#literally the most Paul thing he could do tbh

[spurgie-cousin]

I only get updates on Paul and Morgan Olliges from reddit, but from what I can tell, Morgan is struggling at home with 2 small children and Paul is *checks notes*, exclusively posting about going pro in pickle ball...........

[priniya]

hi lovie! could you do some percy (or leo, maybe both?? i love them sm hahaha) headcanons abt dating an aphrodite’s child?

I COMPLETELY LOVE THE IDEA OMG??? tysm for requesting anon <3

sorry if it’s not like you imagined it😭 it’s my first time with headcanons like that

dating percy as an aphrodite’s child would include . . .

okay you all gotta admit that if percy could, he would brag about his partner being so beautiful that no one can compete with them

i feel like he’s at the university and some guys are talking and he just waits for a chance to show you off and be like “they are literally a goddess’ child”

BUT IN FRONT OF YOU??? he’d get so awkward even if you were dating for so long

also i’m 100% sure annabeth would sometimes point it out and laugh at the way he turns into a hot mess around you

but tbh you thought it was cute, cus let’s be real. it’s percy jackson, if you weren’t a hot mess around him as well, who would you be?

if you two are sent on a mission together, he rarely thinks about himself first, always making sure you���re okay before he checks himself

in his dorm he probably has pictures of you sticked to the wall in like a heart shape and his roommates might make fun of him for being such a simp but those photos gives him strength whenever you two are apart 🔥

he’s all in for that relationship, he even officially introduced you to both his parents and paul

you taught him how to braid hair and whenever you stay at his mom’s he braid his sister’s hair under your supervision ☹️☹️

when he started dating you he probably became such a gossip guy LIKE hear me out, he started paying attention to details and people’s behavior to talk about it with you

“you won’t believe what i heard today from piper.” “nah, she didn’t told me about it directly, her body language did.”, “i know right, how could he do that to her?”

he’s all in for the tea‼️‼️‼️

OH and also when you began dating he started paying more attention to jewellery and his outfits upgraded so much??

HE IS ALSO SO JEALOUS OF YOU AND HE KISSES YOU IN PUBLIC WHEN HE CATCHES A GUY LOOKING YOUR WAY

“i know you’re a child of aphrodite but these people gotta know i am your ares. or hephaestus.” “wait, am i your ares or hephaestus?”

dating leo as an aphrodite’s child would include . . .

this man is head over heels for you, and i know i said percy also is head over heels for his partner but LEO is on different level

he often drags you to the bunker whenever he feels like it and make you sit there with him, while he crafts something (mostly for you)

that man dedicates all his work for you, like

“oh this? i made it for yn cus they said [insert thing] fall apart so i just… did it.”

ngl he is kind of insecure that you’d left him for a child of ares just like your mother did to his father. even though you reassure him he’s the one on your mind, it still stings him sometimes

getting an approval from your mom wasn’t even that hard as you thought it could be. though she wasn’t exactly the most delighted you were in love with her husband’s child but… love is love right?

pet names in spanish ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

n you would pick it up and surprise him by calling him something in spanish <3

EVEN THOUGH he’s insecure about history repeating itself he jokes about it way too much sometimes 😭😭

brags to jason about you so much jason wants to off himself and i am not kidding

he once asked you to charm-speak him just to see how it feels

“what? don’t be like that, mi amor. i gotta know what’s your power’s like in case you do it subconsciously.”

(that’s literally the dumbest excuse you’d ever hear but didn’t care, considering it was your boyfriend who asked)

MANY people says you remind them of charlie and silena and when you heard it for the first time, you broke down crying because it was such a good compliment

[unbotheredalwyn]

So obviously after the Joe breakup shit changed we had that ratty twatty and then suddenly travis. Like ratty twatty first of all made it seem like you know this person is like horrible yet you choose to be with him? Everyone called her (rightfully) out I feel like cause he is really a twat of a person and the whole ice spice collab to basically "save" Matty twattys image. I also felt like it was unfair of her fans to force her to break up with him I mean it's her life. And Joe during this time went through so much shit after the break up I remember he was papped and everyone made fun of how skinny he is and how horrible he looks (he had bags under his eyes on the photo) which is actually sad cause he lost his grandmother I think during that time and people were genuinely saying disgusting things and saying mother is looking so much better etc etc while Joe was having a downwards spiral. Again I understand no one knew his depression was that bad but fuck swifties can be more kind.

Exit ratty twatty enter travesty lord this man gives me the ick.

Swifties are blinded by their relationship but he is really not a good dude. I mean that video live of him pushing his coach and yelling? Videos online of him being openly racist, being a trump supporter (and also swifties are dumb they think bc he got vaccinated and bent the knee for black lives matter he is somehow Democrat?) honey trump is vaccinated as well. And just because he supported blm does not make him a good person. He was PAID to do all that performative shit.

I mean she has millions of fans, thousands of young girls thinking the blatant red flags of travesty is hot and shit. Tells me he can push her around too. (not to mention he supported his abusive friend that literally hit his wife.)

And it feels like she's forcing travesty tbh? Like girlie you wanted the art to be about you yet you let some man overshadow it. Because truly that's what's happening like swifties are more into him at this point and the relationship they made up in their head as Taylor.

This is where I got annoyed and took a step back. Each time they were seen Joe got thousands and thousands of hate just for what being introverted?

Then they attacked Emma (Joe's Co worker) for a cheating rumor THEY MADE UP and the shit they said were so genuinely disgusting she had to switch off her comments.

Then Ai audio dropped about Joe abusing Taylor and Ai videos circled making it seem like Joe is a cheater when he is NOT. fuck they even trended a sex scene with that Alison chick he worked with saying he said Alison (her real name) and not her character's name when he DID NOT. It was in the fucking series! This woman got slut shamed so bad she turned off comments too for literally WORKING with Joe. Swifties literally spread shit around that he cheated on Taylor with Emma and Alison when he didn't! And the fucking best of all Taylor was on the set while filming conversations with friends. She most likely saw it IN PERSON and they chose to say all this genuinely disgusting shit about Alison who I've learned is actually a pretty good person.

Here I got genuinely disgusted.

So okay again I understand that Taylor can't control all her fans but her silence while her cult mass harrases people?

Whats insane to me is Joe. Like the guy got so much hate because SHE CHOSE to lead fans on. When she announced ttpd everyone thought the title relates to Joe and Paul mescal

Joe got mass hate

Then the secret songs at eras being about cheating

Joe got death threats

ALL TO BE AN ALBUM ABOUT THE FUCKING SEWER RAT SHE CAN'T GET OVER?!

she literally took ALL the hate against Joe *knowing* she's releasing an album dissing her 6 weeks situationship is genuinely disgusting. I cannot fathom it.

And AND the only thing she could say about Joe is dude did not want to marry her bc he was severely depressed WHICH IS NOT HER PLACE TO TALK ABOUT HIS STRUGGLES?

like I am SORRY this man wants to d word next to her and she just didn't care and wanted to fuck Matty?

Her partner, that got her through her darkest times BTW, did not deserve this.

She let all this mass harrasment just happen to market ttpd. Like genuinely what the actual fuck. 2 innocent women Emma and Alison were attacked and called sluts for genuinely existing and breathing the same air as Joe. And the proof he did not cheat is in her OWN lyrics. (which swifties cannot seem to fucking read bc they'd rather attack Joe than admit this album is about a sewer nazi rat)

The hate Joe got made me cry. The disgusting things they said about him. Swifties literally threatening to bash his head in with a hammer or that he needs to hang himself and they'd enjoy seeing his body swinging from the roof.

Genuinely why would any person say this to anyone at any time?

And they made fun of depression like. What. The. Fuck. Just because Joe might not see it does not mean other people with crippling depression won't.

Oh and a side note she's still bringing up Kim on albums? Not just Kim Kim's CHILD?! leave the kid alone.

Genuinely feel like the most honest Taylor we got was during lover (a time which Joe helped her voice her political opinions and shit) and idk I just feel cheated on?

My whole life I've defended Taylor against everyone and I genuinely feel like she's showing her true colors now being with travesty and ratty and I cannot fathom how this is the same Taylor I'm seeing now as she was like a few years ago.

And it's not just Joe that got death threats BTW. When midnights came out and everyone gave honest reviews cause that evil Jack antonof little gay man ruined the production there were journalists literally getting so much death threats its insane.

Taylor gets (rightfully) called out and fans can't handle it.

She needs to address them ASAP. All these parasocial freaks. The people harrasing Joe. The people literally only seeing Taylor as a breeder for travestys children.

I can't genuinely I can't this is not how I want to feel about Taylor I mean I gave her my youth I looked up to her so much I feel so disappointed in the way she's acting yk?

Yes maybe she can't do jack shit about swifties but she can try.

And her staying quiet over Palestine? Her voice her one post about a ceasefire could change EVERYTHING.

idk at this point I can't stand to be around Taylor.

[goddammitjosef]

For the otp question meme. Napalex. Every number except for 26.

(Is this evil behavior?)

fuck you im doing 26

NAPALEX HEADCANONS MASTERPOST WOOOO

Who is most affectionate?

Napoleon, he warms up to Alexander after a while and is very cuddly, pinches his ears when mad and sits on his lap a lot. Alexander thinks it's kind of weird.

Little spoon/Big spoon?

Napoleon is little spoon Alexander is big spoon.

Most common arguement?

Poland, this is canon btw... trading too. Literally anything atp but mostly Poland.

Favourite non-sexual activity?

Taking long walks, and arguing.

Who is most likely to care for the other?

Napoleon, he has to remind Alexander to do stuff.

What is their favourite feature of their partner?

Napoleon likes Alexander's hair, and his facial features, overall anything that makes him look like a greek god.

