#have never seen another driver be this open and free with their love for lewis

[l8tof1]

[kirasworldofwords]

13. Drunken/drugged/sleepy confessions princess cake or slagclaren

Have I ever said just how much I love the ship name princess cake for Jenson and Nico- Needless to say, I shall choose princess cake, lol.

Prompt 13: Drunken/drugged/sleepy confessions

Alcohol was never truly Jenson's world. He preferred to steer clear of it, despising the feeling a hangover had the potential of giving him. Instead, he'd often be seen sipping on a mocktail, a Virgin Sunrise, perhaps, or an alcohol free beer.

Thank God for alcohol free Köstritzer beer.

His good friend Nico - Rosberg, that is to say - however, didn't possess such inhibitions. He drank with a carefree mind, like most people did, leaving all coming problems regarding a possible hangover or whatnot for future-Nico to deal with.

Usually, Jenson was the one having to intervene and clean up Nico's messes, in a figurative sense.

Sometimes, the Brit would have to carry the poor bastard back to their lodgings, the barely fourty-year-old often drunkenly swearing up and down that he'd never drink this much again.

Empty promises. Every. Damn. Time.

Much like that one night in Singapore. Lewis had finally extended an olive branch of sorts for Nico to take and try going the first few meters on their road of going back to being friends, and of course Nico had accepted it once he heard where they'd be heading.

Once more, Jenson had to deal with the aftermath of that. It was about damn time he had a serious talk with the German about that.

Such, once he somehow managed to carry the blonde German back to their shared hotel room (Nico had insisted they share one), Jenson sighed deeply while he watched as Nico got comfortable on the bed, still fully dressed sans the shoes but he didn't seem to mind much. Jenson assumed he was too drunk to care by then.

His slightly pissed expression softened up into a more worried one instead, and he walked over to the side of the bed that Nico currently faced, crouching down and reaching out to rub the younger blond's hand.

"What are you doing, mate... You really should cut back on the alcohol, it doesn't do you any good."

Nico mumbled some incomprehensible things with his eyes closed before they opened, and he looked at Jenson as best as he could - given how his vision had doubled, if not tripled, by then due to the sheer amounts of alcohol the German had had.

He murmured something else whilst directly looking at Jenson, and the latter gave Nico a questioning look, tilting his head.

"Did you say something?"

It took Nico another minute or so before he could repeat himself, the alcohol making it hard to speak.

"Y'r pretty..."

Jenson sighed with a sad smile. Don't think too much of it, Jense, he's too drunk to register anything he's saying.

Instead, the British man chuckled somewhat sadly and repositioned his hand to careful thread his fingers through Nico's downright gorgeous blonde hair, pushing a few stray strands out of his face.

"Thank you but try to sleep a bit, Nico. You're much too drunk for your own good."

The younger man seemed offended at that, given the way he suddenly pouted at Jenson, who backtracked slightly at the sudden sight.

"Did I say anything wrong...?"

If he were sober, or at least just a little tipsy, Nico wouldn't have as many problems replying to Jenson's words as he had in reality. Because in reality, his mind worked rigorously, but slowly so, unable to quickly and effiently find the button it needed to press for clear speech.

"Are y' dense or sumthn...? Jus' gonna brush off m' c'nfess'n to ya..."

The retired driver did a double-take. Confession...? God, just how drunk was Nico??

"I'm... afraid I don't know what you mean...?"

The German groaned in drunken annoyance and sat up, wobbling a little as he did so. He then clumsily reached his hands out for Jenson and grabbed the latter man's cheeks, squeezing them a bit without realizing it.

"Means I like ya, y' dumb idiot. Use y'r brain, mate. 'ave fer a while."

The way he mockingly spat out the word "mate" despite his drunken state had Jenson flinching in surprise and... slight fear, dare he say. And as Nico moved closer to his face with his own, Jenson couldn't help but grimace as he pushed the German back.

"Oh hell to the fuck no, you reek of alcohol. We'll talk this out once you're sober again, okay?"

Nico grumbled at that but seemed to accept the verdict for the moment, allowing himself to fall sideways back into the bed - yet he didn't give up without one last try of defiance.

"... Cuddle."

The Brit smiled in exhaustion, clearly having given up by then. He wordlessly got up, only groaning once as he did so, and moved towards the other side of the bed, laying down and cuddling close to Nico, who turned in his arms and curled up into a ball.

"Whatever you want, princess. Now sleep, I'll get the aspirin tablet and water tomorrow. Too tired right now."

An almost inaudible mumble of the words "thank you" barely reached Jenson's ears - yet once they did, he smiled happily and buried his nose in Nico's hair.

They had a lot to talk about... But that was a problem for future-Jenson to deal with.

[endofthelinexx]

Roses and Flame | 4

Pairing: Female!Driver!Horner!Reader x Toto Wolff

TW: language, Christian Horner, slow burn, enemies to lovers, age gap, angst

AN: Hi y’all! sorry this chapter has taken me forever, i’ve been packing up for school and have been working. It’s a busy part of the year for me and i’d like to thank everyone for being patient! I’m way too excited for the upcoming chapters, probably more than you guys. Please comment if you want to join the taglist!!

Word Count: 2.1k

Mini Summary: Collins Horner is the eldest of Christian and Geri’s children. She has been raised to be the fastest female racer Motorsport has ever seen and to despise Mercedes while doing it. But what happens when her world turns upside down?

*No permission is given for reposting my work, copying it or parts of it, and claiming it as your own.

| chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5 | chapter 6 |

 You stood in your room, staring back at yourself in the mirror. You had gotten home that morning, and it was a day after the incident. You stood in your bra and shorts, your face turning red at the light mark on your collarbone. You were lucky you managed to snap back into your senses in time to pull away from him before it could’ve become much darker and much more noticeable. Your hair was damp from your shower, you thought it would make you feel better, but considering you can’t wash off a hickey your negative feelings returned the second you saw it in the mirror.

 You spent the previous night in Audrey’s hotel room trying to make it all make sense, it was out of nowhere, but what was really confusing to you was your feelings for him. You had never spoken positively of him and rarely did anyone you surrounded yourself with, of course, that wasn’t too shocking considering most of your friends that aren’t drivers are Red Bull fans. But, as much as you hated to admit it, you found him attractive; he’s tall, just as in shape as any of the guys your age if not more, wears collared shirts all the time, hell, he could speak like 500 languages, not to mention he still had all of his hair at 50. And then again, he was your father’s archnemesis and a principal of another team. It was like you were having an internal battle with yourself, you had no idea what to do and your indecisiveness was eating you alive.

 Sighing, you looked away from yourself in the mirror, moving to put some fresh clothes on, you wouldn’t let your mistakes from yesterday ruin today even though they were really making an effort to. You went downstairs and, looking out one of the windows, spotted a Mercedes parked in your driveway. Your breath got caught in your throat, immediately rushing outside, Rooster following right behind you.

Opening your mouth you began to speak as you rounded the corner, “you’ve really got some bal- oh, Lewis, hi..” You were immediately caught off guard when you saw the amazingly dressed man getting out of the car.

He turned and flashed a confused look which was followed by one of his bright smiles, “hey, we made plans to get lunch today, I’m here to pick you up?”

Your eyes widened as the memory of your conversation from the day before flooded back to you, “oh shit, I am so sorry, I forgot!”

Lewis let out a chuckle, “you’re totally fine.”

“Oh my gosh, well you’re welcome to come inside, I’m clearly going to have to change,” you gestured to your extremely casual outfit which was nowhere near the level of high fashion that was Lewis’ outfit. 

He responded to you with a nod and followed you back inside, looking around, “wow, this place is super cool, I love the vibe.”

“Thanks,” you smiled before gesturing to the kitchen, “feel free to help yourself to anything!”

“Okay, thank you,” he smiled back to you in return before you rushed upstairs to do light makeup and change into a nice outfit that covered up the evidence of the night before. After about 10 minutes you headed back down to find Lewis loving on your dog.

“What’s his name?” He asked when he noticed your presence.

“I named him Max, you know since he’s the fastest dog breed on the planet,” you teased, letting out a little laugh at your own joke.

Lewis rolled his eyes, “oh yeah, I’m sure your dad loved that, but seriously.”

You moved to sit down next to him, smiling, “his name is Rooster.” 

“How sweet, he’s very handsome, aren’t you?” He spoke in a baby voice when speaking to the dog which caught you off guard, causing you to laugh hysterically. Lewis smiled a little and looked over, “what?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the world’s coolest person, I mean 50% of videos with you in it are in slow motion while you walk.” You spoke between laughing.

He huffed to pretend to be dramatic, “cool people use baby voices too.” This statement made you laugh harder, causing him to begin to laugh with you. Your laughter was cut off by a firm knock on your door.

“Let me get that,” you breathed, trying to catch your breath from laughing as you got up to open the door. Turning the doorknob, you pulled it open to reveal your father who had an annoyed look on his face. “Um, hello?” You spoke up, slightly shocked to see him standing there.

“Who’s the Mercedes belong to because I’m pretty sure I’ve never noticed one of your friends driving one?” He questioned, causing Lewis to stand up and walk over.

“That would be mine sir, I came to pick up Collins for lunch,” he smiled as he stood behind you.

“Ah, I see. Although you’re the last person I’d ever expect to see hanging out on my property, seems as though my daughter is a traitor,” he joked lightly, though you were sure he probably firmly believed you were befriending the enemy.

You rolled your eyes, “don’t be dramatic, plus we’re about to be off your property, right Lewis?” He nodded as the two of you walked out the door.

“Hmm okay, well have fun!” He spoke as you both walked over to get in Lewis’ car.

Lewis drove you both into town, finding some street parking before walking you to lunch. It was a small French bistro right on the street with a big blue awning out front. A French flag hung in the window and you noticed the rustic interior as you both walked in. 

Of course, the hostess looked at you both with eyes wide like she had seen a ghost, “oh my goodness, table for two I assume?”

“Yes that’d be great,” You smiled, beginning to ask, “could we sit by a window perchance?”

“Oh of course Miss Horner, you both are welcome to sit wherever you like,” she nodded.

You laughed a little a pointed at a table by a window, “is there okay?”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” she grabbed both menus and led you to your table.

You both sat down, ordered drinks and your food, and began to talk about yesterday’s race. After quite a long and knowledgeable conversation your waitress brought your food, which you both thanked her for and began eating.

“I have a super weird question, well it’s not really that weird but coming from me it is,” you looked up at him from your food.

He looked back at you and raised an eyebrow. “Yes, Miss Horner?” He began to tease, stirring a kick out of you from underneath the table, causing him to laugh.

“I’m being serious,” you smiled and took a bite of your food.

“Go on then,” he nodded.

“How was Toto this morning?” You looked up, he went quiet and looked back at you for a second before speaking.

“Why do you ask?”

You were quiet for a second before speaking, “well he and my father got into a little bit of a tiff last night.”

“Ah, yes, I heard about that. Well, he seemed normal, but he was a lot quieter than usual, looked out the window a lot like he was deep in thought,” he said between bites.

“Oh, I see, my father was a little out of step last night, I think he had one too many drinks,” you sighed.

After your amazing lunch, Lewis dropped you back off at your house and you both said your goodbyes. When you went inside, you checked your phone and saw a text from your mom inviting you to dinner at their main house which of course you accepted. 6pm came quick and you headed up to your family home, meeting everyone else at the table. You all talked and ate an amazing dinner cooked by your mother, but you could tell something was off with your father. And you’d find out soon enough you realized while you helped your younger sister, Olivia, with the dishes. Your father walked back into the kitchen, your mother was already seated at the bar, talking to you both with Montague in her lap.

“So,” your father spoke up when your mom finished talking, “you went to lunch with Lewis clearly.”

‘Here we go,’ you couldn’t help but think before speaking. “Why yes I did, and I had a lot of fun, thanks for asking.”

“Fraternizing with the enemy, are you?” He questioned, causing you to quickly turn around in frustration.

