#i think the mexican came out in this while coloring

[foldingfittedsheets]

No one made any distinction to me when I was growing up when a word wasn’t English. Andale was just another way to be told “hurry up,” and I was certain other parents told their kids, “Watch your cabesa,” when getting into the car. I laughed myself sick the first time I saw Dragon Ball Z because a ladies name was Chi Chi and I only knew that meant boobs.

All my moms family was brown and I desperately wished I was too. I wanted beautiful black hair like my mom and dark skin that didn’t burn. I didn’t like when people asked my mother if she was my nanny when they saw us together. I didn’t like that people told me I looked like my dad. They just meant I was pale.

I’d proudly announce to people that I was Mexican and become furious when they gaped or disbelieved me. My dads side has no cultural roots. When questioned my dad shrugs and says, “English maybe? I dunno.” I just wanted to be Mexican growing up. Alas, I’m only a quarter descendant of an immigrant family who vehemently didn’t want to be Mexican.

My great grandmother announced that we were American now, not Mexican. She embraced American culture as much as possible, while never learning English. My nana was put into school and punished anytime she spoke Spanish. She got caught halfway between both languages. Forced to spend her childhood raising her younger siblings she never learned to cook tamales with her mother and her friends.

When she had her own children she didn’t teach them Spanish. She used it to gossip with her own friends about them on the phone and resisted teaching them more than to come running when she shouted “Araña!” to kill a spider for her.

Thus came my mom, with her brown skin and dark hair, adrift from her culture but treated as lesser by her adopted one. My great grandmother would rejoice to see me as her descendant, white, ignorant of Spanish, the perfect American she wanted her family to be.

When I was born my nana shouted, “What’s that red on her?” only to realize it was my hair. She delighted in her palest grandchild, telling me often I was her favorite.

I’m used to the disbelief now when I tell people I’m Mexican. I can laugh and show pictures of my mom. My friend from work joked to me that I’m always coming out of the closet, over and over, because both my minority statuses aren’t as visible as her black skin.

I was recently lamenting this to a white southern friend the same one I cast psychic damage on during a DnD day. “I wish I could feel more connected to my culture, but I’d be such a fraud pretending my life is the same as other Hispanic people.”

“Skin color doesn’t matter,” he announced blithely to the choked outrage of our Indian friend in the kitchen, “You’re just as Mexican!”

I regarded him in astonishment and said, “I think skin color matters a lot. I am Mexican, but I don’t have the same cultural roots or experiences of people who are perceived as Mexican. My family didn’t pass the cultural heritage down. I think a lot of immigrant kids feel this way but it’s different for me.”

He rambled about how I’m just as valid and I quietly disregarded his advice. I could try to reconnect with my roots, but I know I’d just be another white girl pushing into a POC space.

Instead I make tamales by myself, sweating over the steaming corn husks, and I snap at people who make racist jokes about my family to me, feeling safe because my skin is the same color as theirs.

[snoopyracing]

rivals — ln4 & op81 : part two

part one

pairing: lando norris x reader x oscar piastri

word count: 8.6k

warnings: cursing and descriptions of a crash (injury and thoughts of death)  

summary: challengers!au.... when ferarri’s princess is forced to retire at the peak of her career she finds herself lost with no purpose. racing was all she had ever known and it was ripped right out from under her with no warning. feeling hopeless she pours her passion back into mentoring oscar piastri— mclaren’s reigning champion. old feelings emerge, rivalries reach their breaking point, and ex-teammates show up when oscar least expects it. yet all y/n wants to see is some good fucking racing.

a/n: drama and more drama in this chapter!! this took forever, but i hope the wait was worth it :)

masterlist

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The vibrant colors and culture of the Mexican Grand Prix fill the paddock as you scan your pass and go through the turnstile. Photographers are lined up like it’s a red carpet event to get pictures of the world champion walking in and like always you flash them a smile while signing various items for the fans that flock towards you. 

Media day isn’t your favorite, but is it really any driver’s favorite part of a race weekend? This Grand Prix you’d been graced with being a part of the press conference with a few of the other drivers first thing this morning. Your manager Mia was waiting for you as soon as you entered Ferrari’s motorhome and the two of you went over your schedule for the day as you made the trek to the press conference.

It’s interviews first thing this morning, then some social media content with Charles, a track walk with your inner team, and then meetings with the team as a whole to end your first day in Mexico City. It’s a booked and busy day– per usual. 

You’re the last to enter the room for the press conference and you immediately spot the driver in the obnoxiously bright papaya team kit sitting on the white couch, who’s accompanied by Russell. 

“Someone’s late.” An Australian accent fills your ears as you join your fellow colleagues on the couch. 

“I’m actually right on time.” You state as you glance down at the luxurious watch on your wrist, then back towards the Australian with a knowing smirk on your face. 

Oscar and you had grown close over the course of the season. He’d become a friend– which was something you’d never thought you’d hear yourself say about one of the other drivers, but it was true. It had helped that McLaren’s car had seemed to come alive this season, so you were actually able to get some racing in with him this season. He was good and you were starting to wonder if he might become an issue next season when it came to the championship. 

The other McLaren driver or you guess you should say ex-McLaren driver whose seat is apparently being warmed by Pato O’Ward until he comes back next year has become more than a friend to you. It wasn’t a secret to the world that Lando and you were clearly together. Formula E’s schedule is basically half of what Formula 1’s is– so seeing each other hasn’t been a difficult process. You two would come and support each other when you could and spend time together when you could. It wasn’t super serious, but it wasn’t super casual at the same time, to you at least it was a good balance. 

The press conference was underway not too long after you had gotten settled and of course it was the same questions as always that were asked towards you. 

Do you think you can maintain this championship lead? 

Do you think you'll get your second championship win this year? 

The season is winding down and the points are close between Max and you? Who do you think will win? 

Is Ferrari doing everything they can to help you win this championship? 

The questions and their answers you think you could recite in your sleep by now and if it wasn’t for your publicity agent staring you down like a hawk from the corner of the room you’d be tempted to give a smartass response to the press, but instead you give them the same answer with nothing but professionalism and poise. 

Thankfully the riveting questions were soon over and you could get on with your day. Maybe if they asked you interesting questions you wouldn’t dread it so much, but the majority of the reporters are men– the same men who ridiculed you when you got your seat, so you can’t expect much from such small brains. 

As you’re getting up from the couch Oscar strides over towards you with his hands stuffed awkwardly in his pockets. “Hey, do you want to get lunch later?”

You glance over at Mia, fully expecting her to be chomping at the bit to get you onto your next task, but she’s too engrossed in her phone at the moment, which means you had some time to play with Oscar. “I don’t know Piastri. I’m pretty booked up for the rest of the day.” 

“You’re too busy for me?” The words slip right past his tongue and he regrets saying them as soon as he hears himself say it. He watches as your eyebrows furrow and he knows you’ll reply in that laughing yet condescending tone that you always do when he gets too comfortable around you. 

“What makes you think you’re that high up on my roster?” 

Oscar internally cringes, just when he thinks he’s wormed his way closer to you, you go and show him just how much power you hold and just how much he’s not Lando. 

You notice how Oscar switches his weight back and forth on his feet, he’s uncomfortable, and really you didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable. It’s just so much fun and easy to make him squirm and really you do like Oscar. You wouldn’t tease him like you do if you didn’t.

Oscar had amazing qualities, he was a hell of a driver and he was kind and gentle– obedient. 

The opposite of Lando. 

You offer him a genuine smile to try and bring him back from whatever mental hellscape he’d reverted into. “Listen, I’ve got social media content to film with Charles and then I’ll text you about lunch alright?” 

His eyes light up and he stands tall and confident in front of you– his hands now at his sides instead of stuffed into his pockets. “Ok, I’ll talk to you later?” 

“Yes, I’ll text you.” You reassure him before heading off towards Mia before she’s the one dragging you away.

When it came to filming content with Charles there was never a dull moment. The two of you were so competitive that if it was a challenge video you’d think it was life or death between you two. You actually don’t mind the content side of your job. It’s a hell of a lot easier than some of the stuff you have to do and sometimes it can be really fun. The food videos have to be your favorite– during the Dutch GP a stroopwafel hates to see you coming. 

After spending almost two hours filming things individually and with Charles you find yourself sitting at an umbrella covered table with Oscar in the middle of the bustling paddock. A turkey club sits on the plate in front of you and you’re thankful you escaped having to eat whatever your trainer had planned for you for lunch today. 

Oscar and you talk about this weekend and if you think he’ll be on the podium with you. He thinks there is a good chance– you don’t let him know that you think so too. As much as you love to tease Oscar and mess with him, you have grown fond of spending time with him. Besides Charles and maybe two other drivers, Oscar is the only one that you enjoy spending time with. You’ve found that he can make you laugh– like full belly laugh and it’s Oscar’s favorite thing, but he won’t tell you that. 

There’s a beat of silence between you two as you continue to eat your lunch and your eyes can’t help but linger on him. His hair has gotten long– he’s been away from home too long to get it cut and it’s starting to fall into his eyes. The slight breeze that travels through the paddock has it billowing through the air. When he turns his head to look out at the paddock you try not to stare at the little curls that are starting to form at the nape of his neck and before your mind can start to wander you abruptly clear your throat and start a new conversation. 

“Did Lando tell you he’s coming to Brazil?” You ask before stuffing another bite of the sandwich in your mouth. 

Oscar’s heart skips a beat at the mention of Lando, but not in the way you’d think. “Yeah he told me.” 

“We should all get dinner or something.” You offer. 

He shrugs, pushing his salad around on his plate with his fork. “Yeah if you want.” 

You eye Oscar as he continues to play with his food instead of eating it. He was nothing but bunny teeth smiles and laughter a moment ago and now you’d think he hated the world. You set your sandwich down on your plate, wiping your hands on your pants before you rest your elbows on the table, leaning in as you speak. “What’s up?” 

His eyes flicker up from his plate towards you. “Nothing.” 

“Oscar.” He just stares at you with that same bothered look on his face. “This whole thing you’re doing is stupid. You’re not good at it. If you have something you want to say then tell me. Don’t play this broody mysterious thing with me. It’s dumb.” 

He sets his fork down and crosses his arms across his chest, suddenly defensive. “I’m not doing a thing. I’m just…” His words trail off and he knows he shouldn’t say it, but he wants to so badly. 

“Well go on.” You pry, your body language mimicking his. 

“I’m surprised you guys are still seeing each other.” 

You both stare at each other for a moment, Oscar in disbelief that he finally worked up the courage to say what he’d been thinking and you in disbelief that he had the nerve to comment on your relationship like that and it made you wonder– what did he know?

“Okay.” You simply state, grabbing your food and getting up to leave. You weren’t going to have this conversation here or with Oscar. 

“I’m sorry!” Oscar blurts out when he sees you leaving. 

You stop and turn back to face him, your emotions starting to get the better of you. “Why did you want to have lunch with me today?” 

“I told you I just wanted to hang out with you.” 

“Don’t be such a fucking pussy. Is he seeing other girls while he’s away? Is that what this is?” Your anger is starting to boil over and you think if Oscar tells you that’s the case the remainder of this turkey club may be launched across the paddock. 

Oscar on the other hand wants to punch himself for digging himself this hole and he knows it’s only going to get deeper, especially when he’s talking to you. 

“No. I mean… I don’t know. That’s not what I’m trying to say.” He’s chewing on his words and it’s a sorry sight to witness. 

“Then what are you trying to say, Oscar?” You wait for a response, anything to imply what he’s trying to say and when you’re met with silence you don’t think you’ve ever been more annoyed. A scoff and an eyeroll is all he gets from you before you’re turning back around to leave once again. 

You’re not even a foot away from the table when he blurts out the last thing you expected. 

“He’s not in love with you.”

You immediately spin on your heel and face the Australian driver once more, your anger had officially boiled over. “Who says I want somebody to be in love with me?” Love was a strange thing for you, you didn’t crave it. You wanted loyalty instead of love, you wanted someone who matched you, who challenged you. The word love was used so much in today’s society who even could actually say what love was? To you– it didn’t mean a thing. “When did I say I was in love with him?” 

Oscar swallows hard– his Adam's apple bobbing. “You didn’t.” 

“So why would I care whether or not he loved me?” 

“I guess you wouldn’t.” Oscar says with a shrug. 

“Cool.” You’d hoped this would be the last time a conversation like this happens with Oscar. 

“Cool.” He replies back and you think this whole thing is over with, but then he goes and opens his mouth again. “Don’t you think you deserve it?” 

You study his face and you see that look he’s giving you, it’s been the same look he’s given you since that night in Monza last year. The same look when you ultimately chose Lando over him. It made you sick to look at him, to see the longing in his face over you. “Jesus fucking christ.” 

“I mean who wouldn’t be in love with you?” He challenges and you want to grab him by his stupid McLaren polo and knock some sense into him, but you just laugh at him and turn to leave for the final time. “Sorry.” Oscar says again and he knows he overstepped your boundaries, but god if it didn’t feel good to soil a little bit of what Lando and you had.

“You know I think you might be the worst friend in the world.” You tell him as you throw your lunch in the trash, your appetite long gone by now. 

“Maybe.” 

“Definitely. Thanks for lunch Oscar.” 

He watches you leave until you disappear into the crowd of various team kits and prays that you don’t punt him into the wall on Sunday. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

A week later Formula 1 is in São Paulo and Oscar and you have barely spoken. He’s been dreading this week ever since he found of Lando was coming, now add in your argument and he’s ready for the week break before Vegas to begin. 

Oscar’s in McLaren’s hospitality early on race day chatting with a team member when he hears Lando before he sees him. The way people still flock to him and how he makes a big entrance even after leaving the team goes straight through Oscar. Lando could use a lesson in humility, but he wasn’t going to be the one to give it to him. He feels a heavy hand land on his shoulder and he knows exactly who it belongs to. 

“Hi mate. Long time no see huh?” Lando says with a grin on his face. 

Oscar nods his head at the Brit. “A couple months I think.” 

“I think we need to catch up.” 

Oscar watches as Lando strikes up a conversation with the worker at the snack bar and the way he tries to charm everyone he meets makes him sick. In all honesty Oscar did have some issues with Lando at the moment. He was grateful for having him as his teammate his rookie year and the bond they formed over the course of it, but times like this and ever since you came into their life– he’d found Lando harder to swallow. 

When McLaren’s hospitality had started to serve churros from the snack bar Oscar wasn’t sure, but somehow Lando had appeared with two of them in his hand and Oscar took one of them with a tight lipped smile on his face. 

“So, tell me about your season.” Oscar hopes that maybe if he starts off the conversation he can control it and this won’t last forever. Lando takes a bite of his churro and shrugs. “No fun stuff?” Oscar pries a little more.

“Like what?” Lando asks, fully knowing what Oscar is implying.

It’s Oscar’s turn to shrug at his ex teammate. “I don’t know…. are you seeing anybody?” 

“What do you mean? I’m taken. What do you think I’m doing here?” 

Lando’s got the sly smirk on his face that always made Oscar irate, but he knows Lando is someone who wants a reaction. He wants to provoke people to get a reaction. It doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative and Oscar is always one to try and deny him of that. 

“You’re not here to visit me?” Oscar half jokes. 

Lando studies Oscar’s face and he notices how his expression darkens. He knows Oscar is thinking about you and then undoubtedly you and Lando together. Lando knows Oscar wants to say something, but he won’t until Lando opens the floor. “What?” 

Oscar takes a bite of his churro, the gears in his mind turning as he chews. “Nothing, just– are you really committed to this thing?” 

