#it doesn't even sound like a jet engine any more

[strangefable]

bloatware i hate you.

especially from you microsoft. stop making me have to fight for my life to get my computer to have only the programs I WANT INSTALLED.

also also. big giant huuuuuuuuuge fuck you to dell for royally fucking me up for so long. never again. you're dead to me.

[livingdeadhorse]

idk what this is. i like robots. i’ll clean these up later. i think.

anyways while drawing these I started thinking abt like. idk does this count as an AU.

General shit:

I didn't make it clear, but the robots that have pupils were built without a hardcoded purpose. They've always been free to explore what they want to do. The robots with fully colored "scleras" were created with a purpose from the jump, so their creators didn't feel the need to make them appear more "human".

The more expensive a robot's parts are, the less clunky it is.

Right now, I'm going with "their human family built them" but that's liable to change.

The designs are also liable to change because uh. duh.

Celestia Ludenberg:

Viewed the robots with an imbued purpose as interesting and superior (something something humanity's advancement). She wants to be praised like that, so she emulates them

Her cat loves how much heat she radiates so it's always near her.

Most of her upgrades are cosmetic but if they aren't, they're stupid. She won't upgrade her CPU or her motherboard, but she'll load up with three 4090s that her other components can't even keep up with. Yes, she does it to flex.

She'll distract from bootleg, refurbished, or shoddily painted parts by turning on her RGB. It gets annoying.

She knows that she's fairly unsettling and she revels in it.

All things considered, her cable management is pretty good.

Her gambling skill is still just luck here, but she tells everyone it's because she has a never-seen-before GPU(& CPU) that does calculations at insane speeds.

Most don't believe her but have no way to disprove her lie.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

I can't decide if he was built by his father or his grandfather.

Either way, he was built before Toranosuke's downfall, so his internals were all pretty expensive for the time. Luckily for him, that means he was slightly future-proof and has a viable upgrade path.

Unluckily for him, this means he's stuck with really old parts and his 8gb of RAM can barely keep up in a 32gb world sadge

His chassis is built from secondhand or scrap parts. It's why his joints are so ancient in comparison to the rest of him and why he has so much cabling that he can't seem to manage.

Shit chassis = shit airflow = he is always overheating

BUDDY IS YOUR CPU BURNING HOW IS THERE SMOKE

Older tech = LOUD AF. The class bought him new fans to avoid the loud ass whirring. It's not quiet but he used to sound like a jet engine.

He runs on Debian. It was originally going to be Arch since it's lightweight but Debian's whole "old but stable" reputation fits him more. I don't see him properly dealing with bleeding edge software anyways.

His room is filled with past HDDs that no longer have storage. He deems all educational material important so he refuses to delete any lessons. He doesn't have the money for SSDs.

Mukuro Ikusaba:

Is usually in reconnaissance mode, meaning she has a shit ton of hidden cameras in her chassis

This used to benefit Fenrir. Now it benefits Junko.

She can have her parts shifted around with no issue to make room for a better arsenal.

She’s durable in her reconnaissance mode but she’s nigh on untouchable in her combat mode. Her chassis gets 10x bulkier and she can split her attention to several different tasks on the battlefield.

Fenrir Mercenary Group doubles as a weapons company. Mukuro is the only model of her kind though.

They tried to give her reconnaissance model the look of a “normal girl” so she could gather info more efficiently. They failed real bad. They also didn’t account for the fact that Mukuro isn’t good at socializing.

She allocates a CPU core to a process dedicated to Junko. 24/7 365

She believes herself to be less capable of emotion than she actually is. She can’t seem to find the system process that triggers such painful emotions.

Chihiro Fujisaki

Each “fold” in her skirt doubles as a screen. Think of the skirt as having two layers: the top shell and the under shell. The top shell is what doubles as a screen.

Optimized her hardware to work on code as fast as possible (fingers, skirt, etc).

She tends to test out new software on herself regardless of their compatibility with her pre-existing shit. She constantly has to reinstall her OS, but it’s all fun for her.

Speaking of her OS, I was going to make her run on Gentoo but IDK cause of the compile times. It’d be faster if she used distcc but I can’t see her screwing over her classmates like that lol.

So I’m between Nix and Arch.

Insecure about the fact that she overhauled her original model so extensively. Got made fun of for being a ‘defective’ robot. Her father supports her modifications but she still feels bad about having ‘failed’ somehow.

Cue identity issues

She helps out her classmates when it comes to repairs.

Tendency to stay up programming leads to high uptimes. If her friends notice her lagging or crashing, they’ll try to get her to shut down. (In a computer sense lol, not an emotional shut down)

Do y’all remember the xz utils backdoor? Yeah that’s how extensively she combs through code.

Sayaka Maizono

I can’t decide if she was built to be an idol or was originally some other type of robot.

Loves to make kids smile, so she has a sort of candy mechanism in her arm.

Everything about her glows or spins. You will never get bored looking at her.

Her skirt isn’t actually see through I just didn’t feel like erasing the hip joints lmao.

If corpos give her manager enough money, she has to perform with literal ads on her.

State-of-the art facial recognition software. It makes her fans feel special to have their names remembered.

She has a regular sleep cycle due to how load-intensive her everyday life is. Has to shut down for a couple hours every week at least.

Her psychic ability is just her running a million calculations based on people’s behavior and sensing which one is most plausible. This feature is in place to avoid PR disasters during interviews or public appearances.

There really aren’t enough worker’s rights regulations in place for robots.

The company gets alerts whenever she freaks tf out, so she feels even more stifled and repressed. Chihiro helped remove this.

Kyoko Kirigiri

Can’t decide if she was built by her father or grandfather. Probably just built by Jin and he “left” her in Fuhito’s care.

Fuhito made her go through several modifications, hardcoding his own investigative skills into her system.

Her grandfather loves her but has fucked up ideas about her own autonomy.

The events of DR:K still happen. She chose not to replace her hands.

Fuhito doesn’t make much use of a backdoor in her system anymore. He used it a lot more when she was a child but he sees her as a viable heir of the Kirigiri clan now. Chihiro isolated the backdoor to a separate SSD anyhow.

Still complicated father-daughter issues

Everything about her (but her OS) is proprietary, probably commissioned from Towa Industries. Her OS is a fork of Mint. The Windows 7 UI is just because I imagine her grandfather is One of Those lmao.

Has way too many scanners and sensors. She can’t test any evidence herself but she can gather a fair bit of information. Has a vast database for cross-comparison anyways.

Same issues as Togami and Mukuro: sees herself as less capable of emotion than she actually is.

The ramen noodle incident called for actual repairs.

Byakuya Togami

His superiority complex is far worse because he was literally CREATED to be the perfect Togami. You can’t tell him shiiiiiiit.

Gold joints. Scoffs at those with unoptimized cable management or software.

He’s constantly streamlining his own processes. Brings up that he runs on his own OS when Nobody Asked.

Had a similar backdoor to Kyoko’s but Koji did check that one. Obsessively. Nobody would tell Byakuya but He Just Knew. The lack of privacy irritated him. Aloysius helped fix it once Togami finally took over.

Only trusts Aloysius with his repairs. Has a hard time admitting when he needs repairs in the first place so Aloysius hides it under “monthly maintenance”.

Does everything from the terminal even when he 1) shouldn’t and 2) can’t. Bragging rights. He has written a bunch of his own scripts though to speed things up.

Kernel and OS provided to him by Koji. (UNIX-based. Proprietary) Byakuya maintains and builds his own updates. Doesn’t trust cheapskate peasants to do it for him.

Anti-FOSS. For him at least.

Has glasses for the aesthetics. Doesn’t need them.

[rosenclaws]

Come back (erased part ii) || Logan Howlett x Reader

summary: Logan doesn't remember you but he can sense you. He can tell you were someone important so when the team hatches a plan to find you he's the one leading the charge.

warnings: she/her pronouns, violence, killing, blood, reader gets hit/threatened, mental torture, injuries, logan goes feral, illusions.

wc: 3.5k

link to part 1

a/n: Part two is here!! Finally omfg im sorry this took so long. I hope this is a good part two i had a fun time writing the angst and stuff. It maybe ended a little darker than I meant but oh welll. We love some angst. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

The sound of the grandfather clock echoes in Logan's ears. The faint sound of students walking around the halls, playing outside. All drowned out by the clock. The heart necklace sits in his palm, his rough fingers tracing the shape over and over again.

When Logan had gotten back to the mansion he was bombarded with questions. All about a person he had never heard of. He grew angry and confused, wondering who they were talking about. It wasn't until he saw the look on all their faces that he realized something was wrong.

Memory wiped. He was fucking memory wiped again. Charles tried to explain it all but his brain went fuzzy. He tried to restore them but whatever you had done was too powerful. Only faint distant feelings. They tried to jog his memories with pictures but nothing worked. Whoever you were you were, you and him were close.

He's got a look on his face that he doesn't even recognize. One of pure adoration. The stories they tell, it was like hearing stories of someone else. He went through his room. He could smell this faint vanilla scent. The same one from the motel room. It was you. He was with you. But just who are you?

He turns the heart around in his hands. It’s faintly familiar. He closes his eyes and tries to wrack his brain for anything. Just something. There's a gaping hole in his chest, a sense of dread and something lost. A surge of anger takes over him as he shoves the necklace back in his pocket. He feels helpless and confused and he fucking hates it.

They're planning something in Chuck's office and they kicked him out. Why he doesn't know. They're planning a rescue for you and apparently he was the most important person to you so why wouldn't he be in there. Even if he doesn't remember. He should be in there. He stands up and barges through the doors, not caring anymore.

"Tell me what the hell is going on. Now." He stands with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face.

"Logan..." Jean starts but he brushes her off.

"I don't fucking care if I don't remember her just fucking tell me the mission." They team exchange looks and Logan resists the urge to roll his eyes. He's not a child. Whether he remembers you or not you were important to him and to the team. He needs to get you back.

"The mutant group, apparently she knew of them. She used to work with them years ago before any of us knew her." Charles explains and Logan listens. His hands tightening into a fist.

"We believe that she went after them for reasons we do not know. But what we do know is that they're dangerous. More dangerous than what she remembers." He can feel somethings off. The way the team shifts in their seats. The way Ororo won't even look him in the eyes.

"Logan, we think they have her." Scott says slowly.

"So we go find her."

"It's not that simple-"

"No it really fucking is that simple." Logan growls.

"You all talk about her like she's the heart of the fucking mansion so why am I the one who seems to care the most right now! I can't even remember her!" Logan slams his fist hard onto the table it almost breaks.

Why aren't they as worried as he is? Why don't they seem to care? Silence casts over the room but slowly everyone nods, agreeing with him.

"We leave in 15." He says with such severity that no one argues. Logan turns and leaves. Ready to come and find you.

-

The jet engine hum is the only sound inside. Everyone is quiet. Waiting. Normally Logan hates flying but right now he's too focused on getting you back. His eyes are closed as he tries to pull anything from his head. The faint sound of laughter, the feeling of warmth, the smell of vanilla. All of it was right there. Locked behind a door he couldn't get through. He feels someone sit in the seat next to him.