Alexander likes Napoleon's chub.

What's the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

Literally nothing they still hold grudges they just kiss now.

Nicknames? If so how did they originate?

I've been on this hill since day one that Napoleon called Alexander "Alex" and Alexander thought it was weird but now Napoleon calls him Sasha.

Alexander calls Napoleon "Napoleon" to his face but Bonaparte behind his back cause he's a fake ass bitch.

Who worries the most?

ALEXANDER

Who remembers what the other orders at a resturant?

Alexander. Napoleon always orders chicken while Alexander tries ordering something different each time and usually doesn't like it.

Who tops?

COMPLICATED QUESTION NOT EVEN ARISTOLE COULD ANSWER!!!!!

I always thought it would be Napoleon but looking back I know believe Alexander usually tops. Napoleon tops sometimes but everytime he does Alexander has a horrible time and fakes an orgasm. Napoleon is a lot better at handjobs tho which Alexander does enjoy but that's TMI.

Who initiates kisses?

Napoleon does, his are more rough and with tongue while Alexander likes small pecks.

Who reaches for the other's hand first?

Napoleon.

Who kisses the hardest.

As previously stated, Napoleon. He's an OK kisser.

Who wakes up first?

Napoleon.

Who wants to stay in bed a little longer?

Alexander.

Who says I love you first?

NAPOLEON.

Who leaves little notes in the others lunch.

I dont think this one applies here but i'll give it a shot.

If it's highschool AU then Napoleon leaves cringey notes in Alexanders lunch. Modern AU where they're adults then Alexander does, he just tells him to have a nice day. I imagine modern AU Alexander is a lot more loving than the real Alexander.

BTW I wanna flesh out a modern AU where Paul works in the Kremlin and Napoleon is a foreign exchange student in Russia because it was the cheapest place they'd take him. Also it'd be better for designs since most Russian secondary schools don't have uniforms.

Who tells their family/friends of their relationship?

LITERALLY NO ONE KNOWS. Execpt Fredrick William because he could tell.

What do their family/friends think of their relationship?

Ok breakdown if they DID know. Paul would kill Alexander, like actual death Ivan the Terrible and His Son. Catherine II would be more supportive. Elizabeth would just not care honestly, she thinks it's interesting it's with a man this time but she's been through him cheating through the hundredth time. But she would poke at him telling him "Why'd you seperate me and Varvara and now you're gay??" Josephine also doesnt care but she doesn't like how Napoleon keeps asking for her to roleplay as Alexander now. Pauline thinks it's kind of cute but calls them the f slur to her husband. Leticia would shoot Napoleon. Joseph thinks it's weird. Konstintine would make fun of Alexander and tell everyone.

Who is more likely to start dancing with the other?

Alexander this is canon.

Who cooks/is better at cooking?

Alexander...I think? Not too sure.

Who comes up with cheesy pick up lines?

NAPOLEON

Who whispers inappropriate things in the other's ear during sex?

Both of them tbh, very talkative i would say but Napoleon more than Alexander.

Who needs more assurance?

ALEXANDER.

What would be their theme song?

Already made a song analysis post but to sum it up.

Backstabber - Dresdon Dolls

The More You Ignore Me the Closer I Get - Morrissey

I like you - Morrissey

Let Me Kiss You - Morrissey

You've Got Everything Now - The Smiths.

Once More to See You - Mitski

I ALSO HAVE A PLAYLIST

Who would sing their child back to sleep?

Napoleon.

What do they do when they're away from eachother?

When are they not away from eachother?

One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart.

I hear people say Alexander offered Napoleon to stay with him instead of being at Elba and it's probably not true but...man...

ALSO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM AT THE END OF THEIR LIVES. JUST. HOW DID ALEXANDER FEEL ABOUT NAPOLEON'S DEATH I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO KNOW I NEED TO

One headcanon about this OTP that mends it.

I don't know send me your headcanons. MY DMS ARE ALWAYS OPEN FOR ANYTHING BUT ESPECIALLY NAPALEX I LOVE MESSAGING PEOPLE LET'S TOUCH TIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[comebackali]

top five figure skating routines of all time? not necessarily the best executed or scored but the ones that hit you the hardest <3

oh lmao this is gonna out me as a fake fs fan who's really only been following the sport for the last like... 8 years. there is not gonna be anything on this list before the 2010s, and these are all gonna be the most basic takes. we don't care. we like what we like. i don't know sports, but i think there must be smth about the first athletes you really follow that just makes them a cut above the rest and makes them stay with you forever. so here's that, for me.

allie's top five comfort figure skating routines:

1) tessa and scott's "moulin rouge" at the 2018 pyeongchang olympics:

nothing will ever be this, no one will ever be them. truly the greatest moment in Sport History. the greatest in choreography, in presence, in chemistry. the greatest warhorse, the greatest team of all time. and the best they've ever been!! being able to watch this routine get better and better and then have them preform it the best they ever had when the stakes could not have been higher. the music starts and i get chills over my whole body. also the hugs and kisses after, the moment they find out they win. nothing will ever top this moment for me. you truly had to have Been There Gandalf, that season, their comeback, to understand the euphoria of that moment. literally bottle it and sell it as crack tbh. (also scott mouthing along to "come what may" always makes me fucking EMO lol)

2) evgenia medvedeva's "anna karenina" also at the 2018 pyeongchang olympics:

imma be real with you bestie, this is not even close to the greatest ladies fs routine of all time, and yet it is the routine i end up rewatching the most. something about it. i think to myself, "it's time to rewatch evgenia medvedeva's anna karenina again" a few times a month. and like, it is beautiful. no matter how many times i watch it i am entertained and engaged the entire time by the weird ass swirly swirls. but the emotion, the stakes, the drama. it just makes everything better and more poignant. i watch the whole thing with my heart in my throat. the way she's full sobbing by the end of it, and knowing how it all turns out, just gets me man. 2018 was such a blessed, cursed time.

3) tessa and scott's 2008 world championship "umbrellas of cherbourg"

oh hey look, something from before 2010. in all seriousness all this list is telling you is that i am an ice dance fan first and foremost, and a tessa and scott fan before that. as far as comfort programs go this is probably my number 1. i've watched it so many times. i used to tell people it was my favorite figure skating routine, and watching it again now i'm like, based?? there is something so intoxicating about this routine. they are just little babies!! and the near kiss at the end always sends me into a tizzy. this routine has cast it's spell on me. i am it's humble servant.

4) piper and paul's "hitchcock" routine from 2014 world's:

i can't believe i almost forgot this one. THE CUNT!! THE CUNT!! who the fuck else doing it like these PSYCHOS??! paul's face at the end. literally no one has ever served more face. face card carding or whatever the kids say.

5) yuzuru hanyu's prince routine from 2017 world's:

i can't believe i'm picking (1) yuzu routine and it's this one. i oscillated so much between this one and "hope and legacy" which is obviously gorgeous and iconic, yet here we are. it was my first instinct so i'm going with it. but i have no explanation. he fucks up his quad sal and very nearly falls, adding a double on the end and still managing to serve absolute cunt. at some points you can barely hear the music over the sound of the screams. truly, performance of all time!! the stupid lil vest/pants combo. his cunty lil dance moves. he is truly in his element here. i love him sm.

honorable mentions: elizaveta tuktamysheva's "toxic":

many lesbians were created here

the shib's "that's life" from the 2016 grand prix final:

1000/10 for being hot and turning me bisexual

[lovelytsunoda]

holding out for a hero ( iii ) // platonic! mercedes amg

summary: a holiday party at marcus armstrong's house brings changes to y/n's life, in the form of both a british f2 driver she'd rather not show her face around ever again, and a very awkward milestone.

pairing: platonic!mercedes amg f1 x reader, brief olli caldwell x reader

warnings: first kisses, a slew of emotions i don't want to unpack, it's going to be cute and angsty all at the same time, self-deprecation, basically the same warnings as the rest of the series tbh, mentions of an alcohol allergy, paul being a little shit

author's note: this is lowkey based on the story of my first kiss from last december . . . i actually hated it all and we're back to the drawing board on that whole dating thing. i fear my standards may be too high.

this series would make such a good sitcom tbh

"marcus, for the last time, i don't do parties." y/n insisted, frowning at the face on her phone as she stride out of the mercedes building in brackley. "i don't care that i already know most of the people who are going to be there, or that the guys are bringing their girlfriends. the answer is no."

"come on!" marcus armstrong begged on the other end of the facetime call, laughing as the young intern clumsily zipped up her tommy hilfiger jacket, hiding the bottom half of her face under the collar as the wind whipped her face, flakes of snow beginning to fall from the winter sky. "it's not as bad as you're thinking it's going to be. it's literally just at my house, my younger sister is going to be there."

y/n snorted. "come on, armstrong. if you think telling me that your teenaged sister is going to be at the party is a drawing factor, you need to reevaluate things in your life. besides, liam is going to be there and it's going to be ultra painful to see him and his girlfriend being all loved up."

silverstone had been a huge knock to y/n y/l/n's self-confidence. it had taken a lot for her to allow herself to be that vulnerable. to dance in front of the rowdy group of boys, to let her guard down long enough to meet new people, to have a good time.

to tell liam lawson that she thought he was cute, just for liam to shatter her heart into a million peices without even meaning or trying to.

god, she wished she could stop being so sensitive sometimes.

she hadn't been to another race since. she also hadn't spoken directly to liam, occasionally being looped into things on the group chat. as far as she was aware, red bull were shipping him off to japan with cem bolukbasi to run a superformula test.

she was heading back to her car now, the cold air turning her fingers numb as she clutched her phone, digging in her pocket for her car keys.

"i'm not doing it, armstrong."

