#puts it in the barriers but the car is fine?? red flag still out for ages while he gets back when there’s nothing to clear???

[slythereen]

how in god’s name is this man so fucking lucky all the time …

[sebscore]

Hi!

I wanted to request for fem!driver. Like I can’t stop thinking about two situations.

One being if she started dating a guy or a girl. Not a driver or anything like that. I would feel like everybody would either be protective or make fun of her. I can also see them stalking her date.

The other one being what if she got into a crash. How would she react? Or how would everyone else react?

(I just wanted to say that I love this series you have going on with fem!driver. It’s so fun and cute!)

LET IT SPIRAL

pairings: sebastian vettel x driver!reader / george russell x driver!reader / carlos sainz x lando norris / (indirect) lewis hamilton x driver!reader

warnings: car crashing. swearing. medics. mentions of the hospital. reader passes out for a moment.

author's note: thank you so much for the request, I had fun writing this one and I hope you enjoy reading it! 🙂 I’ll get to the reader having a significant other another time! ❣️

• • • • • • •

''Y/N? Are you okay?'' Her engineer sounded over the radio, surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Up until moments before, the qualifying had been going fine. Yes, there was a lot of rain and there wasn't much grip, but there hadn't been an incident yet and it was still manageable. She had made it into Q2 and she seemed to be on her way to make it into the next sector.

She knew she was taking a risk by going into the corner that fast, but those kinds of risks had paid off in the past, so she didn't think twice about it. Only this time her car started spinning and she crashed into the barrier at quite a high speed.

The lack of response made her team worried, her usual snarky comment not coming through the radio.

''Hello? Y/N? Can you confirm if you're okay?'' Her engineer tried again to get some sort of response out of her, not immediately wanting to think about the worst case scenario. However, nothing came through the radio again from the female driver.

Meanwhile, the two remaining cars behind her were informed to slow down and watch out for debris on the track. Sebastian and George right away reduced their speed, but reacted concerned as to why they needed to do that.

''Red flag, Sebastian. Y/L into the barriers. Lots of debris.''

Sebastian wasn't too pleased to hear about Y\N's crash as earlier he had complained to the directors that they shouldn't be allowed to drive in these rainy weather conditions. ''I told them to red flag the whole thing! There's too much fucking water! I fucking told them!''

As soon as the German saw her car, he pulled up next to her and put his car in neutral, ready to jump out if he needed to. Sebastian held his thumb up in the air, hoping she would see it and would hold hers up. His heart dropped to his stomach when she didn't do that.

He didn't waste one second and jumped out of his cockpit, running up to her and crouching down. ''Y/N! Can you hear me? Are you hurt?'' He pulled up the visors of her helmet and saw her eyes were closed. Upon seeing that, he grabbed her arm and felt her pulse, relief going through his body as her heart was still beating.

George reacted more reserved and calm than Sebastian, but still voiced his concerns for his friend. ''Is she okay? What happened?''

''She lost control of the rear, there hasn't been a response from her.''

He fell quiet when told that she wasn't responding to her engineers, it wasn't in her character to just go radio silent. ''That's not good.''

Turning into the corner, he saw Sebastian by Y/N's car and just like the older driver did earlier, he pulled up next to them and swiftly got out of his car, seeing if he could be of any help to them.

''Is she alright?'' George asked Sebastian, crouching down on the other side of her car. Sebastian shook his head. ''I think she passed out, we should get her helmet off that way she gets more air.'' He told the younger one.

They both stood up and carefully tried to move the helmet from her head, not wanting to hurt her. The two men successfully got the helmet off and Sebastian cupped her cheeks, lightly shaking her. ''Wake up, Y/N dear.''

Her eyes slowly opened, blinking due to the sudden light causing pain to her eyes. Y/N groaned, her muscles hurting immensely and also still not realizing what just happened.

''You okay, darling?''

George's question remained unanswered as the arriving marshals and medics pushed them out of the way, getting the driver out of her car and quickly getting her into the vehicle that would bring her to the hospital for a check-up.

They watched as the car drove away with their colleague in it, Sebastian holding onto her helmet. George patted his fellow driver's shoulder.

''Come on, let's go, Seb.''

In the Mercedes garage, Lewis had already made his way out of the car and was discussing with Bono when he saw the spinning car crashing into the barriers on the small monitoring screen.

''Oh, that doesn't look too good.'' He noted, his face in a frown as the red flag was called out. ''Wait, is that Y/N?'' The Brit took a closer look at the car and realized it was Y/N who had fallen victim to the rain.

Angela joined him, growing concerned for the younger woman she had grown very fond of in the last years. ''Why isn't she getting out?'' She mumbled to herself, confused as to why there was no movement coming from the car.

''Oh, Seb's getting out of the car.'' Lewis' focus was solely on the scene in front of him, his heart rate raising as now both Sebastian and George were by her car, yet there was no movement coming from Y/N's side.

''Why aren't there any fucking medics helping her?'' Lewis cursed to no one in particular, frustrated that the two drivers had to help the woman on their own.

Bono calmed him down. ''Look, they've arrived, Lewis.''

''I hope she's okay.''

On the paddock, several drivers who were giving post-qualification interviews watched with worry as the crash replayed over and over again on the big screen.

Carlos stopped talking in the middle of giving the reporter an answer, more concerned with seeing for himself if Y/N was okay or not. Lando appeared next to him, his eyes wide and attentively looking at the screen. ''That's Y/N, right?''

The older one nodded. ''Yes, that's gonna leave some bruises later.''

''I hope her nails are fine, remember the last time when Daniel crashed into her? For weeks she would walk up to him and shove her newly done nails into his face.'' Lando recalled, trying to lighten up the tension.

Carlos chuckled, remembering all the times Y/N would proudly show off her nails to Daniel and the rest of the drivers. ''Yeah, I think Daniel will think twice before taking her out on track again.''

''Look, George and Seb are with her.'' The McLaren driver pointed out, grabbing Carlos' attention. ''What are they doing?''

''I think they're trying to take her helmet off.'' Lando answered, narrowing his eyes as he tried to get a better look at what was happening.

Sighs of relief came from them as the marshals and medics helped Y/N out of her car, and they could see she was conscious and didn't have any significant injuries. They resumed their interviews and made their way back to their own respective hospitalities.

As soon as Sebastian was informed that Y/N was back from her check-up at the hospital, he made his way to her garage, knowing the young lady well enough that she would want to check out the damages that had been done to her car.

''Hi, little one.''

Sebastian's voice made her turn her head in his direction, greeting him with a soft smile. ''Hey, Seb.''

He walked towards her and pulled her helmet from behind him, handing it over to her. ''I thought you might want this back.'' She laughed as he gave her the helmet, only now realizing she had been missing it. ''Thank you, I appreciate it.''

''How are you?''

Y/N shrugged her shoulders. ''My wrist hurts a bit, but it's just bruising. Besides that, I'm fine.'' She showed off the supporting tape the doctors had put around her wrist.

''I'm happy to hear that, I was scared you might had a concussion or something.'' The German told her, recalling finding her passed out form in the car. ''I'll leave you then, I'll see you tomorrow.'' Sebastian was about to take off when she stopped him.

''Hey, Seb,'' he turned around upon the call of his name, ''I already talked to George, but thank you for helping me out there, I don't remember it, but it was very nice of you and you could have just kept driving, but you didn't.'' She thanked him, taking a few steps closer to him.

He brushed it off. ''You don't have to thank me, Y/N. It was the right thing to do and I wanted to make sure you were okay.''

''You know, I don't wanna get sentimental and all, cause that's embarrassing,'' he laughed at her words, ''but I really appreciate that you've been kinda taking care of me ever since I joined you guys, even before when I was still karting, and you didn't have to do that, but you took it upon yourself to guide me and stand up for me, and I- well, I'm just really thankful, that's all.''

The sincerity in her voice almost brought tears to his eyes. This sport hasn't always been kind to people who fell out of the usual norms of F1, especially to women. So, when he heard about a young girl that had been winning against boys older than her who had more resources, he took it upon himself to reach out to her and her family. Sebastian saw potential in her and offered to mentor her, and even financially help her out. Now, many years later, she's racing alongside him and many other top drivers.

He remained silent, but pulled the girl in a heartwarming embrace. Y/N was surprised, but nevertheless put her arms around his shoulder while his were around her waist.

''Don't make me cry, I just put on mascara and it's not waterproof.''

[foul-milk]

i didnt get the chance to watch the race today BUT WHAT HAPPENED 💀⁉️ AM I SEEING A GEORGE 17TH????? 😭😭😭😭 HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?? HE STARTED P3?? AND FERRARI SCREWED CHARLES OVER AGAIN SOMEHOW? AND WHY IS LOGAN IN THE DECK CHAIR

so many questions 😭😭😭😭 ESPECIALLY FOR MERCEDES WHAT WERE THEY DOING

honestly the only good thing i saw during this race was that clip of the mercedes engineer covering george during the rain 😔😔😔 sending prayers for my man he came back from the summer looking so fine for this to happen

hi! sorry for the late reply. i had to do my uni enrollment after the race so i was busy with that.

So much happened during this race and all of it was bad news for George.😭 He had a good start and was p3 for awhile until Fernando overtook him and Alex in one move and then he was p4 when it started to rain heavily. Most teams called their drivers into the box to switch to inters, but merc didn't for some reason💀 they left both George and Lewis out for like 5 more laps, slipping around in the water and being overtaken by everything. They called them in later when they (finally) realised their mistakes and that's when George dropped down to p18 (i think). He drove around on the inters for awhile but it was too late tbh. Then they put him on hards for like 50 laps💀💀💀 absolutely tragic choice. Most of the cars he over took because they boxed, but he did some actual overtakes as well, which speaks for his talent because he was the only one on hards and it looked dire tbh. Then it started to rain again, there was a safety car because Logan hit the barriers (since then we found out it wasn't his fault because he lost hydraulic pressure) and that's when they called him in for inters again. They did a double stack and that went as you would expect it to go after all this💀 Then they red flagged the session💀💀💀 for so fucking long💀 Finally the race gets restarted (rolling start) and George overtakes Norris, but he tries to take back his position and hits George in the process. George got a puncture and had to go into the box. He said on the radio that he was out, but they sent him out again anyways and he basically crawled in last with like a 20 second delay between him and the rest of the grid.

Ferrari i wasn't paying a lot of attention to tbh, but i remember they fucked up like every pit stop they did. also sainz was begging on the radio for charles to let him by💀 i guess bcs they had different tyre strategies but it was still so funny to hear.

Logan looked DEVASTATED after his crash. He was sitting in the lawn chair for the whole rest of the race. I felt really really bad for him.

All in all, absolutely abysmal race. You're lucky you didn't watch it.

[boxboxblog]

20204 Interlagos Q1

Alright, it's too early for this. Let's go.

Looks like we will have a wet quali regardless of the switch. Not as wet as yesterday, but definitely still more than enough to shake things up. Remember with a wet race the way racers drive is completely different. It effects mechanics, it effects mentality, and it effects the style/lines the drivers choose.