"What." He growls as he turns the necklace in his hand around and around.

"Are you okay?" It's storms voice. He sighs and opens his eyes.

"Just fine." She's quiet for a moment before she decides to talk.

"We're going to find her Logan." She says with a confidence he just doesn't have.

"You and her, I've never seen two people more meant for each other. She made you happy and you made her feel less alone." He wishes he remembered you.

He really does.

He can't think of all the moments he's been told about or the pictures that have been taken. He doesn't know what it was like to love you or to be loved by you anymore. It kills him. If he was happy, if you made him happy, then he's lost it all. Why would you take that away? From him and from you. Why couldn't you trust him with this?

Even though his memories are gone he can feel this sense of worry building in his chest. He needs you to be okay. He needs to protect you. Fuck he doesn't even remember you but that deep primal urge is still there.

"Five minutes out. Everyone brace for landing." Logan tucks the necklace into his suit, keeping it close to his heart as he unsheathes his claws and waits for landing. He will find you. There's no other option for him.

-

Your whole body ached. After leaving Logan you tracked down Mack and his gang but they had the one up on you. New, powerful mutants. They already knew you were coming the second you had the thought. They ambushed you. Attacked you and rendered you useless. They should have just killed you but Mack wanted to keep you. To lure your team out as a trap.

"They aren't coming." You hiss as he stands in front of you. He's crouching down and grinning.

"I don't know sweetheart, my sources tell me there's someone on the team who is quite fond of you." He brushes your cheek and you recoil in disgust.

"Get your fucking hands off me." He chuckles and one of his followers hit you hard in your leg.

"Feisty. Tell me, is that because of Logan? Did he rub off on you?" Your blood runs cold. If they do anything to him.

"Don't touch him." You lunge at Mack but you're restrained. to the ground. Mack presses his foot onto your throat and his smirk turns into something dark.

"You're funny. Tell you what." He puts more pressure on your neck and you start to see dots in your vision.

"When the Wolverine gets here we'll make him watch you die...and then kill him." Mack laughs and another hard blow to your head sends you into darkness.

You can only hope that Logan stays far, far away from this.

-

He can hear them. Fucking idiots not even trying to hide. They're bragging, laughing. Well they won’t be laughing for long. Logan’s claws gleam under the moonlight as he stalks like an animal.

The plan was to create a diversion while a rescue team goes in to get you. He wasn’t exactly know for his subtlety but no one wanted to argue him being the one to find you. It was a one man rescue team.

The sky rumbles and a loud explosion from far away leads the mutant group away. Logan springs into action. He takes out the few bodyguards around camp with ease.

He finds you alone and unguarded. A sense of relief washing over him as he bends down and scoops you up in his arms. Though he can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong. That this was too easy.

“Logan?” Your voice is quiet, broken.

“Hey, we’re gonna get you out of here.” He gently holds you as he looks for a way out.

“No.” You say. Your voice stronger than before. Confusion washes over him as you push him away. The injuries on your body seemed to disappear as the world fades around him.

“You think I want you to save me? I ran away from you Logan. Couldn’t you get the fucking hint?” Your words spit like venom. You were not the person he thought you were.

“It was all a lie, a cover.” His claws come out, teeth baring as his anger grows. But then he catches a whiff of someone unfamiliar. He hears the faint calling of his name.

“Yeah?” He walks closer to you. A taunting look on your face. Without warning he swings his claws right next to your face.

“Tell him that it will take more than a weak illusion to fool me.” Logan whispers in your ear.

Slowly the world he thought was reality melts away. Your tied up, held by force by one of Mack’s followers. Had he given in and swung at you he would have killed you. That must have been their plan. He looks to the side to see a body with three claw marks on the ground.

“Well, you’re smarter than I thought. Well done Wolvie.” He hears a slow clap behind him.

”Fuck off bub,” Logan growls as he holds up his claws. Ready to pounce. He hears the rustling around him. He’s not alone, they’re hiding, waiting.

“It’s a shame really, we would have gotten along great.” Mack smirks as Logan grows angrier.

“Fat fucking chance.” Logan lunges at Mack but he’s tackled to the ground. Held down by some sort of force he can’t fight.

“You may be physically strong but let’s see how you do when someone fucks with your mind. Just like she did.” Logan struggles baring his teeth as he tries to fight out of whatever hold they have him under.

“Stop!” You cry out. Your voice is strained and tears are falling down your cheeks.

“Mack please, just leave him alone.” You fight out of the grip on you with all your strength. Falling to the ground roughly. Your hands are still tied behind your back as you struggle to get up.

“Please don’t hurt him.” Your desperate.

Mack stands up crouches over you. He grabs your face roughly, digging his nails into your face tightly. Logan growls when he sees you wince in pain.

“Aww so cute.” He taunts and throws you to the ground.

“The question is which one of you has the biggest hero complex hm? You left us because you thought we were wrong, evil. You wanted to play hero.”

“What we did was wrong Mack. We hurt innocent people for our own good.” Logan stares at you and you can’t find it in yourself to look him in the eyes.

You can’t bare to see that look of nothing. He doesn’t know who you are and its your fault. But this is for the best. You can get him out of here and he can walk away from you without the pain.

You feel a sharp pain as Mack slaps you hard. “We were surviving!” He yells.

“Why should we care about the world when they don’t care about us!” He takes out a pocket knife and you tense up.

“Get the fuck away from her.” Logan roars and Mack just grins.

With a snap of his fingers one of the other mutants starts to crush Logan. It was a subtle pressure at first but he could feel the discomfort. They were sinking him into the ground. They were going to bury him alive. You can see a flash of panic. He hates that suffocating feeling. So reminiscent of his nightmares.

“Mack please, we were family once.” You beg as you watch Logan struggle. You can’t let them do this to him.

“Stop please!” Mack grabs your face and makes you watch.

“We were but you picked a new family. Now you can watch him suffocate.” Your eyes meet with Logan’s and you start to cry. He’s afraid. Its your fault. This is all your fault.

“I’ll stay! I’ll stay and help you again just let him go!” You cry out. The weight is lifted off Logan and he scrambles to breathe.

“I promise. I won’t fight and I won’t run. Just please, leave him alone.” Mack thinks for a moment, its a tempting offer. Your powers are strong and he was never able to find anyone quite like you.

“No! Logan shouts, he can’t let you do this. Not for him.

“You got yourself a deal. But if you ever try anything. We’ll hunt him down and kill him. Then the rest of your little family.” Your eyes flash with fear and you nod.

Logan’s heart twists as he sees the broken look on your face. You’re condemning yourself to a torturous life for him. When you look at him he feels a horrible feeling. He longs for you. Your eyes are full of a love he’s missing from his life. You love him and he can’t even remember what it was like. Did you calm his nightmares? Keep his deepest secrets? Did you know all his faults and choose to love him anyways? He needs to know. They pick him up and force him onto his knees.

"Tell your team to stay away." Mack wraps his hand around your neck, his knife pressing against your skin, taunting Logan.

"Logan...I love you and I'm sorry." Your voice is raspy as you choke out the words. He needs to know. You smile painfully as Logan just looks at you.

"Go on, run away Wolvie." Mack snarls.

Even in pain your eyes are full of love just looking at him. He was your everything. You love him so much you're willing to sacrifice yourself, your happiness, all of it for him. How? This kind of love...he's never felt this before. He may not remember it all with you but fuck he wants to know what its like. He wants to learn what it was like to be loved by you. He can't let you go. Not when his future happiness is in your hands. The rage builds. He will not leave you. Doesn't matter how much blood will be shed tonight. He will save you.

With a loud roar Logan unsheathes his claws and with all his willpower throws off the weighted feeling. He's like an animal, snarling and growling as he drives his claws into your captors. There's no mercy in the way he takes each and everyone of them out. They try to stop him but when they realize their efforts are futile they start to run.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice is cold, void of any emotion as he digs his claws deep into someone chest. Mack's confidence fades as he watches Logan's rampage. He grabs you and tries to run. Dragging you along the forest floor.

"Logan!" You shout and he instantly turns around.

On all fours he uses his claws to launch himself towards you. Chasing Mack down like prey. It's really a pity how fast he catches him. At another time he would have enjoyed playing with him, toying with his fear. All the pain he's caused, not just your pain but the innocent people he's ruined. He deserves to pay.

"Not so tough now huh?" Logan stabs him right through the heart.

When he's sure he's dead he stands up, blood soaking his claws. His head turns to you and you freeze. You know he won't hurt you but apart of you worries this is a trick. Another one of Mack's illusions just to fuck with you. Logan gently bends down and cuts you free.

"He's gone sweetheart." Tears start to fall down your cheeks as he scoops you up in his arms.

"I'm sorry I'm so sorry." You babble over and over as Logan holds you tight. You fit just like a puzzle piece into his arms. This feels right. This feels like home. The sound of footsteps sets him on edge but he calms down when he sees the familiar faces of his team.

"Where the hell were you guys?"

-

No one dared bother Logan. They let him take you back to the jet. He held you the whole time. Even when you fell asleep from utter exhaustion he kept you close. He was with you every step of the way. Bringing you to the lab, watching as they run tests and stick needles into your arm. On your recovery bed with the ugly white lights he sat until you woke up. Sometimes you stirred, whining and you sounded afraid.

He wonders what fucked up things Mack made you see. The bruises and scars on your body told only half the story. With each fearful sound he wishes he would have taken longer to kill that bastard. But he's gone now and you seem to calm down when he's with you. Sensing him through your sleep.

The necklace sits in his hand. After he got back he had to make sure it was still with him. It was bloodied now, and had some wear and tear from the past. So he busied himself fixing it up, cleaning it until it shined like new. He doesn't know when or why he bought it for you but clearly it was special. The two stones meant something. He knew they did.

When you finally came to he jumped into action. Calling hank to come check on you while he slipped away to get you water. There was a big fuss, people scolding you for leaving and crying from happiness that you were back. Apologizes poured out of your mouth as you faced your family. Logan hung back and watched you be embraced, be loved. Your powers seemed to settle after this. The fear of touching other people was gone as you hugged people without a second thought. He waited and waited until it was just the two of you.

"Hey there," You can barely look at him as he sits in the plastic chair next to your bed.

"Logan I..." You can't get the words out. How do you even begin to apologize.

You bury your face in your hands but Logan isn't having it. He had a lot of questions but they could wait. He takes your hands away from your face, cupping your chin to make you look at him. Your heart breaks a little when you look into those eyes. He still doesn't know you. Of course, his memories are still gone.

"Why did you come? You don't remember me." You ask him. He risked his life for you, he killed for you. The Logan you knew at the start wouldn't have done that for you. Maybe with the team but to risk all of it alone. Why?

"I don't have to remember you to see you were important to me sweetheart, though I would really like those memories back." Of course.

You never took them from him. If anything you locked them away. You couldn't bring yourself to truly erase yourself from his mind. With a gentle touch you release his memories like a tidal wave. They pour into his brain, flooding his senses as memory after memory flash into his mind. Ending with your final moments together in that motel room.

Your first kiss, you told him you loved him. You took that from him. He should be angry with you. You stole his memories just like they did before but when he opens his eyes there's no anger.

