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mickyschumacher · 9 months ago

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𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 .ೃ࿐

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: you were in love with f1's beloved honey badger and you had been for almost year. but why in the world had you instead fallen for his teammate? or in which infidelity has laid it's sticky little hands on you.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: slight angst, infidelity naturally, falling out of love, steamy makeout sesh, suggestive content, pining, sad boy hours for daniel, lando being kind of a sneaky bastard, age-gap between reader and boys (8 years for dan and 2 years for lan), reader born in australia, set in 2020/2021, false or incorrect marine biology lingo and protocols lol, mention of crossiant horner, poor explanation of f1, mentions of insecurity, proof-read...ish

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: daniel ricciardo x marine biologist!female reader, lando norris x marine biologist!female reader

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 4k+

𝐀/𝐍: i felt bad for not posting so here's me digging into my reserves! written when i did more song-based fics!! i wish life wasn't so busy 🤧 i have started a few thingsssssss but it's definitely going to be a while before i post them sorry 😣

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

⋆ •°. 。 .°• ⋆

You, honestly, were a normal girl. Mundane as mundane gets. Never once had you imagined of cameras, headlines and the need for a PR specialist in your life.

But it's what you had gotten. That's what Daniel Ricciardo came with.

You had met the Australian on pure accident. It was late 2020 and the season had just come an end. Hamilton was a six-times World Champion and Daniel had his last season with Renault. He hadn't got the result he wanted but he was optimistic about his future with McLaren. So eventually, he headed home to Australia for the Christmas holidays.

Now you would like to consider yourself a well-versed Australian. Especially considering you were born there. Robert Irwin was the most beloved Australian for years to come and Margot Robbie and Chris Hemsworth were your Aussie reps in America.

Somehow, however, you had never really got F1 or Formula One. That's not to say you hadn't heard of it. Honestly, for the past few years it was difficult to pass Albert Park in the summer of March without it flashing in front of your eyes. But if someone were to ask you anything about it, you would blink blankly and apologise.

Which is exactly what you did in early December. You were out having lunch with your closest friends at a local cafe, catching up on the year in the fresh yet skin-damaging Aussie sun.

You were in midst conversation when a brunette girl politely interrupted you. "Hi, sorry. This is going to sound really weird. I'm doing this on a bet. But do all three of you know that man over there? In the hat?”

You looked over to her table full of people. It seemed like she was with her family and friends. You and your friends zoned on the man in the hat, a guy who was trying to not make it obvious that he was aware of what was going on.

You scrutinised him carefully and unsurprisingly, you didn’t know him. Surprisingly, you did find that he was attractive. The curly hair, the scruff… you wondered whether he was actually Australian because no men in Australia looked like that.

Your two friends nodded while confirming with one another. “It’s Daniel, right? The driver?” One of them asked.

Your other friend hummed in agreement.

The brunette looked over at you. You blinked at her as your face slowly morphed into an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

The brunette, which you expected to be somewhat sad about it, ended up smiling while your friends’ faces dropped.

“Thank you! Oh my god. You have no idea what you’ve just done!” The brunette laughed loudly, capturing the attention of her table. She pointed at the man in the hat, clutching her stomach. “She doesn’t know who you are, Danny. Take that!”

Similarly to your friends, the male’s face dropped. He looked at you and tilted his head.

When Daniel actually saw you for the first time, he was in shock. Not the type of shock of an Aussie not knowing who he was. But rather the shock of being in the presence as someone as beautiful as you.

Your eyes were tantalising and your apologetic expression was cute.

He waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s okay. I’m just an F1 driver.”

You nodded in slow understanding. Maybe you had in fact seen his posters in Albert Park. Honestly, you couldn’t be sure. Life as a marine biologist was busy and all over the place. Recognising celebrities or athletes was kind of the last thing on your mind.

━━━━━━━━━━━

That day you went home with the expectation of a normal tomorrow. One where you were out at the ocean and exploring the waters you had loved so much.

You wish you could say it came as a shock to see that same curly haired man on the wharf, but given the current temperatures that heavily contrasted your winter, it was reasonable as any other Aussie here.

What you didn’t expect was you passing him to get to your boat and then hearing a voice enter the air. “Hey! Excuse me. Sorry. You’re the girl from yesterday, right?”

You turned to the man, hand over your eyes to protect yourself from the harsh rays and take a closer look at him. Just in case it wasn’t him.

“Uh, yeah? You’re the driver, right?”

Daniel gave a wide smile, extending out his hand. “I’m Daniel. Daniel Ricciardo.”

Oh my. What a smile he had. The type to make you feel happy just by looking at it. You couldn’t even help but smile in response. You reached out to shake his hand, not ready to feel a weird sort of spark between the two of you.

“I... I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you.”

Daniel slowly removed his hand from yours, grabbing any last second he could. He eyed the briefcase and scuba gear in your hands. “You diving?”

You looked at your equipment. “Well, testing. I’m a marine biologist. Although, I guess I’m still diving.”

Daniel pursed his lips. Now he had to get to know you. You were beautiful and a marine biologist. An Aussie dream.

“Oh yeah? What are you testing?” He queried with a raised brow,

“Oh! Uh, currently things like the local fish populations in decline. Their habitat. Whether they’re safe or not. Algae growth. Predators. pH levels. All the fun stuff...” You sheepishly trailed off once you realised you began rambling.

You didn’t know but in that moment Daniel was in awe of you. The twinkle in your eyes that rose once you talked about your work. Like your work was your passion. That’s how he felt about F1.

You watched Daniel nod as if he were actually interested. “Do you mind if I come with? I won’t contaminate anything. Promise.”

You mended your brows together. It wasn’t uncommon for people to ask to join. But the way Daniel said it… like it was something he had to do or he would regret it for the rest of his life, you couldn’t help feel compelled. “Um, yeah. Do you not have to be on the road or something though? ‘Cause your a driver?”

“Oh F1 only goes between March and November. We’re on holiday at the moment. Well sort of.”

“Oh,” you mumbled out cluelessly. Your cheeks burned with a tinge of embarrassment. How had you managed to get through all these years of living and not known about this?

Daniel laughed lightly at the reddening of your cheeks. Just when he though he could find you any cuter. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you F1. And you can teach me the ocean.”

So the two of you went into your boat. The sun beat down onto you so harshly that for most of it, you had retreated to driving the vessel in the shade as Daniel sat next to you.

It had gone so well that this, whatever it was, became a regular occurrence after you exchanged numbers that day.

You were learning a lot about him and his job. He was actually Italian-Australian. He started this passion with go-karting. You found out F1 wasn’t just racing but it was racing to another extreme. 300 kph. God, getting your car to 100 kph for the open road was thrill enough for you.