Most of the teams are already lined up in the pit lane to go, definitely just trying to get a lap in I assume. Green light! They head out.

It looks like most teams are on full wets right now. A few start their flying laps, including Norris. His flying seems to be okay, at sets a time on top of the page ahead of Albon. The Ferrari's are out as well, so lets see where they land, as is Russell. Leclerc did have to back off due to Zhou causing a yellow flag in sector 3, but was still able to put it up to 4th. He gets shoved down very quickly, as Perez and Verstappen jump up to 4th and 5th, Sainz jumps to 6th, and Tsunoda jumps to 3rd.

The spray behind the cars is insane. The turns are almost not visible at all from the track, so drivers are kind of going into things a little blind. This is probably why multiple have gone off already.

Alonso jumps up to 2nd, he is very strong in the wet so this is not much of a surprise. Colapinto also jumps up high, landing in 6th. Of the big boys, Leclerc is the only one who has not set a pure time (due to the yellow flag) and is getting dangerously close to the drop.

Tsunoda seems to be thriving in the wet, as he goes up to the top of the board. Ocon does as well, in a nice 2nd spot. Leclerc sets finally a solid lap and jumps up to 2nd past Ocon. The Aston Martin's also seem to like this weather, as they are both up in the top ten by a decent margin. Stroll is also quite solid in the wet, so I am not very surprised by this, and is right behind his teammate.

Oh, Colapinto into the barriers! He's fine, but that red flags quali right now. Time is stopped at 8:50 so they will have enough time to head back out, but as of right now Albon, Zhou, Russell, Bottas, and Hamilton are in the drop. No doubt Mercedes will respond after the red flag is over, as will Albon most likely. Colapinto as of right now, depending on how the rest of the grid does after, will start in 15th.

Most drivers are lining up and sticking with full wets, as the rain has started to come down a bit harder. Anyone on inters will need to. change. This heavier rain could shake up the session even more, because it is wetter than what their first laps looked like.

Car go out, almost everyone out at once yet again. We'll see how this goes. They will need to assess again, and cannot trust what they learned on their first couple laps. Drivers will also need to be careful because any damage to their car could take them out of the race entirely.

Piastri starts his flying lap, and he is currently in 13th. He seems to be improving on his previous lap. Hamilton also on a flying, and he will really want to jump out of the drop, no doubt he will bar an incident. Pit walls are reporting that track is getting grippier and drivers are improving their laps, which means everyone will be trying. Piastri jumps to fifth and Hamilton only jumps to 14th. Albon, finished his lap, and goes to 7th. It really seems like Mercedes is struggling in theses conditions, which is strange for two drivers so solid in the wet.

Russell, Gasly, and Hulkenberg on flyings. Out of them only Russell is in the drop. Russell drops Hamilton into the five as he improves to 2nd. A bunch of drivers jump up, and it pushes Lawson and Bearman into the drop, and Norris is pretty close to being at risk. Verstappen's time gets deleted and push down to 12th, so he could also get pretty close to the drop.

Hamilton, who is in drop, on flying lap trying to knock Hulkenberg out. Bottas improves out of drop, and Norris is at risk. He is in flying but not doing well, and it is a Hamilton vs Norris. Hamilton sends Norris into a drop. In order for Norris to get out of drop he needs to have a killer sector two and three. Lawson improves and knocks Norris into 15th, who had improved slightly. Norris barely scrapes in as he goes faster than Hamilton. Verstappen jumps to 1st. He thrives in the wet usually, so not unexpected.

Drivers Knocked Out:

16. Hamilton

17. Bearman

18. Colapinto

19. Hulkenberg

20. Zhou

Alright, interesting session, let's see how Q2 goes.

Cheers,

-B

[f1]

MUST-SEE: Sargeant crashes out in Zandvoort qualifying after making his first Q3 appearance in F1

Logan Sargeant’s fine qualifying efforts in Zandvoort were undone by a huge crash into the barrier in Q3, bringing out the first red flags of the session, and leaving his Williams team with a hefty repair job ahead of tomorrow’s race. Sargeant was making the first Q3 appearance of his rookie season after sneaking through to the final part of the session ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. However, his efforts were ruined by a spin into the barrier at Turn 2. READ MORE: Verstappen tops dramatic wet-dry Zandvoort qualifying to extend run of Dutch GP poles The American had just set the second fastest time behind his team mate, Alex Albon, and had set off round the track once more. However, he seemed to put his slick tyres on the damp part of the track, which sent the American spinning through the gravel and into the barrier. Thankfully Sargeant confirmed that he was okay and even gave a thumbs up to the fans. But the rookie couldn’t hide his frustration after he made it back to the paddock. “It’s disappointing, obviously you never want to leave the team with a damaged car, and one that’s pretty damaged as well, so that’s the disappointing part,” said Sargeant. “Plenty of positives going through quali though. I think Q1 was good, when it was all on the line at the end of Q2, I was able to put a lap in to transfer to Q3. “We’ve been good all weekend, I felt really good in the dry yesterday, but I touched the white line, which must have been wet, but there was no saving it. So I’m sorry to the team.” AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix Asked if he still had confidence for Sunday’s race, however, Sargeant replied: “For sure. My long run pace yesterday was really good, happy with where the car’s at. Obviously need to rebuild it overnight so hopefully we can get as close as where we’ve had it the last two days. Reset and go again.” Meanwhile, Sargeant’s team mate Alex Albon gave Williams something to cheer about, as he claimed an equal career-best P4, on a track that wasn’t expected to suit the Williams FW45. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[theringers]

watch me burn - pierre gasly

illicit affairs, part seven

summary: “oh baby, I've been thinking about it, you know that I've been dreaming about it” watch me burn / michele morrone

a/n: hi:) still a few more parts to go but i went a few chapters without smut and this was needed so enjoy:) also if u listen to the title song while u read its a whole new experience lmfao

warnings: 18+, nsfw, smut, semi public sex

2 months ago, to the day

Your eyes met his piercing blue eyes in the garage once again. It had been a month since you slept with Pierre and you haven’t stopped thinking about it. The way he stared at you as he fucked you was the exact same way he was glaring at you across the paddock. Needy and desperate.

You shook yourself back into focus and listened as Max’s strategist reiterated today’s race strategy but you couldn’t help daydreaming about what that man could do in bed.

You drowned out the conversation about tyres and looked over to Alpha Tauri at the perfect time. Pierre had his bottom lip between his teeth while he examined his car. He ran his hand slowly over the chassis seductively like he knew you were watching. His fingers grazed the metal in painstakingly slow circles. After he removed his hand from the car was when he caught your eyes. He gave you a smirk, not even a smile, and turned away. It was good to know that you weren’t the only one thinking about what happened.

The race started and you were in the garage, cheering on Max. He had started second on the grid but due to a first lap incident, he was fifth. He was not going to be happy after the race. He can tolerate if he fucks up but having other people interfere with his race is something he takes particularly hard.

Pierre’s car came up behind Max’s around a corner and got too close for comfort. Max jerked his steering wheel too much as he tried to turn, sending Pierre’s car straight into the barriers.

You stood up out of your seat and gasped. Everyone in the garage was relieved to see Max still racing and no one seemed to be concerned about Pierre. You took off your Red Bull Racing branded headphones and slammed them on the table before rushing over to the Alpha Tauri garage.

Anna was seated in her chair, looking worried, but not enough for you. She should be close to tears like you were.

“Have you heard anything from him?” You asked and Anna looked up, almost annoyed.

“He’s conscious,” his race engineer said, “but hurting.” You heard the groan come through followed by a bunch of curse words. He apologized profusely for his move but it was all Max’s fault.

You watched on Alpha Tauri’s monitors as the race was red flagged and decided to head back to Red Bull’s garage. “Let me know when you hear something,” you said to Anna. She nodded and looked back down to her phone. Fucking bitch. Her attitude made you not even feel bad about sleeping with her husband. She didn’t deserve him.

Max walked back to the garage looking like a life size bobble head with his heavy helmet swinging around. “Is Pierre okay?” He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

“He’s conscious. He took a nasty hit.”

“I know, I feel bad. I didn’t mean to, the steering wheel just got away from me. I saw him crash in my rear view mirror.”

You were visibly shaken and Max always knew the right things to say when you weren’t feeling okay.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Max said, rubbing your back.

You nodded in agreement. “I know he will. I’m going to check on him at the medical center once the race starts again.”

Max smiled at you. “That would be good. Make sure you tell him I’m sorry.”

An engineer put his hand on Max’s shoulder and shoved a spreadsheet full of data in his face. He shrugged his shoulders and walked with the engineer to the monitors.

It wasn’t long before the race got underway again. Max made it up to third, podium position, but there were still at least 30 laps left. You started the trek through the paddock and over to the medical center. You were just a bit too late as you saw Pierre walking out down the ramp. He smiled when he saw you approach him.

“How ya feeling champ?” You asked him.

“I’m a bit sore thanks to your husband.”

Your face fell. “He sends his apologies. I promise he was actually remorseful.”

“Max? Remorseful? What did you do to him?”

You laughed. Max did have a temper and tended to be extra competitive but he had formed a special bond with Pierre these last few years. They weren’t friends by any means but they helped each other out whenever possible. This was one of the times that it wasn’t possible.

“He does genuinely feel bad, Pierre.”

“I know he does, it was a racing incident. I saw the footage.” He limped slightly through the paddock and winced when he put pressure on his left leg. “I think I should go lay down for a bit.” He took another step and lost his balance. You grabbed his arm and held him, making sure he stayed steady.

“This is it right here,” he pointed to his motor home.

“Do you want me to help you up there? I don’t want you to fall.” You said with a soft smile on your face. How could he resist your offer of help?

“Sure,” he limped over to the door and you aided him up a few stairs. “Shouldn’t you be watching the rest of the race? Last I checked, Max was doing really well.”

He sat down on the luxe white leather couch in exhaustion and you sat at the table across from him. “He wanted to make sure you’re okay. He’ll be fine.” You looked around the motorhome, observing your surroundings to seem busy. “So Anna’s nice…” you said, followed by a laugh. You had known Anna for a few months now. Their wedding was right before the season started and you really hadn’t known her much before then either. She tended to keep to herself and you wanted to respect that.

“She can be a bit…”

“Yeah, I know. I went to check on you after the crash and she looked like she wanted me dead.”

“In her defense, she caught me checking out your ass this morning. She was not very happy with me after that.”

You leaned forward to give him a light smack. “Pierre!” You shook your head in disappointment. “What did she think of the way you were practically fingering your car this morning?”

He played fake shy. “Oh, you saw that?”

“You make my heart beat crazy fast.” You admitted, putting your hand to your chest. “That didn’t help.”

“Well, as long as you enjoyed yourself.”

Enjoy yourself you did. He was in his same fireproofs from earlier and you were sure he didn’t know how turned on they made you. They were pulled down to his waist, the sleeves hanging low off his hips. His white undershirt was tight to his body, putting his abs on full display. His legs were spread wide, inviting you in. Was it hot in there? Was the air conditioning on?