Only love.

He smashes his lips onto yours. Capturing you into a heated kiss. This is what he dreamed of. Getting to touch you like this, to show his love. He's rough with his motions. He should be gentler but he can't help himself. Years of desperation building up into this. He can finally hold you, finally claim you as his.

"Logan I'm so sorry." You cry. He shushes you with another kiss.

He doesn't care about that right now. You were afraid and though he wishes you came to him he's just glad to have you back. You scared the fuck out of him.

"I love you too sweetheart, you didn't give me the chance to say it but fuck I love you." You claw at his shirt to get him closer.

You need him to be as close as he can. He ignores the wires and climbs into the bed with you. Situating himself so that you're as close as you can get. Legs intertwined with each other. He takes the necklace and places it around your neck. Clasping it and smiling as it rests above your heart.

"I'll always fight for us sweetheart. I'll fight for you." Even if he doesn't remember you he knew deep down that there was something there. That you were important to him. No one could take that away from him.

You curl into his arms, finally feeling at peace for the first time. Not worried about your powers or about your past. You felt protected and loved. Logan lulls you back to rest promising to keep watch. He knows that what you suffered won't go away easily but he'll be there every step of the way.

Nothing will take you from him again. Not ever. He'll make sure of that.

[impyssadobsessions]

I don't have much time but I wanted to share this with you while I can! I can't draw but I can write and this is the only way I can share this imagery with you!

The world is passing by in a flurry of colors.

Which usually isn’t that unusual for Clark…usually though it’s because his flying of his own accord. Now…now it was because he was hurdling who knows how fast in piece of metal that was more of a mobile armory then an actual RV then it supposedly was.

There were no support handles to hold on to for just a bit of comfort, no, that was replaced by a handle that would pull down and release a fog horn sound.

So all he could do was pull his knees up to steady himself against the front console, using his size to squeeze himself into a cannonball form in hopes he didn’t get dislodged on a particular rough bump.

Then again if he did, maybe he could get propelled forward and through the front and take the engine out on his way.

Wishful thinking…at least he was doing better then Bruce.

Who was currently sprawled out on the floor of the RV looking like a disheveled cat hanging on to whatever and however he could. Maybe it would look more natural in his Batman outfit but at the moment both if them were in civilian wear and seeing the ‘Prince of Gotham’ doing an impression of a deranged starfish just added on more to today’s bizarreness.

Jack Fenton was giving him a large smile as he drove through another wall, “Don’t you guys worry! I’ll get us to our boys! No speed limit or any barrier can stop a Fenton!”

Clark could only let out a groan of despair as a response...

AMG THIS IS LOVELY LMAO!!! Bruce just imitating one of his sons to keep himself from being thrashed around.. or worse... throw up. ahhhh imagine they both slump out of the rv when they arrive, shaking and so grateful to touch the ground. Bruce is definitely calling for a private jet after this and Clark might agree to ride with him just to have a slower ride.

Danny gives them pity pats when he learns... Jon and Damian like how bad could it be. Damian thinking his father been in a space ship and Jon like we fly that fast every- Only for them to be overheard by Jack by their curiosity, so they all end up being drove back by him. Which bruce and clark like OH GOD please- which becomes a little relief when it turns out Jack drives safer with children.... still deranged but one they can handle. Damian still doesn't see what got their fathers so twisted up. Danny knows though and then asks dad how long it took them. "Regrettably 3 hours son. I was hoping it would be two." Damian frowned and done the math then asking if there was a flying feature in the... rv? "AHA! Nope, but I've been trying to convince Mads to let me install one. She said it would cost too much in gas though, and take up room for the ghost scanner." Damian does the math.. then realizes why his father and clark are shaking in the rv.. even by the tiniest of amounts. "That's my dad! :D" Danny grinning. "He's cool." Jon says innocently enough, not realizing the horror of that statement until it takes them over five hours to get home. Jack decided to play it safe and follow SOME speed limits and road signs. Jack is never allowed to drive again next time they hang out. Bruce or Clark always gets the keys =w= or has limo. ahh sorry got inspired. I LOVE this snippet ;w; !!!! <3 Thank you for writing this. <3<3<3

Link to prompt

[yandere-paramour]

after kidnapping reader, how much would your ocs' behavior and personality would change?

would they be more prone to fits of jealousy? would they be more obsessive like maybe monitoring them 24/7? would they try to change the reader?

sorry for all the questions 🫶 luv your work

Vivien

As I said before, Vivien does not want to kidnap Darling, but he will if he has to.

Once he has you nice and safe in his basement where you can't run away, he starts in on his plan to wear you down spoil you.

He makes sure you have every comfort possible. You have a tv with any streaming service you want, all the comfy blankets and snacks and books you want, even a pet if you want it. Anything you ask for, he'll bring it to you within a day. He will spend every minute he's not actively working with you, desperately trying to show you how much he loves you and how patient and kind he is and how he so so so so wants to treat you like royalty and make a family of little princes and princesses with you.

Honestly, he's so sweet and genuine that it's difficult for anyone not to fall in love with him, and he's patient enough to keep this up for months. He just wants to love you and for you to love him back! Is that too much to ask?

However, if you keep your will and still refuse to love him/pretend you love him, he will start to get frustrated. He'll start to demand more couple things with you, like giving you a specially engineered phone that only lets you talk to him and demand you text him pictures of what you're doing and message him while he's at work. He might hold you in his arms so you get used to his gentle touch. He'll slowly manipulate you by talking about how much easier things will be when you give in, how he bets it would be so nice to go outside again and you could have that if you were just good.

Eventually, he will wear you down, but if you were an especially disobedient Darling, he'll keep you on a short leash once you're allowed outside. He'll take you to and from work, always trying to keep tabs on you and rarely letting you outside without him until he is absolutely certain you won't leave him.

Or maybe you can't be trusted outside alone at all. Your sweet head keeps entertaining these notions of leaving him, you obviously can't handle the outside world unaccompanied. Maybe you're meant to be a stay-at-home spouse, soon to be a stay-at-home parent. Don't worry, he'll be sure to give you lots of sweet children to make sure you're not lonely, and he'll certainly give you lots of his attention as well.

Don't worry, you're his precious Darling, he'll take care of you.

Atalanta

Atalanta is generally a pretty consistent person whose true self (the self that she shows around family and Darling) is honestly pretty close to the persona she puts on in public. She's very mild and calm and generally slow to spur strong emotions.

She has a very clear plan for how to teach Darling to be both the perfect spouse and the perfect socialite. Her plan includes strategically using both rewards and punishments to train and mold Darling's behavior.

Atalanta is kind of a very controlling yandere. She always knows where Darling is, what they're doing, who they're with, and what time they're coming back. She has at least 4 bodyguards with you if you're going somewhere unfamiliar and around 2 if you're going somewhere known like a friend's house.

She's not really jealous; she doesn't need to be. Simply by being hers you already have a mark on you. No one will be able to hide you for long. A random shopkeeper might have a child who works at her company. The police just got another large Montclair donation. Anyone who sees you unaccompanied will return you back to your rightful place, and no one dares touch you without her permission.

Atalanta is also the kind of yandere to restrict what Darling does. Your days will be filled with all the best that high society has to offer, charity galas, yacht trips, private jets, Michelin chefs. It sounds nice, but now that you're with her, she sees no reason for you to ever indulge in silly things like grabbing fast food with friends, dancing at the club, and working your own job and making your own money. You have her now, you don't need to do these things. You can rest now.

Atalanta is very patient. If Darling resists or otherwise fights back, she will simply have you stay inside the penthouse until you repent and apologize for your bad behavior. If you run, she'll find you within hours and you will be punished. All the comforts she has given you? Let's see how long this defiance lasts when you have to spend days on end with no entertainment but what she mercifully decides to give you.

She is more than willing to wait years for you to calm down and be the perfect spouse, hanging on her arm, kissing her cheek, laughing at her jokes over a fancy dinner she bought you at the best restaurant in the city. Her mother did the same thing and Atalanta is nothing if not a Mommy's girl.

If you ever want to breathe fresh air again, even with her metaphorical chain around your ankle, you'll settle down and appreciate the things she works so hard to give you. It truly doesn't have to be this difficult, Darling girl.

[ye-olde-sodor]

DC Au Thomas!

Thomas is an LB&SCR E2 Class locomotive, more specifically a Second Series E2 with the extended side tanks.

He was built in June of 1915, making him one of the oldest engines on Sodor! Contrary to popular belief, however, Thomas was not the first engine on Sodor. Instead, he only inherited the number after the first No 1 disappeared.

Thomas had a rough time growing up. He was taught by his older brothers not to trust the larger engines. Due to this, a younger Thomas was quite aggressive towards a younger Edward and a few other larger engines. While he grew out of this "emo phase", he still took many of his brothers lessons to heart.

Current day Thomas is a happy-go-lucky and sometimes hot headed engine, but he always means well….usually. He's cheerful, but he’s also the strong assertive type, and isn't afraid to speak up against mean engines. He can be quite cheeky too, but with his old age, he doesn't show it as much as he used to.

He loves a good challenge, but due to how bold and he can be, he's quite reckless. He also has a hard time admitting he made a mistake or did something wrong whenever one of his plans goes awry.

Thomas isn’t very good at listening to people. Especially to those in charge. The only people he does listen to is the Hatt family…but he doesn’t always listen to Sir Topham Hatt.

Like with many engines on Sodor, he despises the idea of a hierarchy. He believes that it paves the way for larger engines to order around smaller engines and put them in harms way. Even though he's a Preserved engine, he'd be more then happy to get rid of his "privilege" if it means keeping whatever steam engines remain across the world safe.

Thomas would kill to have a dock or harbor near his branch line. He loves the sea breeze and the sounds or the waves crashing up against the land. It reminds him of the Docks of Brighton Railway.

Thomas is one of the few engines who doesn’t mind eating thanks to his driver. His favorites are beef jerky and salt (yes he eats salt, don’t judge him) Just don’t tell any of the other engines that he likes to eat things…

Thomas was surprised when Stepney turned out to be one of his cousins. While the two aren't particularly close, both take pride in being relatives, and have even gained a peace of mind knowing that not all of their relatives were scrapped.

Thomas can be quite flirt when he wants to be, although no one but a few engines would know about it.

He can get super jealous whenever a new engine rolls in. This is partially due to how his brother raised him but also partially because he’s afraid of being replaced despite being the islands mascot…but then again, humans love replacing things they claim to adore so how can he be so sure he's safe from scrap?

He has some very mixed feelings towards Ryan. First and foremost he’s angry that he has to listen to him. He's jealous because Ryan has had the high life since he was built. He also finds Ryan attractive but would never, under any circumstances, admit he's in love like a normal engine.

He has a nasty habit of getting sick if he's swapped to a coal he isn't used to burning. There've been many attempts to switch the engines of Sodor to a better coal, but poor Thomas just wasn't compatible with any of them! Mallard will learn this the hard way soon enough...

Ultimately can be described with one word. Feral.

Quotes:

Thomas: *screaming*

Ryan: *screams louder*

Scott: "Shouldn't we interveine?"

