#the great leaking of 2020

[homodennis]

feel like i'm 15 again hyperfixating on sunny rn but i'm having the time of my life

[fishyartist]

casper high 100% has their bio class facing directly into the cafateria hallway btw

[simply-ivanka]

How the Biden-Harris Economy Left Most Americans Behind

A government spending boom fueled inflation that has crushed real average incomes.

By The Editorial Board -- Wall Street Journal

Kamala Harris plans to roll out her economic priorities in a speech on Friday, though leaks to the press say not to expect much different than the last four years. That’s bad news because the Biden-Harris economic record has left most Americans worse off than they were four years ago. The evidence is indisputable.

President Biden claims that he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, but this isn’t close to true. The economy in January 2021 was fast recovering from the pandemic as vaccines rolled out and state lockdowns eased. GDP grew 34.8% in the third quarter of 2020, 4.2% in the fourth, and 5.2% in the first quarter of 2021. By the end of that first quarter, real GDP had returned to its pre-pandemic high. All Mr. Biden had to do was let the recovery unfold.

Instead, Democrats in March 2021 used Covid relief as a pretext to pass $1.9 trillion in new spending. This was more than double Barack Obama’s 2009 spending bonanza. State and local governments were the biggest beneficiaries, receiving $350 billion in direct aid, $122 billion for K-12 schools and $30 billion for mass transit. Insolvent union pension funds received a $86 billion rescue.

The rest was mostly transfer payments to individuals, including a five-month extension of enhanced unemployment benefits, a $3,600 fully refundable child tax credit, $1,400 stimulus payments per person, sweetened Affordable Care Act subsidies, an increased earned income tax credit including for folks who didn’t work, housing subsidies and so much more.

The handouts discouraged the unemployed from returning to work and fueled consumer spending, which was already primed to surge owing to pent-up savings from the Covid lockdowns and spending under Donald Trump. By mid-2021, Americans had $2.3 trillion in “excess savings” relative to pre-pandemic levels—equivalent to roughly 12.5% of disposable income.

So much money chasing too few goods fueled inflation, which was supercharged by the Federal Reserve’s accommodative policy. Historically low mortgage rates drove up housing prices. The White House blamed “corporate greed” for inflation that peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, even as the spending party in Washington continued.

In November 2021, Congress passed a $1 trillion bill full of green pork and more money for states. Then came the $280 billion Chips Act and Mr. Biden’s Green New Deal—aka the Inflation Reduction Act—which Goldman Sachs estimates will cost $1.2 trillion over a decade. Such heaps of government spending have distorted private investment.

While investment in new factories has grown, spending on research and development and new equipment has slowed. Overall private fixed investment has grown at roughly half the rate under Mr. Biden as it did under Mr. Trump. Manufacturing output remains lower than before the pandemic.

Magnifying market misallocations, the Administration conditioned subsidies on businesses advancing its priorities such as paying union-level wages and providing child care to workers. It also boosted food stamps, expanded eligibility for ObamaCare subsidies and waved away hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt. The result: $5.8 trillion in deficits during Mr. Biden’s first three years—about twice as much as during Donald Trump’s—and the highest inflation in four decades.

Prices have increased by nearly 20% since January 2021, compared to 7.8% during the Trump Presidency. Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings are down 3.9% since Mr. Biden entered office, compared to an increase of 2.6% during Mr. Trump’s first three years. (Real wages increased much more in 2020, but partly owing to statistical artifacts.)

Higher interest rates are finally bringing inflation under control, which is allowing real wages to rise again. But the Federal Reserve had to raise rates higher than it otherwise would have to offset the monetary and fiscal gusher. The higher rates have pushed up mortgage costs for new home buyers.

Three years of inflation and higher interest rates are stretching American pocketbooks, especially for lower income workers. Seriously delinquent auto loans and credit cards are higher than any time since the immediate aftermath of the 2008-09 recession.

Ms. Harris boasts that the economy has added nearly 16 million jobs during the Biden Presidency—compared to about 6.4 million during Mr. Trump’s first three years. But most of these “new” jobs are backfilling losses from the pandemic lockdowns. The U.S. has fewer jobs than it was on track to add before the pandemic.

What’s more, all the Biden-Harris spending has yielded little economic bang for the taxpayer buck. Washington has borrowed more than $400,000 for every additional job added under Mr. Biden compared to Mr. Trump’s first three years. Most new jobs are concentrated in government, healthcare and social assistance—60% of new jobs in the last year.

Administrative agencies are also creating uncertainty by blitzing businesses with costly regulations—for instance, expanding overtime pay, restricting independent contractors, setting stricter emissions limits on power plants and factories, micro-managing broadband buildout and requiring CO2 emissions calculations in environmental reviews.

The economy is still expanding, but business investment has slowed. And although the affluent are doing relatively well because of buoyant asset prices, surveys show that most Americans feel financially insecure. Thus another political paradox of the Biden-Harris years: Socioeconomic disparities have increased.

Ms. Harris is promising the same economic policies with a shinier countenance. Don’t expect better results.

[maxillness]

From People You Know, To People You Don’t || MW2 x Piastri!Driver!Reader

Warnings: 18+, unprotected sex, Danny being our favourite honey badger, angst, (slight) yearning, age gap, praise kink, self hatred, nipple play, secret relationship

Wordcount: 7.4k

You can read the request here

Some of the timeline don't match the real timeline, but just skip that fact please

Being 21 and in formula one having won both f2 and f3 championships in her first year, her parents were proud of her, as well as her younger brother

She was hyper excited when she got the news that Oscar would be driving for Alpine doing the 2021 season

She loved her brother to death. She always loved karting with him, and always did when they were younger

He always hated it, but only because she always won over him. Always beat him. Besides that, he loved it as much as she did

They always had a close relationship. They told each other everything. From girls and boys, to nasty homework, to what they dreamt of

So how did it change so suddenly for the worse?

A few days after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix during the 2020 season, she had been at her apartment in Monaco, lazily watching tv as her phone rang

Osc🫶

She picked up the phone, putting it on speaker as she paused the show she was watching

“Ain’t it past your bedtime?” She asked, teasing him as it was only 8 o’clock

“I have news” He said, excitement running through his voice. She waited for him to speak up “I got a contract with Alpine”

“What?” She leant forward, putting her elbows on her knees “You got a contract with Alpine?” She heard a faint hum on the other side “For when? 2022?”

“No, next year” She could hear the excitement in his voice. It was like when they were younger and they would get candy right before bedtime

“Next year? Isn’t that a little late to make a contract?” She asked, confused as why it was this late

“It has been un-going for a while, but I only got the official call today” He explained, hoping she wasn’t mad he hadn’t told her before

“That’s great, Osc. I’m excited to drive with you next year” She said. It was obvious she was smiling as she spoke

“Yeah, and with Logan racing for Williams next year too…” Logan and Oscar was close, she knew that, but as they now were rivals, she was afraid they would fall apart

“Yeah, that’s great, Osc. I’m proud of you”

Being in Qatar at pre-testing was wonderful. The break was finally over, and she had gotten to see her brother again

She sighed as she sat down in the car. She felt great. She felt at home. She missed this. She needed this

She felt bad when a week later she qualified ahead of Oscar. She wanted him to have a good first f1 quali, but he had accepted at this point that she was the better, and more experienced driver, so he didn’t let anything bad about it cross his mind, but only congratulated his sister

She finished ahead of Oscar as well at the race. She felt bad, but on the track, Oscar was nothing more than a rival. Not her friend, not her brother. A rival

It kept going like this. Her finishing ahead, but in qualifying and in the race, him always congratulating her behind hurt eyes

A few races into the season, and she stood in the garage looking over some data, mindlessly looking over it with her manager and mentor, Sebastian Vettel, not noticing Andrea stepping up behind her

“Piastri, can I have a word with you, please?” He asked, putting a hand on her upper back

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” She seamed concerned, as well did Sebastian

“Not here” He shook his head lightly

She stood up from the chair and following him into an empty part where they could talk in private, not disturbed by anyone

“What is it?” Her voice was shaking slightly, afraid she would be dumped by the season

“I know I shouldn’t say this two days before a race, but better hear it from me than a leak from twitter” He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest

“We’re replacing you as of the 2022 season” She knew it. She knew it would be like this

“Okay… With who?” She expected someone like Lewis, Bottas, anyone than the name he spoke

“Oscar” He sighed, looking down into the ground, avoiding her eyes

“Oscar?” She asked “You’re replacing me with Oscar?” She rose her voice a little, getting frustrated at his words “I’m the better driver of the two of us, and you’re choosing Oscar?”

“Yes. Yes, we are” He still didn’t date to look in her eyes, knowing this was what she lived for

“You’re making a big mistake, Stella” She said before leaving

As she walked back into the garage, a camera was all up in her face which she pushed away without looking into it

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked as she sat back down beside him

“They’re replacing me with Oscar next year” She sighed, not meeting his eyes as he wanted

“What? Why?” She just shrugged at his words, knowing as much as himself

During the next few races and the days in between, she had gotten all sort of messages asking why she was replaced, how she felt about it, etc.

It wasn’t just from the other drivers, but other team principals, other celebrities, fans, you name it

Her responds was always the same; ‘thank you for your concern, but I know as much as you do’

The Hungarian Grand Prix rolled around, and she was tired. She was tired of all the tweets and online stuff at all

She had a good quali, getting in the second row, again outing her brother. As well as the race

She had gotten p1, which she hadn’t gotten in a while. She felt at home again as she heard her national anthem get played and she looked down to Sebastian who was smiling up at her

She sat at the press conference, feeling her still damp hair soaking through her shirt

She sat at the far left with Lewis beside her, Fernando, Max and Daniel filling the table as well

It was nearing the end. She loved press conferences, but she really just wanted to be back at her hotel room and sleep the night through

“Y/N, how do you feel about McLaren signing Sebastian as Oscar’s Manager for next year as well?” She was utterly confused

“What do you mean? McLaren’s not signing Sebastian for Oscar” She was even more confused when Lewis pulled out his phone and opened twitter

It was McLaren’s official account, stating that Sebastian would be Oscar’s manager for next year. The four other drivers looked over at her, worry in their eyes

She sighed, looking out to the crowd again “I didn’t know about this change, but if it what they believe are best for the team, the there’s nothing I can do than continue the season out and prove to other teams that I deserve a seat next year” She spoke softly and without emotion, but her eyes were glassy and hurt

She loved Sebastian, she wouldn’t be where she was today if it wasn’t for him. She didn’t wanna part with him, but if the team believed that was for the best, then let them be with it

The conference ended and she was sat back in her drivers room. She leaned back into the couch. She was trying so hard to hold back, but a few tears had slipped down her cheeks silently

She quickly wiped them away as she heard a knock on her door “Come in” She sniffled softly as the door opened

It was Mark Webber. She hadn’t really thought about it up until now, but he was as unemployed as she was next year

“Hey. Are you in a mood to talk?” He stood in the doorway, not wanting to pry her if she didn’t want to be in his presence

“Sure. Sit” She moved more to the side, giving him space to his tall figure

He closed the door behind him before walking over to her, sitting down beside her, turning his body to face her slightly

“I’m sorry about all that have happened to you, you don’t deserve it” He said, meeting her now dried eyes

“You’re as unemployed as I am. You shouldn’t be apologising for something you didn’t do” She scoffed, feeling bad he felt like he had to apologise

There was a silence between them “You seriously didn’t know about it?” He asked, leaning in a little closer to her

“Not until Lewis showed me” She chuckled “I haven’t even seen Sebastian since. Though I would have a talk with him, but I think he’s hiding from me” She looked into her hands placed in her lap

“Sounds like him” He said “Avoiding his problems until they become serious enough” He sighed as he spoke “You gotta catch him before he have a chance to scram” He chuckled, Lightning the mood in the room

“This helped. Thank you, Mark” She sighed, smiling up at him, straining her neck a little as she had to look up at him

“Of course” He should leave now, but he didn’t want to “I thought about something” She hummed low

“I’m jobless next year, and if you get a seat next year, which you probably will, I was just thinking-“

“That’s a good idea, Mark” She said, noticing he was rambling out of nervousness as to what she would say to his thought

She was beyond mad. She was fucking pissed. He took her seat, he took her manager and mentor, and her parents had taken his side?