The thing about Oscar and Lando is that they’re always talking about you, even when they aren’t talking about you. 

“To Y/N? Yeah. I mean we’re taking it slow, but you know, I like her. I think she’s making me an honest man.” Lando can see the unconvinced look on Oscar’s face and he scoffs at the sight of it. “What, you don’t believe me?” 

Oscar shakes his head. “No I just– I’m not sure how she’s thinking about it. I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

Lando audibly laughs at the Australians choice of words. “You don’t want me to get hurt?” Oscar only nods and as Lando watches him he wonders if Oscar knows something he didn’t. “Did she say something to you?” 

“No, I just got the impression that she’s not really thinking about this as a serious relationship.” 

Lando quirks an eyebrow at Oscar. “You got that impression?” 

“Yeah. From a conversation we had.” 

There’s a beat of silence between the two former teammates before Lando’s got a shit eating grin on his face and he’s putting his arm around Oscar’s thick neck– pulling him in closer to him. “You fucking snake.” Lando’s voice is low enough for only Oscar to hear and from his facial expressions Lando can tell he’s confused or playing stupid. “Honestly, I’m proud of you. I’d be doing the same thing.” 

“I’m not-” 

“It’s fine. It’s exciting to see you this way.” Lando smiles at Oscar as he takes another bite from his churro. “It’s what’s been missing from your racing.” 

“What?” Oscar scoffs. 

“It’s nice to see you lit up about something, even if that something is my girlfriend.” 

Oscar doesn’t think hearing Lando call you his girlfriend would affect him that much, but it does. He knows you two will never last and in the end it will be him that will have to pick up the pieces. “Is that what you guys are calling each other now?” 

“You know this just makes it hotter for me, right? You sitting here, pining for her.” 

“I would never–”

Lando rolls his eyes at Oscar. “I know. It’s not your style. You’re playing percentage racing– waiting for me to fuck up.” 

The two drivers just stare at each other for a moment, it’s awkward and no one really knows what to say for a minute. There were so many unspoken words and words that were disguised as something else during their conversation. Oscar wanted to say so much more to Lando, but he’d save it for another day. 

Lando’s the first to break the silence. “Come on. Walk me over there.” He gets up from his seat and shoves the remainder of his churro in Oscar’s face. Oscar looks at the sweet treat then up to Lando and then without breaking eye contact he bites the rest of the churro out of Lando’s hand. Lando laughs and pats Oscar on the back as they make their way out of McLaren’s hospitality. 

On their short journey to Ferrari’s hospitality Lando spots a fan near the entrance, clearly waiting for you to come out, holding a sign that said something along the lines of Princess of Ferrari. He smiles at the fan and pretends he didn’t notice the other ten signs that he’d seen as he walked into the paddock this morning. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

It’s less than an hour before the lights go out and where do you find yourself? Half naked on top of an also half naked Lando. It had been awhile since you two had seen each other and honestly you couldn’t hold yourself back when you saw him walk into hospitality. Your drivers room had seen some action over the course of the season to say the least and your poor physio table was on its last leg. 

“I missed you.” Lando murmurs as his lips trail down your neck. “You have no idea how lonely it’s been this past month.” 

“Is that why you haven’t won any races?”

Lando laughs half heartedly. “I just told you I missed you.” 

You move your hips just the right way and he’s grabbing the hem of your shirt and pulling it off of you– tossing it with no direction. 

“I watched your last race. You could have overtaken Nyck on the first corner if you’d gotten a better start off the line.” You state in between the kisses you litter across his chest. 

Lando looks at you a little dumbfounded that this is your topic of conversation during this kind of activity. His hand reaches out towards you, yet at his touch you don’t look up at him. “Y/N, look at me.” 

“What?” Your lips are swollen and your eyes wide. 

He reaches for you, pulling you down towards him and his lips find that spot on your neck that drives you wild, makes you whimper with no shame, and it’s music to Lando’s ears. 

“When were you going to tell me about Oscar?” He whispers as he continues his assault on your neck . 

“I thought you knew.” You say breathless. 

Lando detaches himself from you, his hand reaching up to brush your wild hair out of your face. “I mean, I feel bad because I know he’s in pain but…” He shrugs with a sly smirk on his face and you can’t help but stir the pot. 

“You’re not threatened by him?” 

“No.” Lando says plain as day. 

The smirk that was once on Lando’s face has now traveled over to yours. “You should be.” You state as your hand travels slowly down his chest towards the waistband of his boxers. You snap the waistband on his skin, teasing him, and earning an audible hiss in the process before sliding your hand in. “He’s good looking, he’s smart, and he’s a really fucking good driver.” You state as you toy with Lando mentally and physically. 

He’s panting heavily, eyes screwed shut as he tries to collect himself. “He’s always been… very good.”

“I’m serious. Oscar’s gotten a lot better this season.” 

Lando’s eyes narrow at you for a moment, this was no longer you trying to just rile him up, you were actually just bragging on Oscar. “Are the two of us still racing for your number? Because I thought I won.” 

You quickly retreat your hand from his boxers, your hands now on either side of his face as you lean down over him. “That’s your problem. You always think you’ve won before the race is over.” 

“Are we talking about racing?” Lando asks. 

“We’re always talking about racing.” 

“Can we not?” 

You look at the man below with disgust and irritation, if he didn’t want to talk about racing then why was he with you? “Sure.” You state, removing yourself from his lap and collecting your clothes that were scattered across your small driver’s room. 

“What are you doing?” He asks, still perched on your physio table. 

“I have to do my routine. I’ll see you after the race.” You’re not even looking at him as you speak, yet you can feel his eyes burning into you. 

“Y/N.” 

You finally turn to face him, a stone cold look adorns your face. “If you’re not interested in me fixing your racing for free then don’t worry about it.” 

Lando’s off the table now, but he’s still leaning against it, his arms crossed across his toned chest. “Why do you care so much?” 

“I’m dating you. It’s embarrassing for me if you suck.” 

You can sense Lando’s anger starting to rise, yet it doesn’t bother you one bit, if he didn’t want the truth, then he shouldn’t have asked. 

“I suck now?”

You shrug at him as you grab your fireproofs out of the small closet in the corner and put them on.

“It’s not all glamorous in other series like it is here in F1. We all can’t walk around being graced with the honor of being called the Princess of Ferrari.” 

You look at him and you can’t help the baffled laugh that comes out of your mouth. His face and words showed nothing but jealousy. He was jealous of your success and your status. It was downright pitiful. 

“Wow.” 

“I’m happy that people adore you. I just don’t need you to be my coach.” 

He’s being condescending and he doesn’t know just how low you can go in this argument. 

“Well someone needs to be.” 

Lando sighs, not wanting this to turn into a bigger mess than it already is, but it’s no use. “Can we just–” 

“I mean, what do you need from me? Or what do you think you need? A cheerleader? A fuck buddy? A girlfriend?” You start doing some stretches, wishing your physiologist was in here right now instead of Lando. “There are a lot of girls who are dying to be your girlfriend. You’re Lando Norris– talented, charming, and you’ve got a big dick. Go be with one of them.”  

“Is this like a new strategy you’re using to pump yourself up before the race? Have a little fight to get yourself going?” Lando knew you were short tempered, but this was ridiculous. 

“I don’t need a fight to get myself going.” 

“No. Just an hour of meditation.” He’s referring to your pre race routine, the one he was currently interrupting. 

“How’s coasting by on talent working out for you?”

Lando scoffs and you know you’ve struck a nerve.

“Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have you complain to me every week about all the ways you’re being screwed over? How can you possibly think that’s a good use of my time?” 

“Excuse me for inconveniencing you.” Lando states in a sarcastic tone. 

“You are.” You deadpan. “I need to be alone now. I’ll see you after the match.” You wave him off as you sit down on the floor to stretch out your legs. 

Lando can feel his anger boiling over, you had just basically insulted him and complained about him to his face and then dismissed him like he was a dog. “No.” 

You furrow your eyebrows at him as you look up at him. “What?” 

He squats down to your level– getting right up in your face. “I’m not going to the race. Not if you think you can just dismiss me. I’m not some fucking lap dog who’s gonna sit around and let you punish me. I’m not Oscar.” You laugh in his face and Lando allows for it to fuel his rant. “I mean maybe you need someone like that. Someone who’s gonna hop on board with your life and be Mr. Y/N Y/L/N.” 

“That’s what you think I want?” You ask as Lando stands over you now. 

“Yeah, a member of your fan club.” Lando lets out a breathless laugh as he says it, like it’s something beneath him. 

You rise from the ground, standing face to face with Lando, his eyes a hurricane of colors as they stare back at you. “You’re not a member of my fan club?” 

“I’m your peer. I’m not your groupie. And I’m definitely not your student.” 

You just stare at him, your expression cold and distant, there was nothing else to say at this point. You had a race to win shortly and it didn’t matter if Lando was in that crowd or not. He’d made his stance clear and you were not one to beg. “Okay.” 

Lando grabs his shirt and jeans and quickly throws them on. This was not how he expected today to go at all, but there was no use in sticking around at this point. The damage had been done and Lando was never good at picking up the pieces. 

“Good luck today champ.” He states before the door slams shut behind him. 

You let out a deep sigh that you didn’t realize you’d been holding in the whole time. It was time to push all of this to the back of your mind and focus on the task at hand. So you zip up your race suit and put on your boots and once you exit the threshold of your driver’s room and into the hustle and bustle it’s like the fight with Lando hadn’t even happened. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Rain was nothing new during the Brazilian GP, in fact it was expected, but this year it seemed as though mother nature didn’t want this race to happen. It had been an issue all weekend, the rain being so heavy that qualifying almost got cancelled yesterday. Today was no different and with fifteen minutes before lights out they decide to postpone the race.

The rain pours down in bucketfuls as you stand at the edge of the garage and the pitlane. Puddles that have seemed to be there all weekend litter the ground and the softest rumble of thunder echoes off in the distance. As time progresses it seems more and more likely that this race won’t be happening, but you still prepare yourself in case the skies clear and the track dries. 

Your race suit hangs loosely around your hips and bright red headphones sit snugly over your ears as you look over the data on the monitor in front of you. Your strategist rattles off possible scenarios and you listen as if there was no chance of cancellation. You had to be ready for anything and if that was racing in these unfavorable conditions– then so be it. 

Meanwhile over in the McLaren garage Oscar is perplexed as to why Lando is there. Usually he’d come and visit, but he spent his time in the Ferrari garage with you on race weekends that he was here. He pretends to listen to what his engineer is telling him as he eyes Lando talking to Zak across the garage. When Zak walks away Oscar can’t resist the urge to go over and be nosey.

“Did you get banned from the Ferrari garage or something?” Oscar asks jokingly, but when Lando’s face turns sour Oscar knows something’s gone down. 

Lando glances around the garage– everyone’s too busy at the moment trying to figure out what strategy to go with that they shouldn’t be listening in on his conversation, but he still lowers his voice. “We had a big fight. I was actually on the next flight out of here, but the weather delayed everything. So I guess I’m stuck here for a while now.” 

Oscar’s eyes widen, yet he can’t deny that small part of him that is happy to hear that things are rocky between the two of you at the moment. “Damn. I’m sorry mate.” He clamps a hand down on Lando’s shoulder and from the look on Oscar’s face Lando knows he’s not really sorry. Why would he be? Lando had beat him in the competition for you– any sign of instability in your relationship was like a present on Christmas morning to him. 

“It’s whatever. We’ll be back to normal by tonight.” Lando glances over at the MCL38 that’s sitting stationary in the garage. “Maybe you could use this upgraded machine to beat her.” Lando suggests. 

Oscar quietly laughs– you could beat him in a Sauber. “Yeah maybe.”

 ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

By some miracle the rain clouds had cleared long enough for the FIA to declare that it was safe enough for the race to continue. Although the huge puddles that were still standing on the track and the dark clouds coming in from the west told you differently. Nonetheless you had a job to do and sometimes this job wasn’t all glitz and glamour. So you finalize your strategy tactic with your team and start to prepare yourself for probably the most challenging two hours of your career so far. 

You can tell that everyone at Interlagos right now is a little on edge– team members, drivers, fans. There’s excitement in the air for the race to start, but the rain clouds in the distance foreshadow something much darker. 

The first spot on the starting grid belongs to you today and as you sit in the cockpit of your beloved SF-24 you see the first drops of rain on your visor– then Alice’s voice in your ear. 

One minute till formation. There is a small rain shower that should be done before the formation lap is over. 

What about the black sky right in front of me? 

We’re still watching it. There is a chance it goes around us. I’ll keep you updated. 

The formation lap goes smoothly enough, the track is wet and there is spray of course, but for right now it just seems like a normal rain race. When you line back up on the grid you take in who’s around you– Max to the left, Oscar behind you, and Charles behind Max. It was going to be an interesting race, even without the rain. 

You watch the five lights in front of you and with killer like precision you’re first off the line when they go out. Max is quick but not quick enough to hit the apex before you at turn one and you watch in your mirrors as Oscar overtakes him.

You’re at the top of your game during this race, pushing out the fastest laps consistently and building a gap between Oscar and you beautifully. The track had started to dry and a clear racing line had started to form as the laps went by, but the dark clouds still loomed in the distance. Even with the threat of rain some teams start to pit for slicks and soon enough you hear Alice in your ear. 

How’s the tires? 

I’m not pitting for slicks if that’s what you’re implying. These inters can last me for a couple more laps.

Copy that Y/N.

Weather update? 

Looks like we won’t be as lucky as we hoped. It will be here in about five laps. Rain will be moderate. 

Okay.

The rain arrives in two laps and it starts out slow– the cars that pitted for slicks start to struggle as the track becomes wet again. Then the first yellow flag of the session happens as Lawson spins out, thankfully he’s alright, but a VSC is deployed as they get the car off the track. Two more drivers spin out after Lawson and as teams start to pit for full wet tires the rain picks up expeditiously. It had went from a rain shower to torrential downpour in seconds, the visibility damn near at zero as you drive this race car around the circuit. Alice comes over the radio, her usual cool demeanor replaced with one of concern. 

Y/N box on this lap. 

Where the hell is the red flag? Someone is going to die, the visibility is horrible, the track is flooding. This is insane even for me. 

I know. The win doesn’t even matter anymore, just make it back to the pits safely please. 

You don’t make it back. 

It all happened so fast, you could see a car behind you, but you weren’t sure who it was. The one thing you did know was that they were coming into this corner way too fast and when you tried to correct the car to get out of their way you hydroplaned. The flash of pink that you see let’s you know its an Alpine that you’re about ready to collide with. Then all at once you hear the crunch of carbon fiber and the car is flying into the wall. The force of the collison knocks you out and Alice’s constant radio messages are met with silence. 

The crowd screams and gasps are heard throughout all the garages as the replay and aftermath of your wreck are shown on the screens. It’s one of the worst wrecks Formula 1 has seen in a good while and the fact that you’re not talking or moving has everyone fearing the worst. Your car is completely destroyed– the Alpine that belongs to Gasly is practically on top of yours and when you finally come to it feels like every bone in your body is broken.

You scream out in pain as you’re trapped in your car and as the medics and what seems like a million other people work to get you out the only thing you can think about, besides how much pain you’re in, is how this is the end of everything. Tears fill your helmet as they finally extract you from your car and strap you to the gurney, 

The ambulance ride to the hospital is a blur of being poked and prodded while words in English and Portuguese are quickly spoken to you. You can’t see much from the tears in your eyes and the fact that your head is strapped down onto the gurney, the roof of the ambulance and the paramedics are all you can see. Which is a blessing in disguise because if you could see how mangled your leg and arm is you’d probably pass out again.