Gordon: "No no, I want to see who wins."

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

Percy: "Why on earth would you want to use the jet engine again?!"

Thomas: "Because you can't make the same mistake twice! I heard those scientists finally nailed the tech down, so now I can-"

Percy: "Completely ignore them and carry on with your life?!"

Thomas: 'You're no fun :("

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

Percy: "Oh blimey you look awful! Moreso than usual!"

Thomas, who's taken on bad coal: "Gee, thanks."

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

Thomas: "I'm half tempted to make a break for Sodor...maybe I'll get lucky!"

Driver: "Or maybe you'll get us all killed!"

Thomas: "Death is better than "Campfire Night", Keith. If I hear one more song about the wonders of British colonialism and living by the social norm, I just might keel over."

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

Thomas: "James, I know you're scared, but you have to trust me."

James: "You're already asking too much out of me, but go on."

Thomas: "I need you to bail Edward out of Darlington."

James: "WHAT-"

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

Ryan: "Now why can't you be this sweet all the time?"

Thomas: "If I was, I wouldn't be half as interesting!”

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

Henry: "If you rush across the viaduct, it'll collapse, and you won't have any passengers or train! What would you do then?!"

Thomas: "Run my train on time."

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

Edward: "Oh, that bloody Spamcan is here!"

Gordon: "Quick Thomas, do the thing!"

Thomas: "I don't think growling at him is going to send him away...But I'd be damned if I didn't try it!"

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

Diesel: "We need a distraction."

Thomas: "Great idea! Diesel, you roll out and show 'em your ugly mug while I go grab Percy!"

[ivoryminitower]

Echoes of Home: 53 - Steve ("flames")

Echoes of Home: FFXIV AU OC – WoLs on Earth

Tsu'na's exercise in community-building served a couple purposes.  It exposed her to people who hadn't seen her but were nevertheless talking about her, and it gave us a propagation metric.  That very evening, mere hours after she'd served the pies with sugar topping, half the diner crowd wanted sugar-topped pies.  We didn't know if it was word of mouth or social media, but the kids communicated fast.  We might need to try more targeted messages to see how they spread.

The sugar topping wasn't hard to do, once Tsu'na showed me what Mr. Hartman did (and what kind of diner cook has a basting brush in his kitchen?), but it was manual effort.  We might make a hundred pies at a time and they're all the same; unless we make a sugar-topped apple pie recipe, we need to custom-top each pie on demand.  Gotta work on recipe templates, or, God help us, actually cook.

Yesterday morning we took some painting trays, a bottle of corn oil and the Hartmans' gas can over to the Pit and set up outside the shed.  Corn oil went in one tray, gasoline in another.  I stuck a short piece of rope in the oil.

"So, gasoline is made from oil.  For a while now, it's been made from petroleum which is pumped out of underground deposits, but it can be made from plant oils too.  The important part is that it burns."

I lit a match and held it to the end of the rope. In a moment there was a steady flame.  "What burns is fumes.  Stable oil like this doesn't normally give off fumes unless it's heated up, which is why you need a wick.  On the other hand…"  I tossed a lit match into the gasoline tray.  "...Gasoline is sort of all fumes, so it burns fast.  In fact, leave gasoline out for a bit, and the fumes will escape and leave you with liquid that doesn't burn."

Tsu'na studied the gasoline flames.  "And you want liquid that does this?"

"Yeah.  It's used in Earth engines, like cars and the lawnmower."

"We do not have a car.  Did you want to make one?  Or is this for your winnebago?"

"Our winnebago.  And yeah, among other things."

"Would magitek not be easier?"

"Sure would.  Let's just go find Cid or Nero and ask them how it works.  Oh, wait...they're in Eorzea."

She sighed softly and looked back and forth between the corn oil flame and the gasoline fire. "So, because they both burn, you think we can make one into the other?"

"Because of the hydrocarbons, yeah.  My understanding is that refineries take stuff out of oil leaving purified hydrocarbons behind.  Less purified stuff is called kerosene, which doesn't burn as hot.  More purified stuff is jet fuel, which burns too hot.  This here is what we want."

She nodded slowly.  We contemplated the flames.  It was quiet.  We really should have heard Sam coming.

"Y'all tryin' to barbecue?"

I tensed, and managed a smile as I turned to look at him. "Hey, Sam.  No, we're, uh...working on alternative fuels."

"Do what, now?"

"Husband thinks we can make gasoline from corn oil."

"Oh...like corn ethanol?  Thought that was made outta corn mash."

I brightened.  "Is it?  That could mean we can start with corn and not have to worry about oil."

Sam nodded.  "So...why?"

"Gas is three fifty a gallon."

"Y'all got a car?"

Tsu'na smiled.  "He is asking if we have a car, Husband."

"Hartmans have a lawn mower."

"An' that's, what, a quarter gallon tank?  Gallon every couple months?"

"Yeah, well, we just like to be self-sufficient.  Out in the field when supply lines got screwed up we sometimes had to macgyver fuel out of homemade booze and detergent."

"Uh huh.  So...you're playin' with flammable liquids in a wooden shed?"

"No, we're playing with flammable liquids outside a wooden shed."

Sam nodded, meeting my eye.  "Rather ya didn't."

His shed.  His bat and ball.  "...Okay...well, we'll just wait for this to burn down and then...not do it any more?"

"Sounds like a plan."  He looked at the fire, looked back at me, and headed back to the bar, shaking his head.

We watched him go, then turned back to the flames.  "And we came here because you did not want to do this at the house?" asked Tsu'na.

"This demonstration, yeah.  The actual work we probably shouldn't do anywhere near a building or anything that can burn.  Probably some place with bare rock."

"There is no place like that near town."

"Yeah, we're probably talking a camping trip."

She nodded. "I shall look for a place tonight.  Can you feed sugar to the children without me?"

"I can, but…there's no real hurry on this."

"I would like to get it done.  Your list is always growing."

"Our list.  You can add stuff to it too."

"Then I shall add finding kukuri beans."

We spent the afternoon learning how to make chocolate (since it was easier and safer than gasoline).  She's got an idea for a chocolate cream pie.  We're gonna get a good solid start on introducing diabetes to this town.

After dinner at the diner she headed off to explore, and I settled in with sugar-hungry teens.  Not sure if it energized them, or if they were just more lively for some reason, but my plans for playing Tangerine Dream were dashed by their noise level, so I went with Bon Jovi instead.

Some of the kids asked about Miz Tsu'na and were disappointed to hear she wouldn't be in that evening.  I guess she's making an impression.  Or maybe they like rebelling against their parents, and are happy to use her as a reason.  Which will also make an impression.

[chiconisroc]

Chapter 3 for "Trust Me" is up. This is a Starscream from Transformers Earthspark Fanfiction o.o.

Let me know what you peeps think of the new chapter~

Summary of the story:

Hashtag yearns to connect more with Starscream and she can't stand at how the world doesn't want to give him a second chance. She also wishes he wasn't so hostile towards the world.

Her solution?

To welcome Starscream into the Malto family as a new uncle and shower him with the love and support he needs, even if he doesn't think he needs it.

First Chapter:

Hashtag was excited as the sun finally ascended into the sky. She and her Terran siblings, with the exception of Trash, were making sure the base and the barn were in impeccable condition for their special guest that would be arriving any time soon.

“I honestly think inviting him over is a terrible idea,” Thrash muttered, his arms crossed, and a frown etched on his face. He stood there, watching as his siblings stepped out of the barn.

“Come on, Thrash, Starscream is pretty cool,” Twitch chimed in. “Just give him a chance.”

“Yeah, he’s actually nice,” Jawbreaker added.

“You’ve hardly interacted with him,” Thrash argued with Jawbreaker.

“What Jawbreaker means,” Nightshade interjected, “is that Starscream is nice because thanks to him, the Decepticons assisted us against Mandroid. Without him, they wouldn’t have come and we all would have been doomed.”

Thrash waved it off dismissively. “He probably helped us out of personal vendetta against Mandroid or something.” He then noticed all his siblings were frowning at his direction. “Come on guys, this is Starscream we’re talking about. You know, the most cowardly and deceitful Decepticon to ever exist.”

“Thrash, please don’t call Starscream names like that, especially a coward, because he’s the opposite of that,” Hashtag intervened with a firm yet composed tone. She remembered how Starscream had risked his life to protect her in the tunnels weeks ago. The way Starscream had protected her really shifted her perception of the Decepticon. She was looking forward for all of them to spend time with him, to get to know him. Also, her human siblings would befriend him so he could see that now all humans were terrible.

However, Starscream’s interaction with Mo and Robbie would have to wait, given that they were in school and wouldn’t return until later in the afternoon.

“Please try to be nice to him, just like you are with the Autobots.” she said to Thrash. “Trust me, he’s not so bad.”

Thrash remained unconvinced, still sulking.

"Hey, kiddos,” Dot greeted her adopted children with a warm smile, only to notice Thrash’s vexed expression. “What’s wrong, Thrash? Already missing Robby and Mo?” she teased.

“No… I’m just not excited to have Starscream coming over,” he grumbled, leaving Dot puzzled.

“What do you mean, coming over?” she asked before turning to the rest of her Terran babies.

“Yeah, remember, mom?” Hashtag reminded her. “Starscream is coming over today.”

“Wait, hold on, what?” Dot let out in shock, causing everyone’s gaze to shift toward her in confusion before turning to each other.

“You said you were going to tell her,” Hashtag told Twitch, who blinked in response.

“No, I didn’t. You said you would,” Twitch said.

Dot rubbed the corners of her eyes, struggling to maintain her composure, but then her ears picked up a distant sound.

Oh no…

The sound grew louder and more pronounced with every passing second. It was a terribly familiar sound of an engine roaring through the sky, making her mind race.

She looked up to the heavens to see Starscream, in his jet form, streak across the bright sky with an astonishing speed, a trail of ionized particles marking his path in a cascade of shimmering light. His wings sliced through the air, creating a haunting melody that brought certain horrible memories for Dot of countless jets, operated by her fellow people, falling one by one when Starscream had shot them down years ago.

Her mind returned to the present when Starscream burst forth from the heavens, his jet form a blur of speed, rattling the barns’ windows and making the ground quivered beneath everyone’s feet. With a deft and practiced maneuver, he transformed mid-flight, wings folding as his feet met the earth.

Dust swirled around Starscream as he landed with a resounding thud, his blue orbs fixing upon her with a bored, and dismissive look.

And just like that, one of the most dangerous and unpredictable Decepticons was standing before her and her children… with no Megatron or Autobot in sight.

[thelastpathfinder]

Posted up on the side of one of the comms towers overlooking the shipyard, you watch the ants far below you go about their business. It's the safest you've felt since returning to Cybertron. No-one noticed you fly to your perch, a fact that continues to bewilder you—you're all white and sporting a frame design that hasn't existed in millions of years, yet you seem capable of sneaking about without really trying.

You suppose you should be grateful. Someone out there wants you dead, after all, so being able to effortlessly evade detection is a blessing. Maybe you should change your name accordingly. Sneak is your first thought, one you quickly dismiss for sounding a little too, well, dishonest. And the good names are probably all already taken.