"and why the bloody hell not? you had a great time in sliverstone, and i'll have james keep liam away from you if that would make you feel better."

y/n had opened her mouth to say something when she felt a pair of hands clapping her on the shoulders.

"she's going." susie wolff insisted. "come on, y/n. you need to get out more. you deserve to let yourself have fun."

"but this party isn't going to be fun, susie."

susie grinned, hands in the deep front pockets of her trench coat. "you won't know unless you try it, kiddo." she turned to the phone. "marcus, she'll be there!"

____

y/n stood in front of her mirrored closet door, smoothing her fingers over her hair, drawn back into a tight half-up ponytail kind of style.

"you look great, kiddo!" angela cullen's voice faintly filtered through the phone speakers, a kelsy karter song playing softly from the turntable in the corner.

"ang, i'm going to make a fool out of myself out there." y/n groaned. "i hate parties!"

"but you know these guys, y/n. you know marcus, you know clem and you know fred. you'll be fine. with that being said, if you want to leave early, call one of us."

"oh, you'll definitley be getting some kind of call." she rolled her eyes, stopping the turntable and sliding the shiny black vinyl back into it's sleeve, fairy lights twinkling above her. "what if they don't like me, angela?"

"and what if they love you?"

after bidding the physiotherapist her goodbyes, y/n pocketed her phone and padded across the dusty apartment floor to her kitchen. the apartment felt too big for her to live in on her own, and technically she didn't, but it's not like her roommate was ever home. she sighed to herself, opening the fridge to stare at the almost empty shelf, making a mental note to order her groceries.

if there was anything that gave her anxiety, it was grocery shopping. there was a voice in her head that always seemed to tell her that the cashier ringing her groceries through was judging her, or that that mother with two kids in a stroller was frowning at the nutritional index of meals she hadn't even made yet.

she grabbed the plastic container with the kirkland signature logo, groaning to herself as she realized that the lettuce in her pre-made ceaser salad had gone off.

"fuck me." she muttered, throwing the entire thing in the trash before grabbing a ziploc container filled with sliced peppers, that way she had at least eaten something before she went to the party.

just in case her anxiety stamped out her appetite

her nimble fingers sailed across the keyboard as she texted clement, asking for a ride to marcus'. she had no idea where she was going, and she didn't want to be lost in london this close to the new year.

i'll be at the apartment in twenty, and i've got my girlfriend with me. she can't wait to meet you! you're going to have a great time at marcus'

she took a deep breath, reminding herself to calm down a little. it was just marcus armstrong's house. what could possibly go wrong? they're the same people she had such a great time with at silverstone, right?

_____

she regretted going to marcus' almost as soon as she walked through the doors to his massive penthouse. at the track, they could pretend that they were all the same. but not here, not out in the real world when y/n walked through the front doors of his doorman building with glass elevators, his penthouse that was bigger than even the townhouse she grew up in with her parents.

in the kitchen, marcus had stacked a sturdy tower of martini glasses. behind them, felipe drugovich was standing on a kitchen chair with a bottle of ferrari trento champagne in his arms.

"i've always wanted to do this!" the f2 champion shouted. "come on, guys. someone get this on tape!"

"dear lord, what are the twenty stooges doing now?" she groaned, leaning against the wall next to jehan daruvala.

jehan laughed. "making a champagne fountain because liam said he saw it in a movie once. felipe wanted to do the honors of puring it, and nobody wants to argue with the f2 champ, especially when he just found out he's not getting a race seat next year, but logan is."

"shit. i guess the feeder series system just isn't working like it used to."

a chorus of cheers from the kitchen island disrupted further conversation, the warm lights shining down on the last person that y/n wanted to see. god, motorsport was a small world, wasn't it?

liam lawson locked eyes with her from across the apartment, giving her a sad and sympathetic smile. she bit her lip to stop from grimacing, meekly waving back.

nobody else knew what had happened between her and liam, and she preferred to keep it that way.

"y/n!" marcus shouted, throwing his arms in the air and waving her over. "come join us!"

"have a drink." clement encouraged, trying to pass her a glass of champagne.

she shook her head. "give it to your girlfriend, novalak. i'm actually allergic to alcohol."

calan williams narrowed his eyes, skeptically sipping from his own glass. "that sounds fake."

y/n laughed, moving closer to the kitchen island. "its a genetic thing. i can't handle anything more than a cooler or a mixed drink. anything stronger will have me throwing up for hours."

"i think there's some smirnoff ice in the fridge." marcus suggested, pointing towards a large cabinet front. ayumu iwasa opened the cabinet, revealing the fridge behind it.

fucking rich people.

"what the hell, pass me one of the peach smirnoff coolers in the door."

"to felipe!" dennis hauger shouted, hefting his beer into the air, arm full of tattoos on display. "our 2022 champion!"

"and to logan, my old teammate!" liam lawson added, throwing his arm around logan sargeant's neck. liam looked drunkest of all, though it seemed like all of the drivers were a wreck. "williams racing's last hope."

she spent most of the night wandering around marcus' massive house, ducking in and out of conversations. she appreciated that the drivers were trying to help her feel at home, but there was still a small part of her that wanted to flee, to run away and sit at home with her emily henry book or watch a korean psychological thriller.

"so who's actually sticking around next year?" jack doohan asked, slumped across marcus' living room sofa. "aren't they cleaning house in f2?" his buzzcut was growing back in, his shaggy blonde hair fitting his face much better, although the look still seemed odd since the length was at that awkward stage.

"it's dennis, you, ayumu, jehan, enzo, theo, me, amaury, roy, ralph." fred vesti started counting off on his fingers, a drunken slur underneath his words if one listened carefully.

"and i'm not going anywhere any time soon!" ralph boomed. "i'm like fernando fucking alonso, motherfuckers! 2023 is going to be my year, just you wait and see!"

"yeah right! the championship is as much yours as it is clem's!" marcus shouted back with a laugh, an aperol spritz in hand as he messed with the stereo.

"oh, fuck you lot." clement laughed, curled up in an armchair with his girlfriend. "you didn't need to do me like that in front of ines, come on, have some class."

"am i forgetting about anyone?" fred hummed. "i skipped clem, but am i missing anyone else?"

"what about zane? he's coming back, yeah?" amaury suggested.

"dude, it's a miracle that you're coming back." dennis snorted. "i thought you were gone for sure after that speeding ticket fiasco. how long did you lose your license for?"

sitting on the couch in between jack and olli caldwell, she felt suffocated. she drew her arms in on herself, trying to create a bubble of space from the aussie on one side and the briton on the other. her palms felt sweaty, her chest heavy.

"are you okay?" olli asked her softly. "do you want to get out of here? we can go for a walk, take a breather?"

she nodded quickly, her voice soft. "please? i love you all, i really do, but this is a bit much."

"yeah, come on. let's grab your jacket." olli encouraged, taking her by the hand as they both slipped out of marcus' living room.

not that anybody noticed they were gone. or that they had left together.

once they were both outside, y/n felt better. the cool breeze on her face, the twinkling christmas lights that had been lit up glowing in the haze as snow began to fall gently.

"so where are you off to next year if it's not f2?" she asked, fingers still laced with olli's as they walked down the sidewalk.

"endurance, i think. alpine are still sponsoring me as a driver, so laurent has been a hige help in trying to find me something else. it's something different, and i'm looking forward to it. what about you?"

"i have no idea." she answered truthfully, dropping olli's hand. "my internship runs out before the season starts in bahrain. then it will be back to the real world, the world where i'm on my own with my five friends and my roommate. i'm hoping that toto will keep me on next year, but i also realize that he might not have that control. it would be a shame to leave, though. i feel like i've finally found my place in this world."

they stopped walking, y/n leaning against the brickwork exterior of marcus' condo complex. olli stood in front of her, hands in his jeans pockets, his breath turning into mist in the air.

"i'm sure it will all work out. and even if mercedes don't take you on, there are so many other motorsports in europe that you can try. and you'll always have us, y/n. any time you want them, i've got wec tickets for you."

"thanks, olli. really."

they drifted into a silence, somewhat easy, somewhat not. olli's hands came up to press against the wall, his face just milimeters from hers. her heart started pounding, anticipation building in her bones.

is this it? is it really happening? is olli caldwell going to kiss me?

and then he leaned in, his lips pressed against hers.

y/n y/l/n had just had her first kiss.

_____

"so let me get this straight, you finally got your first kiss, a boy actually wanted to go out with you, and you're turning him down?"

"well, when you put it like that!" y/n groaned, face in her hands as she slumped back in her desk chair.

it was the week after marcus armstrong's party, the group sitting in the legal department at the mercedes f1 factory in brackley. she had already told the full story, and her face was pinker than a crush cream soda.

"i just don't understand what your train of thought is here, if i'm being honest." george chuckled. "so caldwell kissed you. what's the big deal?"

"because it was my first kiss, george! i've been thinking it over all weekend, and i felt sick to my stomach when olli texted me the morning after." she groaned, running her hands over her face. "you're going to laugh at me when i tell you why."

"i promise you, we aren't going to laugh, y/n." lewis said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "all of what you're feeling is normal."

she sighed. "it didn't feel the way that the books said it was supposed to feel."

"that's your big reasoning? really?" nyck's tinny voice rang through the speaker on mick shumacher's phone. in abu dhabi, the reserve driver had officially been traded to scuderia alphatauri, and by extension, not allowed into brackley to be privy to this conversation. so, naturally, he was facetimed and looped in anyways.

"mick, can you please mute the traitor." y/n groaned, reaching for the german boy's phone before mick laughed and pulled it out of her reach to mute the call himself.

on screen, nyck was still talking.

"i know it sounds stupid, but i've felt sick about it all weekend. what am i supposed to do, guys?"

