#theres also something about the last line of that quote

[bugsinshoes]

ok so i just watched @fordtato and @hkthatgffan 's respective videos about their interview with THE alex hirsch and i wanna just say OH MY GOD like SERIOUSLY

im gonna put my thoughts under the cut so theres no spoilers if you havent seen it already (BUT GO WATCH THEM NOW PLEASE !!!) + its gonna be LONG so BEAR WITH ME

ok, so i have MANY thoughts so sorry if none of this is coherent 😭 (this is not in chronological order of when the questions were asked, just me spewing out my totally normal thoughts about this interview so apologies for that)

starting off:

THE BABY IS SHERMIE?!?!?!? IM SO SO GLAD WE FINALLY HAVE CONFIRMATION WE CAN FINALLY LEAVE THIS TO REST !! I WAS RIGHT THOUGH SO HA !!! ACTUALLY SCREAMING !! TIMELINE BE DAMNED (also another thanks to hana, your timeline video is genuinely awesome. i never shut up about it. ever. any time i talk to my friends abt gf and i need to refer to the timeline i go: "IN HANA'S VIDEO-") anyways, i do understand it was a last minute decision on the writer's part of "oh. dipper and mabel need a grandfather, its not ford, and its sure as FUCK not gonna be stan sooo... third brother?" and i do understand alex being like, "oh, this is about ford and stan only having eachother" so i think making shermie younger was a GOOD THING? like, stan and ford had 18 years of just them so shermie wasnt in the picture, so stan and ford technically grew up on their own so ig it works? also, when stan got kicked out, he never got to see shermie grow up, probably only saw him at events when he had to pretend to be ford (post-1983) and as for ford himself, he was too busy in college and gravity falls to really visit the family so... it works! (despite everything)

that aside, lets talk about THE CRUMBS??? like i have some quotes here because i have a LOT to say:

"theyre both so damaged and they desperately need each other" - alex hirsch (talking about stan and ford)

LIKE SUIUHUSHUSH i HATE these brothers SO MUCH (LIES) i cant actually properly express my thoughts because WOW like its clear that they both have their own trauma and they NEED to address it but theyre both too STUBBORN to do so. theyve both been alone for 40ish years so of course they need each other. they grew up by the hip, so theres no surprise that they both need each other (whether they like it or not)

"[ford's] grateful for the forgiveness he thinks he doesnt deserve" -alex hirsch

ford thinks so lowly of himself at times it HURTS. like the lines in the journal about "only then would the freak return a hero" or about his guilt with bill and everything its just so important to his character im so glad we got so much ford content in this interview. like i am EATING ALL THIS UP RN

"[ford] has to always have a mission in front of him, because if he doesnt have a mission in front of him, hes thinking how have i treated people in my life?" - alex hirsch

ford distracting himself with things instead of facing his problems. probably something he had to do a lot, especially with his time in the multiverse. but it really hurts because i can imagine in the 60s, they never had any great coping mechanisms? so i can assume ford was just conditioned to distract himself from stuff so he never learned how to deal with things. and i KNOW in the journal hes like "i meditate!" and im sure that does help somewhat, but it doesnt address the issue itself soooo... sorry ford, but you cant just breathe your way out of everything

ALSO alex calling ford and fiddlefords falling out a "BREAKUP" (air quotes used) BUT A BREAKUP??? this is just adding fuel to my fiddauthor-infested brain rn. i CANT

and alex saying mcgucket is thinking like, "oh i gotta be a better partner" is HEART SHATTERING like the whole talk about fiddleford being "the building guy" who is kind of just there to make machines and please ford. its honestly so heartbreaking because fiddleford loves ford so much he'd leave his wife and child to go to absolute nowhere, oregon and the fact ford is too arrogant to see fiddlefords admiration and overall love for him its just IUIUAHHAS

and i do wanna say, i KNOW bill played a big part in this, by stroking fords ego and buttering him up with his kind words because he knew exactly what ford wanted to hear and that really affected how ford and fidds' relationship was like but THATS A TOPIC FOR ANOTHER TIME. all i know is that ford isnt entirely to blame, but he still is a massive arrogant asshole and he wasnt the best person to fidds at times (love him tho <3)

but im actually so happy because this interview sheds SO much light onto FORD bcs we BARELY got to know him, and hearing it from MR HIRSCH HIMSELF is just so good because we KNOW its a reliable source because its coming from ALEX YK??? like he wrote ford so he probably knows "oh yeah, that man is guilt-ridden as FUCK" and im so glad we get some crumbs of this guy i cant get enough of him !!! (impatiently waiting for the book of bill)

ANNNDD THE TALK ABOUT MAYBE GETTING A SEA GRUNKS SPINOFF/MINISERIES??? I WOULD EXPLODE GENUINELY ANYTHING WITH MY FAVOURITE OLD MEN PLEASE !! i would genuinely love to see more of their dynamic and how everything is after weirdmaggeddon and like dealing with trauma and UGHHH i would kill for stan/ford content PLEASE

also...

hippie ford.

hippie. ford.

i am never getting over this (im internally SCREECHING)

ANYWAYS THAT WAS MY RANT ABT MY FAV THINGS FROM THE INTERVIEW THAT WAS A LOT GODDAMN

im genuinely so happy with all the questions that got answered, as well as getting some deeper insight into characters and stuff. IM NEVER GETTING OVER THE AMOUNT OF FIDDAUTHOR CRUMBS YOU GUYS

im gonna end this by saying another MASSIVE thank you to hana and hk !! you both put so much effort into your respective videos and it was super super cool !! this was totally worth the wait !!! :D

[to-my-emil]

luca's 2024 letter

so i did a whole analysis/explanation/infodump about luca's newest letter on my discord server and. figured i may as well post it here! theres a lot of fun tasty things in here and some confirmation of things that have been implied in previous letters which is fun to look at. please keep in mind i dont have the entirety of every character and manor game's lore memorized so while i did double check some things i mightve missed some stuff. anyway its all below the cut since its Long have fun :)

(also feel free to chime in with any thoughts/feelings/opinions/ideas!)