The season had started again after the summer break. She hadn’t talked with Oscar or Sebastian since the conference in Hungary

She couldn’t dare to look either of them in the eye, and she hated that she still had to work with Sebastian

She still loved having him as her manager and mentor, but fuck did she want to pull his head off his body

She needed to talk to Sebastian, as well as her brother, but one talk at a time

“Talk” It wasn’t a question as she pushed Sebastian into an empty corridor of the hospitality

He didn’t look at her as he leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest

“I trusted you, Sebastian” Her voice was hurt, but she kept on a brave face as well as her eyes dried

He didn’t say anything

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He was still quiet “You’ll never get my trust back” She sighed “You know what? You’re an asshole. I lost my seat, and you chose the person who took it from me. That’s a fucking shit move”

She could feel the tears starting to swell in her eyes as well as her fell and raised quicker than normally

“I fucking trusted you” Silence “You don’t even have the heart to apologise” Silence “Everything Mark said about you is true” She walked away from him, wiping a tear that had shed down her cheek

Daniel gave her a questionable look as she walked out. She only nodded softly, taking the hint, he smiled at her

After quali that weekend, she stood behind a stack of unused tyres, typing away on her phone. She was so dazed in her fingers moving that she didn’t t notice anybody walk up behind her

“I’m sorry” She was slightly startled by the familiar voice. She turned around to see the hurt eyes of her younger brother

She sighed as she turned her phone off and put it in her back pocket “Why is it, that the people I trusted the most turned against me? Care to explain?”

“Y/N, I’m sorry. I thought I was replacing Daniel-“ “Don’t bull crap me, Oscar. You knew, as well that you knew Sebastian is gonna leave me, and you chose not to say shit”

He didn’t say anything, his throat closed “You took my seat, you took my manager and mentor, and our parents are on your side”

“I used to feel bad that you were referred to as my brother and not by your name. Now? I don’t give a shit. I trusted you with my life, Oscar. And I’m gonna say the same thing to you as I did to Sebastian. You’ll never get my trust back”

“I’m sorry” She only scoffed before she walked away, going back to the motorhome

She went through the season barely being able to look eye to eye with Sebastian, and hadn’t even talked with Oscar since she cursed him out

The same week as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, she had gotten a call from a number she didn’t recognise

“Y/N” She picked it up and put it to her ear

“Hi Y/N, it’s Christian Horner” She was surprised as the two of them really hadn’t talked as much as people would think

“Hi, what can I do for you?” You could hear the surprised tone in her voice as she sat down on the couch

“I was just thinking if you wanted to come over and talk about a potential contract” She could hear his smile trough the phone

“Really? I mean sure. Now or…?” She could scream if she wasn’t on the phone

“Whenever you have time”

The next morning, she had gotten thousands of notifications from twitter as she woke up. She only got to check them when she was driving to the paddock

They were all about her being spotted shaking hands with Christian outside of the Red Bulls motorhome

Everybody was saying the same thing in one way or the other ‘Is Y/N getting a seat for next year?’ ‘Is Y/N replacing Checo for the 2022 season?’

She had seen and liked to a lot of them, but no way in hell could she do it to all of them as there were too many to even show in her inbox

“I feel bad I can’t tell them anything” She sighed talking to Daniel who was seated beside her

“You’re going to get that seat, and then you can tell the world” Daniel has always been nice to her. She liked him, he was a good friend

“Thank you, Danny” She smiled, getting one back in return “Thank you for not saying anything”

“Can’t tell them things I don’t know about, can I?” Talking to the fellow Aussie was something she looked forward to lately

In that moment her phone rang

Christian Horner

“Speaking of the devil. Y/N” She put her phone up to her ear, looking out of the window to her right as she did

“Hey, Y/N. Great news. The seat is yours if you sign the contract today” She immediately looked to her side to Daniel with a big smile

“I’ll be there as quick as I can. I’m almost there” She heard a faint ‘good’ on the other side “And about my request?”

“Mark is free to join us as well if he’s ready to come back here” She couldn’t contain her smile

“Thank you so much, Christian. I will make sure he knows. Thank you” She hung up the phone and turned to Daniel

“If I sign today, the seat’s mine” Her smile was as wide as Daniel’s normally was, if not wider

“That’s great” He pulled her into a tight hug, slightly difficult by the seatbelts they were wearing, but it didn’t matter in the moment

“You deserve the seat more than anyone” He hugged her a little tighter before letting her go, his hands still on her upper arms

“Thank you. You really are the greatest” He let go of her arms as she reminded to make a phone call

She scrolled through her call list, finding the one labeled with Mark’s name. She heard the phone ring through a few times before he picked up

“Hey, mate. What can I help you with?” She liked the way he called her ‘mate’. It was like a sweet thing that was between the two of them

“Hey, I got two great news” She said, stepping out of the car as they arrived “First of all; I got the seat for next year, I just need to sign the contract”

“That’s awesome” She heard the smile in his thick accent “The other?”

“Second of all; you’re going with me” She had stopped outside of the Red Bull motorhome, before going to her own

“Seriously? Christian agreed on that?” He scoffed, sounding surprised in some way

“In my opinion, I think he misses you” She felt good that she had made him laugh on the other end. She liked that she could do that

“I’m not so sure, but thank you for telling me before I saw it somewhere else” She sighed as he spoke “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out that way”

“No, it’s fine. Look, I gotta go, but I’ll see you, yeah?” “Of course, see you” She hung up before she headed into the Red Bull motorhome

As she walked into and out of the motorhome, she got glances from all the staff that was there. She did look out of place in her papaya shirt, but it surly wouldn’t be that

She walked into her own motorhome. She had a big smile on her lips as she greeted people in her way

By the look on Andrea’s face, she figured he had already heard about her new contract, as well as Zak that was stood beside him

She ignored than as Daniel walked over to her, hugging her again, as tight as he did in the car before

She was excited for the race, not only because she made first row in quali at p2 beside Verstappen, but because it was Abu Dhabi

If she had to choose a favourite Grand Prix, it would probably be Abu Dhabi. Even if she knew there was no way in hell she would win the championship with the amount of points Max had in his books

It was more likely Lewis was going to win the championship as he was tied with Verstappen on the points

She had finished in p3 that day with Lewis in p2 and Max p1. They all three were soaked in champagne as they got off the podium

“Congrats on the championship” She said as she shook hands with Max

“Thank you. Heard about your seat next year. It’ll be good to be working with you” He said, his slight lisp working on his tongue

They turned towards Lewis as he walked up to them “Congrats to the both of you” He said, putting a hand on both their shoulders

“Thank you” They both said in sync “I’m sorry about it” Max continued, pitty swelling in his eyes

“Hey, man. It’s fine, we’re athletes. It is what it is, congrats though” He said, pulling him into a side hug that would be easy for him to get out of if he wanted to

As she came back from the winter break and into the Red Bull’s motorhome wearing something else than the papaya colours she normally wore, she felt like she had started her life all over

She hadn’t talk with Oscar since he came to apologise, as well as Sebastian since Abu Dhabi

She felt good as she stood in her drivers room, as well as she was drenched in nervous sweat

She turned around at the sound of a knock on the door as well as it creaked open

“You’re going to be okay, Y’know” Mark said as he noticed the way nervousness was splayed on her face

“I’m nervous as shit, Mark. It’s fucking Red Bull. I can’t fuck this up” He walked closer to her, shutting the door before he did

“I know, but you’re going to be just fine. Why would they give you the seat if they didn’t think you deserved it, hm?” He had put his hands on both of her biceps, making her look up at him

“I don’t know…” “Exactly. You deserve this seat. You’re gonna be great, besides, it’s only pre-testing” He smiled as he pulled his hands away

He walked back over to the door “Blue looks good on you, by the way” He said smiling before he walked out

For some reason, she felt heat all over her body as he spoke the words. She tried shrugging it away, but she could pull the smile off her lips

There was no use in being good in pre-testing, but she would tell herself she did good. And the praise from Mark… She was afraid it would be something she would yearn for

She didn’t admit it, but qualifying above Oscar the following week had satisfied her more than anything else

And then when she also finished well above him… She didn’t even feel bad, which she probably should as she hadn’t spoken to him in half a year and skipped Christmas because of him, but she didn’t really care in the moment

She didn’t win the first Grand Prix of the year, but being up on that podium again after the break and seeing Mark standing down there and smiling up at her, she finally felt at home again

She caught the eye of Oscar as she walked through the paddock after the race, but instead of prolonging the eye contact like usual, he just turned away and kind of stepped closer to Sebastian who was walking beside him

That was the moment she felt bad. She stopped in her tracks, looking after her brother

Mark stopped as well, taking a step closer to her “You okay?” He asked, but his words didn’t reach her ears “Hey” He put a hand on her cheek, turning her head towards him “You okay?”

She sighed, feeling herself lean into his touch subconsciously “Yeah. Sorry, I’m fine. Just feels a little bad for Oscar”

His hand still lingered on her cheek. It was there way longer than what should have been appropriate

“Don’t. He took your seat and your mentor, you shouldn’t feel bad” He said, removing his hand, and she almost let out a whine at the loss of contact

“Yeah, but I skipped Christmas, and I know how important it is for Oscar and my parents, whom I haven’t spoken to either in a while” She looked down into the concrete, seeing on how close their feet were

“You’re gonna be alright, mate” He sighed, leaning down to pull her into a tight hug

As he pulled away, her body burned through the clothes she wore where he had touched her

She of course knew that she would be close with Mark as they would work together, but she had gotten closer with him in that little time than she had ever been with Sebastian

She kinda of hated herself for it, knowing damn well she would get too attached if he would ever leave her, even though he swore he wouldn’t

She still had the doubt

It was bound to be, with everything that was taken from her, she was bound to have the doubt that everybody would leave eventually

“You happy about the home race?” She asked as she walked with Mark into the paddock

“So happy. I’m tired of staying in hotels” You could see the shine in his eyes as he spoke, obviously happy about the whereabouts of the race

“Understandable” She said as they walked into the Reb Bull motorhome, her body disobeying and flushing red as Mark’s hand placed on her lower back to lead her in

She missed the warmth of his hand the moment he didn’t touch her anymore. She sighed as she closed the door to her drivers room

She slid down the door, pulling her legs flushed up her chest and banged her head back against the door

This was normal, right? It was normal to develop feelings for someone who you worked very close with

She didn’t feel like this with Seb. Seb is a friend. Sebastian was a friend

This wasn’t normal

She was startled as she heard a knock on her door. She scrambled to get up. She sighed before opening the door

“Are you okay? I heard a small bang” It was Max. He must’ve heard her

“Yeah. No, I’m fine, really. Thank you though” She smiled, nodding slightly as she spoke, her hand still on the door handle

“Okay. Good luck today” He went to walk about, but she called his name and he turned back “Yes?”

“Can I ask you something?” She was hesitant in her words, and it was obvious

“Sure. Anything” She took a step to the side so he could walk into the room with her “What’s up?”