That made Daniel wheeze with laughter and promise he would take you for a drive in a sports car to get a taste of the speed he craved for.

Apparently F1 had 10 teams, each with 2 drivers. In each of the teams, the drivers had the same car to drive, cars that were constructed originally by each team. The point of the races were for two championships. The Driver’s World Championship, the title the driver wanted to win, and the Constructors’ Championship, the title everyone from the driver to the team strategist wanted to win. They were calculated by the amount of points received by the drivers in the races.

All the races were settled through a long weekend of sorts. Fridays were for practices to see how the car was on the track as they had different conditions per track. Saturdays were for qualifying. Here, Daniel would push the car to its limits to get the fastest lap time as the drivers were ranked to then get a position for the actual race tomorrow. Sundays were where they raced for points.

All of it was slightly complex, especially with the penalties and rules that they followed. Buy you seemed to get the gist of it.

Daniel had learnt that you had grown up in Australia and like him had to travel a lot for your work. Weirdly, some times his race dates would match up with your travelling. Daniel chose to take that as a sign. You were 8 years younger than him, taking him by a slight surprise. You were 23 and he was 31. But it didn’t seem like it mattered to you. Communication between the two of you was a smooth sail.

Daniel even opened up about his time with Red Bull. A whirl of bad and annoying memories. But when you had said that you would like to see Christian Horner step on to your boat and throw him overboard into a tank of piranhas, only for thirty seconds of course, Daniel had never laughed harder.

━━━━━━━━━━━

By the billionth time you had hung out, the sun was setting in the evening, providing a refreshing cold breeze to match the heat. Christmas was close soon. And Daniel was aching to ask you out.

He had to go into this next season of driving knowing he had you by his side. Even his own family was pushing him to ask. Especially his sister, Michelle, who had dubbed herself the cupid as she was the very brunette who had technically introduced you two, or so she claimed.

The both of you had finished a dive and were heading to Daniel's car. You were supposed to have dinner with his family on this fine evening.

"You good, Danny?" You looked over to the man. Daniel, for the loud and outgoing person he was, was being rather quiet today. You couldn't really put your finger on why either. You took pride in being able to read people. But it looked like his mind was at some sort of battle.

He gave an idle hum, getting into the driver's seat.

You raised a brow, closing the door on the passenger side shut. Your hand reached out to his thigh, making him break his trance and flicker his eyes towards you.

"Listen, I don't know what it is or what's going on. But I'm all ears if you want," You smiled, patting his thigh. You went to remove your hand but Daniel placed his hand over yours, keeping you there.

Daniel's heart was in his throat. He was not normally a nervous man. He was the epitome of confidence. But you seemed to tear that down, in the nicest way, quite easily.

Daniel absorbed your curious eyes before releasing a shaky breath. "Uh," he awkwardly chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not normally like this. I can't really explain it... but these past few weeks, I... I haven't felt like this in a really long time. With you I feel free... happy... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really like you. And even if I'm ancient, I would really like to be with you. You know. Together. If that wasn't clear."

The smile on your face the moment you realised what was going on hadn't stopped growing. You watches his eyes dart around, looking for a signal of anything. A yes. A no.

You looked down at your hands. The warmth of his spread among your one. You turned your hand to intertwine them with his and squeezed his hand, looking back up at him. "I think you took the words right out my mouth. I like you too, Danny. A lot. Even as an 'old ass man.'"

An odd silence settled within the car as Daniel simply stared at you, honey brown eyes hold your own.

"Danny? Are you okay?"

Daniel's eyes turned into crescents while his infamous wide smile sprawled onto your face. "Can I kiss you?"

You stilled in the passenger seat. Your eyes flickered to his lips before meeting his eyes once again. You weren't sure if you could trust your voice at the moment so you gave a curt nod.

Daniel smiled softly at the flustered expression you sported. Instead of leaning his head in like you expected to, he reached over to your seat and lifted you out of it. You released a small yelp before landing onto his lap, straddling his crotch as you faced towards him.

Daniel's fingers played with the slightly dampened tresses that had fallen around your face and pushed them behind your ears. His fingers trailed down to your heated cheeks and to your jaw. Bringing you closer to him, he leaned his head towards you.

Daniel's lips fell into yours. His hands soon fell to your back as your arms snaked his neck. The world... your surroundings were all gone. All you could feel was each other. His fingers sneaking past the hem of your shirt and grazing your bare skin. The action sent a wave of heat within you.

You let out a small muffled moan causing Daniel to adjust himself in his seat. A bulge had formed in his pants, aching at your touch. You released yourself from him for a gasp of air, which fell into further pleasurable gasps as Daniel's swollen lips had found your neck, leaving a trail of small sloppy kisses.

Daniel rested his chin onto your shoulder before pulling back to look at you. He grinned at your dazed expression. "As much as I would like to continue this in such a fitting setting like a car, I would rather our first time in an actual bed."

You let out a small laugh, feeling yourself fluster even further while you gave him a tight hug.

And that's how your relationship had started. Since then, it had been almost a year. In that year, you had gotten impossibly closer. You had visited his races without telling him because you were scared. You were scared of distracting him and scared for him. The first F1 race you went to matched up to your meetings with other marine biologists and techs in Spain. God, you didn't know cars could even go that fast. The occasional toss of a car to the side sent fear coursing through you.

Eventually, Daniel had found out and reassured you that you being there wouldn't harm anything. In fact, the thought of it calmed him down and encouraged him. He had even introduced you to some of the team and whispered in your ear when he pointed to Red Bull's team principal.

"Oh... so that's the man going overboard. That's a shame. You didn't tell me he look like a sea otter. Sea otters are supposed look cute. I'll just pretend he's plant plankton."

Daniel had never laughed harder at something. Just when he thought he couldn't love you more. God, you were a sight to behold. He would never understand how you managed to be who you were.

You had felt the same.

Well, at least that was until when you met his new teammate in McLaren, Lando Norris.

Lando was two years younger than you and what some people called the British Ricciardo. He was constantly smiling and cracking jokes. He was the moodmaker.

The vibe he had was like an annoying little brother of a sort.

But people obviously didn't feel attracted to someone if they truly thought of them like that.

You shouldn't feel this way. It was wrong. You had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who adored you. You had tried to keep yourself occupied with your job to avoid having to attend too many races and meet the McLaren team, in fear of meeting Lando.

But of course, how were you going to refuse to celebrate Lando's 2nd podium of the year in Monaco when Daniel asked?

So here you were. In a club dressed in a cream coloured set: a long sleeved bralette and a long skirt starting from your waist, ending just before your heels with a slit in the middle.