so theres three sections to this letter! im gonna go section by section, but some parts of the last section are mentioned earlier so uh. sorry if you havent read it yet (id recommend u do read it first)

so part 1 is pretty fun. luca is confirmed to have survived game 10 (which also features tracy, charles, and bonbon though we dont currently know who the fourth survivor participant is) And its implied that hes the only survivor of the game (according to the "fleeting victory" thats the assumption at least). his traits w being able to connect the ciphers is also officially tied into the lore here; there are in fact wires running underneath each arena (or at the very least whichever arena lucas game was in which we dont know yet iirc) so its canon that he can do what he does in matches and its not something that the detective incorrectly deduced lorewise (idk if any of the survivor abilities are Actually incorrect deductions/not actually things that theyre doing (like for example priestess's portals, etc that seem more far-fetched) but since we know hes done other things incorrectly (like "prisoner" and "psychologist" titles being in quotes/technically wrong) i figure he mightve gotten some of those wrong too). luca is also Super Fucked Up w an unusuable left arm (and his previous injuries which we know includes at Least severe brain trauma but likely physical trauma too considering his time in prison + the leg braces) so uhhhhhhhhhhh. my money is NOT on him for the next game.

which is the fun next thing to talk about: baron deross is making him do another game!! this confirms whats implied in emmas 2022 letter (she writes "I've won the previous round, for now" which implies a second round if not more), and probably means that helena and galatea would also go through another round even though its not confirmed yet. so far we dont have a record of what happens in any second manor game for a player who has won (as far as i remember); usually what happens is entire groups are eliminated before the game and the only survivor goes on to the next round to try again by default rather than having won the game (like murro and luchino). so far luca's second game is the only one we have ANY info about for a survivor whos won their first game; we know that alva is in it and its heavily implied ann is in it (we'll get to this later) so we'll likely find out what happens once we get either of their experiment letters. its also interesting that the baron seems to reveal more information about the experiments to luca after luca won his game, but its hard to know whether thats because luca is also a scientist or if he reveals that to everyone who wins. my guess is maybe the former bc u Know luca would have questions and theres also no mention of baron deross saying anything like that in emmas, galateas, or helenas letters.

on to section 2!!! (there was a slur against disabled people in the last line of this section so. thats whats blocked out)

OKAY SO. definitely confirmed that hes in a second manor game, its not even subtext its just right there. assuming the "mechanisms" refer to the same mechanisms that are running under the arena and connecting the cipher machines my guess is that this is what he used to shock other participants?? rather than just being to conduct electricity through himself like he does in the game?? idk thats just spaghetti at the wall its not clear here how he actually got shocked and why. it Is clear that he passed the fuck out at some point or another/his memory issues have gotten worse and the wiki points to that guy in his dream being hermann, so that's. interesting. theres an implication here that luca and hermann used to be closer, but once luca started w physics hermann went mmmm time to stop being a father. which. checks out knowing hermann. whats even more interesting is that luca calls hermanns ideas "ludicrous fantasies" that are neither idealistic nor realistic, because like luca you went and did THE EXACT SAME THING. BRO HE WORKED ON PERPETUAL MOTION. YOURE WORKING ON PERPETUAL MOTION. IM SORRY YOU CANT CLOWN ON UR DAD FOR RUINING HIS LIFE OVER PERPETUAL MOTION WHEN U DID LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING

anyway.

i do wonder if this is meant to imply that hermann was in fact actually working on a More ridiculous version of perpetual motion or if luca is just biased as hell against hermann. im banking on the latter there is no way in hell that luca is a reliable narrator considering all his memory issues + his general tendency to outright grab people hes mad at by the throat (<- fun fact we see this at least twice once in alvas backstory video and again in gattos backstory video. luca is the same across all timelines). also implications that hermann became an alcoholic. im guessing as a kid luca was told it was medicine and he hasnt put the pieces together?? or its ironic. idk could be either with him. i highly doubt its actually medicine. ALTHOUGH. theres an alternate explanation here; when luca says "swallow them down" i initially thought he was referring to hiding his "final feelings", since sometimes swallowing down feelings is a phrase used for that kind of thing. but potentially this could be implying that hermann had luca take some kind of medicine potentially to get rid of those feelings in some way?? personally i think its the former because we already know hermann was wasting his life and money so becoming an alcoholic would be an easy answer, but this is probably just because i dont have any answers if it were the latter. something to think about

now the third part, which gives us info about the next manor game!

so first the "gaunt old man" is (according to the wiki which i agree with in this case) mad eyes, which makes sense because mad eyes was involved in game 8/9 right before this and game 10 was filled with inventors + bonbon so it only makes sense he was there. no idea where he went though. whats more fun is that luca is now In The Fucking basement Walls where mad eyes used to be bc luca doesnt trust the rest of the participants. considering the "abnormal eyes" and that alva is here we know for sure that this is those related to the eye of darkness cult, which means ann is also definitely there. whats even more interesting is that this implies the existence of at least one more member of the eye of darkness cult whos going to be in this game; luca says "new participants" and "these people", and considering how specific the letters usually are with other things i would guess hed say "those two" if it were only ann and alva (of course its possible that theyre the only two have arrived at the writing of this journal, but considering he refers to a ritual coming up soon my money is on all the participants being of the cat cult except luca). luca makes a good note that this new game is likely the opposite of the previous and more focused on religion/spirituality which checks out w the participants, but DAMN hes an asshole about their writing style LMAO. sorry luca not everyone can have the same notes u do

the "brother in faith" guy here is alva, and i personally believe that he can in fact believe see through walls just bc thats funny as hell. just kidding its likely because luca is not as subtle he thinks he is because alva Literally Knows Him. other people might not be able to know hes there but like. that guys also a scientist. hed be able to figure out that theres someone in the walls AND he does in fact know luca. its difficult to tell bc of lucas memory issues but this probably also implies that alva looks very different from how he did in life (i doubt its as tall/etc as in his hunter form since thats what they all see when drugged not what he Actually looks like but im sure theres some stuff like his shorter hair/grayish skin/etc that carries across). i for one am fucking thrilled that theyre in a game together bc oh my god this is a time bomb and im just waiting to watch it explode (again).

as for the last line about a ritual... teehee. im very excited for whatever this is going to be and its killing me that this is the Only Information we have on it so far. likely we're going to have to wait for more alva and ann letters on this one, as well as whoever the third eye of darkness cult member is going to be, but i have no doubt that we'll have some more info eventually. if i had to take a guess its going to heavily affect how game 10-2/11 turns out; i highly doubt any ritual goes on without a sacrifice, and, well... theres only one guy here whos not already part of the cult. things are not looking great for lucas future.