“It’s normal to like someone you work closely with a lot, right?” She asked as he hat sat down on the couch

“Yeah, I would think so- hold on. Is this a personal question or hypothetical?” She froze, afraid he had seen right through her

“Does it matter?” She asked, her voice cracking slightly

“Of course it does. If this is a personal question, then I’m gonna find out who you like from the team no matter if you’re tell me or not, and why would it be a hypothetical question?” He explained, yapping a little too fast for her to follow

“It’s for a friend, Max. She works with her manager very closely, and she’s afraid it’s not normal because she didn’t have the same feelings with the last one” She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest

“Oh. Well, love is normal, and you can’t decide who you like and don’t, so yeah, I guess it is normal” He shrugged leaning back into the couch

“Okay. Thank you for the help” She said, Max now standing up

“Of course. Glad i could” He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him

“Thank god” She whispered to herself, letting out a deep and long breath

Doing the rest of the week, she kept replaying the conversation she had with Max every time her thoughts said that it was wrong to have the feelings she did

It was finally race day. She had unfortunately had some mechanical issues during qualifying and ended up in Q2 and with Max on pole as usual

The start is good, not perfect, but better than she had expected. She managed to get out of the cramped site with no scratches and a few overtakes

Max is far ahead. Nothing else expected from him. She manages to get into p2, getting the call over the radio that she’s faster than Max, closing in on him

She got up to him, but he kept blocking her as she tried to overtake him “Is he gonna let me through or what?” She asked her engineer

“Give me a second” They said, presumably talking to Lambiase as more than a second went by “You can overtake”

“Thank you” She sighed as Max gave her space so she could overtake him, getting ahead of him in a fraction of a second

She cheers as she crosses the line at the last lap. Seeing her team cheer for her as her first win for Red Bull

She had a big smile on her lips as she looked over the crowd as her national anthem played. She got a quick glance at Max to her side, obviously annoyed at her win

She looked back, seeing Mark in the crowd. She made eye contact with him, making her subconsciously clench her thighs together

She thought it was obvious, but maybe it wasn’t, because he didn’t look like someone who saw, neither did the two drivers standing next to her

The whole team and some other drivers went out to a nearby club to celebrate. She decided not to drink too much as she was a light drinker

“Hey, I’m gonna head back to the hotel” She said, walking over to Mark

“I could take you to mine. Then you don’t have to sleep at the hotel” He offered, knowing it sounded inappropriate

She thought so as well, but the thought of being in Mark’s house, sleeping in his house clouded her mind, and she had agreed before she could think about it

It had all been a blur. From Mark calling a cab, to the drive to his house. He helped her get her coat off, hanging it up on the rack. She kicked her shoes off, placing them neatly on the floor by the wall

“You want anything to drink? Eat maybe?” He asked, as he got his own coat and shoes off

“I don’t wanna trouble you” She said, looking down into the floor

“I’m offering, mate. You want anything?” She nodded slowly, drawing a smile on his lips “Coffee?” He asked, putting his hand on her lower back, guiding her to the kitchen

She put a hand over her cheeks, hiding the blush on her face when his hand left her back. She thanked him as he put the mug in front of her, placing one in front of himself as well

“I feel like you’re the only constant thing in my life that hasn’t left me for my brother” She sighed, looking down into her coffee “I’m grateful for that. I love that” She sighed before she took the mug to her lips “I love you” The words were whispered and hidden by the mug, almost impossible for him to hear

“What?” She froze, afraid he had heard her. She shook her head slightly, putting the mug back down

He sighed, moving to take the seat beside her, turning the chair to face her “I love you too” He spoke low

She turned his head to him, but quickly turned away again “No you don’t. Nobody does”

She didn’t get to register that he had turned her head with his hand on her cheek before his lips were on hers. She kissed back before he pulled away, hand still on her cheek

“It’s impossible not to love you” He stared directly into her eyes, making sure she understood his words

“Kiss me again. Please…” Her eyes drifted to his lips, and back up again “Please, Mark” He chuckled before connecting their lips again

She removed her hands from the mug, placing one of them on his jaw, the other placed softly on his upper thigh

His tongue swept over her bottom lip, resulting in her opening up for him immediately, whimpering at the feeling of his tongue against hers

Both his hands went to her hips, pulling her into his lap, making her yelp at the sudden movement

His hands went under her shirt, settling under her bra covered breasts, her own arms slotted around his neck

She started rolling her hips, getting none of the friction she wanted, resulting her to whine into his mouth at the frustration

“Mark. Please” She whimpered against his lips, hoping he would do something about the ache between her legs

His hands went under her ass as he kissed again. He stood up, pulling her with him, her lags attached around his hips, their lips still intertwined

Before she could think about it, her back was pressed down against the bed of his bedroom

He hurried to get her shirt off, throwing it to the ground, his lips now on her neck, nibbling softly at the skin

His hands went to her back, unhooking her bra, pulling it down her arms, throwing it with her shirt

She whimpered, almost moaning as his thumbs ghosted over both of her nipples, feeling them harden under his touch

“Mm. Sensitive” He smirked slightly, lips going back to her neck as he continued to play with her nipples

“Mark. Please” She rolled her hips, hoping to get some friction her clit, her hands grappling tightly at the sheets beneath her

He pulled back and sat up on his knees in between her legs, his hands pulling down the shorts she was wearing

She shivered at the feeling of his finger tips tracing down on the outside of her thighs as he pulled her panties down

He leaned down, kissing from her lower stomach and up between her breasts. His fingers teased her entrance as his lips went around her nipple, flicking it with his tongue

“Fuck. Mark, please. I’m begging you, please” She rolled her hips, trying to get him to get his fingers inside of her

“Patience, love” He mumbled against her skin, finally pushing his fingers inside of her

She let out small moans and whimpers as he started moving in and out of her, slowly starting to stretch her out

She moaned louder as he started curling his fingers, hitting just the right spot inside of her. The spot that made her back arch up into his mouth and her eyes roll into the back of her head

“Right there. Fuck, feels so good. Please, Mark. Please” She pleaded, not knowing for what, but whatever he could give her

He pulled out of her as she started clenching around him. She whined at the loss, but it didn’t matter when he pulled back and started discarding of his own clothes

Mark was gorgeous, but under the clothes? She might just’ve came right then and there

As he leaned down to kiss her again, her hands were all over him. His back, his chest, his waist, his hips. Everywhere she could reach

His lips went back down to her neck as he put her legs around his hips, pushing himself closer to her

She closed her eyes and whimpered as he slowly entered her, groaning in the progress of it, sending tingles all the way down her spine

“Fuck. You’re so right around me” His breath was hot against her skin as he slowly started to move inside her, drawing out whimpers and small moans from her

“So good for me, baby” He murmured, kissing her jaw, her whole body flushed at his praise, his moans starting to get louder

“Sounds so good for me” He groaned, starting to set a faster and steadier rhythm “Fuck. Feels so good”

“Mark, please” Her back was arched off the bed, hands gripping so tight on his biceps that she was afraid she would have broken through his skin with her nails

“What, baby? Tell me what you want” She whined at his words “Tell me. It won’t hurt” She slowed his hips down, groaning as she clenched around him

She whimpered before she spoke up “My clit. Please” He chuckled and sped his hips up again

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He asked with a smirked, trailing his finger tips down her body, landing on her clit, rubbing it slowly

“Fuck. Please. Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop” She trembled under his touch, rapidly clenching around him, drawing out soft and low moans from him

“Mark, please. ‘M so close. Please” She squirmed under him, her orgasm so close she could taste it on her tongue

“Come for me, baby” His words almost cut short with a moan threatening to slip out

She didn’t hesitate a second before she came. Rapidly clenching hard around him, pulling him closer to the edge of his own orgasm

“Mark, please come in my, please” She whined as his thrusts became sloppy and out of rhythm

“You sure?” He had planned to pull out, but if it was what she wanted, how could he deny her?

“Yes, please. I want it” He managed a few more thrusts before he stilled his hips as he came inside her, her name rolling off his tongue in a low moan

He slowly pulled out of her, drawing a whine from her as he laid down beside her. He pulled her limp body into his, kissing the top of her head

“I’ll run the tub” Mark said, starting to get up

“It’s late. Can’t we just wait for tomorrow?” She asked, pulling him back down

“No. We’ll shower and then we can sleep. Okay?” She kissed her temple before she let him go so he could turn on the tub

“Come on, love” She helped her up from the bed, pulling her body flushed against his own, guiding her towards the bathroom

He knelt down to test the warmth of the water before he helped her get in. She leaned slightly forward so that he could get behind her

“Don’t fall asleep yet, my darling” He said snaking his arms around her soaked body, noticing she was dozing off

“I don’t wanna go home tomorrow” She sighed, her hands going up and down his arms

“You could always stay here until you need to go again” He said, kissing her cheekbone

“I could?” She asked, turning her head slightly to look better at him

“Mhm” He nodded softly, eyes drifting all over her face, looking at all the small features of it he had never before

“I just need to get my stuff from the hotel tomorrow then” She leaned her head back against his shoulder, feeling his heartbeat in her back

It was the best 11 days she could ever imagine spending with him. She had never felt better. Never felt more loved in her life

“Hey, Y/N” Daniel caught up to her as she walked down the paddock “Anything interesting happened since the last time?”

“Y-yeah. I guess so” She felt a slight blush creeping down her neck

“Really? Wanna tell me about it?” Daniel asked, slowing their steps down and looked at each other

She thought about it for a moment, before deciding to speak about it “Okay. But you can’t tell anyone. Okay?” He nodded softly

They stepped to the side, making sure nobody could hear them “What’s up?” He was slightly nervous, seeing herself nervous

“I got in a relationship” She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, looking down into the concrete

“Really? That’s nice. Who’s the lucky guy?” He was far too happy to what she was about to say

“Mark” She said it so low she was afraid he didn’t hear her

“Mark who?” “Webber” He froze, unintentionally holding his breath

“Daniel?” She looked up at him, noticing go he wasn’t breathing “You need to breath, Danny”

“I’m sorry” He led his breath out “Mark Webber? Like, your manager, Mark Webber?” She nodded “Okay…” He was obviously trying to wrap his head around it

“Could you not tell anyone? We’re trying to keep it a secret for now” He nodded, afraid to speak to say something he shouldn’t “Thank you. You’re a real friend, Dan”

“We look out for our own, right?”

After every race, she liked to watch clips from the garage. It gave her some sort of comfort in watching her team, and seeing Mark on screen, she would be redder than a tomato, knowing she could jump him when ever she wanted

At some point, she had drawn Mark into doing it too. They would be curled up into each others body on the couch at whose ever place they would be staying at

She would blush every time she saw a clip where they would talk to each other. On tv it looked so innocent

It looked like your normal manager giving the driver a tip or telling them something they should improve or look out for, but they knew damn different

They knew what was coming out of the older’s lips. The words were pure filth. Filth that would fuck them both in the news if any body heard

It was also then after Imola that tweets started flowing out about hers, Oscars and Sebastian’s “relationship”

How they went from the best circle to something that looked like multi 21 or brocedes if you put it the right way

“How do you feel about all of it?” Mark asked as he saw her closed out of twitter after reading a tweet about it

“It’s fine” She sighed, snuggling into his side under the duvet on the bed “Not like it’s not true” Mark snakes his arms around her waist, pulling her closer “Although, I do miss Oscar sometimes, only sometimes though”

“Of course, he’s your brother. He’s half of you, and the other way around. You grew up together, never left each other’s sides. It’s okay to miss him, even if he is an asshole” That drew a chuckle out of her

Abu Dhabi rolled around, and at this point, her and Max points were tied. She needed to win the Grand Prix to win the championship

It felt like last year all over again. She had heard about the pressure both drivers was on during the time in between the two races, but she never imagined it to be this though

She needed this. She needed to prove she was worth something, and that McLaren made a wrong move to replace her

She needed to prove to her parents that they chose the wrong side

She needed to prove to Sebastian he chose the wrong sibling

She got pole during qualifying, but the whole race, the two Red Bull drivers were battling wheel to wheel, always no more than a fraction of a second ahead of the other

When they crossed the finish line, none of them was cheering as they didn’t know who had gotten through first

“Congratulations, Piastri. You’re world champion” She heard it over the radio

“Seriously?” She needed to hear it again before she was sure

“You’re allowed to cheer, Y/N” It was now Christian over the radio

“Fuck. Oh my god” She hardly got any words out, her excitement getting the best of her, freezing her thoughts

She slowly drove up in front of the sign labeled with a big number 1. She got out of her car, going over to her team, hugging them all

She got to Mark, hugging him tightly, her helmet kinda getting in the way. She was so caught up in the moment, too focused in being in his arms that she didn’t care that his hand that was on her back slipped down to her lower back, too far to seam appropriate

“I love you so much” She said it low, hoping no body from the team heard her, but still hoping he heard her

She pulled back, going back to say congratulations to Max and Lewis who placed p2 and p3

Since it was the last race of the year, everybody went out celebrating. No matter what team they were from, they all went out to the same club

She sat in a booth with Max, Charles, Daniel, Lewis, and Fernando. They were all sitting and chatting about everything and nothing, each of them taking turns to give drinks and shots

Slowly, all of them went to other people to talk to them too. Once it was just her and Fernando left back, Mark had joined them

Fernando had left a little while later, going over to Lance to talk to him, seeing everybody else had left him sitting alone

“Congratulations, baby” He said, leaning closer to her so she could hear him over the music and people talking

“Thank you” Her eyes were so soft as she looked up at him “Thank you for being with me all the way. I love you so much” She leaned over, kissing his lips softly

“Everybody can see us, love” He said, pulling slightly back, knowing she was the one wanting to keep them secret

“I don’t care. We have all winter to deal with the PR” She smiled, kissing him again, her fingertips softly placed on his jaw, feeling him kiss her back, his hand placed softly on her waist

The next morning, she had woken up late, her arm launched over Mark’s waist while laying on her stomach beside him, her head turned away from him

She turned on her back before she sat up. She took her phone from the nightstand beside her

11:56

She sighed, then saw her notifications

Twitter 99+ notifications

She pressed it, seeing it was all responses to one tweet. Her sigh she let out had woken Mark

“What are you looking at?” He asked, sitting up beside her

“Don’t know yet” She pressed the original tweet “We were caught yesterday. Photo proof”

[redphlox]

No matter how bnha ends, I'm grateful that I became invested because it brought me joy, and it gifted me the euphoric experience of getting to know one of my favorite characters ever: Touya Todoroki, Dabi. I will always love him, and he will always have a special place in my heart. Nothing can change that or take that away from me. Shouto, too. The soba brothers are eternal to me.