"i think that your feeling are vaild, first of all." mick began, "and that maybe olli came on too strong."

mick's finger slipped, unmuting the call enough for nyck to shout. "did i not just say that? were you not listening?"

"you have so much time, y/n." lewis said with a small smile. "but i hope you've learned something about yourself from this, yeah? maybe this was the boost of self confidence that you needed?"

she had thought about the kiss all weekend, hoping that she could make it make sense, and that she wasn't overreacting. and it's not like olli had done anything wrong, although french kissing was a little much for the first date, even when it wasn't even a date, and she was trying to convince herself that telling olli she just wanted to be friends was the best call.

and then, digging deeper, she had to ask herself if she was even ready for a relationship. because when the idea was finally breathing down her neck, the idea of olli, and going on a date, and sharing so much of herself with someone else, it scared the shit out of her.

"he put his tongue in my mouth, lewis!" she whined. "god, i sound like a child."

"he what?" a muffled voice called from the other side of her desk, followed up by a thump and frantic whispering.

"what the fuck?" y/n mumbled, getting out of her desk chair and leaning over the glass cubicle wall. "paul?"

with a shit eating grin on his face, paul aron slipped out from underneath the table, kimi antonelli just behind him. while paul didn't look the least bit apologetic, kimi looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

"i am so sorry, miss. we shouldn't have been listening." the italian boy bowed his head. "but blame paul, it was his idea."

"what, i wanted the office gossip." the estonian boy shrugged. "he french kissed you, and you friendzoned him? that's a little sad."

"paul get out!" y/n snapped. "or i'll call toto and bono!"

the threat of toto wolff was enough to get kimi and paul to dart out of the room faster than the freca cars that they drove. toto didn't know about the kiss, mainly because she knew that he had otmar and laurent on speed dial and would find a way to put the fear of god into oliver caldwell for hurting his intern.

the bond that she had formed with the wolff family wasn't something she would have traded for the world. she found herself calling or texting toto's daughter rosa more often, with the two being of a similar age.

she just hoped that toto liked her enough to keep her around for another season.

"there are plenty of fish in the sea, kiddo." susie wolff added, striding into the office. "and don't worry, i'm not going to tell toto. although, paul and kimi might. take this as a learning experience. and don't take any advice from this lot." she added, whacking george in the back of the head with a file folder.

"why did i feel like that was directed at me?" the man from king's lynn groaned.

"the right boy will come when the time is right. god knows i met toto later in life. and look at us now." susie continued, pulling y/n in for a hug. "come on, we have an investor meeting with monster, and toto wants you there."

"me? he wants me in a meeting with our biggest sponsor?"

lewis laughed. "you need to start giving yourself more credit. you are so loved here, y/n. you have a future in motorsport law, a future here."

mick, lewis and george all exchanged a look, bright smiles on their faces.

"what are you not telling me? is toto keeping me on for next year?"

"we aren't allowed to say anything just yet." george started. "but, i think toto has a soft spot for you."

"put it this way: you'll know before bahrain, and you might want to pack some summer clothes." susie smiled.

Tags:

@magnummagnussen @diorleclerc @daydreamingleclerc @scuderiamh @sidcrosbyspuck @libraryofloveletters

[mylittleredgirl]

For the ship it or not game: Benjamin x Kasidy, please?

(ship asks)

I Ship It

1. What made you ship it?

they literally COULD NOT have written a better love interest for ben sisko, and they put them together so thoughtfully. jake sets them up -- after a build-up where we see jake turning into a young man thinking about his future and really wanting his dad to have someone. i love that she's a freighter captain, a type of person in the ds9 universe who we have never really gotten to know, and essentially a grounding element -- she's a civilian living her own life who is (at first) totally uninvolved in the a-plot. and she knows about baseball!! the sheer joy i felt watching her walk in in her second appearance in "the way of the warrior" and they're already together and falling in love...

i couldn't find a great two shot of them so look at these caps from the "don't get killed" moment in the way of the warrior........ ROMANCEEEE

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

it's such a good relationship!!!! they're mature, open, respectful, demonstrative, sexy... every beat is so potent and it expands into episodes she's not even in. i love her, i love her for him, i love him for her, and i LOVE her relationship with jake. their love stories are both heavy and light ("it's a big step") but there's never a flippancy to their relationship ever. and hooooooly shit. for the cause. i remember my dad showing me the last scene of casablanca like "this is the end scene of all time" but have you seen the last scene of for the cause.

genuinely i think this would be THE undisputed together-on-screen-in-canon star trek relationship of all time if it weren't for the fact that kasidy is a guest star and, while she has a rich implied life and does develop and grow, we never get the full main character treatment with her like we do with riker/troi and paul/hugh (and michael/book because book is also a guest star but he's a driving force of the a-plot of a whole season).

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i think most people probably agree with me tbh that it's an incredible ship that's electric on-screen and underrepresented in fanworks. i don't know if people agree that the last part of their arc was the weakest part because it was rushed (that engagement scene was so sweet though!! it's your house i want it to be our house!!), and i don't really like unplanned pregnancy as a trope (planned pregnancy? yes please!). like yes, her entire presence in the series has always been to serve his emotional story, but this felt different. until that point, her life between episodes was mostly implied until it intersected with the plot, but it was important to her and believable. in the final chapter it vanished completely, and i can't remember if she ever made that an intentional choice (or, if she did, if that choice was given enough weight).

[orchidking10]

So I rewatched Black Friday on Black Friday here are some notes I made:

- The Wiggly song is way too long to be a real advert

- Paul was right, Wiggly really does worm his way into your brain

- This line from Tim: “I wanted to have fun” Is foreshadowing for the scene: Tom and Lex. Tom really just ignored his wants at the beginning

- Notice how Tom said “He was sledding, with his mother” more evidence that Tim doesn’t want anything material, he just wants to spend time with his family

- “I’d give up both of my arms to get you on track”, well, he did get stabbed

- Wiley making references to (possibly?) the black and white and people killing each other for a Wiggly

- Webby knowing that having the backpack with Wiggly in it is gonna cause a lot of problems

- Ethan and Lex calling Hannah “banana” and then Wiggly calling her that later

- Ethan saying “Cross my heart, hope to die”, biggest death flag there is

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but the “My mom’s a bitch” with no context beforehand

- Think about the implications of Ethan saying “We’re missing in action” (It’s what the M.I.A in CaliforM.I.A stands for btw), more major death flags

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but wtf did Gerald do in that Cinnabon? Also this explains why they thought he was the murderer in “Hatchet town” tbh I’d think the same thing

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but Gerald kept that car running the entire musical, most likely

- They really just let Tom cut in line even though Linda had to bribe people to cut in

- “I hope you don’t get a Wiggly. I hope you fucking die.” Arguably the best line in the entire musical and more foreshadowing

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but Man in a Hurry (Jeff Blim’s character) fangirl screaming at Becky X Tom

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but the following characters loose their place in line: Linda after “What do you say”, she recovers though; Becky and Tom, from what I saw, after “Our Doors Are Open”

- I want the people’s opinion: If someone sues another person in Hatchetfield, does Gary do both the Defense and prosecution? Or do I not know how law works? Anyone say he’s also the judge?

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but the fact that the person holding the Wiggly, not counting Frank cause he’s selling them, still sings the song and doesn’t run away to keep it for themselves could be proof that this is a sequel to The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals and this is just what happened when Wiggly asked/forced Pokey to make a musical about him

- “You made my Christmas list” reminds me of the line: “Let me check my Christmas list” from “the summoning” both talk about death (Gary and Man in a Hurry trying to kill each other, Wiggly wanting Steph to kill Peter) and they both involve Wiggly in some way

- Linda never got to her hair appointment

- After watching Honey Queen the fact that Linda would want to be adored more than Gerald already adores her confuses me, he literally died for her and killed for her if I remember correctly

- This is something a first time viewer could point out but how the hell did they get a Wiggly doll in the Oval Office without someone being killed?

- Is it possible to spin someone around by their leg?

Gonna do Act 2 tomorrow, I did this way too late in the day

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Interested in your perception of Julia Baird’s portrait or Mimi vs more common narrative that Mimi rescued John from his mother Julia’s irresponsible parenting. I go back and forth between vilifying Mimi and considering that it might have been a challenging situation if Julia Baird’s dad was alcoholic and didn’t want John around. Although I lean towards holding Mimi accountable for getting social services involved to take away Julia’s custody rights….

First off: obligatory "It was a different time", except I do want to emphasize it, because it's not only to contextualize some of Mimi's behaviour that a lot of people might classify as emotional abuse nowadays, but because it affects literally all of this. Social mores dictated the actions not just of Mimi but of all the Stanley sisters, who in my view all enabled the situation to get as far as it did. And, most pertinently, I don't think people at the time really understood how damaging it is to all parties to separate a child from their parents (and tbh, especially their mother). My main takeaway from the whole situation, as well as what I've learned about "difficult homes" since, is that taking John away from Julia should have been an absolute last resort, unless there was extremely concrete evidence that Julia was being highly abusive towards him.

(and I do mean highly abusive. It, for instance, would not have done Paul and Mike any good to be separated from their father, even if Jim put them through hell at times [though of course, the extent of the abuse they suffered is debatable]. These situations are terrible all-around, but from what I can tell – and what I think John's story shows – breaking apart families is very rarely the best course of action.)

"But Julia was making little John share a bed with her and Bobby Dykins!" – okay, I see how this is potentially a problem, though it's from what I can tell entirely (implied? I don't know that she went so far as to say it out loud) conjecture on Mimi's part that John was made to witness adults having sex. In my opinion, the first course of action here should have been to help Julia out by acquiring a separate bed for John.