[fob4ever]

pete, patrick & andy on elvis duran 3.24.23

x

one time during a snl performance they were jumping around so much that it shook all the snl sets because they didnt know they were all connected lol

patrick talks about early days fob, how he never expected fob to be anything more than a side project for pete & andy bc they were in bigger bands at the time. he didnt even expect it to last the summer!

andy: “i can see into the future so i knew.”

interview: “[when touring] do you keep away from each other or spend a ton of time together?” andy: “all of that. seriously. we know when to stay away, we still hang out, we go to movies together, we get food together but also have our separate time.”

patrick talks about how it took a while to understand anger/frustration of people in the band “it’s like, ‘is pete mad at me?’ no! he’s frustrated with something.” talks about how theres not a lot of leaving the room and going “what was up with HIM???” anymore. “you know what everybody’s feeling, it’s kind of intuitive now.”

pete likes how genre-less music is nowadays

interviewer asks if pete gets opinions from his kids re: fob music. pete: “they give a lot of feedback, in general. [...] i don't take all of their advice, i don't let them a&r all of the songs, but they're pretty good at it.”

patrick does a johnny carson impression (bc andy quoted a line from a skit.. cute)

patrick talks about feeling like an older brother/”parental” when ppl injure themselves at shows now “i hope they’re okay! don’t break something!”

patrick: “i think i sleep so much less now than i ever used to... with kids, and i'm a little bit of a workaholic so when im not on stage im doing other things. i need to relax a bit i think.”

patrick [on working with neal avron again]: “it's like going back to your childhood home, but now you can drink.”

pete talks about how nihilism can be paralyzing for him, and how he sometimes doesn’t want to do anything because of it, but he feels that “life is short, so you gotta do a lot of stuff, you gotta make friends, do crazy things, make art... you just have to do things, and that’s important.”

patrick: “that was a heavy answer!”

pete: “life lessons are not meant to be [p&p in unison] light...”

interviewer asks how joe is! patrick: “he's good. i talked to him yesterday. i think its tough for him because he knows that he has to do it, but then he also hates not being here. it's difficult for him but he needed it. i think it's great to check in with him because he's just so excited to get back to it.” joe <3

interviewer asks about social media, and how it affects them because their radio station can get a bad tweet/review and it affects them badly, how does fob deal with it?  

patrick: “i left. that's one of the reasons why i left. it just became this wild place for a little while [...] i'm also one of those people [that puts] it all into music, so i can't really communicate through other things."

pete pulls his sleeve down over his hand to sneeze into it. i just thought it was endearing lol

pete is pro-tiktok. he likes that people takes it and makes it their own through remixes/memes 

suddenly! someone’s phone goes off. their ringtone is “fake out”. patrick gets SO excited he cuts the interviewer off mid question- “is that someone’s ringtone?! that makes me so happy! :D” he talks about how he never knows how the new stuff is going to be recieved so hearing it as someone’s ringtone made him super happy :D

AI talk in music (this kills the man --> me)

patrick: "i will say that if a song doesn't go over really well, and it's really hard to sing, i'm like: 'we don't HAAAVE to do that one, right?!'"

patrick: "we made [folie a deux] with neal avron and it was very experimental and we were pushing things and seeing what we could do, but we as a band at that time were very fractured and all over the place... i had this wanderlust to get back in the studio with [neal] now, because we are a such different band of people at this point. we get on so much better, we communicate better- both interpersonally and musically, so i was like, 'i would like to see that again'. [...] andy, you said it was like 'superpowers' we all have superpowers now. so i feel like the sound of this record is really just us actualised as us, at the height of our power.” (they say that last bit together : ) )

pete: “this is a record where we were able to realize that, 'oh! guitars are happening, and there's this fest happening in vegas, mgk, all these things...' and my friend was like, 'you guys should just do swgd part 2!' and i remember thinking, 'we absolutely have to NOT do that.' but we've got to do something that's adjacent, something that reminds everyone of fall out boy and i think with this record we've blended all of the eras of fall out boy together.”

[coldresolve]

maybe a stupid question: where is the line between violence and torture? as someone who writes a lot of intense action, when would a line be crossed between “this is portraying torture as revenge as a good thing” and “a character is doing an action scene for revenge-motivated reasons”? Are there a lot of similarities between torture and action, too many for a clear cut line to be drawn?

also I really appreciate how much research you put into your blog, the stuff about perpetuators experiencing ptsd is really useful and gave me a lot of perspective for my writing!

bruh thats not a stupid question by far, its actually so deep in the nerdery you made me write it on my list of topics i wanna dive into on dark-audit lmao

where is the line between violence and torture?

the definition of torture and especially the definition of violence are up for constant debate. both vary in broadness both legally and philosophically, and either way there is in fact no clear line between one and the other.

gonna go the lazy route and give you some wikipedia screenshots for now, but like i said both definitions are rabbit holes. theres an entire wiki page just about the definition of torture, and that's just the quicknotes, so yknow

you can follow the source list on any of these articles if you wanna get nerdy with it, then follow citations in those sources if you wanna go extremely turbo-nerdy with it. personal thoughts + the other questions:

afaik, torture is always violence - the question is just how far you can go with violence before it veers into torture. if you go with the UN's definition, which limits torture to something only state officials are capable of doing, then police brutality is torture, but a serial killer ripping out someone's fingernails in a basement isn't. and even if you go with amnesty's much broader definition, there's a lot of stuff hinging on the choice of words

generally, it seems to me that the term 'violence' has more to do with the action performed (threat of or actual exertion of physical force or power) but also sometimes needs the intention to 'cause harm', at the very least, while torture is mostly about the intention itself, not just on the victim but also on spectators (torture as a crime deterrance, for example).

when would a line be crossed between “this is portraying torture as revenge as a good thing” and “a character is doing an action scene for revenge-motivated reasons”?

im not sure i understand the question, mainly cause i don't know what you mean by the last bit in quotes. but if your character uses torture as a form of revenge, ie. something akin to corporal punishment, portraying that as a moral good would justify the use of torture, no? theres a whole lot of 'torture is okay if the good guy does it' in the action/thriller genres. im not a fan of it, it's apologism

Are there a lot of similarities between torture and action, too many for a clear cut line to be drawn?

torture is an act. action is a fictional genre. i don't really know how you want me to compare the two ?