He ran his hands over his abdomen and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. He groaned, sounding like he was in pain, frustrated, and horny at the same time.

Why did he have to be so unbelievably irresistible to you? When you were around him it was almost impossible to contain yourself. There was a magnetic force dragging you to him constantly. You moved yourself to sit next to him, earning his attention and popping his head up.

“You look really hot right now,” you giggled to yourself. He made you feel like a teenager experiencing her first love. The nerves were through the roof.

“Well, I feel hot.” He looked around the walls of the motorhome. “Where the hell is the air conditioning and who turned it off?”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god it’s not just me.” He looked over at you examined your face. He placed his hand on your red cheeks. “You’re flushed.”

When he touched you, a chill ran through your body. Your body felt on fire and he had the power to send a freezing cold chill through it all.

“My cheeks get really red when I get nervous.” You blushed even more having to admit that. It was your least favorite characteristic of yourself. Everyone always knew flat out when you were nervous.

“I can’t tell if it makes you look cute, like I want to hug you, or if I want to fuck you.” His hand still rested on your cheek as he looked back and forth between your eyes and lips. “You look so god damn innocent. Like I could totally ruin you with just a few minutes alone.” His thumb ran over your lower lip and you instinctively stuck your tongue out to meet his thumb. He took the opportunity to put his thumb in your mouth and you suctioned around it, keeping eye contact with him. “Y/n,” he breathlessly begged, “please.”

His lips crashed to yours, feeling warm and secure the moment they touched. His hands held your neck and you moaned into his mouth, forgetting what it felt like to be touched by him.

He hoisted you onto his lap, wincing a bit when you grazed his knee. His hands fit perfectly in the curves of your waist as he pulled you closer to him, grinding your hips. “Don’t do this to me,” he said into your neck.

“Why not?” You said cheekily.

“We don’t have much time.” You almost forgot that there was a race going on right now.

“I can be quick.” You hopped off of him and locked the motorhome door as he undressed out of his fireproofs. He looked so good in his white suit but he looked even better naked. You slipped off your underwear and hoisted your sundress up to your waist before going back to his lap.

He guided your body on top of his, settling you down as you took all of him in, deep. “Shit. A condom.” You said, after the bare feeling of him inside of you set in. God did it feel good but it wasn’t right.

“I don’t think I have any in here.” He said. “I promise I’ll pull out. I need you so bad.” He lightly bit your nipple through your sundress.

“I will kill you if you’re lying to me.” You started to move your hips and moaned at the sensation. He felt so good filling you up all the way.

He took your ass in his hands and started to bounce you up and down on his cock. “That’s it baby, just like that.” He said, admiring your movements. “Fuck me like a good girl.”

Your head fell forward, the feeling running through your body getting almost unbearable to handle.

“Jesus, Pierre, you feel so good.” You pulled your hair into a makeshift ponytail and arched your back, feeling like all eyes were on you in the best way possible.

He watched you in awe as you rode his cock without a care in the world. “Your pussy is so tight baby. So tight for me.” A breathy moan escaped his lips and his face looked like he was in pure bliss. There’s nowhere else he would rather be.

“Shit, shit, I’m gonna come.” He said, panicking. You rushed to get off of him as you saw the liquid pool on his abs.

“Did you…?”

“I don’t think I got any inside of you.”

You took a deep breath to collect your thoughts. God, you hoped not.

next part

[mika-loverjoy]

I was wondering if you could write an f1 fanfic that's Lando/Carlos centered. Maybe about Lando crashing and Carlos sneaking from ferrari garage to see if Lando is okay?

This is the first time I've written Carlando! Have fun reading <3

It was a shock to everyone when they saw Lando spinning into the wall at turn 6. The cars front hitting the barrier and breaking off the wheel as the wing breaks into pieces. [Yellow flag] [Red flag]

All the drivers who passed by asking if everything was okay, only small grunts could be heard from Lando's side.

The medical car along with the saftey car stopped next to him. He's slowly able to move his arm up to give a thumbs up, making many people relieved.

Especially Carlos, "Everything is fine with Norris, proceed to box, red flag"

It wasn't always when this happened to Lando, his whole body had shut down when he collided with the wall but when the medics got there his body regained its strenght.

The medical center had let him go after some time of scanning and only seeing a ligt sprain to his left arm, he got a cast that only needed to be there for a week and no longer.

His arrival in the garage had a few people asking if he was okay while the others were repairing his car. "I'm so sorry, I should've braked earlier"

The engeneer only shook their head and smiled at him, "No need to worry Lando, just get some rest mate."

Carlos was pacing around in the back of his garage, waiting for any news about Lando.

Time wasn't kicking it with him so the only thing he knew to do was go up to him himself. Hoping he's not needed here for a while, he departures from the team.

He slowly walks past the Mclaren garage but sees no sight of Lando, hoping the cameras won't spot his weird behaviour, he walks towards the motor homes.

Happy to know barely anyone was in the Mclaren home and the ones that were only nodded at him and went back to work.

His pace quickening when he sees the Drivers room door. Not waiting to knock he burst into the room. Eyes locking with watery blue eyes, no smile instead just trembling lips.

"Lando" Carlos shuts the door and walks up to him but Lando meets him halfway, getting himself into a tight embrace with the Spanish driver. "It hurts so much.." A soft sob escapes the poor driver, only making the Spaniards heart clench. "Carño, shh it's okay" he put his hand on the younger's head and the other on his right side were an uninjured arm clung to him.

"It really isn't okay" Carlos had no idea what to say, the younger not being able to get out of his negatives thoughts was always something Carlos had to figure a way out of.

"amor, look at me" Lando's face slowly peeking up with tears streaming down his face, eyes closed when another sob escaped him. Carlos couldn't watch this anymore so he did the one thing he knew that always worked. A feathered press of lips on one another gets Lando to stop sobbing and open his eyes in shock, instantly closing them again.

A few minutes pass by of shared gentle touches and Carlos slowly moves away. The other still in a bit of a daze.

"I need to go back to the gerage, but when i'm done there I'll go right to you. okay?" Lando looks up at him and nods giving him one last kiss and the Ferrari driver leaves the Mclaren building.

Leaving a happier Lando there then when he had arrived.

[spectrumscribe]

i got u dude. mikey picking fights when he knows he wont win or mikey feeling like he isn't really contributing to the group (hope you feel better btw)

rottmntverse human au because that makes this even more fun :3c

((trigger warning for a brief homophobic slur, avoidable if you look for the paragraph becoming italics.))

In Mikey’s opinion, it doesn’t make sense. He reasons thatpeople should want to avoid startingfights with the biggest guy in the room, not actively try and do just that.

Raph isn’t the one who ever starts it. Donnie sometimesstarts things, mostly by just being his lovable prickly self, and occasionallyLeo blunders through a conversation badly enough someone has steam coming outof their ears about whatever dumb thing he’s said this time. Raph, though?

Raph doesn’t pick fights. Fights pick him.

It sucks, because Mikey knows that even though Raph is big,and a little awkward, and kind of intimidating if you don’t know him- Mikey’s oldest sibling would rather just get along with everyone. Wants to, even.

It’s probably because none of them fit the mold, the four ofthem. The only other person they hang out with is April. Mikey is fairlycertain half the reason people get pissed off at them is because they just.Don’t need anyone else.

Or maybe they’re just assholes, jostling and elbowing Raph inthe subway station they all have to share. Leo ditched school halfway throughthe day to go see Donnie at hisschool, which is the university halfway across the city. It’s just Mikey andRaph here today, waiting for the train, trying to wait out the snide remarks andcomments and rude as hell insinuations. No one is even noticing Mikey, sinceRaph made himself a barrier between Mikey and everyone else.

Mikey doesn’t even know what it is today. Why this ishappening at all. It’s Friday, theyall definitely have better stuff to do.

He’d had his earbuds in before this started, swaying to his private concert while he waited next to Raph, but he took them out the second he noticed shit starting to happen. Mikey is listening, and growingfrustrated, and hating every new minute they spend standing here. Raph says toignore them, they’ll lose interest eventually. (They never do.) They don’t haveto stoop to their level, says Donnie, like the hypocrite he is. (Donnie would fistfight older students in uni over scientific theory if he could.) They don’t wantto draw any more attention to themselves than they already do, says Leo, whenhe’s sobered from his bravado of keeping an air of lazily not caring. (Leo and his barest hints of mascara and meticulous eyeliner, Raph and his little sewing crafts in his backpack, Mikey and hisglittery binders he couldn’t resist getting and now regret having done so, for the eyes that stare and stare and stare at them all.)

Someone shoves Raph hard enough he stumbles backwards,knocking into Mikey and nearly toppling them both. Their train still isn’there. None of the adults waiting for it look like they’re going to step in. Everything about this sucks.

Mikey has to jump away to avoid Raph’s wrong footed retreat; his brother,though he’s at least a head taller than everyone here, keeping his clenched fistsat his sides as some jerk Mikey doesn’t know tries to physically push Raph intolashing out.

And Raph won’t,because he can’t, it wouldn’t matterthat he’d been goaded into it, everyone would blame him and wouldn’t ever lethim forget that he’d hit back. Onceit’s done, it won’t ever go away, and no one knows that better than Raph himself.

So his fists stay by his sides, and the split second they’reraised it’s to block a punch aimed at his chest. Raph’s expression is tight andangry, trapped like he is as the crowd of boys press closer, taking turnsshoving him, calling out names, laughing at his lack of reaction. You scared? Are you scared? You even got anythingdown there, or did ya get ‘em chopped off like your fag brother-?

The biggest kid, next to Raph, winds up to throw anotherpunch, and Mikey can already tell that it’s going to make contact with hisbrother’s face.

Raph doesn’t pick fights.

Sometimes, when he has to, though… Mikey does.

He’s half the size of everyone else, maybe smaller, but hisknuckles still impact against the asshole’s jaw and sends him reeling. Mikey shriekswordlessly and throws himself at the crowd of bullies, knowing he’s got theedge of surprise and nothing else. For a few seconds, he manages to hold hisown.

Then, someone with a lot more muscle mass than him socks himacross the face, then the stomach, and Mikey chokes on his own spit.

He breathlessly tries to keep going, but he’s thirteen andeveryone here is fifteen and older. Not to mention outnumber him almost a dozento one.

It’s a blur of pain for a minute there, fireworks of lightflashing behind his eyelids every time someone punches him. Fists and feet hittingwhatever they can of his skinny body. Then, something grabs him by the collar,and pulls him out of the fray with strength far greater than anyone else’s.

The guy who started it all swims in Mikey’s vision, rightbefore a big shape obscures it and picks him up with ease.

Mikey coughs on the blood of his swelling nose, and staresalong with everyone else as Raph holds their leader almost a foot off theground.

“Gonna say this once,”Raph growls out. “Piss off, or I throw you on the tracks.”

He drops the other kid, tossing him away a few extra feetfor good measure. The asshole lands poorly and has to be dragged to his feet byhis friends, wide eyes staring at Raph as he folds his arms and glares.