You watch a pair of jets zip past a few hundred feet below, casting distorted shadows against the clouds. There's no way for them to spot you from that angle, but just the sight of a jet in flight makes your tanks lurch with panic now. Hiding won't keep you safe forever. You lay flat on your back, your primary arms folded behind your head, and ponder your options.

There's more you can change than just your name. Glowfin had suggested a frame reformat, before the assassination attempt. You'd dismissed the idea at the time, but now you're coming to see it in a new light. This body isn't yours, after all; it was forced on you by the Initiative. It's never felt like you, just a vessel necessary to your survival. How are you supposed to fight effectively when you don't even feel connected to your own body? Not only that, but a new frame would make you harder to recognize. You'd just be changing for the sake of your survival again, only this time it would be your choice. It doesn't seem so terrible.

You turn over, restless. The sun feels pleasant on your rotors. You miss Glowfin terribly. You can't imagine she had anything to do with the assassination, but you don't want to put her in any danger by reaching out. In the Institute's custody, you were a caged animal; now you've mauled the hand that feeds, and there's no going back. You try not to think of Longwing, and the look on his face before you smashed it to pieces. His engines had let out an awful stuttering screech when you killed him. It had taken hours to scrub every last drop of his energon from your frame.

Stop it, you scold yourself wearily. What's done is done.

Lulled by the soothing warmth of the sun, you drift into a light sleep. In your dreams you're surrounded by a sea of shadowy, faceless figures; you leap amongst them, slashing and tearing with teeth and claws you do not have. You clamber up the growing pile of bodies, killing your way to the top, where there is no-one left to fight. There is only your own reflection, hands outstretched, begging you to stop.

But it was so easy, you cry, and tackle your reflection off the pile; you both tumble into a chasm, and you awake with a jolt before you can glimpse what waits at the bottom.

You've overslept. Night is fast approaching, and you feel a heavy dread in your spark that has nothing to do with the gathering darkness.

[rileytakeda]

The San Diego airport is tiny compared to LaGuardia, but somehow no less busy. Riley sits at her gate, motionless with her carry-on at her feet, eyes staring at the faint stain on the ugly patterned carpet. It's the typical hum of travel, with the whine of jet engines and the chatter of families overtaking everything. She got a coffee from the stand just past security, more of a habit to have the drink than anything, and it sits untouched on the table next to her.

The events of the five months play on a loop in her mind, from the conversation she'd had with Aria explaining everything that had gone on with her father, to the phone call she'd gotten from her mother not even a week later.

'It's terminal, Riley.'

With her father, it was easy. Despite the death of her relationship with Aria, there was really nothing else to it. Riley made the proper appearances, parroted the right words, and she left again, free to leave him in the recesses of her memories once more. When her mother called, saying that she had no one else, that was a lot harder.

Kathleen Takeda never raised a hand against her, rarely even had a bad word to say about her daughter. She was stern, yes, but Riley remembered sharing moments with her mother that she will always cherish, despite everything else. No, Kathleen Takeda's greatest sin was always staying silent when she should have spoken up. Riley had learned early on in her life that her mother would never be her savior, and that had been a harder pill to swallow than her father being an abusive fuck. And it made it easier for Riley to agree when her mother asked her to come home.

For the better part of four months, she watches her mother go from the peak of physical health to skin and bones. She deteriorates rapidly, quicker than even the doctors predicted, and Riley carries her through it all. She thinks that maybe the idea of a looming death will allow them to finally talk about the things they've tiptoed around for so many years. She thinks that with her father dead, maybe they can actually talk about the things that happened, and Riley naively even thinks that maybe she could get an apology.

But soon she realizes that is a pipe dream. Her mother avoids the topic at every turn, faking coughing fits until they turned real, or pretending to be asleep, all so she doesn't have to face accountability. The one time Riley presses things, it escalates into a fight that ends with a trip to the ER when her mother begins to hyperventilate. The doctor tells her then that she needs to keep the dying woman calm, that any type of exertion will be fatal for her.

Riley could have left then. She probably should have. What does she owe her mother at that point other than a giant fuck you? But she stays, still too afraid about what people would say about her for abandoning her. Too afraid to turn into her parents, who stopped giving a shit when it got hard.

Kathleen Takeda passes away a week before Christmas. She's given a burial befitting of a military officer and interred next to her husband. A surprising number of people show up despite the fact it's right before the holidays. Riley pulls it together literally overnight, and she realizes she never knew her parents at all. An unnamed soldier hands Riley a folded flag that she accepts with a solemn nod, with the sound of rifles echoing behind her.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Bang. "She was a great woman." Bang. "At least they're together now." Bang.

The chime of the overhead intercom interrupts her stewing with an announcement that her flight is boarding. The ticket price was obscene because of how last minute it is, on Christmas Eve no less, and she's stuffed into a middle seat, but she hopes leaving her hometown will finally allow her to fucking breathe once she's three thousand miles away from her parents' graves.

It doesn't. The air in the city smells like garbage and piss and she feels just as suffocated as she did in California. The cab driver curses at the traffic and flips off no less than four cars, and Riley doesn't feel as comforted as she thought she would. In the weeks leading up to her mother's death, Riley thought it would finally mean true freedom from her parents, like the last remaining tie to that part of her life would disappear and she could move on for good. But she's learning that grief is never that simple, and more than grieving her mother, she mourns the possibility of ever finding real closure from them. Coming back to New York changes none of that.

Her breakdown lasts well into the morning and she feels like a zombie as she starts to come out of it. The TV is playing some cheery black and white Christmas movie, where the middle-age overworked father remembers the true meaning of the holiday in time to bring home the perfect gift to his daughter, and Riley wants to laugh at the irony, but even that feels like too much energy.

"Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals," she mumbles to herself as her eyes slip closed, finally exhausted.

Finally home.

[lady-amethyst18]

(During the clean-up, Cal looked around the room to see how much had been done.)

Cal: Ah, yes. The lobby is looking a lot cleaner. I think now we can finally focus on the repairs.

Balan: How do we plan to fix the walls, beams, and household essentials? Can we even do it ourselves?

Cal: Some of them, yes. The theater may be in bad shape, but it's still sturdy. Honestly, this all could have been worse.

Balan: Huh?

Bruce: I think he means it's not as bad as it looks. The two big things we're worried about are the plumbing and the heater. Everything else can be fixed with a bit of elbow grease.

Balan: Boy, something about that makes me feel better. Knowing that my theater is not totally ruined gives me some more hope.

Emma: But it doesn't mean we're finished. We're just getting started. The building is enormous. There are rooms that we still need to look into. And I'm almost afraid of what we're going to see.

Iben: I have to admit those spiders gave me the creeps.

Yuri: You're just lucky I haven't found any black widows or brown recluses. Those things can pack a mean bite.

Balan: (shudders) Eugh! Don't even put that energy out there. I wouldn't want any of my friends to get injured.

Leo: Is there anything else that needs to be cleaned?

Sana: These windows look like they could use a good scrub.

(Sana looked at the tall stained glass windows. Their colors have gone gray because of the dust and dirt.)

Cass: Ew! They're filthy!

Emma: These poor windows. I bet they used to look beautiful before they got this way.

Balan: They did. I commissioned a window artist to make them. I feel so ashamed I let them get this way. I feel like I'm disrespecting the artist.

Leo: Aww, don't be like that, Balan. We'll get these cleaned up. We still have some window cleaner. We'll make them shine so bright they'll look like new.

Haoyu: They're... Kind of tall... Like... W-way high up.

Balan: Wait! I have a ladder! That way, we can reach them!

Eis: Well done, Balan. For once, you were actually prepared.

Cass: Someone should go up there and clean the windows. But who?

Leo: Could you do it, Haoyu? I bet you could reach them.

Haoyu: (scared) ME?! No way! Don't even think about sending me up there!

Leo: What's wrong? Are you afraid of heights?

Haoyu: (yells) Yes, I am! Could you not tell! How do you think I broke my arm!?

(Everyone stopped what they were doing. Haoyu felt embarrassed when all the eyes locked on him. Balan slowly approached the boy.)

Balan: Haoyu... What have you done?

Haoyu: (groans in defeat) 3 months ago, I attempted to build an airplane for the science fair at my school. A real one. My dad and I always loved inventing together, so we got to work. We built a shell around my bike to make it look like an airplane. And it was a real work of art if I do say so myself.

Leo: Wait a minute... I remember that science fair! You and I go to the same school, remember? But I didn't see you. Did you get sick or decide not to go?

Haoyu: I couldn't go... Because I made an idiot decision.

Cass: Like what?

Haoyu: I got so into building the plane I installed jet engines and turbines on it. Something my father told me not to touch. I thought touching the sky on a standard bike would be great. After all, everybody wants to fly. And I wanted to fly since I was a kid. So I took it out and flew around the neighborhood... But then... Catastrophe.

Fiona: What happened?

Haoyu: (sounding a little sad) The shell around my bike was just that. A shell. It wasn't built for aerodynamics; it was supposed to look cool. So I fell out of the sky. I was in the hospital for weeks with a concussion, cracked ribs, a bleeding leg, and an arm broken in several places. (gestures at his cast) The doctor said I was lucky to be alive. That's why I'm so afraid of heights. I could have died!

Fiona: Oh, Haoyu, that's terrible!

Balan: (grabs the boy and hugs him tight) Oh, Haoyu, you poor boy! I can't believe that happened to you! It must have been traumatizing! But I'm so glad you're still alive. It would break my heart to see you get hurt so badly. (gets a little teary) I don't know if I could handle that.

Haoyu: Balan, no waterworks... (sighs) But yeah. Ever since then, I've been so scared of heights. I can't even go on a swing without feeling like I'm in danger. I'm such a fool.

(Feeling terrible for the boy, Balan sat down with him and held him in his arms.)

Balan: You and I have the exact same problem. We take action before we think things through.

Emma: What do you mean, Balan?

Balan: The moment I graduated college, I had just enough money to buy the theater, hire a crew, and new furniture. But I never thought that the audience would leave me.

Sana: You couldn't have seen that coming.

(Balan ignores her remark and keeps talking to Haoyu.)

Balan: I had no backup plan for when things went wrong. So, like a fool, I wasted all my savings on everything at once.

Emma: Is that why you're poor?

Balan: It is... And it's something I'll regret for the rest of my life.

(Haoyu saw himself in Balan. He was right. He didn't think things through before he took action. But he smiled at last.)

Haoyu: Well... There's this saying in my family when we do something wrong.

Balan: What is it?

Haoyu: Lesson learned.

(Balan smiled and hugged Haoyu another time. Haoyu even hugged him back.)

Leo: I'm sorry, Haoyu. You don't have to wash the windows if you don't want to. We all want you to be safe and secure. Tell you what, I'll clean the tall windows. There are others that are lower to the ground.

Haoyu: Thanks. I appreciate it. And Balan, thanks for the pep talk. You're a good listener.

(Balan smiled and ruffled Haoyu's hair before standing up again.)

Iben: Alright, everybody. Let's get back to work.

