’t want to endanger those people, even if he doesn’t remember them. Oh yeah and Timmy probably wouldn’t remember Dale since they only met once and it was related to magic.

(also this has nothing to do with his evil plan but I could definitely see Dale invite Timmy by saying something like “I owe you a drink”; yeah I like to think that despite being a huge piece of shit who doesn’t care about anybody but himself, Dale still can’t help but be grateful to Timmy)

Or another funny scenario I could see would be Dale calling AJ to tell him how he believes a fairy is spending time with his son and might be dangerous, showing some of the pictures he has of the fairy trio, and AJ would immediately recognize them as Timmy’s weird neighbors he’s been looking for. So AJ would tell Dale he’ll help catch Peri only to phone Timmy after the meeting to tell him he found his godparents. And if AJ does grab Peri, instead of trying to figure out how his magic work, he’ll just have him reunite with Timmy.

- Btw while Timmy would introduce Cosmo and Wanda as his parents to people, he still calls them by their first names. Not only because not everyone calls their parents “mom” and “dad” but also due to Timmy’s bio parents only being known as those “nicknames”, so Timmy would likely want to distance himself from them by not naming Cosmo and Wanda the same thing.

- Last three headcanons which have nothing to do with fairies; first of all I see Timmy as going full on no-contact with his parents. Maybe at first he tried keeping some level of interaction but quickly came to realize his folks are more than happy to pretend to be childfree. And obviously they didn’t give him any money for college or anything like that; hell I could even see them half-jokingly comment once Timmy turns 18 that he should start paying them rent. So yeah, needless to say Timmy quickly stopped interacting with them.

- I’m not really sure what kind of job Timmy would have. Given his grades and the fact he was failed by the system (Timmy can be a very clever kid but he’s clearly not made for academic work, which is the kind of work expected of him), I don’t see him get very far school-wise meaning he’d probably have an entry-level job, with maybe something on the side related to his creativity for additional money.

At the same time “Channel Chasers” seems to give him an office job and I don’t know what are the qualifications needed for those, then again from what I’ve seen in other cartoons some office jobs don’t pay well (think Nichole in TA/WOG with several episodes being about the Watt//ersons being poor).

So yeah ultimately I could see Timmy have a low-salary office job with a hobby on the side to get some “fun” money.

- Finally, I have no idea for his love life, mainly because I don’t care ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Between his job probably taking a lot of time, his not so great mental state (again he wouldn’t go to therapy solely for his memories) and research of his past, not sure he’d have time for dating. I also don’t ship Timmy with anyone bc I’m not big on shipping kid characters, even aged up ones. So I guess maybe he’d see someone casually? Maybe Tootie??? Idk

[jessicaloons]

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince:

Chapter 10

Masterlist - Previous - Next

The Heartbreak Prince

"Arthur, I don’t have time for this. Who ever Lindsay is, Maman knows what’s she’s doing…" Charles’s groaned, waving at the sea of fans that were waiting for them at the Whitleburry Hall hotel close to the track.

"Lauren. The girls name is Lauren." his little brother retorted, waving at some girls screaming his name.

"Whatever. It’s not something I need to think about as well, okay?" the Ferrari driver smiled at his fans, signing pictures of himself and taking selfie after selfie, when the security guards waved him in he looked at his brother, who waited together with Joris for him "Also, why are you so interested in Larissa?"

"Lauren! Are you even listening?" Arthur sighed frustrated, leaning against the steel wall of the elevator.

"Honestly? No. I don’t. Like I said, I have other things on my mind." the older Leclerc scratched his chin.

"Oh, whatever…"

"Why does this bother you so much?" Joris asked when they left the elevator, looking for their rooms "Since when are you this interested in your mother’s business?"

"I’m not! It’s just-… it was the way she said the name? The way she smiled? I don’t know, I’m just curious…" Arthur sighed and Charles patted his shoulder.

"Listen, whoever Leonore is, Maman will know what she’s doing. So can we now please focus on this weekend? Yeah? I need a good weekend, you as well… so stop thinking about some girl you’ve never even met and start focusing on your job…"

"FUCKING HELL, HER NAME IS LAUREN!" Arthur spat out, pushing his brother’s hand off his shoulder, entering his hotel room "You’re doing this on purpose!" and with that he slammed the door shut.

"That was childish…" Joris rolled his eyes and Charles nodded.

"It was…"

"Not him, you! Oh don’t look at me like that! You were riling him up on purpose!"

"I swear I didn’t. I just don’t have time to remember irrelevant things!" he unlocked the hotel room and put his stuff down "I’m in no position to think about other things then the race weekends ahead and how I can thank my mother to take care of Ava this much. And if Maman hires someone to help her out, I honestly shouldn’t question it. She’s the reason why I can still have my career while being a single father…"

"Maybe you should offer her to pay the-…" Joris began but Charles interrupted him.

"I should pay the salary of Lynette!"

"Oh now you’re messing with me as well!" his best friend threw a pillow at him and Charles caught it laughing.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about… can we focus now on Silverstone?"

"No water. No radio. No car that’s doing what I want. What a shit show…" Charles muttered underneath his breath when he got out of a van at the airport and grabbed his bags, waving at some fans at the fence.

He sighed, the weekend was a disaster with a mediocre qualifying and then a bad race with a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and a disappointing P7 at the end. He wanted to leave. He had to leave.

"It wasn’t the best of weekends, that’s for sure…" Joris nodded, taking his bags.

"The only good thing about this weekend was that it was the penultimate race before the summer break…"

"Yeah, I think you never needed it this badly…"

"I just want 3 weeks with Ava in the sun, far away from camera’s, fans and all of this." the driver nodded towards some screens that showed the race highlights.

The two men followed the airport hostess to their secluded terminal where another surprise waited for them.

"I know that look…" Charles began, looking at the red head in front of him.

"Charles, there is a problem…" Silvia said slowly, her eyes wary "There’s no easy way to say this, but your jet… it’s not here. You have to take a commercial flight… and the next one available is at 6:25 am."

Charles was too stunned to speak. Her words hit him like a freight train. 6:25 am?

"What?" was all he mustered to say, taking a deep breath.

"The jet is not here. You have to fly commercial."

"Are you serious? What do you mean the jet is not here? And isn’t there an earlier commercial flight? Like tonight maybe?" Charles looked at Silvia with wide eyes.

"The booking wasn’t confirmed… and now the jet is booked for a different flight…"

"I have to be at home tonight, Silvia. My mother is leaving early in the morning and I told her it’ll be just fine! I can’t miss this flight!"

"Well, technically you’re not missing your flight… also, you’re not the only one who has to go back ho-…"

"But no one else has to be at home because their mother can’t watch their daughter forever!" Charles whisper shouted frustrated, his mind racing. Always when he thought a weekend couldn’t end worse, life was showing him just how worse it really could be, now that he stood in the little terminal for private jets, with no way to fly back home "Fuck!" he let out frustrated, typing away on his phone.

"I don’t know what else-…" Silvia began when Charles shook his head, walking away to call Lorenzo.

"Charles?" a voice behind him made Charles flinch, turning around to look at Max "You okay, mate?"

"Of course, an amazing weekend with an amazing end, no?" he pressed out, not in the mood for more unnecessary conversation.

"Umm-… sure. I overheard-… well who didn’t? You weren’t speaking quietly. Anyways, if you have to be in Monaco this urgently, you could fly with us? I have two seats left?" the Red Bull driver offered and Charles cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?"

"I mean, yeah, it’s not the first time we share a jet, it’s been a while but… yeah you know, I don’t know why you have to be in Monaco, but your voice tells me it must be important…" Max replied, tilting his head.

"It really is. I- umm… I promised my mum to be at home tonight. She needs me…" the Monegasque driver said vaguely and Max nodded.

"Alright, then come on, you and Joris can join us."

"She’s amazing. She helps me so much… I can now fully divide my time between the salon and my gorgeous granddaughter… leaving for the convention tomorrow was also only possible because of her!" Pascale raved about her new assistant while feeding Ava "Best decision ever to hire her."

"I didn’t even know you were looking for an assistant and now you constantly talk about her?" Arthur asked, looking up from his tablet.

"Constantly? She’s here now for what? A month? A little more?" Pascale rolled her eyes "Also, I wasn’t looking for an assistant, it was more coincidental, you know? She got a haircut, we talked and et voila I hired her… and she’s doing such an amazing job! She manages the whole salon on her own! I just have to come and cut some hair and then I can leave already because she took care of the rest…"

"As long as she’s a help for you…" Arthur shrugged, right when Charles walked in, hair still damp from his shower.

"Who’s a help for who?" the older Leclerc brother asked, gently kissing his daughters fingers.

"My new assistant-…" his mother began but got interrupted by her youngest son.

"L-a-u-r-e-n… you remember? Maman is raving about her for the past weeks now…"

"You hired a new assistant?" Charles asked, ignoring his brothers eye rolling while sitting down next to her, watching her feed his daughter.

"Yes, it was all really spontaneous. I gave her a haircut, we talked, and then I hired her and believe me Charles, she’s amazing. A hard worker, sweet and charming to all my clients, always polite. She’s a quick learner, amazing with her hands… and don’t let me start on how beautiful she is! She could be a model for sure…"

"Oh yeah? I might have to visit you then in the salon…" Arthur wiggled his eyebrows, earning a slap on his upper arm from his mother "Ouch! What was that for?"