[intertexts]

OH YEAH I SAID I WOULD BE IN YOUR INBOX ABOUT THIS. HOLDING OUT A REPORTER STYLE MICROPHONE. 🎤🎤🎤 roswell intertexts I challenge u to give me 5 things you like about your writing . metaphors u like or words u like using or piece of dialogue youre proud of.... ANYTHING. ABT ANY OF YOUR WRITING. but they have to be self compliments >:|

EVIL OF U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but u followed through so i guess i have to now >:(

man!!!!!!! ok. APPARENTLY i'm "good at characterization" but that literally just is me like. feeling my way through a dark room trying to figure out what all the furniture is in the dark so that doesn't count. <333 but i like the. umm. intentionality? of my syntax? i guess? sounds wild when i do in fact have Cannot shut the fuck up ever disease [see: how long this is LMFAO] but i love economy & density of language... there's one like, hemingway quote where he's like. you shouldn't be able to take any one word out of a sentence without changing the meaning of it. u shouldn't be able to take out a sentence without losing something important. which is smth i think abt frequently... different when i'm messing around in someone's pov bc people don't actually Think Like That? but. u know!! i like the way i put words together on the sentence-level. i think its good :]

what else... i enjoy writing dialogue & talking around elephants in the room & messy stilted communication. took "they would NOT fucking talk like they're in a therapy session" to heart!!! its fun when characters are trying to say things they don't have words for. & also i do think my dialogue reads pretty good by dint of "every single time i write dialogue i spend an hour saying it all back and forth in their voices in my head & if i can't picture/hear them saying it i change it & go over it for ages." <3

also i think my main objective usually is like, grounding character interactions in a physical setting? i fucking love when theres places. like. ashe sitting on the floor in wiwi's room & it's important that he's there, & it's a grey late winter afternoon light coming through the windows, & wiwi has a place hidden frm the window sight line & stuff, same w/ the post-grayscale fic in the bago. & i think i do pretty ok at that :] would love 2 get better n i think i am as i write more!! (<- wiwi mark fic is in the kitchen at like. 6am btw.)

i think my stupid fucking code switching when in the tranches vs doing Literally Anything Else is really fucking funny also <333 nice & thoughtful words reserved ONLY for gdocs everbody else gets 1 million slang & heart & kittycat face emojis & no punctuation!!! its fun. hehe. god. LAST ONE ok i think its just like. awesome that i'm writing again??? that i can??? regardless of quality or whatevr it's like, genuinely insane 2 me that i've written & posted >30k since may. thats fucking crazy dude. if u told a couple years ago me that i'd laugh so hard. being so serious when i say that i thought the long covid + insanely stressful three year Transitional Period + Other Horrors had fucked me up permanently i thought i was just like. Done being creative & my brain was going 2 be permanently foggy and sludgy and useless n stuff. fucking wild that its not!!! makes me so happy 2 be able 2 do this!!! :]]]]] also i love new haven wards & its so cool n fun n awesome 2 have a shared au that spams the serotonin button repeatedly & bounce shit back & forth w/ u n whiskey etc. not 2 be a weird loner or whatever but the last time i did anything like this was literally high school. so. yeag!!!!!!!!!!! <33333

[ditzydreamsss]

incorrect quotes: council edition

just a warning this includes grizzly/charlie/bizly and even more of gribzly. if you don't ship em then skip over this :D (NOT the ccs to be clear. the scu!them :)

oh and this is the generator i used: https://perchance.org/incorrect-quote-generator

line break go brr (theres quite a bit)

GRIBZLY (ft. Charlie & Condi)

.🟢🥀🟦💧.

Grizzly: Someone take me to art museums and make out with me. Bizly: But they said not to touch the masterpieces. Grizzly: Well somebody's got to pin the artwork to the wall. Charlie, on a walkie talkie: This is Charlie, those idiots are fucking around in the East wing again.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: seductively takes off glasses Charlie: Wow… Grizzly: blushes Haha… what? Charlie: You're really fucking blurry.

.🟢🥀.

Bizly: There's no way they like me back. Grizzly: Charlie would throw themself in front of a moving car for you. Bizly: Charlie would throw themself in front of a moving car for fun.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: Smart is attractive. Educate me on something I don't know! Condi: The mouth of a jellyfish is also an anus. Charlie: Stop.

.🟢💧.

Charlie, texting Grizzly: Hey do you like anyone? Grizzly: Yeah you Charlie: Oh, I'm sorry we're just friends Grizzly: *Yeah, you? Grizzly: Oh haha sorry lol Charlie: dies inside

.🟢🥀.

Charlie: Hey, random question, what are your favorite flowers? Bizly: Peonies, why? Charlie: Bizly: Were you going to get me flowers? Charlie: Bizly: Charlie: ᶦᵗ’ˢ ᵃ ᵖᵒˢˢᶦᵇᶦˡᶦᵗʸ

.🟢🟦.

playing twister Condi: Right hand red. Grizzly: ends up on top of Bizly Bizly: You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Condi: I stopped spinning like 15 minutes ago. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't notice.

.🥀🟦💧.

Bizly, looking through their clothes: Has anyone seen my top? Grizzly: Charlie's in the kitchen.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: Can I have 2 straws with that milkshake? Bizly: Aww- Charlie: With 2 straws, I can drink it double as fast!

.🟢🟦.

Grizzly: Hi. Charlie: Hey, did you do what I said? Did you tell them? Grizzly: I did. Charlie: And what did they say? Grizzly: “Thank you.” Charlie: You’re totally welcome. What’d they say? Grizzly: They said, “Thank you.” I said “I love you” and Bizly said, “Thank you.”

.🟢🥀🟦.