So here's the context

The theater is a lot cleaner, thanks to everybody pitching in. Some repairs still need to be done and windows to be washed. Luckily, the damage isn't severe. Just some paint chipping off and small holes in the wall. But let's focus on the stained glass windows first.

But just as they would do so, Haoyu refused to clean the tall windows. The reason why is that he's scared of heights.

Haoyu took his airplane for a science project out for a spin, but it wasn't aerodynamically fit to be in the sky. It was meant to be a decoration. So he fell out of the sky and hurt himself. That would explain his broken arm.

Balan is horrified that Haoyu got hurt so badly and how he was thankful to still be alive. They both even have a heart-to-heart chat about taking action before considering a backup plan. But as the saying goes, lesson learned.

Hopefully, the two will be much wiser about their future actions.

This is my Lonesome Maestro AU. When Balan's first show was a disaster, and everyone left him. He's become very lonely and sad due to no one being around. Until Leo and Emma showed up and try to change his life for the better.

[the-firebird69]

Kikker 5150 Hardknock engine sound demo by Texas Hardknock

The spring seat works and the shock systems nice and you can get it later they do those three by the way and later on you make changes but now this is how it goes we also note that these neighbors are a pain in the ass and he's been living with it and needs them out and he says it all the time and they roll their eyes and say dumb things with boy they freaking assholes. This is a classic tank but it's from a jet no it's from an airplane and from world war II we don't like that kind of stuff but we have our own they don't get us going but for real it's a nice bike and they did not make them after like 1987 or something it's a long time ago and the last bikes are nice and they have the website up and they don't sell any and it's terrible they are terrible people they put it on websites other ones and they didn't sell any. He says to try and assemble the parts right now for all three bikes and if you get the color run or something they're not going to care that much and to piggyback because people will be trying to buy them and idiots will be trying to post it they don't bother us more and jet li says that's a good idea is is an emergency they need to know about this $200 billion dead ships and five trillion missing and it's an emergency and he says that's a great idea and we talked it out and decided it's good right now he said this one in Britain and we can do that don't even have to be there and they'll try and put it up on the go-kart thing and other sites it's still up actually thanks and people are trying to call so I collected it and is credit cards and we're going to have to protect the credit card somehow and we do that and we're getting it going

Chao phat

I don't believe it I'm actually thinking he says you probably are and you don't believe it is there actually stupid and you're a frustrating retard just like all retards are who are here and you're a bunch of freaking dinks all these people are trying the same thing that you are. It's taking us 2 years to think about the septic I got to tell you something we're probably spent and don't care and it says yeah you probably are as soon as I go to Titan and try and take over to bring you there to threaten our way in which really doesn't make any sense but okay

Trump

What a hokey piece of s*** you are you ever think it was like threatening effectively is such a piece of garbage

Zues Hera

This guy is wasting his life away and we need to stop him and we're going to get in there and we got to do something the other aspect of it is there could be massive changes it took place because Trump is a freaking moron in airhead

Mac daddy

Olympus

[leftneb]

appearantly I had enough thoughts on this that I filled the 30 tag limit with yapping so here is a (hopefully) coherent essay slash ramble session

All this talk about the way Oscar handles PR made me think about the typical ASD/generally ND experience of people misinterpreting you as a person immensely because of you reactions, or lack-of them. And not to ND truth Oscar (or Lando for that matter) because that is NOT my place but I think it's been said by many ND people (myself included) that they relate to Oscar - and specifically the way he does PR, for example:

acting on a script✅️

providing reactions to the outside even when he normally wouldn't because he knows it's expected of him ✅️ (jet incident)

The way I read it is that he's just the type of person to show a lot less than what's going on below the surface, which unfortunately a lot of people read to be a lack of care or thought. And logically I understand how that happens (what people don't see don't know etc.) but being misinterpreted because of that sucks big time.

Oscar has said before (in what I suspect is the same interview you referenced about him moving to the UK) that he has a tendency to overthink, and at least to my ears the whole "extreme emotions are like negative emotions" sounds a whole lot like "I get overwhelmed by my own brain sometimes" (which might be just me projecting but that's basically this entire essay so fuck it we ball.)

I honestly am so glad that, despite his rocky start, Oscar has become one of the most widely beloved drivers on the grid, both driver ability and personality wise. A lot which is IMO also thanks to Lando's PR handholding and general openness to Oscar as a person. And obviously because of the people in the paddock also welcoming him.

the rest of this is like, less related to the main point I wanted to explore and more a general Landoscar overview so under a cut it goes

I think a lot of people gravitate towards Landoscar because of just how much more, like, comfortable it is compared to ex: Lando's other bromances.

I think that that is in a huge part due to Oscar just being Like That. I highly doubt he could do fake PR (like. properly) even if he wanted to. And Lando just accepting that and clearly being (more than!) comfortable with it, as well as appreciating what Oscar DOES give in terms of affection instead of looking for specific signs and getting upset when he doesn't find them (which again speaks to Lando's emotional intelligence btw. Along with how he's so naturally able to adapt to his teammates' energy) is so so sweet and important.

To people who are looking for that sort of relationship, whether it be romantic or not, that amount of natural, unforced chemistry is MASSIVELY comforting to see. I think that appeals to a large part ND or generally introverted/shy/underappreciated people who need to be accepted in order to really develop as people (much to the pattern of Carlos taking Lando under his wing actually.)

And the way Landoscar “do PR” (if you can even call it that lmao) is so so obviously not faked. Again this has been said about 10 million times but they don't do any of that loud over-the-top semi-engineered chemistry you'd see elsewhere, and it makes all their interactions all the more compelling.

I always say that you can put two drivers in a Situation but you can never engineer them having chemistry, but with some teammate relationships it's definitely not 100% natural. EXCEPT for landoscar (obv they do still act different on camera but I think that might actually be to the detriment of their natural dynamic). Like you CANNOT fake the Guess the Lyric video or “osc” or the countless instances of their brains syncing up or just laughing together for no reason other than to laugh together. (In fact when you try to engineer it it fails. It Only happens naturally, which is far more insane.)

And that makes their whole dynamic so much more compelling to me on an emotional level, because all of the things that matter are just real. They couldn't force them to be like that even if they tried. It's just the way they are together, and it's so obviously and unashamedly fond.

I've not been paying attention to F1 for long enough to say something definitive on how their relationship developed over time, but I think even just the way they're handling the whole papaya rules situation is pretty telling. They're so unbearably fond of each other they couldn't (and wouldn't be willing) to fake a rivalry for the sake of a narrative. (Which once again makes me think back to Lando's whole "we're rivals pretending to be besties" comment and just how fucking funny it is because of how obviously untrue it is.)

hiii inch!

as the resident landoscar scholar/essayist in the community, i'm curious about your take on their debriefs! ps. i love them both equally so i'm not trying to favor one over the other, just genuinely curious about your thoughts on it :)

it definitely could just be them having different styles of communicating and/or explaining things but i've noticed that whenever lando wins, he always shares his gratitude/appreciation for the team and oscar (even when oscar didn't directly 'help' him) and oscar will give lando credit for winning but then just talk about how bad he did in the race

yet whenever oscar wins, not only does lando hype him up, but he doesn't talk about himself in the debrief & oscar (at least not to my knowledge) has yet to thank/acknowledge lando for contributing to his win (& strangely enough has always thanked sponsors instead??)

so yeah, i hope this isn't too ramble-y & i hope you have a great day! <33

your timing is insane anon bc while scholar and essayist are wayyyy too nice ways to describe me being overly consumed w a hyperfixation, I was actually noticing things similar to your ask in comments sections and had written something that I wasn't sure about posting ! but I think it's worth it simply bc there is such a huge misfire with interpreting Oscar going on - totally not saying you are, anon and you were very clear in what you've said and I rly appreciate you wanting to know my take <3

- first thing to dispel is “Lando thanked Oscar for his first win/for helping make his first win happen” - he didn't! he thanked him for showing what the car was capable of with overtakes. I know I know! reality isn’t as bromancey but the sweetness of it was Lando giving Oscar’s drive a little shout out, but it was not him thanking Oscar for helping with his win. that's why they all chuckled when he stated the reason. and the sweetness remains <3<3 gotta clear that up bc there is no lingering double standard going on there. it’s the same as Oscar praising Lando’s drives. (also, apropos of this ask and ppl seeing Oscar as deficient - contrast that with how Oscar did very deliberately thank Lando for welcoming him to the team!)

- the other thing to dispel is the recency bias of thinking Lando praises and mentions Oscar this much on a regular basis/Oscar doesn’t mention Lando at all (anon, I know you’re not saying that btw). now! reality is that Lando's POV =/= his stans' POV. so from his perspective, as of recently he feels a need to assert himself to the media as a team player and to acknowledge Oscar more and make it known that he acknowledges Oscar helping him in similar ways. I’m not even going to dip a little toe into the reasons why, all that matters is that this is what Lando sees as something he needs to do and say right now especially. plenty of team orders instances and races have gone by where Lando doesn’t mention or acknowledge Oscar or Oscar’s help and plenty of times where Oscar has been the one to bring up and praise Lando where Lando hasn’t etc etc.

to the point where !! last season we had people concerned that Oscar was so Lando-centric and mentioned him so much and was such a great team player with team orders and being happy and supportive for Lando’s successes even when his own race was misery or the result was gutting or he just lost out on a podium - but that Lando wasn’t bringing Oscar up at all or acknowledging Oscar’s races. the turntables etc! literally had the flip situation! (even extending to this season in Melbourne where Lando got so wrapped up in his Quadrant filming and podium he kind of forgot it was Oscar’s literal hometown race salfsafjlah in the post race press conf a journalist brought it up and he was like ‘oh’ - like, Oscar was not upset about that he just wanted a podium!)

and guess what - in both cases it was never a problem for either Lando or Oscar!

seriously, I cannot emphasize enough how much what teammates like Lando and Oscar say to the media and fans is for the media and fans and NOT how they actually communicate to each other as people. Charles and Carlos openly admit they’ll bite chunks out of each other at times in media but then they see each other in person, immediately hug and are totally fine. PR is PR. it’s either not reality or at best it’s a publicly-framed version of it. which leads to…

- Lando and Oscar don’t do the PR or the bromance thing. instead they giggle and side-eye their way through having to do scripted stuff and media interviews, and thankfully their occasional shared-brain thing and contrasting personalities are fun enough for most fans to enjoy. and literally the fact that they beam into each other’s faces Like That and it’s incredibly endearing. which is exactly how they handle these post race videos - trust me, they are not sitting there in media talking the same way they do in their little closed off world of just their drivers rooms and no one else. or even when cameras are off and they’re just around the team or other drivers. equally, they aren’t viewing how they talk about each other to media and fans as relevant. it’s solely how they talk to each other.

- Oscar is an acts of service guy; Lando is a words of affirmation guy. as Lando fandom has so much discussion around mental health*, it is very worth reminding that mental health inclusivity means learning the different ways that different personalities express affection and friendship! there is not just one way! clearly, Lando is very happy with having a teammate who may not talk much but his fondness of Lando makes up multiple compilation videos and posts about being absolutely whipped when it comes to … almost anything Lando wants or prefers (“nope, I’m gonna keep you happy”). and paying such close attention to Lando talking that he helps fill in the blanks when Lando’s brain struggles in public. and watching closely when Lando looked like he might trip over his own race suit. 