"You have a beautiful girlfriend yourself. Behave!" she replied and then turned slightly to her other son "You on the other hand…"

"Stop. No. Don’t do that, Maman!" Charles rolled his eyes, groaning. He was too exhausted for this. It was the middle of the night, he was tired, frustrated from the weekend and not in the mood for his mother’s attempts to meddle with his love life. He knew her all too well. How she always eyed up his girlfriends, saying him that she wasn’t the one and frankly she was right every single time, but it wasn’t something she had to know.

"Don’t do what?" his mother asked innocently.

"You’re not setting me up with your new assistant-…"

"I wasn’t! I just said that if someone wanted to come over and get to know her it should’ve been you. The single one." Pascale shrugged her shoulders, cooing at her granddaughter.

"Single father…" Charles replied, sighing.

"I don’t think that would be a problem for La-…"

"See! You want to set me up with her. No. Not happening. I have Ava and my career. That’s all I need."

"I didn’t say-…" Pascale began but then shook her head "Whatever, Charles. But just so you know, you would love her. You all would, I for sure am. That’s all I’m saying."

"Yeah, yeah…"

"Alright, now that you’re here, I can go home and have some sleep before I have to get up and leave." Pascale leaned over, laying Ava down in her father’s arms "I’m glad we didn’t have to stick to plan B…"

"I am able to take care of her!" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Sure you can…" his mother patted his arm "Now come on, you have to drive me home."

"Fine." he got up as well, gently stroking his nieces arm "Good night, little Ava. Charles." he winked at his older brother who smiled lazily, watching his daughter fighting off the inevitable sleep.

As soon as his mother and brother left, Charles got up and laid Ava down in her bassinet, his own tiredness and exhaustion slightly taking over. He pulled the bassinet next to his bed and laid down, watching his daughters every little movement.

"Good night my pretty little princess. Daddy’s here now…" he whispered, before he fell asleep almost immediately.

Charles woke up from Ava’s crying and whimpering. Worse than anything he ever heard before. He was up in an instant, switching on the bedside lamp.

"Hey my little angel, what’s up?" he cooed at her, gently scooping her up, her tears dampen his shirt "Hey, hey, hey. What’s the matter baby girl, hmm?" he patted her back gently, rocking her in his arms "Are you hungry?" he got up and made his way to the kitchen, preparing a bottle, all while Ava cried and whimpered into his chest. He never heard her cry like this before, his heart braking with every new sound from his little girl and when he 10 minutes later sat down with her, trying to feed her he had to learn that it wasn’t the bottle she wanted "Fresh diaper then?" but again, not what was wrong. Charles sat in his bed, rocking Ava who got squirmier with every second, her little sobs making her tiny body shake, which made Charles heart clench "What is it, Ava? Hmm? You’re not hungry, your diaper is clean. What do you need baby girl?" he turned her a little, so he could look into her eyes, tears staining her face. She was pale. But her nose and cheeks were red. Her hair felt like it was a little damp. Charles gently stroked her cheeks and he thought they felt warmer than usual. But was it a fever? Or was it now from crying that much? Charles checked his phone. It was 5:46 am. Ava was awake over half an hour earlier than usual as well "We should try to sleep a little more baby girl… let’s put something on the TV and then try to sleep a little more…" Charles scooted into the middle of his bed, propped up a little against the headboard so that Ava could sleep on his chest, pillows on his left and right in case he fell asleep that Ava was safe. Then he put her down on his thighs and took off his shirt, remembering what the nurse told him the night Ava was born, and put her back on his chest, pulling the blanket over them "Look at that. A nice documentary narrated by David Attenborough… with his soothing voice, we’ll be sleeping in no time…" Charles cooed at Ava, gently rubbing circles on her back. And he was right it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep again. Not her peacefullest one, but she slept. And with her finally settling down, Charles followed shortly after. But not for too long. From the moment Ava woke up an hour later her crying got worse. Her tiny sobs sounded as if she was having a cold and Charles wondered what he should do. When he was having a cold he drank hot tea, took some medication and that was it. But what was he supposed to do with Ava? He grabbed his phone, already dialling his mother’s number when he hung up. His mother was already on her way to the convention and he knew she would turn around immediately. He had to figure it out himself. So he googled. But the results were all too different. Too many different opinions on what to do and he was confused. He was rocking Ava in his arms, pacing back and forth in his apartment, when he called Enzo, asking for help from Charlotte but his older brother told him that she wouldn’t be home for the next couple of hours.

"What’s wrong with her?" Enzo asked, sensing his brother’s distress "I can be at yours in 10 minutes?"

"She’s just not calming down. I tried to feed her, she’s not really eating much. She’s changed, so that shouldn’t be a problem, she can’t be tired because she doesn’t want to sleep. And… she feels a little warmer than normally? She’s a little sweaty… I don’t know what to do? I’m feeling like Maman would know what to do, but I can’t call her. Not when she finally, after years, does something for herself again!"

"Charles, maybe you should go and see a doctor?" Enzo suggested "I can drive you there?"

"I don’t even know who her doctor is…" Charles whispered "I have no idea… Maman took her to the doctor the last times…" he felt like the worst father on earth.

"It’s at the children ward at the hospital. Get ready I’ll pick you up in 10."

"It’s okay, baby girl, we’re going to see a doctor, you’ll be fine. Just fine…" Charles whispered, looking outside the car window, checking where they were "Just a little longer, Ava."

"Almost there." Lorenzo said, looking into the rearview mirror, seeing his brother’s pale face, jaw tightened "5 minutes…"

"You hear that? Almost there, little princess." Charles gently stroked Ava’s cheek, feeling her warm skin "Almost there…"

"I’ll drop you off and then I’ll head to the airport picking Charlotte up… and you let me know what’s up with Ava, okay? And when I have to pick you up…" Lorenzo said.

"Yeah…" Charles mumbled, unbuckling his seatbelt the moment his brother stopped in front of the hospital.

He got out of the car and opened the boot of the car, taking out Ava’s stroller.

"Here you go…" Enzo gently laid his niece down "It’s going to be alright, little Ava." he cooed at her, pulling the blanket over her "Call me, whatever it is, if you need me, don’t want to feel so alone, just call me, okay?" he then said to his brother, hugging him "It’s going to be okay, you hear me?"

"Okay… yeah…" Charles replied "And thanks for driving us… I’m not sure I would’ve been able to drive safely…"

"It’s okay. Now go inside…" Lorenzo patted his back and Charles nodded, pushing Ava’s stroller to the entrance, through the doors to the front desk.

"Hi, umm- I need a doctor, no, my daughter needs a doctor, she’s restless and she feels hot and sweaty and I don’t know what to do, the temperature is rising I think? My mum- she umm, she was here before with Ava, my daughter…" Charles stammered, looking at the nurse who smiled at him.

"Okay, so your daughter’s doctor is here at the children’s ward?" she asked and he nodded "Okay, do you know where the children’s ward is? No, okay… follow the rainbow coloured line on the floor, to your right…" she pointed at the different coloured lines on the floor and Charles nodded.

"Thank you." he replied and walked off, following the line through the hallways until he arrived at a glass door, children’s ward written in colourful letters on it "We did it, baby girl, just a moment… they will help you…" right when he wanted to push the door open it sprang open and an older looking nurse walked out, looking at him.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Umm yes-… this is Ava, my daughter, she umm- she needs a doctor, she’s sick I think…" Charles said and the nurse cocked an eyebrow, looking into the stroller.

"Ava? So you are Ava’s father, I was wondering when we would see you here…" she said, nodding towards the front desk inside the children’s ward "Go on in there…"

"Umm- okay." Charles was a little confused by the icy tone of the nurse but he couldn’t think too much about it, walking to the front desk "Hi, my daughter needs a doctor. She’s restless and cries a lot, she didn’t sleep much, doesn’t want to eat and she feels warmer than usual… I think she has a cold…" he explained to the nurse behind the desk and she got up immediately.

"Alright, please follow me…" she brought them into an examination room and helped Charles with getting Ava out of the stroller, taking off her jacket, right when the door opened again "Could you please fill out the paperwork with Mr. …?"

"Leclerc… I’m Charles and this is Ava…" Charles replied and the nurse nodded.

"Alright, can you please help Mr. Leclerc with the paperwork?"

"And Ava?" he asked, his eyes widened.

"Don’t worry, Mr. Leclerc, the doctor will be here shortly, I’ll take care of her, and as soon as you’re done with the papers you’ll be back with your daughter." the nurse smiled and he nodded "It won’t take long, don’t worry. And I’m here, taking care of Ava."

"Mr. Leclerc, would you please follow me?" the other nurse lead him outside and Charles followed her hesitantly "Don’t worry, she’s in really good hands. I just need you to fill out these documents, you can sit down there…" she pointed at some chairs lined up at the wall of the hallway and Charles took the clipboard and sat down, scribbling away.

Charles hands were a little shaky, he never liked hospitals, too many people did he lose in one. But for Ava he had to be strong, push the negative thoughts away and focus on her wellbeing. When he was done with the paperwork he looked up, but the nurse wasn’t sitting behind her desk and he looked to the left, where two women walked up to him.

"Mr. Leclerc? Hi, I’m Cleo Bernoit, this is Marianne Goulard, we’re from the CPS in Monaco…" the blonde woman began.

"CPS?" Charles interrupted, looking confused between the two women.

"Child protective services…"

"What? Are you kidding me? Why?" he was at a loss of words, confused and scared.

"Someone called us after the incident with your daughter… it’s a standard procedure. Mandatory." the red haired woman, Marianne, said "And since we have an office here in the hospital, we just want to check in quickly."