It's so typical of me to be drawn to the mysterious, cold, brooding characters, haha. Shouto and Dabi immediately captured my attention when I first watched/read bnha with @fox-conscious. I took a break from following the series for a few years until November 2020, when I casually logged into Tumblr after months of not checking and saw chapter 290 Dabi's Dance leaks. It must have been fate. Suddenly, I was fully immersed in the manga again, excited that the obvious familial connection between my two favorites was officially confirmed. This reveal reignited my excitement and gave me something to focus on and look forward to during a challenging first semester in grad school, when I was on the cusp of realizing I needed professional help for my eating disorder.

To deal with the stress and have fun, I turned to reading and writing meta, and trying to make friends to share the experience with. That's the most important thing that has come from following this series... I've met so many incredible people who mean a lot to me:

@haleigh-sloth has become a really dear and close friend of mine. We met because of this manga and bonded over crepes, breakfast foods, pasta or ramen dinners, shopping at the mall, swimming in the river, walking her dogs, sleepovers, traveling, and road trips because of our shared love of the characters and story. We are basically the same person and constantly say the same things at the same time. Through the ups and downs of school, work, moving, and even now, we've always had each other's backs and shared countless moments of laughter and ugly cackling because we can't take shit seriously, ever. She's one of my best friends for life and I can't imagine NOT having her around!

@todomitoukei was one of the first friends I made in this fandom. I can always count on her to make the funniest jokes I've ever heard, especially during a completely serious conversation, and I'm astounded how smart, quick-witted, and talented she is. Truly an inspiration. I always look forward to seeing notifications that she messaged me because she brightens my day <3

I've had the great pleasure of meeting and hugging @hamliet TWICE! She has a generous heart and an inviting, calm aura. Her kindness and intelligence are remarkable. I genuinely enjoy discussing all sorts of topics with her, both silly and serious: life, hopes and dreams, fears and daily struggles, funny memes, reading and writing. I also love seeing her pet photos and can't wait to meet them in the future.

@transhawks is truly my most insane friend, and I say that lovingly and in the most ironic way because he's level-headed, creative, articulate, and self-aware. I'm always learning from him. I can talk to him for hours and never run out of things to say, and I always look forward to his insightful commentary about anything and everything.

And of course, I'm grateful for all the discord shenanigans with my friends: watching the anime together, voice calls, memes, sharing ideas, etc. @chocolate-biscuit who always pops into the chat with funny one-liners that leave me cackling for days when they flash in my head randomly, @bootlickerhawks who is the bestest horse person ever and I get excited to see on my dash, @helga-grinduil who is the saltiest and funniest person on this hellsite and also happens to make the best bnhaedits in this entire fandom, @jecook who is one of the sweetest people I've ever met and can't wait to read fix-it fics from, @mettywiththenotes who sends cute dog pictures and makes the most hilarious memes. Together we are all unhinged, and I love it. Despite living in different time zones, different counties, we've all create a fun space to cohabitate, and I think that's really cool and beautiful.

Hmm. Looks like the real treasure was the friends I made along the way, and the shared trauma of having our favorite characters mishandled by their creator was worth it. Can't wait to keep writing fics, making memes, and making new friends like @shortstrawberryshake because of this manga. And, I can't wait to keep loving Touya and Shouto Todoroki, of course <3

[rivalsforlife]

pardon me if you’re tired of discussing this but. we know aa7 is on capcom’s radar on some level. and now they’ve rereleased every game right?? they’ve finally run out of backlog material after almost yearly releases since 2019…. Not to put the clown wig and nose back on too early but do you think we’ll actually get news about, or get to see, aa7 next year?

Never tired of discussing this!! This is right around the time of year where I'd be preparing to make my yearly AA7 Speculation Post anyway so this is great timing. (TGS, my enemy, is approaching.)

So just to make sure everyone's on the same page, here's a quick recap of where we're currently at:

In November 2020 we got internal Capcom leaks which included a calendar from 2019 with the roadmap for the AA series the next couple of years. This included:

DGS1&2 collection, which I did not think was going to happen ever, releasing April-June 2021

AA7, releasing around October-December 2021, right around the 20th anniversary.

Through late 2019-mid 2022, reconsider porting 456

We got DGS1&2 (a bit later than in the plan, but by like a month), we got the 456 ports, we got bonus AAI ports, we have nothing for AA7 nearly three years after it was supposed to come out. The pandemic is an obvious feature that could contribute to its delay, but at this point with 456 ports out I think we can safely say that this was not the only cause.

Some other things that may or may not be contributing to AA7's delay include:

Yamazaki, the previous main writer for 5&6 and the AAIs, left Capcom in 2020. If he was involved in AA7 at all, that could throw a wrench into things, but I recall hearing he intended AA6 to be his last AA game (I AM STRUGGLING TO FIND THE SOURCE THOUGH SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME), so I don't think this contributed very much. It does, however, mean that we're unsure about who the next main writer is - depending on what Takumi's up to or if they had to bring someone new on, there could be complications related to that.

I think TGAA did way better than anyone expected, which I covered in this post. It's possible that this could have shifted Capcom's priorities to porting more old games / porting to all modern consoles. It may have made people at Capcom think "damn everyone loves Takumi" so they tried to lure him back to AA7, and I have no idea how well that would have gone or if Takumi is even interested in continuing mainline AA right now. (I do think this at least contributed to the Ghost Trick ports.)

In my first ever AA7 speculation post I talked about how the ending of AA6 kind of wrote them into a corner re: how to continue with the series and which protagonist to use. I still stand by that argument even if a lot of that post aged badly.

Console ports! Previously new AA games were for whichever Nintendo handheld is out now (GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS). But now that the series is doing really well on all consoles, they may have decided to try to make their next mainline entry on all consoles, which would take more development time. Adding to this is that the Switch is near the end of its lifecycle with the Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will be) being announced soon - meaning that, if AA7 is coming out soon, Capcom is in the position of "do we try to squeeze this into the end of the Switch's lifecycle" (which, I'll need to find sources for this, is speculated to be some of the reasons behind why AAI2 and DGS2 sold badly when they were first released, and they can't make the same mistake thrice... right...?) or "do we try to time it with the release of the Switch 2"?

Also, a lot of this depends on how far AA7 was into development whenever it was derailed. If it was derailed from the pandemic, then according to the calendar, it would likely have still been in the prototype stage. It may be early enough that they would have had to start from scratch whenever they picked it up again. I don't work in the gaming industry so I have no idea how long it takes them to make a game or how easy it would be from what stage they're in.

One thing we can compare to is some of the comments about the recent AAI ports: in this interview, Shunsuke Nishida, the producer of the AAI collection, says that development on the collection began in 2022. He also mentions that this began once development on 456 was concluded. This leads me to believe that (contrary to my previous assumptions) 456 and AAIC were not developed concurrently (or if so, had very minimal overlap), and that the process of upscaling graphics, porting, and localization took them... about a year, maybe? So that takes time, even without taking into consideration how long it would take to come up with a new idea + write the script + the bulk of the programming that would have to be done that isn't considered with porting + probably way more than I can think of because again I do not work in the gaming industry.

There's also the question of why 456 and AAIC weren't developed concurrently. The calendar from 2020 shows that TGAA and AA7 were meant to be developed at least somewhat concurrently, and the staff from TGAA would eventually merge into working on AA7. Once again, we don't know what happened to the staff that were supposed to be working on AA7. It's possible pandemic complications meant they got shuffled onto other projects. It's possible the AA-related team is smaller now than it was in 2020, so they only have enough people to work on one project at a time. It's also possible that there's a team that was working on ports, and a team that was working on a new game, and now the "port team" is freed up to work on the "new game team".

Either way though, pretty much every interview with the staff for the 456 or AAI ports are all saying "look forward to the future of the series", which is definitely Corporate Speak, but unless they're bringing the ports of the Layton crossover (fingers crossed) that can only mean one thing. (AAI anime?) Plus, like I've discussed in this post, AA is having fantastic sales in general. They've seemingly either hired a new social media manager or changed the strategy so there is much more engagement on twitter. And AA is getting on bigger and bigger announcements - though AA trilogy ports were announced at TGS (at an AA-specific panel), TGAA duology ports were announced unceremoniously on twitter. Afterwards, 456 ports got announced at the Capcom Showcase during Summer Game Fest. And now AAI collection got announced at a Nintendo Direct, which I imagine is even more expensive, so the series must be going in a good direction for them to think that's worth it!

That's a lot of rambling for me to say I definitely think it's coming.

When are we going to see it though!!

Coming up in September is my eternal enemy Tokyo Game Show. Since AAI collection is being released at the beginning of September... it might be a bit too soon to announce a new game, but who knows. They might think it's profitable to ride the hype they're building now for AAI collection to announce a new game. Or they might let it sit for a while.

With AAIC getting announced at a Direct, I'm thinking they'll want to make AA7's announcement a) big and b) global. AA6 was announced in Famitsu, but the problem with that is that it's a mostly Japanese audience, and some interviews have been talking about how AA's global audience is particularly contributing to how big it is right now. So I'm expecting AA's next announcement to be at something major and something that will get attention from overseas audiences.

If they have been working on AA7 concurrently -- and honestly I do think there has at least been some progress on it since 2019 -- we could definitely see an announcement within the next year. I was also saying this in 2020, though, so don't take my word for it. There's been two year gaps between ports up until the AAI collection, and they seemed pretty proud about releasing 456 and AAI in the same year, so... maybe they'll want to keep it going and announce AA7 within the next year, especially if they'll have a longer announcement -> release period than they normally would for ports.

Potential candidates include:

Tokyo Game Show: As previously stated, it's very close to the AAIC release, so I don't think it's the best timing for it. I would not want my favorite AA game overshadowed by whatever the hell they're going to do with AA7. Likelihood: depends on how fast they want to follow up on the hype.

The Game Awards: is the next major gaming event, but that's already massive in terms of the type of games that get announced there, and it's expensive! Nintendo Direct is one thing since AA has always been a Nintendo-first series, but I don't think it's big enough to justify putting in a Game Awards ad. and I already have my clown wig on for persona 6 there. Likelihood: pretty low tbh

Next Year's Summer Game Fest-related Shows: I think this is the most likely, considering both the 456 collection and the AAI collection were announced around this time. For AA7 I'd say a Nintendo Direct to get lots of eyes on it, especially if AAIC sales pay off. Likelihood: pretty high!

Which leads me into my wildcard answer:

Switch 2 Announcement Stream: If Capcom decides to go in and make AA7 one of the first games for whatever the switch successor would be, it could be announced here. I regret to admit that I am a very bad gamer and only like two things, and therefore have not ever been present for one of these things to know how many games get announced as launch games for a new console, but, like, it's possible.

In the above scenario, I'm not necessarily saying that AA7 would be a Switch 2 exclusive - because I think that would be stupid after so much of the support they've gotten from the ports has been from playstation and steam - but I am definitely the kind of person who would buy a console for one video game. Shoutout to me buying a switch in part anticipating that aa7 would come out on it and that is not looking likely

Anyways, that's my speculation!! Reminder that this is mostly uninformed and that I have no knowledge of anything related to sales or marketing or video game development, and as a result of that, I have been wrong (aside from the one time I accurately predicted AAI ports as a joke) for four consecutive years.

[hausofanya]

─── youtube : hausleo SEPT 2022. “ THE SCANDAL THAT OPENED EVERYONE’S EYES ”

would i say that cléo is a controversial figure? not really. or at least—not controversial in the way you’re thinking. cléo just has a big heart, even if her outward demeanor convinces anyone otherwise. and it’s her heart that lands her in controversial areas.

in 2019, cléo would land herself in muddy waters — no pun intended — with her first ‘scandal’ of sorts. fans noticed that she was a bit too friendly with stray kids’ backup dancers, one of which was revealed to be member of popular dance crew royal family, dante anderson - lewis. while netizens thought the friendship was cute, other fans would follow the duo around to their hangouts and gatherings, eventually capturing them on what seemed like a nighttime romantic bike ride through the streets of seoul. the pictures would reach popular kpop sites overnight, thrusting the pair into unwanted spotlight.

while cléo nor jype would make a statement about this, lewis would make a post poking fun at the whole ordeal with a post of him gifting her flowers titled ‘baby’s first dating scandal!’. lewis would have to clarify that the post was a joke in a top comment, later deleting the post altogether.

as expected, since the incident of sorts blew over quickly, netizens don’t count this as cléo’s first scandal. it would be two years later that an even worse story would break the news, thrusting her into scrutiny and making her the subject of debates concerning artist treatment and idol culture.

who is seok dowon ?

how did their paths cross ?

but as you probably already know… things aren’t as simple anymore. but now that you have the general gist of the background, now it’s time to get into the real meat of the scandal.

dispatch at the scene of the crime, again.

who was user ‘cleowrld’ ?

madness + insanity = …

so just in case you’re lost, cause this is a lot of information, here’s a brief summary of what has happened so far:

- roh junseo (cleowrld) finds 3racha in 2017

- cléo debuts in 2018 as a part of a 9 member group. the earliest cleowrld post dates back to 2018 as well.