“You know technically I’m fraternizing with the enemy right now considering you’re the principal of one of my competitors,” you snapped at him in response, “I’m really not in the mood to listen to you tell me who to make friends with, it’s not like I stole plans from your engineers to feed to him.”

“You might as well be,” he snapped back causing your mother to sigh.

“Would you both just stop it, you know she wouldn’t do anything like that, you know she has a right to make friends with whoever she pleases, it’s not like Lewis is some criminal. He’s nice and could be a great mentor to your daughter.” She pointed out, “befriending a 7-time world champion wouldn’t do her any harm, now leave it be.”

Your father was smart enough to drop it instead of dealing with the red-head woman’s wrath, she always hated it when you both would fight, and honestly, it happened a lot. After dinner, your father went to his office and you sat in the living room with your mother. A bottle of red wine that you both were sharing sat on the coffee table between you as you both sipped from your glasses.

“So, you never told me what happened last night at the event, I flew in just for it and I didn’t even get a hi from you,” she asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

Your mother was your best friend, you told each other everything and made you hope that she wouldn’t ask you this question just because you knew you couldn’t lie to her. You looked down at your glass before taking a big gulp of your wine.

“If I tell you what happened you have to promise you won’t tell dad,” you began, you were a little tense, it was hard just to tell Audrey what happened, this was going to be hell.

She laughed lightly, “oh please, I don’t tell him shit. But yes, I promise I won’t tell him.”

You took a deep breath and just said it, making sure your voice was low, “Toto Wolff kissed me.”

She almost dropped her wine glass, “Torger kissed you?!”

“Be quiet,” you shushed her, causing her to apologize, “yes he did, and I might’ve kissed him back..”

“Collie!” She quietly exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth, “you know his eldest son is not ever 3 years younger than you.”

“I know... I don’t know why I did it.” You put your face in your hands after setting down your glass.

“I mean, he is handsome, and he has a nice voice,” your mother spoke, trying to help you to justify your actions.

You truly just wanted to break down and cry, between the stress of your job and now these jumbled-up feelings you didn’t even know you had weighted down on you.

“Hey, we all do things in the moment that we regret, the only thing you can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she spoke, standing to move over to your couch to comfort you.

“That’s the thing mom, what if I want it to happen again,” you looked up, feeling a tear fall.

Your mother wiped it from your face and sighed, “ah, now that might be a problem.”

“I know,” you began to cry as your mom pulled you into a hug.

“It’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to,” She pulled away to look you in the eyes for a second before hugging you once more. But you couldn’t help but wonder if the way it was supposed to work out was the way that it shouldn’t.

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@lovingroscoee @laura-naruto-fan1998​ @fxshernoizu​

[foolhearts]

you were made to steal my heart

lewis hamilton/sebastian vettel, 1.3k

happy birthday @collarboen!!! i wrote this scene/snippet of a fic idea we've discussed :) this is only sort of a fic bc it's minimally edited and not beta'd (excuse any mistakes). i just kept thinking about this scene so i threw some words onto a page. hope you enjoy!!!

Lewis is heading back to his motorhome when he hears a familiar voice calling his name. He turns to see Sebastian jogging toward him. Seb's changed out of his fireproofs and is wearing his usual ensemble of an Aston Martin zip-up with sensible pants and sneakers. His hair is a bit disheveled and his beard is longer than Lewis has seen in a long time. He’s a sight for sore eyes. Lewis smiles and stops to let him catch up.

“Good first day?” Sebastian asks as he reaches Lewis, grinning and tilting his head toward the track.

Lewis hesitates, not sure how honest he should be. It’s only the first day of testing so it might be too early to tell, but he senses the W13 isn’t quite where it needs to be. He also hasn’t worked with the engineers as much as he would've liked coming into Barcelona.

“I’m excited to be back but I have a lot of work to do,” he admits. “It’s been a busy offseason and it’s an adjustment to get back into the car, even after all these years. And I’m not sure how we’ll fare with the new regulations.” He wouldn’t tell that to any other driver but this is Sebastian. Their friendship has deepened over the years and if there’s anyone who would understand, it’s Seb.

Sebastian nods sympathetically. “I know what you mean. I’m struggling with the car a bit and there’s many adjustments I need to make.” He flexes and extends his neck with a slight grimace. “I could also use a neck massage right about now.”

“At least you’ve raced recently. I saw those photos and videos at the Race of Champions.” Lewis can’t help laughing as he recalls the video of Seb running in the snow in shorts.

“Ah, so you’ve been keeping tabs on me,” Sebastian teases, a light flush entering his cheeks.

“I always keep tabs on my competition,” Lewis replies with a grin, referencing a little running joke between them.

“I don’t know that I’ve been your competition for a few years now. You’re probably better off redirecting your resources to monitor somebody else.” Sebastian’s tone is light but Lewis knows how painful the past couple years have been for him.

“You’re still my favorite rival,” Lewis says firmly. He figures it’s time to change the subject. “Hey, I’m sorry for not replying to your messages for most of the offseason.”

Sebastian waves a hand. “Oh, it’s okay. They’re mostly informational messages anyway. No response required.”

Lewis chuckles fondly as he thinks about the texts Seb sends. They’re usually singular photos of something new or interesting he’s discovered or they involve one of his hobbies. This offseason the photos he had sent Lewis included his beehive, plants in his garden, the view from a hike he discovered, his new gluten free bread recipe, among others. But Seb had also texted a week after Abu Dhabi asking how Lewis was doing, and Lewis hadn’t replied to that message either.

“Besides,” Sebastian continues, “I don’t blame you for needing a break from everything and taking time for yourself after how the season ended.”

Lewis takes a breath. “There was another reason too,” he confesses. “Do you want to go back to my motorhome to catch up?”

Sebastian raises an eyebrow at the request. They both know their friendship has never involved casually hanging out in each other’s motorhomes.

“Yeah, sure, as long as I’m not intruding. I’m sure you’re busy and you probably also want to just relax,” Sebastian answers pragmatically.

Lewis could still take it back; he could agree that he’s tired and they’ll talk tomorrow. But he shakes his head. “I’d love to catch up with you and hear the stories behind the photos you sent.”

Sebastian gestures for Lewis to lead the way.

When Lewis opens the door to his motorhome, Angela is sitting on the sofa working on her laptop. She glances up and gives Lewis a knowing look when she sees Sebastian behind him.

“Hi Seb.” She smiles and nods in greeting.

“Hello Angela! It’s good to see you.” Sebastian steps into the room after Lewis. He surveys the living room and pauses the moment he notices the baby sleeping in the bassinet next to the sofa.

“Seb, this is Amelia,” Lewis introduces. “My daughter.” He answers the question that is undoubtedly on the tip of Sebastian’s tongue.

Lewis can see a flicker of confusion then surprise before Sebastian’s face melts in a grin and his eyes light up. “Oh Lewis, she’s beautiful. She looks like you.”

“Thank you,” Lewis answers, relieved at how Seb is reacting to the news. He feels the tension he didn't know he was carrying ease from his shoulders.

Sebastian’s already walked over next to the bassinet and crouched down so he’s nearly eye level with Amelia. “Nice to meet you,” he whispers, studying her as he watches her sleep.

Lewis chuckles at the look of concentration on Seb’s face. It’s reminiscent of when he’s inspecting a car.

Angela clears her throat. Lewis tears his eyes away from Seb and Amelia. Angela’s standing by the door, holding her laptop, a bemused expression on her face. “I’m gonna head to hospitality for dinner. It’ll be time for Amelia’s next meal soon too. She’s probably going to wake up any minute now.”

“Thanks, Ange.” Lewis can’t express how grateful he is for her. He knew it would be difficult when he decided to come back with Amelia for this season and he definitely would not have done it if not for the support from everyone in his life, including his family and Angela and Toto.

As if on cue, Amelia starts fussing, her eyes blinking open. “Oh!” Sebastian exclaims. “Is it ok if I hold her?” He gestures toward her. “I promise I know how to hold a baby. And I’ll try not to make her cry.”

Lewis nods. “Yeah, of course. She has been a little wary of new people at first, but you can try. Let me get a bottle so you can feed her, that might help.” He goes to the kitchen to prepare and warm up some formula. He doesn’t hear Amelia crying which is a good sign.

When he goes back into the living room, Sebastian is sitting down on the sofa, cradling Amelia in his arms as she looks at him with a delighted expression on her face. Her arms are outstretched as she tries to grab at his beard.

He laughs loudly. “What do you think, Amelia? Do I need to shave it off?”

“Actually, I like it and I think she does too,” Lewis interrupts as he sits down next to them and hands Sebastian the bottle.

Sebastian murmurs his thanks and shifts Amelia in his arms so he can lift the bottle to her mouth. She starts drinking hungrily, her wide eyes staring up at him.

Lewis can’t take his eyes off Sebastian feeding Amelia. He’s holding her like she’s precious and gazing at her like she’s the best thing he’s ever seen. Lewis can relate to that. He tries to ignore the tight feeling in his chest.

Sebastian glances between Lewis and Amelia, his brow slightly furrowed. “Lewis, I don’t want to pry but... are you raising her alone?”

Lewis knows what Seb really means to ask is, where is her mother?

Lewis leans over and gently smooths down Amelia’s hair. She giggles around the bottle when she notices him. He loves her so much and he can’t imagine his life without her, even though it’s only been a few months.

He looks back up at Seb with a faint smile. “Yeah. It’s just me. I mean, I have the help of my family and Angela and so many other people. But there’s no mom or anybody else because, well, she’s a wish baby.”

[f1united]

Zoo - DR3 Imagine

Daniel Ricciardo Imagine

Summary: You and Daniel are having a family day and talk about the future :)

Word Count: 2.9k

Please let me know if you have any f1 requests, I am more than happy to write anything for you!

As much as you loved watching Daniel race, you were grateful that you were able to spend some time with him now the season had ended. Although you were lucky enough to attend many races, your work schedule wouldn’t always allow it and you also wanted to still have time on the weekends to catch up with your friends and family.

You’d decided to spend this Christmas in Australia, it was your first away from home, but you were loving the warm weather and seeing a bit more of Daniel’s family. You had met them plenty of times now and were so thankful for how well you got on with them. It was late last night that Daniel had climbed into bed with you, he had been out seeing some of his old friends, leaving you to have the house to yourself that evening.

You loved spending time with Daniel, but it was nice to have some alone time after the busy race weekend. You had a nice long bath and a mini pamper session before painting your nails in front of the tv. You were so tired that you can barely remember him coming home, only noticing when the bed dipped beside you as he pulled you close to his chest.

Your early night may have been the reason you woke up so early the next morning. You weren’t really a morning person but had got a bit better at it over the years. Daniel’s family were coming over for breakfast and then the plan was to go to the local zoo. His nephew loved animals and when you had suggested the idea everyone couldn’t see why not, plus you hadn’t been to a zoo outside the UK and wanted to see if it was any different.

You rolled out of bed and into the shower. Your shoulders relaxed as the warm water hit your skin. It wasn’t as nice as the heat from Daniel’s body, but then you didn’t think anything could ever beat that. You stepped from the shower onto the fluffy bathmat, quickly wrapping yourself in a towel to dry yourself off. You walked into the dressing room opposite the bedroom and slipped on a nice summer dress. You rummaged through the drawers to find some nude underwear that would be discreet under the light colour of the dress but were unsuccessful, realising they must be in the utility room drying with the clothes you had washed yesterday. You placed your towel in the wash basket and made your way downstairs.

The view from Daniel’s kitchen was beautiful, the white rectangular island stretched for metres and looked across to the dining table and lounge area where you’d often have company. The folding glass doors separated you from a huge garden, some of his nephew’s toys were littered around the patio from when he’d last visited and the paving stones drew your eyes towards the pool.