"You see, you’re a single father with a demanding job. We’re just here to make sure that everything is alright." Cleo added and Charles swallowed hard.

"Umm- okay… but it wasn’t really an incident? I just wasn’t sure what to do and couldn’t reach my mum, that’s why I brought her to the emergency room…" he mumbled, his hands gripping his thighs tightly, knuckles turning white "She was restless, cried and felt a little warmer then usually. I couldn’t calm her down. So yeah, I thought taking her here would be the best."

"I see. Does this happen more often?" the blond woman asked.

"That she’s restless and cries and I can’t calm her down? Or what? The slightly higher temperature?" Charles was confused.

"No, that you need to check in with your mother, regarding your daughter’s health." the redhead said.

"What?" he was taken aback "What do you mean?"

"Ava is your daughter. You’re the one responsible for her and-…"

"I know that she’s my daughter and I’m responsible for her. But she’s also my first child, I don’t know everything about babies yet and before I make a mistake I check in with my mother, who successfully raised three kids-…" Charles began, his voice wavering with emotions.

"We know that Mr. Leclerc. It’s just… we’ve been notified that for the last two check-ups, it was your mother who brought Ava in. Not you." the redhead said and Charles eyes widened "And when Ava got her second round of vaccines a month ago, it was also your mother who brought her in again…" she continued.

"Yes. Because I had to work. And while I’m being away working, my mother takes care of her granddaughter. Is there a problem with that?" he said.

"Mr. Leclerc. Ava is your daughter, she’s not even three months old but you are more interested in travelling the world then-…"

Charles had enough. He got up from his seat, his hands balled into fists, breathing heavy.

"I am not more interested in travelling the world than being with my daughter. It is my job. I am a Formula 1 driver. Travelling the world is my job. I am a single father who is more than grateful that his mum takes care of his daughter while he’s away, working. Excuse me, but I want to see my daughter now." his voice was dangerously low, his anger and frustration palpable.

He walked away towards the nurses station, already typing a message out for his mother.

"Hi, can I see my daughter now?" Charles asked the nurse who smiled at him, taking the clipboard from him, looking it over.

"Let me just check if you didn’t forget anything and then we-…" she began.

"No. I want to see her. Now." his voice louder than intended.

"No, of course not, Mr. Leclerc, follow me…" the nurse got up from her seat and gestured for Charles to follow her, down the hall.

"Thank you-… I didn’t want to get loud and be rude. I was just-… I’m just scared and frustrated… I shouldn’t have let it out at you…" he stammered but the nurse just smiled at him.

"It’s okay, it’s your first child, that’s normal." she patted his arm and stopped in front of a door, knocking gently "Dr. Richefort? I have Mr. Leclerc here, little Ava’s dad, can we-"

"Of course, of course, come on in, Mr. Leclerc!" an older man waved Charles inside and he hastily walked in, his eyes immediately on Ava in a little bassinet on the table, the other nurse holding out a teddy bear to her "Everything is alright with your little one. Just a little fever and stuffed nose, nothing out of the ordinary, that happens sometimes."

"She’s okay?" the young father whispered, his eyes rooted on his daughters face "Nothing serious?"

"Nothing serious. Nothing a warm bath in a little steamy bathroom can’t cure. Close all windows and doors, start the shower with hot water and let some steam build in the room, that’s perfect for her nose and lungs. I gave her some syrup to calm her down and reduce the fever, I wrote that one up for you to get as well as something for her stuffed nose." Dr. Richefort said and he was relieved, cupping Ava’s cheek who was smiling lazily, playing with the doctor’s stethoscope now.

"I can take her home?" Charles asked, looking up.

"Of course, I don’t see any reason why not. Just get her medicine and give her something of the syrup before bed and she should be perfectly fine in one or two days. You’re good to go." the doctor nodded to the nurse who grabbed Ava’s onesie from a stool helping Charles getting her ready.

His eyes didn’t leave Ava’s face for one second, his heart racing. As soon as his little one was safely in her stroller and the Doctor handed him the prescription for the pharmacy, the nurse showed him the way outside.

"Can I ask you something?" Charles had to know "Why did you call the CPS?"

"CPS? They were here?" she stopped, looking at him "Why?" she seemed genuinely confused opening the door for Charles and the stroller.

"Yeah… they said it’s mandatory, after all I wasn’t with Ava for her last check-ups and that because my mum was taking care more of her than I am…" he almost whispered and the blonde woman thought for a moment before she sighed, shaking her head.

"Angelique… the head nurse. She’s one of the older nurses here. Very settled in her way of thinking and how families are supposed to look like. Single parents? God no! Worse, a single father? Who works? I bet it was her. She’s the one who does the administrative stuff like that… I’m very sorry that she called them…"

"The older nurse who opened the doors when I arrived?"

"I didn’t see, but yeah, that could be…"

"Am I on their watchlist now?" Charles asked when they entered the foyer of the hospital "Now that they looked into my-no Ava’s file?"

"I wish I could say no… but the truth is, now that you got their attention, they will have an eye on you… I’m sorry. I’ve seen you with your little girl and I think you’re doing a good job…" she said genuinely and Charles mustered a tiny smile.

"Thanks… have a nice day." he walked out of the door, waving the nurse goodbye.

As soon as Charles was outside he put on his shades and a baseball cap, hoping that no one would recognise him. He made a mental note to call his lawyer later on, not sure if she could do anything about the CPS and also the fact that he was here today. Ava was sleeping in her stroller and he decided a nice little walk would do them some good. Some fresh air. He also knew that Ava slept the best in her stroller, the slightly bumpy sidewalks rocking her gently in her stroller, making it perfect for a nice long slumber. Like that he could also stop at the little pharmacy that was far off the usual busy streets of Monaco, getting Ava’s medicine.

Charles decided to make a little stop at the harbour, enjoying the sun, calming down his nerves. His mind was racing. The fact that someone called the CPS on him was bad enough, but to think that because of that, all the hard work to keep Ava safe and a secret were for nothing was worse. He tried his best to be at home with her as much as he could. Took it upon him to travel in between races back home where he usually would just straight fly to the next race. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, he didn’t miss a single chance to see her if possible. Was it ideal? No. He knew that. He felt it. He missed her. Every single minute he was gone, he missed her like crazy. But he couldn’t ask his mother to travel with him around the world so Ava could come with him. His mother had her own life and it wasn’t fair to ask that of her. She probably would agree, she would sacrifice everything for her children and now granddaughter. Charles leaned back, sighing.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" he mumbled when Ava stirred in her stroller, waking up crying "Hey, baby girl, it’s alright… all good…" he gently picked her up and held her close to his chest, rocking her slowly "It’s all good my little princess…"

But it wasn’t. Ava’s cries were getting louder, making Charles trying desperately to calm her down. He looked up in the sky once, sending a prayer out for anyone to help him.

"It’s the sunglasses, you know?" a gentle voice commented, making Charles flinch, he didn’t notice that someone was sitting on one of the other benches.

"Sorry?" he asked confused.

"Lose the sunglasses, yeah and maybe the cap too…" a pretty girl replied, her eyes shining "She wants to see you, but she can’t…" her beautiful smile almost made Charles heart skip a beat.

"Umm-… just… just take off the sunglasses and the cap? It’s that easy?" he cocked and eyebrow but did as told after he looked around for a moment, making sure that no one else was around.

"I mean, it could be… it’s worth a try, now she can look at her dad, sees that you’re looking at her too… that you’re here for her." the girl explained and Charles nodded slowly, looking down at Ava.

"I’m here, Ava. It’s all good…" he smiled at his daughter, kissing her forehead, when she seemed to calm down a little.

"Or she’s just hungry or needs new nappies…" the girl continued and Charles looked at her.

"So you’re just throwing out some guesses? You’re not some kind of a baby guru?" he chuckled a little and the girl shook her head "What a shame, I could’ve used one…" he mumbled and she looked at him "Sorry… it’s- it’s been a short night. And a way too long day…"

"No need to apologise. I know how you feel…"

"You have one as well?" the young man looked at her with big eyes, sounding surprised "Sorry! I shouldn’t have said it like that… it’s just you look quiet young? I mean not that it’s bad to be a young mother! It’s great, like you know… I think I better just shut up…" he groaned, shaking his head and the girl had to stifle a laugh.

"I mean I am young. But not too young… but no, I don’t have one… I worked with some tho…" she replied.

"You worked with babies?"

"I‘m a paediatric nurse…"

"Padric what?" Charles was confused, tilting his head a little.

"Paediatric nurse… kids… I was trained especially for kids and did some hours on the new born ward…" she explained.

"Oh! Wow! You’re more than qualified to give some advice then…" he looked at her "You’re here on vacation?"

"No… I moved here actually… just a couple of weeks ago, still trying to get used to everything…" the girl replied and he nodded.

"Don’t worry, not all Monegasques are as lost as me and need help from a pretty stranger…" Charles said and then blushed, the moment he realised what he just had said out loud.

"Oh- umm… it’s alright… don’t worry…" the girls cheeks were turning red.

"I- I should go… I have to put her down soon…" Charles carefully laid his daughter in the stroller next to them and put his cap and sunglasses back on "Thanks for umm- for the help…"

"Sure. If she’s still a little grumpy later on, you should try a warm bath…" the pretty girl got up as well "Umm-… bye."

"Yeah-… umm bye…" Charles turned around and pushed the stroller in front of him before he stopped again, turning a little "Oh and welcome to Monaco."