- cléo and dante ‘scandal’ in 2019. netizens don’t care much at all besides *those* people. dowon gains success in *hotel de luna* the same year.

- premiere of the ten year pact in seoul in 2020. cléo is selected to sing its ost. dowon and cléo meet for the first time at the premiere. junseo and caila, a fangirl of dowon, meet the same year.

- junseo leaks cléo’s personal account to dispatch in sept 2021, which starts the dating rumors. cléo’s phone number is leaked, as well as some horrific messages sent to her, and she is put on indefinite hiatus by the end of the month.

good? great. awesome. this is incredibly heartbreaking and i honestly wish nothing but the best for cléo always and the fucking worst for everyone who made her life horrible always.

now this part will be rejuvenating. now we get to the part where we unravel just who the hell seok dowon is.

seok dowon’s true colors.

the apologies. one somewhat expected, one definitely not.

and then things went quiet. in total cléo was on hiatus for like seven months ( sept 21 - mar 22 ), and then stray kids had their first comeback without her as eight with oddinary. it was to be expected—she was summoned to court in april and won her case against dowon for charges of physical and emotional violence and financial fraud. jype also sued junseo and caila for the damages caused by leaking private information, also winning those respective cases. not much is known about the compensation afterwards, but it is to be noted that cléo donated to a handful of violence prevention initiatives not long after.

and then dowon retaliated on his own.

seok dowon makes his (unwanted) return.

now it’s been a year or so since cléo went on her hiatus, and people are wondering if she’s ever going to make her return. and honesty, if she never did come back, nobody would blame her.

so yeah. i know she’s prioritizing her health right now, but i’m honestly not above hoping for music. on my hands and knees. please give us something in the future.

i hope she’s doing well though. and that the terrible three are rotting in jail.

hausleo, out.

[curiositydoorunlocked]

The Recent News

Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things 5, including photos of actors on set.

Look, something about all this (the leak + the photo situation) feels… fishy, and I can see people in various tags are getting various levels of upset by it. So as someone who has been around the block a couple of times, I want to say something. 

First of all: hi, everyone! I’m glad to be here. I’ve been a fan of ST since early-mid 2020 and involved in the fandom since mid-late 2020 (on other accounts, which have since been deleted), so I feel at least marginally qualified to say what I’m going to say. That being said, I drifted away from the fandom before S5 filming began and haven't watched the show in a while; if I get anything wrong please feel free to correct me.

First I want to talk about Bridgerton S3. I closely followed that production in 2022 and 2023. Like Stranger Things, Bridgerton is a high-budget Netflix original show with a large cast, lots of public interest, an active fandom, and what I would call "special considerations" for filming. (In Bridgerton's case it's the historical element; in ST it's the sci-fi/fantasy element plus the historical element, albeit to a lesser degree.) They filmed for a shorter period of time than ST5 is expected to film for, yes, but many of the circumstances are/were similar. That brings me to my point: when Bridgerton S3 was filming, the best we got from the main cast was a handful of photos a) taken from relatively far away that b) did not spoil anything major. Luckily for us, the photos were clear, but in the end they didn't really amount to anything more than eye candy, something to get excited over.

In contrast, these photos from the ST5 set are clear, close, and most importantly reveal seemingly significant story beats/results. (Okay, the Mike and Hopper one isn't super close or clear, I'll give ya that. But it's still pretty damn close for a set that's supposedly locked down! Especially if they're filming a scene possibly related to a major character's death/disappearance!) Kinda odd, right? I'm not necessarily saying they were leaked on purpose to misdirect fans, because I'm not that confident in myself. I don’t have any insider/industry knowledge; I can only claim a healthy (perhaps too healthy?) level of skepticism. But I do want to put that possibility out there, because I think it’s an important one to consider.

“But wait,” you might say, “many parts of S4 were leaked, and leaked accurately at that. What’s to say these aren’t real too?”

That’s a fair point! Maybe production hasn’t learned their lesson from S4; maybe they’re truly terrible at preventing leaks and that’s the end of the story. Yes, they’ve spoken a little about security measures in the lead-up to S5 but that doesn’t mean those security measures were implemented well, or even at all.

Even keeping that in mind, I nonetheless implore everyone to chill the hell out. I say this again, with so much love: CHILL THE HELL OUT. This has happened before: even with the accurate leaks and clear photos we got during S4 filming, we lacked so much context. Mike and El’s “I love you” scene is a great example of this. There was quite the brouhaha over that leak in certain corners of the fandom… and yet the actual scene turned out nothing like the phrase “Mike finally says ‘I love you’ to El” implies. Another example are these photos (see above; my apologies for the poor quality!) of the Hawkins group in the parking lot of The War Zone. When those photos were leaked, I recall speculation that the scene would appear at the very end of the finale, that it related to an apocalypse situation, and so on, but not so! In the show it appeared before the final battle with Vecna: the town was in a panic, yeah, but no apocalypse.

That’s what I mean about chilling the hell out. We can’t assume the photos/leaks are genuine—and even if we did indulge that assumption (which is fair given production’s history!) we can’t assume we have the whole story.

Hang in there, folks. We survived S4 production and we’ll survive S5 production too :)

TL;DR: Hi, I’m new and also not new here. I made this account just to talk about this photo/leak situation because that’s how passionate I am about this godforsaken show. This is a little weird, but whether the leaks/photos are real or planted, stay calm. We know so little right now. Don’t waste your energy on blind panic, not when we still have another year(ish) to go.

[sinning-23]

My Latest crush is an alien car from space

SO this is the quick 1-3part fanfic I wrote in reference to the little post I made about mirage a couple days ago! Only a couple things changed and the stuff mentioned in the post prior will come up in later parts (here's the link to that if you didn't see it)

Okay so let’s just push all the events of the movie…now lmao I use a lot of current terms that would t have been used in the 80’s so let’s just keep everything the same…accepts it’s 2020-2023 yeah? Great! Fantastic! Uhhh enjoy shawty!

(heres the link to pt2 hotties <3)

Intro/Pt.1

Hot girl summer postponed 

“How am I supposed to do hoodrat things with my friends if you won’t fix this already!” You whine, resting your hip against the side of the beat-up Porsche. The paint was chipped and scraped, the seats were old and dusty and the oils it leaked stained the garage floor and the damn hood wouldn’t close. 

In short, it was kinda shitty. And a stick shift? Who the fuck drove the stick anymore?

Your dad only dusts his hands in his pants and sighs. It’s his fault for spoiling you rotten that you’d beg for a car now, and it was also his fault for promising it in the first place. 

“First of all, there will be no hoochie mama floozy business in my house.” You roll your eyes at the outdated term and shoot back with a reply.

“That’s fine! I said hoodrat anyway!” 

He interrupts you, pinching the bridge of his nose, great hair practically springing out his head. 

“NONE of that either. Tell you what, if you can apply for two more apartments it’s yours. 

You throw your hands up.

“Dad, what?! You know I hate being alone and you’re getting old! You’re gonna need a caretaker.” You reply with a bit of sarcasm and he raised a brow and the not-so-subtle insult.

“I’m not a senior citizen y/n. Just do it.” He replies back, ending the conversation with a peck to your forehead. 

“Not with the way your knees popped earlier!” You call back as he closes the door on you. 

You groan, pushing off the car you were leaning against and tabbing the roof, an audible ‘thunk’ sounding. 

“Soon shawty, you’ll be taking me shopping and clubbing in no time.” You chide, fingers dancing on the slightly lifted hood before you exit.

And before the garage light shut off, the Porsche purred, engine smoking. 

____4 months____

It was go time. You’d applied for about 3 more apartments just to appease and overachieve for your father. And on top of that, your girls decided that it was finally time to get you absolutely shit-faced in late honor and celebration of your graduating med school! The only problem was the mode of transportation.

Most of the girls weren’t going to be able to get you and an Uber wasn’t really what you wanted considering there was a perfectly good Porsche sitting in the garage collecting dust. According to dear old dad, he’d already tried time and time again to fix the damn thing but it wasn’t budging, every screw being too tight and every wire seeming to short hit it under his touch. It seems like no use. 

“Are you serious? I kept my end of the bargain.” You groan, rolling your eyes at the inconvenience 

You’d dad shrugs, throwing the dirty, oiled-up towel over his shoulder. 

“Unless you want to try, I  suggest you find another means of transportation.” He suggests, leaving you and the busted car alone. 

You sigh heavily letting your girls know a reschedule may be on the rise. You pull your French curl braid half up with your alligator clip and lift the hood, the engine was seemingly new, and the design seared into it looked a bit creepy. After brushing your fingers over the symbol, you tighten the hood screws to test if it’d close and sure enough, the problem solved ...kinda.

 You still weren't sure this thing started up. That was the main issue. You sigh, pulling the driver seat open and plotting down, dust making you fan your face and try to blow the particles away. The same symbol from before was engraved into the wheel and you brush over it again. 

“What a funky-looking symbol. I'm sure nothing a little sparkle won't fix, looks cool tho. Like an alien car thing? Wouldn't that be so silly?” You think out loud, looking in the back seat to see a tattered bomber jacket with silver and blue. Maybe it belonged to the previous owner?

You gasp when the driver's seat scoots forward, keeping you from reaching the jacket. Your chest pressed to the wheel making the horn honk. Gasping you throw your shaky hands up and swallow hard. 

“What the fuck…” You whisper out, eyeballing the symbol once again, trying to sneakily reach for the door to make an escape. 

It locks, The radio and lights inside flashing off and on as the engine revved filling the garage with smoke and the sound of your panicked screams. 

You try and pull the door open but fail again and when the radio buzzes to life you're met with a single song. Taylor Swift was amongst the madness just moments ago.

You need to calm down

You're being too loud 

You managed to throw yourself out of the car and scatter back into the house, coughing up the smoke that had still lingered from before. What the hell was that? So maybe it was an alien car. What was meant to become of your hot girl summer? Were you doomed to figure out this possessed car on your own? Exorcise it mayhaps? You stumble up the stairs and pull out your phone. Evidence that's what you needed, evidence. 

You stumble back down the stairs, Snapchat fully functional and ready to catch any evidence, and you'd be damned if you didn't go viral without a filter. 

Swinging the garage door open you point your camera to the dormant Porche. You're more so angry that you were so scared and you were NOT about to let some poltergeist punk you in the comfort of your own home. 

“Yeahhhh motherfucker where all that noise now? HUH? Flash some lights now bitch!” You yell, feeling only slightly insane talking to the inanimate object. 

You were met with silence, circling the vehicle with the flash on. Now narration of the prior events, you try to open the driver door only for it to lock. Oh this mf was playing with you. You yell in a fit of rage, smacking the hood. 

The car revs and honks at you, the door swinging open to hit your backside, making you trip. 

“HA! I GOT YOUR ASS ON CAMERA!” You yelp, camera rolling the entire time. Your breaths are raged but soon become hollow when the car starts to……change.

Your camera hand is shaking and parts of the car begin to shift into legs…waist...torso…arms…. Breath is caught in your throat as the damn near 10 ft tall figure standing before you with its hand in a more so ‘what gives’ position. 

“You are so aggressive, lil mama! What’s the deal?” It speaks, and before you could muster a response, your eyelids shut, and your brain powers down. 

Its eyes widen at your unconscious state and it sighs. 

“All that talk and she faints. Great.” 

____________

A breeze hits your face, the sound of traffic slowing to a haunt as does whatever you’re traveling in. It’s a bit easier to breathe now, but your breath is still shallow and your head is somewhat aching. What even happened before this? You were messing with the car and it was..possessed? No no, it was. 

You shoot up, head hitting the ceiling. In a panic you try and tug at the seatbelt and escape this demon car, breath bringing to pick up again. 

