#he's a bit better....??? quotes....massive quotes around that.

[wolftheidioticfan]

I think when Saltie first crawled out of the TV and first rampaged there had to be a folktale or warning written about him. (gore and slight horror warning)

Because imagine you are the lone survivor after your village takes in what you all assume to be a normal brown anthropomorphic hare, who seems to just be lost and confused and looking for somewhere to stay. (in the world Saltie is from, anthro animals are pretty average!)

You take it in, and at first everything seems fine. Strange things kind of occur around the hare, but no one says anything. Suspicion grows around the third day when that hare does something...akin to some sort of magic. Some kind of logic this world does not follow. Murmurs grow about wondering the real intentions as the hare doesn't speak quite normally, always seems out of place and unaware of any kind of living norms. Asks questions no one asks.

And as the hare gets pressured, it changes one day. Its still relatively the same size as when you had met it. Except now its fur is pitch black, shaggy. With tall horns and piercing yellow eyes that seem to lock onto everything and everyone. Your village calls it Baphomet, the devil, a hellspawn. It calls out in confusion, claiming it only wanted friends, that it doesn't understand what's happening, begs for help.

Eventually, it slaughters your cattle. And the village decides they must put the beast of Baphomet to rest. They try to cull it through its heart, but the 'hare' simply gets up, confused, bleeding, as if it had never known pain before. They try everything as it pleads for you all to stop. Maybe you should have. Maybe you should have listened.

The village decides the only way to deal with the devil is to burn it. It's horrific. Its screaming long after it should be dead, long after its fur and flesh begin to melt and splatter against the pyre you had tied it to. The devil won't die. Eventually, it seems to go quiet. And the villagers rejoice as the flames die out, leaving something inhuman, un-animal to smother out in the dust. They leave to feast and talk about the great feat of extinguishing that which would not die. But you stay behind.

And something worse rackets out of the destroyed pyre. Large and sleek black, with red fangs all too big for its mouth. Its tail is dripping ink and voice like the shrieking static of a long lost radio. And though it should be dead, unable to even limp yet alone run at the speed it takes to the village...It rips, and claws, and tears until nothing is left.

'Beware of El Toro. The bull. Though its name does not befit its appearance, you must take heed.

Never allow a brown hare into your towns, your villages, your cities.

For should you grow weary, it will begin to reveal what it truly is.

It is no demon, no executioner from this world.

Killing it is futile. Burning it a mistake.

For once you have done what you cannot take back, the beast will return with force.

El Toro does not sleep, does not mourn, does not think. It simply consumes all before it. Your women, your men, your children and cattle.

And when El Toro awakes, small and meek with blood matted into its loathsome fur...It will see the carnage it has wrought.

...

And El Toro will run. As that is all it has ever known.'

[themultifanshipper]

With how dominant Ferrari seemed in Austin, you assumed you'd be seeing mostly red for three weeks.

You were very happy to be proven wrong.

Part 6 of One of the Boys

Warnings: smut, threesome, multiple threesomes in fact, six different partners in one fic whew, voyeurism?, brief double penetration, EIFFEL TOWER WITH THE FRENCH MEN Y'ALL, Pierre's canonically massive shlong, oral, shower sex, gaping and also Max having a weird kink at the end idk where that came from

The triple header was intense. In more ways than one.

COTA made you sore.

Well more accurately, Charles and Carlos made you sore after getting a Ferrari 1-2.

They decided to celebrate their success as teammates given that they didn't get such good results very often at the moment.

So they took turns with you.

Imagine getting passed around by your partners while they compete to see who can fuck you better and make you come harder.

They wrote their names on your thighs and put tally marks next to them every time they came inside you, until you were absolutely covered in tally marks and fucked out of your mind.

It was mind numbing, and when they finally let you sleep, the sun was almost up and you had flights to catch.

Luckily all three of you had booked a spot in the same private jet, along with a few other drivers.

Needless to say, they decided to continue the festivities on the jet, much to everyone else' displeasure.

Mexico was looking pretty good once again for Ferrari, but Charles backed out of the celebrations because, and I quote “he had stuff to do”, which left you to the mercy of Carlos and Lando.

The other drivers were hungover, and moody because of the noises coming from the private room at the back where you were getting your already abused cunt stretched by the two cocks that had beat them all in the race.

And mercy is one thing those two did not have.

When they got together it was chaos at the best of times.

But that night they bent you into shapes you didn't know you could manage.

Your favourite part was when they were standing and holding you up.

Carlos held you up by your thighs, keeping them spread with your back to his chest while he buried himself in your ass.

At first Lando was down on his knees, lapping at your drooling cunt while Carlos' balls slapped against his chin every time he thrust into you.

But once he'd quenched his thirst he stood up and slid into your tight heat, the pressure against your walls making you see stars as they bounced you on their cocks.

It was just as exhausting as the week before, the two of them obviously having unreal stamina.

Practice was fine. Sprint quali was… well it was.

You limped around that week, taking it easy and doing your best to recover for Brazil.

Then the sprint happened. It was chaotic and everyone was exhausted given the circumstances, and the hours of waiting under the rain for qualifying to start was not helping the collective mood.

Everyone went to bed equal parts frustrated and relieved that It was happening in the morning.

Qualifying came and went.

The race? Well it was anyone's game really.

No comment.

You bit your nails anxiously as you watched everyone slide off the track and/or crash. Not a single driver was safe from the disastrous track conditions.

Max came to see you during the last red flag.

“I'm going to get that fucking win” he said, holding you in his arms possessively. “I'm going to win this fucking race and then I'll get you all to myself tonight”

“Now now, Max.” you chided “you still have an Alpine to get past, and although I’m sure you will, if Pierre and Esteban both end up on the podium, I am definitely going to give them a reward”

Max scowled, and tried to argue, but you managed to convince him by promising that if he could be a good boy and watch silently, you’d give him his own private reward afterwards.

Besides… your body, your choice. And your boys always respected that.

Well, Max winning the race was a shock to most people, given where he started, but not to you. You knew he would do anything to get what he wanted.

And what he wanted was you.

That much was obvious the moment you opened your door and found him standing there, ready to pounce on you.

“Patience, Max. Let the Frenchmen have their turn” you smirked and led him over to his cuck chair.

You didn’t wait long for the others to arrive, they were just as eager as Max to get things rolling.

Pierre led you to the bed, sitting you down on it while he unbuckled his belt, eager to have your mouth on him.

You salivated at the sight of his cock, of which the rumours couldn't do justice.

You sucked on his tip gently, taking more of him every time his hips bucked involuntarily.

“I've always wanted to know what you'd look like with your mouth around my cock. And fuck- you're amazing”

He tipped his head back in pleasure as he got closer to the edge surprisingly quickly.

Esteban was behind him, slowly getting undressed while smirking at Max, who was still waiting patiently in the chair, with an obvious tent in his pants.

You were pulled off Pierre's cock by Este' hand in your hair and you heaved in a breath of air.

Pierre helped undress you and got you on all fours between them.

“Have you ever been to Paris?”  Pierre whispered from behind while he was draped over your body, and Esteban chuckled.

You let out a huff as he inserted two fingers inside your embarrassingly wet cunt.

“If that's a joke about the Eiffel tower, don't bother Pierre, I've heard it all before”

Pierre added a third finger before responding.

“Then let me tell you that we will not go easy on you…”

His thick digits were stroking the deepest parts of you, and you could feel yourself slowly losing the ability to speak.

Before long, Pierre was rubbing himself against you and you squirmed as he brushed over your still slightly sore clit.

When he pushed the tip in you knew you were a goner.

It was already stretching you out and he barely had an inch inside you.

Slowly he fit his entire length inside you and stayed like that as he felt your walls pulsing around him.

“Jesus” you choked out “You're so deep…”

Pierre chuckled evilly and rolled his hips as you shuddered with the pleasure of the intense stretch.

Esteban brought your chin up to look at him and he rubbed his tip over your lips, the taste of his precum hitting your senses and you moaned, opening your mouth so he could slide his own cock in.

Contrary to Pierre's words from before, they were being extremely gentle with you. Esteban was careful not to choke you and Pierre's languid thrusts were slow and deliberate, and were driving you utterly insane with need.

As your orgasm crept up on you, you started rocking back and forth between the two Frenchmen, whining desperately as your body started shaking.

“Look at you.. so desperate for cock” Esteban cooed while he stroked your cheek tenderly.

“I can feel you clenching around me baby, I know you're close, you can let go for me” Pierre said and you did just that, creaming around him while his thrusts got sloppier and sloppier as he approached his own orgasm.

Max was not having a good time.

Well, that's half a lie, he was scowling angrily at the others, but his hand was squeezing his cock through his pants, which were becoming unbearably tight at the moment.

He’d never seen Esteban or Pierre in action, but he had to admit you looked very good between them, and they were obviously very good at reading your body despite having had little to no experience with you.

Pierre slid out of you gently and the sound was obscene as your abused cunt struggled to keep him inside.

He fisted his cock hard and fast over you, staring at your twitching hole with an intensity that made butterflies erupt in your stomach.

“My god, I really stretched you out, you’re gaping” he groaned, and came in spurts all over your thighs and puffy, quivering mess of a cunt.

Esteban came in your mouth shortly after, cursing in French and muttering something about your mouth being absolute heaven.

Pierre dragged a couple of fingers through the mess, and brought them to your lips, which you eagerly parted to suck on the mix of his and your cum.

“Fucking hell… such a good girl” he glanced over at Max “I could do this all night… but I think Max might actually kill us if we stay much longer”

You glanced at the man in the corner, and he indeed looked like he wanted nothing more than to kick the other two out.

You giggled at him softly and beckoned him over while Pierre and Esteban got dressed.

He sat next to you, putting a warm hand on your thigh and asked if you were alright.

“Absolutely” you winked at the two men behind him then pulled Max in for a heated kiss.

“I don’t know about you, but I need a shower now. Join me?” you asked cheekily, getting up to give the Frenchmen a goodbye kiss each, while they ogled your naked body.

“Beautiful as always” Esteban smiled and Pierre rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, she’s a goddess, now let’s go before we get our necks broken”

You laughed as they walked over to the door, sending you flying kisses before disappearing through it.

Within a second of it being shut, Max’s body pressed against yours from behind.

“Why don’t I help you clean up, hmm?”

You turned around in his arms and grinned up at him.

“With pleasure”

What followed was possibly the softest sex you’d ever had.

Max lathered you up, washing all the cum and sweat off your body before turning you around against the glass door and pressing you against it.

“I need you so bad, schat” he groaned as you spread your legs and arched your back towards him.

“Then have me Max, I’m all yours”

He moaned as he slipped inside you with barely any resistance.

“Fuck! Pierre was right, you’re so loose…”

Despite all the negative connotations around being loose down there, Max seemed to find it incredibly hot as he whined into the back of your neck.

He thrusted in and out of you slowly as his hips shook with the effort of holding himself back from pounding into you with all his might. The last thing he wanted was to hurt you.

“I’m not- fuck, I’m not going to last long schat… this is so…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, instead using his remaining brain power to slide a hand down your body to circle your clit with mind blowing precision.

“Max, fuck-” you panted, the angle of his hips making his cock rub against that spot that left you breathless every single time. He knew your body like none of the other drivers ever could.

You both came together, panting against the glass and moaning as he filled you up to the brim, only for his cum to leak out of you immediately with how stretched out you were.

Max tried pushing it back in with his fingers but he groaned when he realised he could slip four of them inside easily.

“Give me a minute and I can go again, my god…” he sounded out of breath.

“Maaax…” you huffed “I don’t think I can come again after that”

He laughed and pulled his hand away “I know sweetheart, I was joking” he kissed the back of your neck sweetly before turning the water off and getting out to grab a towel for you.

You both dried off quickly and slipped into bed, curled up in each other’s arms contentedly.

Neither of you said much, until you were half unconscious and Max muttered the most unhinged sentence ever.

“Do you think next time I win, I could try getting my whole fist inside you?”

“Jesus Christ Max! You need to warn me before you say things like that” you gasped as you slapped his chest lightly.

“You didn’t answer my question” he reiterated once you’d settled back down in his arms.

You sighed.

“Go to sleep, Max. We can discuss your next prize if and when you win again”

Max huffed out a laugh and tightened his hold around your body.

“Brat”

[god-complex-12]

Atychiphobia II

— Paring; Cpt. John Price x male reader. Fandom; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

Atychiphobia: (n.) fear of failure; fear of not being good enough

Quote; “When you repent, you make a promise to turn away from the sin… abandon it. But, Jonathan… you are my sin, and I am incapable of abandoning my love for you.”