"Thanks." she smiled back at him, making Charles heart definitely skip a beat.

"I’m Charles, by the way. Maybe I’ll see you around some time, Monaco is almost like a little village." he chuckled and she nodded, turning around, walking away "Well now I need to see her again…" he mumbled, cooing at Ava "She didn’t tell me her name."

"Charles?"

"Hmm?" he blinked looking at his mother "What?"

"What happened then?" she asked and he was confused for a moment, the smile of the pretty stranger in the back of his mind "You left the hospital and then? Did you hear from the CPS again?"

"No. Not yet… I mean it’s just 2 days ago, no? I didn’t give them any reason…" Charles sighed.

"You must’ve been scared, after they jumped at you like that?" Pascale patted his arm and he sighed.

"Yeah… it was scary… but yeah I mean, it’s like this. I can’t change it, not now at least, I’m leaving for Spa in an hour…"

"The most important thing is that Ava is healthy. She’s all good, you took care of her just like a good dad would. The rest we’ll figure out." Charles’ mother smiled at him and he nodded slowly "Okay, there is something else? Since I’m back your thoughts seem to drift away every now and then? And you have this smile on your face? What happened? You’re going from worried to happy and dreamy in a heartbeat?"

"Hmm? What?" Charles looked at her, scratching his beard.

"You don’t even listen to me? What happened?" Pascale cocked an eyebrow and he averted his gaze immediately, looking at Ava "You can’t even look me in the eyes?"

"I don’t know what you mean…" he replied, a soft smile on his lips, when he thought back to the girl from the harbour "I’m just happy that Ava is all good… and now I should check that I packed everything…"

"No, I know you… there’s something else… it’s almost like…" Pascale began, when Joris plopped down next to her on the sofa.

"It’s almost like he has a crush on someone. I know that smile, almost a little dumb... and the fact he can’t look us in the eyes when we ask him what’s going on? How he changes the topic? Charles met someone…" he chuckled and his best friend groaned, although he began to blush slightly "And now look at his face! He’s blushing!"

"You really met someone! And that someone must’ve left quite the impression on you… I mean, look at you!" Pascale grinned, although she was a little disappointed that she couldn’t introduce Lauren earlier to her son "Who is she? Where did you meet her?"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I met her once. After the hospital, I don’t know her name, or anything. She helped me with Ava. She was amazing. But that’s it. I don’t have a crush. Or anything like that, okay?" Charles said but his mother and best friend just exchanged glances and he knew that he shouldn’t have said anything "Can we please leave it be? I have one last race before the summer break. Let me focus on that and then after you can annoy me again?"

"Oh you can bet on it…" Joris laughed and Pascale nodded.

"I can’t wait to hear more of it…" she added.

"Alright, now let me enjoy the last minutes with my little princess before we have to leave."

Lauren swiped the floor clean, when the phone rang and Pascale answered the call, smiling while speaking in a soft voice. The young girl continued with cleaning the mirrors and wiped the console tables underneath, storing away the cleaning utilities as soon as she was done.

"La porte de derrière est ouverte... D’accord."

Lauren thought for a moment, trying to translate what Pascale had said.

"The backdoor is open." Pascale said, looking at the young girl "You tilt your head and poke out your tongue, when you’re trying to translate what was said…"

"Oh…" how embarrassing.

"You’ll finally meet one of my sons, Charles is coming over. " her voice was always filled with love and pride as soon as she mentioned one of her sons, it made Lauren’s heart swell, hearing her talk so fondly and adoringly of her sons.

But at the same time it also stung a little, making her miss her mother even more.

"Charles? He’s the youngest?"

"Middle."

"Oh, okay." Lauren nodded, storing away some bottles, when a breathtakingly handsome young man, stepped out of the hallway, a young man Lauren knew from somewhere.

"Charles, come in, come in. I want you to meet Lauren-…" Pascale switched to English, making her son cock an eyebrow.

"Your new assistant you can’t stop talking about?" he chuckled and Pascale nodded, he then followed his mothers look and as soon as his eyes landed on Lauren his whole face lit up, something his mother noticed, making her grin "It’s you! The girl from the park!"

"You two know ea-… wait? The girl from the park? OH! The girl from the park!" Pascale made big eyes, a big smile spreading on her face.

Charles blushed immediately, but he wasn’t alone, Laurens eyes widened and her cheeks were turning red, he was talking about her?

Chapter 10 - I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! Life was messy, hectic and really a lot these last weeks and I didn’t want to post something only okayish. It finally happened. Lauren and Charles officially met ♥️ now the real party starts hehehe

Please leave a comment/ like/ reblog/ message and tell me how you liked it! I'm dying to hear your thoughts!

If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment!

Last but not least, English is not my first language and although I tried my best: please excuse any mistakes I made!

Taglist:

@glitterquadricorn @lottalove4evelyn @janeh22 @itsjustkhaos @mariclerc @fangirlforever2000

[defilerwyrm]

I'm a trans man who wants phallo SO bad but the Fear Mongering people do makes me so scared. I have such a fear of surgery anyway and people say phallo is nearly 23hrs long, and it has more risks than heart surgery does, and idk if these are true bc I'm too scared to google it..But I want it so bad, but the stuff I hear scares me. Also people saying it doesn't have any sensation worries me. You said trans men can ask about it so I hope this is ok to do on anon!!! I'd appreciate a non fear filled reply so much thanks!!

23 hours!! Those poor surgeons, can you imagine!

Virtual hugs if you’re the hugging type, Anon, and a cool rock if you’re not.

Those things are definitely not true, not remotely. It’s a long surgery, but when I say it’s long that means it’s about 8 hours all told. It sounds like maybe someone heard it referred to as an “all-day” thing meaning a full WORK day, but instead assumed that that meant a full CALENDAR day. Or, you know, a transphobe made shit up to scare people.

It is most definitely not nearly as risky to your wellbeing as a surgery in which they saw open your sternum and cut open your actual beating heart. There is a fairly high chance of a minor complication that can result in the terrible ordeal of getting pee on your pants sometimes—a urethral fistula—and in most cases, they close up on their own anyway without needing another surgery to correct them. And in this case, “fairly high” means 40%, so it’s still less than half a chance that it’ll happen in the first place. At worst it’s annoying. Serious complications, the type that put you in danger, are extremely rare.

The sensation thing is also false, because they literally harvest a length of nerve from your donor site and hook it up to your existing bits specifically so you WILL have sensation! Sure, it takes a little while for the nerve to heal, but that’s just the reality of ANY surgery.

The nerve grows back in your donor site, too, by the way. While I was typing this up I discovered that one particular spot on my graft is ticklish.

Everyone has their own individual healing factor, but speaking for myself, I had full erotic sensation before the 3-month mark, and the orgasms have been incredible. The head and base are highly sensitive, and everything in between responds pretty damn nicely too, just less of a hit-the-ceiling level of sensitivity. And, you know, if you’ve handled an AMAB person’s penis much at all you’ll know that’s pretty much in keeping with how their dicks work too.

It is an in-patient surgery so if you have it, you’ll be staying in a hospital for a few days so they can keep an eye out for rare disasters. My stay was four or five days of snoring most of the day and periodically getting woken up to eat or answer some simple check-in questions, lift my arm for nurses to move stuff, etc, and then conking back out.

Being cathed sucks, but two weeks of frequent trips to the toilet to drain your bag is honestly nothing compared to a lifetime without (or with vastly reduced) bottom dysphoria. That’s the part that I hated. Everything else was your typical recovery: 10-15 days of sleeping 20 hours a day, then however many weeks of being tired, taking meds, and careful washing, gradually feeling more and more normal until you’re back up to full and ready to get back to business as usual.

Except with this one, you get to learn to pee standing up in the process. :D

(Protip: don’t try a public urinal until you’ve got it down pat at home. Not because of cis men, but because the learning process is messy, lol! The overwhelming majority of cis men in public restrooms want nothing to do with anyone else while they’re in there. The only place anyone’s gonna give your dick more than half a second’s accidental glance is in a gay bar. In 8+ years of using public men’s rooms I have yet to see one (1) penis that wasn’t mine!)

[the-real-daddy-van-der-bellen]

this post is probably very doomerist, skip if you're having a nice day

but I was just taking a walk along the local mid-size river in my town, the river bed there is fairly deep, i am bad at estimating that kind of stuff, but probably five or six meters in height, fairly steep. And up to the very top, there was still debris caught in the trees, from the flood two months ago. So the water was at least up that high, maybe more, but the path was cleared now so I can't tell. I just know that is was a scary, devastating amount of water but we all know that.

and i know some people just say, floods happen, floods have always happened, 10 years ago, 50 years ago, hundreds of years ago. that is true of course, but i think it would be ridicuous to pretend that this big flood has nothing to do with climate change. maybe it would have happened regardless, but from what I know, climate scientists agree that the severity was due to factors that are due to the climate crisis.

It has been over two months. The dehumidifyer in my apartment building is still running, non-stop, 24/7, day and night. I don't even want to know how much electricity that thing eats up. Which might seem petty, considering my ground floor neighbors had to move out and it will still be months until they can move back in. but i am not worried so much about the electricity bill. i am worried because electricity does not just appear from thin air.

The damage is economically devastating for many people, but I can't stop thinking about how many resources all the rebuilding takes. Electricity from the dehumidifyers. New furniture means a lot of wood and plastics. Not too long ago I walked past a gigantic pile of fridges that broke in the flood. So much electronic waste, so many resources required to replace broken things. How many houses were damaged bad enough that they need to be completely rebuilt? Even concrete is a finite resource.