Grizzly: I didn't drink that much last night. Charlie: You were flirting with Bizly. Grizzly: So what? They're my partner. Charlie: You asked if they were single. Charlie: And then you cried when they said they weren't.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Bizly: Ooh, somebody has a crush Charlie: Pfft, I don’t have a crush on Grizzly I just think they’re cool, it’s not like I stay up at night thinking about them. Later that night Charlie, very much awake: Uh oh.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Bizly: Hi, sorry I’m late. I was doing a couple of things and got distracted. Grizzly: I’m “a couple of things”. Charlie: I’m “got distracted”.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Bizly: How do you tell someone that you wanna have sex with them in a polite way? Charlie: Excuse me Mx. Would you give me the honors of indulging in sexual activities with you? Grizzly: What the fuck is wrong with you two?

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: I like your top, Bizly! Grizzly: I have a name, you know. Bizly: sighs Why. Why are you like this.

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: Sorry, I'm late to the party. I've been doing things. Grizzly, entering in an unbuttoned shirt: I got caught up doing things too. Condi: Wow, Charlie was late too! What a coincidence!

.🟢🥀💧.

Bizly: sucking on a popsicle Grizzly: Pfft, you practicing for when Charlie gets here? Bizly: takes a huge ass bite out of the popsicle Grizzly: Concern

.🟢🥀🟦.

Charlie: As top in this relationship, I think we should- Grizzly: I can't believe you're pulling rank on me.

.🟢🥀.

Grizzly: Hey, wanna take a shower with me? Charlie: I have a gun in that nightstand beside the bed. If I ever say no to that question, I want you to take it out and shot me because I’ve obviously gone crazy.

.🟢🥀.

Grizzly: When you said 'Magic in Bed', I wasn't expecting this… Charlie: pulls out card from deck Now, was this your card? Grizzly: Holy shit-

.🟢🥀.

Grizzly: On the count of three, what's your favorite cake? One, two, three- Grizzly and Bizly, in unison: Chocolate cake peanut butter frosting with chocolate chunks! Charlie: Our turn, Condi! One, two, three- vanilla! Condi, deadpan: I've never had cake, what is cake.

.🟢🥀🟦💧.

Charlie: Why are Grizzly and Bizly sitting with their backs to each other? Condi: They had a fight. Charlie: Then why are they holding hands? Condi: They get sad when they fight.

.🟢🥀🟦💧.

GRIBZLY (Grizzly/Bizly)

.🥀🟦.

Grizzly: I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine. (*and i need to watch anime) Bizly: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again. Grizzly: O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns?? Bizly: Is it working?

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: I’ve been dropping them the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response. Grizzly: Wow. They sound stupid. Bizly: But they’re not. They’re really smart actually. Just dense. Grizzly: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!” Bizly: I guess you’re right. Hey Grizzly, I love you. Grizzly: See! Just say that! Bizly: Holy fucking shit. Grizzly: If that flies over their head then, sorry Bizly, but they're too dumb for you. Bizly: Grizzly.

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Grizzly: Damn, that sounds like a marriage proposal. Bizly, getting down on one knee: That's 'cause it is.

in that one fallen bizly au

.🥀🟦.

Grizzly: I am so cool. I am an absolute Chad. I am the epitome of coolness and awesomeness— Bizly: Hi. Grizzly: melts down in a flustered heap of softness

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: Bro- Grizzly: No, no, hold up, rewind. Grizzly: My tongue was down in your throat just a second ago and now you're calling me bro??

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: Bro, I had a dream we fucked. Grizzly: Bro, relax it was just a dream. Bizly: Huh, gay, I wouldn’t fuck you. Grizzly: You wouldn’t? Bizly: I mean, unless you want to-

.🥀🟦.

Grizzly: Wait, what's going on? Are we all talking about how hot Bizly is? Because Bizly is a straight up sexual fox riding a red-hot nuclear bombshell right toward the yowza plaza in the heart of Babe City, Assachusetts, U S A. The last A just stands for more ass.

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: Wow, Grizzly, you want to hold my hand before marriage? How awfully lewd of you. Grizzly: We literally slept together yesterday. Bizly: That's NOTHING compared to the lewdness of holding hands.

.🥀🟦.

Grizzly: Know why I called you in here? Bizly: Because I accidentally sent you a dick pic. Grizzly: Stops pouring two glasses of wine. Accidentally?

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: Sorry I’m late, I was doing things. Grizzly: Hi, I’m ‘things’.

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: What are you in the mood for? Grizzly: World domination. Bizly: That's a bit ambitious. Grizzly: You are my world. Bizly: Aww… Grizzly: Bizly: Grizzly: Bizly: OH.

.🥀🟦.

Grizzly: We should get you to a doctor for a check up immediately. What if it happens again, and there isn’t anyone around to help you? What if it’s congenital? Oh my God! Was it me? Did I hurt you? Bizly: …You realize any other person that made their partner pass out on bed would simply feel really proud of themselves, right?

.🥀🟦.

Bizly: Well, Grizzly and I finally did it! The rest of the squad: gasps, shocked expressions, etc. Bizly: That's right… We kissed!

.🥀🟦.

aaand that's it (for now???) :D

[rin-and-jade]

This question touches upon the notion of “traumagenic” and “endogenic”; as well as The Theory of Structural Dissociation. The Theory of Structural Dissociation seemingly supports endogenics as it states that there are “natural born” systems. They would be “endogenic” because they're not born from trauma, (as those who are “traumagenic” are).

I recently had a discussion with someone in a yt comment section about those two terms and they pointed me to you, so I just want to see what you think.

I believe in endogenic systems; because why would a book (the DSM) made by those who don't even experience plurality determine whether something exists or not? And as systems, those who are heavily categorized and misunderstood or looked down upon because they don't fit the singlet category, I feel as though we should embrace different forms of neurodiversity.

My questions are: what is the real line between "traumagenic" and "endogenic"? Are systems who were born as a system and weren't exasperated by trauma (like an endo) any less valid or real than those who were exasperated by trauma (traumagenic)? Or because of that theory, if that's how all systems work, aren't all systems "endogenic"?

Before reading: Long post. This purpose is to discuss and look at things in another pov, not intended to debate current beliefs/opinions. TLDR Provided. Last notes at bottom.