You were lucky to have met Daniel, it had always been you dream to work in Formula 1 and you were beyond grateful to have had the chance to join McLaren in your early 20’s. Of course you knew who Daniel was, and he grew to know who you were. Working mainly at the office in the UK, you didn’t often see him to begin with. You weren’t too annoyed about it, as you fancied the pants off him and found it hard not to blush anytime he even looked in your direction. Your team was more in the background, didn’t attend races and just focused on the work at hand so when a few of your team members began getting invites you were slightly confused. You’d spoken to Zac Brown about it, he had interviewed you for your role and you had got on very well with him ever since. He had just said that your hard work had been noticed and smiled as you left his office.

Your team was overjoyed with the invites to races, it was something all of you had always spoken about. You were more of a family unit, you saw each other for hours on end every day and had grown so close that summer barbeques and birthday get togethers happened regularly, they made great drinking partners.

Whenever you’d see Daniel at a race, you’d wish him good luck as everyone else around him would too. However, you didn’t know he’d noticed how your eyes lingered on his body slightly longer whenever he was in his race suit or how you intensely stared at his hands when he ruffled his hair after he took his helmet off. It wasn’t really new to him, someone was always watching, but something about it being your eyes had got his attention. It made him slightly nervous if he was honest, but the thought of you watching meant he wanted to go out there and do the best he could in the hope that if he saw you after the race you might congratulate him with a smile on your face, and even the thought of that gave him butterflies.

Even though you were unaware of this, there was never a time he’d finish a race and you wouldn’t congratulate him. You’d grown up watching him race and just thought he was brilliant. A mixture of his personality and nonstop smile along with his determination meant that even in a race where Lewis Hamilton might even be about to win a championship, you would still be watching his car. Whether it was in 2nd or 16th, that’s where your eyes would be. Some of his crew has started to pick up on it, although the people you worked closely with sometimes joked about your little crush on him they never mentioned it outside of the group. As much as it was all fun and games, there was a mutual understanding that this was a professional environment and things like that weren’t to be joked about around management, and especially the drivers. It wasn’t any comments they’d noticed, they would tell Daniel after races how you’d been shouting at the screens just as much as they had, often louder. How you’d cheer when he overtook someone, even if it only meant it was for a single point.

Sometimes he’d question why they told him these things, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice and they all rolled their eyes at him. They’d noticed how he’d look for you after a race, craving the smallest conversation from you and how he would instantly start paying more attention if he heard your name mentioned. They would poke fun at him and wind him up where they could but at the end of the day he understood he was there to race, and that’s what he did.

You were emptying the dishwasher when his arms snaked around your waist and kissed your shoulder before resting his head on it and whispering a small morning into your ear.

“I’ve been calling down for you, what has you in a little world of your own?” he questioned as you both swayed from side to side lightly.

“Nothing” you smiled as you placed the bowl you’d picked up on the side and turned around to face him.

“You sure about that?” he smirked as your eyes found his. “That smile suggests otherwise” It was true, you were grinning from ear to ear.

“Just thinking about when I first started coming to the paddock, and now here I am in the kitchen of the best-looking driver in Formula 1” he let out a small laugh as you spoke. You wrapped your arms around his neck and gave him a small peck on the lips.

“What can I say? I’m great with the ladies” you playfully smacked him on the arm and frowned before laughing and turning your back to him to continue unloading the dishes. He moved his hands down from your waist to your arse as you bent over to grab something off the lower shelf. Then to your surprise he lifted the bottom part of your dress up.

“Daniel!” you laughed as you shot up and turned around again.

“You seem to have forgotten to put on underwear” he winked at you

“That isn’t my attempt to seduce you” you giggled as he started kissing your face. “It’s in the utility room”

“Lame excuse” he continued kissing you, starting to trail down your neck. Just before he could do anything else, the doorbell rang. He looked at you and groaned as you let out a laugh.

“I’ll go and put some underwear on while you let them in” you unwrapped his arms from around you and left a kiss on the corner of his lips as you made your way across the kitchen and he headed towards the door.

“Or don’t” he responded.

“I’m not really planning on flashing anyone accidently today” you replied. You heard him laugh as he opened the door and greeted his family. His parents and sister’s family made their way into the kitchen as you came out the utility welcoming them all with a hug. It had been a few months since you’d last seen them as you hadn’t been able to make it to all races.

“It’s so lovely to see you” his mum spoke as everyone began sitting down on the sofas. You were nervous when you first met his family. The age difference between Daniel and you wasn’t huge, but it had certainly gained some media attention. You didn’t want his family to think you were with him for his money and fame or even think that you were too immature to be with him. You had never brought it up with him before you’d met his parents, but he could sense you were nervous and knew why. He knew there wasn’t anything for you to worry about but didn’t say anything as he didn’t want it to play on your mind. He was right though, they loved seeing the two of you happy together and could immediately see how genuine your feelings for one another were.

“I’ve missed you guys; I’ve been looking forward to today for ages” you smiled. It was true, you loved spending time with his family. You had a relatively small family but that doesn’t mean it drama free, there was always something going on and here you felt slightly more relaxed. Daniel loved that, for years he couldn’t imagine bringing someone into his family in case they didn’t get along but when he saw how well you fitted in he couldn’t help but watch and smile.

“Y/N” his nephew shouted as he ran through the kitchen towards you. He held him arms out for you to pick him up and you placed him on your hip.

“How are you little man?” you asked

“I’m okay, look!” he said pointing down to a scrape on his knee.

“Oh no, how’d you do that?” you asked

“I fell over out there on the drive” he explained.

“Shall we put some cream on it?” you asked, “we don’t want it to get dirty do we?” he nodded his head as you spoke and carried him over to the medicine cabin and sat him on the worktop before grabbing some antiseptic cream out and rubbing it into his knee.

“Look Uncle Daniel!” he shouted across the kitchen to get his attention as he showed him his knee that now had a plaster on.

“Wow, Auntie Y/N has fixed you!” he gasped making the little boy giggle as you picked him up and put him down on the floor so he could explore wherever he wanted.

“Auntie Y/N?” you questioned Daniel as you began to get food out of the fridge for breakfast. You spoke quietly, you had never been called that before and didn’t want his family thinking that you were the one who wanted to be called that.

“What’s wrong with that?” he replied as he grabbed the eggs and bread from the cupboard next to you.

“Just haven’t been called that before, I don’t want him to think he has to call me that”

“He always calls you Auntie Y/N” Daniel said casually which caused you to freeze a bit. You had been dating for about 3 years now but hadn’t really considered that his nephew had grown up with you around and didn’t know any different. You continued to place the bacon next to the stove and grabbed a frying pan out from the drawer below.

After breakfast was over, you all headed to the zoo and spent the day wondering around visiting all of the animals. Seeing Daniel with his nephew made you smile, they had so much fun together. You also secretly loved when he went into dad mode like when he was making sure that he’d had enough to eat or drink and making sure he had enough sun cream on and wasn’t too hot. It made you excited for the future, not that you had spoke about it in much depth. You both wanted kids but hadn’t discussed when, you just figured it would happen when it felt right.

You all headed back to the house after the zoo, it was getting quite late, so you’d all ordered a takeaway. Daniel’s parents left not long after while the rest of you had some drinks, agreeing that they would all spend the night in the spare room so his nephew could stick to his routine. You didn’t drink much, only a gin with dinner. You wanted Daniel’s sister and her husband to have the chance to get a little bit drunk so agreed to stay sober in case something happened to the toddler and someone needed to be able to drive.

He was currently asleep leaning against your chest while you were all sat on the sofa’s chatting.

“I’ll put him to bed” Daniel’s sister went to get up from the sofa, but the sudden movement sent her head spinning slightly and caused her to sit back down. Everyone let out a little laugh as you volunteered yourself to carry him to the room and make sure he was settled for the night. As you carried him upstairs he stirred a little. Placing him in the bed he started muttering about the animals from today, you spoke back quietly, careful not to wake him even further as you stroked his head lightly and he drifted back to sleep. As you got up to leave, you jumped at Daniel standing in the doorway.

After shutting the door slightly so the noise from downstairs wouldn’t disturb him, Daniel spoke up. “I thought I’d see what was taking so long” he was slightly drunk, his eyes a bit drowsy compared to their normal alertness.

“I’ve been gone for about 2 minutes lover” you replied as he embraced you in a hug.

“I know I just like seeing you with him” now he was just being soppy. You laughed and took his hands into yours as you stepped back.

“I like seeing you with him too” you winked.

“Maybe,” he whispered as he hugged you again, “we should give him a cousin” he lifted you up as he spoke, and you wrapped you legs around his waist. He started walking towards the stairs but then walked past you towards the bedroom.

“Daniel Ricciardo we have visitors’ downstairs” You laughed as he carried you into the room and placed you on the side of the bed.

“They won’t hear if we’re quiet” he suggested as he ran his hand up your thigh.

“No but they’ll definitely know what we’re up to” you ran you fingers through his hair as he leaned over you before pulling him into a kiss. You continued for a minute or two until you could feel him starting to get hard against you. “We can continue this when everyone’s gone to bed” you voice was almost a whisper, you wanting this as much as him but not wanting to be rude to the couple sat downstairs, although if you’d have been drinking too you were sure it would be a completely different scenario.

It wasn’t until late the next morning after waving goodbye to his sister, brother in law and nephew that Daniel had mentioned your conversation from the night before. You both headed back upstairs to the bedroom, you were meeting some friends for lunch and both needed to get ready.

“I wasn’t kidding yesterday” You were doing your makeup in the ensuite mirror as he dried himself off from the shower. You were concentrating more on his body in the reflection than where you were spraying your setting spray. “I want to have kids with you”

With Daniel being older, it played on his mind that by the time you wanted kids, he’d be too old. He hadn’t wanted kids when he was your age and expected you to feel the same but he also didn’t want to be an old dad, he wanted to be involved with as much as he could for as long as he could. Even you thought you’d be a bit lost for words when having kids were mentioned. When you were younger you had wanted to have a secure career path and always imagined having kids in your late twenties, maybe even early thirties. However, things were different now. You loved your job and you had the man of your dreams alongside you.

“Let’s have a baby then”

[theringers]

V-card anon: hi sorry about that first ask i kinda went into a fugue state (spelling?) altered state of reality maybe when i wrote that and damn near outlined a fic in your inbox

The way we played hot seat was either part of a larger drinking game when a certain card was pulled from a deck, or just on it's own. You sit in a circle, everyone has a drink, usually a beer or cider. In the card pull version, the one who pulls the card gets asked a question by every person playing and if they refuse to answer they drink from their drink. In the standalone, you do that but everyone gets a turn being asked until people get bored and leave. Fun way to find out shit about people. Usually the unwritten rule is that you can't lie. I imagine everyone sitting on shitty chouches and chairs in a semi circle around a table full of cups and bottles playing it

Questions i have been asked: are you a top or bottom? Do you like anal? Wheres the weirdest place you've fucked? Body count? Favorite position (sexual)? Fuck marry kill/ignore people in this room (EVERY TIME I PLAYED I GOT THIS QUESTION)? Tits or ass or other? Favorite non sexual body part ex. Thigh? Ideal fuck buddy? Sex regrets? Etc

Also more weird details i have head cannoned out for some drivers and most likely does not fit with irl personalities, do with this what you will, use it or don't i just have feelings. Also everyone is like compressed in age to like 20-27ish except for some of the grid who i will just think of as younger alumns who come back:

Danny R: social chair, owns a jeep he takes the doors off of in the summer, walks girls home at night to make sure they're ok, tries to DJ house events and is rebuffed by literally everyone, has like 30 pairs of vans you trip over in his room, stolen roadsigns everywhere, masters in something arigcultural or physiological, cutoff frat shirts for days, fuckboy but nice, a bit cringe, will drive around with you at night so you can scream, met reader bc she had a band tee on and wanted to talk to her about it (no gatekeeping)

Charles: some kind of engineering or math degree but no one has any idea how the fuck he's gotten so far, 4.0 never studies, games with other house members, will show up at events randomly you will have no idea how he gets on your couch but he is there, the best and worst taste in clothes, is the only one allowed to play the piano in the house, sweet, cannot help you with studies but is always down for helping you out after, has to be reminded to clean stuff, disaster bi, reader met his gf first and they probably met through that