When we talk about feedback loops regarding the climate crisis, we're usually thinking about the polar icecaps melting, which causes the earth to warm up even more. but I've been thinking about how natural catastrophes like floods and the rebuilding afterwards is also kind of a feedback loop, isn't it? It takes a ton of electricity for example to have dehumidifyers running for weeks nonstop, electricity that still comes, at least partially, from burning fossile fuels, which will in turn cause more carbon emissions. more climate change, more devastation, more rebuilding, and on and on and on.

I also think that we are now at a point in the climate crisis where we need to be realistic and need to expect disasters like the flood to happen more often. It's scary. And the worst is, as an individual, there is not much you can do about it.

Don't build a house near a river, yeah, sure. My apartment complex is nowhere near a risk zone. No one, absolutely no one, would have ever expected this here. Because we weren't hit by rising groundwater. It was the surface water running down the nearby hills and pooling around the houses. There are no measures that the muncipality or anyone could have taken to prevent that. You'd have to build a giant wall around the entire town or something, but that would obviously be ridiculous. It's a new apartment complex, the first half was finished only two years ago, the second half barely more than six months before the flooding. I saw the new groundfloor neighbors build garden beds and plant flowers over the summer and now they had to move out again because the entire ground floor is just ruined. They tore out the walls and the flooring and it will still be months until these apartments can be lived in again.

I know people living in the area where the groundwater rose dramatically and took a long time to go down again. At least one couple still had pools of water in their basement six weeks after the flood. You can't do anything about that. You can't pump the water out before the groundwater sinks, it will just come back and possibly destabilize your entire house.

Is that not insane? Is it not absolutely nuts that we are all just supposed to go on with our lives, knowing that we can expect events like this to happen several more times over our livetimes? A flood like this is supposed to be something anyone living only ever sees once in their live, and their children never experience like it, probably not their grandchildren, either.

My aunt and uncle, who admittedly live in a high-risk zone were hit with a similarily devastating flood only 15 years ago.

Makes you wonder when the next time will be.

It's terrifying, especially since there are still so many people in power, in austria and all over the world, who COULD do something, who could have started doing something 50 years ago but didn't.

But people in power will just move to their second or third home if their first home should ever be affected by a natural disaster. And the 100.000 or more Euros it takes to repair and rebuild may be devastating to the average household but for them it is pocket change.

And at this point, we can only scramble to try and fight the symptoms, because keeping the disease in check seems pretty much impossible. Airconditioning in the summer (again more electricity consumption), build flood protection (more resources needed), but also you now need irrigation systems for agriculture because instead of a flood, a drought could hit you just as likely. None of these things are bad, we need to find ways to live with the climate crisis, because at this point it can't be prevented, it is happening and has been happening for decades. But so many things we have to do because of the climate crisis feed right back into it and will make it even worse.

[sunderingstars]

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SIMULATED UNIVERSE ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, elation!sampo & doll!sampo, theory, op trying so deeply & calmly to keep it together and not look like a conspiracy theorist

— word count: 3.9k

— overview: (as of 2.6) a look at the aha stuffed toy, curio hacker, and the *perfect* grand challenge simulated universe occurrences!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ AHA STUFFED TOY ⌝

This one’s a doozy, folks! As much as Curio Hacker gets passed around as a pretty obvious Sampo Occurence™ (which it is, don’t get me wrong), I feel like Aha Stuffed Toy includes just as, if not more, lore implications as to who and what Sampo might be. So, here I am to give the breakdown:

Recurring references to currency, including gaining, losing, and most notably, dispensing it. Starting with the base occurrence, we can see that the toy is said to reward you more gold coins the “worse the beating is.” This is further shown by the tiers of Cosmic Fragments awarded to the player depending on what option they choose and what percent they happen to get. Part luck, part choice, Aha Stuffed Toy makes a clear connection between violence and money.

As for Sampo, he is the character most associated with both Elation and the transactional nature of currency, so I find this an interesting connection. Additionally, the Sampo of Finnish mythology was known for “dispensing” wealth (in this case, gold & Cosmic Fragments) onto others!

Being made in Aha’s own likeness. As detailed in my Aha Splash Art Analysis, I find similarities between Sampo’s character model and the silhouette in Aha’s splash art. While I used to attribute this to a more directly Aha!Sampo theory, I am beginning to think this may be explained by the occurrence here. If Sampo, as a toy or otherwise “creation” of Elation, were to have similar features or even be the spitting image of Aha’s silhouette, any connections between their appearances would add up.

It would also make sense why Sampo gives the Express itself a wide berth — Pom-Pom may be familiar with Aha’s physical form from Their time on the Express, and may even be reluctant to believe Sampo is a different being despite sharing the same physical appearance.

Elation path option. Heading into Swarm Disaster, this is where things really start to heat up. This is probably the most “crazy red string theory” my brain gets, since there’s so much to unpack here! It’s important to note that since this is an Elation path matching an Elation occurrence, I’m more inclined to view this as our best source of understanding what’s truly going on. Starting with the options themselves, they are split cleanly in half (a 50/50 if you will). Similar to the base occurrence, Cosmic Fragments are either gained or lost depending on chance.

The text when Cosmic Fragments are lost is, well, very Sampo-aligned in my opinion. The doll, breaking the 4th wall into self-awareness, turns to look directly at you (the Trailblazer; potentially even the player of the game) and brazenly steals your currency. Moreover, the text before making the decision mentions that “only Aha knows the secret…” — Huh! Interesting! Although I am very worried about the doll’s head blowing up in the second option, it still serves as a link to Sampo’s penchant for including bombs in his kit. Overall, this is the part of the occurence I associate most with Sampo, from the stealing of currency to the self-awareness to the hint that his identity may be some secret that only Aha knows or is able to reveal. 10/10, no complaints!

Erudition path option. Erudition is also interesting, since it gives you the option to dismantle the toy, immediately giving you Cosmic Fragments. This mirrors (in a general sense, with some liberties taken) the destruction of the Sampo in Finnish mythology, as well as connects once again to the idea of being bestowed wealth. 

Venting of extreme emotions. As with the “made in Aha’s own likeness” line, I find it interesting that the doll is not only specified to have a direct purpose, but that that purpose is to… well, basically be a glorified punching bag. In an occurrence, this isn’t a huge deal, given the player probably has a passing thought of “oh, Aha’s being silly again” then continues on their way. However, if we think about the probability of these toys being real and potentially a character we know, things get trickier. Suddenly, this isn’t a fun “joke” where some pre-recorded inanimate toy acts as a stress ball, but the horrifying reality of a self-aware, sentient being who can likely feel every hit it takes — a joke taken too far, if you will.

This makes me feel much more out-of-my-depth when considering Sampo’s unknown backstory, since it may be much more traumatic than we’ve predicted so far. Also, if anyone in this game comes across as a “glorified punching bag,” I’m sorry Sampo, but my mind is immediately going to you. I’m still sad about it, though. :(

The goading. Similar to the venting of extreme emotions, this occurrence very much goads the player into getting more and more violent with the doll. “One more? There is so much frustration in your life, after all” makes me feel so yucky. Like so yucky. It almost feels like Aha (despite not being involved in the quality control process) is absentmindedly trying to push us directly towards messing this poor doll up more!

It makes sense, though, that most of our in-game dialogue with Sampo is mean or simply doesn’t have a “nice” option then — it may be Aha’s way or a result of Sampo’s own existence pushing us into that “frustration,” into that want to vent our extreme emotions.

The embedded chip. In addition to being a quite common mantra among Elation entities, the chip sticks out to me through its unique use of blended third-person references. It doesn’t feel exactly the same as when Aha refers to Themself directly in third person, but it does have that slippery feeling of the “in-between,” of a doll so at a loss for autonomy that it has no choice but to play the pre-recorded message of an entity it is bound to through no will of its own.

In a way, Aha!Sampo could still work with Doll!Sampo, albeit in a more roundabout way. Perhaps, beyond sharing physical similarities, there is also a kind of mental or referential similarity passed down through osmosis whenever a doll is created in the likeness of its creator. Perhaps, this likeness even transcends appearance.

Integer overflow. Nothing specific to say, other than that it is a useful connection to the more tech-minded “Curio Hacker” occurrence, with Aha Stuffed Toy mentioning “manufacturers” / “systems to store virtual data” and Curio Hacker mentioning virtual avatars and data forms.

Bonus: Sampo’s head-to-body ratio (despite being like every other tall male character’s body, yes, please just let me be crazy) matches with the idea of a doll whose body is several times larger than it’s head — I mean look at that man, he’s beefy and tall!

Bonus-Bonus: The voyeurism of it all definitely makes the situation more fucked up! Like imagine being this doll, already born into an existence purely for the sake of getting pummeled around like a kickball, and your creator makes it abundantly clear that They want to see this happen to you! With their own two (or many, or zero) eyeballs! I’d cry, that’s for sure.

Overall, this is a lot. This is definitely a lot. I have more I could say, but to mitigate the risk of devolving into crazed rambling, I’m going to let this section speak for itself and move on to “Curio Hacker.”

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ CURIO HACKER ⌝

Divergent Universe Additions:

A lot has already been said about this occurrence, so I’ll keep it short and sweet: the “blue-haired being” is a direct connection to Sampo (who is often referred to by his blue hair in a similar way) and the self-aware nature of its actions (knowing it’s in a game and trying to replicate Curios) also matches with Sampo’s general self-awareness as a character. Now, with that out of the way, I’d like to continue into a more niche discussion — that of the Curios the hacker gives us.