The compliment you had received in your ear from Daniel made you wish you could say you were dressed for him in the first place. But it would be a lie to say that.

You had navigated yourself around the club to drown yourself in some alcohol. You needed a distraction and you felt that being some what drunk and out of it would've helped.

you should take it as a compliment that i got drunk and made fun of the way you talk. you should think about the consequence of your magnetic field being a little too strong. and i got a boyfriend, he's older than us he's in the club doing, i don't know what you're so cool, it makes me hate you so much.

You were out of it for sure. Because sober you did not have the guts you had right now. The guts to not only sit at the same table as Lando but next to him and make fun of his British accent with Carlos.

"No, Carlos. I'm pretty sure he sounded like 'No no no... you ruined my ice cream,'" You laughed lightly as the Spaniard refused to agree with you.

"No he has bit of a weird sound at the 'ruined' part. He sound like those kids in the UK... on the road? What are they again..."

Lando's face burst with amusement. He laughed so hard, he had to prevent his cup from falling out of his hand. "Do you mean..." He gasped for air, "Roadmen?"

Jesus. Carlos Sainz discussing roadmen was the funniest thing that had happened so far.

You weren't sure where Daniel was even. All you knew he was probably talking to some other team member of McLaren. You were rather preoccupied and entranced by the British male next to you.

You couldn't explain it but it was as if there was a magnetic field around him and you, like an element, were simply attracted to him. As if there was no other path to go. He made you laugh differently. Feel differently. He was also a looker. That boyish charm that simply pulled you in. It made you wonder how strong his magnetic field was.

The science of it was simple. You may be a marine biologist but you hadn't flunked physics. The stronger the intensity of a field, the further the magnet, Lando, will be able to attract elements, like you. All you knew was that he was strong enough to inexplicably take you attention away from your own boyfriend.

you're so gorgeous i can't say anything to your face 'cause look at your face. and i'm so furious at you for making me feel this way but what can i say? you're gorgeous.

This attraction you felt to Lando what ridiculous in itself. But you had felt it from when you first met him and you felt it now. Lando was simply gorgeous. His smile was breathtaking. His laugh felt pretty.

And it infuriated you. You wanted to yell at him, tell him to stop. These feelings, this flutter, this tingle... make it all stop, you wanted to say.

But you could never say that to his face. How could you? Those same things came back every time you looked at him.

The smile. The flutter. The tingle.

You wondered whether he had even looked at himself in the mirror. You wondered whether ever had felt insecure about the way he looked and that if he did, you wished he hadn't.

Everything thing about him was simply enticing. A delightful view... from the arms of Daniel.

you should take it as a compliment that i'm talking to everyone here but you. and you should think about the consequence of you touching my hand in a darkened room. if you've got a girlfriend, i'm jealous of her. but if you're single that's honestly worse. 'cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts.

This feeling... this infatuation was overwhelming for you. You were a taken girl. You had even made it was to the multiple Instagram F1 'WAGs' accounts and were met with the most glorious welcomes by fans.

You needed to get a grip on yourself for Christ's sake. Lando was also taken. Even if he was single, which if you were being honest was an insult to romance itself, you didn't have a chance let alone now. No matter how jealous you were, you had to be realistic. You paled in comparison to the fame Portuguese models that F1 drivers often found themselves with.

Of course, you had to admit they were beautiful. You had no conflict with them. They weren't your classic mean girls. They were impossibly nice and you even found yourself in some interesting conversations. But at the end of the day, you were simply a marine biologist.

So in the darkness of the club, you had managed to isolate yourself from Lando, who had gone with Pierre somewhere, and made the struggling and gruelling effort to talk to anyone else but him. You had conversed with Carlos before he had gone somewhere with his girlfriend. You had settle for Charles as a distraction.

Charles was a pleasure to talk to. As always, he was also so kind and sweet with his words. The type you were sure that when you looked at the, you knew that their mother raised them right.

Daniel had finally found his way to you, mentioning that Zak Brown had just pulled him aside for a talking to. You asked if he was okay, in which he responded with a smile and said: "Now that I'm with you, yes."

You managed to give him a soft and believable smile. Daniel was standing behind you, joining in your conversation with Charles. It wasn't until you were in the midst of a conversation about life in Monaco that you felt a hand on yours.

You smiled gently, expecting it to be Daniel's but instead it was Lando's.

ocean blue eyes looking in mine. i feel like i might sink and drown and die.

Your eyes snapped up to meet Lando's face. His blue eyes bore into yours.

Those goddamn eyes of his would be the end of you. The similarity of them to the oceans you had travelled and the beautiful creatures you had seen was uncanny.

Your heart paced furiously against your chest. He must've been drunk or tipsy to the very least to stumble onto you. There was no way he had purposely wanted you to drown in his eyes.

You sucked in a quiet sharp breath and edged to removed your hand. But as quickly as you had made that decision, the gnawing feeling at your heart had grown more intense and taunted you. Lando's hand hurried to grab yours and place it back where it was.

Your eyes shook with awe and lingered with a dangerous thrill. You could feel his fingers rub the back of your hand gently before intertwining them.

You looked blankly at the table in front of you while Lando had joined in the conversation so casually, like nothing was even going on. You had to thank your stars that the club was able to be as dark as it was.

A lot of the noise around you had turned into white noise and blurs of sound. Charles must've complimented you as you had managed to capture some mention of fish and coral reefs from your boyfriend.

you make me so happy it turns back to sad. there's nothing i hate more than what i can't have and you are so gorgeous, it makes me so mad. you make me so happy it turns back to sad. there's nothing i hate more than what i can't have and guess i'll just stumble on home to my cats alone unless, you wanna come along?

It was Daniel kissing your cheek fondly and Lando's hand grazing your knee under the table that had brought you back to reality.

The happiness and adrenaline you felt was wrong. You knew with every crevice and fibre of your body that this had to stop. This attraction and sickly sweet infatuation with Lando. God, he just made you so fuzzy. You could barely think straight.

You were stuck in between two men who had their touch on you. It wasn't right. As much as you liked Lando, he angered your entire being. He had simply waltzed into your life. He was playing along with your feelings.

Lando's damning eyes averted to you when he felt your hand slip away from him forcefully.

You hoped the guilt in your eyes shone as much as they could in this darkness.

You were going to have to break up with a man who would give you everything. You would have to leave all of... this... and get away from here.

You needed everything to return to normal. You had no idea how exactly you were going to explain a sudden return home without inflicting any suspicion.

All you knew now was that you had to make a lengthy apology to a man you had not realised you had fallen out of love with.

You supposed that was love.

Love was a bittersweet feeling. It was beautiful and fluttering but brought a lot of tragedy and strife along with it.

That was love: simply gorgeous.