Pierre: good fashion and music taste, shirt is gone halfway through the night, also fuckboy but wholesome, actually studies, plays a sport for sure probably soccer in some way either club or Division he's too good for rec, will hold your hair back so you can throw up, will tell you your outfit sucks, good at math, also part of the squad that games, econ major, workout buddies with reader anday have taken a math class together

Max: is part of the hockey team he will go pro, also actually studies, got into gaming because of Charles, has the nicest car, is serious until he gets a couple drinks in him, he and Daniel are close and roomed together at some point, owns like 30 sets of the same outfit a white tee and jeans, knows reader through Dan and they get dragged by him to some of the same stuff

Lando: is a pledge or new member his big is Carlos, undeclared major, just happy to be here, gaming squad, used to play lacrosse or something equally obscure, king of knowing where the good snacks are, weirdly good at beer pong, growing into a fuckboy wholesomeness level tbd, probably sweet with reader as she helped him through a blackout or something, met her because she's basically house mom for some of the new boys (the kind of mom who will teach you to do laundry or iron ONCE)

Carlos: hockey flow but does not play hockey, actually studies and is smarter than what people give him credit for, came from a private high school and uni really opened his horizons, also good study buddy, gets along with most people, goes to office hours the most out of the actually studies gang, fun at parties, owns the frat dogs, he and reader met at Office hours (they were the only students) and found they had mutual friends too

Lewis: is/was president of frat, great grades greater bod, did full evolution from fuckboy to good man, has the back tests and the moral support, up for late noght talks about life, definitely was a D1 athlete, best fashion game, implemented no hazing policy, fits into notable alum or PhD category

Mick: undergrad like Lando, also plays soccer or something, too sweet, also walks girls home/holds your hair back etc, cleans parts of the house that aren't his responsibility, higher alcohol tolerance than you expect, everyone is bizarrely protective of him, legacy member (his dad was a legend), drives a motorbike around campus and can't decide between law and psychology, actually studies, met reader through the frat and she would die for him, brings her to class on the bike sometimes because the bike is faster

George: business major, frat treasurer, three ring binder business casual in class kind of guy, nice enough, shirt comes off when drunk, runs marathons and a podcast about investments, best notes in the game and great study partner, actually studies, is drinking monster at 6AM but not because he stayed up late, he and reader met through the frat and sometimes drink wine and bitch together

Lance: hockey player, legacy member, studies sometimes, sarcasm on point, great at stack cup, very chill, knows every good nap spot on campus, also has high alcohol tolerance, is the kind of person who does well in the cold but does not like it, wears headphones so people don't talk to him, great one on one but not in crowds, business major and minor in computer science, probably also met thru Lance's gf but vibe as more introverted people and will cover for each other if one does not want to go out

Nicky: a good boy, part of the walks people home squad, sets up designated drivers for parties, good snack game, future in medical field, good listener, pretty good study buddy, midnight snack enabler, met reader through frat and his gf he and reader are on babysitting duty together sometimes when others get too drunk/high

Yuki: also a pledge or new, majoring in games or computer science as they gave me the same energy as him, games squad, bit of a mad lad, has several stolen street signs, good, met reader through frat and Yuki is the only one patient enough to explain some games to reader, they cuss people out on mic

Esteban: good man, has a full ride scholarship, actually studies, also good study buddy, Dan's little, plays soccer but maybe on a rec team because he prioritizes school, very sweet guy as well, probably chose a really practical major/dual major, met reader through Dan and are also dragged similar places by him

Antonio: manbun, philosophy or classics major possibly business dual, generally good natured but can be seen supplying his own wine at parties, used to be really into metal but kept the hair, does not know that people find him attractive, soccer boi, met reader through frat and she's the only one who will (pretend) to listen to him rant about philosophy

Alex Albon: another full scholarship guy, somehow gets along with everyone, switched majors due to an asshole professor, electrical engineering or computer engineering, actually studies, helps with frat pets,will show you pictures of his cats at home, sweetie, another contender for will hold your hair or walk you home, probably met reader through a class or club and found they had mutual friends and that reader is friends with his gf

Notable alums:

Checo - dad, successful in finance somehow (he looks like an really successful accountant of CFO to me idk why)

Kimi - dad but people forget he is, holds the record for most drinks in 24 hours that will never be come close to by anyone else, shows up on random alum weekends with 2 kegs, legally cannot tell you what he does or he would actually have to murder you

Valterri - was good at a sport when he was there, now a very effective lead engineer at an architectural firm

Seb - environmental or mechanical engineering, all around good guy with someone the best grades in frat history

Alonso - legendary for sexual exploits (consensual)

Anyone I put as actually studies is probably the type reader would hang around for more serious stuff/schoolwork and would probably be closer to, with the exception of Dan bc I feel like he'd be like we're friends now :)) we shall hang or Charles bc he will just show up. I also imagine she has a pretty good friendship with any existing gf, however if a driver does have a gf and he is the love interest sorry bb girl u gotta go for the purposes of this fic

Sorry this is so long hahaaaaaaa glad you liked my Charles thoughts ilu

i honestly wasn’t going to share this like the rest of the anon asks i’ve gotten that i keep close to my heart but this was just too good to keep to myself.

LOOK! AT! THIS!

f1 drivers as frat bros/college students headcannon

i’m writing a series - each “chapter” will be a smut with a different frat bro and i’m hoping to post a sneak peek this week some time but here’s something to hold you over and give you some ideas

to my vcard anon - i appreciate this so much. my inbox is always open for ur thoughts bc they are SO GOOD !! can’t wait for you to read the first part of the series bby

PS if some of this doesn’t make sense to u feel free to send in asks (i know a lot of this is focused on american college culture so if u don’t get it i’m happy to explain)

[formula365]

Champions in the making - Emilia Romagna GP review

The breakthrough kid

It is not always possible to pinpoint the exact moment in which a driver goes from young promise to champion in the making. There can be breakthrough performances, in which a driver lays down a marker and announces himself to the world, but more often than not the progression is so gradual over a number of seasons that the driver eventually makes it to the top in slow steps, a sink filling up drop by drop from a leaky faucet.

But every once in a while, we get to witness a breakthrough moment, one of those weekends that, when looking back into a career, will be seen as a pivotal moment in which the promise has come good, which removes the doubt of whether that potential will be fulfilled. Moments like Sebastian Vettel winning in a Toro Rosso, or Max Verstappen becoming a Grand Prix winner on his Red Bull debut; we knew, there and then, what they would become.

It wasn’t his maiden win, but this is what we witnessed this weekend from Lando Norris.

Coming into this season, the young Brit knew this could be a make or break year for him. He had done really well to match his more experienced teammate in his first two seasons, but the challenge with his new partner was at a different level. No disrespect to Carlos Sainz, who is definitely a talented driver, but Daniel Ricciardo is a proven race winner, someone who had driven for Red Bull and been considered by Mercedes and Ferrari. The Aussie had spent the last two seasons destroying Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon, no slouches themselves, which meant there was a risk for Norris to be swallowed up by the Honey Badger’s performances.

His first two seasons had shown glimpses of his talent, but also a certain on-track shyness, in contrast to his expansive personality off it. He himself admitted during pre-season that he needed to improve on his aggressiveness and push harder on wheel to wheel battles; he had to drive the car ever closer to its limits. After a couple of seasons maturing and honing his skills, now was the time to be a more imposing figure behind the wheel, including within his own team.

Bahrain had already shown glimpses of that. He started the race behind his teammate, but passed him early on and never looked back. Imola, though, was something else. McLaren didn’t have the right set-up throughout Friday and both drivers seemed to be struggling, but on Saturday Norris looked to be one with his car. Bar a small mistake on his last run, he would have not only out-qualified his teammate, but also Verstappen in a much faster Red Bull. The track limits infringement left him P7 on the grid, but on Sunday he would more than make up for the mistake.

He had blistering pace from the get-go, to the point that he radioed his engineer when stuck behind his teammate to ask to be let through. In a moment that could be defining for the season, Ricciardo did let him through and then saw the youngster disappear down the road in the chase for the Ferraris. On the restart, he made light work of Leclerc (with much faster tyres, to be fair) and then fought Hamilton hard for several laps until the lack of grip on his rubber forced him to concede.

Overall, Norris showed a wide array of his skills at Imola: blistering one-lap pace, attacking, defending, tyre management, determination to come back after the mistake on Saturday, even authority in the team when he asked to be let through his teammate. A complete performance that leaves no doubt about his talent: he has the skills to be a future champion, the only question remaining is whether he will have the consistency to deliver over a full season. Given his mental approach - he is very open to speak about mental health - it seems he is addressing that side of his driving as well.

Until now, Norris had been the fun kid with a turn of pace, the meme-generator and half of a McLaren bromance. The end of the partnership with Sainz might have been a liberating factor for him: in order to be taken more seriously, the banter has to take second place to his driving, and with Ricciardo also looking to leave his more goofy side in the background, this can be the perfect time for Lando to do the same and let his driving do the talking. He certainly did that this weekend.

Talking points

* My oh my, do we have a fight on our hands. Verstappen v. Hamilton is already becoming such a compelling story it is hard not to make it the subject of every race review and preview; the feeling is that this will be a fight for the ages, that we will have a season to be remembered for many years to come. This time around it was the Dutchman who had the upper hand, with a superb start to go from P3 to P1 into Tamburello. He gave no quarters to Hamilton on the outside and then managed the race beautifully, although he was left unchallenged in the second half after Hamilton’s crash. The game is most definitely on.

* The reigning champion may have given some small signs of the pressure getting to him. Mostly unchallenged in recent years, Lewis made an uncharacteristic mistake when lapping back markers and then seemed to have had a scrambled brain moment as he struggled to get out of the run-off area. He is human, after all, some might have thought. The red flag gave him the opportunity to reset and come back to re-claim P2 and a podium place he would have certainly lost otherwise. He showed his mental resilience then, but it will be interesting to see how he (and Verstappen as well) will manage the pressure of a title fight (hopefully) over 23 races.

* One of the big talking points post-race was the massive crash between Bottas and Russell. Approaching Tamburello, drivers hit speeds above 300 kph, so it’s no surprise it was a nasty one, and that both drivers felt the other should have done more to avoid it. Controversy aside, the big question has to be why was Bottas defending P9 from a Williams. Like Monza, Turkey and Sakhir last year, when the Finn gets caught up in the midfield he struggles to move forward, and even manages to fall further back. To make matters worse, in all these races his teammate was caught in similar situations and had no problem cutting through the field. When the dust settles, Bottas will certainly have some soul searching to do.

* How good is it to see McLaren and Ferrari fighting each other for top spots? The two historic teams collected all positions from P3 to P6 and seem to be a step above the rest of the midfield contenders. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivalry in F1’s history, and it’s great for the sport to see it reignited.

* The only midfield team that seems to have the pace to challenge them is AlphaTauri, but they are struggling to convert their pace into points. Tsunoda ruined his weekend with two (very rookie) mistakes, while Gasly’s race was ruined by the decision to start on full wets. He still made a great recovery drive to finish P7, but this felt like another missed opportunity for AlphaTauri, specially at a track they know so well. They have a genuine shot at finishing in the top half of the table, which is Franz Tost’s goal for the team, but in order to achieve that they have to start using their pace to score points.

* If AlphaTauri will be left ruing their weekend, Williams will be doubly so. With two drivers qualifying in the top 14, they had genuine hope to score points for the first time since the crazy rain-soaked German GP in 2019, but two crashes negated their shot. Latifi barely got going so we will never know what he could have achieved, but Russell was clearly in the mix and will be left pondering how high he could have finished if he had been a bit more cautious. With scoring opportunities so limited, that might have been the wiser approach.

* The second Red Bull continues the saga of the topsy-turvy weekends. One of the narratives for Albon in 2020 was that he was not able to have a clean, incident-free weekend, and that was limiting his results. Perez is going down the same path, and although he did manage to salvage a P5 in Bahrain, here he was left empty-handed. It’s still very early, and the signs from the first race were positive, but for Red Bull to challenge Mercedes he needs to be up there consistently.