The voice from before speaks over the radio 

“Whoa whoa ok calm down I’m just taking you to a friend of mine! I’ll explain everything calm down.” 

And surprisingly enough, you do just that. In hindsight, if this thing wanted to kill you it probably would have done it already. You click the seatbelt off, crawling to the front seat. You take a deep breath, manicured fingers ghosting over the wheels before finally gripping it and tracing the symbol again. 

“O-Okay. I’m terrified right now. I’m in hella far from my house I’m assuming-“ You’re cut off by the voice again. 

“You’d assume correctly.” It speaks 

You blink your hand and take another breath. Lil shit had personality. Nod in defeat. 

“So…you’re an alien…but also like…a robot? What are you? And why are you a car? And why are you BLUE?” You question, calming down enough to exit the car and wait for a response from the culprit. 

It transforms again before your eyes, and you finally have a chance to examine him more. Instead of being afraid and shocked now, you’re more so intrigued. Curiosity engulfs your mind as you ponder its biology. Sure finishing med school required you to know the human body, but the anatomy of an alien and more mecha was intriguing. 

You circle it, a newfound confidence flooding you as it tried to explain itself.  Manicured fingers can’t help but reach out and touch the smooth-looking metal, the once dusty and scraped not nonexistent over his exterior. Perhaps that was a part of its species' biology, some sort of camouflage. You trace over the license place which appeared to look like more of a tramp stamp given his current transformed state. It reads, ‘MIRAG3’ and you can't help but let your hands wander around and underneath it. It twitched at the sudden touch, arching away from where your hands had touched in protest. 

“Can you stop poking around!” It yips, shooing you back. 

You scoff rolling your eyes, still observing. This was definitely a scientific breakthrough. No wonder it’s been hidden in its car disguise, you were sure there were plenty of people that wanted to dissect and use it for maybe not-so-good reasons. 

“So, do you have a name? Is it Mirage? I can’t keep calling you it in my head, feels rude.” You question, finally taking in its full frame. 

It gasps in fake hurt, placing the back of its, hand. Against its forehead? Damn, you needed to learn its anatomy so this would be less of a guessing game. 

“Call me Mirage doll.” He flirts, jutting his fist out to seal some sort of camaraderie. 

Reluctantly accepting, your plush fist touched his metal one, the metal warmer than you initially expected. Was there more of him? Why was he purposefully blowing his cover? Maybe he was just not as well thought out as the others if there were others. 

“Here come inside you should meet everyone else, Noah can explain this better to you too,” Mirage explains, scooting your forebears into the large storage facility as your shoes drag against gravel. 

Noah? Like the one that worked at your dad's shop sometimes? Like the one that sold the car in the first place? Your brows furrow hoping that maybe it was a different Noah considering how damn big Brooklyn seemed. The chances of that were slim though with the given information. 

Sure enough, walking into the facility was that same Noah, about to speak to Mirage but paused when he realized you were there, and…not panicking? You squint, arms folded over your chest. This mf had a lot of explaining to do and fast. 

“Noahhh, wanna tell me why you sold me and my father an ALIEN AUTOMOBILE?” You tell, poking your finger to his chest as he throws his hands up in defense. Time to explain and quickly.

____________

To say you were exhausted was an understatement. Your calves are killing you due to being practically kidnapped before your outing and now your head was throbbing over how much information it just revived. According to Noah, Mr. I sell alien cars here for himself into this mess because he tried to steal Mirage out of a parking lot way back when for a quick cash grab. There was this whole fight with some bad guys? Yeah someone called Unicorn? Unicron! Right, and he was gonna like blow up the world or something but he’s gone now…temporarily-

The point is, you didn’t need aliens right now you needed a margarita and some music to shake your ass too but NONE of that was happening any time soon. 

“So, feel like your brains gonna explode?” Mirage jokes, sitting against the wall of the facility and you nod, now sort of comfortable with the idea of, we’ll him in general.

 It’s not like you weren’t into conspiracy theories and whatnot, but for something like this to ACTUALLY be real was beyond you. You sigh and run your hands down your face, more upset you missed your one night out more than anything. And it was getting late, and that early shift you picked up definitely was gonna be a no-go if you didn’t get to bed soon. 

“This had been fun truly, but I need to get back home because I actually have a job and not one that involves OUTTERSPACE CAR PEOPLE.” You groan, seeing Mirage stand and get ready to go back to his, auto mode? 

Note to self, learn the terminology sooner rather than later. 

_________

It’s about 4am when you finally make it home, the car ride silent for the most part. Mirage had decided you’d had quite enough excitement for the night and just needed a lil tote quiet, but not before teasing you a bit about missing out on your ‘hot girl hood rat’ activities. 

You sigh once he parks, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, still too high off adrenaline to sleep. Maybe now was a good time to ask about that anatomy part? Getting the car your somewhat befriended sounded like a nice suggestion until sleep creeps up on you. 

Of course, sensing your curiosity, mirage transforms and lays in front of you, resting on his stomach while he kicks his feet. 

“Whatcha thinkin' abouttt?” He asks, more sing-songy than anything. 

“I want to study you actually, your anatomy, I’m sure it’s much different to a human but similar in the important areas.” You hypothesize, seeing his eyes widen. 

“Important areas? Damn girl we just met.” He teases, making you shake your head. 

“Not what I meant- I mean inside!” You respond back as a boyish grin crawls over his gestures 

“You’ve been inside too. Wow and you didn’t even take me to dinner first!” He jokes again, more so enjoying your reaction. 

It was going to be a longggg night and looking at it, a long day too.

[demigodsanswer]

Hello! I'm genderfluid I went searching for stuff on Rick Riordan after finding out he won a stonewall award on The Second Book from the Magnus Chase trilogy. I've read all of Riordan's books as a minor and, upon finding this stuff it's been disheartening to say the least. I'll come back, after doing some research on my own but I'm personally curious about how you feel about LGBTQIA+ representation in Riordan's books.

I want to lead with: if you feel as though the queer and trans representation in the series is not reflective of your experience, or worse, offensive in its depiction, then I am very sorry. I myself am a bisexual woman who was in a relationship with a woman for five years, so I know what it's like to feel like a depiction of your gender or sexuality is simply insufficient or downright offensive.

Your experiences of the representation in the series are valid, whether they be positive or negative. These are fundamentally very personal experiences, and it's rare that any media will ever be 100% representative of our lived experiences. It is completely okay to feel represented where others do not, or to feel let down by a depiction, even if others think on it favorably.

To that end though, I honestly can't comment in any meaningful way on the representation in the series, simply because I am out of touch with it. I never finished Magnus Chase or Trials of Apollo. Chalice of the Gods was basically fun fanfic in my brain, and I haven't read any Hero's of Olympus book cover to cover since they debuted, not 10+ years ago. The only series I regularly return to are the first five, which do not have any explicit queer rep.

There are posts on my blog from 2020 and earlier that are from a time when I was more in touch with the fandom, Rick, and the books, but alas that time has passed. In between when I was last active in this fandom and now, I have completed almost all of a PhD. So a lot of this just isn't in my brain anymore.

What is in my brain is how important Nico coming out in House of Hades was. I will never forget how it felt to see that leak, get the book, and flip right to the page to make sure it was real. It was groundbreaking and so important. It wasn't the first queer rep in a book for middle or high schoolers, but it didn't exist in a saturated market either.

When continually stands out to me about Rick is his willingness to learn, grow, and correct. Sure, I wish he did things right the first time. He probably should have had sensitivity readers for HoO, but it's nice that he did have them for ToA. I think he has proven to be willing to listen to fans and course correct when he needs to. He doesn't just rest of his representation laurels; he keeps trying to make the world more diverse. I think the TV show is a great show of that work as well.

But really at the heart of my inability to be overly critical of him is the reality that I fucking loved Harry Potter. I loved it so much. And I have other queer and trans friends for whom that series was their life. It was the favorite thing, it was their #1 fandom, it was everything to them in the way Percy Jackson is still everything to me. And all of us feel as though Harry Potter was taken from us by the rampant bigotry of JKR. The choice to disengage is obviously also political, but it feels so emotional first and foremost. I cannot separate art from the artist there, and that to me doesn't feel like a political statement; it feels entirely like an emotional one.

So when I think about Rick's efforts, flawed as they may be, all I can think is "There but for the grace of god go I," because if it was him succumbing to the black mold and becoming one of the four horseman of the rise of global fascism, I do not know how I would cope with the emotional loss of this series.

That's not to say that fans should not continue to hold him accountable or engage in dialogue with him. It's just me saying that I'm not the fan who's going to do that. I'm too old, too tired, too out of touch, and I need to finish this degree before it finishes me.

[sillylovingpupper]

I want to talk, uh, about Firefly. There will be spoilers for Honkai Star Rail 2.0

So the driving force behind 2.0 is Firefly; the current arc we're in has wider implications, but 2.0 was pretty clearly set up to introduce you to Penacony and get you to emphasize with Firefly. She is clearly designed to tug at your heartstrings. It's...pretty naked what the writers were hoping to invoke, but I want to rewind a bit. I want to talk about a certain scene, and how it relates to me, and...probably quite a few people reading this. I want to talk about Entropy Loss Syndrome.

I have very little doubt we'll hear more about it in the coming content; I keep myself away from leaks so I don't know if it's confirmed or not and I don't want to know. Everything I want to talk about is in this cutscene right here. Entropy Loss Syndrome is described as "irreversible chronic disassociation of your physical structure." Essentially, your body slowly breaks apart. Firefly explicitly says that it happens so slowly that it's hard to even notice from the outside.

This is the part that made me sit up and take notice, though.

Because while I can't tell you the date? I can tell you the year I noticed this happening to me.

This is the part where I need to tell you a bit about myself.

I was...a relatively healthy person, once upon a time. I wouldn't say I was in the peak of health, but physically I was quite capable, especially when it came to stamina and endurance. I prided myself on being able to walk further, last longer, and do more than other people. I couldn't go as fast as some or lift as much as some, but I could do it longer. And that was taken advantage of. I was a lowerclass American, of course it was. From the age of 17 to the age of roughly 29, the only period longer than six months that I didn't have a fulltime job was the semester and half of college, and the CNA training, that I attended. And in each of those jobs? I made myself indispensable because of the stamina I prided myself on. I'd work doubles, I'd work days in a row, I'd skip breaks, all without complaining. Which leads me to 2019.

After a year of difficult work as a CNA, involving...a lot of interpersonal drama at around the same time I was realizing I was transgender, I...buckled, in 2016. I left that line of work and took the first job that accepted me; McDonalds. At that point, I lived alone with my cat, and I had come to accept that was my fate. I would live alone, work at McDonalds until something happened, and move on to...a similar job, and so on until I died. I simply lost my desire to live, a desire that wouldn't return until early 2018 where, for some reason, against all odds, I pulled myself to a therapist. In 2019, I had, without any true intent on my part, ascended to the role of manager, and found myself shuffled to night shift. I took pride in my work, humble and underpaid as it was, and applied the same stamina and endurance to it that I had my previous jobs. ...until something changed. It was slow at first. I didn't even notice it, I wrote it off as a series of bad days...but thoughts were slightly out of reach. The amount of sleep I needed started to increase. The amount of time it took me to complete an order or clean an area increased. The distance I could walk or ride my bike started to shrink. I ran out of breath slightly easier. Truthfully, this had started happening when I was a CNA, but only on great exertion. I can't say it came from being less active, because of anything, I was more active, as I didn't have a car or the ability to drive...but increasingly I found myself unable to do anything but go to work, and even then, I needed more rest than before.

Fortunately, I was able to move in with some friends in mid 2020, and I haven't worked since, not for pay. I did promise them, in exchange for supporting me, I'd do housework; cook, clean, and support them however I could. A promise I have kept to this day, to the best of my abilities. But those abilities were continuing to shrink, and still do to this day. They noticed then, and they do now.

I went from being fiercely independent and active, to relying on a cane to keep myself stable and prevent falls, to now, where I can't even grocery shop on my own without leaning on the cart or using a motorized cart. I own a wheelchair for especially bad days. ...my thoughts and memories escape me on a nearly daily basis now, and I've found days, every now and again, slip through my fingers.

I've seen doctors, and none of them understand it, not entirely. There's been...theories, and a handful of things that contribute. Dehydration, sleep apnea, issues with my inner ear, even my HRT. Nothing that explains the fullness of it, though. Words like Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia are being thrown around, but we can't even point to a clear infection that could have triggered any of those. And all of this terrifies me. There's a part of me that just keeps telling myself that I'm getting older, that it's normal to slow down as you age...or that maybe it's diet, or getting the wrong kind of exercise. But at the end of the day...I'm losing abilities that I prided myself on. Abilities that I loved. I've found myself largely bound to my house and...