Disclaimer; Mention of religion. Reader is an Angel. Religious based. Christianity. Talks of sinning. Reader is a fallen Angel. Descriptions of pain and blood. Not an accurate representation of Christianity. God is referred to as “father” and is depicted as slightly cruel. Kissing. Crying. Praying. Begging for forgiveness. Religious trauma. Tending to wounds. Reader is in the bath. John helps Y/N in the bath.

Word Count: 1.0k

Masterlist; part I

A/N: Please note that I do not believe this is how God truly is, this is for the sake of entertainment purposes only.

John is speechless as he stares at the torn and bloodied skin of his comrade. It’s revolting. Though this is nowhere near the worst John has ever seen, what brings him to a shake is what used to be in its place. Wings? No, that couldn’t be possible. Y/N had never had wings. Heaven and hell existed? John isn’t sure if that was something he wished was confirmed. He’s damned. But so is Y/N. Damned because of him, perhaps.

John gently poured the disinfectant onto the massive wounds. Y/N shuddered and sobbed. He wasn’t used to pain. Suddenly he felt unmeasurably weak. He’s mortal. This wasn’t fair. Since when was love a sin? And why was the punishment so cruel? Y/N’s fists balled, and his jaw clenched.

“Relax.” John whispered in the softest voice his gruff voice could manage. “It’ll pass.” He gently washed the dry blood from Y/N’s back. The warm water stung horribly, making Y/N tremble more. He sobbed silently into his hands. John was overwhelmed, but he didn’t let that stop him from taking care of the now man in front of him.

John dried his hands off on the towel next to him. He heard Y/N begin to whisper as he opened the box of medical supplies next to him. He knew what he was doing. “Y/N, stop.” He said sternly. However, Y/N did not stop. He continued to whisper to himself like a mad man. Whispering what, both of them knew, was a prayer that would fall on deaf ears. “Shh,” John shushed, “please.” He ran his hand over Y/N’s bare shoulder, he gently pushed the fallen angel a bit forward to gain better access to his wounds.

Padding the area with a cloth, Y/N made a pained noise and began praying more vigorously. John dried the area, and he wrapped Y/N’s torso in plaster. “He forgives all,” John whispered, “but why not you?” He pulled the sobbing soldier back towards him.

“Because I can’t seem to make a change.” He wiped his useless tears, getting a handful of water and drawing his flushed face. His voice trembles, as does his body. “When you repent, you make a promise to turn away from the sin… abandon it. But, Jonathan… you are my sin, and I am incapable of abandoning my love for you.”

“Your holy position is more important than man’s attention, is it not?”

“No.” Y/N said firmly. “Not when that man is you. I am a disgrace for committing the blasphemous act of loving one more than my creator. Not only have I chosen man over God, but I have committed a sacrilege act in allowing lust to cloud my faith.”

“Lust?” John questioned. “Do you mean this is all just lust?”

Y/N’s eyes widened, and he spun around, water sloshing over the side of the tub. His wet hands grab John’s knee in an act of desperation. “No, no. This is love. I love you more than anything, and that is a problem. I am referring to the time we’ve gone farther than just touching hands. That was lust.”

“Was it?” John asked, his hand gently trailing up the side of the Fallen Angel’s neck, pushing around the wet strands of hair that clung to Y/N’s skin. “Because I didn’t sleep with you for the sake of your body.” He leaned closer. “I did it for the sake of love. The passion. I hold myself back, so when it happens, it feels even better.”

“That is why we are supposed to wait till marriage bonds us, though even then, Father would not be accepting of devious acts unless it is to reproduce… which I am unable to do either with man or woman.”

“This isn’t about his rules. This is about you and me. I don’t care about his incorrect judgment, and neither should you. His judgment only brought you immense pain. Should you still speak highly of a God who causes you only suffering?”

Y/N was stunned for a moment, stumbling to find the right words, but the pain, overwhelming reality, the closeness of their lips, it made his mind bug out. “I- He did not only cause me suffering. He has also given me life!” He sat on his knees. “If not for his orders, we would have never met!”

“Then why does he punish you when he was the one who caused us to love?” A silence engulfs them. Y/N is speechless, and he feels his breath quicken with each passing second. It’s all too much. His chest feels heavy, and he feels as though someone had covered his face with a pillow and watched him squirm around for a pocket of air. “Let us love without him, Y/N. Let me love you.”

“Okay,” Y/N whispered, almost inaudibly.

Suddenly, John’s lips find Y/N’s, leaning down in his seat as he kisses Y/N with a tenderness he’s never held before. John can help but keep leaning forward, if not for his own gear, he would just go ahead and get in the bath as well.

[bibucktrashpanda]

Princess Part 2

Okay this plot bunny won't leave me alone and all the notes and reblogs made me happy so I am just going to write while inspiration strikes. I am not sure if there will be more of this but I also didn't know there was going to be a part two. Warning for language. Not beta'ed, we die like Buck's heterosexuality.

Summary: Tommy loves his boyfriend and honestly it's not fair that he now has two sets of puppy eyes to resist. Link to part 1 below.

Princess Part 2

Tommy knows that he is fucked the moment he sees the photo from Eddie. 

It’s almost 4 am and he has just gotten home from a rough shift but he isn’t tired. He just wants Evan but knows Evan won’t be home for a few hours. 

Climbing into bed without his lover is anathema for him after a shift that was filled with casualties and so he decides to catch up on some chores. He knows better than to fuck around with Evan’s kitchen so he doesn’t do much more than helping himself to a Tupperware of leftovers that have his name in a heart on a sticky note on top of it. 

He is about to eat it standing at their counter but than hears even’s voice lecturing him about respecting the animal that gave its life for the meat in the lasagna even if it had come from the farmers market from a small farm owned by a lesbian couple in their 50’s that Evan has charmed and has been invited to visit. Evan had gone on a research binge on industrial farming and by the end Tommy hasn’t even been able to look at packaged meat in the grocery store without feeling nauseous and heartbroken. 

So Tommy takes his food to the unfinished breakfast nook and sits down to eat it, mindfully. He snorts thinking about the ‘demure’ meme that even has been quoting nonstop for weeks after learning about it from Christopher. 

He is just finishing when his phone chirps with an incoming text. The preview is just a gaudy gif of an “It’s a girl” banner. Confused, he clicks on it to see a photo of Evan cradling a tiny puppy to his chest which looks massive next to the tiny pup. A follow up text from Eddie reads “Congrats on becoming a dog dad. Her name is Princess and nothing is going to pry her out of Evan’s hands. You are so fucked.”

Tommy has to agree. The focus of the photo is the puppy but Tommy can still see the expression on Evan’s face, one that he is familiar with because Evan looks at him like that all the time, pure love. 

He is so fucked. 

Because he can be a bitch he texts back to Eddie “I mean I’m not fucked at the moment but Evan generally is very thorough. Let me know which vet you end up at?” And while Evan is the notorious list maker out of the two of them, Tommy can appreciate a good list and starts making a list of supplies they need for their newest family member, while ignoring Eddie's response of "MY EYES". 

**** 

An hour later he gets a text from Evan with an address and a request. “Her throat is bruised from her collar, can you swing by a store and pick up a puppy chest harness? This is one has good reviews and should be in stock at this  24 hour Petco and meet me at the vet?”

He smiles and responds “You’ve been busy. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He is already moving to the door when he gets a response from Evan. It’s a photo of Evan, changed out of his turnouts, pouting, holding up the puppy, who is clean and awake. Both of them are staring at the camera with two sets of blue eyes and surprisingly the puppy has a black patch of fur over her left eye which almost matches up with Evan’s birthmark. 

Christ, he’s whipped. How is he supposed to hold out against two sets of puppy eyes one of which is from an actual puppy??

The text below the photo reads “Please, Daddy?”

He is so fucked. “Not in front of the kid!  Fine, you brat. See you in a little bit.”

The next photo is Evan grinning as the Princess licks his cheek. 

He is just getting to the store when he gets another text. “Uh, since you are going to the store anyway, pretty please?” with the pleading face emoji  and a list of supplies that pretty well matches the list he jotted down earlier. He sends Evan a photo of his list resting in the small basket of a shopping cart with the eye rolling emoji. 

The sky is just beginning to brighten when Tommy pulls up to the emergency vet, he should be exhausted but he finds that he is excited to meet Princess and to see Evan. 

The receptionist looks up as he enters with one of his shopping bags. “You must be Tommy?”

He nods and raises an eyebrow at her. “Mr. Buckley said to imagine the most gorgeous man i have ever seen and then double it. I can see what he means.” 

He chuckles and follows as she leads him back. “I mean I would describe him the same way.” 

Before she can respond they enter a room where Evan is sitting on the floor bad leg extended out, puppy snoozing pressed up against the inside. Evan is lightly petting her with one hand and scrolling on his phone with the other, humming softly. 

Tommy’s heart melts into a puddle and he quickly snaps a photo before Buck looks up. 

“Hey.” He says softly, crouching down next to Buck to give him a quick peck. 

“Thanks for coming.” Evan smiles at him. Tommy smiles back. “Of course.” It’s become a thing, echoing this exchange from what Evan calls their actual first date. In the back of his head he is toying with the idea of getting ‘of course’ engraved on the engagement ring he has had picked out since just after the Billy Boil incident. He stood at the  edge of that grave, listening to his ridiculous boyfriend eulogize a man who had been dead for over a century and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wanted to spend the rest of his life indulging this man whose heart seemed to have infinite capacity. 

“So what happened?” He asks, wrapping an arm around Evan who leans into him. 

“I found her tangled under a bush as I was doing a check of a yard of a burnt out house. She was cold and crying and couldn’t free herself. Turns out she belonged to the family that lived there and didn’t make it. The one relative the police could find hates dogs and was just going to drop her off at a shelter.” Evan turned to him “I couldn’t let that happen, not when bully breeds don’t have a good adoption rate! She’s already traumatized.” His voice is distressed and Tommy presses a kiss to his birthmark. “Shhhh, of course you couldn’t.” He murmurs against the pink skin which is one of his favorite things about Evan. 

He settles in next to Evan and stares down at the puppy who is blinking awake. Closer he can see that she resembles a pitbull or at least mostly pitbull, with black freckles on her white nose.  The rest of her seems to be white except for the tip of her tail which looks like she dipped it in an inkwell and is wagging so quickly he almost expects to see a cartoon cloud of dust poofing up. 

“Hi Princess.” He holds his hand by her, letting her choose to come to him. She stumbles over and all but shoves her head into his palm. She is soft and Tommy already loves her. 

“Taking after your pop with that grace.” He teases stroking her back. Evan makes a noise and he looks up to see Evan gazing at him smiling softly.

He looks back down at Princess who is trying to climb up his leg and gently picks her up to cradle her between him and Evan. 

“Welcome to the family, honey,” He whispers as Evan brings a hand up to stroke her. They have a lot to do and he can feel the exhaustion settling into his bones, but there is nowhere in the world he would rather be then here, cuddled up with the love of his life and their new puppy. 

[rainboneish]

i lied, i can’t wait until the official release, so have an absolutely massive text dump about what i think about chapter 267 and what i think could happen from here considering the newest developments:

okay i’ve decided… i like the fact that nobara is back, and i do think that it doesn’t contradict anything that has been previously established (her survival was very deliberately left as a possibility in a decently believable way)

the way she went down (and what Nitta said about her status) was open ended enough, no complaints there (especially comparing her “departure” (to quote gege) to Nanami’s and Mahito’s line wondering if he could drop her with one hit since he couldn’t do that with Nanami if he wasn’t already on the verge of death, it’s more than a bit of a Checkov’s gun, which is why so many people were already theorizing that she would return the way she did)

i also think that Megumi and Yuji’s conversation about her being as ambiguous as it was is not outside of the realm of realism, since it was only a couple days after she went down (so around 2 months earlier than the point when she woke up) so if her status at that moment was “comatose on life support and very unlikely to wake up”, so almost the same status Yuji last saw her in (plus considering the time Tsumiki spent in a coma makes it more likely for Megumi to sort of struggle to state the fact out loud)

however…

while I understand that gege might have deliberately avoided mentioning her status so that she would surprise us the way she did Sukuna, i think that it would feel less like a deus ex machina if they had mentioned her at least one more time, either by having Yuji (or anyone) visit her sickbed during the month’s preparation for the showdown, or by having Gojo allude to SOMETHING at any point where Yuji wasn’t present (be it at the airport, while talking to Ijichi before the fight, the same way that Yuta said that he would put Inumaki to work set up the recorder scene)

it didn’t have to be anything that would necessarily confirm her status or a direct mention of her, it could have been an unlabeled hospital bed at some point or something equally vague

i just personally would have liked having another connecting dot for her return around the time when seeds for similar surprising events were planted to make it fit a tad better

anyway, all that said and done, now to the return itself: Loved it, the whole chapter was very well executed and the build up in the chapter itself was very good

it does feel a little out of character for the tone of the series itself (gege has a habit of not letting the good guys win anything without it feeling bittersweet or pulling the rug right from under them (and us) at the last second (the fight against the death paintings with Yuji’s grief after, Mahito being absorbed, Kenjaku starting the culling games just as Yuki’s appearance gave people hope, the whole Tsumiki twist just when we thought they were getting out, the way Gojo died just when they thought he won etc)

because of that i am SO SCARED RIGHT NOW (which i’m sure he did on purpose)… everything looks like we are lined up for 3 to live (if gojo stays dead, which i hope he does, as much as i love him, the guy’s last words are that he is happy he went out the way he did and that he hopes his afterlife vision is real, LET HIM REST, he wouldn’t want to survive in exchange for Yuji or Megumi’s death (also having another character come back from the “dead”, especially one that is properly established to be dead, at this point feels like it would cheapen the concept of death in the series))

now, if this is how it ends, and this chapter was officially announced as the climax of the battle in advance so that’s likely, especially with the condition sukuna was in at the end, you won’t catch me complaining (i’m not THAT kind of shonen fan, griping over on twt about how it’s bad writing if we get a happy ending, these kids have been through ENOUGH, let them have time to grow older together, they never even managed to get to first name basis)

however: we do have another 4 chapters left…

and that leaves us with the option that if gege decides to be evil (like he often is) we could dramatically go from having unexpectedly reached the final “3 live 1 dies “ configuration, giving us a sense of security, to a fear of reaching the dreaded “only one survivor” option