#mickyschumacher #formula 1 #f1 x reader #f1 x you #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #daniel ricciardo x reader #lando norris fanfic #lando norris #lando norris x reader #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo

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lost-in-fandoms · 5 months ago

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Maxiel soulmates AU in which people get numbers (numbers, dates, timestamps, coordinates...) on their wrist for important events in their soulmate's life.

For a long time Daniel's parents think he's broken.

They don't use quite those words obviously, but they're worried enough to make him think that there's something wrong with him. It's not unusual to not get soulmarks when you're very young, not many important things happen to toddlers, but when he turns eight and there's still no sign of any, they take him to a doctor. The doctor tells them not to worry, that maybe his soulmate is a late bloomer, or maybe a couple of years younger. They'll come.

When he turns ten, they take him to a specialist, who does all sort of things to him, from drawing blood to reaction tests to even a brain scan, but turns up empty handed. They'll come, is all she can say.

Daniel doesn't really care. He's eleven now, and he thinks all this soulmates stuff is a bit dumb. If you were meant to be with someone, why wouldn't the universe make it easier to find your way to them? Why would it put any sort of numbers on your skin instead of just a pair of coordinates and a date and a big old "MEET HERE" above it? Plus, plenty of people are happy without their soulmate. Some people can't afford to run after the numbers that appear on their skin, and they still find love. Daniel doesn't even want a soulmate anyway.

The day after he turns twelve he gets his first soulmark. It's just a small 2 on the inside of his wrist, but his mom cries over it. Daniel bites at it when he's alone in his room, before it disappears, wishing his soulmate could feel it.

They come more often after that, mostly random numbers and dates, but one day, when he's sixteen, a pair of coordinates. He tells himself he doesn't care, he's just curious, but he still looks them up. Turns out it's some place in northern France and, without his consent, his brain starts conjuring an image of his soulmate: a pretty french girl, with a long brown braid.

He's in Italy when he gets the second pair of coordinates, after a few years of just incomprehensible numbers, and for a moment he doesn't know how to react. She's in Italy too. Not that far away from him actually. He could probably take a train there, or a bus, if he wanted to.

But he doesn't want to. He has things to do, and he doesn't care about his soulmate anyway.

The coordinates keep coming from time to time, among the numbers. They're almost always scattered around Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium....) and even when he knows he could probably get there in a reasonable amount of time he never goes.

He has gotten into the habit of recording all the soulmarks he gets in a small notebook his mom had given him years and years ago, just out of curiosity. Sometimes, when he's feeling particularly lonely, he goes through the pages, rubbing his finger over the recorded dates and numbers.

Sometimes he wonders what she gets from him. Did she get the date of when he got into a kart for the first time? Maybe the coordinates of the first race he won? The number of his first Formula Renault car?

Some other times he tries to make sense of all the numbers he got (2, 18, 3, 24, 30, 110, 1...), wonders if she maybe moves around a lot and those are the numbers of her hotel rooms, or her address, of her seat on a flight. Usually he remembers he doesn't care before he can find any pattern to it.

One thing that he was not ready for when he finally reaches Formula 1 is how many questions about soulmates he was going to get. Reporters are of course always asking if he has "found her yet", but even the drivers are nosy, asking if he plans on getting to her next coordinates, or if he has figured anything out about her. Sebastian tells him about the time he had found his soulmate, when they were both still in high school. She had gotten a timestamp, something Daniel has never gotten, and when the time had come she had found herself sitting next to Sebastian on a bus. There had been no date, but it hadn't been necessary. They had both just known.

Daniel tries his best to never talk about soulmates with Sebastian again.

He still writes all the dates and numbers (he recently added a 33 to his collection) in his notebook, but, as he tells anyone who asks, he's here to race, not to go on a wild goose chase. If it happens it happens, if not, he'll still be happy.

Max is both quieter and louder than Sebastian. He's awkward and a bit shy, but when Daniel manages to make him laugh for the first time he's so loud Daniel almost startles. Max has a bracelet over his wrist, covering the spot where his soulmarks must appear. Daniel doesn't ask about it.

In Spain, after the race, Daniel finds the day's date on his wrist. It looks a little bigger than usual, maybe, but he doesn't know what that could mean. He doesn't really care. It's funny though how many people seem to be having an important day that day.

Max asks about his soulmate only once. They're in Malaysia and they're both drunk and Daniel is starting to consider if it's morally and physically wrong to get both him and Max another shot when Max brings it up.

"Your soulmate..." he says, finger almost touching the 2 on Daniel's wrist. Daniel tenses, doesn't know if he wants Max to draw back or draw closer, but Max does neither thing, just hovering there. It feels like standing a little too close to an old cable TV, and Daniel drags his arm away.

"What about her?" he asks, harsher than he meant to be. He sees Max stiffen a little, but doesn't really care. He doesn't want to have this conversation, especially not here and not now.

"Do you think you will want to find them one day?" There's something in Max's voice, something too complicated for Daniel to decipher. If Max is still able to have a coherent conversation about soulmates, it means Daniel is going to have to get him that shot.

"I don't care," he says, hoping Max gets from his tone that the conversation is over. When he sees him frown and open his mouth again though, he knows he's going to have to deviate further.

He pushes his shoulder against Max's, jostling him before slinging his arm around his neck, subtly pointing at the people around the club.

"Besides," he murmurs directly in Max's ears. He feels him shiver and press closer, so he raises his voice slightly. "Why would I need some French girl, when there's plenty of available ones here, yeah?"

He feels Max freeze against him, but he's already pushing off, laughing. As far as he's concerned, this conversation is over. He has drinks to drink and girls to kiss. He's a winner today, who cares about all this bullshit anyway?

Max never asks again.

From time to time, Daniel feels him looking, but Max is always looking at him anyway. It's easy to ignore when his wrist is the object of his focus.

Things start seriously going downhill during 2018. The car is unreliable, the team's focus has clearly shifted to Max, Daniel feels rejected and disrespected. Things with Max are still mostly good outside the track, but in the garage the tension is rising and rising. Daniel knows it's going to snap, everyone knows it, he just isn't expecting it to snap because of him crashing in the back of his own fucking teammate.

He's never felt like this, livid with rage and so much disappointment he doesn't even know how to deal with it. He's mean in the interviews, angry in the debrief, snappy with Michael. When he sees Max walking towards him while he's trying to leave the paddock, a hole in the shape of his fist left behind, he glares hard enough to make anyone run. But not Max, of course. He tries to talk to him, tries to explain, again, why it wasn't his fault. Daniel just tells him to get lost, barely stops himself from raising his fist again.