I recognize that Julia was probably often irresponsible and, from what I've read about her, I suspect she at times struggled with parenting in way similar to how John would later on – not due to a lack of love, per se, more due to a helplessness in the face of the true burden of taking care of someone and a difficulty comprehending the seriousness and scope of child-rearing. That being said, it's hard to fully blame her when she had her toddler taken away – because of her own sister, as you mention – and had to give up her second baby for adoption. That's twice-over the worst trauma a mother could endure* so it seems natural to me that she would have attachment issues with John later on. Again, helping Julia with her parenting instead of denying her the role of mother seems to me the best course of action here. (Oh look, it's my nuclear family take rearing its head again.)

*some people happily give up babies – I don't have much reason to believe Julia was one of them.

I also think Mimi thought she was doing the right thing and her decision to take John in admittedly made more sense when Uncle George was still alive. This is where the "It was a different time" comes back in, because it would be unfair of me to expect her to understand all the complexity I've been describing. I don't know that I believe Julia Baird's claim that Mimi instigated the entire situation so she could have John for herself – but there is perhaps a middle ground here, where Mimi loved her nephew a lot, felt no one was taking care of him the way she believed he needed, and let that blind her to the damage she was going to inflict by interfering the way she did.

It's difficult to fully assess Mimi's impact on John, because it seems the abandonment issues his early childhood instilled in him made him particularly loyal to her. Mimi was, if nothing else and above all, steadfast. (You can draw a parallel here to Yoko, though that's another discussion.) You aren't gonna find a ton of statements from him condemning her, and I definitely don't want to discount the genuine love they both had for each other. I appreciate that she didn't have an easy task, bringing him up, especially after being widowed, and I appreciate that she came through for him in significant ways.

The thing that motivated my (somewhat callous) post last night, was this:

"You wonder why John didn't have the strength to just say 'Look Mimi, I'm moving in with Mum.'" JULIA BAIRD: "Hm. Well, I remember the– a particular row in the kitchen, where he was going back [to Mendips] after the school holidays and he was crying. And my father [Bobby Dykins] said 'That's it. That's it. I've had enough. You stay here. I'll go and see Mimi. I will sort this out once and for all.' And John said 'Nononono, nonono. I've got to go. Don't tell Mimi.' That was another refrain [?]. 'My dream's out.' and 'Don't tell Mimi. Don't tell Mimi, don't tell Mimi.' She was fearsome, I can tell you. Fearsome." SOURCE: I am the Eggpod, Episode 100, 00:49:49

What I hate about the above quote the most is how often John, even as a teen, is conceptualized as this free-spirited rebel*; but looking at this, it hits extra hard that he was a child who had virtually no power in this situation the adults around him put him in.

*and writers like Mark Lewisohn are definitely not off the hook here; one of the things I find the most questionable about him as a biographer is that, despite his painfully obvious bias towards John, he still fails to contextualize huge chunks of John's childhood, preferring to defend Mimi at all cost.

Now, it does seem like there's some he-said/she-said going on regarding how much Bobby Dykins and John got along. I don't think John spoke super highly of him, but I also don't recall him expressing any larger issues with his pseudo step-father. Yes, Julia Baird is probably biased towards her own parents, but here's the thing: don't most of our pro-Mimi accounts come from her? Is John an unbiased source on the aunt who raised him?

So why should Julia Baird – whom I consider to be one of the most empathetic characters involved in Beatles history; rarely have I seen someone so interested in truly understanding their own family history, considering the cultural context, tying in her experience as a teacher in special needs and talking to multiple people to gain a fuller picture, even when a lot of it must've been incredibly painful for her – be seen as a less trustworthy source than Mimi – who we know has a history of editing stories to suit her:

I [Hunter Davies, the Beatles' official biographer] sent [the manuscript of the biography] to Mimi and she had hysterics. The chapter about his childhood came back with almost every paragraph heavily crossed out or amended. In the margins she had written beside John's own quotes such things as 'Rubbish', 'Never!' She denied so many of John's own memories of his childhood, especially if they contradicted her memories of the same people or events. She was against his use of bad language, as she maintained John had never sworn when he was little, and didn't want stories about him stealing. SOURCE: The Beatles by Hunter Davies, 2009 Introduction

The only thing Mimi has "going for her" as a source is that she was an adult and not a child when these events transpired. I think that's fair enough, and I do believe there are details to this story Julia Baird and we the public will never know, which made Mimi's decisions seem more justified to her and to her family. But that doesn't stop me from largely condemning most of the decisions made, even though I suspect Julia did at least on the surface agree with them.

[theinfinitedivides]

new Sting LA Times interview (that i read with uh. other means since it's locked behind a paywall yay) is filled with so many gems but i realize i have at most an audience of two or three people who will get it so i shall. shove these gems and their commentary below the cut. to the rest of you scroll on nothing to see here, thank you for your time

these aren't all lined up exactly on the left side and it's driving me fucking crazy but i won't retake these so i'll deal with them. it's a couple inches of pixels who cares

ok. so for all intents and purposes are the Police just on a super fucking long semi-permanent probably eternally permanent hiatus. since he says he didn't leave. alright Gordon

tbh though. have you seen palm trees. like i have family in the Caribbean i go down when i'm able and like. PALM TREES. HELLO. he gets it sorry i won't say anything else

Springsteen/Sting circle of friends having Billy Joel in common is one of the things that keeps me breathing on this bitch of an earth. genuinely. all three of them in a supertour whennnnnnnnnnnnnn

Paul Simon mention......................... Simon and Garfunkel met up recently and began reconciling............................ Sting says he never left the Police........................... i'm connecting the dots. other than that 1. Sting reacknowledging he's a perfectionist (as always) and 2. glowing reviews (as deserved) for Simon's Seven Psalms

read 'i have no idea' was about to say something and then realized they meant. yk. younger musicians you wouldn't necessarily think of being interested in Sting/the Police. me personally i wouldn't try and remake or sample anything bc imposter syndrome would tell me i'm not worthy but the ones that do it and make it work. well. kudos ig

Sting has to be seriously only locked in to his personal life his studio and the British music industry for him not to hear anything about the recent D*ddy charges + apparently only have performed with him on stage once briefly back in the 90s but the way Mr. Combs has to pay Sting 100% of the royalties from I'll Be Missing You reportedly until 2053 bc he didn't get permission when he sampled EBYT the first time around................... 🙂‍↔️. fuck that man forever btw and stream all versions of EBYT especially the Amnesty version with Bruce and the E Street Band

save me Sting and Trudie. Sting and Trudie save me

kind of tangentially related but saw a poll the other day that said is Sting/the Police problematic and then in the comments the OP gave Roxanne/EBYT as an example and other than the way those are literally telling a narrative the amount of people who voted who's Sting................... educate our children. educate them they languish for lack of knowledge pls. that being said and returning back to the paragraph in question yeah i see it. i also see how that could get an entire industry to call you arrogant even though you have a very clear vision sksksksk

[ev1llesb1an]

Documentation of my comphet throughout the years 🧍‍♀️

Okay so I thought it’d be funny to talk abt my most intense male fixation eras as a lesbian (idk i’m just shitposting into the void again) judge me all u want (it is probably needed) but i need ppl to understand the real me 🙏

IT CROPPED HALF HIS FACE OUT but i just realised if you aren��t british ur gonna have no idea who he is anyone (he’s lachlan white from emmerdale) omg this was an ERA everyone around me thought i was going insane (i was) but like they just didn’t get it he slayed so hard at a level that will never be reached (literally) also tom atkinson on sex education was like a full circle moment for me omg but anyways i was like 11-12 here these were literally my formative years this changed me FOREVER don’t judge he slayed omg

THIS okay so u can’t even blame me for this one it’s just correct. yes he’s like walking masculinity stereotype BUT he also had depth and was interesting 😌 the fanfics were SO GOOD this is when i really got into fanfiction and accidentally read smut where someone get pregnant in the hunger games 🧍‍♀️i read this one fic that was like x reader AND THEY STRAIGHT UP BOTH DIED but anyways. i read fanfics abt literally everyone thg character (read abt women and convinced myself i was still straight lmfao) but he was the stand out for me. i recently revisited this era and the fics ppl write on ao3 r INSANE omg like what is wrong with u ppl ( i say this lovingly but also wtf )

OMGOMGOMG BEST ERA OF MY LIFE u actually don’t understand u just had to be there. a solid percentage of my brain even to this day is made up of this man. this is like the stupidest thing ever but when i was like 14 i would just mirror his personality (and tone down the arsehole part obvs) so that i could get more talkative AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED nobody in the whole world will ever understand how much he means to me (i don’t rly understand it myself tbh) and ik ppl literally fuckinf despise him but i will not tolerate the dandy mott slander bc he is literally part of my core identity atp i revisit him every few months just to fully reconnect with my inner being. did anyone read Companion? that shit was crazy also i wrote a fic abt him on wattpad and people actually READ IT so anyways best era of my life it truly never got better i rly hit me peak (i had 0 friends) the few friends i had literally told me i talked abt him too much and it made them like me less 💀

this was arguably my most chill era like yea i was pretty obsessive but with marvel it’s so normalised to be so intense abt everything i kinda just fit right in. there’s too much professor fanfiction r u ppl okay 🧍‍♀️ also more actor fanfiction than i have ever seen for any other man in my LIFE but the capitalism went hard during this era the fluff was so good. arguably my most comforting era? idk i can’t rly explain that one