Their train finally arrives, coming up to the platform withthe usual shrill sound of its braking. What few other people that’d beenwitness to the whole fight stow their phones and get into the train cars,sensibly getting away.

Mikey and Raph reach for each other at the same time, andboard the train, too.

Raph’s bullies don’t follow.

“You gotta stop doin’ that, Mike,” Raph scolds anxiously,pressing another band-aid over a cut Mikey hadn’t noticed himself getting in thefight. “You don’t have to get caught up in that shit. I can take it. You’re gonna break yourhand one’a these days and then where’re you gonna be? You can’t do art if youcan’t use your hands.”

“Eh, I’d be fine. It’ll be a good time to try feet art,” Mikey says, sitting on their bathroom counter while Raph half-kneels, not even wincingas his banged up knee is taken care of. He’d almost ended up on the floorduring the fight, which could’ve had the whole thing go way worse for him. He’s lucky he got out of that with just a fewdark bruises and bloody scrapes, even if they’re turning nasty purple and redcolors against his dark skin.

Raph glares at him, mouth in a terse frown. Mikey pretendsnot to notice, and puts a cheerily colored band-aid on his brother’s cheek. It’sgot a fading bruise from a different fight still, now mottled with yellow, and Mikeyfeels a little lonely, being the only one in the room with bright littlepatches all over himself.

Raph doesn’t even try to move away from the band-aid as it’sapplied to his face. He just sighs long-sufferingly, like all of Mikey’s olderbrothers do sometimes, whenever he’s done something like this.

“You can’t keep pickin’ fights you won’t win,” Raph says,staring hard at Mikey’s bruised face. He looks so sad it makes Mikey sad, too. Whichwon’t do at all.

Mikey gently slaps his hands on either side of Raph’s face,and grins. “I only pick ‘em ‘cause I’m with you guys, and if I’m with you guys I’llalways win. Four against whatever, plus one when we got April. Sostop being a sadsack already and feel loved ‘cause I’m willing to punch stupidpeople in the face for you.”

Mikey’s smile is opening the split lip he’s got all overagain, but it’s worth it to see a hint of an echoing smile twitch on Raph’s face.

“Stupid,” Raph mumbles as he ducks away from Mikey’s hands,and Mikey doesn’t comment on the gloss his brother’s eyes have before he rubsat them. Mikey just hums and leans on Raph’s head with his elbows, idlythinking about changing the slivers of red wraps around his brother’s longdreads again. Maybe using a brighter red this time instead of a subdued maroon.

It might be something akin to waving a red flagin front a bull, but Mikey doesn’t mind playing bullfighter if it’s for hisbrothers.

if you’d spare some change to a writer who’s trying to build up finances after not getting paid for nearly three months, spec’s kofi tip jar would appreciate it,,

[byakushisakura-writing]

Thank You~Chapter 1

(Prologue)

Peacemaker Kurogane

Soji Okita, Isami Kondo, Toshizo Hijikata, oc

2,526 words

Since his parents died when he was a child Soji has been raised by Kondo Isami, and although he was never considered an outcast the young male had always felt different. With the help of his adoptive father and a new friend he finally starts to fit in and feel normal.

Soji was by no means unpopular, he was well liked by most people and had plenty of friends, but this didn’t mean he was any less lonely. Everyday he felt that he was acting as someone else, wearing a fake smile just to make others happy, not wanting them to know his true self, scared that everyone would leave if he let the façade fade away.

As high school neared its end his fears came true, everyone was going somewhere different, some left for college, some traveled to find work, and Soji was left alone to start all over. He knew that it had nothing to do with him but deep down he couldn’t help but think that everyone else had also been faking it.

He strengthened the barriers he put up around himself, Careful not to let even the smallest thing show through. He tried to focus on his studies and on work to distract himself from any negative thoughts but it was nearly impossible to keep them at bay.

Soji soon stopped going out as often and didn’t even try to make new friends as he spent all his free time in his room.

It was Sojis 19th birthday and his guardian, the man who had raised him since he was 9, wanted to do something special. Soji wasn’t in the mood to go anywhere but played along and let Kondō drive him, not telling the young male where they were going until they pulled up to a club.

Soji frowned in confusion until they entered and sat down, his eyes were instantly glued to the stage and for the first time he didn’t feel so alone. There were people like him, men who wanted to wear dresses, it wasn’t just something that he had made up for himself.

Kondo smiled as he saw how Soji was so fixated to the performers the entire time and after it finished he bombarded his guardian with questions.

"Those were all guys? They look so pretty." He said, the barriers he had spent so long putting up were slowly fading as he let the other see his true passion for the first time in his memory.

Kondo smiled and pat the boys head. "There's someone I'd like you to meet." He said before flagging down someone Soji remembered seeing when they entered the club. He was tall and stout with long dark hair and wore a frilly dress. “Soji, this is Koko.” He barely got to finish when the other squealed with excitement.

"So this Soji!" He said as he looked at the teen. "You're a lot cuter in person'" He cooed.  

Soji blushed at the compliment "What do you mean?"

Koko giggled softly. “Your father and I have been corresponding for a few months now and he sent me your picture," He told him. "Oh! That reminds me today’s your birthday.”

Soji nodded, causing the other to squeal once more.

"Come, come darling. " He said as he pulled the other to his feet. “We’ve prepared a little surprise for you.”

Soji found himself being practically dragged to the back room. "You're father told me you've been working on something. " He said as he looked through the dresses. "Strip!!"

Soji blushed and removed his clothing before a dress was thrown over his thin frame. He was confused at what was happening.

‘What does he mean that I’m working on something?’ He asked himself. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stuttered slightly, clearly confused. “Do you mean the dance?”

“Of course that’s what I mean.”

Over the next half hour Soji found himself not only being dressed but also having his hair and makeup done. When he was finally finished he looked in a mirror and smiled shyly. It was the first time he’d actually dressed up properly, and he loved it, for once he didn’t turn away from the mirror right away.

A few minutes later he was being pushed onto the stage as he heard someone announce him and his eyes grew wide. Was he going to have to perform? He’d never imagined dancing in front of anybody, especially not a room full of strangers while wearing a dress.

Soji looked back as Koko gave him a thumbs up and the teen swallowed hard before slowly walking onto the stage. He was terrified and trembled as he stood on the stage. What if he tripped? What if they laughed and made fun of him?

He heard the music playing but found himself unable to move, he was tempted to just turn around and run. Spotting Kondō in the audience helped to relax and he focused on him as he took another deep breath before closing his eyes.

He focused on the music and his body as he opened his eyes, imagining that he was practicing alone in his room like he had done so many times before. When it was over the crowd came into focus once more. He smiled sheepishly as a light blush dusted his cheeks and was surprised when everyone stood up and clapped.

Soji beamed and bowed awkwardly before running back stage to hug Koko "Thank you.”

The elder laughed and shook his head. As he ruffled the teens hair: "Go thank your father, he set all this up.”

Soji looked up at him with his eyes wide "Kondo-san did?"

Koko nodded and Soji hurried back to his guardian and hugged him tightly. "thank you, this is the best present ever." He mumbled into his chest.

Kondo laughed and pat the boys head "I’m glad you like it."

After getting changed and taking his makeup off Soji went to return the dress to Koko.

“Keep it, as a birthday present from me." He told him "But on one condition.”

"What is it?"

"You have to come perform for us again.”

Soji laughed and nodded. “It’s a deal.” He said before hugging him once more.

Koko kissed the teens cheek before pulling away and handing him a small piece of paper. “This is my number.” He told him. "Don't be afraid to call it you ever need something, okay?"

Soji nodded and bowed before returning to Kondō as they left the club.

“Kondo-san? How did you know I would like that?” Soji asked during the, car ride home as he held his new dress close, positive that he had been so careful to hide anything remotely feminine.

Kondō smiled and reached over to ruffle the teens hair. "I’ve known since You were a kid, the way you used to play dress up and dance around the house.” He told him.

Soji blushed slightly. "I don't remember that..."

From then on Soji started performing at the club whenever he could, it became the first place he felt that could just be himself without worrying about what others thought.

He performed there at least a couple times a week, more if his schedule allowed it.

On the days he wasn’t performing Soji could often be found helping out at Kokos shop. It was an old run down building from the outside but once you entered it seemed to get a new life. There was anything a drag queen or king could need to get started, all of which had been donated. To one side there was a small sitting area where people could make a warm drink and just hang out. No one there was ever judged, and Soji loved it.

Not long after the new year Sojis already fragile health took a turn for the worst. But It didn't stop him from performing, at least not yet.

He slowly staggered his performances, making them farther apart until he would go an entire month without performing at all.

"Are you sure you’re okay, Soji?" Koko asked as he helped the male prepare for a show at the beginning of April. "You look quite pale, and you’ve lost weight." He said worriedly.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fine." He assured him with a forced smile before heading onto the stage. He had started to feel dizzy but held onto the wall as he took a few deep breaths.

When he didn’t come onto the stage after his name had been called a couple times Koko hurried back stage only to find the younger male on his knees as he coughed.

Koko sighed as he knelt beside Soji and gently rubbed his back, his eyes growing wide in fear as he saw the red specks on the others hand. “Soji…” He said worriedly before calling for someone to get Kondō.

Kondō ran to join them and cursed under his breath as he held a bottle of water to the others lips. When the coughing finally stopped Soji collapsed against his guardian and trembled.

Kondō’s eyes softened and he wrapped his jacket around the others shoulders. “Let’s get you home.” He said as he picked up the other and carried him outside.

Soji shivered in his guardians arms before feeling himself being laid across the back seat of the car. "Just get some rest ,Soji." The elder male said gently as he covered the teen with a blanket and carefully drove him home.

Soji slept until the next afternoon and looked around, frowning when he saw Kondo asleep on the chair beside his bed. "Kondo-san?" He asked weakly as he reached over to hold his hand.

The elder man woke up and smiled softly. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked as he stroked the others cheek.

Soji shrugged and slowly pushed himself up. "Okay I guess." He said before looking at the other. "Have you been here the whole time? You should have gone to your own bed." He attempted to scold him.

Kondo chuckled as he helped the other to sit before propping him up with some pillows. "I'm fine, I needed to make sure that you were okay." He said as he got a damp cloth and wiped some sweat from the boys face. "You gave us quite a scare yesterday." He continued.

Soji frowned slightly as he looked at his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make anyone worry." He said as tears formed in his eyes.

Kondo sighed and sat on the bed beside his adopted son. "You don't have to apologize." He said as he held the other close. "We worry because we care."

Kondo smiled as he saw the younger male fall asleep against him and carefully laid him down before covering him up and going to call Koko.

When Koko saw the familiar number he frowned and answered with a sigh "How’s he doing?" The male asked hopefully.

"He's still not feeling well, I'm not sure when he'll be able to return." Came the reply. “He has an appointment tomorrow, I’ll call you with any news.”

"Thank you, tell him that everyone here misses him." Koko said before hanging up.

Kondō sighed and leaned against the doorframe as he looked at the young male who slept fretfully.