Now, I previously made a different too long post about why either of the boys being the lone survivor would both be equally good story telling for a bittersweet ending to this story (see here)

now, i’m going to exclude the option of Nobara dying because her coming back just to be killed a chapter or two later would be stupid (plus the only way i can see that happening is if Uraume suddenly shows up at the dam after having killed Hakari and taken a train which… yeah… ), so that would automatically make her the lone survivor (again, already talked about the reasons why either of they boys dying works, though i will say that her return would strengthen Megumi’s will to live)

Nobara is more independent as a character than either of the boys, as far as her motivations go. She is the one character (out of the three of them) who viewed being a sorcerer as a job (think about her asking Momo is her life is just a job during their fight), more than having it directly tied into her purpose in life, which is something a lot of the adult survivors have in common. She has people outside of jujutsu society that she would like to see again (to be blunt, she has other friends and family, unlike the other two, plus she didn’t go through the additional trauma that made the other two cling to each other even more)

while she would definitely grieve them immensely, she has the resilience to grow around that grief, if both Megumi and Yuji should somehow die with Sukuna.

Again, i don’t think this is the most likely outcome, especially considering that gege said that he hopes the ending will make people happy which dead main characters don’t tend to do, but i do think that this is definitely an option i can’t dismiss out of hand until Sukuna is officially dead

edit: another point in favour of the happy ending is of course, the whole "jjk is about breaking the cycle" theory, which is reinforced by the "cycling curse" line on the second to last page of this chapter

[catierambles]

"What do we got here, sweetheart?" Syverson asked as they approached the chasm, the depths murky with what looked like swirling sand. "This definitely wasn't here yesterday."

"Would account for the seismic activity your equipment read." She said and took out her own instrument. "It's an aetheric torrent of air and earth aspected aether." He went to peer over the edge but she pulled him back by his vest. "Stay away from the edge, Seth. We don't know how far down the bottom is and you wouldn't make it anyway, the aetheric energies would literally tear you apart if you fell in."

"Yep, got it, backin' away." He said, "So I'm guessin' the giant pit of horrible death probably wouldn't be safe to explore."

"Not without the proper protection." She said and put away her reader, heading back to the truck and taking her fishing pole from the back.

"I thought nothin' would survive in there."

"No, you wouldn't survive in there." She said, attached a lure to the hook. "To quote one of your movies, life finds a way." She cast it into the pit, tugging on the line and soon it went taught and she pulled, turning back on the reel. With a jerk backwards, the end of the line popped up, something attached to the lure.

"If I didn't know any better," He said as she removed the hook from it's mouth, "I would say that's a trout. Bit dusty, but it's got the markin's."

"Certainly does look like it." She said as she measured it before tossing it back.

"Not to your likin'?"

"Want something a bit bigger." She said as she cast her line back into the abyss.

"What do you think caused it?"

"Probably collapsed sandworm tunnels." She said, tugging on the line. "If too many make too many tunnels in aether rich areas, they tend to collapse and cause, well, this."

"We are by the mountains. You did say they like to burrow there." He said, hooking his thumbs in his vest. The ground started to shake under them, "Please don't tell me it's gonna widen." He started backing away from the chasm.

"Nope." She said, reeling her line in quickly, "Back in the truck, right now. I'm driving." He didn't question it, tossing her the keys as she threw her rod back in the bed of the truck, getting behind the wheel and starting the engine. He barely had the passenger door closed before she peeled away, kicking rocks and sand. There was what sounded like an explosion behind them and he looked back, seeing the massive creature twice the size of metro bus emerging from the sand, covered in spines with a gaping mouth full of rows of razor sharp teeth like a shark.

"Let me guess, sandworm?!" He asked, turning back around and holding onto the suicide handle as she tore off across the desert.

"A very angry one!" She said and jerked the wheel as it exploded out of the ground a few feet away, "That chasm was probably its' home!"

"What's your plan, doll?!"

"Keep driving! It'll give up eventually!" She said and he nearly ate dashboard a couple times from her maneuvers before he saw the worm give up in the side mirror, turning around and diving back into the sand dejectedly. She didn't let up until they drove back through the gates of the camp, screeching to a halt. "You okay?"

"I'm good." He said, relaxing back in the seat. "Next time we go out to one of those horrible death pits, we're bringin' a mounted gun with us."

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Blow this popcicle stand

My gift for @missycolorful for the @technoblade-gift-exchange

Read on AO3 here!

I had a total blast writing this! I hope you enjoy as well. I admit I kinda smushed together a couple of your prompts, but I am very happy with the result. Enjoy! <3

**

Phil was, historically, better at the talking-to-people thing. Not necessarily the being-reasonable thing, Techno did often have to sit in on all of Phil’s meetings in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed due to, quote, “it’d be funny, mate,” unquote. But talking to people, talking was something Phil could and did do. Techno? Not so much. He didn’t, he didn’t really care for it, you know. Wasn’t really his forte.

But Phil was busy in a month-long series of meetings negotiating a new peace agreement with a nation that wanted regular access to the moon portal (financially a very good move for the Empire, logistically a nightmare). And while Techno would really prefer to be in those, both to have a comprehensive set of expectations for what would be happening in the future and to keep an eye on his partner, it wasn’t the only nation that wanted the Empire’s attention.

And Techno was, if not suited, at the very least capable of trade negotiations with one of their friendlier allies.

Even if he hated the idea.

His thick, heavy, fur-necked cape moved with his arms as he pulled his long hair back into a ponytail, the sound of his hooves ringing out against the arctic stone rather slowly as he approached the meeting room. Almost like he was dragging his feet. But jokes on you, Chat, Techno didn’t have feet to drag! So clearly he was getting there at a very reasonable pace. And wasn’t stalling. No chance of that, not with him, haha, nope!

Despite it being his literal actual destination, Techno found himself surprised when he was suddenly in front of the meeting room door. Who authorized this? Ninja doors, sittin’ around jumpscaring good hardworking emperors. Probably Phil, the weeb. Actually, Techno should try to remember this bit for later, he was sure Phil would love the notion of a ninja door. Get a good laugh outta that one.

Focus. He did still have to, you know, open the door. Have the pre-scheduled and entirely-foreseen meeting that would take place behind it.

Was that the alarm bell he heard? Off in the distance? Wayyyyy far away in the distance? No? Just him then? Alright.

No, Chat, he wasn’t stalling. He was just securing the perimeter with his superior hearing before engaging with outside forces. Yes he had superior hearing, look at the pink shell of his ears, sticking out of his face like that. What, no, he was not a bishounen, Chat, under no circumstances was anyone allowed to call him that. Honestly, the ideas that Chat got in their heads, smh.

Okay! Okay! He wasn’t stalling! He was opening the door now!

Inside the meeting room was the Essempi convoy, its three main representatives seated on the couch that faced the massive armchair Techno took. Next to his was a significantly smaller armchair, specifically designed to accommodate a man’s wings.

Not for nothing, Techno wished Phil was here.

“Welcome to the Empire,” he started, because that sounded most appropriate. Already, the back of his neck felt hot and damp with sweat. That’s why he put his hair up, he supposed.

“Thank you for having us,” replied the woman in the middle, leaning forward across the low table to extend her hand. Shoot, handshakes, should he have done that before he sat down? Did Phil normally do that? Techno was suddenly blanking on any social interaction he’d ever had prior to this one in his life.

Her hand was firm, warm, and had shallow calluses. The strong grip of a woman who worked and wasn’t intimidated by Techno in the slightest. Would it be easier for him if she was intimidated? More importantly, had Techno met her before? Her voice seemed… familiar. Ish. Familiarish.

Niki! That’s Nihachu Her name is Nikki, you’ve met her before Niki! Nikki? I never know which it is

“Uh, Niki, is it?”

She laughed, and it wasn’t a mean sound. Techno felt his face heating up anyway. “You remembered!” The look on her face wasn’t pity, nor offense, but she gave off the impression of being very knowing of what was going on in Techno’s brain, “My hair was brown last time we met, with the blonde in the front.”

Oh! Okay, yes, Techno could place her now. She’d been invited to the same weird political shindig festival party thing that Phil had dragged him to.

“Nice to see you again,” he said, a little more sincerely. And a touch relieved.

“You as well,” she said warmly, then gestured to the woman to her right. Er, well, to her left, Techno’s right—didn’t matter. “This is Captain Puffy, she’s a state-sponsored merchant we’ve been working closely with. She’s interested to see if she’d be a good match for this route, depending on what we work out.”

“Yo!”

Captain Puffy was an extremely short woman (maybe even shorter than Phil), though far from petite. Her big curling hair and big curling ram horns and big sunglasses and big captain’s coat all spoke to a relatively large personality, and the big smile she flashed him did not actually help settle Techno’s nerves. Maybe he should’ve had some tea or something before all this. She was also slouching, leaned against the arm of the couch with all the debonair swagger of a woman entirely at ease around important people. As an emperor of one of the world’s fastest growing empires, Techno could probably stand to take a page from her book.

Whose idea had it been to put him in charge, again? Oh right, his.

Gesturing to her other side, Niki continued, “And this is Ranboo. He’s something between a pupil and a little brother, to me; he’s mostly just here for this to be a learning experience.”

As short as the captain was, Ranboo was tall. Wraith-thin with too-big eyes and an air about him that seemed even more nervous than Techno felt. Techno at least had his flat affect and “monotone” voice (he still didn’t get that, but enough people had told him that he had a monotone by now that he just accepted it) to act as buffer. This kid (and Techno got a very strong impression that he was young, despite not knowing much about Ender ages (well, maybe he knew more than most, given the Empire’s plot-relevant access to the moon)) wasn’t so much as wearing his heart on his sleeve as he was stringing it up on a chandelier.

“Nice to meet you both,” Techno said, the captain giving him a lazy salute and Ranboo nodding so stiffly it looked like his neck might snap.

“Shall we get straight to it, then?” Niki asked, and Techno nodded, so incredibly thankful that someone else was comfortable taking charge of a conversation.

And then they sank blissfully into the thing that was Techno’s strong suit: his stuff. Techno had a good head for what items were worth, and while he wasn’t the most organized person (he had goons for that) he absolutely knew how much he had of what, and what the Empire could afford to spare in trading efforts, provided they received what they were promised in return. Now, storms could sink even the most experienced ships, and fleets could get blown off course, so he had to factor in wiggle room and contingency plans as well.

Another strong suit. Techno was a beast at contingency plans. Nobody could plan a contingency plan like Techno planned his plans.

The deeper they got into the numbers game and talk of resources, the more Techno chilled out. This wasn’t socializing, not really. He was mostly just indulging in his inventory vices while other people were in the room.

Something Essempi had in plenty that the Empire desperately needed was food. More specifically: vegetation. They had their arctic, thick-furred cows, their fluffy chickens, their heavy-hided boars, their densely-wooled sheep, and their round the clock fisheries. Nothing would breed too close to the moon portal, but here at the castle their herds and flocks were thriving just fine. But plants? That took underground greenhouses with low ceilings and constant torchlight to do anything. And a growing empire was a hungry thing: greenhouses alone weren’t going to be sustainable. Not long term.

Techno had his reservations about putting too much faith in their allies. A resource as important as food needed more than one source.

But. Techno’s reservations wouldn’t spontaneously feed everybody, and Essempi had been friendly and amicable all through negotiations. All things considered, they were probably the closest and most trustworthy ally the Empire had.