He's had enough. Of the car, of the team, of Max. He wants to be left alone. Obviously though the universe has decided that he's not suffered enough for a day, because when he finally gets to his hotel room there are numbers on the inside of his wrist. Coordinates.

Without really meaning to, he finds himself looking them up. Closing the tab, opening it again, carefully putting them in, once, twice, three more times.

Baku. The coordinates are in the paddock.

He feels nauseous. His hands are shaking when he goes to grab his notebook. Everything suddenly makes terrible sense. Not getting soulmarks for so long, the coordinates all around Europe, the karting numbers. Spain 2016. The 33.

He turns the pages, hoping the numbers will change, hoping he is making it all up. Irritatingly though, Sebastian had been right once again. He just knows. His soulmate isn't some pretty girl waiting for him in France.

His soulmate is Max Verstappen.

#thank you baku :D #i have had a vague soulmate au idea in my head since yesterday but couldn't figure out how to get it where i wanted it #i'm still not fully happy with it i feel like it's missing something but oh well at least it's out of my brain #if there are typos no there aren't <3 #maxiel #my writing

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carsthatnevermadeitetc · 2 years ago

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Renault 5 Turbo, 1980. No. 2 of 1690 mid-engined R5 Turbo models made is to be offered at auction in France. Finished in Bleu Olympe, the car travelled just under 22,000km and has undergone restoration including the interior refurbished by the Selliers du Domaine, Alpine and Renault Sport specialists. Offered without reserve, the auctioneers estimate is €130,000 - 180,000 ($142 - 200K)

Photos © Loïc Kernen

auction listing

#Renault #Renault 5 Turbo #1980 #car no. 2 #auction #cars for sale #R5 Turbo #restored #mid-engine #low milage

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lutethebodies · 6 months ago

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Lute the Bodies: A BG3/5e Cesspool

New pin for a reintroduction, collecting series links below and abouty things under the cut.

I'm just here for escapism and related brain-rotting enthusiasms. I’m compelled to create things and am maybe a bit too eager to share them all.

Series

Tav Tuesdays: profiles for my BG3 Tavs, originally from 5e.

Tav Mood Boards: quickie montages for my BG3 Tavs.

Tav Deep Dives: answers to folks' insightful questions.

Lost Songs for Lost Singers: about my bard's best tunes.

Worldbuilding Wednesdays: a 5e homebrew world tour.

Minthara: Judging My Tavs; Taken to Act 1; A Duo Run Diary

About Me

I’m a freelance creative and house-spouse from Southern California. I’ve been a professional graphic designer since 2004, and since 2020 I’ve specialized in creating map illustrations and artistic cartography. When not designing, I bike for exercise, make music, and follow baseball.

In classic lore bard fashion, my jams are trivia and general knowledge—I'm especially into the ways history, geography, and language intersect—but I'm not a specialist in very much (even maps; I'm definitely not a "real" cartographer).

Fandom-wise, I go for mainstreamy/conventional fantasy and sci-fi (Stars Trek, Wars, and Battle; Dune, Tolkein, GRRM) but also some more recent works (by Jemisin, Eames, Roanhorse) and/or fairly niche (the Marys Stewart and Renault) in both those genres as well as others. All my faves are problematic and I’m fine with that.

BG3 is the first video game I’ve been sucked into since Final Fantasy 1, circa 1992 (after the first two Zeldas and Ultima 4). I played D&D 2e briefly back then and play 5e regularly now.

In case it matters, I am much closer to 51 than 21, my pronouns are he/him, and I am happily monogamous/married. I don't post salacious stuff but I should probably call this place "18+". I block for my own sanity, because like I said, I’m here for the escapism.

I don't want to be overtly opinionated or take-y, but I’m too old, straight, white, and male to be anything but a demographic outlier On Here, so please be patient with any associated obliviousness and I'll try not to be too embarrassing to follow.

#about myself #masterpost #masterlist

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operation-priority · 10 months ago

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Tankiste Operating Outside the Tank

This is an impression of a French tank crewman operating outside their tank. One may see this uniform on tank commanders marching in front of their tank with cane in hand during road marches and on other crew members behind the lines. The marching cane was particularly useful within the Artillerie Spéciale as tank commanders used it to judge the softness of the terrain the tank is moving over. Often one can tell which tankiste was the commander of the crew as they may be walking beside the tank nonchalantly with their marching cane.

Being outside the tank, the tankiste may be seen wearing their 2-liter Bidon Modèle 1877 modifié 1915 (canteen) and Étui-Musette Modèle 1892. Despite being one of the larger examples of a liquid container during the Great War, these canteens would most likely have wine or coffee inside them instead of water as the French struggled with providing clean drinking water to the troops for nearly the entirety of the war. The tankiste per regulation were issued two canteens, though usually only one was worn as pictured with the other stored elsewhere. The secondary canteen may also be in the form of the earlier 1-liter Bidon Modèle 1877. Both canteens would usually have different liquids in them.

The first cloth headgear issued to the tankiste was the standard infantry horizon blue wool Bonnet de Police Modèle 1918 service cap with its Napoleonic style of two tall peaks on each end. When performing vehicle maintenance, this service cap would sometimes fall off the head and get stuck in the small confines of the tank, becoming visibly dirty. Because of this, tankiste would purchase black civilian Basque style berets to replace their service cap, becoming commonplace by 1917. The berets seen being worn by the tankiste were all civilian berets purchased by the tankiste themselves and were not regulatory, varying in size and style. The black beret was well liked among the crews as it fit snugly on the head and would not fall off while inside the tank. Just to be safe many of the tankiste would wear the beret in an interesting fashion - centered and pushed snug down over the head to ensure it would not fall off. Wearing the beret like this appears to be some sort of inside fashion joke among Veteran tank crews, as this method of wearing the beret would continue after the war despite proper beret wearing regulations in place by then. Like the black leather coat, the black beret was chosen as it masked any vehicle oil stains the beret may collect when in use.

The beret would soon be adorned with various metallic or embroidered insignias such as rank stripes, badges, playing card symbols, and other miscellaneous AS pins. In the case of the tankiste here, he wears an NCO version of the original insignia of the Artillerie Spéciale, depicting a mythical fire breathing salamander. The NCO versions were in silver while the Officer versions were in gold. While not technically within regulation, the wearing of such insignias and unit markings was ignored by the AS administration as it promoted esprit de corps. The black leather coat was not immune to this adorning of insignia, and we can see here that a private purchase Renault FT pin has been placed on the left breast of the coat. Like the AS specialist insignia tab on the tunic, this pin is intended to show others that the wearer was a tank crewman when wearing the coat. This was less common to see but many of the enthusiastic and eager fighters within the AS would sport pins like these. Unlike the French infantry which were characterized as the rugged and reluctant warfighter Poilu, the tankiste remained in a high morale and eager to fight state throughout their service during the war - a side effect of incorporating many officers who previously served within other 'proudly elite' units like the cavalry.