To be honest, I've told myself I'm fine with that. I've painted for myself a beautiful picture where I keep myself at home, take it easy physically and even mentally, and live a peaceful life. There's a part of me that even sees this as the best possible ending for me, but... with even my cognition slipping away from me...what kind of life can I have?

I've gotten through so much of my life, done things that I would have thought were impossible, simply by convincing myself they weren't. That nothing was impossible to a mind that believed. So Firefly means a lot to me because while she has a name for it, and I don't...both of us find ourselves in a body that's slowly betraying us. And Firefly was the first time I've seen someone on screen who had the same kind of struggle as me, and who also chose to keep walking forward and dreaming despite of it. I don't know what kind of life I'll have. I still don't even know for sure if this...whatever it is, is even real and not a result of me overreacting to getting a little slower and my mind filling in the gaps. But...whatever lies ahead of me...I hope that I can still live it brilliantly. I hope maybe one day, I can be the kind of person I was once again, even if I have to take it in smaller bites.

[ghostshipglamour]

So Your Chief Surgeon Set Fire To The Dance Floor: How Fucked Are You?

a badly done summary of current and historical care by me #notadoctor

Descriptions of burns under the cut (not very graphic), historical in italics

tldr:

I: Burns primer

Burns comes in superficial, partial thickness (either superficial or deep) and full thickness (reaching the fat) (Carter, 2022)- that correspond to the older first-second-third degree classification.

Superficial burns will not scar nor blister;

Partial thickness burns (both types) will blister, leak interstitial fluid and scar; the superficial partial type is often more painful than deeper burns because well. if the nerve ending isn't there anymore, it can't relay pain

Full thickness burns look dry, comes with a loss of sensation and form thicker scars (Carter, 2022)

It can takes a few hours to a day for the real depth of the burn to be revealed. The time it takes to heal will vary depending on the depth, location and affected structures (Carter, 2022).

From Dr Ashurtst in 1862: “ if half or even one third the body surface was involved in the burn it was almost assuredly fatal.” (Hattery et al., 2015), so if your cold boy had his clothes on fire he's probably not coming to the fun walking trip ahead.

The 1800’s conception of it was different, as stated in this excerpt from (Hattery et al., 2015) :

“In the 1800s, burn pathophysiology was thought to occur in three stages. The period of congestion occurred in the first 48 hours, followed by the period of inflammation from day 2 to 14, followed by the period of suppuration. Baron Dupuytren added a fourth period: exhaustion. He advocated that burns affect different skin areas differently—severe burns were less likely on the areas of the exposed skin, pointing to the thin epidermis of the areas habitually covered. He also suggested that there were six degrees of burns, the fifth being those involving structures such as fascia and muscle. The sixth degree was described as being a carbonized, easily breakable limb […].”

II: What Does kill You

Immediately, the more deadly aspects will be shock (hypovolemic shock), suffocation and, in our case, being trampled or stabbed. The smoke combined with the crowd crush is a special hell.

Then in the near future it’s going to be the infections that does you in- you have a great door open for bacteria and delicious dead tissues for it to snack on.

Other things that may kill you are metabolic imbalances (loss of proteins, magnesium, phosphate, potassium); and hypothermia (one that’s particularly interesting for the arctic) (Carter, 2022).

Since the skin is a barrier against infection and for thermoregulation, these things will keep being an issue even further in the healing process. The deeper the burn, the greater the infection risk (Jeschke et al., 2020).

III: What you should do : comparing historical burn management to current day wilderness options (it’s unfair to compare them to hospital care when they barely have a doctor)

Get it wet. Running water or wet bandages works. Ice or ice water have worse outcomes on the healing.  The goals are to clean the wound, limit the “spread” of the burn, and limit pain. Wet bandages are the one thing that will help pain: otherwise, you want no air nor friction on it (Bitter & Erickson, 2016).

Give fluids (re: hypovolemic shock if the burn is deep/large enough). If you don’t have IV’s, drinking will do in small sips (water+salts). If the mouth is not an option you can shove it up their ass, aka proctoclysis (Jeschke et al., 2020).

In the 1800s, physicians were aware of the dehydration issue: one physician recommend giving ice chips to melt slowly, or small amounts of carbonic acid water (Hattery et al., 2015).

Dress the wound with something that lessens bacteria and retains moisture. Honey has pretty good evidence going for it!

In the 1800s, they had different recipes depending on physician’s preference: olive oil and limewater, a liniment of turpentine, a saturated solution of the carbonate of soda… (Hattery et al., 2015). It’s unclear if a dressing was applied after the solutions .

Pain management: historical options are mostly brandy and opium (Hattery et al., 2015). Hot .

As needed, someone should perform debridement, AKA cutting off dead tissue to help the rest heal.

IV: Life Took The Lemons Away -add scurvy to the mix

A burn heals in 4 overlapping phases:

Haemostasis in the first 24 hours (blood vessels shrinks and clotting happens), Inflammation in the following week/month (removal of debris and release of growth stimulants), then proliferation (new connective tissue grows) and, finally, remodeling (Jeschke et al., 2020).

BUT. IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE SCURVY. You can’t synthesize collagen. There is no new connective tissue created (Maxfield et al, 2023). Your burn will stagnate in the first stage. Added to that, a vitamin D deficiency weakens your immune system (Maxfield et al, 2023), so the pre-established infection risk just got that much worse. Nice!

Sources:

Carter, D. W. (2022, november 3). Burns. Merck Manual Professional Edition. https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-ca/professional/injuries-poisoning/burns/burns?query=burns

Bitter, C. C., & Erickson, T. B. (2016). Management of Burn Injuries in the Wilderness: Lessons from Low-Resource Settings. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, 27(4), 519-525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wem.2016.09.001

Hattery, E., Nguyen, T., Baker, A., & Palmieri, T. (2015). Burn Care in the 1800s. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 36(1), 236-239. https://doi.org/10.1097/bcr.0000000000000112

Jeschke, M. G., van Baar, M. E., Choudhry, M. A., Chung, K. K., Gibran, N. S., & Logsetty, S. (2020). Burn injury. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 6(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-020-0145-5

Maxfield L, Daley SF, Crane JS. Vitamin C Deficiency. [Updated 2023 Nov 12]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493187/

[greenhxme]

Part One: August 25th

Pairing: Hyun-su x GN!Reader | Summary: The end of the world came as a surprise to everyone, much less half a world away from ‘home’ and just after meeting a seemingly troubled stranger you have found you can't stop thinking about. Words: ~1.5k | Reading Time: ~6mins. Author’s Note: This is going to be the first part of a [tentative] series I don’t have a plan for the length of. This will be inspired entirely by the series on Netflix and my own ideas, no ties to the Webtoons nor is it meant to be entirely based on canon. (All dates and times in this part are taken directly from the show because I am obsessed with attention to detail even if I’m not great at getting it to translate in my writing.) *Warnings: Descriptions of violence, gore, injuries, and death as well as mentions of suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, violent ideation, etc. as related to the themes of Sweet Home. 

Find the next part of this series here.

August 15th, 2020 | 18:04

The black ink seeps into the paper slowly, spreading out across the white page like the lines of a spiderweb. The spider itself, a drop of built up ink that sits in the center of the small pool when you lift the pen, shakes slightly before slowly sinking and disappearing as well. You push the tip of the pen onto the paper again, just far enough for the stretching lines of spreading ink to overlap the web made last, before Jae-heon clears his throat and pulls your attention from the dark color.

“You’re not listening at all today.”

“I am.”

He frowns, his eyes looking over your face for a moment before he adjusts his glasses and clears his throat. “What were the last three terms I shared with you?” He asks, matter-of-factly.

The tick of the clock on the far wall of his living room fills the silence following the question, in a way answering him for you with its rhythmic monotonous sounds. 

Tick... Tick... Tick…

You bow your head with a soft sigh, setting down your pen. “I’m sorry.”

Another moment. Tick… Tick…

“We will cancel tonight’s session then.” Jae-heon straightens his already perfect posture as he stares back at you. “Instead, I’d like to know what’s wrong.”

“What?” The denial was already laced in your tone.

“You’re my best student, since I’ve met you. I’ve never seen you so distracted.”

You glance at your phone and you hope that he doesn’t notice. He doesn’t move as he waits, and you avoid his eyes, knowing the way that they are likely softening, slowly letting his worry take over. 

“These exams are the only way anyone will take me seriously.”

“You’ve already been accepted. These exams are the only way you’ll start taking yourself seriously.” Jae-heon corrects you simply, his voice even and detached from the softening look in his eyes. His lips press into a line for a moment before he goes on, “You’re being too harsh on yourself,” There it was, the feeling in his eyes leaking into his words. “You have been for the last year and a half.”

You sigh again, the sound enough to admit defeat to his analysis. There was no winning, and therefore no sense in arguing, not when you both knew he was right. You avert your eyes again, not wanting him to be able to read you for any new issues.

“Have you been going out? Eating well?”

You avoid the urge to look up then, in surprise, as your eyebrows pull together slightly. Were you too late in trying to hide?

“Sleeping?”

Yes. He’d already read you. Like a book. 

You reach up, over your shoulder to rub it slightly, trying to ignore the dull ache radiating from the center of your shoulder blades. How long had the anxiety been sitting there? A week, maybe more? You’d been blaming the lack of sleep on the exams, ignoring the root of the problem buried deep in your bones as well as the medication bottle sitting behind the mirror of your bathroom. Usually, or at least you told yourself this, you were good at pushing through the discomfort of your fears and the sleepless nights that accompanied. 

He would worry too much if he knew how bad it had been lately. If he knew how little you came out of your home, instead locking yourself away in your apartment and letting the roots grow beyond your bones and through to the mattress in your room. So you tried your best to keep him from noticing. 

“We’re done.” Jae-heon stands suddenly, pushing up off the floor and running his hands over his shirt to smooth the fabric before looking down at you expectantly.

“What? No-”

“Yes. Go downstairs, get something to eat, and rest. Take care of yourself, the exams can wait.”

“No, that’s not the problem-”

“Then what is?”

You pause, there is no more facade of not caring on his face. His eyes stare into yours, and you wonder if he can see in them what you had seen earlier.

“If you’re not going to let me help you,” Jae-heon moves to close the book on the table, and you wonder if this means he will offer you more scripture. He’d done it before, during times where you spoke vaguely about the things you were going through and the problems you were experiencing. It wasn’t that you couldn’t come to him with your problems, you knew that. He was like a brother to you and cared just as much as if he was, but this issue wasn’t yours to ask his help for. 

“Tell me what this means. I’ll leave and I’ll rest but-” You scramble for your phone now, and Jae-heon is surprised by the request. That a translation could have had you so distracted. “I wrote it as quickly as I could, I’m sure I saw it right.” You unlock your phone, swiping to find where you had typed it, and hesitating for a moment as you stare down at the word written in your notes. You already knew it, but you hoped to hear another answer. 

“Is everything okay?” Jae-heon reaches up as if to set his hand on your shoulder before you turn the screen to his view and he stops altogether, his hand dropping to his side again as his eyes scan back and forth over the characters.

‘자살’

“Is there another meaning for this?”

“Why?” What would make you ask me that-” His hands do go to your shoulders then, his face completely changed now. The calm demeanor he so often held is gone, his face contorted into an expression of worry, almost fear as he looks at you, his eyes searching yours again. 

Can you see it? You wonder. Can you see it like I did?

Once a stranger, now worried and protective at the sight of a single word. It was comforting in a way, this friendship you’d built over the last year and a half. But it stirred something else in you too, it feels as if the roots inside of you shake against your bones and pull you harder against the ground beneath your feet as you stand in front of him. 

“It’s not-” You shake your head, pulling away slightly, “It’s nothing about me, I’m fine.” You assure him but when he reaches for you again, you step closer and meet his eyes on purpose. “I’m okay, I’m fine.” You say softly, assuring him until he talks a slow breath. “I saw it today and I- I wanted to ask if it has another meaning.” 

The look on his face and the grip he has on your shoulders serve as answer enough. This reaction, and the one from the boy in the lobby, you could connect the dots yourself that the answer was no. 

It makes your heart sink, it makes the feeling in your chest swell, roots tightening until ribs ache.  You think of the stranger again, the dark hollow look -- the ink you’d been staring at during what was meant to have been a lesson.