Walking over to his bed he sat on it and gently stroked his hair to calm him down.

They had already gotten a diagnosis but Kondō just couldn’t bring himself to tell the other, not until they knew for sure.

Koko would not learn the true nature of Sojis illness for quite a while but he still tried to visit at least a couple times a week. These visits always lifted Sojis mood, even when he was feeling his worst.

On the days he could sit up Koko would teach the teen different ways do his hair and makeup. When he was feeling weak they would just talk.

As Sojis condition worsened he would eat less, causing him to get thinner and weaker until he was barely able to stay awake for more than a couple hours at a time. Some days Koko would stay while the other slept and talked with his guardian, imagining that the elder man also needed some sort of distraction.

"Has he seen the doctor lately?" Koko asked as he served them some tea.

Kondo nodded and thanked him. "I took him a couple days ago because he wasn't drinking anything." He told the other as he stared into his cup of tea. "They gave him some stronger medicine, it seems to be working, for now, at least he's sleeping soundly."

Koko sat across from him. "If you don't mind me asking, what is it that he has?" He asked gently.

Kondo knew that this question was coming and he didn't look up at the other as he answered. "He has tuberculosis." He said simply, Koko went deathly quiet as he processed what he had just heard.

Koko continued to just stare at the other for a moment, he had paled at the news. "But that's curable, isn't it?"

Kondo nodded. "Most of the time, yes, and they're pretty sure we caught it in time." He told the other. "But it will be a long and painful recovery."

Koko nodded and placed his hand over Kondos, squeezing it gently to comfort him. "He is going to be fine, Soji is strong."

Kondo finally looked up and smiled wearily as he nodded. "Yeah, he is." He agreed, thankful for the others continued presence.

Things continued this way for nearly 4 months, the boy only seemed to be getting worse and almost everyone was about to give up on him when his fever finally started to subside. One day he slowly made his way downstairs to where Kondo was working, holding onto the wall for support as he approached the elder man.

Kondo looked up from his work when he heard the shuffling feet and quickly rushed to Sojis side before helping him to the couch. "You shouldn't be up, I thought I told you to text me if you needed anything." He scolded gently as he wrapped a blanket around him.

Soji chuckled weakly as the male fussed over him and leaned back against the couch. "I'm feeling better than I have in a while." He said before coughing into his cloth. "I just wanted to do something on my own.

Kondo smiled and pat the boys head affectionately. "But you still need rest, just relax and I'll get you something to eat. Since you're feeling better maybe we'll try some rice today?" He suggested before going into the kitchen.

Soji started to slowly recover as he tried to get back into some kind or routine, eating regularly, sleeping at the same time everyday, and eventually starting to help out with simple chores that didn't require much stamina.

Kokos visits still continued and now when Soji felt well enough they would work in the garden or somedays even bake. Despite their difference in age they had become fast friends, he was the first person other than Kondo that Soji felt completely comfortable around. As he got better he started to reveal things that he hadn't even told his guardian. He became bolder in his clothing choices everyday, fully embracing the feminine side that he had tried to keep hidden for so long.

[glassnightfury]

Cry Havoc (Let Slip The Dogs Of War) Prologue: Heart Inside The Night

ao3 || fanfiction

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is a normal 17-year-old. If you don't count the missing leg. Or his father, the sheriff. Or the strange dog he found in the woods. Or the strange man he met in the woods (really, anything he did in the woods). Or the family secrets he just can't seem to put together. Or the mysterious disappearance of his mother 16 and half years ago. Or the cryptic veterinarian family friend that keeps showing up in the strangest of places. Or how wild he gets around a full moon.

So, maybe not so normal.

Hiccup heard the crackle of his father’s police radio echo through the house.

“All available units to New Berk Preserve, we got a 10-57,” the dispatcher recited dispassionately, and she rattled off identifying factors. Missing person. In the woods.

Hiccup was out of bed before Stoick and dressed before his father could even properly wake up. The backpack hidden in the back corner of his closet held and all manner of gear one would normally associate with a hiker, a cop, or a criminal. He strapped the backpack on and grabbed his water bottle off his nightstand.

Jimmying the window up and propping it open with the scrap wood waiting by it, Hiccup was out and biking to the New Berk Preserve as the sheriff’s car pulled out of their driveway. Although it took seven minutes by road to get to the preserve from the Haddock house, Hiccup could take the back paths he’d carved with his bike tires and be there in five. The October leaves, red and yellow and brown, crunched under his tires as he pedaled. The wind whipped his hair back from where it usually lay strangely flat against his forehead. He could hear the search dogs barking from the official entrance, but he knew the best way to get in undetected was to cross anywhere along the tiny chain strung up between posts in lieu of a fence.

Hiccup left his bike at the fence and pulled his Stinger flashlight out of his backpack. His thumb ran up the engraving of his initials—HHH III—to the button. The forest, still green and lush despite the approaching winter, lit up far too brightly in the LED beam.

“Shit,” Hiccup hissed. “Shit, shit, fuck.” He fumbled for the button again, switching the light to low. Satisfied he wasn’t found out, he took off into the forest. Though the trees and paths were familiar, each step felt like a leap of faith in the dark.

“Blonde,” he recited to himself as he trekked, recalling the potential victim’s details, “five-foot-five, blue sweatshirt, black leggings. Left for a jog this afternoon around 2 pm. Never came back home.”

Around the short, sharp signaling barks of the police dogs, an inhuman howl of pain echoed through the trees. Hiccup’s head whipped toward the sound. It was close. Without another thought, he took off running in the direction he hoped he heard it from. The light from his flashlight bounced erratically as he ran, and he narrowly avoided head-on collisions with a few trees. He felt the disappointment of his middle school gym teacher when his energy flagged, and his limbs grew heavy. The howl pierced the forest again, just a few feet to his left, beyond a barrier of flora. His hands shook despite himself as he pushed through the leaves to reveal a huge black dog caught in a steel jaw trap.

“Oh, gods,” Hiccup breathed. “Hey, bud. Let’s get you out of there.” He fell to his knees beside the dog, who whined pathetically as it pulled against the trap. With each tug, the teeth dug deeper into the skin of its hind leg. Blood matted the fur that remained, and Hiccup had to stifle the urge to vomit at the sight of bone sticking out and skin torn away to ribbons. The dog narrowly missed taking Hiccup’s fingers off as he tried to touch the trap.

“It’s okay,” Hiccup said in his best attempt at a soothing voice. He slid his jacket off his shoulders and wrapped it around the dog’s head. With his attention back on the trap, he put his flashlight in his mouth and silently thanked his dad for every weird survivalist lesson he’d taught him over the years.

One hand on each side, his dad’s voice instructed in his head.Push the levers as close to the jaws as possible. It’ll give you more leverage. Deep breath. Put all your weight into it.

Hiccup didn’t bother to stifle his crow of delight when the jaws opened, and the dog shot out of them like a bullet, leaving Hiccup behind and his jacket a few yards away.

“Yes!” he cried, hands in the air victoriously. He half wished his father had seen his feat, the flawless execution of rescue technique hammered in for fifteen years, but he also knew that if he had, Hiccup would be grounded for the rest of his life for following him on a call.

Missing jogger all but forgotten, Hiccup retrieved his jacket and started tracking the dog. With an injury like that, the poor thing would die without medical attention.

Pawprints in mud, leaves shifted and trampled, broken twigs, blood spatter, Stoick’s voice said. Look for anything that indicates the environment has been disturbed.

The tracks led Hiccup to a gully, carved out of the forest by a creek—likely the northern leg of Raven Creek, he reasoned, which did give him significantly more hold on where exactly he was than he had before. He’d drifted too far from the official search party to even see the beams of the flashlights, although he could hear voices gradually getting louder, his father’s the loudest among them. A fresh streak of mud, disturbed in a straight path down the lip of the gully, told him exactly where he needed to go.

Before he could even begin to put a path down in his mind, a growl dripping in animalistic fury tore into the air behind him. When he turned, slowly, with his hands in the air, he expected to find the dog. Instead, he was faced with a hulking man with long, dark hair tangled and matted into a strange approximation of dreadlocks. One tree-stump-sized arm hung oddly at his side, and his eyes flashed red. Hiccup froze, dropping his flashlight. He felt his heart pounding to escape his chest. He tried to take a step back and just avoided tumbling into the gully. The man took a single step forward and sniffed the air.

“A beta?” the man asked, an unfamiliar accent curling around his thick, rasping voice. He inhaled deeply through his nose again. “No. An omega. Didn’t anyone ever tell you a lone wolf never survives?”

“Wha—” Hiccup’s words died in his throat as the man took a step forward. He was stuck. Between the man—or whatever he was—approaching with slow, predatory steps and the gully, there was no way he could get out of this. Another growl started from his left, and Hiccup wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or even more terrified to see the dog he had released from the trap. The dog’s green eyes—weird, Hiccup noted even in his infinite fear—were locked on the man-thing, its sharp white teeth bared in a vicious snarl.

“The pup’s got himself a pet,” the man snarled. It happened in slow motion. The man took a step forward. Hiccup took a step back. The dog leapt. He could hear the fight as he fell, the tearing and rending of flesh with teeth and claws. He could hear the crash and yelp as the dog was thrown into a tree. Before his head struck the rock, he could hear all of it. From then on, it came in and out in flashes, but he fought to stay awake.

He thought he might have screamed when the boulder came down on his left leg.

The man was screaming.

There was blood on his face. Some of it was his.

Barking. Barking. Barking. Voices got closer, louder, and he heard his father call his name. He screamed when the boulder was lifted. He stopped fighting.

Hiccup woke in the hospital to a different world. A one-legged world. His stump was wrapped in gauze, and his head pounded out an ill-tempered beat. His brain was drug-addled and fluid, tying itself in knots trying to say actual words to his father.

“The dog,” he eventually managed, and his dad looked sufficiently shocked. “The dog needs help.”

“I had him brought to Gobber,” his dad said slowly. “His leg’s been amputated, but he’s fine. There’s nothing he can do to fix how strange he looks, though.”

“We match,” Hiccup slurred. “Owner?”

His dad huffed a nervous laugh. “None,” he said. “No microchip, no collar, and no missing dogs reported matching his description.” Hiccup smiled drunkenly.

“Keep him,” he said. It wasn’t a question, and he could see the exact moment when that dawned on his dad.

“Hiccup,” his dad warned. And then he paused, seeming to really consider the idea. “Alright,” he said. “You win.”

The thing was, Hiccup wasn’t ever sure if it really happened or not. He hadn’t seen Astrid since her family moved away in the third grade, but she came to visit him with a bouquet of balloons and a teddy bear with one leg ripped off and sewn shut.

“Sorry,” she said when he noticed it. “It was Snotlout’s idea. He destroyed the leg.”

“I destroyed mine,” Hiccup said matter-of-factly, and he realized he might still be a little concussed when he saw the look on Astrid’s face. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he assured her. She gave him a tiny smile, but it twisted into a frown. She punched his arm, but he barely felt it beneath the drugs.