Organic Heart

Story: What sticks out to me the most about the text here is the merging of two distinct objects — an apple and a heart — into a single, new existence. I think there’s something to be said here about Sampo’s potential identity; his merging of Nihility and Elation, Masked Fool and voice of reason, mortal and immortal. The combination of two separate entities into one until they are unable to be distinguished from one another, folding into each other until they are both a sum and a subtraction of all their parts, hopelessly melded into a new, unique form of existence, not a heart or an apple but a heart-apple, an apple-heart, the fruit of an organ and blood mixed with seeds mixed with juice, the crunching of something not entirely edible, not entirely rotten. Something that, according to the story, still can’t be fully defined.

Gold and Gears: In Gold and Gears, the function of Organic Heart is to remove the golden dice face for four turns, then grant two cheat attempts. This matches up with both the implications of a “hacker” — someone who cheats the system by default — and Sampo’s generally shady demeanor, always trying to find a loophole he can squeeze through. The interesting part of this is the presence of the golden dice face, particularly the removal or hiding of it for a specific period of time.

If we are continuing based off the assumption that Sampo is the hacker and the Curios give hints about his own identity, this would mean he isn’t just powerful, he is ultimately powerful. The golden face is the absolute highest the dice can go, meaning the equivalent in-universe is likely Emanator or even Aeonic status. As such, it seems that Sampo may be sacrificing, removing, or hiding this power intentionally to gain something — likely a sort of universe-breaking “cheat” to circumvent whatever he wishes.

For Doll!Sampo, this may mean escaping his own purpose or reason for existence, Emanator!Sampo may wish to be free of Elation entirely, and it is likely his wishes have something either to do with protecting Belobog, protecting himself, or, if he is very pissed off at a certain Aeon, perhaps even the murder of a god.

Divergent Universe: Organic Heart’s Divergent Universe function also adds a bit of information to this theorizing, as it increases the challenge points gained (thereby increasing the rewards and how much you “win”) while causing you to take more damage at the same time. This seems to have similar implications as Gold and Gears, implying a “reward” and a “cost” closely dependent on one another. You may be receiving more “power” and more rewards, but you are also at higher risk of dying due to taking more damage.

For Sampo, this ties in to the aspect of weakness, of trading his power for some kind of “win” if he can just survive long enough to get there. Furthermore, it implies a state of vulnerability, some kind of existence where he no longer has the full protection he used to. Much like the player who takes the Curio, he likely has to be very careful about what he involves himself in, lest he meet a premature end.

Mysterious Magnetism

Story: Interestingly enough, I find Mysterious Magnetism to go quite well with Organic Heart. There is yet again a theme of combination, this time with the Fog of Thought and Rain of Sensation (perhaps alluding to the creation of Sampo as a sentient being — thought and sensation are unique to those who are aware of their own existence) being pulled together into a lens. While Organic Heart represents the more, well, organic side of a being, Mysterious Magnetism dwells in the imperceptible; thoughts, sensation, color, and magnetism are all far more conceptual than apples and hearts. 

The “magnetic field” mentioned is also interesting, since it is said to “disturb the senses,” which Sampo very much does on a regular basis (appearing and disappearing out of thin air, not leaving footprints, misdirection, etc.) — in fact, Mysterious Magnetism seems to imply that this is a byproduct of his existence. Despite being created by the Riddlers (a faction of the Enigmata known for obscuring language), the resulting experiment simply is. This may be similar to Sampo’s own existence, where his, well, mysterious magnetism, is simply part of who he is or how he was created rather than a conscious effort on his part to achieve it. 

I also find it interesting how the Riddlers had to eventually stop because they became more and more uncertain of its “necessity” — this could, in my opinion, imply a “leaving behind” or abandonment of Sampo as a character as well.

Keyword Note: “Revelrous” implies there may be a bit of Elation involved. A little easter egg in the story, if you will.

Gold and Gears: In Gold and Gears, Mysterious Magnetism creates Elite Domains out of Combat Domains, then grants Cosmic Fragments after two of those domains. Much like Organic Heart, there is a rigor present here, an upping of the stakes for greater rewards. What would be effortless is made difficult, but if the player survives they are rewarded for their troubles. Once again, this may point towards Sampo’s exchanging of a price for a reward, a stripping away of his power that makes everything — especially combat — more difficult, but that will eventually reward him what he wants.

Divergent Universe: The occurrence here follows a slightly different “give and take” track, less focused on rewarding something after hardship, but more on gaining and losing in the same breath. Interestingly enough, the gain here is at the beginning rather than the end, awarding the player 50 Cosmic Fragments every time they enter a domain but making them lose just as much once they win a battle. 

This could be seen as the nature of currency exchange — a central part of Sampo’s character — as something that gives and takes in equal measure, or it could also be seen as a means for him to avoid conflict. Perhaps whatever plan or deal he has strongly discourages fighting, likely because of the higher stakes involved or lessened powers he has. As such, it could be seen as “losing” in general for him to engage in conflict, since it might strip away even more of his already-fraying status.

Other Notes: It’s interesting that the hacker is attempting to replicate Herta’s Curios. Given that it gives us two very specific Curios, I wonder if those are the ones it’s trying to replicate? If so, why? I’m inclined to believe Sampo may be attempting to circumvent his own fate or state of being as a doll/toy, but it could be to save Belobog or someone else for plot reasons as well (or maybe even kill Aha Themself; Aeon murder isn’t off the table, after all).

I also am intrigued by “hacker” being in quotations. Paired with the “don’t ask me who I am,” I’m reminded of the toy’s secret that only Aha knows — perhaps Sampo simply doesn’t wish to reveal himself to us here, or perhaps there’s a deeper reason his identity is obscured. Basically, it comes down to the age-old question: Won’t, or can’t?

Overall, Organic Heart and Mysterious Magnetism sum Sampo up pretty well to me: an organic being straddling the grey area between different existences, as well as an indistinct combination of concepts capable of self-awareness and magnetic thought. In my opinion, these Curios point towards heavy themes of creation, combination, and being discarded, as well as the exchanging of one’s own power for a greater benefit (or “cheat”) later on. 

My pet theory combines both the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence and Curio Hacker, seeing Sampo as a toy created by Aha in Their own image, a combination of mortal and immortal existence meant to be beaten and bleed wealth, who seeks to free himself from the purpose of his own existence through sacrificing the very power that was granted to him with it — likely Emanator or some equivalent status — while hopefully protecting those he cares about and even getting back at his creator at the same time (otherwise known as Doll Theory).

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ THE *PERFECT* GRAND CHALLENGE ⌝

When paired with both Aha Stuffed Toy and Curio Hacker, The *Perfect* Grand Challenge begins to paint a bigger picture. Here, a toy is once again mentioned (Aha and the Elation path seem to have a strange fixation on dolls and toys), this time as a “clay doll” trapped inside an arcade machine alongside other gacha prizes. You play through the arcade machine much like the occurrence, deciding which toy to pull and how many attempts to make. Here are a few of my notes:

Prizes: The prizes within the arcade machine include “trendy gachapon figures, ether orbs, and clay dolls,” although there are only two specific ones available: “popular gacha toy” and “clay doll.” I find it notable how the clay doll is emphasized here; despite being part of a three-item list at the beginning, the options are basically simplified down to “clay doll” and “everything else.” Additionally, the clay doll is the only item to have an extended description in the occurrence, which I will explain later.

Rewards: Each reward operates in probability, with the clay doll having a 50/50 for a regular vs. negative Curio, and the gacha toy has a 40/60 for a regular Curio vs. nothing. If we are looking at this occurrence within the context of the other two, the “clay doll” seems somewhat similar to both the Aha Stuffed Toy and Sampo himself, operating on chance to give the player either something helpful or harmful, to give or to take. Additionally, it fits with the Sampo of Finnish mythology, not having an option to not give — it must give, that is its function. And so it does.

Perfectionism: It’s a bit odd how perfectionism is a major theme of The *Perfect* Grand Challenge (hell, it’s even in the name)! I never thought of Elation as being closely intertwined with being “perfect”; in fact I always considered it to be the more chaotic of the Paths. However, there’s no escaping the fact that this occurrence not only shares the same cover art as other Elation occurrences like the Aha Stuffed Toy, but it also shares similarities like the clay doll, fun game, and “playful” programmer. 

So, my main question now is why? If we assume these occurrences are a manifestation of the Paths, then perhaps a subsection of Elation includes perfection. Another option is that the presence of an Erudition option points to a co-mingling of different Paths into something specific like perfection. Or, it is entirely possible that perfection is a natural emergent of Elation that we simply haven’t seen yet. Although Sampo and/or Aha don’t strike me as “perfectionist” types, there’s enough we don’t know about them that makes me think “huh, maybe they really do have some of that going on.” 

If we do, for a moment, entertain the idea that Aha may be a perfectionist in some regard, we can easily make connections between the other occurrences — for example, Sampo as a creation may have been abandoned much like Mysterious Magnetism in Aha’s pursuit of the “perfect toy”; Aha may have created toys in Their own image in the first place just to attempt a more “perfect” existence for Themself; Sampo may even be seen by Aha as in some way defective, leading to feelings of betrayal and hatred (or the opposite, Sampo being perfect enough to garner a god’s favor, which may not be a good thing when it comes to Elation).