Your memory from when you exit the ambulance to when you wake up in recovery is almost nonexistent and all you can recall is flashes of moments. Doctors yelling, bright lights, machines beeping– it was almost like a scene from a medical drama. 

You squint as you open your eyes, the room slowly coming into focus as you blink. You’re no longer in pain and you wonder if you’ve died, but then the sound of Alice’s voice fills your ears. 

“Oh thank god you’re awake!” She exclaims. You turn your head to the right to see her standing at the edge of your bed, a relieved smile stretched across her face. Alice was more than just your race engineer– she was like family to you. She was a person you could trust with your life and for her to be the person who was here when you woke up meant the world to you. 

“Am I alive? I can’t feel anything.” You ask hoarsely, your throat raw and dry. 

She laughs as her hand reaches out towards you, brushing your hair out of your face. “Yes sweetie. They’ve just got you on some good drugs right now for the pain.” 

You just nod at her, your energy already spent on speaking those few words. There’s a knock at the door and a lady, who you’re assuming is the doctor, walks in. 

“Nice to see you awake Ms. Y/L/N. You had one nasty crash.” She pauses for a moment and looks over at Alice who nods back at her. “I’m not gonna sugar coat this, your injuries are extensive. Your right wrist was fractured and your right leg, particularly your tibia, was also fractured. You’ve got four broken ribs and a bruised sternum. Thankfully you only suffered a mild concussion– a wreck like this you’re lucky you didn’t suffer a worse fate with your head.” She looks down at her clipboard like she’s unsure if she should say this at the moment, but then she sighs and focuses her attention back on you. “I’m going to be honest, recovery is going to be a long and rough process, but if anyone can come back from this I know you can.” 

She continues to talk, but you’ve zoned out already. Your concussion and the drugs in your system make taking this horrific news harder than it should be. You want to be in denial and think you’re just in here for a bump on the head and a few scrapes and bruises, but the reality is that you almost died today. This crash has altered your life forever and as you lay there in that hospital bed in Brazil you realize that you may be alive, but a part of you did die today. 

The doctor leaves and Alice says something about going to call your parents and you just hum in response, the reality of your situation settling in. You close your eyes and try to go to sleep, praying that when you wake up this will all have been just one big nightmare. You hear the door open and you assume it’s just Alice coming back in so you don’t open your eyes, but the voice that softly whispers your name does not belong to Alice. 

You slowly open your eyes and there stands Oscar at the foot of your bed. He’s looking at you like you’re some half dead animal that got hit on the side of the road and it makes you laugh, well as best you can. 

“I’m done for Osc.” You state bleakly. 

He shakes his head furiously as he moves to the side of your bed. “Don’t say that.” 

“How am I meant to drive with a fucked wrist and leg?” 

“Physical therapy and training. You’ll be back in that car come March I know it. You’re strong Y/N.” Oscar hopes his words instill you with some confidence.

He wasn’t going to tell you this, but he was behind Pierre on the track, he saw the whole crash happen right in front of him. It was horrible and it still made his stomach twist to think about it. He thought you were dead, the replays of them carrying your body out of the mangled car will haunt his dreams for some time. If it was up to him he would have been here as soon as he got out of the car, but you were in surgery and this wasn’t the movies, he had rules and obligations to follow, no matter the circumstances according to the team and the FIA. 

“Who ended up winning?” You ask, wanting to stop talking about the impending end of your career. 

“Verstappen.” 

You scoff. “That fucker.” 

You two talked for awhile, he was good at distracting you from your own thoughts, but there is someone that you figured would have shown up by now. Hours had passed– a statement had been released that you were awake and alright, Charles and Lewis had also stopped by to visit you, yet no Lando. 

Yes you guys had a horrible fight earlier, but for fucks sake you’d almost died and he couldn’t be bothered to come and see if you were alright? The hospital was getting ready to stop their visiting hours when you see a curly brown mullet peak around the doorframe. 

“I’m sorry, I–” 

“Out.” You didn’t want to see him at this point, any excuse he was getting ready to give you meant absolutely nothing to you. 

“Y/N.” He pleads. 

“Out!” You raise your voice and you wince at the pain that radiates through your throat. The tube they’d shoved down it earlier had apparently done some damage. 

“Listen–” 

You want to jump out of this hospital bed and strangle him, but you don’t have the capability of doing that right now or even the capability of yelling at him. You look over at Oscar, hoping he gets the message that you’re pleading to him through your eyes. 

Oscar’s mad for you, he’d noticed how everytime someone passed your room you glanced, hoping it was Lando, and then ultimately being disappointed when it wasn’t. He has no idea where the Brit had been this whole time, but he knows no matter what went down between the two of you earlier that Lando should have been here for you. 

“Lando. Get the fuck out of here.” 

Lando stands there dumbfounded, especially after Oscar had yelled at him. His eyes dart over to Oscar and then to you, who turns your head away from him. Lando shakes his head in disbelief before turning on his heel and leaving. 

You break up with him the next week when he comes to see you when you’re back home in Monaco. He cries– you don’t. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The months following your accident are the hardest months of your life. Physical therapy is like pure torture, some days are worse than others, and majority of the time you want to give up, but you don’t. You tell yourself that this is just a small setback that the thoughts you had in the hospital and that you have late at night don’t mean anything. You tell yourself that you’ll be back in the car next season and after a while you start to believe it more than the dark thoughts that cloud your mind. 

February rolls around and you start doing some light training with Oscar– it’s nothing crazy, just some weights. Your wrist had healed significantly faster than your leg and you figured you could do a little something extra than what you had been doing in physical therapy, but you were wrong. You’re doing some bench presses and Oscar’s hovering like this ten pound weight is going to kill you. You’d told him to put more on, but he insisted on starting out slow. 

You put the barbell up and get up from the bench. “This is doing nothing. I need more weight on it Oscar.” He stands in front of the rack of weights like he’s guarding it with his life. “Stop going easy on me, put another ten on.” 

“No. You’ll snap your wrist. I told you this wasn’t a good idea to begin with.” 

You roll your eyes at the Australian. “I won’t snap my wrist. I know my limits.” 

“Your actual trainer doesn’t even know we are doing this. It’s going to end badly.” Oscar knew this was way too soon for you to be back in the gym like this, but he also knew you were internally panicking. It was already February and you were nowhere near the peak physical performance that you needed to be at. Testing was at the end of this month and then the season started two weeks after that. In shorter terms– you were screwed. 

“Don’t be a fucking pussy. Put more weight on.” You’re irritated with him and when he just stands there and stares at you it makes you even more irate. “Whatever. I’ll just come back later by myself.” 

Oscar’s eyes widen at the thought of you being here by yourself and undoubtedly hurting yourself with no one around. “Fine. Only ten more.” 

You lay back down on the bench and watch as Oscar puts the extra weight on the ends. You take a deep breath as you grip the bar and Oscar hovers over you, ready to catch the bar when it all goes to shit. 

Which happens after two reps. 

You feel a twinge of pain in your wrist after the first one, but when you go to raise the bar a second time a searing hot pain travels from your wrist up your arm and you scream out in pain. Oscar’s face is full of terror as he grabs the bar from you and easily puts it back up. You’re sat up by now, but doubled over as you hold your wrist. Oscar sits down next to you on the bench and he can see the tears streaming down your face. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Are you sure?” Oscar questions, everything about you screams you're not fine at the moment.

“I’m good. I’m okay.” You take a beat and then. “I’m good.” You repeat yourself, hoping that the more you do the more it will become true and that the searing pain in your wrist will go away. 

Oscar watches as you self soothe yourself and without thinking he wraps his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. He feels you stiffen at his touch before you allow yourself to melt into him. You allow him to comfort you and be there for you and in that moment it’s all you need. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Two weeks before the season starts the team wants to see how you do on the simulator. You told them you were ready, but your trainer and deep down yourself both knew you weren’t. Yet you’re so stubborn, so hard headed that you strap yourself in and power through the pain as the high tech machine replicates the Albert Park circuit. 

Somehow the team clears you to race and you’re on cloud nine. The media and your fans can’t believe that you’ve made such a fast recovery. 

The Princess of Ferrari is back! 

Word Driver’s Champion Y/N Y/L/N ready to battle it out once again.

Forza Ferrari!! Y/N is back! 

The Australian Grand Prix arrives before you know it and it’s amazing to be back. You’d missed the craziness and for a while you didn’t think you’d get to experience it again. You felt confident going into the weekend, but life was out to humble you, and oh boy did she. 

You thought you were in pain on the simulator, but being back in the actual car, actually racing, amplified that pain about a hundred times. Your leg screams at you everytime you press on the pedal and your wrist feels like it’s going to snap every time you take a corner. 

You end up placing P15. 

You try to power through, telling yourself you just have to get used to racing again, or figure out a new racing technique. You see the way the reserve driver looks at you in the garage, like he’s just waiting for you to call it quits so he can take your seat and you try to use that as motivation, but it’s no use. 

You last four races before you finally come to the depressing and heartbreaking realization that you’re done racing. The thing you’d dreamt about since you were a little girl was over. The thing you’d worked so hard for, sacrificed so much for, defied barriers for– it was over.

You were in your prime and if you hadn’t crashed back in Brazil who knows what you could have accomplished in your career. Your body had been telling you, screaming at you every race weekend to stop and you’d been ignoring it for as long as you could, but the lasting side effects are getting worse and if you want to be able to walk in thirty years you know you’ve got to stop. 

So you don’t go out with a bang, it’s more of a whisper. Your performance the past four races had quietly let people know that this was probably the end. The news breaks on the following Tuesday after the Bahrain GP and as you scroll through the comments on the post from the F1 Instagram page you can’t stop the tears that fall.

This announcement should have happened when you were old and had multiple championships under your belt, not when you were young and at the top of your game, or you guess you should say were at the top of your game. 

Such a shame, saw it coming after that P15 in Australia, but she was a hell of a driver.

Good on her for attempting to come back. I hope she still works with racing in the future.

Always our Princess of Ferrari ❤️

You lock your phone and toss it on the bed beside you– who will you be without racing?

tag list: @mywritersmind @lanf1an

[16woodsequ]

Things People Seem to Forget About Steve Rogers (aka the past is complex)

Things in the future didn't happen in a vacuum, and while Steve missed a lot of stuff while he was in the ice, he would have seen the roots of things like the Civil Rights, Women's Rights and even LGBTQ+ Rights movements in his time.

While I'm sure Steve encountered a lot of people expecting certain right-wing behaviours from him, due to his birth year and the things he missed in the ice, this doesn't mean he would act that way—even right out of the ice.

But first lets take a look at the things Steve missed and see what he did in fact know:

The atom bomb. Steve never saw the atomic fallout, but what did he see? Hydra bombs literally being flown to his home city. There is also a possibility that as a specialty team, he learned about the German Nuclear Program during the war. His unit was tied to the Strategic Science Reserve, so I wouldn't be surprised if between that, and Hydra's bomb initiatives, Steve was well aware of the potential of a bomb threat. I doubt Steve has clearance to know about the Manhattan project, and I think he would be horrified to learn about the impact of the atom bomb on Japan (especially since he essentially thwarted the same thing from happening to New York) but majorly powerful bombs would not surprise him.

• The Cold War. Steve may not have experience the Cold War, but he grew up surrounded by the outcome of the First World War after the Communist take over of Russia. The debates surrounding Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism aren't new. Steve would have grown up with them and would probably be familiar with American pro-capitalist, anti-communist rhetoric. But would he agree?

Here's some things we know about Steve: He's an artist, he grew up during the Depression which was heavily mitigated by socialist measures, he grew up poor, he grew up disabled. As an artist Steve would be well aware of the debates between the political movements, and with his background, and the success of Roosevelt's New Deal reforms, it would not surprise me if Steve leaned more towards the Socialist side of the scale.

All this to say: Steve would not be unfamiliar with the tension between Russia and the USA. Especially since even though they were allies during the war, there were already concerns that the USSR wasn't so much 'liberating' the countries they drove Germany out of, as putting them under new management.

Steve would be familiar with the tensions underlying the Cold War, and his background might lead him to have a critical view of some of the pro-Capitalist propaganda that came out during the Cold War. While I don't think Steve would approve of Russia's methods and the ultimate outcome of Communism there, I don't think he would approve of the Red Scare Witch Hunt that happened in the States either.

• Civil Rights Movement. While Steve missed the major changes that occurred during the 50s and 60s, he would not be unfamiliar with movements for equality. Steve would also not be unaware of the inequality that minorities faced in his country.

For example:

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909 and is still run today. The NAACP fought and fights against discrimination and advocates for equality.

In the 30s President Roosevelt responded to "to charges that many blacks were the "last hired and first fired," [his administration] instituted changes that enabled people of all races to obtain needed job training and employment. These programs brought public works employment opportunities to African Americans, especially in the North" (Link)

"The first precedent-setting local and state level court cases to desegregate Mexican and African American schooling were decided during [the late 1930s]" (Link)

In 1941 thousands of Black Americans threatened to march on Washington for equal employments rights which pushed Roosevelt to issue an executive order that "opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin." (Link)

The Double Victory or Double V Campaign during the war was an explicit campaign to win the war against fascism in Europe and the war against racism as home.

All this to say, Steve would not be unfamiliar with many of the issues tackled during the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s.

Not only that, but Steve led a multi-racial special unit during the war during a time of active army segregation. Not only does he have a Black man on his team, but also a Japanese man. This would have most definitely led to backlash from higher command as well as discrimination from other units against Jones and Morita. Steve and the entire Howling Commandos would be explicitly aware of prejudice against two of their members and likely had to fight for them many times.

• Anything space travel. It's true Steve wouldn't know anything about attempts to reach the moon. But there were still several space discoveries he could know about, especially since he and Bucky are clearly interested in scientific discoveries, considering how they went to the Stark Exbo before Bucky shipped out.

Some discoveries:

Hubble's Law: In 1929 Hubble published evidence for an ever expanding universe, and thus provided evidence of the Big Bang theory.

1930: Discovery of Pluto (makes me chuckle to think this is a relatively new discovery for Steve and he wakes up to find it is a dwarf-planet now. You think Millennials are protective of Pluto? I think Steve would be too 😆.)

1937: "the first intimation that most matter in the universe is `dark matter'"

Personally I think Steve would be absolutely amazed by the advances in space travel.

• Women's Rights. Like with Civil Rights, while Steve may have missed the large movements during the 50s and 60s, he was around for the early movements. The 60s movement is called Second Wave Feminism for a reason. This is because there was already many pushes for women equality in Steve's time.

For example:

1920: White women win the right to vote. This means Steve's mother first voted in his lifetime. I feel this alone would make Steve heavily aware of inequality faced by women. (As a side note I feel that Sarah always emphasized voting to Steve since it was such a major development in her lifetime.)

Also in the 20s the Flapper trend rose, along with hemlines. Women's skirts were shorter and they smoked and drank with men. Middle-class and working-class women also worked outside of the home. The 1920s-1930s 'modern' woman is very different from the Victorian vision of a woman in petticoats and skirts.

Early Birth Control movement: Was "initiated by a public health nurse, Margaret Sanger, just as the suffrage drive was nearing its victory. The idea of woman’s right to control her own body, and especially to control her own reproduction and sexuality, added a visionary new dimension to the ideas of women’s emancipation. This movement not only endorsed educating women about existing birth control methods. It also spread the conviction that meaningful freedom for modern women meant they must be able to decide for themselves whether they would become mothers, and when."

1936: A Supreme Court decision declassified birth control information as obscene. Legalised doctor-prescribed contraceptives.