To clarify first, im in a neutral stance between the endo and traumagenic community as i focus more on the better of living for any kinds of plural people. Your question did seemed interesting and i had ever discussed this by myself on free time, so i do got some answers for you!

The line between these two are its origin and functionality, to put it in my opinion. The unique thing about plurality is that, i can totally see it being possible that it can exist outside of trauma.

Well, let me explain it to you like this:

An intact personality is where multiple facets are cohesive, and these facets that gives you that said personality is your identity. It's how you see yourself, and act like who you know. Basically, it's how you can act differently in different situations be it at school, at home, at somewhere else etc.

The thing about where personality is located in our brain has been a complex topic for scientists, if i remember correctly, there wasn't a specific spot for it as our brain has multiple areas with different functionality, and these regions cooperating creates a tangible output like how you react, or your typical behaviors.

I kept finding singlets discussing things that looks like really mild system things, and especially from this one youtube video (im so sorry i couldn't provide the link, it has been months ago i had watched but it discussing this too by a doctor or something. lmk if i have to find it again) quotes that the brain fools us into thinking theres only one 'kind' of us, not by it's exact words but close. These people can have different levels in terms of sense of personality unity btw, so not all singlets are the same either.

Now the origin and functionality for a traumagenic is different, because these states are being separated, and compartmentalized due to trauma. The presence of amnesia blocks the other side's of selves sometimes to severe degrees, now acting independently. There is also proof that the grey matter and the communication between regions are different, compared to a healthy brain (i can find the links for this too if needed). Well, you could read more about DID if needed.

So no, neither are less valid, but that doesn't mean both works the same or have the same processes either. Which means, not all systems are endogenic by origins.

Lastly, this is from what i had learnt and connect the dots over many sources i had read to ensure a wide perspective, nuanced understandings in topics. I am fully aware if some of you seem to disagree or see my views as wrong,, we have our own pov's ofcourse. i don't want to fight about validating my pov alright? Im also open to feedback/extra questions, im as well aware of the existence of fake/bad endos and do not support them.

TLDR: There are real life experiences and proof that supports the idea of being plural in mild/different ways, or ways that are different to traumagenics due to the complexity of the brain. Neither are the same in terms of how it functions and where it came from. Neither are also less valid.

- j

[nonsenuser]

Zaregoto volume 2 rambles and notes

So I reread Strangulation: Kubishime Romanticist (aka vol 2 Zaregoto) AGAIN and this time I decided to make little notes as a went along. BIG TIME spoiler warning ahead because I just made notes where there was big time foreshadowing, def dont read this if you intend to read Zaregoto yourself

Prologue 

“never having loved is the same as never having lived” great quote

Early on in the story ii introduces this idea that him and zerozaki are the same and yet different in ways that cant really be explained.

The idea is they could’ve both turned out to be like the other, say if the circumstances were different and this is what they used to explain their affinity and I guess you could say attraction ;) to each other. 

Chapter 1

I will always adore the kimchee scene. Like he wanted to eat tasty food after being in such a crazy scenario the month before and yet all he comes to is ordering kimchee with absolutely no rice. 

ii talking about college being a space with curiously friendly people, striking up conversation like you’ve been buddies for life and this is so true, especially true since Mikoko is a humanities person (not to stereotype but I personally find people who study these more sociable and friendly than stem majors). Also we get some acknowledgement of II’s horrible memory 

Hilarious that ii orders kimchee again and goes oops and the lunch lady gives him even more than the last time, his poor tongue 

Iis loserness is very relatable. He doesn’t dislike boredom and he enjoys doing nothing more than others. Time to contemplate his own life and escape the hustle of life, ii just happens to like doing this more than others what an edge lord (i get him truly)

Miiko describing II’s scowl and saying he always looks like he’s contemplating something. Hard to approach. Also mentions an AT Field so I much appreciate the EVA reference, once again II is relatable as ever. 

“lovers and drunks have something in common they shove their happiness in other peoples faces” beautiful. And they were both not around during this time, one gone home already and the others still drinking 

Honestly theres something sooooo wow about ii describing his maybe killers appearance in such detail. He doesn’t really do this with any other character in this novel (within the story def not he has met a lot of interesting people. Like aikawa especially). 

Once again he describes how different they are and yet it felt like they were looking in a mirror. 

“he had my heart and I had his eyes” is such a romantic line for some reason. Even tho it is describing two people that are attacking each other. “we stayed there for as long as 5 hours or maybe 5 seconds” also kind of makes it sound like they’re lost in the moment. Earlier in the story II mentions there is “above all else no romance” which is real interesting that there is emphasis on that specifically despite all this. Their first meeting is so good, especially this stuff. They’re sort of captivated by each other because of how they see the similarities in each other its just so good. 

Extra notes:

Mikokos jealousy over Emoto is evident early on with the comment she made about feeling jealous if Ii chan remembered Emoto and not her 

Feminist comment is real interesting idk I guess Ii is a gender neutral asshole, not expecting any sort of message like that in this story especially knowing the events that transpire going forward 

Chapter 2

Iis rooms is so him. Naked light bulb. His wardrobe not jam packed with options oh what a boring guy 

Miiko Asano description is hitting way too close to home for me. 22 years old working various gigs…. Unapproachable at first but pretty cool after oh what a girl I love 

Subdued demeanour, default expression being a glare 

Hahahaha taking about bringing a guy (Zerozaki) back to his room. Schmoozing with the serial killer everyone is talking about under the schijo bride 

Apparently the exact definition of schmoozing is to talk to someone in order to impress or manipulate them which is real interesting 

Eight Queens game. Gets harder as you progress and Ii plays it on his own and he can vent his frustration in losing on his own which is so in character for him. It’s also a good metaphor for how the mysteries in Zaregoto play out as a whole so this is super meta. 

I forgot how delinquent Muimui was

The conversation with Zerozaki about what a friend is, is one of my favourites 

Muimui drunk being like, my brains flipped upside down so my cerebrum and cerebellum are switched which is so real lmfao 

Zerozaki and II have yet to talk about Zerozakis motive for killing. Instead talking about ‘stupid irrelevant things’ and saving the best for last 

Tomoe has this weird infatuation or fixation I guess with Mikoko like she wishes she was like her. And she shares this with II 

Also when the murder happens “it probably wasn’t anything to worry about” would’ve been a dead giveaway if it wasn’t for the phone call that took place later on in the chapter 

And of course the last thing II thinks of before going to bed after hanging out with these new friends and bringing Mikoko home is what is Zerozaki doing right now I wonder if he’s killing anybody…. 