* Ahead of the season, very few people would have betted for Stroll and Ocon to be beating their teammates, either in qualifying or in the race. The two youngsters are showing that world titles (a combined 6 after all) aren’t a guarantee of continued success.

* On that topic, it is worth noting that most drivers that are newcomers to their respective teams are struggling at the moment. Sainz at Ferrari is the exception; Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso and Vettel are all underperforming, some more than others. This quartet is uber-talented, though, so expect them to get closer to their teammates as the season progresses and they become more accustomed to their new cars.

* Curb your enthusiasm, Yuki. We love to see his on-track flamboyance: he is one of the most exciting drivers to hit F1 in the last few years, but it can work against him too. He needs to find a balance but two races in these growing pains were to be expected. Once he finds that balance, he will be one hell of a driver.

Driver of the day: Lando Norris

Moment of the day

The battle between Hamilton and Norris. The young Brit managed to hold off the 7-times champion for a handful of laps, with tyres well past their expiry date and no DRS; Leclerc, for comparison, was on mediums and was passed by Hamilton on the first lap he didn’t have DRS. Norris’ positioning was perfect and he was brave on the brakes. Eventually the lack of grip and Hamilton’s bravery led to the inevitable, but Norris put up an excellent fight.

[aion-rsa]

Best Serial Killer Movies of the ’90s Ranked

https://ift.tt/3tcsgCf

Someone must have left the freezer door in the morgue open, because grisly reminders of the past are thawing before our eyes. You can see it this weekend with the release of John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things, a throwback to the days when movie stars hung out at crime scenes instead of in spandex, and it’ll be more apparent next month with the launch of Clarice, a television spinoff of 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. All the evidence points to only one conclusion: the serial killer thrillers of the ‘90s are back!

Not that we’re complaining. For a macabre minute or two, every Hollywood name appeared eager to play either the detective or the killer—the hunter or the obsessed, which often proved interchangeable for both characters. Granted that means there can be something formulaic about many of these movies. Yet they can also be bleak, hard-edged, and ambiguous. From our modern gaze, where the dominant studio conventions prefer reassuring morality tales and sunny lighting, these movies’ preference for shadows and discomfort in the mainstream is kind of startling.

So grab your magnifying glass and fortify your stomach, because we’re about to revisit some of the best (and worst) of ‘90s serial killer thrillers. (Also this list is strictly for the decade when the genre was at its height and it excludes slasher movies like Scream, which may feature serial killers but were not exactly adult-oriented thrillers.)

12. Eye of the Beholder (1999)

Eye of the Beholder is a tonal oddity that only passingly flirts with the conventions of ‘90s serial killer thrillers, all while it tries to pay homage to (read: rip-off) Alfred Hitchcock. But any credit it deserves for deviation—including making Ashley Judd’s central femme fatale the killer—it loses in execution. As a muddied, impenetrable tale about an intelligence officer (Ewan McGregor) who spies on and falls in love with a serial killer, Eye of the Beholder is a scattershot of bad ideas that run the gamut from ludicrous to misogynistic.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but this movie will close the lids over your pupils inside of 30 minutes.

11. Nightwatch (1997)

It feels a little mean to rag on Ewan McGregor back-to-back, but maybe serial killer movies just aren’t his genre? That could be at least one takeaway from an ill-advised double feature of Eye of the Beholder and Nightwatch, the latter of which is a remake of a 1994 Danish film that I’ve not seen… and probably won’t since both the original film and American remake are directed by the same man.

McGregor plays medical student Martin here, a kid who gets an after school job by becoming the night watch security at the local morgue. But as a series of grisly prostitute murders pile up, Martin realizes he needs to figure out who the killer is—that or continue to be framed by the necrophiliac fiend who keeps coming by the morgue for one last liaison. It’s exactly as skeevy as it sounds. Do yourself a favor and go your whole life without hearing Nick Nolte sing “This Old Man” while climbing onto a corpse.

10. Natural Born Killers (1994)

The movie that Quentin Tarantino disowned, Natural Born Killers is a seedy mess based on a Tarantino script that was heavily rewritten by Oliver Stone, David Veloz, and Richard Rutowski. The concept itself is a seemingly inevitable escalation of the “bad romance outlaws” archetype that’s been floating around Hollywood since at least 1950’s Gun Crazy, and which was then made iconic by Bonnie & Clyde (1967).

But whereas those films relied on bank robbers living fast, Natural Born Killers descends into a seeming final form with Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) as giddy serial killers who are eventually out for maximum carnage. Technically the pair are supposed to be presented as victims of traumatic child abuse—and who are then wrongfully glorified by the media. But Stone’s sloppy and tanked vision lacks the discipline to achieve anything beyond its maliciousness. Early sequences imagining Mallory’s abusive childhood like it’s a television sitcom, and later psychedelic visions of Robert Downey Jr.’s opportunistic news reporter as the Devil, do little to divorce the film from its shallow self-satisfaction in close-ups of heads being shot.

The movie came under controversy in the years after its release for inspiring alleged copycat killers as well as school shooters. It feels irresponsible to blame media for actual violence, but it’s still quite an indictment that Stone’s attempt to criticize media glorification became a favorite for many a disturbed individual with a gun.

9. Kiss the Girls (1997)

When studying competent, middle of the road Hollywood thrillers, Kiss the Girls is a solid place to start. As a decently made bit of studio convention, the movie is anchored by strong elements like Morgan Freeman as James Paterson’s literary hero, Alex Cross, and Ashley Judd as Kate, the victim who survives a masked killer’s attempt to abduct her into his harem.

Moments like Kate’s escape sequence through the North Carolina wilderness are effectively filled with adrenaline, and Judd particularly gives the salacious piece conviction. However, it is salacious to a fault. Even if the movie toned down the source novel’s even more lurid misogyny, the film studies Kate and the other victims with a lascivious male gaze, blurring sex with violence, real world horror with leering entertainment. Right down to its title, the film can be rightly criticized as Hollywood glamourizing another story about violence against women. Whether that damns the whole movie depends on the viewer, but it certainly keeps it low on our list.

8. The Bone Collector (1999)

Marketed with a hell of a tagline about there being thousands of taxi cabs in New York City that’ll get you home—and one that won’t—The Bone Collector is almost comically slavish to the clichés of ‘90s moviemaking. The wrinkle here is that after a faux cab driver begins abducting his victims off the street, the crime psychologist who must stop him is entirely stuck by his bedside. Due to a tragic accident, Denzel Washington’s Lincoln Rhyme is paralyzed from the neck down. Yet he is still able to catch serial killers by communicating in the earpiece of police officer Amelia Donaghy (an entirely unconvincing Angelina Jolie).

Read more

Movies

Lost Girls Review: Netflix Takes on the Long Island Serial Killer

By Rosie Fletcher

Books

The Last Book on the Left Takes on the Grim History of Serial Killers

By Alec Bojalad

Together the pair stay one step behind the mystery killer’s tracks as he executes a series of increasingly gruesome and ridiculous murders. It’s preposterous, and in some ways a forerunner for Saw with the satisfaction it takes in absurd death traps, but Washington is effortlessly compelling, even when he never leaves his apartment. As a bit of absurd Hollywood fluff, right down to the ultimately lackluster unmasking of the killer, it can be entertaining, even if you’ll deny it afterward.

7. Copycat (1995)

More potent than I remembered, Copycat is a genuinely well-crafted Hollywood thriller that may not reinvent the wheel but takes it out for a damn good spin. In the driver’s seat is Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Helen Hudson, a criminal psychologist who is an expert on serial killers until one follows her into the bathroom after a guest lecture. He nearly hangs her from the ceiling. Following that white-knuckled opening, the film jumps years ahead and Helen has become agoraphobic and afraid to leave her home.

Yet when a local series of murders reveal the pattern of a predator imitating the methods of his favorite “celebrities”—one crime scene is like the Boston Strangler and another emulates the horrors of Jeffrey Dahmer—Helen is pulled out of retirement by a no-nonsense detective (Holly Hunter). The winning chemistry between Weaver and Hunter—who are refreshingly free from the studio-mandated romantic subplots in some of the other movies on this list—and the blunt force power of their performances aid this sincerely disquieting flick. A needlessly convoluted third act aside, the movie still works as a warning about the danger of fanboys a generation early.

6. Fallen (1998)

Denzel Washington appears again thanks to this clever supernatural spin on the serial killer genre. At the beginning of Fallen, Washington’s John Hobbes appears on top of the world. The serial killer he chased for years (Elias Koteas) is about to breathe deeply in the gas chamber. Yet after the lever is pulled, and with Koteas singing the Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side” until his last breath, a funny thing happens: the murders continue.

In fact, more than just the killings, strangers in the street sing “Time is On My Side” in Hobbes’ ear, and he soon realizes that he faces a devil of a killer whose been operating since the beginning—quite literally since the villain is a demon who was once an angel that fell with Lucifer. It’s a bizarre premise given strutting confidence thanks to Washington’s performance, as well as good supporting work by John Goodman and Donald Sutherland. Twenty years later and its ending still sticks with me.

5. The Exorcist III (1990)

If you haven’t seen The Exorcist III, we know what you’re thinking: “Really?!” Yes. In fact, this isn’t even an exorcist movie; it should’ve been titled Legion like the 1983 novel it’s based on. Alas writer-director William Peter Blatty was forced to use the title and do reshoots that added an exorcism in the climax. Still, this supernatural thriller which involves a serial killer back from the dead is far better than it has any right to be.

Following the character of Lt. Kinderman from the 1973 masterpiece, the middle-aged gumshoe is now played by George C. Scott instead of the late Lee J. Cobb, and he possesses Scott’s usual love for contrasts between the restrained whisper and a bombastic howl. He also makes a sympathetic, secular detective forced to face the horrors of Hell when a series of murders committed against Catholic priests appear to be the work of the Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), a serial killer whom Kinderman sent to the chair more than 10 years ago.

Read more

Movies

The Exorcist III is a Classic and Better Than You Remember

By Jim Knipfel

Movies

The Exorcist Is Still the Scariest Movie Ever Made

By David Crow

Somehow the fiend—plus Kinderman’s long dead pal Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller)—appear to now be living in the same body of a John Doe kept in a mental asylum. With an unrelenting atmosphere of dread, palpable tension, and more of Blatty’s intellectual struggle with concepts of faith and evil, the film is more high-minded than its hacky title suggests. It also features one of the best jump scares in movie history.

4. Summer of Sam (1999)

The only movie on this list directly based on an actual serial killer’s crimes, Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam is a serious-minded joint. However, it’s only partially about the murders perpetrated by David Berkowitz, aka the “.44 Caliber Killer,” aka the Son of Sam. Rather the film focuses on the effects a serial killer has on the culture of New York City during the sweltering summer of 1977, and how it affects young lives trying to make it in the big city.

Influenced by Lee and his co-writers Michael Imperioli and Victor Colicchio’s memories of growing up in 1970s New York, the pic is a love letter to a grim moment in history when the city was about to explode with murders, blackouts, crime, and disco. All of this is digested from the vantages of Vinny (John Leguizamo), a philandering hairdresser guilt-ridden for cheating on his wife (Mira Sorvino), and his childhood pal Ritchie (Adrien Brody), who’s left the old neighborhood behind to join the fledgling punk rock scene.

With a greater interest in how a serial killer affects the culture and institutions of a city on edge than being a traditional crime drama, Summer of Sam is a bit of a forerunner to David Fincher’s far more polished Zodiac from a few years later. With heavy-handed dialogue and a plot too big for Lee to fully get his arms around, even at 142 minutes, Summer of Sam can be uneven and messy. But it has the sweaty incorrigibility of a long night out, and of revelries half remembered like from a fever dream.

3. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

The rare serial killer movie told entirely from the perspective of the killer, Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is disarmingly creepy. Despite its glossy awards bait sheen, there is a cold-blooded streak that runs deep to the heart of the piece, likely due to Patricia Highsmith’s source 1955 novel. Starring Matt Damon fresh off his Good Will Hunting golden boy sheen, the film uses its casting to disorient and ultimately disturb.