WW2 Watershed: Women serve in the army and work factory jobs. The government establishes universal childcare while women work.

Women also wore pants and form fitting clothes to work in factories. We also see Peggy wearing pants during the last assault on Hydra. While Steve may need to get used to modern fashion, he would already be familiar with the 'morale outrage' over women's clothes in his time, and probably try to manage his surprise in private as well as possible.

• LGBTQ+ Rights. Like with the rest of the equality movements, LGBTQ+ rights movements also started before the late 1900s.

1924: "Society for Human Rights is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. The society is the first gay rights organization as well as the oldest documented in America." This organisation was broken up soon after founding due to arrests, but it published "the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom."

In the 1920s and 30s "the gay and lesbian movement started taking shape. Social analysts began rejecting prior medical definitions of "inversion" or "homosexuality" as deviant.

Communities of men and women with same-sex affiliations began to grow in urban areas. Their right to gather in public places such as bars was tenuous, and police raids and harassment were common." (Link)

WW2 Watershed: While many LGBTQ people lived in rural areas or outside 'queer neighbourhoods' the war brought people from all backgrounds together. "As with most young soldiers, many had never left their homes before, and the war provided them an opportunity to find community, camaraderie, and, in some cases, first loves. These new friendships gave gay and lesbian GIs refuge from the hostility that surrounded them and allowed for a distinct subculture to develop within the military."

They still had to hide their identities for fear of persecution and a 'blue discharge', however "Gay and lesbian veterans of World War II became some of the first to fight military discrimination and blue discharges in the years following the war."

It's unclear how much Steve would have known about the gay and lesbian rights movement. But in the comics he has a gay friend Arnie Roth, and there are many meta posts (X X X) about how Steve may have lived in a queer neighbourhood.

And, according to my history professor, gay and lesbian soldiers were often protected by their friends in the army instead of outed. This is not to downplay the discrimination and pain outed veterans faced, but there was a comaraderie and understanding that developed between soldiers that protected many gay soldiers.

• Computer and the internet. The seeds of modern computers began during World War Two. Arguably it began earlier with Ada Lovelace. While technology has changed a lot for Steve, there is a long history of it's development.

Colossus Computer: Kept secret until the 70s, it's unclear if Steve's association with the SSR, Peggy (who was a code breaker before SSR) and Howard, would have led him to know anything about the "the world's first programmable, electronic, digital computer", but we see electric screens and machines being used in Captain America: The First Avenger. So he would know something of those mechanisms.

Also the first American TV was broadcasted in the 1939 World Fair, And since Steve and Bucky are already shown going to a science fair, I believe it is reasonable for Steve to know about the concept of television, though it looks much different in modern day.

• Rise of Neo-Nazis. Steve already saw the rise of fascism in his own country before the war, so while I think he would be horrified and saddened to learn of the Neo-Nazi movement, I don't think he would be surprised.

Because:

Eugenics: A large part of the Nazi campaign, this part of the movement originated and was inspired by the United States Eugenics movement. "It is important to appreciate that within the U.S. and European scientific communities these ideas were not fringe but widely held and taught in universities."

Lobotomies and institutionalisations were part of the treatments for disabled and 'weak-minded' individuals during Steve's time. With Sarah being a nurse it is likely Steve knew of these treatments and more. And as a disabled child of immigrants, I have no doubts Steve brushed up with eugenics beliefs many times.

1939: More than 20,000 people attended a Nazi rally in Madison Square while "[a]bout 100,000 anti-Nazi protesters gathered around the arena in protest".

In the comics Steve canonically has a Jewish friend, Arnie Roth. If he wasn't part of the protests against the Nazi rally, he would have heard about it and known about the rise of antisemitic sentiment in the US before the outbreak of the war.

So Where Does That Leave Us?

Steve has a history of anti-racist behaviour. While he would still have a lot to learn from the Civil Rights Movement and no doubt has unconscious biases he grew up with, he also explicitly builds a multi-racial team that would have led to clashes with systemic racism in the army. This would have inevitably led to him and the Howling Commandos taking an anti-racist stance in protection of their members.

Would Steve say the N-word? Likely not. The N-Word already held negative connotations by the 19th and early-20th century. I doubt Jones would be willing to follow a man who would knowing use the insult. 'Coloured' or 'Negro' were seen as the more acceptable terms. So Steve may use those words at first, instead of 'Black' or 'African-American'. 'Negro' is a controversial term for some Black Americans, so this would be something for him to learn, but he would not purposely by insulting or hurtful. And I believe he would adapt as quickly as possible upon learning.

Steve saw the early steps of many social movements. Given what we know about Steve—artist, disabled, immigrant, poor, raised by a single mom, gay and Jewish friend, potentially lived around queer people, worked with Peggy and smiled when she punched a sexiest, and built a multi-racial team—Steve would not only be aware of the social movements of his time, but he would be happy to learn of the developments after he went into the ice.

While it would take some time for him to learn all the changes that happened, Steve's background would led him to be pleased with the changes in society. This is the opposite of being racist, sexist, and homophobic. Some things might take some adjusting for Steve to get used to, but he is already open-minded and has a frame of reference for many of the social changes that happened.

People sometimes bring up Steve's Catholic upbringing to argue about some beliefs he might have. But while I do think this upbringing would lead to some biases, I think Steve's life experience helped counter, or helped him unlearn some of those biases, even before he hit the ice.

Also, as an Irish-Catholic, Steve would have faced some discrimination of his own. It is most certainly not on the same level as other minorities, and things were better in the 20th century. Being very clear, any discrimination Steve faced for being Irish-Catholic would not be systemic or commonplace like racism. But adding his heritage to the rest of Steve's background helps give us a better idea of why he was already open to social movements like the Civil Rights movement before the ice. And it may have made him already more understanding of LGBTQ+ people, who he may have lived around, even if he grew up being taught certain biases.

Other Things We Forget About Steve

He is quite tech-savvy. While Steve would have a lot to learn, we know he is capable. There are a lot of jokes about his technical know-how in Avengers, but I think he's actually managing very well considering it's probably only been a few weeks or months since he came out of the ice.

Examples:

Deleted scene where we see Steve using a laptop in his apartment. He presses the spacebar to pause a video, which is a keyboard shortcut. So not only can he set up a laptop to watch a video, but he already knows key shortcuts.

Deleted scene where waitress mentions 'wireless'. Steve is confused and thinks she means radio. But I think he actually knows about wi-fi at this point, but probably had never heard it referred to as 'wireless' before. By this point he knows radio is not as common, so his real confusion is why the waitress is offering him 'free radio'. If she had said free wi-fi (the more typical phrase in my opinion) I think he would have understood.

Canon scene of Steve helping Tony fix the Helicarrier engines. This is my favourite evidence because Tony asks Steve to look at the relays and Steve makes a quip that they 'seem to run on some sort of electricity' indicating he is out of his depth. But we never see Tony tell Steve what to do. Steve figures out how to fix the relays himself. Tony is busy with the debris in the rotors and the next thing we see is Steve telling Tony the relays are all good.

Steve is much better at adapting and figuring out technology than we give him credit for. This doesn't mean he won't be anxious or uncomfortable with the sheer amount of stuff he has to learn (especially if everyone keeps making jokes about it to him). But by 2014, it's clear he's already mastered all of it, which is amazing when you think about it, because that's only two years of learning.

Steve is very book smart. In the comics Steve goes to art college, implying he finished high school. Even if he did drop out of high school to work, we know Steve is very smart.

We see him unloading a whole suitcase of books in the barracks before he got the serum.

The mental math is must take to throw the shield at the right angles for it to bounce back is insane.

Steve is also known as a master tactician. So it is clear he has the brains and smarts to run his team during the war. Not only that, but he is not just Captain in name. He actually has that rank, which means he passed the Captain's exam. I also have a feeling he would have needed to pass some kind of evaluation to get the serum in the first place.

We see in Steve's 2014 apartment that his bookshelves are full of history books. Steve is a veracious reader and spends a lot of his time catching up on what he missed. Things he didn't learn or were taught differently growing up would definitely exist, but Steve is actively working to counter that.

Steve would swear. Swearing has been a constant throughout all of history. So too, the backlash against profanity. Even if Steve grew up being told not to swear he would have heard it. And, Steve became a soldier. If he didn't swear before the war, he most definitely picked up some of it then.

I think Captain America isn't supposed to swear, and I think Steve would be aware of this perception of the symbol of him. But I think when Steve is comfortable with people, he would swear. We see in Avengers he doesn't swear, but in Avengers: Age of Ultron, he does.

We joke about Steve and the "Language" line, but I think that line has something to do with Steve's history of being perceived as a symbol and as Captain America since he said it 'just slipped out'. So, while Steve may have been encouraged not to swear growing up, and expected not to swear as Captain America, I fully believe that soldier, veteran, and Irish man Steve Rogers does swear.

Wrap up

I hope you liked this deep dive into Steve's history and character.

I think it can be easy to take the past as a lump sum and view everyone in the past through one lens. We know the past was racist, sexist, and homophobic, so we view everyone from the past that way.

And while it's true things were different back then, people were most definitely fighting for change and aware of the issues. There is also a lot of nuance to the past, and a lot that can be gleaned from what we know about Steve.

It's true that Steve would have a lot to learn when it comes to terminology and specific technology, but I believe Steve's background would prepare him for a lot of the social changes that happened after he went into the ice.

[bloodygyaruuu]

Show us your Kirby gijinkas. Now. (If you even have any.)

sorry abt the long wait, but here u go

im SOOOO happy w how these turned out.

sorry, but i only really have set designs for meta and ddd at the moment but i'd LOVE to do the other characters. i know you didn't explicitly ask for mtdd, but I just couldn't help myself <3

(ill go into more detail about my choices under the cut, I just love to yap)

okay now that ur stuck here with me, I'm gonna start with my design headcanons and inspirations.

Meta Knight:

Okay for Meta I wanted go with a more slender-ish, short-statured body will a bit of a baby face. I really tried leaning into a bit for vampiric features like fangs, desaturated colors, and the signature vampire bites (although these ones are just moles for the aesthetic). I wanted to give him a good chunk of unique features too like a scar under his right eye, a few beauty marks, pale-white eyes, prominent fangs, like 2c/3a hair (this means curly/wavy incase ur unaware), permenant eye bags, and a hooked nose for good measure. Ski-slope nose meta is evil propaganda which shall not be trusted.

yes yes, i can hear u saying "he looks like a twink" and to that I respond, "well, I'm fucking trying. he looks strange w facial hair to me and also Im a raging lesbian who only draws women over and over again". Also I made him Mexican because have u SEEN the anime dub. its fucking gold. and while I'm not Mexican, I AM colombian and black, so I thought this would be a good time to flex my liberal wokeness and make meta darker than a piece of paper. excuse the egregious anime hairstyle, I like anime and don't get out much.

King Dedede:

Alrighty I REALLY stepped out of my comfort zone here. I'm gonna be honest and say not only do I not draw a lot of men, but I don't draw a lot of men with larger body types like ever so this was definitely a bit of a challenge. god bless the "fat guy" anatomy tumblr post I saved a year ago, it came in clutch. anyways, I wanted to add some traditionally black hairstyles to my kingy king so I did a bit of thinking until I came to a realization. BEARD. LOCS. it was genius. I scrolled thru this guys page on tiktok who also had beard locs but they had jewelry on them and I just thought "wow, el, ur a genius." so I threw them into the design ofc. I like how a few other gijinka designs of ddd give him a long braid in the back. It's very regal. So I did that too but it's a braid made up of locs. Dedede's head is probably extremely heavy from the hairstyle I gave him, but he'll live. To list off some attributes; I gave ddd a wide, flat nose, vibrantly dark skin, like the underbite kind of fangs that u see in werewolves(not sure what it's called exactly? anti fangs??), locs, bushy eyebrows, and blue, tiny pupils. Again, I am VERY happy w/ my resdesign of him since my design of MK didn't change all that much from 2022.

In Conclusion:

thank you to anyone who made it this far!!1!!1

I know I say a whole lot of nothing sometimes, but I'm just so touched somebody out there wanted to see MY gijinka designs. its so funny cuz that's literally what my first ever post was on this app and Its nice to see things come full circle for once. hopefully, you all think Ive improved since then. personally, I think I improved a wee bit, but ill always strive towards improvement so I can have enough talent to consider redrawing the designs I just made, but even better <3

[tamryisk]

BroZone + Poppy & Viva headcanons!

I feel like infodumping about my headcanons for the crew so here they are!!!

Poppy:

Age: 23

Pronouns: she/her

Pansexual

Has ADHD (mainly attention deficit and hyperactivity)

She's Latina (Salvadorian, Mexican and Black)

More of a King Peppy hc but he's Salvadorian and Mexican, their mom is probably black and Mexican

Has Synesthesia (mainly being seeing color when others speak or when she hears noises)

Was a premature baby

Branch

Age: 25

Pronouns: He/him

Bisexual

Has autism

He's Black and Filipino

His common stims are flapping his hands and biting his lip

Has BPD (borderline personality disorder) due to his trauma from a young age

Had extensive singing training as a kiddo

Was nicknamed Twig cuz he was small as a baby

Quite fond of kids and finds them cute

Viva

Age: 28

Pronouns: She/they

Pansexual

Autistic and ADHD

She loves playing with people's hair, mainly Clay's

Calls Clay "Clayton" to mess with him/piss him off

Has a form of adjustment disorder and severe attachment issues (in the sense that she is constantly trying to keep those she loves in a place where she thinks is safe)

Has been singing since she could talk

Her first word was probably "music"

John Dory

Age: 45

Pronouns: He/him

Aromantic & asexual

Neurotypical

He feels forced to make sure he and his brother's are perfect just because he's the oldest

He doesn't like it when he's called bossy

Tends to speak a little too honestly (he's vv blunt)

Cares a lot for his brothers, especially Branch since he's the youngest

Not fond of kids, but loves his niece and nephews

Supports his gay brothers (Floyd and Branch) the best he can as an ace-aro (he's not interested in love but tries to for all of his brothers sake 😭 but they don't mind his disinterest)

Enjoys rap and pop music, maybe even hip-hop

Bruce

Age: 40

Pronouns: he/him

Demisexual

Neurotypical

He could rant about Brandi for ages, he loves her so much

Knows sign language because one of his kids are deaf (all the brothers know sign language mainly cuz branch was nonverbal for a while and spoke with sign)

Plays bass guitar

Clay

Age: 35

Pronouns: he/they

Asexual & demiromantic

QPP's with Viva

Doesn't understand why Floyd is emo 💀

Has OCD

He LOVES *NSYNC's music and had no idea Branch was the lead singer

Loves to crochet things for Viva and now he can make things for all of his brothers

AND FINALLY MY SECOND FAVORITE BROTHER!!!!

Floyd

Age: 30

Pronouns: he/him

HE IS GAY. PERIOD. he's also demisexual!

Nearly cried when Branch came out to him, didn't stop hugging him and telling him how proud he was of his little brother

Isn't too fond that Branch had vocal training at such a young age

Autistic

He's emo, he likes emo shit and he's an emo FREAK‼️‼️‼️ (he's silly tho)

Good friends with Veneer and visits him sometimes (he's kinda scared of Velvet)

Doesn't like being stereotyped as a typical gay man

Taught Branch how to walk and speak sign language before he taught the rest of his brothers how to speak ASL (American Sign Language)

That's all I got :33 fell free to share ur headcanons in the tags if you wanna!!!!!!

[justcallmesakira]

Bsd men with a childish s/o part 2!