There’s even the chance Sampo was created by another Path like Erudition (although that would cause a conflict with being “created in Aha’s likeness”) that may be more susceptible to latching onto perfection. Since the Riddlers (Enigmata) are also mentioned in Mysterious Magnetism, I wouldn’t put it beyond them either. Who knows, maybe he was a pet project collab between Aha and another Aeon!

Note: Who is the “perfect man”? Great question! It could fit in as Sampo with the idea of him sacrificing something for a reward, potentially “embarking on a challenge to become the perfect man” or it could fit in as Aha creating toys, being the “perfect man” that needs a “clay doll” like Sampo. “A perfectionist wants them all” could even allude to greed on either end, reaching beyond what is necessary in the pursuit of perfection. Or, it could be something else entirely. Who knows!

Text: As mentioned earlier, the clay doll has quite a lengthy (and worrisome, if we are comparing it to Sampo) bit of writing here. Most of the other writing sets up the scene (establishing the arcade game, the playful programmer, the game having a catch, etc.) but the clay doll is by far the most detailed and intensive play-by-play we get.

The other gacha figures either rise with the claw or drop, but the clay doll is different. If you win it, you get a short line of text with everything else, but if you lose… well…

Yeah, that’s definitely a lot! The main comparison I see is to the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence, with the toy’s head blowing up (“the head of the doll has blown up” is actually the specific Stuffed Toy line!) and the clay doll’s head exploding with “fireworks bursting out from the head”.

Both of these events happen during extreme emotion, with the toy being created with the intent of venting emotion on and the clay doll exploding when you “lose your patience” and “give the machine a vicious kick”. With such an emphasis on the clay doll and its links to not only the stuffed toy, but to the programmer from Curio Hacker, I am officially inducting The *Perfect* Grand Challenge into the Sampo-Aligned Occurence Hall of Fame! 

I feel like this can slot in with my Doll Theory as well, taking my already mentioned timeline and adding the idea that Sampo is one of many attempts at a “perfect” recreation of Aha, one that is likely trying very desperately to escape from the dehumanization and danger of his kin. After all, two Elation-coded dolls exploding by the head in separate occurrences is not a fun precedent to follow!

Note: I mainly compared Sampo to the clay doll here given its similarity to the Aha Stuffed Toy, but it is entirely possible he is the programmer as well — hell, with the implications of Organic Heart he may as well be both!

Additional Note: There seems to be some connection between the Erudition and the Elation here, with the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence’s only Path options being Elation and Erudition, as well as The *Perfect* Grand Challenge including an Erudition option despite having such heavy Elation influences. Creation, experimentation, and combination are in and of themselves a very Erudition-coded activity, though those very same concepts can also be creative and fun in the vein of the Elation.

Additionally, the story of Mysterious Magnetism (linked to Sampo who is very much linked with Elation) mentions the Riddlers conducting their experiment to “combat the determinacy of Erudition”. Just food for thought!

Bonus: This mention of the Aha Stuffed Toy in the Flea Market occurrence! Don’t mind me, I’ll just be crying at the “asking to be hit” part. (Also, four destructible Curios makes me think in plurality, meaning there are perhaps quite a few “stuffed toys” out there. It also implies awareness and the ability to communicate, making the toy much more likely to be a sentient / intelligent lifeform.)

Also this screenshot I caught of both occurrences & the man himself!

Okay, that’s all I have!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thank you for reading to the end!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[mikuni14]

2024

There were a lot of series released in 2024, I don't know if more than in 2023, but it seemed to me that there were a lot of them… because all this year I was aware of how many series I didn't watch while they were being aired. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes I had the impression that the more series were being aired, the less I started them. I didn't start many series because their plots weren't encouraging, I also started many but dropped them because they couldn't keep my attention with their story and characters. I admit with shame that there were also series that I watched with one eye, trying to more or less keep up with the story, while doing something else. My "hate watching" of series that I loved at the beginning and which ended in a completely unsatisfying way was even weirder if I'm being honest. What a strange year...

While trying to remember what I liked last year, it turned out that every time it was a series from 2023, so I finally checked the list of series from 2024 and… well, this year in terms of BL series was poor and weak in my case, especially when I compare it to 2023, when a lot of my favorite series so far came out, when I actually had a problem choosing the best ones, because there were simply so many of them. I also have the impression that a lot of series that came out in 2024 - which, although nice and cute - were a bit... about nothing. And sadly the older I get, the easier it is for me to lose focus and interest, sooo.. this trend is not good for me 😅

2024 was also a year that confirmed how "dangerous" is getting attached and invested to series and praising them before the finale. For example, my summary of 2023 began with me gushing about The Sign, which began then, and it is the biggest disappointment of this year and my personal "grief".

So here's my small summary of the series I watched in 2024 (it turns out that there are not that many of them, I'm such a horrible fan 😭):

Best BL series: Love For Love's Sake (which means that for the last 3 years my best BL series have been produced by Korea 😮). I should also include I Cannot Reach You, because even though the series is from 2023, I only watched it this year

Fun fact: the best series from Thailand this year in my opinion are: Dead Friend Forever and High School Frenemy, and from Japan Oppan, which are hard to call a BL, I think it says something 😀

Couples who had satisfying relationships: High School Frenemy, GreatTyme (4 Minutes), LFLS, I Cannot Reach You, Perfect Propose, JJMethas (TLDHLB), Cosmetic Playlover, Love is a Poison, I Became a Main Role of a BL Drama (both couples), Tan and his revenge (DFF)

Interesting, unique series that pleasantly surprised me with how different they are: Dead Friend Forever, 4 Minutes, Oppan

Series that started out 10/10 and ended up being an absolute disaster and made me the most bitter: The Sign, I Hear The Sunspot

Series that started out well and ended up being meh: Love is Better the Second Time Around, Last Twilight, Living With Him, Jazz for Two

Series with a good potential not fully used (which I still liked): Gray Shelter, Twins, The On1 One which wasted its potential in the finale which could be better imho, apart from that it's a very good series

The craziest series I've watched anyway: Twins

Best fandom experience: DFF (gosh I miss it 💖🥺)

Worst fandom experience: I Hear The Sunspot

New stars✨in my sky: SkyNani, Mio 💖💖💖

My obsessions this year: High School Frenemy, LFLS, DFF

2024 also gave me some problematic blorbos 😌: Way (Pit Babe), Tan (DFF), Great (4 Minutes)

Hot guys 🔥: GreatTyme (4 Minutes), SanVee (Century of Love), SaintShin (HSF)

Characters I think of fondly: all the guys from LFLS, Isumi (Sugar Dog Life), Jiang Tian (The On1y One), Tan (DFF), Shiba Ryoma (Love is a Poison), Ju (Century of Love), Saint (HSF)

Characters I enjoyed watching when they showed their love or when they seduced their crushes: San (Century of Love), Shiba Ryoma (Love is a Poison), Cha Yeo Woon (LFLS), Phum (We Are), Saint (HSF), Great and Tyme (4 Minutes)

Best kiss / hot scene 🔥:

4 Minutes

Century of Love

Love for Love's Sake

Perfect Propose

Unforgettable scenes:

LFLS (all the "fuck yeah I'm gay" scenes 😍)

DFF (my son getting his revenge 💖💖💖)

Cosmetic Playlover ("he's mine")

The Rebound (iykk 🤭)

👵🎧

4 minutes (their scenes were the best tbh)

Jack & Joker (hands hands hands)

Basically every scene from High School Frenemy (✿◠‿◠)

I wish us all the best BL series in 2025 🥳🥳🥳🥳

[indie-summer]

The Cycling RPF Rec List

for @wtfanworkclassification

(tagging the blogs of the authors I know!!)

1. Favorite smut: a vocabulary, expanding by @strigimorphaes

It’s almost unfair that I made myself choose only one for each category, but yes, if I must, this is The One Smut for me. To put it mildly, it makes me weak in the knees every time I read it. It must have been like five times by now. To be read with the AC on and a glass of water by your side. Gotta love p*rn with feelings.

2. Favorite multi chapter: Faking It by @goingslightlymads

Am I biased when talking about this fic? Yes, because it was one of my Secret Santa gifts. Do I think I am unfair? Nope, not at all! I’ve never had any other experience in Cycling RPF like when I read (scratch that, binged) this one: it made me laugh and cry and it had my heart racing and had me hugging pillows at 3am. What a ride.

3. Favorite Sci-fi AU: jonas vingegaard goes back to the sea by @bakurasilver

Beautiful and clever. A reflection on the meaning of life and love, undercover as sci-fi. Bawled my eyes out with this one.

4. Favorite Fantasy AU: Fierce Creatures by @inbetweenpages

Great world building, incredibly fun and hot. Come here for wouthieu and stay for mathsper friendship, a very mysterious vampire!Jonas and a sentient house.

5. Favorite fluff: Worth it by @ridingupsaturn

Melancholic fluff. My favorite kind of fluff. Read it about ten times and had my heart fluttering through all of them. Love is kind of awesome, isn’t it?

6. Favorite angst: Drought by booming_business (part 2 of the A Study in Water series)

Shoutout to sad carpenter!Jonas who made a complete wreck out of me. The entire series is excellent, but this fic in particular is a masterpiece on its own! Also foundational exes!tadejonas fic before it was even a thing. Groundbreaking!!