And their representatives didn’t make Techno want to melt into a puddle or stab anybody! So. Points all around in their favor. Niki did most of the talking, her voice soft and cheery, clearly the most familiar with Essempi resources and used to political negotiations. The captain would chime in mostly around the actual act of trade itself, naval logs and star charts and detailed maps crowding her end of the low table. Ranboo, as Niki mentioned, didn’t say… anything at all, the whole meeting. He just sat, straight-spined enough to put the strictest governess to shame and making eye contact with nobody, scratching notes into a book he’d brought.

Essempi was offering them good deals. More than fair, if Techno was being entirely honest. And he knew he didn’t have any personal charm to thank for that. He filed that away for future reference. Either Essempi was even more well off than rumors suspected, or there would come a day when they asked the Empire to pay back their generosity (likely with swords and soldiers, if the history books held any credence).

But that was fine. In the now, they were offering lucrative details for necessary resources. (In the future, Phil would need enrichment anyway (Techno, too, he did love a good fight)). Techno would still probably want to set up a couple additional trade agreements with other nations, just in case, just to cover all his bases. And the greenhouses obviously weren’t going anywhere, Techno would not be sacrificing even an ounce of pre-established self-sufficiency.

But even Techno, of all people, had to admit that he was feeling pretty optimistic by the time they all stood and shook hands in parting. He remembered to shake Puffy’s and Ranboo’s this time, Puffy’s hand tiny and grip strong, Ranboo’s slender fingers still faintly trembling with nerves but his smile seeming at the very least half-genuine.

Woof. Ough. His back. The time! The sun set early here, but he was still surprised to see that it had sunk below the horizon while he was squirreled away looking at documents and maps and an antique abacus. His staff seemed to agree, yawning and musing over dinner plans as the two groups dispersed, the Essempi convoy headed towards the guest quarters and Techno and his officials wandering further inwards of the castle.

“Well done in there, Your Majesty!” praised one of Techno’s staff while he wasn’t looking, and he was too embarrassed to admit that he hadn’t quite managed to catch who was talking, so he just raised a hand and gave a vague “Ayup” before leaving quickly. Much quicker than he had arrived, as it happened. So interesting, that things worked out like that.

“Busy day?” Phil asked as the door to the royal quarters clicked shut. Techno sighed heavily and let his head thunk back against the heavy wood. Phil, the intolerable jerk, giggled at him.

“Why weren’t you the one handling that again?”

“Because the little stunt we pulled was just a biiiiiit too successful,” Phil reminded with another chuckle, and Techno groaned as he shoved off the door.

It had been a gambit, but as a fledgling nation the Antarctic Empire had needed to gain the attention of the rest of the world, and gain their attention they had. An extremely brief, brutal, there-then-gone conquest that had left the vast majority of the world temporarily under the Empire’s claim. It served two purposes, each a message:

Do not, under any circumstances, make enemies of the Empire.

Probably a good idea to play nice and make friends, though.

Most of the world had taken the first message very much to heart, and the testing nudges they’d been making abruptly vanished. Some nations, like Essempi, had quickly jumped to playing nice, eager to make powerful allies (and perhaps just as eager to make sure they didn’t have a powerful enemy).

A couple nations had taken message number one as a challenge, and readied warships with bloodied thirst.

Not that the Empire couldn’t handle a bit of… rough play, but it did mean that after squashing attempts at overthrowing or subjugating them, Phil got saddled with miles of paperwork establishing the enemy’s surrender and the Empire’s new normal.

“I thought you were meeting with the guys who wanted moon access today?” Techno asked as he approached. Phil’d had dinner brought to their rooms, as they did most nights when they weren’t expected to make an appearance, and Techno let into the meat and eggs with gusto.

“That’s tomorrow. Tonight was more surrender talk.”

“So that’s why you double booked us. You wanted ‘em alone in a room with you.”

Phil giggled, waggling his fingers so as to make a show of his talons.

Techno gave a very half-hearted kick to his shin. Quarter-hearted. Maybe even sixth-hearted. Phil cackled at him.

“Can’t let you outta my sight for ten minutes,” Techno groused around a mouthful of chicken. Phil popped a handful of red berries into his mouth (some of the only vegetation that could be grown outside of the greenhouses), and he looked altogether too smug.

“How’re things with Essempi going? Off to a running start?”

“Actually? Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“I like the representative they sent over, Niki, she’s got a good head on her shoulders, and so far they’ve been fair, if not generous.” Techno gave his partner a meaningful glance. “We should probably expect a request for military aid, sometime in the future.”

Phil shrugged, entirely unfazed. “We’ve always known that’s a possibility. And we’re not exactly hurting for it.”

“Figured as much.” Techno lifted his plate to slide the eggs into his open mouth, the fork method far too slow. “Honestly don’t think this deal is gonna take too long to finalize. Week, probably?”

“For you? That’s a goddamn miracle, mate.”

Techno snorted. “I know, right? She’s got a pupil along with her, skinny guy named Ranboo. Showin’ him the ropes.”

Phil spluttered a laugh. “And she chose you for a practice round!?”

“I know right? Like, c’mon, cut the guy some slack. He looked ready to shake out of his skin. Don’t just throw him off the deep end chanting ‘blood for the blood god’ like there’s gotta be less intimidatin’ guys than me out there.”

Phil giggled and Techno continued, “Brought a ship captain too, Puffy, shorter than you and louder. She’s been a good help settin’ realistic expectations, but I dunno how involved she’s gonna be in the rest of our meetings.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty good handle on it, mate. Good for you, good for you.”

Techno snorted. “Never thought we’d see the day.”

“Aww, I knew you could do it.” Techno cast him yet another look. He giggled. “Eventually.”

Techno guffawed and set his plate down, dropping his head back. By the Blood God, he felt tired.

“Well,” Phil continued, stretching his arms above his head and his wings out to each side, “nobody got attacked and no emergencies happened, so I’ll call this day a win.”

“Ah, but I did get attacked,” Techno said with a raised finger, remembering his joke from earlier.

“Oh?” Phil asked, with all the sharp-eyed curiosity of a man who knew a punchline was coming, but was trying to tell where from.

Techno heaved his head back up. “In the halls of our own very castle. I was caught off-guard—very brutally, I should add—by a ninja door.”

Phil broke immediately into cackles.

“Snuck up on me while I was just innocently walkin’ down the hall, Phil. Never would’ve expected it. One of our own doors. The betrayal was immense.”

“whAT?” Phil giggle-shouted, his feathers poofing and his shoulders shaking.

“I was just mindin’ my own business when bam! Suddenly the door was right there. Scared the life out of me. Don’t worry, Phil, I showed it who was boss. I twisted that handle like I was born for it.”

Phil was now laughing so hard tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.

Techno grinned, warmth glowing in the center of his chest. Truthfully, it probably wasn’t that funny of a joke, but the combination of fatigue, the subject being unexpected, and Phil being an easy audience made it sound like ninja doors were the funniest thing in the whole world.

The night was still young, but Techno was utterly drained from the day of talking (and tomorrow would be much the same) so he called it an early night. Phil, equally tired from twisting arms into surrender (and maybe getting to play a little mean with his talons, who knew. Not Techno! Techno hadn’t been there to reel him in!) was more than happy to agree.

This far south, sleeping in your own bed was about as smart as wandering the town naked. Too much warmth leached out that way. It was only sensible that family members shared a bed together, with drapes around the edges to keep the air captive.

Techno had no family to speak of, except the one, so the two emperors dressed for the night and crawled in together, Phil’s top wing spread out over them like an added blanket and his icy little feet pressed up against Techno’s leg.

“Why are you always an ice cube?” Techno groused, gathering his friend in his arms.

“Shhhh, you’re just a friggin’ blast furnace, mate. Go to sleep.”

Techno huffed, breath stirring Phi’s hair and making him chuckle, then nuzzled down into the blankets and his companion, wishing he could hibernate the day off. Blood God himself, he was tired.

But wake the next morning he did, and the next, and the next after that. Essempi eventually embarked for their home, along with the first shipment of goods from the Empire. More countries entered peace treaties with them, or at the very least non-aggression pacts, particularly as more nations fell to the Antarctic Empire’s might. Trade was good, their people sleeping with full bellies and a more or less nutritionally balanced diet. The Empire produced plenty of coal, in its cavernous depths, and many nations of warmer climates had want for the ice they so easily chiseled up from around them.

Things were good.

Techno was getting… better, about the whole talking to people thing. After the first few days, Ranboo had started speaking, and Techno had found a kindred spirit in him. The two now exchanged regular correspondence. Mostly about books, but sometimes they’d share personal stories or gossip (apparently Captain Puffy was working very closely with a certain someone, indeed). Meetings were no longer torments summoned directly from hell (not that Techno liked them, but Techno was pretty sure he was never actually going to like meetings (honestly, he was pretty sure nobody did)). He and Phil were getting a pretty good handle on this whole, “being emperors” thing.

That said, politically motivated social functions were still the worst. But Essempi was, to date, still their closest and friendliest ally, and Techno knew enough about court niceties by now to know that regardless of how much he might’ve wanted to, he and Phil could not turn down their invitation to a ball.

“What even is the point of balls,” Techno groused as he examined the flimsy nothings the tailor had made for him to wear there. Too thin of a material, not nearly enough fur around his neck, he’d freeze to death in this in an instant. He… did like the gold bits, though. He’d conceded on that. And the jewelry. Those parts were nice. The rest of it was like walking around in wet paper, though.

“Maintaining positive social ties with political figures we’ve already established with and makin’ new friends with new people at a designated function for doing so—”

“I was bein’ sarcastic, Phil,” Techno cut off the overly-formal lecture, making Phil cackle. “It’s called a rhetorical question, Phil, ever heard of it?”

“Can’t say I have, mate,” Phil lied with a giggle.

“A rhetorical question is a—” Techno started, overly-formal lecture of his own primed and at the ready, and Phil swatted him with a big black wing, setting them both to laughing.

The boat ride to Essempi went about as well as anticipated. Phil flitted about, happily assisting with the crow’s nest and upper rigging, and Techno spent about half of it bent over the railing, the other half desperately attempting to coax water and ginger teas into his stomach that he didn’t immediately upend.

“We should build a land bridge,” Techno groused when his friend came over to both hydrate and mock him.

Phil, predictably, laughed, “Mate, I don’t know if even we mine up enough stone for that,” he said as he passed a water flask over. Techno swished it around his mouth and spit, trying to rid himself of the now everpresent taste of bile, then sipped slowly and delicately, his stomach groaning pathetically and churning at even that.

“Then we’re building flying machines and we’re taking those. Planes, blimps, hot air balloons, I don’t care, this is the last trip I sail anywhere.”

“Blimp’s not a bad idea,” Phil mused as Techno shut his eyes, bracing himself against the railing with renewed force and willing the nausea to pass him over without taking his water with it. “It’d be more regal and dignified than staggerin’ off a boat dehydrated and starved and swaying.”

“Gonna punch you for that.”

“Are you now?” he asked with a giggle.

“Ayup. Just give me three to five business days to get off this railing and then it’s over for you. It’s so over for you.”

More laughter. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Well, I’m off to go perch in the crow’s nest again, have fun pukin’ your guts out.”

“Death. Death and violence.”

His friend’s retreating laughter left him and he stewed in abject misery for the rest of the trip. By the time they hit land and Techno was able to collapse into a bed that wasn’t swaying every which way, he was even looking forward to the party, since it meant not being on the boat.

The flimsy cheesecloth the tailor had prepared for him made more sense in this warmer climate, and now that he wasn’t being a stubborn child about it he had to admit: he cleaned up good. Deep red and gold and black, Phil his match but green, they were striking, appearing wealthy and deadly and even, somehow, regal.

Despite, y’know, it being the two of them.

The party goers were respectful, nobody jumping at the chance to speak with the Antarctic emperors but no one intentionally snubbing them either, and Techno mostly just had to loom behind Phil with a ridiculously shatterable little wine flute pinched delicately between his fingers and listen. Answer the occasional polite question that was directed his way, make sure Phil didn’t get too excited at any perceived slight, it was almost even normal.

He was at the food table, piling high a plate he intended to share with his co-emperor, when he heard a familiar, boisterous voice.

“Emperor Technoblade!”

“Captain,” he greeted, turning to her. She extended her drinking glass, and he gently clinked his against it. “They’re lettin’ riffraff like you in here?”

Puffy barked a sharp laugh, loud and unabashed. “I’m a plus one.”

“Oh?” Techno raised an eyebrow. “You and Niki official, then?”

Puffy squinted. “And how exactly do you know about that?”

Techno smirked behind the rim of his glass. “I have informants everywhere.”

Puffy laughed, once again boisterous and booming, and landed a playful punch just barely above Techno’s elbow. Haha why are you so short.jpeg. Oh c’mon Chat that joke is not old that’s still peak comedy right there.