Sypnosis: Bsd men with a very silly and goofy s/o with ranpo, akutagawa and nikolai! Genre: Lowkey fluff, crack

Warnings: poisoning with peanuts, sliding down a metal Rollercoaster railing, implied doxxing a Mexican kid, blasting, teeth 😇

A/N: Okay so my last post got loads of likes so I decided to do a part 2 because why not? I don't think I will do part 3 but you can request if you want..?

Ranpo-

Wow... look two autistic lovers challenging each other who can eat the most sweets without getting cavity!

You one time tried stealing his candies,, so he kept you in those childrens tents filled with colorful balls😧😧😧 yk those silly cages made for children so they think they are meant to have fun?

Nahh fukuzawa gunna call the CPS

If you think he will be all sweet with you.... No shit bro your in for a ride, AND I MEAN A LITTERAL RIDE-

"uhh ranpo I don't think we should use a Rollercoaster as a slide" "shut up you kid! Sliding not a crime xD"

Two grown up adults found sliding down a roller coasters rail

BRO let the news reporter have a break 😭

He's kinda like dazai but a bit more childish with you (awh how cute...)

One time he tried to play with a kid on the sandbox but he refused so you came and gaslighted the kid to eat a peanut butter lollipop 🍭🥜

Turns out the kid had allergy to nuts

Kid: AUGHHH AGUH AGHGh AEEEEUGHH you: :3 Ranpo: god must be happy

FAMILY GUY Reference??? YES

And so two totally romantic lovers go on a journey to poison little kids!

Hohoho if aomeone bullies you he's gonna go "Hello (first name) (middle name) (last name) who lives in (full address) and was born in (birth hospital)" on that Mexican kid who tried to bully you

That's hot😋😳🤭

One time you lost your left glove in the winter so he took your left hand and slid it in his gloved hand

YES THAT'S POSSIBLE I DID THAT TO MY hopeless romantic ass Self!!!!

Akutagawa-

....

How did you get him to date you bro 😀

He does not even understand what wrong with you so he always has be the one saving your ass during a mission just in cas3

OH it's not for your protection.... It's him protecting the building so you don't blow it up

😁😁😁

You know how he goes ◉ - ◉ sometimes? That's exactly how he questions your silly antics

"I can't wait for the tooth fairy to come for the teeth under my bed!" "◉-◉" higuchi: you are too old for fallen tooth what are you sa-- Y/N WHO'S TOOTH IS THA--"

He only glared at higuchi telling her to not question it with you behind him ":3"

Sometimes you play with his rashoumon by putting make up on it

Idkdontaskmehowyoudidthat-

"sir we bombed up the plac-" "good" 💁‍♀️💄👹---🧑

GUYS THE DEMON IS THE RASOUMON AND DON'T QUESTION IT

If anything akutagawa is questioning why he has to keep you in a children's daycare

BRO give him a break-

When dazai met you and you two had matching energy he was just staring at you two with respect... He felt a bit felt out though

HUG HIM RIGHT NOW👿

Other then that he tries to understand you and protect you from danger because of your goof :)

Nikolai-

This is gonna get messy.... 😨

Honestly you have matching energy butttttt- BONUS POINTS IF YOU ARE A TERRORIST WHO Goes >:3 WHILE BLOWING UP A BUILDING-

Fyodor is questioning his life choices because you two acCidENtaLly burned his kitchen

"Damn.... It's 7 am..." Fyodor said calmly as he saw his only house burn down

Your gonna become his pretty assistant in his circus or sth🤡

Anyways you know those bumper cars? You two ride those and bump each other with it causing a friction and blasting the whole place

He will let you lay on his thi- I mean lap if you are too tired but don't be surprised to wake up with pigtails and heavy makeup :>

NIKO I love you but if you do that... Things are gonna get way messier😊😊😊

If

If you want anything he Wil just open up his portal and bring

"oioioioi koala (the name you gave him because of kolya) I want to drink shrimp and lollipop soda" *opens up portal and takes out a golden can* "here you go! :3" "Oh tank yew :3"

Totally sane and normal!!

Yes you call him koala instead of kolya but he always goes 😳🤭

I would too bbg wann-

Overall I think it's sort of good to be cheerful I mean at least you get too get away with his pranks (slightly)

Just make sure he doesnt sigma 3 breakdown hair you

A/N: I know this wasn't good but I am not in the mood to write yk--so sorry it's not funny or anything anyways I am not sure whether I WI will write part 3 or not

Tag: @silverbladexyz

Reblogs and likes are very much appreciated!

[ducky531]

Appraise Love (Wb Pirates x Reader fanfic) Chapter 1

Ohhh, look at me posting another chapter for this! Somehow, this is something I took better to in comparison to my cat story (go figure, lol.) Anyways, a couple of things to know going into this chapter: 1. The customer name 'Badeaux' actually translates to the Occitan meaning of 'stupid' and 'gullible'. This was on purpose, lol. 2. I head canon Rakuyo to have heavy Arabic/Egyptian and German influence, and Juzo to have more Hispanic/ Mexican influence. (Rakuyo's uses a flail. They were used frequently in Germany and Egypt, and his attire for some reason reminds me of a lot of the colors used during Egypt. Not to mention some of their clothes were more loose fitting/flowy. In Juzo's canon information (or the wiki on him), it's actually mentioned that his armor is inspired by Aztec warriors or at least closely resembles them, hence the Hispanic head canon.) 3. In One Piece, Buccaneers have been confirmed as a race.(at least from what I've found, This might change with more of the research I do into this project, lol.) HOWEVER, while they have been confirmed, I do believe that there are/ were two people confirmed to be buccaneers, and Whitebeard had been one of them. Ok, I think that about covers it for the head canons/ information I did research on for this chapter. I think all of the gemstone information is also correct. (If it's not and you're a huge nerd that's a lot more savvy in this than I am, please tell me so I can correct it-)

For Chapter 0: please go here! ____________ Word Count: 3575 ____________ ‘Snap. Snap. Snap.’ The crude hand that had waved in front of your vacant gaze had been going for a while now. It was only when the snapping started that your mind had even returned to reality in the first place. A little disappointed that you were ripped from the wandering adventure your thoughts were leading you on to get away from the suffocating gloominess within the shop, your gaze finally focused on the person in front of you. Well, you tried to, anyway. Still trying to tie your imagination back to where you were anchored in the world, you remained silently transfixed on the man before you. He was alone, that much was for sure, yet the shop wasn’t occupied by just him. Just outside your field of vision, there were three others there. By their stature, you figure the three were also me. Odd, given that this ‘was’ a jewelry place. More men had seemed to come through on days in comparison to women.

Ah, but you couldn’t afford the luxury to note all of your customers at the moment, for the man standing at the counter seemed to grow more and more restless.

“Hellloooo? Anyone home?” His words came out as sharp, though they were hollow. Most of the customer’s anger usually was. Staring blankly at the man for a moment longer only seemed to irritate him much further than he already had been.

“Are you going to help me, or do I need to report this to your boss?” The idea of the man waiting outside of the boss’s door for days had seemed amusing, and you were almost tempted to test that. But alas, that wasn’t going to do your own bills any favors.

“Apologies, sir.” You started in. “I was just distracted.” Despite the upfront bitterness the man had shown you, your tone remained friendly and inviting. Even if you felt like snapping back at the man, you always reminded yourself of the ‘one’ helpful piece of advice that your boss had told you: you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar. Even with the kindness you displayed, the guy had only crossed his arms, his scowl deepening.

“Mhmm, I’m sure.” Sarcasm was what he had retorted with. Greeaatttt, he seemed like he was going to make this a pleasant transaction. You took the moment to look the man over. He did seem like trouble. Well, he certainly dressed like it. A lilac colored dress shirt tucked neatly into a pair of white slacks was held together by a gaudy black belt. The golden buckle itself seemed bigger than anything he could offer, but there again most men that waltzed in dressed to the nines never could offer much fulfillment outside of being a sugar daddy for most women. You couldn’t see exactly what kind of shoes he wore from behind the counter, but did it really matter? The rest of the outfit was enough to tell you he came from the ritzy part of town. Unfortunately for you, that also meant that he was going to be a difficult customer. Usually people from the nicer end of town always came in trying to swindle the shop- as if they needed more money than they already had.

Truth be known, if it weren’t for the other people in the shop, you’d have turned the man away right then and there, all it would’ve taken was a simple excuse of ‘we’re closing for break’ or ‘come back later, I have a meeting with the boss to attend to’. But no. The shop just HAD to be busy at that very moment. Taking what little energy you had mentally stored away for tougher customers, you finally decided to move the transaction along.

“How may I be of assistance today?” Your tone remained chipper, a smile starting to form. It didn’t seem to be enough to waver the man’s bitterness, for he simply scoffed. Reaching into the pocket of his pants, the man was quick to slam the item down on the counter. You had internally winced at the noise, praying he hadn’t cracked the glass counter since it’d most likely come out of your check- especially since the boss was famous for that trick, taking from your supposed ‘pay balance’ when ‘things happened on your shift’. Thankfully when he drew his hand back, the counter had been saved. Atop it sat a ring. A gorgeous one at that.

“This.” His tone was blunt, the sharp edge still prominent in his voice.

“Ok…” You started yet again, your smile still remaining as you carefully moved your hand to gently pick up the ring.

“What is it you’re looking to do with this today?” Briefly looking up to him, you focused back on the piece of jewelry itself. 

“I want you to take it back and give me a refund.” He snapped, his arms crossing. His patience had begun to run thin. As it had been said before, the ring was gorgeous. And as much as you’d have loved to give the man money back on the ring…you couldn’t. Unlike the rest of the jewelry in the shop, this ring was unique. The ring itself had a slimmer bezel. It wasn’t anything fancy. But with the color of gold the bezel was, you were certain that it was top of the line. Yet, what was the most breathtaking part was the stone that was in the center of it all. An apatite. Against the teal of the stone, the gold had stood out but not taken the attention from the gem itself. And that was exactly the problem.

“I see…” Your voice seemed uncertain. There was a small voice in the back of your head saying that this was an opportunity to get a piece of jewelry such as this, that buying it and selling it for more could’ve very well have saved the place from going under for another month or so, but the facts stood before you. After gently placing the ring back on the counter, you returned your attention back to the bitter man.

“I’m afraid sir, we can’t accept this back as is. Unless we have a record of your receipt on file, we can’t take this back.” The man had seemed as if you were threatening to take his first born.

“And why, pray tell, is that?” His snippy tone seemed to only reflect the anger he was trying to keep under wraps.

“Well, for starters, we don’t sell jewelry with Apatite.”

“And why the hell not?! It’s a ring, is it not?” Snapping at you, all you could do was allow a soft sigh to escape you. Oh, how you wished you could’ve chewed this man up and spit him back out, but keeping your cool, you only carried on.

“I understand your frustration, sir. But we cannot accept jewelry back that we did not sell. This bezel is clearly made up of a higher gold concentration than we offer here, as well as the gem itself. Due to how fragile Apatite is, and due to how costly it can get trying to remake certain pieces that shatter and crack during the sculpting process, we do not sell nor buy jewelry including it.”

“That isn’t fair! I bought this ring from you people fair and square!” The man’s persistence might've been admirable, even for a scam, but even so, the only thing it was doing was grating your last nerve.

“If you insist you have, I can at least check our receipt logs…What’s the last name?” Briefly turning your back to the counter, you moved to dive beneath the counters for the crates of alphabetized files.

“It’s Badeaux.” As sharp as ever, he kept glowering at your actions while his own patience began to run thinner than before. After a moment of looking through the B fields, you had resurfaced once more.

“I’m sorry, sir. But we don’t have a file for you on hand. If you’d like, I do have some of the local island’s jewelers on file, so I can ring some of-”

“This is utter bullshit!” He spat at you, slamming his fist down on the counter.

“I understand your frustrations sir, but please-”

“Screw this, it ain’t even worth the money anymore. Just take it and choke on it for all I care!” The loud ‘clank’ that broke the ‘mostly’ serene silence of the shop had been from the ring making contact with the safety glasses you wore. As tacky and bulky as they were, you were grateful for them just then. The man had turned on his heel, letting the door slam on his way out. Once more, you couldn’t help the sigh that had escaped you.

“I swear, this job isn’t worth what I get paid on days.” The thought had escaped you with no filter, though did it really matter? No one else was around.

“Oh, I bet.” The voice of reason mused back. Allowing the comfortable smile to return, you simply decided to take a moment from-

Wait a minute…you didn’t have a voice of reason. Well, you did, just not one that talked back so…well…vividly. Just as the smile dropped, your gaze casually turned to the side. Upon first glance, you found yourself staring back at a pair of partially lidded eyes. It was only then that you realized.

“Ah, sorry sir! How, uhm, may I help you?” After quickly standing up straight and feeling a bit embarrassed over the remark shared aloud, it was only then you had remembered the other three men that had been perusing the different counters in the shop. In response, the man let out a light hearted chuckle. He held his hands up in a mock defense, the gesture seeming to do wonders to pacify the sudden embarrassment and anxious atmosphere.

“Whoa, whoa, cool it, Sparky. We’re not here to cause any problems.” His voice was gentle, soothing almost. The way he spoke seemed to hide no ulterior motive. That was good at least. To be quite frank, it was hard to believe that the group was there for anything other than genuine interest in the shop. Perhaps they were adventurers?

“We just had some questions, that’s all.” As the man spoke, you took note of his attire. Much like the last man, this one also had a purple shirt. Though unlike the first, he had been worn in a more casual manner. The way he kept it unbuttoned exposed the tattoo that embellished his chest and the muscles he had. Around his waist was a blue sash, along with a decorative belt that- somehow- topped the last man’s. From what you could tell, it seemed like he was wearing blue jeans of some kind, though again, from where you stood, you couldn’t quite tell if that was the case or not. Atop his head was a tuft of messy blond hair. To you, it did look a bit comical since no one really had come through with such a hairstyle before, but you must’ve figured the poor guy probably got enough trash talk for it. All in all, he had a much more laid back nature about him, something you couldn’t quite place, but something that seemed to be trustworthy for the time being.

Taking a moment to glance at the other two over his shoulder, You made note of the other two. One was a far burlier looking man, his frame towered the other two easily. A much more tan complexion had adorned him, the shade of red that the armor plates he wore seemed to pop more against him. From where he was, his back had been to you, so very little was able to be made out on his face. However, you could tell from just his stature alone that he was definitely not someone to be messed with. The other seemed a lot more enthused about the different pieces of jewelry within the cases. His back had also been to you, but what little you could make out from him was the messy blond locks he wore in dreads, as well as the cream colored jacket. Though, it did look more yellow than white.

In a way, you felt a little bad for the more excited man out of the two. All there were beneath the glass casings were boxes of different rings bunched together. Maybe before they left, you could at least pull them out of the casing and let him rummage through them? It wasn’t like your boss would care so long as none of them had gone missing. For now, though, they were here for genuine business, so suggesting the idea was off the table for now. Returning your attention to the first shaggier man of the trio, you recomposed yourself from the startle he gave you.

“Very well. What is it you’re looking for help with today?” Asking the question, the man had seemed a little stumped. ‘Please don’t be trying to rob the place…please don’t be trying to rob the place.’ The thought crossed your mind as the man stalled in giving his response.

“Well, it’s a bit…complicated.” He started in. He took note of the way you watched him before taking a step back.

“My bad, didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.” He reassured, his tone remaining insouciant. Oddly enough, you couldn’t help but take his word. Clearing his throat, he briefly turned to look over his shoulder at the other two.