okay so these two r kinda completely different but also (for obvious reasons) the exact same. gotham was my most openly gay era and for that i will forever be grateful HOWEVER the kristen kringle haters were doing WAY TOO MUCH like she’s already dead why u doing her like that constantly (u will see this sentiment echoed later abt someone else hmmm i wonder who) but yea and then YES i was a paul dano lesbian (literally wasn’t out as lesbian at this point lmao) honestly this is probably the era my friends hated the most they would either awkwardly pretend to agree/care abt the shit i was saying or straight up tell me i was delusional 💀 my friends even now still call it my worst era but i LOVED IT kinda solidified my position at the bottom of the hellish secondary school hierarchy but i still had a good time. the paul dani riddler fanfics r next level tho the way ppl would just post STALKER fics constantly with like zero warnings and it was never labelled as yandere 🧍‍♀️i also got in an argument with a writer on wattpad bc they made the riddler and the oc have like a 6 year age gap and they met when she was 10 and he was like 16 💀 other than that good vibes all round

tbh this era was pretty brief i can’t fully explain what happened here like the vibes were immaculate but also insane WHY IS THERE SM YANDERE FANFIC peter parker is so nice but then in fanfics it’s like 👹 but i rly like spider-man HOWEVER this then led me to my final destination on the comphet journey…

omg were finally at the final stop the peak of comphet ( i came out as lesbian within this era ) arguably not my finest hour bc i swore i would never watch criminal minds bc the number of seasons is WAY TOO MUCH but here we are i watched it bc i read too much fanfic abt this man. i have lots of criticism for the fandom but he in himself is acc a rly good character. this was supposed to be like my ethical era but he’s acc killed like a bunch of ppl and thomas gibson is MESSY (don’t cancel me pls i say that lovingly 🫶) the haley hotchner misogyny nearly killed me off i don’t think i’ve ever been so miserable in a fandom and the fanfics kinda take feminism back a few hundred years but pretty good besides that

anyways there is my brainrot i hope the two (at most) ppl who will read this enjoyed 🫶 LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO im gonna say i posted this in honour of international lesbian day even tho that was several days ago

[paddockbunny]

About the lando rumours, theres also been rumours about him currently taking legal action... which good for him if people spread lies about me with girls i'd be pissed too (seeing as no media outlets have pushed the story out and not a single bit of 'proof' was shared my guess is that those lando rumours are false)

The big issue we as fans need to be wary off, with any driver, is that a bunch of people like spreading fake rumours. Think of: Daniel and Heidi breakup rumours. Charles cheating rumours, Pierres cheating rumours, and a whole lot more. Those people that keep making up these rumours need to find a better thing to do with their time

I mean, I did say they were most likely fake 💁🏼‍♀️ the thing is there isn’t any one on the planet that doesn’t get a little thrill out of gossip. If people claim they don’t, they’re lying.

The difference is and the problem as you said, is when people (usually fans/fangirls) start taking a rumour as truth and fail to be able to see the “sources” aren’t credible. You can hear a rumour and have a little laugh about it without being offended (especially for celebrities!) For example I heard a rumour that my ex got circumcised (through his boys telling my girls and they told me) when he literally had a glorious dick (he had a separate procedure done). It’s a pinch of salt moment that has no impact on him. In my opinion, most rumours about Lando seem to roll off his back. If he is taking legal action then as you said good but I also think the only reason these rumours gain traction is because his fans are too obsessive over him - again, my opinion!

Now specifically, in my post I was joking that if he were to do that to me (choke me and asked if I liked it) I would be turned on by it because I happen to like that. Me. I do. Not anyone else. I didn’t say he did or he didn’t actually do that, I’m claiming it as a hypothetical situation. I am not to blame for other people starting a rumour that gained traction because of a lot of his own fans. Secondly, saying that he needs a lovehoney account is also a joke. Tbh, most guys that age should also invest in some “toys” and I don’t see why that would even be an offensive rumour 😂 good on him for considering making sure the girl is satisfied (from what I have seen there’s little context to that specific rumour either)

I’d like to also add that let’s take another potentially dangerous and/or career damaging rumour. There’s been a hell of a lot of rumours of Paul Mescal ditching his one night stands in parks by running away from them. Can the implication he doesn’t value women be drawn here? Yes. Could that be damaging? Yes. Are people getting angry about it or keeping it light hearted? No and yes! Is he probably aware of the rumour? Most likely.

To me this issue is literally about the “fandom” that has been cultivated around Lando (and other F1 drivers) and fully displays the negative impact of “fangirls” in sport in general

I also wish his fans would realise he is a 24/25 year old who has sex and no doubt masterbates. Hes not some cutesy little innocent boy 😂😂

[torchickentacos]

18 and 25 for May!! (challenge mode: don't say drew for the first one heh)

OOOH thank you! ❤️ Excited for these! From this ask game!

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I actually have a few that I could go with here, but I think the stand-out is May and Ash's mentor/mentee relationship and getting to see how that grows. I'm (slowly) making my way through early AG (and need to watch and write up my post on ep 6 soon) and it's striking how bad at everything May is in early episodes, said with utmost love. Like, she's terrible at this. Worse than Ash was, maybe. Definitely worse than Dawn or pretty much any other starting companion. But what's so great about her shaky start is that it's a great contrast to Ash at that point. AG Ash is generally Ash at his most abrasive and confident from my wide-but-not-thorough experiences with other seasons. He's at something of a peak right now before going on to experience challenges with Paul (which I need to actually make a post on at some point because AG actually set this up really well using May and Drew/Ash and Gary's rivalry as baselines, only to flip the script with Paul). Anyways, that peak makes him a good teacher for May, and she's as receptive a student as I think she can be given everything.

It's really nice to see her grow in ways that can directly be tied to Ash, and he has a few instances of growing from experiences with her. You can see Ash's battle style reflected in May's so clearly that other trainers make note of it several times- she's fast, hard-hitting, unconventional. She fights like Ash (theoretically. We're supposed to think that she does. In practice, AG battles tend to be 'hit it until it dies' half the time but we're supposed to think that deep strategy went into it every time). She genuinely learns from him and we see the effects of it in a meaningful way. I also think that, in part due to the mentor/mentee relationship, I remember Ash actually being really protective over May compared to other companions? I mean, obviously we're not looking at some episodes (cough, the bicker the better, cough) and he always has to be the hero of everyting but I remember a fair few times that he really went out of his way for her. Which was probably just advanceshipping to balance out contest tbh but I'll take it platonically because we LOVE platonic bonds that are just as strong as anything else!

Save for a few... outliers, May and Ash get along incredibly well and I've always enjoyed the mentor/mentee thing! Also, look at their bulbasaurs 🥺

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Okay. Here's the thing. I do not remember my first impression. I think I was three. I'm only a little older than AG itself is, and I've quite literally been with it as far as I can remember. I grew up with it. I remember going as May for halloween one year at around eight, probably. I know that she's always been my favorite, and not much has changed other than the fact that I like her more now.

I've had the great opportunity to be part of online communities that have deepened my love of all of the characters, and May's no exception. I've spoken to so many people, likeminded and otherwise, and it's been so cool to feel in real time as my view of characters deepens as I listen and discuss them with others.

She's still my favorite. She always has been and at this rate always will be. That hasn't changed at all, but I think that I appreciate her and every other character more from my experiences in communities. I also just hold more sentimentality now than I did before- I associate pokeani with friends! It just makes me happier than it used to despite the fact that I should have 'outgrown' it by now. I do not believe in that. Some people on tumblr like to go on about people who like children's media having fandom brainrot or whatever, to which I say 1.) I've also been enjoying the medical-mystery-people-dying show lately and 2.) who fucking cares. Genuinely. We're all on tumblr. It's the devil's sacrament thing. We're all at the devil's sacrament. We're still blogging about tv shows on company/campus/your own time. You left your dignity and superiority at the login page.

anyways lol i like may :) she's fun.

[kalakilo]

ranking nightmare time episodes

under the cut because this is gonna be a long post and it is only for me and no one else<3

i recently finished all the nmt episodes and now that i have no more new hatchetfield content to consume i need to dish out feelings and opinions and i like ranking things i like. this is based on vibes mostly. and my attachment to these characters. i love all of these episodes and the entire cast and nick & matt lang for giving me so much lore to chew on. here is the brutal order of ranking my children

13. daddy

somebody had to be last......first of all i just wanna say jaime lyn beatty is a literal god for performing the double role of sherman and sheila young here, she IS versatility in human form. however young at heart just isn't one of my favourite songs and sherman & frank really aren't as compelling characters to me as some other ones in the hatchetverse and i feel like it doesn't offer that much more lore to me.

i do find that there is a lot to be said about the way sheila holds frank & toy zone hostage with her money and it's yet another case of characters using their money for power and glory in hatchetfield and how those characters eventually become victims of the lords in black and characters that abuse their power. i still had so much to say about this even though it's last on this list and that also speaks to how GOOD this series is okay

12. perky's buds

this one is just absurd????? i truly think perky's buds, jane's a car and hey melissa are the holy trinity of batshit nmt episodes.

this is essentially the most we ever learn about the hatchetmen and their descendants (the metzgers) which makes me a little sad, that lore i am still a bit lost on and honestly the amount of lore (and this being grace chasity's first appearance in canon) is mostly the only reason i prefer this one over daddy. also the fact that joey richter plays a monotone talking bird + emma finally gets her pot farm (even if it all burns down in the end</3). this one is just a little silly to me and the song isn't my favourite either, it's a taste of characters (like the metzgers and ziggs) and lore about the history of hatchetfield and i just wish we knew more

11. forever and always

this is my official apology to paulkins nation for having this ep so low lmao sorry guys

if i'm being honest my favourite part about this episode is how it weaves together with time bastard. idk if i'm allowed to say this out loud because i fear i'll get crucified by starkid / hatchetverse people but honestly i'm not *that* invested in paulkins as a ship.......i love that in this iteration they are just so fucked up and weird, i remember in the hotel scene thinking there is NO way paul wouldn't kill emdroid here. she is an EVIL ANDROID!!!! and then the reveal that he's actually paul 23 made so much sense. anyway i like this one and i REALLY like the song!! it's so fun having such a heartfelt sounding song at the top of the episode and then it actually being so fucked up by the end.