“That’s for scaring me,” she said. Then she grabbed the front of his hospital gown and pulled him in to a quick, chaste kiss. “That’s for, uh, everything else.” 

She was gone before the smile could finish spreading across his face.

[aion-rsa]

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6 Marvel, Captain America, MCU Easter Eggs

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This article contains The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6 spoilers and potential spoilers for the wider MCU.

Well, it’s finally here. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 6 was an action-packed, but rather messy season finale for the show. Hopefully it isn’t a series finale, and we’ll see it continue in season 2 as Captain America and the Winter Soldier, but that’s an argument for another time.

For now, we’re here (as usual) to dig in to all the Marvel Comics and MCU references the show gave us this episode. We’ll be honest, it was relatively light on those, but there’s still plenty to speculate about. And if you spot anything we missed, be sure to let us know in the comments!

The New Captain America

Sam’s incredibly sharp-looking Captain America costume is a perfect live action translation of the version he wore in the comics. That costume was designed by Carlos Pacheco, and first hit the pages of Marvel Comics in October of 2014, in All-New Captain America #1. Even then, it felt like a perfectly movie-ready design, but to see it translated to beautifully to live action is a real treat, and this is an immediate contender for “best superhero movie or TV suit” right now. The additional stars and stripes motif added to the underside of the wings here seems to be an MCU flourish, but that’s just one little way they managed to improve on perfection.

It’s safe to assume that Sam’s new wings are vibranium, or at least vibranium laced, just like his shield, considering that it was made for him by the tech geniuses in Black Panther‘s Wakanda. There’s something to be said here about how America is stronger when it works with and accepts help from its allies, as opposed to going it alone. Just witness how much better Sam’s wings hold up under pressure than Walker’s homemade shield.

Similarly, Sam primarily uses the shield and the wings for defense. Compare that to how Walker wields his shield, as a slashing/bludgeoning weapon for offense. It’s a nice illustration of two different interpretations about how best to utilize America’s power.

Bucky

Bucky’s leap from a barrier-crashing motorcycle in episode 6 is a nice callback to Steve’s very similar move in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As a voice barked “stand down” from a SHIELD quinjet, Steve hit a barrier on his bike and was thrown forward into the action. 

We also see Bucky straining to open the back of the van with his vibranium arm, but he doesn’t flex as hard as Steve did when he stopped Bucky taking off in a helicopter in that same movie. Both Sam and Bucky reflect elements of what made Steve an exceptional Captain America in the finale, and prove to be a terrific team.

Bucky gives Steve’s notebook to his therapist as a thank you gift. Honestly, she deserves less. It belongs in a museum.

U.S. Agent

John Walker manages to control the effects that the super soldier serum is having on his psyche when he gets a second chance to prove himself, dropping his damaged makeshift shield and realizing he needs to prioritize human lives over vengeance. 

Val says that people will need a “US Agent” soon, and not a Captain America, as things are about to get “weird”. US Agent, of course, was the codename Walker took on after he stopped being Captain America in the comics. Speaking of which, Walker’s new costume is basically identical to his Marvel Comics US Agent costume and it looks really great here.  We wrote more about the Marvel Comics history of U.S. Agent here.

Why are Val, Walker and his wife back in the courthouse where Walker got court martialed to try on his new US Agent costume? Feels like pandemic-related restrictions forced the show to film all those scenes at the same time, doesn’t it?

Isaiah Bradley

Sam returning to properly make sure Isaiah Bradley gets his due once again mirrors the excellent Truth: Red, White, and Black story by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker. There it was Steve who made sure that Isaiah’s deeds were finally known to the world.

Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Isaiah, but you can bet we’re going to get more of Elijah down the road. Between introducing two members of the Young Avengers in WandaVision with Billy and Tommy, and the impending arrival of Kate Bishop on Hawkeye later this year, young Elijah is due to get himself some red, white, and blue duds of his own.

Sharon Carter is the Power Broker?

Yes, Sharon Carter is the Power Broker. No, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. She took Sam, Bucky, and Zemo to see super soldier serum scientist Dr. Nagel in his lab. He was working for her! She let that dangerous shit play out, which was very much against her interests! What! No. What! The man must have been confused as hell in his final moments.

Sharon uses the same tech that Natasha Romanoff used to disguise her face during the climax of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

We find out that Sharon was indeed behind Karli’s initial rise to Flag-Smasher power, after taking her in and giving her a chance in Madripoor. Sharon is willing to forgive the betrayal if Karli and her friends come back to the fold, but Karli’s too far gone for that.

Sharon gets a pardon from the US government. I guess it wasn’t that hard after all. Maybe you could click this link while you’re here.

Is this the first time Sharon has been called Agent Carter in the MCU? And is there some way to bring Peggy back to kick her narrow Power Brokering ass? How dare you besmirch the Carter name, girl.

Sharon’s “mercury vapor” bomb that takes out that poor dude kind of feels like the dust that the Red Skull used to use during the Mark Gruenwald era of the comics to kill people…which left them looking like red skulls. Uh-oh…this brings us to the next question…

Who was Sharon calling at the end? Val? Nick Fury? Her Skrull bosses? Alexander Lukin? Something is definitely wrong here. It’s possible that she’s working with Val to put together a team of Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts, but nothing makes a lot of sense with Sharon’s arc in the MCU in general, let alone this show.

Zemo

That is indeed Zemo’s butler Oeznik (played by Nicholas Pryor) who kills the fuck out of the Flag-Smashers in the police van with a remote controlled incendiary device. What an Evil Jarvis. In any case, Zemo got at least some of his wish, as now there are a few fewer super soldiers running around the MCU.

Among the books that Zemo is reading in his cell is Alexander von Humboldt’s Views of Nature – the German polymath, geographer, naturalist and explorer was the first person to truly make note of human-induced climate change. But we can only assume that the book Zemo is holding close to his heart as he hears the fate of the Flag-Smashers is the Machiavelli tome that Bucky rudely interrupted earlier in the series.

Despite the news saying that there are no suspects in the Flag-Smasher bombing, Val knows straight away that it was Zemo who had “the last laugh”. Huh. “Couldn’t have worked better if I planned it myself,” she jokes. “Oh, well, maybe I did. No, I’m kidding, I didn’t. Or did I?” Who the hell knows, Val.

Batroc

Is Batroc dead? Batroc had better not be dead! We demand more Georges St-Pierre in the MCU! Ze Leaper has managed to escape certain death multiple times in the MCU so far, and we’d like that trend to continue. He’s such a great all-purpose, kinda hapless baddie, that we’d love to just see him show up for the occasional slugfest. Or hell, maybe a Batroc fight can be a kind of “right of passage” for anyone else who has to wear the Captain America costume down the road!

And hey, he even did some leaping in this episode!

The Flag-Smashers

Sam’s face-off with Karli Morgenthau is a lot like Steve’s final face-off with Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he tries to talk her down instead of fighting back.

The Raft

The Raft was first introduced to the MCU in Captain America: Civil War, but the fact that they’re going out of their way to mention it multiple times in this show, and the fact that the Flag-Smashers were destined for there (after all, they’re super soldiers) should be an indication of just how important that place is going to be to the MCU going forward. I think we can safely expect both Val and Sharon to be doing some recruiting out of there.

The New Falcon?

We only get a brief moment with Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres, as he gazes adoringly at the TV broadcast with Sam as Captain America, but hopefully we get more of him in the future. After all, Joaquin became the new Falcon when Sam wore the red, white, and blue in the comics, and he DOES have Sam’s old wings.

Where is Steve Rogers?

You know, if they keep making that joke about Steve being “on the moon” maybe there’s gonna turn out to be some truth to it. Is this how the MCU will introduce the “man on the wall” concept from the Original Sin story in Marvel Comics? OK, fine, probably not.

The Bridge

Sam having his first big public moment on a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn, where New Yorkers see him, cheer him, and implicitly accept him as a hero feels like moments in Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-Man movies, particularly the Brooklyn Bridge scene in the first one, and the subway car scene in Spider-Man 2. This is decidedly less heavy-handed, though.

Ayla

GRC representative Ayla is not from Marvel Comics. We don’t get her last name, and she shares a first name with extremely obscure Nightstalkers villain Rotwrap. Look, there’s not  a lot going on in this episode, we’re trying.

Speaking of things we don’t have a lot on…

“Government Official”

Can you believe that despite appearing in nearly every episode of this show, Alphie Hyorth’s bearded senator is still only named as “government official” in the credits? What are you hiding Marvel?!? Maybe he’s actually Mephisto! (sorry, a little WandaVision humor there) 

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But for real, why would you have a recurring character who ends up central to so many elements of this story and NOT name him? Is he a Skrull? Is he Senator Robert Kelly? (look, we miss all the mutant speculation from the WandaVision days)

Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 6 Marvel, Captain America, MCU Easter Eggs appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3tL3EAE

[f1]

Mercedes understood Russells natural reaction to check on Zhou | 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

George Russell says his Mercedes team understood why he felt the need to check on Guanyu Zhou following his crash at the start of the British Grand Prix, despite it leading to his retirement from the race. The Mercedes driver was knocked into Zhou’s car at the start of Sunday’s race, flipping it upside down, and sending it over a tyre barrier. Russell stopped his damaged car and went to check on Zhou. When he returned to his car it was already being retrieved by marshals, forcing Russell to retire from the race, though it later emerged the damage to his car was not enough to prevent him continuing. Mercedes “absolutely” understood why Russell went to check on Zhou, he said during yesterday’s FIA press conference. “It was just a natural reaction,” Russell explained. “For me to do that, obviously the race was red-flagged, and seeing such a horrific incident, I thought at the time as well my car was probably game over. As it turned out, it wasn’t. “So I think that just added to the emotions, the frustrations, because we definitely could have got going again and probably could have scored a strong result.” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said they were “proud of the character he showed after the incident” on Sunday. Russell admitted seeing Zhou’s car lodged between the tyre barrier and debris fence provoked a fearful response. “For me, it was sort of horrifying to see him trapped in there, literally not being able to get out of the car,” he said. “He was obviously fine and I could see he was moving. “But I think we all, as drivers, we all know how sort of – I wouldn’t say claustrophobic – but you’re sort of in there pretty tight, you’ve got the helmet on, you’ve got the Halo there, the headrest, and then when you’ve got a tyre wall effectively on top of your head blocking your exit, hanging upside down, it’s just a horrible situation to be in.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Zhou’s experience shows more thought needs to be put into the layout of barriers to prevent a repeat in the future, Russell believes. “I think from every sort of disaster there’s an opportunity to improve as a sport or whatever it may be, and clearly things could have been maybe positioned slightly differently to have given him that exit. “There was a gap between the barriers and the catch fence and he was obviously trapped in there. That needs to be resolved and, yeah, it wasn’t nice for sure.” Footage of Zhou’s crash shot by fans showed how “scary” the moment was, said Russell. “I think it’s an element of motor sport that you’re always going to have big accidents at some point during every calendar year. Every incident offers an opportunity to learn from. “I think, the roll hoop got smashed off, and where the car rolled into, and also just for the fans as well, seeing the fan footage was pretty, pretty scary. So, it’s a constant evolution. “I think as a sport, we’ve come so far, but it’s never going to stop. And if we fast forward 30 years we’re still going to be probably talking about the same things. And that’s just racing and what happens when you go at speed.” Russell pointed out he had a similar experience of being trapped in a car earlier in his career. “I actually rolled my kart in a race in 2008,” he said. “I was trapped under the car and I was actually burning my arm because the exhaust was stuck on top of me. And this other driver stopped to lift the kart off me and helped me out there.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2022 Austrian Grand Prix Browse all 2022 Austrian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net

[meaningofmotorsport]

IndyCar Detroit Doubleheader Review

Race 1

It was a drama filled start to the weekend in the Motor City, with a variety of strategies, a first time winner, and a horrifying crash, which delayed the race for over an hour.