“I myself am not very savvy with these kinds of things. But Rakuyo over there…” Speaking the last of his words loud enough for the other two to hear, the more eccentric man had quickly turned his head towards the two of you. Motioning the other over, the blond allowed a casual smile to form.

“I’ll let you talk to him, you’ll get a lot further since he’s more adverse in what we’re looking for.” With the blond taking a step back, the man- who you presumed was Rakuyo- stepped forward in his place. A bright smile adorned his features. Despite his energy, the laid back atmosphere of the interaction had remained.

“Hey, Shug.” The man replied. Though the nickname had already had you turning your nose up, something told you that was just something he called most women. At least it didn’t seem like he was trying to hit on you. With a simple ‘hello’ in return, you refocused your attention back to the conversation at hand.

“So, your friend here tells me that you’re more equipped with what it is you three are in for today?” You started in, your tone remaining as friendly as before. Earning a chuckle in response, the man nodded.

“I suppose that’s true to an extent.” Remaining light-hearted in the exchanged banter, the man continued.

“We were actually in to see if there would be any way you could resize or replicate a ring to request.” He started in. It took a moment for you to actually regroup yourself. It was a bit shocking, actually. For the first time in months, someone was GENUINELY INTERESTED in requesting service. Quickly gathering your wits, you had finally nodded.

“O-of course we do! Though we cannot offer a free resizing service with rings not sold here, we still can, depending on the condition of the ring itself. Pricing would mostly rely on the gemstones preferred for the ring.” The man had listened to your explanation, his features seeming to light up.

“Really? Well then, that answered quite a bit.” He mused, his words sounding as though they were mostly directed towards himself. When he refocused on you once more, his smile seemed to grow.

“I suppose that leaves us with a couple other questions, Hun.” For once, you could feel the corner of your lips tug upwards in a more genuine smile the more the conversation progressed. The three men had, for once, not been thugs- which was surprising given the same symbol they all adorned on different parts of themselves. You could’ve sworn you had seen it somewhere before, but remembering  where had eluded you. The conversation had gone from asking about the gemstones local to the island to the rarity and cost of others that were hard to get. At the end of the day, their request hadn’t seemed that complex. It was nothing more than a simple thicker bezel for a man with a single holder for garnet embedded into the ring itself. At the end of the day, it wasn’t something that would cost any of the three of them a fortune, outside of the third man who had remained in the back, neither of the two you spoke to seemed like they would’ve had a larger ring size. If you dared say, you didn’t think making it would’ve broken the bank for the third man either.

“Right then, I’ll be sure to put the order down and get the supplies ordered for you then.” You chimed. Rummaging through the boxes behind the counter, you pulled out a small notepad. On each page seemed to be an order ticket of sorts. As you began to work away at writing down all of the order information, you carried on with the conversation.

“I think I have just about everything here I need. I’m only missing the ring size.” The question had only earned an awkward silence from the three. Rakuyo was the first to pipe up after being unable to take the silence.

“Well, if you don’t mind me asking. What…sizes do you go up to?” Briefly stopping your scribbling, your gaze had turned up to look at him. When he had seemed a bit nervous in the manner, you turned to the other two. The first had seemed just as nervous, even the bigger gut out of the three seemed to have some pause in his stoic demeanor. Oh, they were serious. Standing up right once more, you started with another explanation.

“Well, at the moment we can only make up to a size 15. However, we can make additional sizes to accommodate different groups, such as giants and other larger groups. Most requests like this are done upon request, but the problem with them is that they may take a bit more time outside of the usual week. Would you happen to know the ring size off the top of your head?” Looking between the three men, each of them had seemed baffled for an answer. Taking that as a ‘no’, you ducked back under the desk to rummage around for a simple stack of papers.

“That’s alright if you’re unsure. We do have different sizing for each kind of person.” You started in. Pointing to the first set of sizes, you kept your focus on the page.

“These ones are mostly for humans. Don’t mind any of these numbers, it’s just for us back here to know what the bezel width would be. Over in this column,” Your finger circles the furthest set of numbers to the right, “is what you’d need to know. Down here are for Fishmen. Again, You don’t have to worry about any of these, this just tells us where we’d need to cut the bezel in order to assure it causes its owner any discomfort against the webbing in their hands./ Most mermaids and mermen do fall within human measurements, but there are a few that do have occasional sizing outs-”

“I don’t mean to be rude and cut you short, but why do the numbers have such a significant jump between these two groups?” The first man had piped up, pointing to a spot in which the whole section had been scribbled out.

“Ah, that.” You simply stated.

“Well, that was the sizing for buccaneers, but unfortunately, they haven’t been around in years. Most of the tools that we have for them aren’t kept on location. We still have them, of course, for the few odd folk that do have sizes that fall in that range, but that…would…” When your gaze had turned to look up at the three, each of them had seemed as though they had just witnessed a miracle. Raising a brow a bit, you kept your gaze flickering between the three of them.

“Is something the matter?” After you spoke, the peppier man had placed his hands on the counter, leaning over a bit.

“Do you realize what you’ve just done?!” He spoke. Taking a few steps back, you watched the man’s shock quickly contort into a wide grin.

“M…my job?” You spoke, uncertainty prominent in your tone.

“Well, yes, but no.” He finished, allowing him to place his feet back on the ground.

“Ma’am, you don’t realize just how long we’ve been looking for someone that has the equipment to make a ring for a buccaneer.” For the first time, the third man finally spoke. Your mouth had opened to speak, but you found the words stalling in your throat.

“...I beg your pardon?” The words had left unfiltered. Baffled by their wording, you figured that maybe they were simply just stating that whoever the ring was for was just unlucky enough to have sizing that fell within the buccaneer range. Yet, something told you that wasn’t the case.

Surely, it was just a misfortune, right? I mean…buccaneers had been extinct at this point…hadn’t they?

[spidermansballs]

hi! i saw ur post about headcanons and if u dont mind sharing, can you tell us some of yours for evan? :)

-hes natually blond and every so often hell take a section of hair and dye it fun colors, like purole or green

-he got his ears pierced the same time as pandora cuz she was scared to get them, he ended up liking them so much he got more

-he wasnt friends with barty anf reg till the end of first year cuz barty put him off a lot (and he was worried abt barty being friends with pandora) and he didnt inow wut to think of reg

-dorcas was the first person he came out to, she was a year older and already out so he trusted her, and she caught him looking at a hot gryffindor guy while she was looking at marlene

-hes rlly good and socializing with everybody, like hes super good at hiding his freak for formal situations, by the second hang out tho hes absolutely craxy,

-he asked barty out first anf they went to the three broomsticks, it went terribly until barty spilled his drink all over himself so they had to go to the bathroom to change, evan took of his shirt to give it to barty and was js gonna keep his hoodie on. they ended up hooking up in the bathroom

-him and panda have a secret handshake they made on their 5th birthday, every yesr they add smth new to it, its abt 4 minutes long and theyve nvr forgotten it even once

-he absolutely loves mexican food, js everything abt it he thinks is delicious

-he always has a pack of stickers in his bag

-the entire 3rd year he was majorly emo, like full force emo, he still is emo, js extremely dialed back

-he loves legos, he has a ton in his room at his parents house, theyre all people in handmade tortue devices made with spare legos

-he has "bcj" tattooed on his v line, he also has his and pandora's first words tattooed, pandas in his handwriting anf his in pandoras

i accidentally deleted this and had to rewrite the whole thing wnf im still missing one i cant remember

[pinchegaviota]

Cinta dying bothers me not because of the bury your gay trope that doesn't even actually work in this case. But because we have a majority light skin/white cast and only a handful of important speaking roles for darker skin/brown people, Cinta being one of them. So to then kill off the one darker skin/brown women in your cast when you let so many of your white/light skin women characters live feels very telling.

Why did it have to be Cinta and not Vel to die? It's not like we see Vel in rouge one, nor does she have a large impact going forward in the story after Cinta dies. She goes to talk to Cassian in the last episode so that she can convince Mon Mothma of what Cassian is saying, but it really doesn't matter because Bail Organa ends up believing him anyways with very little to no effort. If the worry is well, Vel has a family and the empire would be suspicious of her death, they could have easily written around it. It having to be Cinta to die in that scene instead of Vel seems very weak to me.

Also Vel dying would have added to Mon Mothma's distrust of Luthen!!! Especially because Vel knew Luthen unlike Tay who died because he was threatening them. Verses Vel who went on a mission that Luthen sent her even if it was accidental it would have been enough for Mon Mothma to question if her death really was accidental after Luthen had Tay already killed. It would have made her distrust of him when he was just trying to get her out safely more believable. Because to me, her distrust of Luthen because of Tay's death is weak, specifically because the reason Tay was killed was because of him threatening them with telling the Empire. In contrast to herself who was going to speak up against the Empire and was actually helping the cause unlike Tay. So having Vel die after Tay had been killed and then having this moment of her not trusting Luthen to want to get her out alive would have added to her distrust where it made sense.

I think Andor does a great job at doing what they set out to do, which is telling a story of the horrors of fascism and the cost of rising up against said fascism. That being said, I think the casting director should have done a better job at casting darker skin actors or asian actors for that matter in roles of emotional impact. Because yes there were darker skin people and asian people in the show, but the majority of them were as extras in the background. And I know people are going to say that how can I complain when the main character, the titular character of the show, is a Mexican man. Or even point out the other people of color in the show.

And to that I say colorism, that's why

I say this while loving Cassian Andor/Diego Luna, while being one of the people who felt the impact of having a Mexican actor be in Star Wars when Rouge One came out. I say all this while being a light skin brown hair brown eye Mexican American like Diego Luna (i know hes not mexican american i just mean how we look)

And to anyone who then asks, then why do you care? If you see yourself represented on screen? That's because I want to see different types of people on screen. In fact, why should I be satisfied with seeing only people who look like me on screen? Especially in a story about the horrors of fascism and rising up against it. We should have all manner of people to show how fascism affects us all.

I say this because I can see how much thought and care went into telling this story. Because I can see that they can do better and be better. If they went out of their way to hire 8 french actors for Andor why can't they ensure that they cast darker skin or asian people to more emotionally impactful roles? If they could write the majority of the white/light skin women to live at the end of the series, why could they not do the same for the one brown dark skin women in their cast?

[crystalofmoon19]

Día de los Muertos (Day of Death) - Striker x Mexican Catrina Reader! 🌼🌹💀

POV: You invited your boyfriend, Striker, to the Día de Muertos celebration with your family. Striker doesn't know much about the holiday, luckily you were there to help him.

"So you're saying you don't celebrate Halloween, darlin'?"

"No, mi amor, I celebrate "El Día de Muertos" with my family."

"The what?"

"The Day of the Dead, as they usually call them on this side of Wrath."

"Oh yeah, The Day of Death, I've heard of that. Is it the day where they dress up like skeletons?"

"Those are called the catrinas and the catrines, mi amor."

Striker looked at you a little confused, to which you just laughed, you had invited your boyfriend to celebrate the "Day of the Dead" with your family. Your grandma was preparing the food together with your aunts and your mom, your dad was preparing the altar with your uncle, your younger siblings were playing while painting their faces like skulls and you and your siblings close to your age were decorating your home. Around him, more people came to see the wonderful altar that you and your family had made together.

Striker, although he had accepted your invitation to spend the night with you and your family, he was still confused about the holiday, he knew of its existence but did not understand the great background behind it.

Luckily you were there to help him.

"What do you want to know about "El Día de los Muertos", mi amor?" .- You said caressing Striker's cheek, which made him rattle his tail like a rattlesnake and laugh a little, you knew how to make your boyfriend happy when he was disconcerted.

"Well, sugarcube, I'd like to know what exactly you're celebrating? And why are you celebrating death?"

"You know what? I think I'd better show you! Come on, Striker! Do you want to see my family altars?" .- You took your boyfriend's hand and your eyes lit up like stars.

"I'd love to, darlin'. Besides, I can't say 'no' to your pretty face."

"Okay let's go!"

You led Striker running out of your house and took him to where your father and uncle were, they greeted you and your boyfriend, you told them that you were going to show Striker your family altar. To which your dad, a little distrustful of Striker, admitted that he doubted your idea, but in the end you convinced him to give in so your dad and your uncle left for a moment; although your father gave Striker a questioning look and made him adjust his hat a little nervously but you comforted him by taking his hand.

"Look, Striker, this is the tradition of the Día de los Muertos, the altar; here we place a photo of our relatives who have passed away and on this day it feels like they come to visit us. Because as long as we remember them, they will continue to live on our hearts!" .- You put your hand to your heart while you continued explaining.

"In addition to the photos, we place candles to light the way of their arrival, we put the cempasúchil flower..."

"The flower of what...?" .- Striker interrupted you, confused about the Spanish name of the flower, to which you just laughed.

"It's the marigold flower, Striker!"

"Oh, good. Go on, darlin'."

"The name of this flower means "twenty flowers" or "several flowers." Its yellow color made our ancestors associate it with the sun. That is why they always placed them in their offerings!" .- You explained, putting a cempasúchil flower in your hair and smiled. Now Striker had no doubt that you were a radiant sunshine in his eyes.

"We also place typical food of the festival such as bread of the dead, tamales, hot chocolate, candy skulls and the favorite food of the beloved one who has the altar. For example, my grandpa loved my grandma's enchiladas, that's why they're here! So you better not try to eat anything!" .- When you looked towards Striker, he was already about to take one of the snacks from the offering. His snake-like appetite may have gotten the better of him but you weren't going to allow him to eat anything.

"Striker!" .- Your hand slapped Striker's hand who was about to steal a candy skull.

"What? We can't waste food!"

"It's not wasted food if it's for those who come to visit us! Plus if you're hungry we can go eat, I'm sure my grandma already has the food ready."

And said and done, your grandma called everyone to eat, with this you indicated Striker to follow you to the dining room of your house. So when they entered, the table was full of delicious food, which included pozole (a broth seasoned with vegetables such as corn, chili and meat), mole (a sauce that is a combination of several types of sauces seasoned with chili peppers and spices), and tamales (food made from corn, filled with various ingredients, cooked in a package of vegetable leaves).

"Hey darlin'?"

"Si, mi amor?"

"Are you sure your family isn't from Gluttony, instead of Wrath?"

"Why do you ask, mi vida?"

"Because I see that you and your family eat a lot, and you have also served me a lot of food." .- Striker said, satisfied with his food but that he still had not been able to finish his plate. To which you just laughed.

"And wait until you eat the bread of the dead with the atole, mi amor."

"IS THERE STILL MORE?"

"Ay mijo, you are so thin, you should eat more!" .- This time your grandma spoke, serving Striker more pozole, which made him throw his head back, although she thanked your grandma for this. You just laughed softly.

"If you're not from Gluttony, then you must have like three stomachs, right?"

"Yeah, something like that." .- You said enjoying your food while your family also ate theirs. Although Striker still couldn't stop looking at the huge appetite your family had, he had seen many Wrath imps be hungry, but you and your family were on another level.

However, Striker did not mind this trait of you or your family, on the contrary he was grateful that your family was very warm to him (perhaps with the exception of your father) since they let him be there as part of one of them, He also felt that this had been one of the best meals he had had in a long time. There were days when he would only eat a can of beans or instant noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and now having an entire feast with you and your family was something that had warmed his heart as well as his stomach.

So Striker took advantage of the fact that no one was looking to hold your hand under the table, which made your cheeks turn pink, and you also held his hand while they ate.

Later, when they finished eating, it was already starting to get dark and you told Striker to take care of your little brothers while you waited in the living room. Clearly the rattlesnake demon was quick to protest.