“Man, I can’t believe everyone’s so intimidated by you.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw me in a fight,” Techno countered, amused.

“And you wouldn’t say that if you saw me in one, blood boy!”

Techno arched an eyebrow. “Blood boy,” that was a new one. In their trade with Essempi, Techno and Phil had gotten to know the sea captain a little better each time she was in their port, and she’d taken to treating them with the same friendly irreverence she spoke to everyone with.

Techno set his plate down on the edge of the table, largely crowded out by the serving dishes but finding just enough space for it to not go falling over. Intentionally, he loomed over her, his impressive height casting her fully in shadow, and let himself grin.

“Careful, Captain. It’s not smart to threaten me with a good time.”

As tolerable as the party was thus far, Techno would be lying if he said he wouldn’t ditch in half a heartbeat to go screw around. And after the miserable journey here, a good friendly sparring match with a spunky lady sounded like even more fun than usual.

Puffy rocked up on her hooves, and even on the tips while Techno was stooping down she couldn’t really get “in” his face but he understood the gesture. His grin widened. It matched her own.

“What’s the matter, big boy, don’t think you could take me?”

“Miss Puffy, um, you promised Miss Niki you wouldn’t cause a scene,” came a timid voice from nearby, and both Techno and Captain Puffy perked.

“Ranboo,” Techno greeted, scooping up his plate of food and crossing the distance to his young friend.

“Hello, Emperor Technoblade, it’s nice to see you, please don’t encourage her.”

“Good to see you too,” Techno said warmly, meaning it. Through their letters, Techno had come to regard the young Enderian as a good friend.

Puffy gasped as she trotted over, and shoved right up into Ranboo’s space. “Are you the nark?”

“Um,” Ranboo said, backing slowly away only to be further crowded by a sheep woman half his height, clearly confused, “no?”

“Yeah, Captain, what’s with this baseless accusation you’re makin’ against my good pal Ranboo?”

“I can’t believe this. Betrayed by my own girlfriend’s tagalong.”

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

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Techno said, slinging an arm over Ranboo’s shoulders and nearly bowling the guy over with its weight. Techno had seen bamboo shoots with more structural integrity, smh.

“E-either way, please do not help Miss Puffy make a scene. Miss Niki specifically instructed her not to do that.”

“Guess we’ll just have to go somewhere there’s nobody else around,” Puffy said, still full of good cheer.

“True. Can’t make a scene if there’s no one to see it.”

“Oh, no. I. I’m going to go get Miss Niki.” Techno barked a laugh but released Ranboo to go do so, and Puffy waggled her fingers at his retreating backside.

“Kayyyy. We won’t be here when you get back!”

Techno glanced down at the plate in his hand. Hm. Well, he couldn’t just return it all to the serving dishes, he’d already touched it. Puffy nudged him with her elbow, and when he glanced her way he found her pulling at her wide neckline and winking at him. With her other hand, she lifted the neck of a bottle of what surely must be rum, and he caught on immediately. Using one of the overly-fancy napkins, he bundled his snacks and passed them to her, watching her disappear them into her clothes. That was so smart, he’d have to talk to his tailor about providing him that kind of opportunity in future outfits.

His loyalty to his co-emperor did him in, though. Puffy was already heading out one of the patio doors, sneaking off into a well-maintained garden, but Techno detoured to grab Phil, knowing if there was going to be any fighting, for fun or for murder, he’d be heartbroken if Techno left him out.

“Emperor Technoblade,” greeted Niki from behind him while he was trying to wait out the conversation Phil was currently engaged in. She sounded icier than when she’d been in his antarctic home, negotiating trade.

Busted.

“Hello, Niki,” he returned. Definitely not sounding guilty. Nothing going on over here officer, no suspicious activity whatsoever.

“It seems my partner for the evening has vacated the premises. Would you care to dance with me in her place?”

“Uhhhhh.” Techno wasn’t the best at court niceties, but he knew a request from a “request.” He took her outstretched hand.

“What uh—why the sudden interest?” Oh that sounded so suspicious he could stab himself.

“Can a lowly civic servant not ask an emperor for a dance?”

“Uhhhh no, no that’s fine. That’s uh, that’s fine, just, haven’t uh—how you been, Niki, haven’t seen you in a while!” he not-so-subtly changed the subject.

“I have been alright. Times have been better for us than in a long time, and I have been kept busy making sure it all stays in running order.”

“Not too busy, I hope?”

Niki laughed, but it wasn’t the most mirthful sound he’d ever heard.

In some of Ranboo’s letters, he’d voiced concern for his mentor/sister figure, writing of nightmares and insomnia that was only partially due to her high workload.

“Cause stressin’ yourself out can take a toll on the body, you know,” Techno pushed, not sure if it was his place to or not, but eh. He liked Niki. She was a good sensible woman who (normally) didn’t make him feel like dying or killing out of sheer mortification. And during negotiations, she’d been friendly. “It’s important to take breaks and have fun, every now and then.”

She pursed her lips in a frown, and it looked so much like she was pouting that he chuckled. “C’mon, take a load off.” He grinned at her, playful and a little teasing. “There’s a very pretty girl outside who I know would just love to have you come goof off with us.”

“Well now that’s not out of the ordinary. That very pretty girl is always trying to get me to goof off.”

“Maybe you should listen to her more often.”

Niki sighed and let Techno spin her, the dress she’d chosen for the party flaring nicely. “Maybe I should.”

“Yeahhhhhhhh that’s the spirit! Come join us! We’ll make, like, a bookclub or something.”

Niki let out a “pfft,” and then giggled quietly. “I should put that in my credentials somewhere. ‘In a bookclub with an emperor.’”

“Two emperors if I can get him away from those—what are they, petty nobles?”

“Ambassadors from Kpop.”

“Cringe. We gotta get outta here, Niki, I can feel my viewership dropping by the moment.”

“I don’t know what that means—Technoblade!”

In a grand sweeping movement that was definitely not typical but could still technically be considered dancing, Techno rushed the two of them towards the patio, catching Phil’s eye just briefly enough to give a jerk of his chin, watching his friend’s eyes light up with curiosity and mirth.

Okay, good, Phil was coming.

“Really,” Niki scolded, but she wasn’t resisting him at all as he dragged her along, out into the privacy of the manicured foliage and beyond.

“Ehhh, relaaax. Nobody saw us leave. Probably.”

“I am quite sure a great many people saw us leave.”

“Eh. Phil and I already talked to everybody important that would get, like, big mad if we didn’t. We can ditch.”

“I am part of the hosting party.”

“Aaaaaaaaand now you’re not. So it’s fine, it’s fiiiine.”

Niki giggled, and it sounded just a little more genuine. Good. He was getting a good grade in cheering Niki up, something reasonable to want and possible to achieve.

“Heyyyyyy, look what the pig dragged in!” Puffy cheered, bottle open in one hand and waving excitedly with the other.

“You are incorrigible. I cannot believe you dragged an emperor in on your shenanigans.”

“This is actually pretty consistent with my character honey, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Techno barked a laugh and snagged the bottle from her, taking a big gulp before extending it towards Niki.

“I am surrounded by ruffians,” she said, but he noted she took the bottle and a big drink of her own.

“Ehhh, I wouldn’t really call two people ‘surrounded,’ maybe sandwiched?” A familiar sound of wings had Techno’s elbow angling up on instinct, and soon he had a shoulder full of best friend. “Okay, Phil’s here, now you’re surrounded.”

“Who’re we surrounding?”

“We’re forcing Niki to take a load off and have a nice evening.”

“Pog.”

“Cheers to that, Emperor number two!”

Phil spluttered around laughter as he hopped from his perch. “I’m just the number two now, am I?” He took the bottle from Niki, who went and leaned on her laughing girlfriend and pressed a kiss atop one of her horns.

The sound of footsteps and not-so-subtle huffing and puffing had them all turning to look. It was far too loud to be any kind of assassin, so nobody was on guard, and Phil took another swig of rum as Ranboo rounded a hedge.

Realizing his late entry made all eyes fall on him, Ranboo flushed. Huh. He turned kinda greenish on one side and a more typical red on the other. Pogchamp, Techno supposed.

“Uh,” he said, still catching his breath a bit. “Um. Miss Niki, you, uh, left the party.”

“Sorry Ranboo,” she said, looking honestly chagrined. “I did not mean to leave you there on your own.”

Ah. Left alone by the extrovert that adopted you at a party that wasn’t your idea to attend in the first place. A fate worse than death, which Techno would not wish on his worst enemy, much less friend.

“Um. Why is, everyone here, and not, inside?” he asked, tail twitching and lashing with his agitation.

“We’re ditching,” Techno said, slinging an arm around the little beanpole once again. “You are too.”

“I’m—what?” Ranboo spluttered as Techno dragged him forward, starting the group into a slow amble further from the noises of the party, Niki looking at him with apology and Puffy cheering around a laugh.

“Yeah, mate, you’re a delinquent now!” Phil said brightly, pushing Ranboo from behind while Techno pulled. “Gotta play hookie with us.”

“I, um, I uh, well,” he stammered, twisting his fingers, looking about between them and finding absolutely no help.

“You’re bein’ peer pressured. We’re peer pressurin’ you. Just come goof off with us, Ranboo, join the dark side, we have cookies.”

“We do, actually,” Puffy said, taking the rum back and finishing off the bottle. “I’ve got enough snacks hidden in my various pockets to feed an army.”

“Absolute pogchamp.”

“Oh I knew you were up to something!”

“Always,” Puffy said with a wink, rising up onto her hooftips to kiss Niki’s cheek.

“I, uh…” Ranboo sighed. It was a great heaving thing, making him sound more and more like a dejected cat.

“Yeahhhh! One Ranboo, officially roped into our nonsense. Gang’s all here now, gang’s all here.”

“So what’re we doing?” Phil asked cheerfully, crossing his wrists behind his head in a strikingly anime fashion.

“Well, the captain and I were gonna fight—” Phil’s eyes lit up in an excited glint, drawn to the allure of playful violence, “—but since we’ve got Niki and Ranboo now I say we just goof around on the beach.”

“That… does actually sound kind of nice,” Niki admitted, and Ranboo’s whole body perked hopefully. Techno gave one noodle arm a nudge with an elbow and sent him a quick wink. They’d get that girl to take a load off and enjoy herself, even if it took all four of them to do it.

A rustling, too large to be a rabbit, came from a bush ahead of them, just on that seam of land where dirt shifted into sand. Not a moment later, out spilled a man, a man wearing a bright blue onesie.

“Connor?!?” asked all five of them, equally shocked.

“Hey heyyyyyyy, guyyyyys,” Connor said, one leg still trapped inside the bush, splayed out on his back and craning his neck back to look at them, lifting a hand in a peace sign. “How’s it going?”

“Connor, what are you doing here?” Niki asked, concerned.

“Wait, how do you know Connor?” Phil asked.

“How do you know Connor?” Ranboo countered, Niki helping pry the man loose from the bush’s terrible clutches and more or less right himself on his feet.

“Oh, I get around a lot,” Connor said blithely, “At this point I know most people.”

For a moment, they stood in a loose circle, staring silently at one another.

A bottle uncorked and attention turned to Puffy. “I mean, I also know Connor,” she said, taking a swig of something new. “Wanna come screw around on the beach with us? I brought snacks.”

“Oh fuck yeah.”

And screw around they did. Mostly just walking and talking under starlight, the ocean breeze cool but only as much to be pleasant. They found a nice flat rock to take a sit on and Puffy shared the many treats she’d secreted, everyone chowing down and laughing around jokes and conversation. Phil and Puffy got into a wrestling match in the sand at one point, Connor braided uneven sections of Puffy’s hair while Niki pleated nice, neat rows, Techno and Ranboo discussed the recent installment of a book series they’d both been following and that Ranboo had shipped a copy of, knowing Techno would want one and wouldn’t want to wait long enough to place the order all the way from Antarctica.

Phil perched on Techno’s shoulders for no reason other than to feel tall, Connor relayed a tale so wild no one was sure if Connor could actually have survived that sort of thing, or if he was just making up shit as he went along, and Niki was laughing with her whole chest, flush to her cheeks and a weight lifted from her.

It was a good evening. A good night, as the moon rose higher and the distant, far-off sounds of partying wound lower. Their group was winding down as well, conversation fading into companionable silence.

Niki’s weight slumped against Techno’s side, and he glanced down to find the woman asleep.

“Gotter,” he teased softly, nudging Ranboo on his other side.

“Oh, good,” he said fondly, peering around Techno and ending up leaning on him too, as a result. Phil chuckled from above, still perched on Techno’s shoulders. Connor munched away at the remaining snacks, seated on the sand in front of the flat stone, and Puffy leaned contentedly back on her hands on Niki’s other side, staring up at the starlight.