Additionally we see a closer view of the regimental collar tabs and left arm service and insignia tabs. The buttons on the Vareuse Modèle 1915 were of course standard artillery buttons with a flaming bomb over two crossed cannons.

#history #tanks #renault ft #technology #world war one #reenactor #uniforms #reenacting #reenactment #reenactors #world war 1 #uniform #tactical gear

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diabolus1exmachina · 2 years ago

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Renault 5 Diamond (Paris Hilton has already ordered hers!)

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Renault 5, the french marque has teamed up with designer Pierre Gonalons to create the Renault 5 Diamant - an interior design-inspired electric showcar.t was only a matter of time until the restomod wave hit the Renault 5, after all, the little hatchback is not only one of the brand’s most successful cars in history, it’s also a bonafide style icon. Now Renault and Pierre Gonalons have combined forces to create possibly the most outlandish show-car of the century, the jewel-like Renault 5 Diamant. Personal design highlights have to begin with the spec - a surprisingly effective combination of two-tone satin pink and gold, offset beautifully with some Renault 5 Alpine wheels. Every inch of the car seems to have been redesigned, including the free-floating headlights, which sit proud of the front bumper, and the gem-like taillights which continue the jewellery theme round the back of the car. nside, Gonalons really went to town, removing as much as possible while retaining only the essential elements such as the door handles, the window winders and the shift lever, which have all been redesigned in the form of spheres. Which brings us to the steering… pretzel. Constructed of fine Grand Antique d'Aubert marble on carbon, Renault claim that despite it’s unconventional shape, it’s “characterized by its great user-friendliness”. We’re assuming this doesn’t apply to any form of collision involving the car. While the design is as well-executed as some of the interior elements are experimental, above all the focus with the Renault 5 Diamant was on the materials. The seat covers were produced by the textile specialists Métaphores and the horsehair fabric over the instrument panel by Le Crin, a centuries-old company that weaves exclusively by hand. The mohair wool rug comes from Pinton, one of the last tapestry craftsmen in France, while the gilding, including the monogram on the bonnet, was carried out by the renowned Parisian Atelier Bertin-Aubert. All in all, we’re obsessed with this outlandish little showcar. It possesses the fashion-forward approach and disregard for passenger safety that defined the concept cars of the latter half of the 20th century, and we’re here for it.

#Renault 5 Diamond #Pierre Gonalons #Alpine #Le Crin #Bertin-Aubert #restomod

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mademoiselle-red · 2 years ago

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I was reading Mary Renault’s Purposes of Love and it occurred to me that Mic telling Vivian to stop classifying herself among her fellow women because he thinks women are gross, but he loves her because “you’re simply you” has the same energy as Laurie in The Charioteer thinking Sandy’s friends are gross and not wanting to be classified amongst them, while “talking [with Andrew] in the hospital kitchen at night, they had felt special only in their happiness, and separate only in their human identities.”

Really interesting how Renault protagonists’ misogyny and homophobia both express themselves through the belief that they can only love themselves and / or their partner if they are “not like the other girls / queers.”

Similar to Laurie’s belief that one should to be a human and not a queer, and being in a queer relationship jeopardizes one’s sense of self as a human being, Vivian eventually comes to believe that being in a romantic relationship with a man thwarts her attempts to be a human being and not a woman. She finds herself increasingly conforming to feminine gender roles in their relationship, feeling less like an individual and more like a woman.

Rather than desiring equal treatment and freedom from gender roles for all women, Vivian has a dim view of other members of her gender (believing they are intellectually inferior to men and tend to have skin-deep personalities), and instead wants to “rise above her gender” as an individual. Similarly, Laurie has a dim view of other queer men and wants to rise above his sexual orientation as an individual. The implications are rather dehumanizing. If one must rise above one’s woman-ness and queerness in order to feel like a human being, this suggests that, well, women and queer people aren’t quite human enough. And rather than becoming “one of those feminists / specialists” who blame society for their dehumanization, Vivian and Laurie strive to do their part for society and make it out as human beings 🙃

Fortunately for Laurie, he does achieve some measure of self-acceptance at the end of his novel, and the novel ends with him and Ralph taking a night’s rest before continuing their journey to make it out as human beings. Unfortunately for Vivian, she is a woman, so the narrator makes it very clear (so unambiguously clear that it starts to sound a little preachy) at the end of the novel that choosing to commit to Mic means relinquishing her independence: he is now possessor of himself and of her self. 🙄

#the narrator’s interpretation of Vivian and Mic’s reconciliation was not how I’d have interpreted the scene #I’d rather Renault left it ambiguous like in TC #and let the reader decide #I now have a greater appreciation for TC’s abrupt and ambiguous ending

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reality-detective · 2 years ago

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🔥DETOX STORY OF THE MILLENIUM🔥

HOW RUSSIA GOT RID OF THE GREAT RESET PUR EVIL GLOBALIST CABAL MAFIA CORPORATIONS??

THEY KICKED THEMSELVES OUT BY

SANCTIONING RUSSIA 🇷🇺

THE LOOSER LISTS:👇

▪️Apple Pay - complete blocking;

▪️Apple - complete exit from the market;

▪️Adidas - refusal to cooperate with the national soccer team;

▪️Audi - leaving the market;

▪️AMD - a ban on the supply of microchips and soon a ban on the supply of graphics cards;

▪️British Petrolium - 20% of shares have left Rosneft;

▪️BBC - withdrawal of broadcasting licenses;

▪️BMW - closing factories, blocking deliveries;

▪️Bolt - exiting the market;

▪️Boeing - exiting the market;

▪️Chevrolet - leaving the market;

▪️Danone - market exit together with a subsidiary of Prostokvashino;

▪️Disney - cancellation of all films;

▪️Dell - exit from the market;

▪️DHL - exit from the market;

▪️Eurovision - disqualification;

Ericsson - exit from the market;

▪️Exxon Mobil - recall all specialists of Russian oil companies;

▪️FedEx - complete ban on deliveries;

▪️Formula 1 - cancellation of the tournament in Sochi;

▪️Ford - closes all stores;

▪️FIFA - disqualification of the national team for the World Cup and ban on holding international matches in the Russian Federation;

▪️General Motors - stops exports.