"Hey, I'm not gonna-!"

"Do it!" .- You gave Striker an angry look and how he already knew that if he didn't obey you it would end up with him sleeping on the couch for a week or more.

"Fine." .- The rattlesnake demon said resignedly as he watched you climb the stairs of your house in the company of your sisters.

"Just wait until I finish getting ready. I won't be long!" .- You told Striker until you went up to the second floor of your house. But Striker knew that when you said that, it was actually going to take a long time, so he just resigned himself to taking care of your little brothers while he waited.

Which wasn't an easy task, Striker wasn't one to take care of children, but your little brothers were getting on his nerves. Since they started running around the room and even though the cowboy scolded them not to do it, they did it anyway and one of them stole his hat.

"Give that, you little one!" .- Striker said annoyed while only your little brother made fun of him by sticking out his tongue and putting on his hat even though it was too big for him.

The only one who didn't seem to cause Striker any problems was your little sister, who was the youngest of the family, barely being about two years old, as soon as she had found Striker's leg she clung to his. For a second Striker calmed down a little for the baby, he even carried her to his chest, everything was fine until the baby started crying.

Striker complained loudly, he swore that he would be careful not to have as many children with you, at least in the amount that your parents had. He really felt that time flew by when he was taking care of your little siblings, although he was able to retrieve the hat from him he still wasn't enjoying this and when he was close to catching one of them that's when he saw you coming down the stairs. stairs.

You were dressed as a catrina, where you had made up your face as if it were a skull, you combed your black hair in a braid and you were wearing a red dress with an opening on your right leg that was decorated with yellow flowers very similar to the cempasúchil flower that decorated your entire outfit. You were also wearing red shoes along with a red hat that matched your dress and was decorated with flowers and pink feathers.

Striker when he saw you, his tail stood on end and his eyes widened when he saw how beautiful you were, you had practically left him speechless by your beauty.

"Y/N! You look so pretty!" .- One of your little brothers said when he saw you.

"Gracias." .- You thanked your little brother as you went down the stairs and headed towards where Striker was.

"How do I look, mi amor?"

"You look like a real angel in hell, darlin'." .- As soon as you approached him, Striker had taken your hand to kiss it, to which you laughed.

"Gracias, mi amor." .- You smiled at your boyfriend, who now approached to kiss you, but you stopped him with your hands while you laughed.

"Eww!" .- Your little brothers said in chorus for the show of affection.

"Not in front of my little siblings, Striker!"

"Why not? They are not your dad."

Without warning your dad appeared and stared at you and your boyfriend, this made Striker eat his own words and with that he distanced himself from you. You reassured your father that everything was fine and with a lot of effort on your part, you managed to get your father to leave you alone, with this done you had fun with Striker for the rest of the night.

There was a moment when you returned to your grandpa's altar, there you noticed that Striker behaved differently than usual, so you asked him what was happening. To which he in response tipped his hat to you.

"Is something wrong, mi amor?"

"I... I'm very grateful to you and your family for showing me the "Día de Muertos" holiday, did I say that right?" .- He asked you, seeking your approval in the pronunciation of his Spanish.

"Yes, that's fine."

"Well, I also enjoyed how well your family treated me, the delicious food I ate, and seeing you more beautiful than ever." .- He said caressing your cheek to which you smiled and took the hand he was caressing you with.

"Oh, mi amor, I'm glad to know that you liked the celebration."

"And I want to show you somethin' too, darlin'." .- He removed his hand from your face to take out a somewhat neglected photo from his jacket pocket and showed it to you.

At first you couldn't tell who it was, it didn't look like anyone you'd ever met, until when you looked closer at the photo you noticed that it was a snake demon. She was a young woman, with a green scale and snake fangs but she had white hair, when she saw her eyes that were an intense yellowish green you immediately knew how much the woman looked like Striker.

"Striker, is that your…?"

"Yes, that's my ma'." .- Striker answered you before you finished asking.

You looked closer and compared her to Striker, the resemblance was undeniable, you were sure that if Striker was a full snake demon she would completely resemble his mother.

"Mi amor, I haven't seen your mother before, what happened to her?" .- You tried to sound as soft as possible, but you still couldn't stop Striker from lowering his gaze a little.

"She was murdered by royalty." - Striker said with some resentment in his voice.

"I'm so sorry, mi amor. I had no idea." .- You put one hand to your mouth and another to your heart surprised.

"It's okay, darlin'. I didn't want to tell you about my ma' before either, because I didn't think you were close to those deceased relativies until now." .- This time Striker sounded a little more understanding, leaving his resentment for royalty aside and he did something you hadn't seen him do before; he took off his signature red handkerchief and handed it to you.

"Striker, what are you doing-?"

"This used to be my ma's and she gave it to me when I became independent enough from her." .- Striker explained, adjusting his hat again while he looked at you.

"Listen, darlin'. Before I met you, I used to think that life was something to be taken for granted, and death was the only way to give value to a life. When I was in a near-death situation I would run away fearing for my life; but when I met you, you gave value to my life and taught me the purpose of this holiday, I remembered ma' and the good times I had with her." .- You noticed how your boyfriend's tone of voice had changed and it was the first time that he was vulnerable to you in this way and you were going to support him.

"Your mother is here, Striker. She will continue to live as long as you remember her in your heart, and when you remember her you will always feel the warmth of her, but it is similar to the love you feel when you are with your loved ones." .- You said, putting your hand on Striker's chest and smiling at him with your warmest smile while still holding the photo and his handkerchief in your other hand.

"Can you feel her?"

"I think… I can feel her."

You smiled as you silently handed Striker the photo of his mother and placed his handkerchief around his neck. The rattlesnake was nostalgic. This gesture had not worn his handkerchief like that since he was a child. It reminded him of his mother, you may not have been a snake demon like her but you still had the same love that she gave and you gave it to him as his lover.

Striker moved much closer to you and you gladly accepted it, moving closer until his lips were a few centimeters away.

"Can I-?"

"Yes, you can." .- It was your turn to interrupt your boyfriend so that you could give him a kiss on your lips and he gladly reciprocated while both of you put your tails together and your hats fell to the ground but that didn't matter to you now.

You had a "telenovela kiss" with Striker, like he was taken from a clip of a Hell-a-Novela episode with Gabriella kissing Alejandro. After the party you told Striker that next year you were going to prepare an altar for his mother and he couldn't but agree with that and even told you that he was going to help you do it as long as you told him how to do it. one.

Thanks to you he not only now had a new favorite holiday and now he could always honor the memory of his mother thanks to you.

[going-to-ikea-for-the-fries]

Clockwork. - OC Story

pairing: COD OC!Victoria "Whiskey" Callahan x Simon "Ghost" Riley bonus: MootOC!Meabh "Pirate" O'Malley x Johnny "Soap" MacTavish words: 1.4k~ (on the dot, bby!) cw: canon simon backstory. + none. just toothrotting fluff.

December and May are Simon's least favourite months of the year.

December because it's the constant reminder of his family passing.

May because it's the constant reminder that he was the cause of all his family's issues.

Simon was born within days of his own father's birthday; "a late birthday present" everyone called it...

Nevermind the fact the druggie was too high to even attend his own son's birth, and that his mum had to get herself to the hospital alone, with a young Tommy tucked under her arm.

Simon had a bad birth, having breached feet first, and having to get rotated in utero, and then having been born with the umbilical chord around his neck, which meant he needed extra care afterward.

Simon needed to get surgery at age 3 because of tonsilitis.

Simon needed glasses growing up, which is mum could barely afford.

Simon had trouble saying his Ss, so for a long time, he got mocked at school for calling himself "Shimon"... and ended in him having speech classes.

Simon's grades were horrendous, and he had a tendency to get into fights at school, which caused his mum to have to take hours off work to come see his teachers.

Simon.

Simon.

Simon.

Always him, at the root of every problem.

And yet Simon was the only one in the house to raise his voice (and later his fists) at the drunk that was his father, which earned him countless trips to A&E.

Simon was the one with the neglected birthday, not because his mum and Tommy didn't remember, but because being right after his own father's, the leech would blow all their money on a rager, and leave the family unable to eat, let alone buy the boy a cake.

So Simon learned to not care.

Going into the Army, people didn't really show that big of a deal about it like they would at a normal job. Hard to, when you spend all your time fearing a bomb will fall on you or a bullet will bury itself on your body.

But then he went home, and when he kicked that bag of bones out of the house, and got Tommy into rehab... It got different. Got... better. The birthdays got easier. There were phone calls, and cards, and he actually... sort of... looked forward to it.

Whenever he'd be scheduled for leave, he'd go home, and mum would've bought them a cake and they'd sing happy birthday, and mum would give him things he needed; clothes, boots, they'd watch films together, she'd kiss his forehead so often...

Then, Beth came along. And now he suddenly was being forced fed cake and handed gifts that he had no clue what to do with... So his barracks suddenly had color. There were new towels, and little trinkets, picture frames with photos from home...

Then Joseph came, the little boy that had been the apple of his eye, that learned to talk in May, at 10 months old, and Simon got an e-mail with a video from them, where little Joseph mumbled his way past a 'SiSi!' while pointing at a picture of him in Tommy's phone... One of, if not the, best gift he'd ever received.

And they they were gone.

It only got so much worse after that night.

He swore he'd never celebrate his birthday again.

All he had ever loved had been stripped from him.

He wondered if it was his fault.

If he was, somehow, destined to bring bad luck to all those around him.

If he was, somehow, the root of all evil.

If, because he spited some God, all that he loved, all that he touched, was destined to die in his hands.

He spent three years locked in a haze. Mission to mission, job to job, move move move, and never stop.

He spent three Mays buried in work so he couldn't think, and buried in alcohol so he couldn't feel.

And then, on the fourth...

“He tried to get the radiophone off me, so I broke a couple of his fingers… And his wrist. And kicked him in the balls.”

“It's a… Mexican-style MRE. Has beans and cheddar cheese or something. It's the only one I actually don't mind eating. The others are disgusting.”

“That feels like a dig at my social skills.”

“I've been swimming since I was a girl. Navy made sense too.”

“Took a napalm bath.”

For once since that bloody fucking day, he actually wanted something more than to simply forget, to drink himself into a coma and only waking up days later with his phone ringing and Price talking about a new mission.

God, Victoria made him laugh. She made him roll his eyes. She made him scoff. She made him talk. She made him listen.

Of course he couldn't let that go... let her go.

Of course he went looking for her once he was on leave.

Of course he held her close for those two nights.

Of course he held her close in that safehouse.

Of course he bore his face out for her when he got shot.

Of course, of course, of course.

He didn't isolate anymore, every May after that.

Simon'd wake up on his birthday and throw back the covers and sit on the edge of the bed and before the thoughts got to him, she'd already be wrapping her arms around his midsection, and pressing her cheek to his back.

And he'd put his hands over hers, and hear her breathing, and her heartbeat pressed against his back... And he'd close his eyes.

They didn't need to speak.

Victoria never wished him a 'Happy Birthday', but she'd always make sure to bake him a little sweet treat for dinner.

They share it the same way they shared their ''wedding cake'': sat across from each other in their kitchen, with a backdrop of trees beside them, a single knife to cut a slice, feeding each other pieces off the blade.

And when the thoughts got to be too much, on his birthday or all throughout the month, he'd simply turn and look at her, cup her face in his hand, and look her in the eye...

In those moments, he wanted to say it, he could feel it in the tip of his tongue...

That he cherished her.

That he appreciated all she did.

That she kept him sane.

That she was the best thing to have ever happened to him.

That she was like a lighthouse when he felt like a bloody gondola lost at open sea (wildly unprepared and definitely about to tip over and drown).

That he'd die for her.

That he'd kill (and had killed, and would kill again) for her.

That even if there was nothing else to go on for... he'd keep going for her.

That he loved her.

The words were always at the tip of his tongue.

Not just then, but every day. At all points of the day.

Whenever they touched, he'd want to say it.

Whenever they spoke, he'd want to say it.

Whenever they'd lock eyes, he'd want to say it.

Whenever he breathed, he'd want to say it.

His tongue would swirl with the taste of it, of the love he felt for her...

But the words never really made it out...

But he knew. And she knew.

Extra:

Then the news came, the baby, Meabh, it was always go go go, on the move, at home, never time to rest, just Meabh and the baby, and Victoria and him, and...

By the time Simon noticed, Fiadh was here, lying in his arms, little hands closed into fists, her small wrapped in a white blanket with anchors and fishes drawn on it...

And he looked up at his wife who stood beside Meabh, doting on her best friend and caressing her head, cooing at her that she did a good job, the girl a bit dozy from exhaustion from the recent breast feeding...

And then at the clock on the wall, marking 00:13 of the 19th...

And he felt his eyes begin to prickle, his jaw clenching under his surgical mask...

He looked back down at his niece again, little blind blue eyes, the same ones that used to belong to his best friend, staring up at him...

Maybe he didn't hate his birthday so much anymore.

for you @loveandplanet for making me sad ; and also @crashtestbunny sorry for this :)

[aikoiya]

LoZ: The Master Sword of the Goddess

Ya'll... I am so flippin' proud of how well this came out. Cause it's beautiful! ❤️

Now, my theory is that the Master Sword isn't truly complete. Not yet anyway.

Like, it isn't in its intended form. The one it was designed for.

And this is what I think it'd look like:

Like, dude! This is amazing!

Though, I feel like the wings of the guard are too big for a longsword. Would be better suited to a claymore.

I also loved both gems I made, but I think this version is the winner because it means that I can use this one for something special to help the wielder.

You may not have noticed, but the gem is actually 2 fused together.

Anyway, I've been thinkin' about the materials that this version of the sword might be made of & I think I have a decent list.

To start off:

2 Goddess Plumes (which appear to be crystalline) for the guard.

Timeshift Stones, which the original sword's guard was primarily made of, so it'll be melted down to make a new one. (The Timeshift Stone of the guard & the Ocarina of Time resonated, which is what sent Time's mind forward into the future.)

Star Fragments from New Hyrule.

The above items melted down & made into an alloy with iridium & other materials (possibly even Dusk Relics, which might just be Mexican Blue Amber) to create the wings.

The 3 Sacred Flames. Used to kindle a new flame. A white-gold one.

Green Chalcedony to inspire strength, courage, & insight. It also has connections to love. (Every type of love, not just romantic.) Then magically infused to draw out those traits.

Aqua Chalcedony symbolizes tranquility & harmony. Has a soothing, gentle energy, & promotes emotional balance, helping to alleviate stress, anxiety, & negativity. It encourages inner peace & provides protection, making it well-suited to being the companion to heroes who may need a bit of extra support in trying times. Then magically infused to draw out those traits.

This would allow Fi to better aid her wielders emotionally even as she sleeps.

As for the metal itself:

* will appear beside alloys that I made up.

Chromium from chromite ore.

Star Pieces for the gold & whetstone. (Something to keep in mind is that there are 3 different colors of Star Fragment: the ones from the Era of the Wild, Gold & Red, & the ones from New Hyrule, which are Purple.)

*Mourniron = Typically found deep underground where fierce battles had taken place. The best kind can be found in Bogs as they tend to have trace amounts of silicon in them, which ensures better flexibility.

- *Allaysteel = Mourniron made into steel. Was once used by the Sheikah to make weapons that would help them in dispatching with enemy Poes & laying their souls to rest. The practice of creating it has long since been forgotten by the time of Wild's Era. Which is partly why there were so many Poe Souls in the Depths. Wild was the first to begin ferrying them to the Bargainer's Statues in 15,000 years. It is effective against Poes, Undead, & other such enemies.