Like Highsmith’s book, the film is not structured like a traditional thriller. It instead favors a detached ambivalence about its seemingly nebbish hero as he agrees to become an errand boy for the rich by traveling to 1950s Italy in order to retrieve a silver spoon cad (Jude Law) for his father. But the more time Tom Ripley (Damon) spends with Law’s Dickie Greenleaf, the more he grows envious of Dickie’s lifestyle, his wealth and confidence, and maybe even his affection for socialite Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). There is a subtle—too subtle due to ‘90s Hollywood conventions—homoerotic undercurrent throughout the film as Ripley slowly works up the courage to take his first life. It won’t be his last.

Read more

Movies

Knives Out: When Murder Makes You a Better Person

By Natalie Zutter

Movies

Seven: The Brilliance of David Fincher’s Chase Scene

By Ryan Lambie

Highsmith wound up publishing four subsequent sequels to The Talented Mr. Ripley, but unfortunately no more were made with Damon. Perhaps because this was too unsettling for an ongoing franchise.

2. Seven (1995)

While watching David Fincher’s masterful Seven, the thing that immediately stands out is the oppressive nihilism that permeates throughout. There were decades of neo noir before this detective yarn about the hunt for a serial killer, but none demonstrated such an overbearing sense of despair before the opening credits were even concluded. And perhaps what makes it unshakable is how welcoming the film is toward bleakness; it succumbs long before the gut-punch finale.

Telling the story of an old cop days from retirement (Morgan Freeman) and a hotheaded rookie detective (Brad Pitt), Andrew Kevin Walker’s script has an economy of pace that still impresses despite its cynicism. Very quickly one murder becomes two, then three, and soon four. Yet none of the atrocities are reveled in by Fincher’s blocking; they’re off-screen mutilations which leave psychic damage on his two leads and, eventually, us. The deaths also quickly establish a pattern that their serial killer is targeting seven souls, each intended to embody one of the seven deadly sins.

The movie is a classic now for its climax where the killer “John Doe” (a reptilian Kevin Spacey) turns himself in and leads the cops into the darkest pit, but it’s the entire package that makes this one linger more than 25 years later. At the end of the film, Somerset quotes Hemingway by saying, “‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.’ I agree with the second part.” I’m not convinced his film does.

1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

As the film that kick-started the idea that serial killers could create their own film genre, The Silence of the Lambs still remains the best of its kind. Blessedly unaware that it was creating conventions for countless copycats, the film tells its psychological drama with simplicity and clarity. Whereas other films on this list bask in their bleakness, there is a dogged optimism and even perverse warmth to this Jonathan Demme adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs novel. And that’s of course largely attributable to the casting of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

As Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Hopkins is of course monumental. It’s a performance that turned a quinquagenarian into an overnight movie star, and became Hopkins’ calling card as he returned to the not-so-good doctor’s well one too many times. Still, he’s undeniably enthralling as Hannibal, a cannibal psychologist with superhuman powers of observation and mental menace. Even so, Foster is often overlooked by critics for her own contributions as the FBI trainee who’s proverbially fed to the incarcerated Lecter—a pretty face to get the serial killer to consult pro bono on the crimes of another mass murderer. It’s just one more example of casual sexism faced by Clarice that gives Foster as much to play as Hopkins.

Read more

Culture

David Fincher’s Zodiac: The Movie That Never Ended

By Don Kaye

Movies

The Little Things Ending Explained

By David Crow

Surrounded by the slights and prejudices of men—be they in law enforcement or straight jackets—Clarice is constantly underestimated. She finds an intellectual rapport with Hannibal, but she pulls herself out of the darkest night, and the screaming of the lambs, without assistance. Her perseverance matched by Hannibal’s darkly seductive qualities is the juxtaposition that makes Silence of the Lambs one of the finest films of its decade.

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The post Best Serial Killer Movies of the ’90s Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3r5iYGk

[jashasedai]

I’m gonna add 3,4,6,10,15 because I want to know it all about my favourite story!!

Answers to Ask

#3 What is your favorite line of narration?

At 120,000 words it would be pretty hard to choose my favorite line of narration, but not too secretly, it’s-

He hoped when Strafe went, he took a more sensible purse. One with enclosed windows. He got up and picked up the trail of red plastic “coins” Strafe had left behind.

But undoubtedly the audience’s favorite line(in the whole Verse) is-

Colin stood by as the Racing Riders observed the solemn funeral of twenty pounds of fried chicken.

#4 What is your favorite line of dialogue?

This may be somewhat unconventional, but-

His eyes were wide with effort and his short hair was shining with sweat. He revved an open rev, just an exhalation basically, absolute gibberish, nothing a bike would ever say, “Ahhh,” Paused for just a moment and pinched the tip of his tongue between his teeth. This muffled the next sound he made, but without stopping, he pulled his tongue free, and wound it up in a single gunning engine. This ended with his lower lip pinched between his teeth, making a vibration noise. Then he paused again, Racers didn't have as much trouble with the Oh sound, and said, “Ooooh.”

#6 What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

This story really expanded. It started out as just the original idea, which I wrote in one little session, but within two weeks it had expanded to 20,000 words. And it has never stopped since. Most weeks I write on whatever is my current project, and then usually at least a little of Accommodate.

It went from a little one shot, to a part of Rasoio’s story, to a book all of it’s own and as time goes by, it keeps growing. I keep finding more details and characters I love, and the Boot Camp Guys, and Colin’s foals and in time I could see it expanding into it’s own trilogy.

#10 Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

I knew I liked the friendship between Colin and Vale, they seemed like they looked happy every time I saw a picture of them together, and that was unique among Valentino’s teammates. I also knew Colin was human (because when I started the Rider series, I looked up the best riders and listed anyone who was older than Valentino and Ricky as human) so it interested me that Rasoio would get along so well with a human teammate.

Then I saw the video of Valentino at the Boot Camp.

And the way they are playing, and the way Colin is taking care of Valentino, and especially the way he is taking care of Uccio made me think how nice it was that they would want to go visit one another. That it would be a real treat for Rasoio to get to go visiting. Since that is not something that would be standard, there had to be a way it would happen.

So I thought about after the freedom, it would be nice for Rasoio to go visit his old friend, and then I thought, while they were under sanction, visiting would have been possible in reverse, Colin going to where Rasoio was, at Vale’s ranch. So the first two scenes were written together.

#15 What did you learn from writing this fic?

In addition to a lot of facts and figures, a lot of memorized interviews-

I have learned a lot about equality in relationships. About how far I feel comfortable with pushing them, and as a result, I learned a lot that I have been able to extrapolate and apply to other RD relationships.

And Colin, who(as everyone who has spoken to me about Colin for more than 5 minutes knows) is the avatar of safe dad energy, has led to a ton of exploration into parent/child relationships among RD’s.

Supplimental-

Where did the idea for the Verse come from?

On every episode of Top Gear, Jeremy calls the Stig “Our Tame Racing Driver” and it made me wonder “Where are the Wild Racing Drivers? Are all those guys on tracks and in racing series around the world the Wild ones? And it made me think, and I spent about 3 years thinking before I started writing.

So I wrote Tame.

Then I thought to myself, “I’d better write a more usual Racing Driver,” So I chose a big name and started writing Michael’s story. It turned out that wasn’t such a typical story.

During the writing of Tame, I had come across Ricky Carmichael’s legacy. I decided it was a fun story.

I still didn’t have a typical Racing Driver.

But by then I had seen Kimi Raikkonen, and the way he looks off to the side when he’s being interviewed like he’s listening to someone talk that no one else can hear. And after that, there was Sebastian and Mark and the Redbull incident, Lewis and Nico and their lifetime rivalry, the Redbull boys’ roadtrip(which was an actual photoshoot at the time.) and I never stopped.

What was the first character for it?

The Stig.

[jovialyouthmusic]

Charlotte’s Choice

A Royal Romance AU Fanfic

30b The Escape

Charlotte has fallen into Anton’s grasp - can Drake and Brad rescue her in time?

@ao719 @agent-bossypants @andy-loves-corgis @sleepwalkingelite @boneandfur @blackcatkita @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicescommunity @darley1101 @drakewalkerrosenberg @debramcg1106 @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @goirishsunshine @gardeningourmet @livingthroughchoices @likethetailofacomet @mrs-nazario @mind-reader1 @ooo-barff-ooo @silviasutton1989 @speedyoperarascalparty @zaffrenotes @missevabean @mrsdrakewalkerblog @cora-nova @missameliep @tanelle83 @endlessly-searching-for-you @jlouise88 @drakenazario @annekebbphotography  @tabithacarlisle @furiousherringoperatortoad @notoriouscs @classylady1234 @wickedgypsymoon @carabeth @choices-fangirl @indiana-jr @indiacater @noey718-blog @katedrakeohd @bobasheebaby

Accompanying music;  After The Rain, George Ezra 

Warnings - mild violence, death threats

30b The Escape

The car drew up outside a log cabin and Anton got out, turning to the Princess to help her out.

‘Careful, it’s muddy’ he advised her, but she let the dress trail over the ground. It was ripped and bloody anyway. Once inside she collapsed onto the couch, shaking and sobbing. Anton sat next to her and put his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. It felt strange, she didn’t feel safe like she did with Drake or Brad, and she pulled away from him, hugging herself and continuing to shiver, but managing to take control otherwise.

‘What do we do now?’ she asked him shakily ‘What - what was all that?’ Anton looked irritated for a moment, then his expression cleared and changed to one of concern.

‘Well your Majesty, my best guess is that someone wanted both the King and you dead. If it wasn’t for Bastien’s quick action, I wouldn’t have been able to get you out safely.’

‘Where are we? How long will we be here?’ she asked, panic rising.

‘Enough questions your Highness, this is all very confusing and worrying for you. You need to be kept safe – after all, with your Father possibly dead, you could be Queen now’ The blood roared in Charlotte’s ears and she felt dizzy. She hadn’t even thought of that possibility.

‘Your Highness, you’re in shock. You need to rest while I find out what’s going on and decide what we should do next’ Charlotte tried to pull herself together.

‘We need to get in touch with Security, get back to the Palace and find out who else is hurt’ she said, half to herself. Anton shook his head.

‘I fear security is compromised, not all of them were trying to protect you. Someone smuggled a gun into the Hall, and how could they do that without someone on the inside?  We can’t trust anyone. I suggest we lay low. You should change clothes - your gown is ruined. I’ll take a look in the bedroom and see if there’s anything you could change into’ Before he could get up from the couch, the driver of the car appeared from outside.  She vaguely recognised him, and he wore the uniform of the security firm that Neville had drafted in for the coronation. For some strange reason, his presence did not calm her.

‘It looks like nobody followed us’ he said to Anton ‘We’re in the clear. The heli…’ Anton interrupted him hurriedly, a note of anger in his voice.

‘Thank God for that. I was just telling the Princess that we should stay low until things are safe again. Go into the kitchen and make us some coffee will you, Smith?’ He turned to her and put what he intended to be a reassuring hand on her shoulder. It felt wrong, and she pulled away, seeing a dark look in his eye as she did so. He smiled thinly.

‘Why don’t you go through into the bedroom and see what you can find? I’m sure security has something put aside for emergencies’ Charlotte did as she was told, closing the door on Anton and leaning against it, her head whirling. The place didn’t feel right. She’d seen the safe houses before, and they were all very similar. The layout was wrong, and the decor too; a few years earlier she had been responsible for their decoration and equipping as an exercise in learning about the work security did for the Royal Family, even though she had not visited them all.  She looked in the wardrobe and found a jumper and trousers that were her size – that didn’t ring right either. Something was very wrong, and she decided she wasn’t going to trust Anton. When she had changed, finding some socks and trainers (again, they were conveniently her size) and a warm jacket, she carefully took off her necklace and earrings and put them into the inside jacket pocket.