Techno still might not be the best at talking to people, but even he had to admit: if it meant getting him here, on a night that he would’ve otherwise slogged through in a stuffy party full of people he didn’t know, he was pretty glad he’d done so.

Ayup. Not a bad place for him to be.

[rosypenguins]

TMF Headcanons!

(Because they’re a precious little found family and I love that for them.)

🩵Hailey spends several hours scrolling through Pinterest.

💜Zander has a massive black cat plushie hidden away in his room.

🧡Luke has about 200 hours in Animal Crossing, and is emotionally attached to all his villagers.

🩷Milly shops at Hot Topic.

💙Sean tends to keep his headphones on during class, and only catches about half of what the teacher says.

🩵Hailey had a horse girl phase, while Zander’s always been terrified of horses.

💜Zander braided Hailey’s hair a lot when they were younger.

🧡Luke has an entire photo album full of pipctures he took of Zander.

🩷Milly had a dragon phase.

💙Sean’s considered the father of the group, as well as the group therapist.

🩵Hailey and Milly paint each other’s nails.

💜Zander has a habit of stealing the bathroom for hours on end just to make sure he looks his best. He’s very particular about his appearance, especially about his hair.

🧡Luke’s hair is usually pretty messy, but it’s always in an aesthetic way. None of the other club members know how he does it.

🩷Milly refuses to wear skirts.

💙Sean has a terrible sleep schedule due to balancing work, school, and club activities. His parents constantly arguing doesn’t help much either, which leads to him passing out sometimes during club meetings. Usually, the group tends to let him rest.

🩵Hailey loves blueberry lemonade.

💜Zander drinks grape juice out of wine glasses to feel sophisticated.

🧡Luke has a stash of grape juice at his house specifically for Zander.

🩷Milly’s really good at Hip-Hop styled dance. She’s tried to get Sean to do TikTok dances with her, and it usually never works out too well, considering Sean has two left feet.

💙Sean really good at both cooking and cleaning. (He’d make an amazing housewife.)

🩵Hailey’s a Swiftie, and has learned many of her songs on guitar.

💜Zander steals Luke’s clothes all the time, and Luke loves seeing Zander wear them.

🧡Luke and Zander have matching bracelets they made together.

🩷Milly listens to death metal.

💙Sean often takes walks late at night, putting his headphones on full volume and allowing himself to daydream.

🩵Hailey hasn’t seen nor read Heartstopper, yet knows several quotes from the series purely from how much Zander says them.

💜When Heartstopper came out on Netflix, Zander and Luke watched it together, and they both cried.

🧡Luke will listen to Zander ramble on and on about his interests, because he likes listening to Zander’s voice, and he likes learning about Zander’s interests so they have something to talk about.

🩷Milly’s love language is giving surprise hugs.

💙Sean’s love language is sharing his music playlists, and creating playlists for others.

🩵Hailey and Zander both drink tea a lot. Hailey tends to put sugar and cream in hers, whereas Zander drinks his without.

💜Zander can walk better in heels than Hailey can.

🧡Every year for the holidays, the Music Club plays Secret Santa. Luke was the one who started the tradition.

🩷Milly has no problem picking up bugs, and as a result, she’s usually the one to deal with them whenever they get inside the club room. (Zander’s also terrified of bugs, and Milly has chased him around while holding one multiple times.)

💙Sean gives the best hugs.

🩵Hailey and Zander host sleepovers a lot.

💜Zander has RBF.

🧡Luke tends to suppress his own feelings in favor of focusing on Zander’s.

🩷Milly’s always getting herself into dangerous situations on accident, and there have been numerous times Sean’s carried her under his arm after she tries doing something stupid.

💙Despite being the group’s therapist, Sean doesn’t like talking about his own problems in fear he’d be seen as a burden. He’s opened up to Milly a bit, but not much.

[bananaactivity]

will you make au's for MBAV?

That’s a tricky one…

I’d say I more so have basic head cannons then full rewrites for MBAV. Here are some:

Ethan Morgan: His ancient ancestors who were seers developed as a weird cousin type strain whose powers developed from ancient vampires who could see glimpses of the future but slowly lost some of their vampire characteristics.

But they kept the typically pale skin, and anyone who got the domainate seer gene usually gets more years added on to their life. He can do all that jazz like in the show, and he’s very resilient to mind control or other things that disrupt the brain. ( I like to think If he was more evil he’d influence people more because seers can slightly influence people around them, think about Jasper from Twilight but for thoughts and not emotions… like a Jasper and Edward love child 💀) Ethan’s parents both had the recessive trait and his ancestory that Jessie recognized is from his mother’s side.

Ethan has a massive adoration for almost anyone who he finds to be “better” than him in all the right ways. Mainly Benny and Sarah. Benny because he’s always been by Ethan’s side with a big smile, and Sarah because she’s so sweet to everyone she knows, and becomes his really good friend. He still likes Rory but Rory’s too goofy to fall for that way( and too old) Also Jesse tortured him with the idea that his seer powers are the only thing making his friends like him by accidental influence. He knows that Ethan’s too stupid to realize that if that was the case then he would actually be popular. But Ethan angsts over that all the time. 😥

Benny Weir: Bennys magic is also a genealogical trait. It skipped his dad and went straight to him. But it’s not related to any other subspecies. ( also I don’t think Jane should get the seer trait and wizard trait, mostly because she’s literally awful, and as an oldest sibling the trope of younger sibling is an absolute rude jackass selfish nuisance is one I hate)

Bennys magic is the same as the show nothing more nothing less. But his Evil version is a reflection of something “wrong” inside of him rather then a basic evil opposite. Evil Benny is everything “wrong” with Benny reflected back into the world. He’s willing to do stuff Bennys only thought about in the recesses of his mind too. Like use really bad spells, and also maybe that’s why he’s more flirty with Ethan, maybe I dunno just a thought 🫣 but because of that that leads to EB being more of a presence to Benny. He’s always gotta think about when to pull back or what’s too far so his friends don’t look in the eyes of a remorseless monster. And you know also the whole trope of untapped raw power because you’re too righteous to use it or something.

Benny is an everybody man and a huge flirt. He may be a bit more popular than his other friends because of his charisma but he’s loyal to the weird gang tho, He loves Ethan and Rory and Sarah, in that order, that’s a direct quote from him. That’s because I can’t stand when tv shows cast charismatic and objectively cool people to play what’s supposed to be a loser that doesn’t get girls. No chance that Benny wouldn’t pull girls, it’s Rodrick Heffley all over again…

Rory Keaner: Rory is a massive goof ball and a silly goose. He loves hunting small mammals and prefers to steal blood from hospitals, “where it was just sitting there collecting dust!!” He doesn’t like actually hurting people and would prefer to do fun shit then be scary. I don’t have much to change for him because he’s perfect. EXCEPT THAT HES ALWAYS BEEN A VAMPIRE FOR HIS VERY LONG LIFE. But he’s not a creep like Jessie and just has goober fun with mortals (not in a rude way) He loves Benny and Ethan of course, but he’s kinda stupid cause he didn’t really pay attention to history and stuff. he was just goofin around, so like there’s funny hints to how old he is in like history museums where it’s just Rory in ancient art being goofy asl. Like in the mummy episode there would be a hieroglyphic of a blond man with shades like doing something goofy and Rory would be all like “ yooo what the flip! I remember that!!”

Sarah Fox: also unchanged, she had the most going for her so I think she’s also perfect. She’s got a weird thing for Ethan and Erica and it confuses her. But she’s kinda leaning towards Erica…. I dunnooooo 🫣

Erica Jones: I like how she’s not reallyyy freinds with anyone except Sarah, like that’s her bestie. She and Rory’s thing did not seem reciprocated so imma just say she and him are forced freinds because of the vampire thing and Rory’s like a super old one so she thinks she has to respect him more, but Rory’s literally so chill that they become good friends. She’s jealous of Ethan tho for reasons that should be obvious.

That’s all I have I don’t have as many ideas or references for MBAV like I do descendants. It’s honestly the same for other shows too like mighty med where I love the base show so much I dont really think it needs my brain activity :D 

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

Okay okay, in my opinion and this might be controversial, Carlos should get a contract extension if Charles gets one.

For some reason people seem to tjink last season Charles was way better than Carlos, which is just massively biased by Charles last few races being better. Abu Dhabi and Vegas saved his championship standings, as otherwise he would have finished below Carlos.

Why bring it up? Because somehow people think Carlos is lesser than Charles, when realistically if ferrari let them fight, they beat each other. Leclerc is ferraris golden boy, hence the contract, but if ferrari is smart they keep sainz because he can beat charles at times which is great to have in a team

The rumor about carlos having to win 5 races better be bullshit, because if carlos needs to win 5 races (total of races charles won in recent years for them) then Charles, becaus ehe has a contract, should at least win double that? Meaning that car is essentially needing to win more than half the races, meaning red bull needs to have a huge drop in performance and max needs to be beat. Which is ironic, because the only time that happend in 2023 Carlos won and not Charles

I do like charles, just hate his toxic fans, the normal once are very very nice

For Lando, the discourse is stupid. He got an extension with a team he wanted to win with yet people focus on him "not wanting to race max" dezpite him literally saying the opposite. If he did go to red bull they'd be angry because "he thinks he's better than max Hhaha nowins". They just like to hate on Lando. Most of them are toxic charles fans ironically😂

TLDR: carlos deserves a contract, Lando is fine where he is, Charles is.... Charles, and you are amazing, have a nice day!❤️

I just can’t understand why ferrari would let carlos go. he’s a brilliant driver, got them their only win of last season using his own intelligence and tactics, has proven himself time and time again. sure, this season he wasn’t the most consistent, but I do think a part of that was technical issues with the car and tactics/strategy. and they work well as teammates!! they clearly like each other (sure maybe they’re not in love or anything but there’s definitely a camaraderie there)

charles definitely is the golden boy. which isn’t a bad thing!! he lives, breathes and bleeds ferrari, and his commitment to the team is just astonishing. their bias is a tiiiiiny bit obvious - but as long as it doesn’t effect their driving/relationship, it’s not going to make much difference. it’s like this.*

the charles fans are passionate for sure. there’s a group of them on twitter that are a little nasty, they go after other drivers on a personal level for literally no reason. and the way they hate carlos… it’s excessive.

lando catches so much hate and for what reason?? he said he didn’t want to go up against max, not because he was scared, but because it’d wreck his career. max is literally number 1, will continue to be red bulls number 1 until he retires lol (and rightly so). the car, the team, the strategies… red bull has built them around maxie. how would lando ever fit into that??

lando has grown up in mclaren, he’s improved the team so much, it’s his home, his family. obviously he’s not going to give that up to go and be beaten by max every week, on track and in the garage.

the toxic f1 girlies love to go for landos neck for having no wins, but like… there are people on the grid who’ve been racing for upwards of 10/15 years and never won… haven’t got podiums for years (or ever)… I think maybe we need to focus on moving those drivers on, and bringing new talent in? perhaps? and giving mick his fair chance finally but that’s a whole other conversation

thanks for this, my love!! I enjoyed the rant <3

*Charles Leclerc, 2023. A direct quote.

[thembolaura2]

Babel is a book that came highly recommend to me from people I trust, and honestly I can see why. On it's surface, it should've been something I was really into - a book about anti-imperialism set against the backdrop of the Opium Wars while also being about etymology and the inherent imperfections of translating between two languages. Hell it even quotes Frantz Fanon at one point.

And yet.

I've been thinking about it a lot recently, and I think I've come to some conclusions of the things about it that really rubbed me the wrong way - major spoilers for the whole book follow.

Fundamentally, it comes down to one word: class. I think RF Kuang has a massive blindspot around class and classism, and it seeped through in this book in a way that I found quite aggravating.

I'll start by saying that the only working class characters that I can remember are Professor Lovell's housekeeper Mrs Piper, and the northern strikers. And kind of Griffin.

Mrs Piper is basically shown as a stereotypical loving, kindly housekeeper. She's Scottish and makes scones for Robin! That's...about all there is to her character, aside from one particular thing that sticks out to me - there's a bit early on where Robin gets beaten by Lovell for hyperfocusing and missing the start of his lesson, and Mrs Piper gets judged (not by Robin mind, by the book) for not acknowledging anything was wrong:

Some other child suited to better, kinder treatment might have realised that such nonchalance on the part of adults like Mrs Piper [...] to a badly bruised eleven-year-old was frightfully wrong

Now ignoring that this is a book set in 1830s Britain where this would have been a common occurrance anyway (yes it still would've been wrong back then but given the cultural context I don't think there were many other children "suited to a better, kinder treatment"), what grates me about this is that there's absolutely no interrogation of why she might not want to speak out about it. Her job is as a housekeeper. Presumably she is reliant on this job to survive. If she spoke out about this, chances are she'd both lose this job and potentially any future housekeeping jobs. And like, it's not a huge thing, but it's an early sign that the approach to class is at best, lacking.