- it’s worth mentioning here that Oscar inspires genuine affection in people who gain absolutely nothing from openly liking him. he maintains friendships from his early karting days, still has a group chat from the boys in his boarding house at school, and has been with Lily for 4 or 5 years now - but all of those people either have private social media or have remained so thoroughly normal that they’re undetectable. Tom Stallard, his race engineer, and Andrea Stella have taken to Oscar like a nephew/son despite Oscar not being a demonstratively emotional person (and how for himself he views extreme emotions on par with negative emotions which is innnnteresting!). bear in mind that Andrea and Tom remain very fond of Carlos and count him as a friend still, so their judgment is very much to be trusted <3 if you look up Oscar’s mum Nicole’s episode on The Red Flags Pod she confirms that he’s truly Just Like That and his family adore him. there’s also this tiny but very telling moment of Oscar sending a journalist gifts for their new baby and the fact that The Fast and the Curious Pod (wholesome nerds HQ) view Oscar as their child. and that Abbi Pulling thinks he’s “too nice to be a racing driver”. it’s healthy to learn how to receive love and affection from people based on how they are naturally and comfortably rather than expecting them to behave in ways that are more socially the norm/seen as "acceptable"! 

*and side note it’s extremely gross and anti-mental health the way certain F1 fans have genuinely decided to interpret Oscar’s personality type as evil or cold or unfeeling. that is so profoundly backward and bigoted boomery thinking. yes it’s fine to joke a bit that Oscar’s a baby-face killer or robotic IF you make it clear it’s not true. but when I get sent links to adult women on tiktok claiming that Oscar’s mother and sister are part of some grand PR scheme orchestrated by McLaren to manipulate and maximize Oscar’s image then we’ve officially left the whole ‘I support mental health’ thing and entered ‘I persecute and suspect people who don’t fit a socially acceptable norm’. because of all the drivers who quite literally do orchestrate and manipulate PR for growing their careers or their impact (which is fine btw!!) sorry, Nicole’s sporadic social media presence is not remotely skillful PR and Oscar’s little sister is a college girl using tiktok to talk about her own interests. and if Oscar was trying to PR his way into whatever gain people imagine an introvert who dislikes being on camera could possibly gain then he’s doing an abominable job! his sponsors are still the ones he’s had since before F1 (including his dad’s company), his social media is as standard and bland with highly irregular sprinklings of personality, and he isn’t branching out into anything outside his racing career. like, sorry to destroy anyone’s insane projections of some grand plan onto a guy who truly is just happy to have his job and hang out with his friends and his girlfriend lasfgljsagfjlagfslagfsaj

so anyway, when Lando and McLaren team and staff members love on Oscar, it’s because it’s real and they clearly feel reciprocation from Oscar despite it not being traditionally emotional or verbal. plenty of teams and teammates can be neutral to fully disinterested in a driver and it's fine for it to be like that. if nobody actually liked Oscar or found him cold or unfeeling, they would make little to no effort to seem like they love him or like him. F1 isn't team sports, the whole public face of it aspect just doesn't exist outside of backmarker teams who need social media engagement to keep sponsors happy.

- Oscar is famously Not ! a public speaking/on camera/PR/media person and you can see in their early 2023 stuff how much Lando helps him (this video esp is painfully cute bc Lando encourages and praises him and Oscar’s so pleased he does a song and dance). ask any longtime Oscar fan and they’ll tell you he’s leaned on the energy of extroverts and PR skilled people his whole racing career. and no, he really does not try to be a meme that's just what happens to awkward introverted ppl who have to be on camera a lot ;__;

- Lando used to be just as uncomfortable as Oscar with this stuff! and he’s said many times he has learned and adapted to be better at public speaking and media work, just as Oscar is learning! Carlos basically socialized and raised Lando from shy, twitchy mumbly little introvert to the person he became around 2021/2022. and we all observed how Lando basically copied Carlos and Daniel’s sense of humor to develop the bromance content we all know and love. and he does the same with Max F on streams as well. I wish I could find it but he said in one of the early winter break 2023 streams how he ‘usually lets other people do most of the talking and he interjects occasionally’.

-re the “thanking the sponsors” thing: to help Oscar get by on camera, especially with spontaneous speaking, Oscar uses little ‘scripts’ he’s worked out and approved of ahead of time so that he doesn’t have to deal with the white noise that hits him when having to speak spontaneously (the famous little ahhhh’s and uhhhhm’s and long delays he has before answering). which is why things like thanking the sponsors has been in rotation lately since it’s something Andrea said (remember him being teased for saying 'we're in Austria' x 50? and repeating the bit about his wisdom teeth? and the refrain of ‘my girlfriend says…’) because he’s just trying to get out something he knows is acceptable and palatable. compare the stiffness of his post race videos with when he’s one on one with an interviewer (the Laura Winter one is great) or filming non-scripted stuff w Lando and you can see the difference between him feeling under pressure vs how he expresses himself when he’s relaxed. 

- it’s genuinely weird and adorable how Oscar doesn’t use gushy language or do PDA with Lily or Lando, but in exactly the same way with both he loves bringing up their little quirks or what they disagree with him about or things they like that he doesn’t etc ??? idk if they’re secretly very similar or what but for some reason Oscar shows his affection for them only occasionally in plain terms, but mostly by bringing them up seemingly for no reason and in extremely mundane ways ?? idk it’s just a very very cute observation I wanted to point out and he doesn’t do that with any other people aslfgsljagfafgl

so yes, those are the Things To Know about Oscar and his relationship with other people and with Lando to explain why he isn’t like Lando, Carlos, or Daniel. and that whether or not Lando or Oscar bring each other up or acknowledge each other in media duties is not something to get stuck on because that’s not something they personally pay attention to in their relationship. we got used to a specific almost identical type of teammate relationship with Lando’s previous two - and even other teammates who are less close all follow a similar pattern of humor and media friendly behavior. but Oscar is weird, Lando is weird and just adapts better, and they’re both very weird together. they can mindread when not under pressure and they obsess over details about each other’s food and choices etc and go off on bizarre tangents about naps and music and they don’t like posting content about their downtime together/purely social hanging out. oh and they openly complain that they want to spend more non-racing time together as if they couldn’t just… do it more ?? yea they’re just like that.

somehow I have more to say but it’s mostly observations so under a cut it goes (but the stuff above is basically the main points I wanted to make!)

a lot of misconceptions have happened both because Lando's grown and changed so much since the start of 2023 and because Oscar's real personality is so slow to be revealed... and tbh it's def yet to be understood fully by a lot of people…

Lando very openly kicked against the idea of being the older/more experienced big brother role widely expected of him when Oscar was announced for Mclaren (to this day he jokingly but semi seriously says he envies Oscar’s “youth”). Lando had spent the previous four years as little brother and gotten very comfortable in that role. around Austin 2023, he realized Oscar was happy to look after himself and didn't need serious help with anything except media/PR/public speaking. this is where Lando found his big brother role and ran with it happily. it’s where the Finish the Lyrics video happened and we saw a major shift in the landoscar dynamic.

take Lando’s initial insecurity trying to figure out the dynamic with a quiet, low energy rookie and contrast that with how someone five years behind in experience to their teammate is NOT as secure of his position** and has much more to prove. yes Oscar has a contract but he knows better than anyone !! that those are not set in stone or immutable. he frequently has said - and his mom has said - Lando's place in F1 is already established as a front-runner. therefore Oscar's job is to push himself and prove himself to that level.

all of which is why you can’t look at Lando and Oscar in media - or even on track - and mistake their closeness in age for being able to judge them similarly. 

**the refrain of 'why can't he be a support driver until Lando gets a WDC' is easy to answer: for one thing absolutely NO driver wants that and for another, he very understandably does not assume he has the space or stability to just not try his hardest unless specifically asked by the team. 

without opening a can of worms on my personal opinions, I’ve consulted my family/friends of family who have been F1 obsessed since I was born - and the reality of guys who are seen or who actually are ‘support driver’ (not rly an official term but we all know what it is) is NOT the same as a number 2 driver, and neither of those are even options for Oscar. 

a number 2 is a driver seen as having become relatively disposable compared to the number 1 and who just wants to keep a seat in F1 despite the insult. they will at least tacitly accept that their role is to follow team orders and suck it up while number 1 chases the glory (whether that’s points or podiums). a number 2 has a limited life span either because his skill drops off and he becomes a liability or because he can’t stand it after a while.

a support driver is someone who either brings money/sponsorships/a unique regional fanbase and can occasionally or at least theoretically compete with their teammate. and who for whatever reason is judged as the guy who has to suck it up when the other guy has a better shot at the glory. but if the other guy falls behind or suffers a DNF, the support driver is automatically the number one. and if the support driver has a shitty season or the gap in ability widens between him and his teammate, he retains his seat anyway because of the money/sponsorships/unique regional fanbase he brings. so basically, he’s pretty damn safe.

Oscar does not bring money, sponsorships or a unique regional fanbase. Australia doesn’t need convincing to be invested in F1, Oscar’s sponsorships are peanuts compared to what sponsor-grabber Zak Brown already has and Oscar’s funding ran out before F1 and his career only continued because of Mark Webber taking an interest in him (for more on that, see K’s excellent primer - you can scroll down to the screencap of a sheet with a lot of numbers on it for that particular part). and despite insane conspiracy theories about him, Oscar’s PR and image not only don’t have anywhere near the numbers of many other drivers, he also had to recover from the immensely bad PR following Alpinegate. he had most fans of McLaren, Alpine, Danny Ric and Lando (as the prospective teammate) all hating his guts before he’d even stepped into his first papaya race suit. all he’s had getting him past all of that was his promise from F2 and F3 and then his improvement as a driver.

so that’s being support driver out of the question.

and also referencing Mark Webber, without leaning too cornily into the obvious like… no, Oscar’s not going to be the one F1 driver to be okay with the idea of being a number 2. his own mother said how he viewed potentially having Lando as a teammate as advantageous for a rookie because he wouldn’t be expected to match up immediately. the flipside of that is what he’s had to achieve and become immediately after his rookie year in order to be seen as around Lando’s level. his job is to prove to McLaren and to his race team that he's going to try and bring them the best result on every outing. if mathematically that means team orders in favor of Lando then fine, which he's more than proven he'll do. but without said orders, Oscar's job remains to try and get at the very front - just like it is Lando's. there isn't an option or a reason for Oscar to just... intentionally fail or ease off that responsibility (again, unless ordered to).

so that's a no go for being a number 2 driver.

and some more about Oscar and mental health for those who think it only applies to drivers who talk about it frequently: Oscar has talked about how, when his dad came with him to the UK, initially Oscar felt he had "too much time to think". and about his difficulties in moving all alone to boarding school (“sacrificing” being with his family) on the other side of the world at fourteen. I cannot for the life of me find the post again but he even hired a sports psychologist to help him. he’s always been called mature and competent for his age and he and Lily seemed to just go right into domestic almost-married codependency after about two years together. there’s a whole school of thought about children who leave home early and parentification and boarding school syndrome etc but that’s getting way too speculative for even me to go into. but basically, Oscar leapt into a lot of unknowns without a lot of the usual safety nets drivers have/have had. he's had to be self-reliant in a way that's not common among the extreme privilege of the average F1 driver and for those who have it similar to him, they have a similar outlook and approach***. so to mistake his confidence and determination for cockiness or coldness is as wildly off as people misinterpreting Lando’s genuine honesty for him being a cocky asshole. overall, Oscar’s self-assurance and maturity are why he’s continued and succeeded in such a volatile sport and pipedream career because compared to a lot of other drivers on the grid, he has not had a smooth or assured journey.