Chapter 3

Mikoko is so obvious about her crush its hilarious, II is just very oblivious (or maybe hes not stupid unreliable narrator)

The interrogation stuff was also really great because its like Ii didn’t even try to be not suspicious but thats just the way he is. And to react to Tomoes death in that way is so bizarre but its very in character considering the first arc 

Ii and Zerozaki at karoke is a real joy, I could reread this part of the story an infinite amount of times and never get sick of it. 

Some highlights though:

general discussion on what it means to kill

The time that passes, they apparently are in that booth for ~4 hours and theres a period of silence for around 1 (although I think this is just Ii being dramatic), and then they go to Tomoes place. They basically hang out all night 

Zerozaki saying “would any girl go that far to learn the address of a random guy? You might not put it past a guy but this is a girl” and then he smiles at Ii. 

“I liked her zero and hated her zero” about Mikoko is just a brutal way to express indifference, I love that line 

discussion on why people die and mentioning apoptosis? genes? Kind of hilarious 

Zerozakis sleeping face (aw) looking like Ii’s huh… 

Chapter 4

Miiko buying antiques and just chilling with her part time job, like I said before I am her I wanna be her. 

Aikawa just licking and biting Ii’s neck. That should be me tbh. 

And Muimuis little convo w Ii in the cafeteria earlier on the in the chapter was good. 

I got a little lazy w my annotating but Aikawa jun time is always great and we got that in this chapter 

Chapter 5

Mikoko and Ii going shopping is kinda sad when you know what happens next. She couldn’t express her feelings and also ii is a dumbass so he doesn’t even know lmao

“The sick masochist freak and the sick sadistic freak. It’s a match made in freaking heaven” (Aikawa Jun about Ii and Zerozaki) 

Ii saying “What a Riot” like Zerozaki does. The foil is foiling (this happens again later with zerozaki saying its all nonsense, the foil is really foiling)

Chapter 6

It really picks up this chapter with Mikoko dying, like thats just crazy. 

Also typical of mr unreliable narrator, but you can pinpoint the moment where its like alluding to the fact that he is hiding something (Sasaki says so) and then your like “oh he fucking swallowed the cloth Mikoko used to strangle herself” 

Chapter 7

They make Akiharu seem like a real dickhead, maybe he is. Especially the ‘I didn’t believe in boy-friendships’ but even more funny is Ii thinking same-gender friendships weren’t possible either LOL.

“Im used to not being liked. In fact, its being liked thats weird for me” Okay edge lord defective product, (but low-key relatable ish)

Also Akiharu saying it looks like ii could kill someone reaffirms the damn foil with Zerozaki. Beautiful. 

I’m like way too lazy to dissect the dream sequence but I appreciate it very much. Its quite good. And its really funny that after he wakes up he’s like aw wtf I got main character syndrome and thought I could dissect her psyche just from a short conversation with her when she was still alive. 

More Zerozaki stuff,,, obviously he saves Ii from the Dark Garb situation. Here’s some random lines/moments I like:

“I didn’t even have to wonder wo it was. I knew him as well as myself” (Ii about Zerozaki)

“Hm? Hey dont doze off on me. At least give me your address first” and of course my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE 

“Yo. Morning, sunshine”. 

Just the fact that Zerozaki watched over Ii all night is yk great, like im so wow. About that 

And then Ii quips like “duh, the killer was Muimui” 

Chapter 8

Beginning of the chapter is basically Ii talking about himself and how he thought he could get away with being happy all alone, but he was wrong, and he also calls himself a loser which yeah he is but in the most interesting way

Muimui confrontation… “is your knight in shining armour (Zerozaki) waiting outside?” 

Also some appreciation for the toxic Yuri with Muimui and Mikoko!! Three cheers,,, she even says she loves her and she LITERALLY killed FOR her. Crazy stuff I forget how yuri-ful nisioisin shit can get 

Muimui: Then kill me now 

Ii: Nah die on your own. 

(Shady af comebacks) 

Cries the final conversation with Zerozaki in this volume… :( 

Also ohmygod the whole string of murders is so ridiculous but its my fave like (they way it carried out) ONLY SECOND to the volume 6 murders lmfao 

Once again theres emphasis on them talking for 2 hours about random shit before parting ways. 

“Zerozaki is there someone you love”

“Hell no man, incidentally I hate myself the most. Or maybe you” Just crazy. Its really nice that in nice moment though ii, admits he does love someone (Kunagisa Tomo) and then we see her next chapter 

Extra note and question I still have is did Ii know Mikoko had feelings for him or was he really ignorant up until the end. This guys a fucking liar through and through so idk. 

Chapter 9

Okay, so I should probably revisit that last chapter again because it puts the murders into perspective, I guess Ii had an inkling of what happened very early on (like after the first murder) and maybe even knew that Mikoko liked him then but wasn’t 100% sure at that point. 

Also really sad that he will forget her, in fact I dont think she comes up again in future volumes even in mention, the only new character we see again later is Zerozaki (and Miiko too). 

“I wanted you to save me” What a grim suicide note. And Ii probably doesn’t even care or want to remember (and cant remember) 

In a way I guess him and Kunagisa are very fitting for each other I mean he calls himself a defective product anyways. They’re both fit for each other and that is clear in not only this part but in future Zaregoto volumes too. 

Final Thoughts

This reread was great and I noticed things I didn’t before. What makes this volume really great in my opinion is Ii's relationship with Zerozaki, and after that I would say the string of murders themselves while these are great it is unfortunate that we never see most of these characters again. however that does make this volume a great one to read on its own (which I have done several times already). I guess the x/y thing never meant anything in the first place? like a side of fries as Ii said, which I was initially upset about but I guess its kinda smart it like big time threw me off too.