She went over to the window and couldn’t believe her luck to find it unlocked. She silently drew it open and climbed through, dropping out over the windowsill to the soft pine-needle strewn forest floor. She crouched low, then started to run. She swore as she came up against a high chain link fence and heard a laugh behind her.

‘Did you think you could just run away, your Highness?  Don’t you trust me?’ came Anton’s voice. She turned but sneaked a hand into her pocket and drew out her earrings, balling them into her fist. Breadcrumbs was the word that came to her - leave a trail for someone to find. She backed up against the fence to face Anton and pushed the earrings through, dropping one outside the perimeter and leaving one hanging on the fence. She drew herself up tall, all trace of fear driven away by adrenaline, her heart pounding.

‘Why did you bring me here, Anton?’ she demanded ‘You’re part of it, aren’t you?’ He smirked as he walked up to her.

‘Of course I am, your highness. I’ve been planning this for some time. Your family robbed mine of the throne many centuries ago, and I intend to take it back. I was hoping you would choose me as your Consort, but you were never going to do that, were you? You were so resistant at Valtoria – you could have taken the easy path, lived a life of ease and luxury with me’ He took hold of her arm and started to pull her back to the cabin. ‘No matter, you’ll have time to think about that – plenty of time.’ She heard the thump of helicopter blades some distance away, and she felt fear in the pit of her stomach. Smith had nearly mentioned the arrival of the helicopter just a few moments ago. He was kidnapping her, and goodness knows what he would do once she was further out of reach of her friends and the Royal Guard.

‘You never distinguished yourself, Anton’ she replied scornfully. ‘It would take more than Archery or riding skills to win my heart, and your wealth never impressed me’ Anton scowled

‘You were going to choose that upstart commoner Walker, weren’t you? Don’t think I hadn’t noted the nauseating looks you gave him. He’s not worthy to marry into Royalty.  Him or the Englishman – he was quite the distraction, wasn’t he?’

‘Drake’s more noble than you’ll ever be, and so is Brad’ she said defiantly ‘It takes more than a title to be a real man.’

‘So why didn’t Walker save you then? Where is he? I’m betting he’s lying in a pool of blood right now, along with your precious father.’ he spat. She pulled her hand back and slapped him hard across the jaw.

‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that’ she hissed ‘You’ll pay for this, you’ll be found and dealt with for your crimes.’ He gripped her hard and hit her cheek with the back of his hand. It stung, and she tasted blood. She recoiled from the impact, then gathered her strength to stand tall again.

‘You’ll see sense and declare me your consort in gratitude for me rescuing you or die’ he growled. ‘Your Father wanted you to choose me you know.’  Charlotte’s eyes blinked and tears stung her eyes ‘We had an agreement, but he softened in the end and told me he was going to let you have who you wanted. He had to die, and you will too unless you agree to my demands.’ Anton snarled ‘I’d prefer you to cooperate, we could have a lot of fun as you seem to have some fight in you.  I always thought you were a little mouse, but I like a woman with spirit. Once I’m Consort, I’ll be untouchable’

‘I’ll never yield to you, I’d rather die’ Charlotte said in a low voice. He only gave a sinister grin to her reply.

‘That’s an option. I’m sure given time you’ll cave in’ The sound of the helicopter grew louder, and she could see it through the trees, a clearing marked out some distance away. ‘Say goodbye to Cordonia – for now’ he said menacingly and started to drag her toward it.

‘Damn, there’s a helicopter coming in to land’ said Brad as they sat in the car wondering which way to go next. The track had narrowed and branched, and they had seen cabin after cabin with no vehicle parked outside and no tracks in the soft thin pine rich mud. A security detail from Bastien had caught up with them so they were able to cover more ground, although they were exploring another branch int the track and were out of sight.

‘Gun it’ shouted Drake, pointing as the helicopter started to descend ‘Don’t bother with the track, make straight for it – it must be coming to take Charlie away’ Brad did as he was told, pushing the car to its limit, barrelling through the trees, the car bouncing wildly, swerving from side to side until they reached a metal link fence, and beyond it the car they had been pursuing. Drake pushed open the car door and rolled out, keeping close to the ground, holding the gun ready to fire and hugging the fence. He saw her earring hanging on the fence and caught a glimmer in the pine needles, and reached out to retrieve them. Shots rang out from the cabin – Lewis was covering for Anton, drawn out by the sound of the car engine. Drake could see him dragging Charlie out toward the helicopter. He shouted out her name and saw her turn to see him, her face white, a dribble of blood at the corner of her mouth. She kicked Anton in the shin and struggled to free herself, but he kept hold of her. Drake dropped to the ground as a bullet grazed his upper arm, tearing a hole in his jacket. His arm stung as though by a wasp, but he ignored it. He found the gate to the compound and made for it.

‘Stand back Drake !’ he heard Brad shout, and he drove the car at the gate, smashing it down. The Englishman leapt out close to the house, the car continuing on to smash into the side of the log cabin. Smith dodged the car and turned his attention to Brad, who crouched low and ran toward him shouting incoherently and wrestled him to the ground, a tight grip on the wrist that held the gun. Drake ran as fast as he could toward Anton, who was dragging Charlotte closer to the helicopter. He heard a shot behind him but couldn’t turn to see what had happened, intent on rescuing the Princess and hoping Smith had been neutralised. Anton didn’t seem to have a weapon, and he was cursing as Charlie kicked and struggled all the way.

‘Stop or I’ll shoot’ shouted Drake, coming to a halt and aiming the gun at Anton. There was no sense of movement behind him at the cabin. Anton swung round, his arm round Charlie’s neck, her body shielding his, backing toward the chopper. The downdraught kicked the Princess’s hair up into his face and he batted at it to clear his view of Drake. She struggled to get her feet on the ground, fingers trying to pry his fingers way from her throat.

‘You’ll hit her instead’ he shouted back ‘And you don’t want to do that, do you? Your precious Princess. You don’t deserve to marry her, you filthy commoner. I was born to be King, and I have supporters. I don’t need her to claim the Throne, she was just the easy option. You’re weak and I’ll crush you all. You’ll never know who to trust’

Charlie threw her body weight forward, catching Anton off balance, then arched her back and drove her head back into his forehead and stamped hard on his foot. Not for nothing had she taken lessons in self-defence from Bastien, and she had practised with Drake many times. Anton swore with pain and surprise, reeling back and letting her go, and she dropped to the ground, crawling as fast as she could out of his reach. Drake grinned at her with pride and admiration and ran toward her. The thought that Anton had hurt Charlie made his blood boil. He paused to take a stable position to shoot from, bracing himself against a tree as she took shelter behind another. 

Anton was only feet away from the helicopter and turned to board it, holding his forehead and limping. Drake aimed and pulled the trigger, only for it to jam. He cursed and ran toward Charlie, for fear that someone in the helicopter had a gun, fumbling to clear his firearm as he did so. By the time he had reached the Princess and taken aim again, Anton had got into the chopper and it was gaining height. Anton shouted back at him over the noise of the blades.

‘I’ll be back. You can’t trust anyone - nobody, you hear me?’ Drake did not dare shoot now for fear the helicopter would crash and kill them as well as Anton, so he pulled Charlotte to him to protect her as the aircraft drew rapidly away.

[newstfionline]

The surprising return of the repo man

By Todd C. Frankel, Washington Post, May 15, 2018

CLEVELAND--The computer in the spotter car shouted “Hide!,” and repo agent Derek Lewis knew that meant to keep driving like nothing had happened. He’d just found another wanted vehicle. He was about to ruin someone’s day. Best not to draw attention.

It helped that he wasn’t in a tow truck, the stereotypical image of a repo man. Lewis drove a beat-up Ford Crown Victoria sedan. It had four small cameras mounted on the trunk and a laptop bolted to the dash. The high-speed cameras captured every passing license plate. The computer contained a growing list of hundreds of thousands of vehicles with seriously late loans. The system could spot a repossession in an instant. Even better, it could keep tabs on a car long before the loan went bad.

Now, Lewis had a live hit in a parking lot. He glanced at his laptop. The plate matched a blue 2006 BMW 325xi. He twisted in his seat. “It’s right there,” he said.

Technology has made the repo man ruthlessly efficient, allowing this familiar angel of financial calamity to capitalize on a dark corner of the United States’ strong economy: the soaring number of people falling behind on their car payments.

No longer tethered to a tow truck and able to use big data to find targets, the repossession industry is booming at an unexpected time. Although the U.S. economy recently entered its second-longest-ever period of expansion, the auto loan delinquency rate last year reached its highest point since 2012, driven by souring subprime auto loans. It’s evidence of how the economic recovery has not been evenly felt, with some of Americans’ biggest purchases--automobiles--being fueled by unsustainable borrowing rather than rising wages.

And the repo man has noticed the change.

“So much of America is just a heartbeat away from a repossession--even good people, decent people who aren’t deadbeats,” said Patrick Altes, a veteran agent in Daytona Beach, Fla. “It seems like a different environment than it’s ever been.”

Repo agents are the unpopular foot soldiers in the nation’s $1.2 trillion auto loan market. They don’t make the loans or issue the repossession orders that, for some high-risk customers, can come as soon as a single payment is days late. But they are the closest most people come to a faceless, sophisticated financial system that can upend their lives.

Lewis rolled to a far corner of the parking lot, next to an apartment building overlooking Lake Erie, and called the BMW’s lender.

“I’m sitting on a live hit for you,” he said.

He texted for a company tow truck. It was seven minutes away. This was the hard part. He had to just hope the vehicle’s driver didn’t come out and drive away. It would be like watching a fish wiggle free of the hook.

He sat in silence, one of the few times his spotter car wasn’t logging new plates, each one trumpeted by a video-game-like bing. The system picked up passing cars. Parked cars. Cars stashed in driveways. As many as 10,000 every eight-hour shift.

Lewis compared each scan to planting a seed.

“Is it going to grow into a repo?” he said. “Or are they going to pay their bills?”

Lewis works for Relentless Recovery, the largest repo company in Ohio and its busiest collector of license plate scans. Last year, the company repossessed more than 25,500 vehicles--including tractor trailers and riding lawn mowers.

Business has more than doubled since 2014, the company said. Even with the rising deployment of remote engine cutoffs and GPS locators in cars, repo agencies remain dominant.

Relentless scanned 28 million license plates last year, a demonstration of its recent, heavy push into technology. It now has more than 40 camera-equipped vehicles, mostly spotter cars. Agents are finding repos they never would have a few years ago.

The company’s goal is to capture every plate in Ohio and use that information to reveal patterns. A plate shot outside an apartment at 5 a.m. tells you that’s probably where the driver spends the night, no matter their listed home address. So when a repo order comes in for a car, the agent already knows where to look.

“It’s kind of scary, but it’s amazing,” said Alana Ferrante, chief executive of Relentless.

Lewis, 33, got his start repossessing cars when he was 14, helping his dad tow vehicles in the dead of night. His dad moved on to construction. But Lewis kept at it, eventually getting burned out on chasing cars. He went to work as a firefighter and paramedic--which provoked very different reactions from people--before returning a few years ago to the job he knew best. And for a while, the job remained mostly the same. He’d prowl around in a tow truck, armed with paper orders and a map, just praying the target vehicle was parked where it was supposed to be.

That all changed in recent years.

Repos remain risky. Lewis has had a gun pointed at him three times and a cigarette stubbed out on his forehead once. He’s had people come out screaming at him. He’s seen them break down in tears.

Lewis, who as operations director still regularly does repos, tries to follow one main rule: “Don’t make someone’s bad situation worse.” So he avoids hospital parking lots. But he loves shopping malls, especially the last row of lots, where the employees park. Discount stores are another target.

“For getting a live hit, this is the place to be,” he said earlier, weaving his way past rows of cars outside a Dollar General.

It could feel like he was preying on the poor. Lewis said he just went where the repos were. Even then, repos clustered in unexpected ways. Lewis pointed to one apartment complex so stocked with repos it became his honey hole. Yet similar buildings nearby were repo deserts.

Nationwide, repo agents described a broadening base of people struggling to stay current on their auto loans. In the old days, agents picked up mostly entry-level cars--Chevy Chevettes and Dodge Neons.