10. hey, melissa!

tbh i wanted this one to be higher because it was SO absurd in a way perky's buds could never even fucking dream of, i truly want to know what possessed nick & matt lang to think that the side character who has maybe four lines in tgwdlm likes dehumanizing men and turning them into her pets???

all this being said i think hey melissa gets a bit of a bad rep in the fandom. i actually think it's a very interesting episode, i will never ever stop thinking about WHY paul makes the decision at the end as he does? i think there is so much to dissect there and in general about paul as a character in this episode. we really don't learn a lot about paul in tgwdlm and in contrast, in the timeline of hey melissa we hear an entire story from his childhood that clearly impacted him a lot? and it's something he thinks about to this day!

i also really wonder the question of if he hadn't told that story, would melissa still have him held captive?? obviously melissa is not a very reliable character in the early part of the story, but paul's memory clearly affects her a lot? does she actually lose faith in him in that moment? and that's why she decides to keep him as her dog (of course he doesn't end up being one lmao) ? i just think there's a lot to be said about this episode! still, i am def forever haunted by this and can't never hear it the same when humans say bark or meow. also what do you MEAN you'd have to NEUTER him to let him OUTSIDE

9. the hatchetfield ape-man

this one has such a special place in my heart for whatever reason<33 full disclosure angela as lucy stockworth is also maybe 80% of why this is higher than the others so far, it's just so fun seeing her play a character who seemingly is just so innocent and sweet and has such a big heart but then who's also very aware of what she's doing and schemes a bit herself. i can't believe this is the only iteration of lucy stockworth what is she doing in the other timelines. i want to know.

also idk why but the reveal that ted was just playing konk fucked me UP!!! like that was insane. also as the first episode that has the cast and nick & matt still figuring everything out it's just very sweet and heartwarming which you cant say about a lot of hatchetfield content<33 honestly no real explanations for this one i just love angela giarratana and also jamie lyn beatty for singing HERE'S A LITTLE STORY BOUT THE HATCHETFIELD APE-MAN

8. watcher world

the scenes with the sniggles???? genuinely horrifying. the idea in itself that someone is always watching is so creepy, i think blinky is maybe actually the most terrifying lord in black. at least he manages to have the most terrifying nmt episode. the fact that he somehow makes a father and daughter almost kill each other and wants to watch for his own enjoyment like........this one actually haunts me sm!!!! wtf is that scene with alice and the blinky mascot!!!!!!

it's also one of the only hatchetfield stories with a genuinely happy ending with basically no catch. and after bill and alice's tragic fate in tgwdlm i'm so glad they also get a good ending<33 it's also just so lovely to see them actually bond in this story and we learn a lot about alice !

this one also has so many songs and i am of the opinion that snoozle town is genuinely heartbreaking and the way angela can just do that while singing the most insane shit like "and we'll have two snoozles that can snozzle / our own bayou where the boogle boggles flow with goo" is beautiful

7. jane's a car

GOT MY FOOT ON THE GAS ok im SORRY im sorry its just. funny

tbh i am a little sad this gets reduced to the car sex episode, i think it does have a lot to say about navigating grief when you feel like you've finally been able to move on and live life again and suddenly the person you lost is back in your life. and they're also a car.

not to mention the ending???? is fucking terrifying????? poor becky quite literally dies and the "mommy's home" paired with the way the script narrates the moment as "becky sits down and jane smiles". like that's. cunt

anyway just to conclude i really wish more people understood the more compelling parts of this episode and not just tom fucks a car!!!! dont overstimulate the cupholders!!!!!

6. honey queen

i was GAGGED seeing the editing quality step up from nmt 1. this is truly the cuntiest nmt episode because we pit two beautiful queens each other and BOTH just fucking perish lmao (that editing step up also contributed so much to the final scene being so terrifying. it's an incredible introduction to nibbly and the scene being followed by the nibbly ditty is just SO gooooooooooooooood)

something i did already mention when talking about daddy is the continued sort of "motif" that rich people either still always lose to the lords in black or (something that i didn't bring up last time) they themselves are corrupt and have essentially sold their souls to the lords in black. like gerald & linda lie, cheat, steal and kill their way to win this pageant and yet. they still both die.

also also!!!!! i love that we learn how linda ended up so incredibly cold and uncaring. like it's not just from being rich as fuck, it's also trauma from being mocked, ridiculed and ignored throughout your entire childhood. i think roman murray might genuinely be the most evil character in hatchetfield and i loooove how jon matteson plays him. king shit

i also just love. gerald and linda. they are so fucked up and so perfect for each other. the way gerald helps her so much to sabotage the pageant and is her BIGGEST cheerleader, knows that deep down linda does not like her father and is afraid of him and literally gets himself killed essentially in support of her.............i love them.

5. time bastard

i'm gonna be honest i wasn't ted's biggest fan after tgwdlm so i didn't reaaaally understand the love i saw for him in the fandom, but after time bastard i really got it. time bastard actually fleshes out ted as a character and even though by the end he kind of is still a dumbass we do still learn a lot about him!! tinky and his little box are both objectively terrifying and being stuck in his box honestly sounds like a worse fate than hell. i feel bad for ted ngl

the reveal that homeless guy is ted spankoffski is also so insane. like the fact that these two exist in the same timeline a lot of the time is so interesting and also brings up the question of did the homeless guy ever try to go into ccrp and try to take his job back??? or did he just resign to his fate. we dont know. speaking of ccrp also learning more lore about what a fucked company it actually is super interesting, especially knowing they too tried to harness tinky's power.

my one and only gripe with time bastard is that it gets a little too complicated for me at some points but that's more a me problem, it just feels slightly hard to wrap my head around it while also connecting it to the events of forever and always. i do love complicated lore but this one fucks w my head sometimes

4. abstinence camp

as a grace chasity girl it is illegal for me to have this episode any lower than in the top 5. these top 4 episodes truly expose my favourite hatchetfield characters so bad lmao

god abstinence camp is SO funny!! the writing here is hilarious, just grace's first appearance is so silly and angela does such a stellar job. i love her in this role so much. along w her i'm so glad this story introduced us to boy jerry and girl jeri who i am begging to see again in another timeline like i need to see their backstory!! how did they find each other the first time and how did they end up abandoning their faith to have a child!!!! jon matteson and kim whalen are so good in these roles

we also cant talk about abstinence camp without mentioning that virginity rocks is objectively the BEST nmt song. jon and kim are serving absolute vocals it is such a banger and the fact that they paired it with axe man is so fucking sick

3. killer track

killer track is the only nmt episode so far that's made me actually cry. god. he was watching the fireworks.

to be completely honest i. don't even know what to comment on for this episode i'm just stuck in never ending holloweane brainrot. god he's so in love with her. AND SO AM I!!! miss holloway is such a compelling character and this nmt episode especially teases a lot about how she ended up the way she is. we also learn about her past and just like everything about her is so interesting to me, i love her protective nature but also that she's so calculated in her every move. and somehow always knows exactly what to do. also i love duke keane i can't leave him out of this

the concept of this episode is also just so viscerally horrifying, it's essentially something i used to have nightmares about like something scary that's ringing so loudly in your ears that nothing can block it out so this genuinely hit like a sort of irrational fear that i pretty much used to have as a kid. it's not so bad that i can't watch but still hit me in a sort of way that reminded me of my own fears. maybe that's also why i love miss holloway she would save me if i ever ended up in that situation

2. the witch in the web

i feel like witch in the web is very underrated?? i don't see a lot of people talking about it compared to some other episodes which i think is such a shame because it's so incredible

the scene where hannah thinks she's seeing lex and then it turns out to be the witch was SO spooky watching it the first time, seeing angela play out this sort of over-excited version of lex and it slooowly becoming more and more sinister is so insane especially with her pulling out the dolls of the lords in black. it's such a great scene!!

also the lore we learn about the witchwood forest and what originally happened to willabella muckwab and how the black book came to be is so integral to the entire lore, and i love the way it's told with hannah & miss holloway sort of walking in this old dreamlike world. plus the confrontation with wilbur cross in the starlight GOD this episode has so many cool moments and it can do so much because they're in nightmare time and not in actual hatchetfield most of the time. i do, however, despise the idea that lex foster is serving what FOUR years in prison in this timeline. dont do that to my girl

1. yellow jacket

the scene where hannah & ethan come home and lex is waiting for them, so disappointed in herself not only for forgetting hannah's birthday but also for failing the test, angry at ethan for not reminding her about hannah's birthday.....that scene is probably my favourite moment in the entire hatchetverse? angela just fucking blew me away she plays it so well and not to mention joey richter ethan just. kills

yellow jacket just had to be first here, i'm so invested in these relationships and their past and how it led them to where they are here, the way this episode portrays how hard it is for lex and ethan because they're just trying to survive on what little resources they have while lex is also taking care of hannah: she cares for her so much that she's wanted to move them out of their mom's trailer. of course hannah would feel responsible and maybe guilty because lex has so much to worry about, of course hannah wants to take the first opportunity she gets to make them copious amounts of money, of course she's willing to put herself in terrible danger, all to help lex.

i love seeing this perspective on hannah, especially since in black friday we mostly see lex (and ethan) protecting and saving hannah when she's in trouble (although she definitely can fend for herself a little!). in yellow jacket we really see how responsible hannah must feel. when her and ethan see the ipad as a possible prize, her first thought isn't all the fun things you could use the ipad for, it's how much money they could get selling it. she doesn't understand the sheer danger of fighting pokey, which makes sense since she doesn't know that that is quite literally an eldritch god, she just wants to support lex.

this episode is just incredible in its every element: the portrayal of the characters, the story and the way it talks about the influence that money has on people's lives. not to mention watching literal children fight each other for entertainment. it's brutal but the core relationships are what eventually survive despite the circumstances

well. this was long

[kmze]

Thoughts on 1x12-1x22! Tbh I'm happy to be done with S1 while I liked the nostalgia, I have some gripes with this season and IMO it's really not one my favorites in the overall series (I know that's controversial). The mythology was great and I loved the magical macguffins but it's just so dramatic all the time I felt. My memory of this season is terrible and I had forgotten a lot of movement in the plot so sometimes I felt like I was watching something new. S2 will probably be easier for me to get through. More under the cut and remember these are all my opinion and I am not here to argue about them :)

Yeah I completely forgot it was Anna who turned Logan and her dumb henchmen. Will miss her, she knew how to use minions to not get her hands dirty.