7. Favorite drabble: doing what heroes do by @etapereine

I have two favorite types of drabbles: the one in which you feel like you read an entire story in just 100 words and the one that immediately makes you feel in absolute need of a 50k story as a follow-up because of all the possibilities it introduces you to. This one is definitely the second kind. I really need a full Percy Jackson AU long fic on my desk in, like, a week ago. Olympian demigods at the Olympics maybe??? Someone please???

8. Favorite crack/comedy: The 2024 Paris-Roubaix mass heat incident by Anonymous

Top 5 funniest shit I’ve ever read in my life and I’m not even exaggerating.

9. Favorite non-cyclists AU: all hearts in love use their own tongues by @thedeadparrot

I’m sorry, I’m not really a well-studied person when it comes to English literature. This is the only way I could ever read Shakespeare. I regret nothing.

10. Favorite remix/fix-it: Unbelievable, or only in Gotham by Lili_Writes_Banhof

Yes I’m parcial yes of course I am biased because it’s fixing one of my fics, but I don’t care. It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s fluffy (like all the awesome works from this author), you should all immediately go read it!

11. Favorite Soulmate AU: All your life by @interdisciplinary-disaster

I never once had given any thoughts about geese before this fic. Also this is the only cycling fic where the main character is not one of the cyclists, but an adorably exhausted old goose (at least the way I see it, because frankly, what a scene stealer). It changed my core!!

12. Favorite rarepair: Jonas is the boss by @mundanememory

Because ok, now everyone loves Jonas/Matteo but back in April it was a rarepair!! And this fic is awesome and hot and clever and features little big boss being… erm, well treated by a lovable giant ginger, so it deserves a million recs!

[mariiatrushartist]

Creator of the flat "Earth" and the Apostle of the Cat God: the most interesting facts from the life of Terry Pratchett

Dreamed of becoming an astronomer

As a child, the boy was very interested in astronomy and stars in general. In adulthood, he not only did not lose interest in this topic, but also built an observatory in his garden.

The first story and a typewriter for earned money

Terry's first work was written when he was 13 years old, and a year later it was published in a school magazine called The Hades Business. On this story, the future writer earned £14 and used them to buy his first typewriter.

The first published novel

In 1971, when Terry was only 23 years old, the world saw his first novel The Carpet People. It is a comic fantasy novel about a tribe of tiny people living on the carpet. When the writer became more famous, he decided to rewrite it by adding an updated text, original black and white illustrations and an exclusive story written when he was 17 years old

From journalism to electricity production

After the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in March 1979, Pratchett left journalism to become a press officer for four nuclear power plants at the Central Electricity Production Council.

He lost in popularity only J.K. Rowling

In 1996, the Times declared Pratchett a best-selling author in the UK. He sold 70 million books worldwide and was the second most read author in Britain, second only to the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

The award he was most proud of

It may surprise you, but most of all Pratchett was proud of the Carnegie Medal, which was awarded to his children's book The Amazing Maurice and His Raised Rodents. He got it in 2002.

Illness

At the peak of popularity, Pratchett was diagnosed with a severe form of Alzheimer's disease, posterior cortical atrophy. He had gradual degeneration of the cortex, the outer layer of the brain, on the back of the head. The disease leads to difficulties in reading, estimating distance, using tools and spelling. However, the disease did not stop Pratchett's success: in addition to continuing to write, he also became a patron of Alzheimer's Research UK and actively supported fundraising efforts and advocated raising awareness of the disease.

Own sword

The writer has always had an eccentric personality and imagination. Now that he became a knight, Terry needed the right sword he made himself from meteoric iron. The writer found a field with iron deposits near his home in Wiltshire, he himself dug up ore – 81 kilograms. Then he smelted iron ore using a homemade clay and hay furnace. A local blacksmith killed Pratchett's handmade iron rods into a silver-trimmed sword.

The last book

Pratchett's Alzheimer's disease has progressed. However, despite brain atrophy, he still continued to produce books. A few months before his death in March 2015, he finished his last novel about Discworld. Many Pratchett fans keep the book unread on their shelves in his honour.

There were 10 unfinished novels on the hard drive of his computer at the time of his death, but we will never know what they are about. According to the writer's last desire, Pratchett's unfinished works were destroyed. The hard drive was not only broken with a steam roller, but also passed through the stone crusher.

[hannigramislife]

Question: What's your opinion on all Dazai ships? I personally think that literally everyone could do better <3

Omgg anon, I love this ask so goddamn much!! Okay, let's get into it-this is gonna be long.

Two things before I continue. One, I'm a Hannigram fan, make of that what you will. Secondly, shipping does not mean "oh, these two are definitely canon, they have feelings for each other," shipping has always meant "I love their dynamic and can see a world where it could be romantic." That's why we have more than one.

Soukoku (Dazai/Chuuya) - Obviously this was gonna be my first choice to start this conversation. I think that soukoku is textually supported. I'm sorry, but there's just some things you don't write if you don't want people to ship two characters. These two are written for each other, therefore a perfectly valid ship. I myself do not ship skk, don't care about them as a ship at all, but I can certainly see the appeal. They have a history, and they're now on opposite sides, but still every bit the lethal team-up. I don't get the emotional side of it though – they inspire no such feeling in me, and I do believe Chuuya could definitely do better XD

Kunizai (Kunikida/Dazai) - This one I actually like quite a lot. I don't necessarily ship them in canon, but I believe they're good for each other. Kunikida with his rigidness and morals and Dazai with his carelessness and disaster that seems to follow him. I also like how Kunikida has a book where he jots down the best way to live, and Dazai has a book he carries around on how to die. I believe they're very different, but the sincere trust and care they have for each other, as well as the easiness of their partnership is something they both rely on and need. 10/10 ship.

Dazatsu (Dazai/Atsushi) - The age gap here is the biggest problem for people from what I've seen, but I don't think this is a proship or a bad ship that should be discouraged. Again, I don't ship it, but I feel it's perfectly fine if you do? "Oh, there's a power imbalance-" bitch, what power imbalance?? Like, you do know they're coworkers, right? Yes, Dazai saved him and Atsushi is grateful, but Atsushi is not stupid or blindly devoted or whatever. What he is, is mentally ill, but then again, so is Dazai, and if you think Dazai would take advantage of him, then that says more about Dazai as a character than it does the ship itself. Atsushi could definitely do better, and to me, that better is Akutagawa XD

Morizai (Mori/Dazai) - Well, I don't think I have any thoughts on this, other than the obvious ones. Dazai was a child in the Mafia, and they do seem to have a more guardian/ward relationship, fucked up as it is. Mori was definitely at least mentally and emotionally abusive to Dazai, from what we've seen. I don't think anyone would actually ship this? Unless you're talking purely fanfic scenarios. In this case, Dazai could do better. So yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and "nope" this.

Odazai (Oda/Dazai) - Now listen. Again, I don't ship this (I don't know if I ship anything that has Dazai, I hate the man), but if you think Oda and Dazai had a father/son relationship, you're delusional. Dazai cared so much for Oda, and upon reading Beast, I refuse to believe there was no universe where Dazai developed feelings for him. I think of them every time I listen to any Adele songs. "Them" being their Beast version. I'm so serious. This is a valid ship far as I'm concerned.

Dazaku (Dazai/Akutagawa) - This one is a ship that I get so riled up about. Because of the fandom. I honestly never gave this ship a second thought until I saw how hated it was. Then, I realized it's hated for all the wrong goddamn reasons. I don't ship it, because I hate Dazai on principle, but sometimes, I feel like I'm shipping it out of spite. It's like people can't make up their minds about the dynamic of these two. When you want to say Dazai abused Akutagawa, they'll be like "Oh, Dazai was a child, too!" Then you say they both grew and are healing – and maybe Dazai cared after all? – and it's all "You can't ship him with his abuser!" Well, which is it now? Is Dazai a bad guy still? Is it so wrong to want Dazai to care? To imagine Dazai pulling Akutagawa into the light with him? When people vehemently hate on this ship, I take that to mean "Yeah, Dazai is the worst, how could you ship Akutagawa with him?" Which, great take, I'm all for that. This ship is overhated in my opinion. Both Dazai and Akutagawa are two important pillars of what makes Bsd what it is. Their relationship is complicated and messy and important – so yeah, I'm not surprised people would ship this. Sometimes, toxic yaoi is where it's at, and you just wanna fix them. Akutagawa can DEFINITELY do better.

Souheki (Dazai/Ranpo) - I think they're besties. Absolutely nothing romantic here for me. I cannot see it, but I love them both, so I'd read fics at least. They're both geniuses who hold deep respect for each other. They may be able to understand each other much quicker and on a deeper level than other people, but I think they'd be a disaster if they were to date. Absolutely not. Plus, I'm a huge Ranpoe fan, so I'm biased.

Fyozai (Fyodor/Dazai) - They have a lot of tension, I'll give them that. They're two pretty, genius bitches playing 3 dimensional chess while everyone else plays checkers. Plus, being on opposite sides?? I can appreciate some enemies to lovers when I see it. I think if I were Fyodor, I'd definitely be interested in this young man who can match my intellect even as I've been alive since Jesus Christ was born. Also, don't ask me why, but they feel so gay when they're together – just, not for each other? I think in a no powers au, they'd definitely experiment together lmao. So, valid ship in-universe? I'm going to allow it. They could both do better.

Sigzai (Sigma/Dazai) - I don't know how this ship got popular?? I mean, sure?? Great ship?? Genuinely don't know what to say. I mean, they're there and they're both pretty?? I guess? Honestly, Sigma reminded me of Akutagawa, it was kinda funny to see. But go off XD??

I think that was it, lemme know if I forgot any major ships!