“Now it’s all over the place,” said Altes, the Daytona Beach agent, who is also the former head of the repo trade group Time Finance Adjusters.

Agents today get assignments for high-end brands such as Mercedes-Benz. They take the new cars of Uber drivers. Relentless picked up its first 2018 model last year, just weeks after it debuted. The only cars still rarely seen are Subarus and Volvos--the unflashy favorites of the urbane upper middle class.

Now, Lewis kept his eye on the blue BMW, a vehicle that might cost $37,000 new but after more than a decade was worth less than $8,000. The tow truck rolled up. Lewis slipped on a pair of work gloves.

“You ready?” he shouted at the tow truck driver.

The best repo is a quick “hook and roll.” This wasn’t one of them. The BMW had all-wheel drive. All four wheels needed to be off the ground. The tow truck swung its lift under the rear tires of the backed-in BMW. Lewis and the tow driver jumped out to assemble a metal dolly to raise the front tires. Time crawled. Lewis scanned the lot. A woman walked toward them. He watched with relief as she climbed into a different car.

“See you, guys,” the tow truck driver shouted, pulling away with the bounty--worth about $400 to Relentless.

First repo of the day. Thousands of seeds planted.

Although there are no national auto repossession statistics, other measures point to a growing problem. More than 4 percent of auto loans were at least 90 days late at the end of 2017--the highest rate in five years. That number jumps to almost 10 percent for subprime auto loans alone, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Affordability is one factor. The average new car price has soared 20 percent over a decade, to $35,500, while wages have been sluggish. Auto loans now carry higher balances and longer terms, stretching out the timeline for trouble to appear.

Analysts point to a period from 2014 to 2016, when auto lenders got too loose with credit. That helped the United States sell a record number of automobiles in 2016. But it also pushed the delinquency rate higher.

“As a result, the markets pulled back a little bit,” said Amy Crews Cutts, chief economist at Equifax.

The rate of auto loan write-offs--which includes repos--is trending higher but remains below its 2009 peak, according to Equifax numbers.

Repo agents have their own theories about what’s going on--from fading attachment to vehicles to an increased willingness to walk away, a lesson learned from the housing crisis. One national list of active automobile repossession orders reached 360,000 this year, more than double what it was at the same time last year.

Lewis believed the industry followed a pulse. April was always slow because people made car payments with tax refunds. But repos soared on bad news, such as the loss of 1,500 autoworker jobs in Lordstown, Ohio, announced this year. Lewis recently heard that a nuclear power plant near Cleveland might shutter.

“I expect we’ll see some from that,” he said.

His own industry has seen changes, too. Regulators, led by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have cracked down on the job’s outlaw attitude. Lenders have pushed agents to take certification courses. Last year, Relentless switched its 120 workers from contractors to employees in an effort to change the culture and its incentives.

The camera systems have made agents more productive but also opened them up to new challenges.

Repo agents are responsible for the majority of the billions of license plate scans produced nationwide. But they don’t control the information. Most of that data is owned by Digital Recognition Network (DRN), a Fort Worth company that is the largest provider of license-plate-recognition systems. And DRN sells the information to insurance companies, private investigators--even other repo agents.

For repo companies, one worry is whether they are producing information that others are monetizing.

Now it was after midnight and Lewis was back at work, trying to rouse himself with Red Bull. This time he drove a tow truck. And he had his eye on a potential repo: a 2016 Chevy Cruze.

The order was only a few hours old. Half of Relentless’s repos are found within the first two days. After 10 days, most vehicles disappear.

But Lewis had a plate scan for the Chevy taken five days earlier, at 8:39 a.m. outside an apartment complex. He bet that was the car owner’s home.

The tow truck’s rumble seemed impossibly loud. Darkened apartment windows lined the parking lot. Lewis backed up the truck and guided the lift. He jumped out with a flashlight and verified it was the right car. He got back in, lifted the vehicle higher and pulled away. A real hook and roll.

Safely out of sight, he pulled over to inspect the vehicle. He could see a woman’s sunglasses in the front console. A “black ice” air freshener and knickknacks dangled from the rearview mirror. In the back was a child’s car seat.

Lewis didn’t flinch. He knew that a mother was probably going to walk outside in the morning and realize her car was gone. She might call the police to report it stolen. But she had to have known this moment was coming after a flurry of lender late notices and phone calls. Lewis understood. What do you do against the inevitable? He has four children of his own. He had paid to get strangers’ cars out of repo before. But this was his job. He’d been doing it most of his life. And technology hadn’t yet figured out how to soften the blow.

After her car was towed to Relentless, the woman’s personal items would be stored in a cardboard box, amid the stacks of boxes from other repos. The car might be gone, the missed payments and repo fee too much to make up, but she could get her items back for $50.

The repo man had a policy, part of that aim to not make a bad situation worse.

The child’s car seat was always returned for free.

[annamcnuff]

Will Bears Chase Us If We Cycle through Denali National Park?

Ah Alaska - land of the eternal sun, the last frontier, namesake of the world’s finest baked desert and home to The Ice Road Truckers. With only 6 days before flying out again to Seattle - I was here for a good time, not a long time. So I made a call to trim the fat and head straight for the best scenery the state could muster. I had no idea that I’d stumble across one of the greatest roads I’ll ever have the pleasure of cycling….

LINDA THE LEGEND

Following another nervous cram-Boudcia-in-a-box flight, we were greeted at Anchorage airport by our Warm Showers host, Linda. In case you’re not familiar with WarmShowers.org - no it’s not a porn hub (yes, you thought it), It’s actually a network of kind fellow two wheeled fanatics, happy to open their home and offer you anything from space to pitch a tent and fresh water to a bed, laundry, food and transport. All for free. Best of all, you get to hear about the place you’re visiting from the people who spend their days there. Priceless.

After reading Linda’s profile - I just had to stay with her. This 69 year old grandmother of 6 still thinks nothing of cracking out 100 miles on a bike. She has a bucket list of things to do ‘while she can still walk and talk’ and ticks an item off ritualistically each year. China, the Galápagos Islands, riding the length of Route 66, she’s done it all. After taking up cycling when she was 64, of course. Dear careers advisor, when I grow up, I want to be … Linda.

She’s had over 300 people through the house from Warm Showers. Upon arrival - lovely Linda turned and said “Oh, you must sign my curtain”. “Ummm okay Linda, we’ll er sign ya curtain.” Is this lady crazy? Once you realise that her shower curtain is a map of the world, and that guests from across the globe sign their names next to their home town - it all makes perfect sense. “Pass me that Sharpie, Linda.” Big line drawn out from London. “Anna. (smiley face. Curly hair) ”. Job done.

ANCHORAGE - NOT A PLACE TO CYCLE

As it turns out, cycling in Anchorage is a wee bit dangerous. Accidents are not unusual. Linda had changed her route to work to avoid one particular junction where she’d been knocked off 3 times, each time by a driver who’d left her on the road - in the path of oncoming traffic. I couldn’t quite believe my ears, so I sought a second opinion. Talking to Linda’s loger, Lewis, he echoed Linda’s concern. “There aren’t many places I won’t cycle, and Anchorage is one of them. It’s just not worth it.”

Having spent time in Vancouver, I was beginning to take the London cycle network for granted. I should remember to be grateful that I live in a city where the Mayor is at least attempting to give cyclists a voice. Call me biased, but coming across a town where two wheeled travel isn’t considered to play at least a partial role in the future, feels plain archaic. If you look into Alaska’s history, perhaps it makes sense. This is state that the US has fallen in and out of love with over the years. Its fritted between a reputation as barren wasteland, to a land of abundant resource and untapped wilderness. Life can be cruel to those who live here, and with the highest unemployment rate in the US, you can see how basic needs might supersede the need for adequate bike lanes.

THE ALASKA RAILROAD

Thankfully we weren’t here to cycle in Anchorage. We were headed for Denali National Park. 240 miles north, and home to the highest peak in North America - Mount McKinley or 'Denali’ to use it’s native name - a beast that stands at over 20 thousand feet. We prioritised quality cycling, and so emptied our jersey pockets to buy a return ticket on the Alaska railroad. The 8 hour trip would drop us right at the entrance to the park and was rumoured to be stunning - it didn’t disappoint. 30 minutes out of Anchorage we were transported to another world. We were in The 'real’ Alaska.

Choo! Choo! All aboard the Alaska railroad

DENALI NATIONAL PARK

Denali is wilderness like I’ve never experienced before. The only way to describe it, is for you to imagine that someone went ahead and gave the Yorkshire Dales permission to take steroids. They then delicately draped a green blanket over the landscape, gently tucking the material into the folds of the earth. As a cheeky Brucey bonus, they scattered wild animals, swiss firs, bright flowers and lakes over the top - like hundreds and thousands.

Denali - Like Yorkshire, on steroids.

A road through Denali, is a road like no other. Ninety-two miles long in total, it’s only paved until mile fifteen. After this it turns into flat packed gravel, gradually deteriorating to full gravel track as you reach the latter stages. There’s no doubt about it. This is road that Frodo took to Mordor. I’m sure I even caught a glimpse of Gollum hiding in the bushes. It winds over mountain passes, round sharp, steep banked bends and through low hanging cloud into the distance. It escorts you silently across vast river plains and swamp land - carved out by a glaciers thousands of years before. Towards the end lies 'Wonder Lake’ and 'Reflection Pond’ - where, on a clear day, you can see Mount McKinley both above and in the waters.

On Denali’s road, the only noise is the rumble of your own tyres. Cars are banned in the park and other than a camper bus passing you every 25 minutes or so, there’s not a soul to be seen for miles around. It’s incredible. That’s not to say the going is easy. The furthest we made in one day was 63 miles. Largely uphill and albeit with a few stops, it took us 11 hours. Good job we had 18 hours of sunlight to play with.

I couldn’t have put it better than Lydia - who shouted over her shoulder on the first day “This is a road that makes you feel like you’re on an adventure.” Yes it is.

GETTING WILD

We spent 3 nights and 4 days in the park before catching the railroad back to Anchorage. We were eaten alive by Mosquitos, got soaked by Denali’s micro weather system and put our bear safety and water purification skills to the test . Thanks to Denali my wild animal count is at an all time high. We saw three rather enormous Grizzly bears -one of which was just 100 meters away (Bear spray at the ready, kids). Add to that the birds, arctic squirrels, caribou and moose. I’m giving Michaela Strachan a run for her money. After not showering once in 4 days, we were beginning to get a little 'wild’ ourselves (praise be the baby wipes. All hail Johnson’s and his balmy packet).

CONFESSION TIME

Now, before I scoot off for another week, I need to level with y'all (I can say that because I’m in America). I promised I’d be honest in this blog. And honestly - following an incident in Whistler, where my left knee decided it wanted to high five a rock, I’ve got all sorts of problems going on in the land of the patella. My gut reaction is to behave like a 5 year old in Ikea. This goes as follows: 1) Throw oneself onto the ground - preferably on the stomach 2) Flail one’s arms around 3) In between sobs, incomprehensibly scream 'I hate you’, repeatedly

Having fought off my toddler instinct, I’ve opted for the more proactive, grown up approach. Plan A, B, C and D are well under way. Plan A may mean me spending a few days in Seattle to heal the puppy up (hey, are worse places to hang out). Plan B is to strap one leg to my cross bar and ride one legged for a few weeks (am I serious? possibly). C and D begin to descend into the ridiculous … so I’ll save them for now.

Think I’m leaving you on a downer? Think on. Linda the legend gave me a travelling bear as a parting gift. So I now have a mascot for the trip. He’s a mini Grizzly and his name is Rambo. Rambo is awesome and kicks other bears asses, just for fun. He’s now headed to Seattle and state number 2. Go Rambo, go like the wind…. and take me with you.

FUN FACT Alaska is the most Northern, Westerly and thanks to two tiny 'Aleutian arm’ islands which sit on the other side of the date line - also the most Easterly US state. It’s fun, and its a fact.