So then we come to the northern strikers. First introduced as a rowdy, scary crowd - fine, it's from Robin's perspective and he's had a very bourgeois, sheltered upbringing after being picked up by Professor Lovell. They come back later, now on Robin's side, to act as. Uh. A barricade. Only one of them, Abel Goodfellow (lol) is the only one who gets any particuar characterisation, the rest are just a faceless crowd of people who the book doesn't seem to have any real interest in. The only reason they exist is to give the Oxford students and professors an extra layer of protection so none of the actual characters are in any sort of risk for a few chapters.[1]

Which brings me to one of my biggest issues. This whole book has been leading up to this "revolution" - but the revolution is a bunch of academics hiding in the big Colonialism Tower, while a bunch of proles are the ones who actually put themselves at risk. They are basically treated as cannon fodder to protect the brave academics, but then end up getting cold feet when it seems like they might be in some actual danger.

What the fuck.

What puts an even bigger point on this is knowing, throughout the entire book, that RF Kuang herself went to Oxford and pulled from her experiences. While this makes her exploration of the racism in the upper echelons of British society very real and is a legitimately good critique, it also makes the way she approaches the working class in this book feel extremely patronising - made worse by my recent discovery of just how bourgeois the rest of her background is (she went to a Greenhill School where each year costs upwards of $30k, Georgetown University which has a dispropotionately high ratio of students from wealthy families, studied at both Oxbrige unis, and finally an Ivy League uni in Yale.)

And I get it, I'm white, that is absolutely a privilege I have that she does not. I would never deny that, and I never want to talk over people who have experienced racism. But also, class-based oppression is very fucking real. So to have a literal Oxbridge scholar write a book decrying British imperialism and colonialism, criticising Oxford for being a racist driver of these things, while simultaneously glorifying the glamourous aspects of the institution [2] and just glossing over the intensity of classism in British society is, quite frankly, fucking galling.

Oh also, if you want me to be sympathetic to a character, maybe don't make them the fucking prince to another empire??? Utterly bizarre choice.

[1] As an aside, this section is another good example of her blindness towards class:

Despite all expectations, Abel's supporters grew in number over the following days. The workmen strikers were better at getting the message out than any of Robin's pamphlets. They spoke the same lanugage, after all. The British could identify with Abel in a way they could not with foreign-born translators.

The implication I get from this is that because they're foreign academics, those stupid, racist proles ignored them, but like. There is a long, storied history of solidarity across racial lines among the British working classes - admittedly my knowledge of this history doesn't go back as far as when this would have been taking place, but either way, the fact it's not mentioned that the British working class would see them primarily as Oxford toffs just seems like such a weird thing to skip over.

[2] Honestly my issue with all the anachronistic things like the oysters isn't that it's anachonistic but that it comes across as bragging about all the special things she got to experience at Oxford

[theladyofshalott1989]

I'm working on a story right now and struggling with where to go with it. I saw in one of your recent posts that you're currently outlining a story. If you don't mind sharing, how do you go about doing that? Thanks!

HELLO!!! Okay, so I panicked when I saw this Ask (in a good way, I promise hahaha), because while I do have a process, it's hard to describe. So, I went to my BFF @heyitszev to help me formulate my thoughts. Quoting him here, coming up with a quote for what I should say (LOL): "I follow Save the Cat! and then Bash does whatever he wants and I go with it." ^ So... THAT. 😂😂😂

But, to clarify that a bit... Save the Cat! is an outlining process used by screenwriters that can also be applied to novel writing. Here's a link to the website for it with a lot of wonderful resources that can help you on your writing journey. As wonderful as this process is, I do find some downsides to it as a writer of fanfic. 1. If you use this process, it's tough to write anything more than say, 100k+ words per story. Mapping out a story with specific beats that must be hit and resolved within a certain percentage of the story typically means there's a hard stop for the plot to be coherent. BUT, that's what series are for, so there you go.

Side note: I do think I would have a lot more engagement if I had just stuck to one overarching story (lots of readers on AO3 don't tend to follow along with a series, from what I'm finding), but it is what it is! 2. Sometimes the outline is a bit too constrictive for my taste. That's where Bash comes in. I've found over time that loosely outlining is much better than say writing 30+ pages worth of plot beats (yes, I did this for Like Moths to a Flame - it was very time-consuming - LMAO). When I plot loosely, it also leaves room for inspiration. While writing You Cannot Put a Fire Out, I had a general idea of where I wanted the story to go, but then Sebastian (my POV character) took over entirely, and the story went in a completely different direction than I was expecting. And, tbh, I loved "his ideas" even more. I guess what I'm saying here is to trust your instincts. You never know where they'll take you.

That's my writing process! From a routine perspective, once my outline is complete, I write every morning for an hour before work, and sometimes during my lunch break (also an hour). I also write during my toddler's nap time (roughly two hours) on weekends. I don't typically take a day off when I'm writing a story, unless I absolutely have to. Using that process ^, I wrote the first draft of Like Moths to a Flame in about three and a half months. Burning Bright took two months (it's a bit shorter and it didn't require me to watch a million YT playback videos to make sure the dialogue from the game was correct LOL), and You Cannot Put a Fire Out took me four months because Bash wouldn't let me use my outline and I had to move around (and remove!!! massive sigh) huge chunks of stuff I'd already written to make the story make sense. Then there's editing, lots and lots of editing, followed by sending to my lovely beta readers (yay), and then perhaps another draft or two before I start posting. It's quite involved, I will admit. But then, that's that! Thank you so much for asking. I wish you the best of luck with your story! :)

[corvuserpens]

Saw the trailer for the new The Crow movie with Bill Skarsgård and...

Well, it looks cool and fun at least, so I'll definitely sit my ass at the movie theater for the first time since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came out, but I can't help to feel like making it a "remake" of the original 1994 film (bless Brandon Lee and may he rest forever in peace) with some MASSIVE changes (RIP to my girl Sarah and Cool Dad Sgt. Albrecht, they deserved better) was a bit of a missed opportunity? Because look, it's like this

say whatever you will about the quality of the sequels, and whether you liked them or hated them is entirely your business and valid either way. I mean, I only watched City of Angels once and barely remember it, it was that good. Never managed to catch Salvation (read the plot) and watched Wicked Prayer a couple of times (David Boreanaz and Danny Trejo were in that movie, HAH!) and I'm basically neutral about it because THAT was practically a remake of the original but in a different setting with different characters, the plot beats were the a carbon copy.

In summary, the tradition with this unloved obscure franchise is that with every movie, the story changes. You have a new cast, a new city, new villains, and the only constant is that someone is brutally murdered along with a loved one, and their soul can't rest, so the crow that carries them to the next life allows them to come back to right the wrongs before moving on. And independently of how successful the storytelling was, they at least tried to do something different each time (except for Wicked Prayer): City of Angels was about a father being brought back to avenge the murder of his son and Salvation was about a guy being wrongly accused of the murder of his girlfriend and coming back from being executed to solve the mystery of her death and avenge himself and her. And this new film is just--

Oh we have two cishet people who are in love and get murdered and they're both just called Eric and Shelly and this isn't supposed to be a reboot, it's just the same plot as the '94 movie and the main characters are different people but have the same names as the two lovers from the original and we're gonna ramp up the supernatural element even though knowing so little about it is what made the original so mysterious and tight in its themes and instead of our titular Crow looking like "a Nine Inch Nails member" he'll look "like a rapper on SoundCloud" (quoted from a great YT comment btw). Oh and Eric and Shelly are delinquents so we can toss some poorly construed redemption arc, just to spice things up a little.

Just ?????? WHAT?? That's IT????

Ever since the rumors of a new Crow movie started traveling around the internet, I was hoping they would really try and make something interesting with it because this is a kind of universe (I hate that term, fucking Marvel) where there's strict rules, true, but within its boundaries you can get really creative! Like why not have a female Crow, for a change? It's always been a male playing the part! Why not an LGBTQ+ Crow, like hear me out:

how about a lesbian couple who were super in love and happy but got murdered by homophobes one night so one of them is brought back to exact vengeance so brutal, vicious and graphic even the devil would get chills (and the anti-LGBTQ+ fake fans in the audience would shit their pants)?

And I didn't have to think too hard about that one! It's basically the original plot but with lesbians! You get a female Crow AND a LGBTQ+ Crow in the same film!!

And it doesn't have to be about lovers being murdered either, like I said City of Angels was about a father and his son, in Salvation the guy got wrongly executed for the murder of his gf, why not have a daughter coming back to avenge her mother? Why not a friend coming back bc they can't rest after they and their BFF were gunned down? Why can't it be total strangers who hit it off after meeting for five minutes and have a "wrong place, wrong time" scenario going on??? How much better would that be?

So many possibilities, but nooooooo, we gotta go with the tired Sad White Boy (no shade on Bill Skarsgård) loses his One True (Straight) Love plot and he has to be conventionally attractive (and get jacked up when he's brought back bc yeah, I mean in the original Lee's character looked exactly the same pre and pos resurrection, his only superpower was that he couldn't be killed but whatever) and look badass while killing all the bad guys. BORING. Oh and 2024's Shelly is a black woman who gets murdered, don't think I didn't notice that casual racism.

Since we're on that note, why not have a black Crow???? Or a Mexican Crow??????? I realize that in Wicked Prayer Jimmy Cuervo maybe was supposed to be Mexican, but he was still a white man (with Mexican heritage, I'll give it that) so we're back to the same white-people only club! I realize there are white Mexicans, but that's not the point, the point is to give brown skinned people the chance to play a main role where they get to be badass too! Just..... AHHHH.

Listen. Anyone who truly knows me is aware I'm a big romantic bimbo. I LOVE a good love story that ends in tragedy or in bittersweet terms bc the couple are so in love and true love never dies (see what I did there, fellow Crow fans?). But nothing is gonna beat Brandon Lee's movie in that sense, that's why I love it. What buggers me the most is that, from what I've been told, the director and writers wanted to make an adaptation more faithful to the graphic novel (which I have not read YET! I recommend Into The Depths video if you wanna know more about the author James O'Barr and his story, which is a very sad one indeed) that started it all, and yet it doesn't look like it will be any more faithful to said graphic novel than the '94 movie! Like, if you're gonna bullshit about it, at least make up a better excuse.

Hhhhhhhhhh. Hollywood's gonna Hollywood, right? Joke's on me expecting better.

TL:DR The Crow (2024) is trying to be a remake of The Crow (1994) when we already have a remake (The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2000)) instead of trying to make something new and it's silly, but I will still go watch it bc at least it looks fun to look at. And there's a bit of poetry in knowing this new flick will release 30 years after the original, ig.

Rant over.

Bloopers: try to guess how many times I ended up writing Wicked Grace instead of Wicked Prayer bc I'm back on my Dragon Age era lmaooooo.

[agentrouka-blog]

(1/7) You know @rose-of-red-lake's theory about Dany being eaten by one of her dragons? The imagery used in these passages reminded me of these in AGoT, Arya III and Arya IV where she stumbles upon the dragons skulls under the Red Keep:

(7) I wonder if it could foreshadow Arya being the one killing the last living dragon(s?) after it goes fully wild and kills even its own “mother”. It would tie nicely with her training amongst the Faceless Men who were originally slaves working under the Fourteen Flames of Valyria and may be behind the Doom but also with Brandon Snow who wanted to assassinate Balerion Vhagar and Meraxes but was talked out of it by his brother. Arya the Dragonslayer sounds like quite the epic tale. Any thoughts?

Hi anon!

I left out the in-between messages, as they contained the relevant book quotes here, for ease of reading:

By the time she had reached eighty-seven, the room had begun to lighten as her eyes adjusted to the blackness. Slowly the shapes around her took on form. Huge empty eyes stared at her hungrily through the gloom, and dimly she saw the jagged shadows of long teeth. She had lost the count. She closed her eyes and bit her lip and sent the fear away. When she looked again, the monsters would be gone. Would never have been. She pretended that Syrio was beside her in the dark, whispering in her ear. Calm as still water, she told herself. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. She opened her eyes again. The monsters were still there, but the fear was gone. Arya got to her feet, moving warily. The heads were all around her. She touched one, curious, wondering if it was real. Her fingertips brushed a massive jaw. It felt real enough. The bone was smooth beneath her hand, cold and hard to the touch. She ran her fingers down a tooth, black and sharp, a dagger made of darkness. It made her shiver. "It's dead," she said aloud. "It's just a skull, it can't hurt me." Yet somehow the monster seemed to know she was there. She could feel its empty eyes watching her through the gloom, and there was something in that dim, cavernous room that did not love her. She edged away from the skull and backed into a second, larger than the first. For an instant she could feel its teeth digging into her shoulder, as if it wanted a bite of her flesh. Arya whirled, felt leather catch and tear as a huge fang nipped at her jerkin, and then she was running. Another skull loomed ahead, the biggest monster of all, but Arya did not even slow. She leapt over a ridge of black teeth as tall as swords, dashed through hungry jaws, and threw herself against the door. (AGOT, Arya III)

and

This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost old friends. Arya held the candle over her head. With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. "Dragons," she whispered. She slid Needle out from under her cloak. The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand. (AGOT, Arya IV)

There is definitely a strong association between Arya and a confrontation with dragons. Whether that is simply being present during the burning of King's Landing, or whether this involves more is something I am not sure of.