You’d already been so out of it when you’d walked into the lobby, a spelling mistake on a registration form had resulted in a scolding session at the university, the secretary having yelled until you ran from the office. You had barely even noticed the man standing at the main office window to realize he was stepping backwards before you had crashed into him, finally snapping out of our daze. His phone hit the floor with a loud clatter and apologies tumbled from your lips quickly, only for you to fall silent again as the security guard scoffs, “Idiot.” 

You and the stranger had both stared blankly at him for a moment before someone else called the guard’s attention, yelling something about a bed before you looked down again, quickly reaching for the phone on the floor. “I’m sorry I really-”

The screen lit up for only a moment before he had taken it from your hands with a small bow of his head. “It’s okay,” the boy held the phone in both hands, as if wringing out a towel. He ducks his head down again, “It’s really okay.”

When he had looked up again, and his eyes met yours, it almost made your blood run colder than the banner on his phone screen with a reminder for August 25th. The mess of dark brown hair on his head almost hid them from view entirely, but you could see in his eyes that he was tired. Like he hadn’t slept in too long. Hadn’t really rested in longer. A look that probably mirrored your own quite closely. But there was something else there too, eerily familiar and so dark. So dark and hollow that your chest had ached, and your mind had gotten fixed on the titled date you had seen on his phone.

‘자살’

‘Suicide’

[chaifootsteps]

I ended up coming across your blog awhile back when I saw it frequently recommended for Vivz critiques and leaks. I’m surprised by how engaged you are with others on the subject, especially with the frequent questions you get.

Though I wonder and out of curiosity how did you come across Vivziepop? What compelled you to be as engaged when discussing her current former self?

Apologies if they aren’t good questions per say but I appreciate the work you’ve done and hope things are currently better on your end. (Scary with the current “allegations” they’re throwing your way)

Nah, they're great questions! I enjoy revisiting this story.

I discovered Hazbin in the summer of 2020. COVID lockdown was in full swing, I was suffering some incredibly triggering fandom stuff, and my grandma had just died. Then Addict dropped and it was like a lifeline had been thrown out. I imprinted on Angel hard and fast. For a while, I breathed Helluva/Hazbin, thought Vivzie was brilliant to write the Hazbin pilot and the Instagrams...of course, she didn't write either, not the parts I loved.

The pilot cast being dropped, and the realization that Vivzie was lying about it being a union thing out of her control, was my first hint that something was...off. I didn't know what at the time, but the way she handwaved them off, the coldness of it after gushing that she owed everything to them, and that they were like family to her, marked the first crack in the rose colored glasses.

Then Erin Frost spoke out, then Ken. Once you realize how much of a shitty person Viv is, how many hurt people and outright lies her success is built on, you can never really unsee it. I started talking about it casually on my blog, edging deeper down the rabbit hole, and then suddenly I was talking to all these people who used to know Viv, learning just how much went on behind the scenes, and then suddenly people were showing me things...

I don't quite know how it happened, but it's not about being a salty jealous hater, or even my grief Hazbin. It's about good people trying to get their stories out, to make the truth known, and saying to them, "What do you need me to do?"

[justinspoliticalcorner]

George Chidi at The Guardian:

Atlanta is, from time to time, the center of the political universe. It is also home to all things evil and villainous, a festering cesspool of lurid crime, a “shooting gallery” in the words of Donald Trump, spoken in the vile confines of a brand new college basketball arena amid the unspeakable horrors of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood with a microbrewery. Conservatives stoking fear of big cities would be a joke, if not for the damage it does. In May, the FBI arrested Mark Adams Prieto, a 58-year-old gun show dealer from Prescott, Arizona, on firearms trafficking charges. Prieto had been on the way to Atlanta at the time, according to court documents, because he planned to kill as many Black people as he could at a Bad Bunny concert while planting Confederate flags and shouting white power slogans, to provoke a race war ahead of the 2024 election.

“The reason I say Atlanta,” Prieto allegedly told an informant working with the FBI, “Why, why is Georgia such a fucked-up state now? When I was a kid that was one of the most conservative states in the country. Why is it not now? Because as the crime got worse in LA, St Louis and all these other cities, all the n****** moved out of those [places] and moved to Atlanta.” Prieto is a product of decades of Republican fearmongering, not just about Atlanta, but about big cities across the country. This is the message that Tucker Carlson and other conservative pundits have been pushing for years about San Francisco, New York and Detroit – it’s exactly the same way conservatives amped up their rhetorical combat on Chicago in the wake of Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House 16 years ago. It’s not because of crime. Cities in every country have long had more crime than their suburban counterparts, simply because it’s easier to commit a crime in a city, and it has largely trended downward. It’s because Democrats – often Black Democrats – control most big city governments, and they help national politicians win. Joe Biden won 85% of San Francisco’s votes in 2020. He also won 83% of Chicago, 77% of Los Angeles and 76% of New York City.

As a result, conservative state governments are cauterizing upstart municipalities, burning any pretense of respect for small-D democracy at the local level in the process. They fear those blue dots will bleed enough Black political power into red states to turn them purple and cost them the White House, not just in 2024, but permanently. Race is at the center of the fear. “Any mayor, county judge that was dumb-ass enough to come meet with me, I told them with great clarity, my goal is for this to be the worst session in the history of the legislature for cities and counties.” That’s former Texas House speaker Dennis Bonnen, in a conversation recorded with another legislator leaked to the Texas Tribune in 2019. In response to Austin legislation requiring water breaks for construction workers in the punishing Texas heat, the Republican-controlled legislature in 2023 passed what progressives call the “Death Star” bill. The law in effect ends the practice of home rule in Texas governments – a legal principle enshrined in the Texas constitution and that of many states – giving cities broad autonomy to create local laws, as long as those laws do not conflict with state or federal law.

House Bill 2127 takes that power away from cities in a swath of policy areas, from managing climate change to labor law. The law is in legal limbo today. But the damage is already being done to municipal leaders, who are frozen in place waiting for the case to be resolved. This story is playing out across the country, with red state governments seeing big blue cities as launching places for progressive ideas. In the wake of the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, the city government created a police review board. Tennessee’s conservative legislature promptly passed a law banning such boards. Nashville’s response to the Covenant school shooting led to protesters in and outside the state capitol. The legislature responded with an attempt to cut Nashville’s elected metro council in half and threatened takeovers of the city’s sports and airport authority boards. Florida has blocked its cities from passing LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination ordinances, from regulating pit bulls, from making socially conscious investments, and from passing local zoning laws around “missing middle” housing and building construction. Florida’s famous “don’t say gay” bill mandates local school boards to provide politically vetted instructional materials.

[...]

Why would Trump trash a city like Milwaukee – or Atlanta, for that matter – in a swing state in an election year? Because those cities cost him those states in 2020. On the podium on a fateful 6 January 2021, speaking to a group of supporters who would eventually become a riot storming the Capitol, Trump intoned a litany of grievances with no regard for evidence and repeating debunked claims from these cities. Trump said Fulton county in Georgia was “corrupt” and had stuffed machines with fake votes. Detroit had “139%” turnout – a lie – after canvassers were “re-scanning batches of ballots over and over again” – another lie. The grievance lives on. When Trump was speaking in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood in August, he described Atlanta as “like a killing field”, referencing a recent high-profile murder downtown. When Congressman John Lewis refused to attend Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Trump suggested by tweet that the city was “crime infested” and that Lewis “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart”.

Trump refused to observe Lewis’s death with dignity as a revered civil rights icon. He instead attacked Lewis’s legacy, telling a reporter he “couldn’t say one way or another” whether Lewis was worthy of praise, complaining again about being snubbed at the inauguration and musing about how the Civil Rights Act had “worked out” for Black voters. Atlantans have not forgotten these insults. Fulton and DeKalb counties – Atlanta’s core – delivered a net gain of about 140,000 votes for Biden in 2020. Overall turnout in Georgia increased by about 20% four years ago; in these counties, Democratic turnout increased by about 32%. Lewis’s name was on their lips as they stood in line to vote. The Trump campaign had been trying to coax Black voters into their camp, with events like the launch of his Black voter coalition group at a historically Black church in Detroit in June. Even then, in an audience packed with almost exclusively white supporters, he once again railed against cities and crime. “Look, the crime is most rampant right here and in African American communities,” Trump said at 180 Church in Detroit. “More people see me and they say, ‘Sir, we want protection. We want police to protect us. We don’t want to get robbed and mugged and beat up or killed.’” Between the rise of Kamala Harris after Biden’s withdrawal and the pratfall of comments about “Black jobs”, in front of a group of Black journalists, Trump has begun abandoning the pretense of cross-racial outreach in favor of railing against “sanctuary cities”. Over the last few weeks, he has made a tour of sundown towns – communities that would terrorize Black people caught within the city limits after sundown – on the campaign trail.

Why are Republicans stoking fears of big cities, especially big cities in red states? It’s because those cities are Black-majority and are heavily Democratic.

[biolizardboils]

so heads up! im popping a LOT of Prime Season 3 posts into the queue--they'll start coming out one week from now, on January 22nd! if you can see this post and haven't watched it yet, here's some tags to block: #prime spoilers, #sonic prime spoilers, #sonic prime s3 spoilers, #sonic prime season 3 spoilers.

got all that? great! here's my final unorganized little rambles about the show:

shoutout to Rusty Rose's Birdie, who only appears in the very first and very last eps for some reason 😭 her speech about it not being her power source came outta nowhere too, but i loved the message behind it

when everyone arrives at the Grim, just before the ep ends, Nine starts breathing heavily and it. instantly reminded me of Movie!Tails when the bar was calling them freaks. fuck. its a nice reminder of where Nine's coming from

speaking of Nine his poses getting more unhinged over time!! hell yeah

i love that the final fight(s) felt like a kid smashing 3 different Lego sets together, real Robot Pirate Island shit

i laughed a little too hard when the Grim's dome started closing in cus Nine's citadel-thing already reminded me of a thing that happened in Fortnite once, but hell naw they had to add The Storm too sdfghj

METAL BIG DESTROYED ME LJKHGFDV im SO glad i wasnt spoiled about it!!! a while in i started finding it creepy instead of funny, which is an added bonus

i was spoiled about the Advance flashback and its clashing sprites though. the utter whiplash of seeing that without warning mightve made me choke on my hot cheeto puffs. someone's already remade it btw, check it out

i fistpumped at the small reprise of "me beauty" gfhjk ill miss you so much Dread

we're four years into the 2020's and Sonic has nearly died an agonizingly slow death 3 times in 3 different continuities! and dare i say it was delicious every time >:)

unless Word of God says otherwise I'm gonna assume that the giant shadow at the end was The Return Of Metal Big lpoihgfds

So... Twitter, huh? My spoiler filters there had some leaks, and I saw some discussion out of context that... actually made me kinda scared to finish the show. But then I did, and had fun with it just like the other two seasons, and I remembered that Twitter gets high-strung about things that don't matter so much, and that giving it sway over how much I enjoy things is silly lol.

Yes, I think the last season could've been paced differently so it wasn't 5 episodes of the same Final Boss Fight. Yes, I think the writing switches jarringly between gearing for a young new audience and for a seasoned old one. Yes, I think the 2D flashbacks look and move worse than what fans constantly make for free. Yes, I think the final episode doesn't do nearly as much housekeeping as it should (does the Shatterverse still exist or not??). Yes, I think declaring the show is canon to the games or whatever they said probably wasn't the best idea. And yes, I think Black Rose should've had a shoulder-parrot!Birdie to match the other Amys. All valid critiques! All sensible things to think when you've been around the Sonic bush!

But I swear to god, people on Twitter act like these things spoil the whole package. Where's the nuance? Why does every opinion there become an absolute worth tearing others down for? Is it the character limit? I bet it's the character limit.

There's so much I love about this show that were infeasible for the Sonic brand just 3-4 years ago. Externalizing the characters' facets to explore them in-depth. Said exploration spanning multiple episodes instead of being one-and-done. The sheer amount of genuine Sonadow food (and I don't actively do shipping, so me adding it here should hold a lot of weight). The snappy, playful, yet blistering fight scenes that, dare I say, feel like a successful TV-budget Spider-Verse. It was all so much fun!

But I guess stuff like Green Hill being the gang's "home" is a big deal-breaker?? Like?? I thought that was silly too, but not worth ratio'ing people with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over? Get well soon, I guess??

Rambling over, shout-out to the entire country of Canada for giving me the most fun I've had with a Sonic show since X! I'm gonna go figure out how to address all this as The End lol