Having come straight from F1, there was a lot of hype and expectation around Ericsson, when he joined Schmidt Peterson back in 2019, similar to what we see now with Grosjean. However, despite the odd, good result, he was never able to get a win and really break through, and now having been with Chip for nearly 2 years, there was pressure to deliver, and on Saturday he did so. Undoubtedly, he was helped by strategy and luck, but he was quick, and was pressuring Power before the 2nd red flag. With that now off his back, what he can he do for the rest of the year? It could open the flood gates for him!

Veekay and O’Ward, who completed the podium, also drove really well, especially for Pato, who grabbed the pole, lost out early on in the race, but fought back through to an amazing position. After not expecting much from RLL this weekend, they had a solid race, locking out 4th through 6th, and if Sato hadn’t of lost out on the restart, he could have done much better!

Rossi and Dixon lost out through the first red flag, which put them back much like it did for Pato, however, they just couldn’t fight back through in the same way. At least for Dixon, he limited the losses and is still looking strong in the title fight. The same can be said for Newgarden, who didn’t have his left rear wheel properly attached after the first pit stop, and lost a lap. Yet, through a lucky wave around, great passing and a healthy overcut, got back just inside the top 10, to bring home some useful points.

As I mentioned before, we saw a couple of red flags in the 1st race, the 1st of those being a harrowing crash for Rosenqvist. His throttle got stuck mid corner just before the back straight, and he ploughed into the wall at high speed, going through the tyres, and moving the concrete wall quite a way. He was fine, but for safety reasons, due to the high g impact, was stretchered away and taken for checks at the hospital. This caused a long red, as they fixed the barrier and cleared up the crash. We did get a small 2nd red flag, when Grosjean, after running well all day, hit the wall in the closing laps. So, the race was paused to get a green finish, which to be frank was absolute rubbish.

That 2nd Red, caused major heartbreak for Power, who was leading at the time, as his engine would not refire, due to an ECU issue, and not only did he lose the win, but he also lost any chance of good points! You do have to feel for Will, who drove well all day, and looked as though he would finally put all the tough times behind him!

Race 2

In some ways, the race on Sunday was more straightforward, however, that wasn’t due to a lack of action! As, whilst Newgarden dominated the first ¾ of the race, it all came down to a last 10 lap shootout, which gave incredible passes, close action, and brilliant saves!

After not converting the pole on Saturday into a win, Pato used the disappointment as energy, combined with wanting to do well for his injured teammate, to bring home an incredible win, from midpack! He had one of the fastest cars, and on that last restart, calved his way through 4 cars to win, his second of the year, and possibly the most satisfying! This now puts him firmly into the title fight, and could be tough to beat down the line!

It could have been a perfect day for Newgarden, having grabbed pole, and used the harder tyres in the first stint to build a gap. It all came undone though, when he was forced to pit early the 1st time, due to the risk of a yellow by Kellett. From there his strategy looked much tougher, and multiple restarts just chewed through his tyres, so he was lucky to finish 2nd, but was still disappointed! Given the bad luck he has had this weekend, he did well to gain in the title fight, and has another shot at the championship!

After a disaster in Race 1, Palou bounced back rather well, to end up on the podium, minimising the losses to O’Ward in the championship. Like Pato, he ran well at Road America last year, so could be a threat there again. For most of the race, Herta was the driver with the best chance to challenge Josef, however, when it mattered, on the restarts, he couldn’t make the most of it, and got swamped by two fellow youngsters. Once again, Andretti Autosport, aren’t having the year they hoped for!

Rahal comes out of the weekend with 2 top 5’s, a good showing on a track he has done well at before. The team doesn’t look consistently quick, but could spring a surprise at some places. At least Power got something out of this weekend, after being screwed out of the win on Saturday, although 6th will do nothing to mend the wounds. Expect a fiery Will for the rest of the year, trying to get a win for Penske!

Dixon was solid and quiet all day, just racking up points, and Ericsson drove a confident comeback, following an appalling qualifying, after winning his 1st IndyCar race. Hunter-Reay and Sato also recovered well over the 70 laps. Kudos to Askew, who jumped in at the last minute for the No.7 car at McLaren, and did as good a job as you could expect from him really.

You have to take your hat off to Firestone, as they brought the perfect tyres to Detroit, which was what gave us the grandstand finish we saw. They consistently do such a brilliant job in IndyCar, and help to give us great racing! On the flipside, the performance of NBC over the two races, was rather shambolic, not in the broadcast itself, but in the scheduling! With a new TV contract looming, IndyCar needs to get this sorted out!

The Detroit Doubleheader has gone from being a parade for sponsors, to being a weekend of entertaining racing, and this weekend did not disappoint. The best news from the weekend, is that Rosenqvist is safe and well, and will hopefully be back to racing soon. Meanwhile, the circus rolls on to Road America, for hopefully some more good racing!

-M

[smoothshift]

If you question whether or not a miata is a reliable daily, let me tell you a little tale.. via /r/cars

If you question whether or not a miata is a reliable daily, let me tell you a little tale..

So here’s the story, about a year ago me and my dad were hunting for a vehicle to race in the annual shitbox ice race we had been participating in for the past few years. For about 12 months I had been keeping a very close eye on the car ads in my province searching for a shitbox we could dominate with on the frozen lake when I see a dusty red automatic miata for purchase for about $1500. It had a hard top, a big ol’ dent in the fender, and an absolutely banging stereo. It was perfect. In about a weeks time we were at the guys apartment picking up the little red turd for $1200 cad. When we drove it home that night we started to learn about the “charms” this vehicle had to offer. For starters the headlights absolutely bit, I had my head out the window guiding my dad through the construction that littered the streets back to our house. This was an easy task because there was absolutely no passenger window. No passenger window in the wintertime meant it was colder than a witches tit on the drive back. We also discovered that the previous owner had emptied an entire box of “Mr.Noodles” into the vehicle and it was getting ground to a fine snortable powder under my buttocks as I sat in the passenger seat. We somehow managed to make it home without causing any major accidents and we began the task of preparing the car for the jankiest racing event ever invented. For the next couple weeks I would spend my weekends trying to scrub all the hepatitis and layers of crust out of the miata. At some point we figured it needed googly eyes and a boso style straightpipe exhaust with supertrapp disks on the end. The exhaust was basically made up of 20 different sized pieces of piping that were laying around the shop but it seemed to do the job of making it the most obnoxiously loud car you will ever see. We slapped some studded tires on it and basically decided it was ready for 4+ hours of absolute ice racing abuse. The night before the test day at the frozen lake it snowed about a foot which eliminated any chance of us actually driving the car to the track so we ended up strapping it to a trailer and towing it there instead. When we arrived at the track we unloaded the turd and off-roaded it down to the lake track (which was still being “carved” at the time). We cranked up the Alice cooper on the stereo and we started to haul major ass. Now the car actually did something that surprised us both, it was very very very good on the ice. Not once in a million years would we ever consider a miata to be a world class vehicle on a ice track. However we couldn’t really say the same about snow banks because the whole front end of the vehicle pretty much siezed up when it got snow packed into it. After we did some spirited crashing and a handful of laps and we much called it a day and parked the miata back near our trailer. The following day we would return to see the fleet of cars brought by our competitors. The most notable ones being a rainbow ball of metal which you almost couldn’t believe was running (or was even a car at some point for that matter) and a caged dodge omni. Now that I think of it there was even a lancer participating at some point. The MX-5HIT would really have some stiff competition. The drivers gather around to discuss the rules. The rules were simple. 1. You must be able to reach the beer cooler in the back seat. 2. When someone bins it into the snow barrier outlining the track we would all come to a stop to pull him out (this ended up keeping the racing extremely close for multiple hours). 3. On the final laps it would be “prison rules” where anything goes and nobody would be rescued. 4. Pee breaks would be held periodically and we would stop to eat food somewhere in the middle of the race. Personally I think this ruleset is flawless and every form of Motorsport should adopt them. Anyways, all the road hazards line up to the start line and take off in a plume of impending mechanical disaster. Immediately the MX-5HIT squeezes its way to the front of the pack behind some caged neons. The sheer racket this straightpiped turd was making was an absolute spectacle. We roared down the straightaway at over 120kmh with no foresight to how we would eventually slow down, but it didn’t matter, this car was starting to show its true colours as an ice racing beast. At the halfway mark in the race a handful of cars had already been “eliminated”. Remember that rainbow ball of metal I referenced? I guess it turned out to be a corolla (or what was left of one). The driver hit the snow bank so hard that it send snow about 70 feet in the air. The impact caused the transmission to completely empty itself of any sort of fluids. I also believe the lancer retired early as well due to similar mechanical issues (as the car mysteriously vanished part way through the race). Honestly if I was a betting man I wouldn’t be counting on the miata making it either. At that point it had been at around 6000rpm steady for about 2 hours yet it still showed no signs of wanting to through the towel in. After a short break we resumed the antics of thrashing some junkyard rejects around the frozen lake for another mildly uneventful couple hours. A flag was waved and we returned to the start/finish line to prepare for the final prison rule laps. The race starts and once again the miata stutters its way back into the lead (I forgot to mention this entire time the car had a catastrophic misfiring issue either due to a bad AFM or coil pack so it was basically running on 3 until it reached over 4K rpm so we had to keep the revs high for the whole race). Halfway through the prison laps we almost got sandwhich between 75% of a Ford Explorer and an ice barrier but the small miata slipped through like a wet bar of soap. Coming on the last laps we had essentially secured podium somehow. The outcast miata had beaten the odds. Not only was it a compatible ice racing vehicle but it also held together at 6k rpm for the better part of a 4-5 hour endurance race with absolutely zero problems. We cross the finish line sideways blaring eurobeat as loud as it would go and then we pull into the pits where we get to assess what the racing ended up doing to the car. As we peel ourselves off the hot seats we notice that the 30 year old seat fabric is steaming. All the hepatitis I had convinced myself that was absorbed within the dirty seat fabric had now gone airborne. Other than that the car seemed absolutely flawless, the only difficulty we ended up having is cleaning up the snow in the engine bay because the bottom is completely sealed off which meant snow could just fill the engine bay completely. We also found out that the hot engine had basically turned the snow into an ice cocoon for the bottom half of the engine. Other than that the persistent MX-5HIT had saved itself from an impending future of being crushed at the local scrap yard.