▪️HP - ban on imports;

▪️Harley Davidson - stop deliveries;

▪️Intel - ban on the supply of microchips;

▪️Jaguar - leave the market;

▪️Lenovo - exit from the market;

▪️MOK - cancellation of all competitions;

▪️MasterCard - discontinuation of card production, closure of several banks;

▪️Megogo - cancel all Russian films;

▪️Mitsubishi - lay off employees from 141 service centers;

▪️Microsoft Office - multiple measures being discussed;

▪️Netflix - a freeze on Russian subscriptions, halting production of Russian TV series;

▪️Nike - delivery to Russia is closed;

▪️Nestle - closes all 6 factories in the Russian Federation;

▪️OnlyFans - closure of the country;

▪️PayPal - freezing accounts for withdrawals;

▪️Paramount - movie distribution block;

▪️PornHub - content access ban;

▪️Porsche - withdrawal from the Russian Federation;

▪️Renault - exit from the market;

▪️Samsung Pay - blocking of services;

▪️Scania - exit from the Russian Federation;

▪️Shell - termination of the contract with Gazprom;

▪️Sony - film distribution block;

▪️Twitter - it is impossible to register accounts for citizens of the Russian Federation;

▪️Toyota - stop deliveries;

▪️UEFA - cancellation of the Champions League final in St. Petersburg, ban on all clubs from participating in the Champions League and the Champions League

▪️Cancellation of contract with general sponsor Gazprom;

▪️UPS - complete ban on deliveries;

▪️Universal Pictures - film distribution block;

▪️Visa - blocking of banks under sanctions;

▪️Volvo - leave the Russian Federation;

▪️Yandex - exclusion of the company's shares from listing on the New York Stock Exchange;

▪️YouTube - blocked hundreds of RF channels and their monetization;

▪️Warner Bros. - cancellation of all film distribution;

▪️Volkswagen - out of the country.

▪️Zoom - revocation of software development licenses.

Russia is already living the dream 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourself #educate yourselves #reeducate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourselves #think for yourself #think for yourselves #think about it #do your homework #do your research #do your own research #question everything #ask yourself questions #ask yourself #sanctions #corrupt business #big business

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umseb · 1 year ago

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sebastian vettel is interviewed while at the nürburgring to drive the rb7 with sustainable fuels [part 1/4] - 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "Sebastian, good to see you. Sunny day, another chance to drive a Formula 1 car with sustinable fuels, your Race Without Trace program. Perfection, isn't it?" Seb: "Yeah! It's being selfish. I really look forward to it. It's a great track. We'll be able to get out on the big track, which will be adventorous because I don't know the track well." Interviewer: "Really?" Seb: "No, I don't, so I look forward to it. But yeah, it brings back a lot of memories and it will be a lot of fun, but doing it in the way that I'mm happy with is great, and to showcase to people… As soon as we fire up the engine you will hear the V8. It'll bring you back to the time, and it's a little time travel so it's great that we can do that and show people that the power is still there, the sound is there, so yeah…" Interviewer: "Give us the headlines, then, of Race Without Trace. Is it the fuel, or will it be oil, as well, and tires in the future? What's your goals?" Seb: "Yeah, hopefully… The goal is to show people that we can have fun and we don't have to lead or push or steer the conversation in a way where it's like, it's not gonna be fun, it's gonna be worse, and you can't afford to do this and that anymore… Away from that and towards, we can continue all the greaat things and we can continue to do even greater things, but do it in a responsible fashion, and I think the fuels that we are using… Obviously the idea or the… I think it fits is Race Without Trace, because we emit as much as we take out in the first step, but I think in the bigger picture it has to be everything that's involved. That's the oils, as well, like gearbox, hydraulic oils, but it's also the tires. There's lots of… in every segment, and there's great solutions, as well, if you look into eery little bit. And I'm not a specialist, but there are specialists and you can talk to them, and there is solutions already, similar to the fuels, and it's a drop in… I spoke to the Renault engineers last night again, and for this particular car, it's an engine from 2011. It was literally no mapping change and just put the fuel in and go, so… With some cars it might be a bit more of a challenge, but then if you look at motorsports, especially historic motorsports-you love old cars, as well-and it's culture, as well, to us, rather than just a car that used to race. It's important to keep these things alive, you know? It's… Yeah." Interviewer: "And will it transfer onto the road, into peoples' lives?" Seb: "Yeah, and that's where… For motorsport I think it's clear; heritage motorsport even moreso. Obviously Formula 1 is committed to have sustainable fuels from 2026 onwards. But then there is mobility, as a general, there's road cars, and then you have general transportation. I dunno. Like all the cargo ships, you have the planes, and I think e-fuels will play a role in the future as a sort of bridge technology to lead onto something better, because it's also not trouble-free. It consumes a lot of energy to make e-fuels-that's the biggest downside-so the efficiency isn't great. But, again, we can do better, we can develop the proces, we can make it more efficient, so I think there will be a place. But I'm not promoting it as the one solution. I'm promoting it as, look, there is alternatives and we have to start looking into this."

#sebastian vettel #f1 #formula 1 #fic ref #fic ref 2023 #not a race #2023 not a race #between italy and singapore #david croft #(note to self: driving the rb7 at the nurburgring)

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jeannereames · 8 months ago

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I see you talk a lot about historiography! What would you consider the most important development of Alexander’s historiography?

What the Hell is Historiography? (And why you should care)

This question and the next one in the queue are both going to be fun for me. 😊

First, some quick definitions for those who are new to me and/or new to reading history:

Historiography = “the history of the histories” (E.g., examination of the sources themselves rather than the subject of them…a topic that typically incites yawns among undergrads but really fires up the rest of us, ha.)

primary sources = the evidence itself—can be texts, art, records, or material evidence. For ancient history, this specifically means the evidence from the time being studied.

secondary sources = writings by historians using the primary evidence, whether meant for a “regular” audience (non-specialists) or academic discussions with citations, footnotes, and bibliography (sometimes referred to as “full scholarly apparatus”).

For ancient history, we also sometimes get a weird middle category…they’re not modern sources but also not from the time under discussion, might even be from centuries after the fact. Consider the medieval Byzantine “encyclopedia” called the Suda (sometimes Suidas), which contains information from now lost ancient sources, finalized c. 900s CE. To give a comparison, imagine some historian a thousand years from now studying Geoffry Chaucer from the 1300s, using an entry about him in some kid’s 1975 World Book Encyclopedia that contains information that had been lost by his day.

This middle category is especially important for Alexander, since even our primary sources all date hundreds of years after his death. Yes, those writers had access to contemporary accounts, but they didn’t just “cut-and-paste.” They editorialized and selected from an array of accounts. Worse, they rarely tell us who they used. FIVE surviving primary Alexander histories remain, but he’s mentioned in a wide (and I do mean wide) array of other surviving texts. Alas this represents maybe a quarter of what was actually written about him in antiquity.

OKAY, so …

The most important historiographic changes in Alexander studies!