Light Dragon Horn to melt down & fold into the metal to make the blade.

1 claw from one blessed by twilight. (A claw from Twi's wolf form.)

4 Master Ore from Lorule.

Iridium = A metal in the platinum group. Alloying it with other metals imparts durability & heat resistance. It's also nearly gold-tier in non-reactivity. Can only be found from comets, meteorites, & asteroids. Essentially, it's a space metal & would be heavily associated with stars. And while Iridium is a silvery-white color with a slight yellow-ish cast, under certain magically induced circumstances, it's cast instead changes to something in the range of lavender, purple, a/o indigo. Also, above the melting point, ignition results in a violet flame.

Stellite = Cobalt-chromium alloys. A very tough, as well as wear, corrosion, & heat resistant material.

*Grieving Steellite = A cobalt-chromium-Allaysteel alloy.

*Remembrance Corundite = A grieving steellite & diamond alloy.

Ferrochromium = An iron-chromium alloy.

*Mourningstar Corundite = Corundite & iridium alloy with Light Dragon Horn & Twilight's Claw.

*Master Corundite = Master Ore & Mourningstar Corundite alloy.

---

Anyway, it'd likely need to be reforged in an actual forge as, in ancient times, the forge was considered a holy place. If nothing else, the blade might get blessed.

At the same time, I see it needing to be made in lava due to the high melting point of a few of the ingredients.

I think that I'd have it to where Clove (LU's Four) & Legend switch between using the FD mask. This would automatically elevate their own bladesmithing abilities by quite a decent degree. Though, I can definitely tell that Legend would still have things to learn.

Like, things that might necessitate a 3 Oracles game. One where Farore is the Oracle of Mysteries, her book being the gateway for Legend, gaining a more intimate understanding of Runic magic, which could lead to infusion magic.

---

As an aside, I get the feeling that in this state, it'd change forms depending on the Link. Like, it'd become most suited to their particular size & fighting style.

As in, for Time, it'd become a two-handed sword. Legend, it'd take on runes that could channel that magic into the blade, turning him into something of a spellsword.

Similarly, if there were a Link who were Sheikah & trained as such, it'd take on a more katana or ninjatō-like shape. And Gerudo? A scimitar.

Hell, for Wind, it might turn more into a cutlass.

For the most part, it will stick to the shape of a sword of some sort.

Ergo, Clove (LU Four) would have zero reasons to avoid using it.

LoZ Linked Universe Masterlist

[newwayin]

name vicente valdebenito valdivia. nickname vic, vincent, vi. age fifty. date of birth tba. gender agender. sexuality arospec bisexual. pronouns he / him. languages known chilean / mexican spanish, english, casual italian and tagalog. height 6' ( 183 cm ). occupation shopkeeper @ sisters of the moon. face claim pedro pascal.

( + ) insightful, compassionate, patient, efficient, colorful, humorous, gentle, charming, observant, safe. ( - ) intolerant, cautious, odd, secretive, fickle.

hobbies tarot card reading, creating different teas. likes tea, morning walks, his dog. dislikes large crowds of people / populated areas. quirks has his dog with him (almost) wherever he goes. strengths his oddity, strangely enough. weaknesses gets spooked too much for reading between the lines ( not everything is ominous ). aesthetics the hermit card sits there face up and worn from thousands of uses, there's even a tear in the corner; there's a ripped hole where the face should be. an outcast, a recluse and someone who points the finger at to point out he's not the same as everyone else, delusional and weird is what they say. crushed tea leaves that is meant for a reading but instead is opted for a drink, creative and helpful.

THE STORY STARTS HERE ... to be added.

fun facts

always had an interest in astrology / fortune - telling and pursued it in secret.

self - identifies as a ( modern day ) witch.

has a golden retriever named charlie bow wow that definitely wears silly, little hats ( charlie for short, named after charlie xcx because he was feeling silly that day )

his fashion style is that of a middle - aged white tourist visiting hawai'i with far too much sun screen on his nose and wears aloha shirts. also can't forget the socks with sandals. <3

a skyrim enjoyer.

has an ant farm in his room.

likes to paint in his spare time, used as a way to calm himself.

the best time to find him is walking charlie when the sun comes up while grabbing some coffee. you're always welcome to join him on those walks! the more the merrier.

lived in redcreek for 25 years after moving from chile to live on his own, just in time to witness the talbot murder.

sisters of the moon he considers a safe space for those troubled youth / anyone that just needs an ear. anyone is welcomed in with a fresh pot of a tea, always changing given on the mood.

considered one of the "weird" ones in redcreek.

hot - to - go connections

typical friendly / antagonistic / romance??? if that ever comes into play but who would be mean with him ): hes so nice

his adoptive daughter that has moved out of the house but mayhaps perhaps she came back to visit good ol' dad / decided to move back in because her situation didnt work out so well (hes the biggest girl dad anything for her!!!!!!)

those few that hes a father figure to ofc not everyone welcomes it but maybe theres those couple that he thinks needs the guidance for whatever reason / wants sisters of the moon to be a safe space for those that are lost

clients <3 his normal occurrences and hes always happy to see them

ohhhhhh you know u wanna be his walking partner in the morning so bad when afterwards he hits the bakery for a sweet treat and coffee / doggy dates for those that also have some

for the older muses specifically: u wanna do weekly hang outs to catch up and have some tea, maybe gossip whats been happening around the town, maybe gossip about other things (; idk what do older ppl talk about generally

hes not a therapist but maybe painting with a witch will help soothe ur angry / conflicted / anxious soul

i know a bond with his coworkers would also heal his soul too

[thenightlymirror]

I’ve been listening to A Crow Looked at Me. My wife didn’t die. My Uncle Jeff’s wife died. And my uncle, my namesake. I think it’s just a way to process death in a way that feels respectful.

I came back to work Monday, and within the hour, Vicky was hounding me about several things while my computer had not even booted up, so I politely asked her to put it in an email, and then she persisted, and said there was one more thing.

“Is it ‘Sorry’? Because if it isn’t, I’m going to need you to get away from me.” And then I began shouting for her to get away from me.

Toby is the superintendent. I never write about him, but we are friends. Our names are similar (though this one is fictional). He introduced himself by implying he could beat my ass. I acceded. He is sort of a living R. P. McMurphy character. He listens to several audiobooks a week. His grandfather was the superintendent for NORAD. But his new wife is Mexican and he has two little boys, who he loves and takes care for very well. He is bipolar and once fought several officers at once in a situation he implied was an attempted suicide by cop. He would like someone to be nostalgic about cocaine with, but I’ve never tried it myself. More of an innocent bystander’s perspective.

We laugh too loudly for Harper’s tastes and every now and then he’ll ask me if I want to take a ride out to the garage, and we’ll fuck-around in the cemetery shooting the shit while he attempts to flip his Ford F-150 with both of us in it.

He was raised by an aunt, and when my homologous aunt-mother died, he took it personally. He asked if I wanted to get Chinese and while he hadn’t gotten paid yet, I still had money. We disappeared for an hour and it was a good time. Harper said if me and her ever disappeared for an hour, people would be suspicious.

I said we should. Throw them off their game. I got her a large white rice and a Diet Coke, which was close as she would come to playing hookie with us. Me and Toby once ate lunch together in the break room, and she even stood up and wandered in to talk, which is a lot for her.

I missed her birthday week while I was in Wisconsin. Which is usually a tumultuous and moody week that I absolutely crushed with flying colors last year. Fawner’s victory. A two week drag that begins with her girlfriend’s birthday and ends with Valentines Day.

In our last 15 minutes I printed out a Valentine of a crocodile saying “I will kill you” and she loved it and put it up in her cubicle wall.

I have a cold from being outside for too long. Had trouble falling asleep, and dreamed that a girl encouraged me to go down on her but my mouth-breathing turned my tongue into ash against pale Barbie plastic. She kissed me, and it was sweet wish-fulfillment in a way that feels sinister upon awaking. I don’t feel deprived, or unworthy. I don’t really suffer through Valentine’s Day. Things just are what they are.

That’s all.

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Thank you!! Never been a swiftie but have been around her shit for years by vague associations w swifties and just pop culture and she used Lover/related activism in the era to rebrand and get back into mainstream while the Kim/Kanye stuff was still going on. Like yes reputation was mainstream but at the time ppl would still talk about her lying (and there were a lot of takes around her perceived antiblackness)

The only way she was able to scrub her reputation like that was w YNTCD, coming out as a democrat, those George Floyd tweets etc. if she hadn’t done all that I promise u no fans would care this much about Matty bc they just wouldn’t have higher expectations. She raised the bar for herself then complained ppl were bitching and moaning when she didn’t meet it.

Tbh I think it’s also a big part of gaylor takes went a little bigger following lover, she raked in a huge lgbt following w that album and when they saw she didn’t actually give a shit about them they went straight to saying she’s closeted/it’s not safe for her to speak up/as a queer artist she can do what she wants w this. like she’s the straightest woman alive they just needed an excuse why she used the community and doesn’t have to be a good ally anymore and her being gay is the only answer.

Also why I will never stand anyone who defends the 1930s lyric bc like girl - we all know you don’t mind racists, you don’t have to throw in a line about it in what is the most peak bit of performative activism I’ve ever seen.

I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next couple of years we see her shifting away from appealing to the left and going back to centrism/alt right pop princess core tbh, like since she’s been w travis she’s not around POC like that anymore and I think marginalised fans are greeting close to jumping ship, keeping politics out/going conservative is her only route really.

Anyway Stan queer black artists and honestly goodbye Taylor.

yupppppp she should’ve never done the (performative) activist rebrand if she didn’t want to be held accountable for her actions later. like her fans would’ve been ok with stanning her without all the performative feminism and anti racist work because they continue to support her even after she dated that white supremacist! like she only did that whole rebrand to distance herself from the aryan goddess controversy and only did the rebrand to kickstart her marketing for the Lover album.

But I completely blame gaylors for thinking miss swift is gay like that one is completely on them. Taylor not dispelling the rumors immediately was intentional because she knew it would generate more interest and therefore more money from new audiences, but nothing she did was exactly…queer? i say this as a sapphic woman myself with a gaylor ex gf (she was black…). the fact that taylor came out as straight multiple times and gaylors truly believe she is closeted and unsafe is just…unbelievable to say the least

tbh the more i think about it the more i believe the 1830s lyric was actually bait so people could talk about her album and drive engagement/interaction up on streaming services. i know i sound like a conspiracy theorist but i don’t put anything past this woman honestly

tbh when has she ever left/liberal? this girl has been a centrist her entire career, the only difference is that throughout the years the totem pole of what is considered “centrist” shifted considerably right of what it was in 2019/20. her dating travis was definitely an appeasement to her liberal and conservative fanbases, dating a football player who has explicitly said #BLM and has black exes.

dare i say travis kelce is the closest taylor will ever get to dating a black man (let alone any man of color)?

okay let’s be honest when has taylor ever had poc friends like that 😭 there was zendaya but that was like 7 years ago. i mean taylor has friends who are not white like selena, who is half mexican, but i’d argue she doesn’t have any friends that are like…VISIBLY poc you know? she’s basically only ever had white friends.

i think she’s just not performing to care anymore, especially since she now knows her fans will support her racist ass no matter what. and i feel bad for her nonwhite fans, like that sucks that she doesn’t care, but also the red flags were there all along. honestly, she’ll only start caring when she’ll lose her large swathe of white fans. they’ve been her stronghold so if she loses them, she’ll lose everything.

taylor genuinely did fuck up by incorporating politics into her branding because if she backtracks now her liberal swiftie base is definitely going to fall apart (we can already see the cracks forming right now). she should’ve just stuck to being apolitical like how she was 2012-2016 because she would’ve never been in this mess

tl;dr save yourself the time and trouble:

✨ Stan Black Queer Artists ✨

[cryptidsurveys]

Sunday, June 1st, 2025.

Name 5 people that are very important to you. My dad, my best friend, my therapist, my mom, and idk who would fall into the fifth slot.

Do you like eating chocolate covered cherries or strawberries? I would prefer chocolate covered cherries.

What does your 9th text say in your outbox? My texts don't work like that.

Ever had a really scary dream? Tell me about it. The scariest one in relatively recent history was the one I had about no longer being able to volunteer at the animal shelter.

Where is the coolest place you’ve been on vacation? Maybe Lily Dale, NY. I went there as a teen while staying with my god parents in PA.

Would you rather have salad or french fries for a side dish? Probably a salad.

Ever been to California? Did you like it? Yeah. We traveled there when I was 11 to attend one of my dad's friend's weddings in San Jose. We also spent a few days in San Francisco, went to Muir Woods, and spent our last day at a beach near a city with a name I now forget.

What’s your favorite thing about the town you live in? It's close to the mountains, the downtown area is nice, everything is pretty convenient, it's full of nostalgia because I've spent most of my life here.

Do you like Mexican food? What’s your favorite dish to eat? Yeah. I don't really have a top favorite dish, but I enjoy tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, fajitas.

Favorite kind of pizza is? Thick and chewy crust with a crunchy exterior, not too much sauce, toppings like jalapenos, onions, black olives, mushrooms.

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? If so, how long have you been dating? I don't.

Any brothers or sisters? Do they make you mad? I have one younger sibling, but they aren't part of my life.

Are you nosy? Probably too nosy for my own good. Kind of falls under the category of gossipy + negative speech behaviors I'm trying to eliminate.

Ever been to a bar? What was it like? I remember going to a hotel bar as a kid during one of my sibling's sports tournaments, and I've been to the bar & grill near my neighborhood.

Are you old enough to drink? I am.

What’s your favorite kind of flower? Dandelions, wild sunflowers, wildflowers in general, roses, cherry blossoms, foxglove and snapdragons.

Would you rather have pasta or chicken? Pasta.

Have you ever dated someone, but made them not tell anyone about it? I haven't.

What’s the meanest thing you have done to a friend? Hmm.

Have you ever kissed anybody with the name starting with a C or R? C - yes. R - no.

Why did you and your last ex break up?

Have you ever had a really bad fight with a best friend? Yeah.

Do you like spaghetti? It's not bad, but I would prefer other types of pasta dishes.

Which color: orange or red? Depends.

Do you know any songs by Katy Perry? Do you like her music? I've heard at least a couple of songs, maybe more without realizing it.

Ever had a near death experience? Not of the "bright tunnel of light" variety. I don't actually know how close I was to death during some of my destructive low points.

Which number: 5 or 19? Lol see what I mean. That number. 19. It's everywhere. ;D

What’s your favorite song by Taylor Swift? Why is that your favorite? I don't have one.

Pick one: apples or oranges? Apples.

Do you know anybody named George or Bob? I don't.

What do you like better, being single or in a relationship? Why is that? I'm okay with being single and taking the necessary time to work on myself.

Are you close with your mother? I don't feel super close to her, but at least we have a decent relationship now.

Have you ever dated someone named Kyle? I haven't.

Who was the last person to ring your doorbell/knock on your door? I think it was some salesperson.

Does anything on you itch right now? No.

If the last person you kissed came to your house now, what would you say?

If your ex called you crying, what would it most likely be about?

Who was the best kisser out of all the people you have kissed?

Name everyone you have texted today. I haven't texted anyone.

Who was the last person you spoke to for over 5 minutes over the telephone? My mom.

How many times have you went to the bathroom today? Idk.

Who do you currently live with? My dad and two kitties.

What do you like better: sour or sweet candy? Sweet.

Have you ever been told that you have an annoying laugh? Not that I can recall, but I would probably remember something like that if it had happened. Talk about a devastating blow.