I've moved away a bit from the idea of Arya killing Dany directly, but I don't doubt that her Faceless Man training, Syrio's training, her experiences in tunnels and darkness, warging, spying and deception will play a significant role.

I felt curiously reminded of this scene from ADWD, where Quentyn enters the dragon lair in the basement of the pyramid:

It was black beyond the doors, a sullen stygian darkness that seemed alive and threatening, hungry. Quentyn could sense that there was something in that darkness, coiled and waiting. Warrior, grant me courage, he prayed. He did not want to do this, but he saw no other way. Why else would Daenerys have shown me the dragons? She wants me to prove myself to her. Gerris handed him a torch. He stepped through the doors. The green one is Rhaegal, the white Viserion, he reminded himself. Use their names, command them, speak to them calmly but sternly. Master them, as Daenerys mastered Drogon in the pit. The girl had been alone, clad in wisps of silk, but fearless. I must not be afraid. She did it, so can I. The main thing was to show no fear. Animals can smell fear, and dragons … What did he know of dragons? What does any man know of dragons? They have been gone from the world for more than a century. (ADWD, The Dragontamer)

Darkness. No fear. Animals. Courage. Something you simply have to do. Something a girl can do.

Maybe, maybe not.

[whirld-of-color]

sry if this is random but itd be interesting to see what Blueberry was like before meeting Mango? if that makes sense??? idk lmfao

oh baybee blueberry is like. for a guy who has no memory of who he was or where he came from he has a surprising amount of stuff going on. here's a little drawing of him

anyway meeting mango did not necessarily fundamentally change him as a person- well. no it definitely did. but his personality did not change. prior to meeting mango blueberry still had a habit of sleeping around and drinking a lot and picking up mentally ill people and generally being kind of a mess. he has had a bare minimum of at least 3 exes prior to mango.

over time he's definitely mellowed out a bit i'd say.

like. blueberry used to date this guy. his name was monochrome. and the thing is that they used to get into horrific screaming arguments while they were dating. blueberry was a lot more willing to yell at people- over time, he's sort of repressed more of the reaction, but at the time that he and monochrome were dating he was very frequently overwhelmed by his emotions and ended up taking it out on monochrome a lot.

anyway that relationship ended with blueberry deliberately crashing his motorcycle while gunning the engine as fast as he possibly could with monochrome riding pillion. they got into a massive argument and broke up in the wreckage of his motorcycle.

so you can sort of see how blueberry has chilled out a little over time- by the time blueberry meets mango he is. comparatively a lot better than he was 5 or 10 years ago. the mangoberry breakup is comparatively tame. all things considered.

by the time mango meets blueberry, blueberry is mostly very chill. very depressed. still doesn't really know how to handle emotions. great at repression. drinking problem, smoking problem, probably needs to go to therapy but did i mention the repression. and so on and so forth.

(also blueberry is like blindingly aware that he's sort of an empty shell of a person. prior to mangoberry he picked up playing cello and a few other hobbies but they just never really stuck. so he still has the skills he just doesn't ever do anything with them.)

anyway. here's a graph of a bunch of quotes from the mangoberry playlist, since im talking about him and i didn't ever post this. you should listen to that playlist btw

[luchitohamilton]

lewis with moritz steidl back at the austrian gp '23, part 1 [part 2]

I just don’t read any of that stuff so I don’t get sucked in by the BS, as you mentioned, you know, I just focus on everyday trying to be the best version, trying to work towards building the best version of myself, physically, mentally. I’m trying to work on my entrepreneurial stuff, I’m trying to make sure my foundation is having true impact on people, I’m trying to make sure that when I travel around the world I’m utilizing this platform that I have, like social media, in a positive light that’s educational and it’s uplifting.

They posted another version of this interview and in English so, transcript below 👇

So, Lewis, first of all, thank you to be invited here in Mercedes [My pleasure.] And how is it? Finally you come to a race weekend and now this could be a really really good one.

Yeah, well, we’ve had a couple of really good race weekends, in Montreal, in Barcelona, which to be on the podium on those two, to be so close in Monaco, was a real positive for us. So, we wanna try and continue with the consistency. The team had done an amazing job to point us in a better direction.

When you enter the car, or when you also leave the car, do you or does your body gives you any other specific signs? In a good ones or some, I don’t know. [My Body?] Yeah, yeah, your body. Do you feel like… I’m 30 years old, 29 soon 30, and I remember when I was 20 everything was quite smooth and so, I’m not asking but can you imagine you as a top sportsman you can maybe, you have other signs your body sends out to you?

I think uhm, I’m 38, I think I feel stronger than I’ve ever been so, I think the thing you notice when you get older is recovery takes a little bit longer but it’s not massive. There’re so many different solutions today like cold water therapy, there’s cryotherapy, there’s all this other things to help speed up recovery and better understanding of diet so, it’s not as bad as people say it is. If you look at Tom Brady, he was 44/45 and still performing so that gives people like myself a lot more confidence.

When I get out of the car I feel generally fresh, as I’ve said, I’ve been training in a slightly different way this past year and I feel a lot stronger and more stable that I’ve ever felt in the car physically now, then the car it’s not been great to drive for the past year and a bit, but now it’s slowly starting to give us more confidence as a driver.

You know, actually, to be honest, I just wanted to ask you this question because I think it’s kind of pushed also by the media, all over the world, for example “oh, you are a 7-time world champion against now a younger man” and so on. I think it’s the narrative all the media wants to hear but it’s so untrue. I have a quote for you, Mohammed Ali once said, and I also can relate this to myself, “Just remember you don’t have to be what they want you to be”. Do you know this quote? Do you like it?

Yeah, I like that. Definitely, I mean, if you see how I’ve navigated over the time that I’ve been here in this sport. It’s been a challenge, you know, and you have of course, I’m sure, your own challenges. I think always just knowing yourself and staying true to yourself is the most important thing and not trying to change yourself to suit what other people think.

I think on the racing side of things, yeah, the narrative’s been interesting in the past year, you know, it’s a new scenario to have a new driver, George he has nothing to lose, zero, you know, so if he finished behind, they say “well, you’re driving against a 7-time world champion”, if he finishes ahead, is a win-win all the time, but for me if I finish ahead it’s kind of like “oh, well you’re 7-time world champion [so it’s expected]”, you know, and finishing behind is all doom and gloom, you know, so uhm, I just don’t read any of that stuff so I’m not like, I don’t get sucked in by the BS as you mentioned, you know, I just focus on everyday trying to be the best version, trying to work towards building the best version of myself, physically, mentally, you know, I’m trying to work on my entrepreneurial stuff, I’m trying to make sure my foundation is having true impact on people, I’m trying to make sure that when I travel around the world I’m utilizing this platform that I have, like social media, in a positive light that’s educational and it’s uplifting, and what else? I don’t know what else I can do.

You know when I have the most motivation is like when people say like “you can’t” and then, my motivation is lifted up extremely high to prove them so wrong and I think, their faces when you look at them and they are like "he's really has done it", you know what I mean?

Yeah, I love that. I have that, I can empathize with what you're saying there, my whole life also people said, "you can’t", when I was a kid people said, "you can’t", when I was at school my teachers said, "you can’t", when I said I wanted to be a Formula 1 World Champion they said, "you can’t". I’ve had team drivers and drivers, so many people, so, so many people trying to create that narrative and let that sink into your head and if you let that into your head then it can become a reality, right?, so just blocking it out, continue to believe, that's been the key and then proving people wrong, it’s the best thing ever, so I love that you’ve done that, and you’re doing that, and I think that’s part of our role, on this Earth, right, is to prove them wrong and, yeah.

I remember when I was joining this team, Niki was one of those, he said, “You can’t be doing this, you can’t be doing that” and then, you know, in one of the races he was saying to Toto “He can’t be doing this things [going to a fashion show in New York right before the Singapore GP in 2018]. There’s no way, he can't be traveling here and arriving here fully focused” and I arrived, and I did the best time in Singapore in qualifying and he was like “Ok, maybe he can” so, you know, even the young to old, you're having to prove that too.

You know like for me, you know, what comes through today like talking to you, doing an interview and a Formula 1 panel, was always my dream and I remember back in University and also back in my high school days people doing like “ah, it’s so difficult in this world” and so on, and I always think if you give up and show them that’s what they want to see and I always had the most motivation out of them.

Yeah, no, well congratulations to you.

Congratulations to you. And I have another example for you. I saw a video of you where you said that also when you got your puppy Roscoe back then you also liked the fact that people always told you…

Yeah, everyone said to me in my family “ you can’t have a dog, you’ll never be able to take care of a dog” and yeah, I just, anything anyone say I can’t do I just feel for me I have to go out and do it, I’m like “dammit, I have to go and do it now” and so, you know, look, I skydive, I surf, I try everything even if I’m not good. I’m not good at everything but I’m very very focused when I try everything that I do to try to be the best I can be.

At least try, I think, that’s the most important thing, right?

Exactly. You gotta try everything, anything and everything so, whether I’m trying instruments, I’m trying, and I’m not great at the piano but I’m trying…oh God I still dream of one day playing a lot better and one day I will be able to play really really well.

You’re a 7-time World Champion, someone who knows maybe most of the world. Do you also sometimes, at home, it's silence, you have self-doubt?

Uhm, there’s definitely…I wouldn’t be human if that, there weren´t ever. Sometimes it pops up, sometimes it's creeps up, and that´s part of my experience of growing up when, you know, with these people telling you "you can't" and then sometimes it creeps out inside that voice that comes in and says, you know, "you´re no good", " you don't look good" or "you're not this", "you're not beautiful", all these different things and I've just learned to really continue to build a positive, a strong mental approach to my days so that can penetrate me ever.

Like you block it, you’re so focused, also in a personal manner it doesn’t influence you.

Yeah, and I also don’t do things that take away my energy, I don’t put people around me that take away my energy. I surround myself with people who are like-minded, I surround myself with people who are positive and who are like also driven to, not to be, they are not negative, they are not on social media saying negative things about people, yeah.

Are there people, like when I have self-doubt when I think about things, I know certain people I want to ask, I mean, the friend and family, they tell you always the best because they want you to feel good, but there are some people around, I know, when I have self-doubt I don’t know if I can make the next step, whatever, personally or business-wise, I go to them. Do you also have those kind of people around you?

I would say if there was ever somebody it was always my dad. I mean, I went into the boxing ring and this kid beat me up in the boxing ring and I was like "I don't want to go back in. I can't do it" and my dad said "Yes, you can" and that was the first time he told me "Yes, you can", and those words are so powerful. You tell yourself that every day, then, it can liberate you, you know, so I tell myself in the morning [You can meditate] Yeah, tell myself this morning "Oh, maybe I can't do this" "Yes, you can". So, anytime those doubts come around I just I would rather just keep telling myself "Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you can". If I go to the gym and I don't feel I could do the weights [I would say] "You can do it. You got this", and that's just all in the mind and my mind is so infinitely powerful, that we don’t even realize and so it's making sure we’re feeding it with the right positive information.

I also heard you’re really inspired by, or was inspired by, Kobe Bryant, you also have your own production company. Is this something you can see yourself in the future also writing narratives, writing stories?

I don’t know whether I’d be a writer. I’ve always wondered, when I hear about writers I’m always like I’d love to know what that entails, like, I couldn’t even, I’ve seen a script, but I would have no idea where I would start with a script. I’ve written songs and that process’s been, you know, learning about the pre, the verse, the bridge and all these different things and how you narrate through that and that’s been a process of learning that so.

I don’t currently have any desire to write a story. I feel more compassionate and more driven to like give people opportunities that would never normally have, an opportunity to uplift their stories, whether it’s in documentaries, whether it’s real life stories, whether it’s people from diverse backgrounds who, you know, or something that would normally not get seen and so, you know cause as you go across the industries there’s little access for people with disabilities, for people from diverse backgrounds and we gotta disrupt that, not only in this sport but across the most [industries] [Across the world of business as well] so I applaud you, because you know, you’re the first here, you know, you’re first and that’s huge and there’s people that are gonna see that and we need to make sure that we highlight that more because, you know, my brother has cerebral palsy and he’s the first in touring car that’s showing we can also do this thing.