I really felt bad for Jeremy. His relationship with Anna was cute but tragic and then he has to deal with his sister lying to him all the time. Then giving him sad eyes to please forgive her she was just protecting him *rolls eyes* he should have gotten the chance to kill Damon at least once.

I love how uneasy Uncle John makes Damon. He's the only one who is unmoved by his attempts at charm and you can see how much it annoys Damon that he knows EVERYTHING. I also appreciate that John doesn't care that everyone hates him. Just a man on a mission.

It was jarring how long Bonnie was gone but could not help but clap at how she was like 'fuck y'all' when she returned after what happened to Grams. I did not remember this and was very pleased with the development! I also forgot the awful wig they gave her when she returned (thankfully it looked much better in the finale) Kat should have sued.

I swear there was a founding-family-mystic-falls-event every single episode in the second half of the season and that plot device has really started to run it's course for me. Unfortunately I've got at least two more seasons of it I think *deep sigh*

My god do I hate Matt and Caroline, I hate the way they frame EVERYTHING with Caroline having to be ‘notElena’ with him. I especially got annoyed in 1x14 when she had to keep giving him “speeches” to apologize for BEING HERSELF. Especially apologizing for the hand holding like Matt doesn’t constantly make her feel inadequate next to Elena. Matt telling Caroline he just needed to be alone after they found Vicki's body and then when he sees Elena he hugs her is just cruel.

The overall treatment of Caroline this season was honestly the worst part for me. The fact that they have her say "I'm a terrible awful person but I'm working on it" ?? In what context is Caroline an awful person especially on a show where characters are literal serial killers. This is exactly where the "Caroline was annoying in S1 but got better" nonsense comes from. When really she was just a 17 year old girl with a type A personality. This is probably the biggest reason I struggled watching this season. It just all felt very deliberate in the way it was written, to make the viewer think Caroline is annoying.

Stefan was better in the second half of the season but it was so LOL that the moment he started being a little fun Elena was like "what's wrong with you" HA! Of course something was wrong and kudos to Paul because the Stefan-blood-addiction storyline was really well done . I always liked how it was played as an addiction (and even better in S6 when they confirm it was a genetic thing with Lily as addiction is usually genetic). I have seen most of those scenes tons of times but watching them in succession again made me appreciate it again.

I truly don't like Damon :-/ his only purpose for me currently is he makes me laugh. I can't stand how he acts like he knows everything and is orchestrating everything when really he's kind of a moron and extremely impulsive. Genuinely what was his plan killing John and throwing him off the roof at the 8th straight founding family function? I wish Bonnie had kept her energy from 1x22 and killed him.

This is probably just bias and age but I don't care about the triangle at all. It's just kinda there doesn't move me. Stefan and Elena are very serious all the time (there is so much hugging). Then there's Damon and Elena who just eye-thing each other in every scene they share. Though I will say her wishy-washiness made it easier to believe she actually kissed Damon.

Katherine's reveal is still one of the best moments of the series (best part of season by far!) It was so funny watching the scene too knowing it's Katherine and how she just looked all moody as Damon gives her all the details she needs with zero strain on her part. Then when she says to Aunt Jenna "I don't want to talk about it" like a moody teenager LMFAO. I love her.

Lines that made me laugh:

Damon: Let's not kill anyone tonight. Your words. Just pointing that out. (ah the good ol' days when I enjoyed the Damon/Alaric friendship)

Stefan: You mean we did all that dancing for nothing (I know I keep saying he’s too serious but he is funny in a self-deprecating way)

[muse-stellium]

|| Okay okay okay okay okaaaaay.

I'm still kinda processing things so this might be a lil all over the place and not to mention hella long I'm sorry the brain went brrrrr, but T8 thoughts tiiime. Absolute T8 spoilers below the cut

✦ First & foremost I do want to say that overall? I liked it. I wasn't amazed by it? It felt very reminiscent of things I've seen before, a lot of familiar tropes and all that, but I do think I might grow to love it someday. Do I think there are things they could've done better? Absolutely. But it also could've been a lot worse. Most of my greatest concerns didn't come into fruition, so even though I do think everything felt a bit rushed, I'll consider it a win lmao.

✦ Tbh I don't have a lot to say about everything that happened between Jin & Kazuya - which is wild bc y'know main plot - but like.. It feels too familiar. Too many familiar tropes to capture my interest I think? By the second chapter I was already going "this reminds me of this, this reminds me of that" every few minutes and just nothing felt.. unique with those two this time. I will say Jin's Angel form looks neat, and it does make me wonder about the Kazama clan's possible connection to Angel. But that's about all I have to say there unfortunately 🥲

✦ I both love and am kinda confused by all the fighters working together thing tbh. If only bc it feels a little disjointed for most of them to barely say a word to each other throughout all of the other previous games, and then to just suddenly come work together, to help protect Jin, who started this war in the first place 😬. – But at the same time that logic aside, that's also somewhat what I was hoping for?? Like I've been saying I wanted T8 to be some avengers assemble like scenario for years now lol. I just think there could've been more interaction prior that would've made it make more sense?

✦ In that line of thought, I am not a big fan of how the Jin vs Kazuya teams were divided for kinda the same reason? Mainly Marshall. Best buds with Paul all these years, they're literally the bromance of Tekken and all of a sudden he joins the bad guys all bc "yOu dIdn'T PaY mE" – I think it would've been a lot better if we could've actually seen how Nina recruited them? While I love her, she absolutely the Queen tm, she is.. a master manipulator. She absolutely manipulated them somehow into thinking joining G-corp was a good idea. Like maybe Marshall's financial woes run deeper than we know, and she used that to her advantage. Maybe she convinced Azucena with the thought they could protect her family and her farm, or maybe it was a Josie situation where Josie believed the Mishima Zaibatsu was a force of good, maybe Nina got Azucena to believe that about G-Corp with how she seemed to be up for fighting for world peace. But by not showing the reasoning behind it.. it just feels wrong and puts a lot of those characters in a weird light to me.

✦ ^ The same goes for my girl Nina this time around. 😔 We've been sitting here debating on why she would ever possibly join Kazuya with their history and her seemingly being such close allies w Jin before. It's completely out of character for her, there must be a reason, we've been wondering what the reason is and finally... we're not given one. It's just like "Oh, you work for him now." No comments made about it whatsoever. And there's some pro's to that? Namely yes it maintains her enigmatic nature, and it leaves a lot of possibilities open. But I think there's more cons to it than anything, bc this is absolutely just going to fuel the surface stereotype within the fandom that Nina's just a cold hearted killer who only cares about money. This game when taken at surface value (which I've noticed outside of on here, a large majority of fans seem to take things at), kinda gave her the appearance of a character with no depth whatsoever and that... tbh that scares me bc the treatment of her character within the fandom is already so bad...? And then to add the possibility that she may work with Reina of all people next time around just perpetuates that even further. Especially when you remember that this may be the first Tekken game for a lot of fans who came from Bloodline.

✦ On the other hand however, I will say I'm not as upset about what T8 did w Nina's character than what Bloodline did w her. I was hella concerned we'd be dealing w another bloodline scenario of her just being tossed aside, and in a way we definitely are? But at the very least, this time when I try to look from Nina's perspective, I can see multiple possibilities for why she just left / worked w Kazuya at all that would be within her character. W what happened in Bloodline I couldn't do that no matter how hard I tried. But here it's mainly just that none of them were addressed that's the problem. It's left too open, and it doesn't paint a good picture. — W the comment Lee & Lars made about "the G-Corp assassin", and how casual she seems to be w Lee in her character ep + intros, there's still the hella slim subtle possibility Nina could be secretly working for both sides. She did what she was tasked to do, and got out once her job was done. - There's the possibility that w how her T8 bio again brings up her doubts about hurting people for the first time since T2, maybe something finally clicked there mid battle. Maybe it was the realization that "oh joy there's another devil in the mix" and it'd be better w this new information to watch how this plays out. - Hell if we dare to hella hope about things lol, maybe w all the dbd easter eggs thrown out there this time and seeing her featured on a ship for the first since then, maybe she dipped to set up the plot of dbd 2 - It could be anything! And that's the problem.

✦ Overall bc of all of this, while I do think it's neat, and I do like a lot of it, it feels very... rushed. It really reminds me of when you go to reread old threads or your past writing, and in hindsight you realize "Wow I really rushed this part, I forgot to include this this & this bc I was too excited about what was to come next", which is kinda disappointing bc this was supposed to be this huge pivotal moment in the storyline. But then that also makes me wonder y'know.. what's to come next that they're possibly so excited to get to? 😶

Anyway! Hella hella long story short, I liked it. I'm not in love w it. I think it could've been done better. I might grow to love it later on, and I do have more thoughts on it like on what happened to Claudio & Zafina, Reina is a whole can of worms that I don't want to get into rn lmaooo, but this is already so long BYEEEEE