***obv in reality, apart from Ocon and Hamilton, we're always talking about very relative disadvantages. but Oscar is absolutely in the class of drivers who have to live far away from a family support system and who financially were not guaranteed career progression.

by contrast, Lando was a totally unique phenom and had big, welcoming hands grab him as a teenager and bring him into the McLaren and F1 fold. pundits and cameras and fans all saw him bringing drinks to Alonso and toddling around being helpful in the garage before his time with the team had even come. by the time he drove his first F1 race he was already everyone's beloved baby and Carlos basically got a crash course in parenting as he took full responsibility for socializing Lando and even having to cope with his teenage mood swings. Lando also had a comparatively gentle learning curve by dint of being so immensely talented and exceeding expectation for his age - but also always having older, more experienced teammates as his nearest competition. I will say he made sure to state he didn't want people to give him bias simply because his teammates had such an advantage of experience - and that he personally judged himself equally against them (to his detriment of confidence sometimes!). but it's only logical that people would factor in the age gaps anyway. by the time he'd entered his third year in F1 he was firmly established, had one of the largest fanbases and McLaren couldn't have made it clearer how badly they wanted to keep him from the clutches of other teams.

again - very much NOT saying that Lando doesn't feel the need or pressure to keep proving himself because he absolutely does, but it's still a VERY unique and unusual first few years in F1 !! 

Oscar had a very different experience of not knowing if he could progress after winning F2, having to hang around in reserve and then show up at McLaren without much fanfare (except the unanimous walls of hate from Danny Ric fans, Alpine fans and McLaren fans) and work from the backmarkers up with the team to prove himself - all while those months before the upgrades were spent with fans united in wanting him to fail and celebrating his difficulties.

so yea, all even more worth bearing in mind when it comes to how Lando takes the approach of speaking about Oscar and the team from a proprietary sense of pride - versus Oscar still focusing on his own races because it’s normal for young drivers early in their careers to be more focused on proving themselves and asserting themselves in order to become established in the way Lando is now. they seem so similar in so many ways but when it comes to their positions in the team and in the sport, it’s well worth remembering that big gap exists and why it makes them different sometimes - but that crucially, they end those post race videos united either in misery or in happiness and pride <3

I AM SO SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS FAR GOD I WON’T SHUT UPPPP

[coffee-with-a-stranger]

Self Knowledge Quiz #2

Dancing Waters

Fountains at A Touch of Magic to any public space. The fine Mist carried into the breeze, the gentle sounds of water falling into water, the sparkle of light as it plays on the Rippling surface: it's enough to transform a humdrum little Park into a fantasy setting. Perhaps that's why the local Fountain is such a popular meeting place for romantic assignations and getting together with friends.

Close your eyes and imagine a park with a fountain. You have arranged to meet some friends there before a night out on the town. What kind of Fountain do you see?

A single jet of water blasting straight up in the air like a geyser.

A number of medium sized fountains in a sparkling array, they're spray dissolving into droplets of mist.

A smallish, bubbling fountain.

An intricately engineered and complex water structure.

Key to Dancing Waters

They may be impressive, enchanting, even magical. They may Inspire romance or sheer awe. But one thing you can't say about fountains is that they're practical. The water goes up, the water comes down. What else does it achieve? Nonetheless, we sense that the world would be a poorer place without them. Sometimes you need to forget about practicality and just cut loose and enjoy. And therein lies the key to this scenario: the type of Fountain you imagined is related to the way you spend your money when enjoying a night out with friends.

1. A single jet of water blasting straight up in the air like a geyser.

You're like a magician with money, able to make vast quantities disappear in the blank of an eye. It doesn't matter much to you the way you consume it, just as long as you don't leave any leftovers. This makes you everybody's friend the first weekend after payday and explains why people around the office have taken to calling you old faithful.

2. A number of medium sized fountains in a sparkling array, they're spray dissolving into droplets of mist.

You like to use money to impress, spending it in a flashy way to guarantee maximum effect. You have been known to order food you don't even like, simply because it was the most expensive thing on the menu. As long as you're willing to keep paying the tab, there will always be people willing to act impressed.

3. A smallish, bubbling fountain.

You are a conservative Spender, that is, on the rare occasions when you spend anything at all. You figure the sales tax for everyone's bill when you split the tab and then whip out your coupons. You're spending habits definitely aren't going to make you go broke, but you if you don't loosen up those purse strings a little you may find yourself going solo.

4. An intricately engineered and complex water sculpture.

You're a schemer, always trying to make more out of your money than there was to begin with. You count convincing a waitress that you qualified for the kitty meal discount when you were 15 as one of your proudest accomplishments. It's not the money itself that's the issue, it's just a medium you use to express your creative impulses. That may earn you a bright future in trading stock options, but getting thrown out of a movie theater for sneaking in the emergency exit is not a good way to score points on a date.

Hope you enjoyed the quiz. Please feel free to take the survey below.

[swirlysmile]

This thought came to my mind in the morning and I've been thinking about it since, so in case you like it: for hangman, the reader doesn't need to be a pilot necessarily, maybe she's a mechanic or something so she's on the base and between hanging out with Jake and hearing him when he's on the air she starts picking out some of his phrases without noticing or maybe saying some words with his accent and one day it happens while she's talking with him, he notices and starts teasing her about it😅

sorry this took so long i’m literally so busy with school and i’m not happy with anything i’m writing (hence the length.) please forgive me!

word count: 192

warnings; none

habits

You’ve always been receptive. You have to be listening, have to be searching, for anything that goes wrong. If you send any pilot into the air with a faulty engine, you could lose your job. 

You develop habits of unintentional mockery over time. For example; the little tongue click Phoenix does during takeoff, or Hangman’s drawl when he says “Hell yeah!” after shooting someone down, or even Rooster’s hum when he’s not following Hangman’s strongly worded requests.

You’re tightening some screws on the bottom panel of the jet, having fixed some out of place wires. 

“Hey hey!” Coyote shouts, and you slide out from under the jet, clicking your tongue.

“Coyote, my man! What’s up?” 

Hangman raises an eyebrow from the other side of the room, noticing your tongue click. That sounds familiar, he thinks, ready to comment on it.

You do some stupid handshake with Coyote, engaging in idle conversation before he runs to grab some water. You slide back under the jet, tinkering some more. 

“Hey,” Hangman says to you, listening to you hum in response. “Would you want to go to the Hard Deck with us tonight?”

“Hell yeah!” 

[goopys-art]

I love transformers and drew this because I thought Philza as a seeker would fit him. Loves flying, he's definitely a fighter jet. Then I had to draw Technoblade because his name already sounded like a tf name. He's a space shuttle and they go space exploring together. Have a few hcs for this au? under the cut ^^

I'm just being a nerd here alskdjgsgd Pre-war Philza: Philza is ancient. He's old and had been remodeled a few times. Better engines, sleeker and aerodynamic frame, etc. Got the whole "Angel of Death" thing going on coz he's so good at the craft job. A weapon for hire. It's what he's made for but always found it restrictive to devote his whole life to and sometimes he gets bodyguard jobs for important political figures and those are the worst! He's tired and wants to explore the vast universe. He would have wanted to get into engineering or xenobiology if he could. Most of his equipment are custom made by him. It's a part of his passion. He self taught himself a lot of trades and steals medical books so he knows how to treat himself and patch wounds. He's someone that wants to keep ahead so it makes sense to learn more but he runs into the threat of anyone finding out that the reason he's so good for several years is because he's been secretly doing things outside of what a fighter jet should be.

It drives him up the wall. He wants to be free to do what he wants and be what he wants. So when the decepticons first started making themselves known and the promise of rising up against the corrupt system sounded pretty nice... he doesn't sign up for the cause. He can see the signs of a war a mile a way and he would much rather get out while he can before the political tensions breaks into chaos.

Pre-war Techno: Technoblade would have done delivery work like transporting energon from one of the moons and back. He's space worthy and has pretty thick plating to do the job. He's also bored out of his mind. The most fun he gets is when he gets to travel further from Cybertron to load and unload trades and goods in neighboring planets. A good change in scenery but he always wanted more. So he hears of this illegal gladiatorial pit somewhere and thinks "Yeah, I could do that". There aren't any other choices. Since it's all underground, they wouldn't question a shuttle for wanting to get in. Fighting is cool. He's getting pretty good at it since he's big and that makes for a good show. He trains and finds swords his favorite to use. A crowd favorite the likes like Megatron but Techno would rather not fight the dude? He looks like he's trying to start a movement. That's not the kind of beef he wants to associate himself with. But now he's trapped because the pits aren't really safe in the long run and fighting had turned into outliving everyone else and that's kinda a lot? He just wanted to be more than just the delivery guy but now people know his name and he can't escape coz he's a criminal in the arena. The decepticons wanna recruit him and he really doesn't want to be tied down to anything anymore even if he agrees with their cause.

And then the two meet Philza's looking for a free space shuttle and Techno is looking to get out of Cybertron. They meet and are immediately like "Yeah, of course, we need to get out of here!" Riots are happening around them and they get as much stuff as they can and run. It was easy for them to slip away because everyone's focusing on the war rn. A lot of other neutrals are fleeing too and they blend right in but break away to make it out on their own.

They chill out in space and go planet hopping for supplies for years. If any trouble were to come their way, they destroy it. Typical Techno and Philza shenanigans. They are the strongest duo out there and keep adopting alien pets to go with them. Eventually they get a ship so Techno doesn't have to be a shuttle all the time and they set up a base far away from the war as they can. Headcanons: -They would have joined the decepticons because initially, the cause had some good points. Cybertron needed major change but Megatron's revolution would have been far too violent.

-Philza saw how dangerous the world would get really early on and wanted to get out. Fighting for a war even if he's made for it? Again? Like his whole life? "No sir. I've been through that. It never ends well."

-Technoblade is a name he gave himself in the pits. It's when he was still trying to find his own identity and found his love for pvp and swords.

-Technoblade saw a video of a pig once and said "yeah that's me"

-Philza makes Techno weapons all the time and then teaches him how to make his own.

-They're pretty efficient together but neither of them are mechanics or know how to make their own energon. So it had been a big struggle at first but they're both fast learners.

-They get mistaken for decepticons all the time. It's the stereotype and they fit the bill. Big brutish dude and a seeker. Both armed to the teeth.

-They become amicas after years of having each other's backs. Amica Endura is kinda like a best friends thing