After the race the MX-5HIT pretty much sat dormant in a shed rotting away for 8 months until I decided to try to “repair” the mangled soft top roof. Now I would like to say some words of advice, never never never never ever ever ever ever think you can repair a miata soft top. It’s absolute hell. From the disassembly to the re assembly it’s an absolute pain in the ass. I somehow managed to get a completely new top fitted and the old one removed in a total of about 2 days. With my new soft top fitted I try to latch the roof onto the car to make sure everything fits right when i hear a ripping sound. I glance over to the drivers side of the vehicle to see a 7.5 inch tear along the edge of my brand new soft top. Honestly if I wasn’t such a calm individual I have no doubt I would have probably thrown whatever I was holding right through the side of the car. After that the car just sat around for another month until I decided to fix the misfiring problem. A coil pack was ordered and I made it my goal to instal it in the least botch way possible. I fired the car up and it still ran like shit (I guess it’s called the MX-5HIT for a reason right?) so I do some very very brief online browsing and somehow my brain came to a conclusion that I need to “clean the MAF”. Now there are a few problems with that. The first being that my particular miata never came with a MAF, it came with a AFM. The second of the problems was that I didn’t bother taking the time to look up what a miata MAF actually looked like. So me being stupid I decide to unscrew the plug on the side of the AFM (oppose to just unplugging it) and I sprayed MAF cleaner inside. Little did I know that when you unscrew the side of the AFM instead of unplugging it and pull on the cable, it’s the equivalent to when a bee stings something and the stinger rips its guts out making it die. had killed my miata. The car wouldn’t start or anything. My brain slowly puts the puzzle pieces together and I realize that I am a fool. When my dad discovered that the eye sore of a car would be a semi permenant decoration in his shop until another AFM was ordered he said that he wanted to strangle me Homer Simpson style. We managed to saw the top of the AFM off and do some open heart surgery to all the connectors I had obliterated. The car now ran and I saved myself from getting an ass whooping of the century.

Somehow I had convinced myself that it would be a smart idea to bring the hurt car home and use it as a daily driver. Boy was I a big dummy. The first clue that something with the car was wrong was when I took it for a rip an it momentarily hesitated when I touched the throttle. I thought it was odd but thought nothing of it. A couple days later the car passes away yet again but this time in my school parking lot. Out of all the things that killed this relic it ended up being me. The open heart surgery on the AFM just didn’t hold. Andddd the miata spends yet more time sitting around. Eventually a new AFM was ordered and installed the right way (live and learn I guess right?). It was during installation I found a special pool of liquid forming within the engine bay, scratch that, two pools of liquid. The first being the master cylinder which decided that it only wanted to leak everywhere and take the paint off the car instead of Hold fluid. The second was the fluid reservoir for the windshield wipers which leaked worse than a bucket with no bottom. The car is an absolute cursed dangerous pile of shit but for some reason I couldn’t bear seeing it part with my family. I actually got curious one day and decided to do some looking into on the previous service history and accident reports on our little racecar (since the car came with absolutely zero papers saying it was ever serviced) and by golly it hadn’t been touched a Mazda employee since the day it was built in Hiroshima back in the late 80’s. It turns out it wasn’t missing service papers, it just didn’t have any. And this was the same vehicle that spent 4-5 hours in the red with all 90hp screaming at 6000rpm. I’ve convinced myself that this car deserves a second life that isn’t the junk yard. Sure it may be the rustiest slowest miata in the continent but it’s one tough bastard. And I’m not sure if I’m the only one but I had zero interest in owning a miata until I actually got the chance to drive one. Even the shittiest miata of them all still ended up being a good ass car.

[nocturbia]

1. Waking up.

“BEEEP BEEP RIIIING RIIING, the alarm clock jerks 14 year old Jessica Parker out of a sound sleep. She groans and fumbles to shut it off. Her mom calls from the next room, ‘Hurry up Jessie you’re going to be late!’ Jessie wills herself to get up, and get ready for school. She looks into the mirror at her frizzy red hair, which always turns into a rat’s nest after sleeping. As she begins to brush out her tangled locks, her annoying little brother comes running into the room making noises and holding Tonka trucks above his head, yelling ‘Jessie, Jessie! Look at my trucks!’ Ugh, thinks Jessie, why me?”

Yeah. You get the picture. That actually hurt a little bit to write. Don’t use the alarm clock, just don’t—unless you want your story to sound like it was written by whoever made the opening to Rebecca Black’s “Friday” music video. It won’t grab anyone’s attention. Did it work in Groundhog Day? You bet. Will it work in your story? Probably not, unless it’s extremely original, like the alarm is set to specific song or sound (like a Barney song waking up a 40 year old man, or a person’s voice saying a specific sentence) that is somehow relevant to the character or story. I don’t know, even that is risky. This type of thing is just so overused, I’ve seen it a ridiculous amount of times. In my  own naivety I’ve used it a ridiculous amount of times, (though I must say, I usually do it in a creative manner). Is a waking up scene possible to write in an engaging attention-grabbing way? Absolutely. I’ll probably even do it again some time. Just be really careful with this one... it’s so easy to be cliché!

An article entitled “11 Ways Not To Start Your Novel” from darleyandersonblog.com lists specific clichés you should avoid:

A dream. Particularly a dream that starts out like a normal scene and then weird things begin to happen before, oh twist, it turns out it was all just a dream

Anyone ‘sitting bolt upright in bed’, ‘burying their head deeper into the pillow’ or the sheets being ‘drenched with sweat’

Onomatopoeia. Alarm clocks, ringtones, knockings on doors – leave them out

Any of these phrases: ‘Breakfast is ready’, ‘you’re going to be late for [x]’, ‘sleepy head’, ‘wakey wakey’, ‘rise and shine’, ‘up and at them’, ‘just five more minutes’ and any variations thereupon

The smell of breakfast rousing your protagonist from their slumber/bed

Your protagonist getting out of bed to look at themselves in the mirror (assuming they look the way they would on any other day and haven’t, say, aged several years from the last morning they remember)

Your protagonist being even slightly hung-over

Your protagonist waking up on the first day of anything in particular

2. Weather/landscape description.

These used to bore me to death when I was younger. I’d crack open a book, see a description of rolling hills with mountains in the distance and purple mist, and slide the book back on the shelf. Essentially, you should avoid anything like this:

“The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land.”

- Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary

3. Clichés like “once upon a time in a land far away.”

This is an obvious one, but apparently people still do it. Heck, *I* used to do it when I was way younger. Unless you KNOW it’s a cliché and you are doing it to be witty or funny, skip it!

4. Description of the town/kingdom/planet/etc.

World-building can be fun, but in general it’s too early in the story for readers to care about the kind of cars people drive in your world, and their system of government, and how the town got started, or the races of people that live there. Don’t slam a Wikipedia page about your setting at the reader, it’s your first page for heaven’s sake!

5. Detailed character descriptions or back-story.

Don’t clutter the opening—the most critical part of your entire book—with unimportant details. In all honestly, how important is the color of the characters eyes or hair? Does it tell us anything about her desires, struggles, or personality? Not likely.

“I dislike endless ‘laundry list’ character descriptions. For example: ‘She had eyes the color of a summer sky and long blonde hair that fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her petite nose was the perfect size for her heart-shaped face. Her azure dress—with the empire waist and long, tight sleeves—sported tiny pearl buttons down the bodice. Ivory lace peeked out of the hem in front, blah, blah.’ Who cares! Work it into the story.”

- Laurie McLean, Foreword Literary

Hinting at back-story is fine, but do not delve into a lengthy description of what happened before the story started, we want to know what is happening now. Don’t start with a biography—telling where your character was born and where they went to school and who their best friend was and how they grew up with so and so, and then got a job doing such and such, and became emotionally scarred because of this or that, etc.

6. Prologue.

Maybe I’m the only one, but I always used to just skip prologues and then read them after I was finished with the book. Prologues are just another cheap way of stuffing a bunch of back-story in. However, I know a lot of successful famous books have used prologues, so they’re not always unacceptable, but if you can, work in the information somewhere else—maybe even if you need to have a flashback later on. Readers are put off by prologues that they don’t understand and have visibly little to do with the actual first chapter.

7. Addressing the reader directly.

Something I’ve noticed a lot of people say is that you should not start off by addressing your reader, like “Welcome to my story. If you’re reading this, you might be wondering...blah blah blah...”. I would agree that most of the time this is a bad idea, for one, because it puts up a barrier of self awareness that keeps the reading from being drawn into the story. However, I think there is definitely some potential to have some fun with this kind of opening if it’s done in a creative way.

8. Telling the reader your work of fiction is a true story.

Do not tell us it’s a true story, we already know it’s not. Acting like it’s a true story is fine, but don’t outright tell us, like “This really happened many years ago” or “this is the true story of how I became...” Trust me, telling us your fictional story is true is only going to remind us that it’s not. Your readers probably aren’t five year olds. In Rick Riordan’s series,The Kane Chronicles, he acts like the story is a factual account of events that really happened, even saying it’s a transcript of a digital recording. And it kind of works for that story, but you’ll notice he never outright claims it to be true—this makes it more believable.

9. An outlandish shocking zany hooker.

Everyone tells you to write an attention-grabbing opening sentence, right? This leads many beginners to start with things like, “When I woke up that morning, I had no idea my little sister would turn into an alien and try to kill me” or “‘I shall kill you all!’ cried the ghastly bat-like creature as it rose above my school’s football field.” It’s crazy, it’s out-of-the-ordinary, it’s sure to hook a reader, right? Wrong. It’s boring. It’s red flag amateurish and sounds desperate.Note that this is not bashing the sci-fi, fantasy, or horror genre. I’m all for creepy stalkers, magical water dragons, and starship battles—but aliens that turn into flying pigs with glittery blood shooting out of their eyes is not creative, it’s stupid. Guess what? Just because your story has some supernatural happenings doesn’t mean you don’t have to be realistic. As a reader, I truly want to believe that what is happing is real, but if it starts off as too crazy without easing into the whole supernatural fantasy world thing, I will have a hard time doing that.Although, to be honest, I’m grateful when people do open this way, it allows me to instantly know I shouldn’t waste time reading it. If your book actually is about that crazy uncreative stuff in you mentioned, you’ve probably got more problems than a bad opening line.

10. Things the reader does not understand.

One of the main offenders of this is rule is when people start off with lengthy unexplained dialogue. Don’t have a bunch of dialogue with no tags. Sometimes even one sentence is too long with no context for the reader to understand it in. We want to know who is speaking, where they are, and who they are speaking to.As a general rule, don’t start us off with things we don’t understand. We won’t be curious and want to solve the mystery of what the heck you are talking about, we will be confused and bored and look for something that doesn’t seem like it needs a prerequisite to the first page. It is like when you’re in a class that’s way over your head in school and you don’t understand a thing, so you’re really bored.