I’m going to pick three, or really two-and-a-half, as the last is an extension of the second.

FIRST …decentering Arrian as the “good” source as opposed to the so-called “vulgate” of Diodoros-Curtius-Justin as “bad” sources.

Many earlier Alexander historians (with a few important exceptions [Fritz Schachermeyr]) considered Arrian to be trustworthy, Plutarch moderately trustworthy if short, and the rest varying degrees of junk. W. W. Tarn was especially guilty of this. The prevalence of his view over Schachermeyr’s more negative one owed to his popularity/ease of reading, and the fact he wrote on Alexander for volume 6 of the first edition (1927) of the Cambridge Ancient History, later republished in two volumes with additions (largely in vol. 2) in 1948 and 1956. Thus, and despite being a lawyer (barrister) not a professional historian, his view dominated Alexander studies in the first half of the 20th century (Burn, Rose, etc.)…and even after. Both Mary Renault and Robin Lane Fox (neither of whom were/are professional historians either), as well as N. G. L. Hammond (with qualifications), show Tarn’s more romantic impact well into the middle of the second half of the 20th century. But you could find it in high school and college textbooks into the 1980s.

The first really big shift (especially in English) came with a pair of articles in 1958 by Ernst Badian: “The Eunuch Bagoas,” Classical Quarterly 8, and “Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind,” Historia 7. Both demolished Tarn’s historiography. I’ve talked about especially the first before, but it really WAS that monumental, and ushered in a more source-critical approach to Alexander studies. This also happened to coincide with a shift to a more negative portrait of the conqueror in work from the aforementioned Schachermeyr (reissuing his earlier biography in 1973 as Alexander der Grosse: Das Problem seiner Persönlichtenkeit und seines Wirkens) to Peter Green’s original Alexander of Macedon from Thames and Hudson in 1974, reissued in 1991 from Univ. of California-Berkeley. J. R. Hamilton’s 1973 Alexander the Great wasn’t as hostile, but A. B. Bosworth’s 1988 Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great turned back towards a more negative, or at least ambivalent portrait, and his Alexander in the East: The Tragedy of Triumph (1996) was highly critical. I note the latter two as Bosworth wrote the section on Alexander for the much-revised Cambridge Ancient History vol. 6, 1994, which really demonstrates how the narrative on Alexander had changed.

All this led to an unfortunate kick-back among Alexander fans who wanted their hero Alexander. They clung/still cling to Arrian (and Plutarch) as “good,” and the rest as varying degrees of bad. Some prefer Tarn’s view of the mighty conqueror/World unifier/Brotherhood-of-Mankind proponent, including that He Absolutely Could Not Have Been Queer. Conversely, others are all over the romance of him and Hephaistion, or Bagoas (often owing to Renault or Renault-via-Oliver Stone), but still like the squeaky-nice-chivalrous Alexander of Plutarch and Arrian.

They are very much still around. Quite a few of the former group freaked out over the recent Netflix thing, trotting out Plutarch (and Arrian) to Prove He Wasn’t Queer, and dismissing anything in, say, Curtius or Diodoros as “junk” history. But I also run into it on the other side, with those who get really caught up in all the romance and can’t stand the idea of a vicious Alexander.

It's not necessary to agree with Badian’s (or Green’s or Schachermeyr’s) highly negative Alexander to recognize the importance of looking at all the sources more carefully. Justin is unusually problematic, but each of the other four had a method, and a rationale. And weaknesses. Yes, even Arrian. Arrian clearly trusted Ptolemy to a degree Curtius didn’t. For both of them, it centered on the fact he was a king. I’m going to go with Curtius on this one, frankly.

Alexander is one of the most malleable famous figures in history. He’s portrayed more ways than you can shake a stick at—positive, negative, in-between—and used for political and moral messaging from even before his death in Babylon right up to modern Tik-Tok vids.

He might have been annoyed that Julius Caesar is better known than he is, in the West, but hands-down, he’s better known worldwide thanks to the Alexander Romance in its many permutations. And he, more than Caesar, gets replicated in other semi-mythical heroes. (Arthur, anybody?)

Alfred Heuss referred to him as a wineskin (or bottle)—schlauch, in German—into which subsequent generations poured their own ideas. (“Alexander der Große und die politische Ideologie des Altertums,” Antike und Abendland 4, 1954.) If that might be overstating it a bit, he’s not wrong.

Who Alexander was thus depends heavily on who was (and is) writing about him.

And that’s why nuanced historiography with regard to the Alexander sources is so important. It’s also why there will never be a pop presentation that doesn’t infuriate at least a portion of his fanbase. That fanbase can’t agree on who he was because the sources that tell them about him couldn’t agree either.

SECOND …scholarship has moved away from an attempt to find the “real” Alexander towards understanding the stories inside our surviving histories and their themes. A biography of Alexander is next to impossible (although it doesn’t stop most of us from trying, ha). It’s more like a “search” for Alexander, and any decent history of his career will begin with the sources. And their problems.

This also extends to events. I find myself falling in the middle between some of my colleagues who genuinely believe we can get back to “what happened,” and those who sorta throw up their hands and settle on “what story the sources are telling us, and why.” Classic Libra. 😉

As frustrating as it may sound, I’m afraid “it depends” is the order of the day, or of the instance, at least. Some things are easier to get back to than others, and we must be ready to acknowledge that even things reported in several sources may not have happened at all. Or at least, were quite radically different from how it was later reported. (Thinking of proskynesis here.) Sometimes our sources are simply irreconcilable…and we should let them be. (Thinking of the Battle of Granikos here.)

THIRD/SECOND-AND-A-HALF …a growing awareness of just how much Roman-era attitudes overlay and muddy our sources, even those writing in Greek. It would be SO nice to have just one Hellenistic-era history. I’d even take Kleitarchos! But I’d love Marsyas, or Ptolemy. Why? Both were Macedonians. Even our surviving philhellenic authors such as Plutarch impose Greek readings and morals on Macedonian society.

So, let’s add Roman views on top of Greek views on top of Macedonian realities in a period of extremely fast mutation (Philip and Alexander both). What a muddle! In fact, one of the real advantages of a source such as Curtius is that his sources seem to have known a thing or three about both Achaemenid Persia and also Macedonian custom. He sometimes says something like, “Macedonian custom was….” We don’t know if he’s right, but it’s not something we find much in other histories—even Arrian who used Ptolemy. (Curtius may also have used Ptolemy, btw.)

In any case, as a result of more care given to the themes of the historians, a growing sensitivity to Roman milieu for all of them has altered our perceptions of our sources.

These are, to me, the major and most significant shifts in Alexander historiography from the late 1800s to the early 2100s.

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