[prettyboykatsuki]

I don’t thing Toga is dead or Bkg. I think that they’re going to have this whole drawn out thing where OFA transfers to everyone (like the bkdk in heroes rising ((i think it’s heroes rising))) Anyway I think it’ll be like a redemption thing for everyone where they all like team up like when Izuku in the opening says ‘This is the story of how I became the greatest hero’ or wtv idk it’s something along those lines. Anyway. I think it’s about all of them coming together as one hero (sort of) but also I’m probably wrong bc I tend to over analyze (autism) idk if this is relevant to anything you are discussing so sorry. I am wading into the waters to perish goodbye

i agree with this to an extent actually... tho idk if everyone will receive it i do have some confidence that bakugou will receive or become apart of it(thinking about that Vague Ass Quote from hori always) since the movies became canonized i will once again be very surprised if him taking the mantle of ofa with izuku is not integral to the final arc. plus it alligns completely w bkgs character that he ends up once again being the very symbol of victory but i digress

to me theres no instance in which deku takes on the last fight on his own in the first place so i can see everyone becoming part of ofa and working together. kind of like the ending of naruto in that sense lmao. it will likely be all of class 1a putting everything they've got towards it (once theyve all finished their individual arcs) and then bkg saving deku for the first time or deku saving him one last time so ofa becoming apart of that equation isnt actually that far fetched to me. that being said im unsure if that means bkgs physical body will live forever. a meta account i rlly enjoy has several theories abt bkg beocming a vestige or part of ofa instead of dying and i can see that very well.

anyway. not abt bkg rn kjdfbjkd. but i dont think u are overanalyzing. i keep saying bnha is predictable and i really do think it is but i dont mean that negatively at all. many of the major choices it makes completely align within the stories logic so if anything can be predicted it can be possible as well. this doesn't feel all that far fetched to me esp given the name of the quirk is literally One For All LMAO. it would honestly make less sense for only izuku to have it? and it's a quirk thats strength compounds based on how many peoples powers it touches. like i dont think thats actually that far off fkdjk.

i cant say for sure tho!! i suck at theory crafting because my brain does not follow story logic super well. im good at character analysis ONLY. but i can see it at the very least which means its v possible.

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

OC asks: 5, 9, and 18 for Mura please!

heheh thank you!!! for this tag game

5. How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

its her character defining trait and the answer is wayy further than is sane. literally any distance. only caveat is if it will hurt her she will be wary, but normally it just means she gets other people hurt instead of herself. not sure what to say for this other than that!

luckily for most people her goals are do interesting things and gain power, not world domination [yet]

but if it serves either her long term goal of strength and power, or her shorter term goals that will lead to strength and power then it will be done, unless it hinders the goals to. [e.g. killing the leaders of the crusades and taking control she she can rule her own city state would get her power and strength but also a long line of people trying to kill her]

her goals are long term stable strength and power, not short lived & unstable, shes got a long lifetime, and if making nice or even just civil and making a few sacrifices gets her respect and power then thats fine for her.

tldr: she will do anything to get what she wants, but given what she wants is so vague/distant she does'nt always seem it as shes willing to compromise on short term wants that are normally just curiosity to benefit her long term wants.

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

ohh this is hard to pin down.

for the quotes: theres one spesific screenshot that floats around tumblr about how people misunderstand ruthlessness and it describes the goal oriented nature of it and its so her<3 i cannot find it rn and thats a tragedy

for song lyrics: my playlist is here so ill just do my fav:

"He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy/He'll rekindle all the dreams/it took you a lifetime to destroy [...] but there won't be a single thing that you can do" from red right hand. it fits her so well but the last bit where it shows that you have no choice in whatever is happening to you<3 its her perfectly

the thing is shes so complex that its hard to think of something that so her that isnt very long, and her type of quote isnt the kind ive collected

18. Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?

ohhh this is making me think.... mura makes these questions so unnecessarily complicated...

the thing is im leaning cold and detached because i can see her inner thoughts, where she is cold and detached most of the time, but externally, she is often detached, but cold not so much: and not very detached either, shes an observer when shes not the center of attention, and uses small gestures to mold someones view of her more than big gestures.

ok so actually answering: on her own, or in a situation where peoples long term opinion on her will never matter: cold and detached all the way. however, that rarely happens, and with the crusade, its happening even less, so she is outwardly personal but still a bit detached

[madisonrooney]

dove said in an interview that just came out that "there have been times in her life where shes been incredibly suicidal" and that just. made my heart sink naturally. shes never admitted to that publicly before and. god i know i constantly say i wanna give her a hug and tell her how much i love her and everything but man do i want to more than ever now. especially given that ive been there too and she was so much of the light at the end of the tunnel for me.

and the idea that i could have woken up one day to her being gone is just. horrifying.

her talking about mental health and her trauma is nothing new and its definitely always empowering and heartwarming to hear as someone who also struggles with those things but there were a few quotes in this that struck me even more personally than before. she talks about the whole concept of not trying to go back to who you were before your trauma but accepting it as part of who you are, while also not letting it completely ruin or control your life.

like. this line really struck a chord with me

"I accept this trauma; it is now a part of me. I do not reject it, because then I’m rejecting parts of myself. And now I go forward and life is bigger and it’s expanded."

ive often been preaching how theres no shame in knowing that my trauma may stay with me for the rest of my life and still experiencing triggers isnt something i need to force myself to get over if i dont think i can. but its also become a big part of who i am and ive learned so much from it so it isnt all negative.

many thoughts head full i really need to go to bed but i had to address this before i did

anyway. every last bit of my love goes to her as always

[andyridgeley]

For the ask game!: Recommend stuff to me, please!

ohhhh yeah i got you!!! i just watched renfield tonight and loved it i'd recommend it if you're fine with gore!

also i've been rewatching psych and i'll always rec that one it's so good! everytime i rewatch it i pick up on something new!

anything that watcher channel comes out with on youtube is exquisite there's so much content on there now its *chefs kiss* i just watched the new mystery files ep today <3

and to live up to my url and current marathoning i'll list out my fav john cusack movies and this will be long so under the cut:

1408 - underrated stephen king horror flick they really put john cusack in a room and said act a one man show babey and he killed it where's his academy award love & mercy - why does no one talk about this movie best music biopic ever made alright better off dead - i dig on dark humor and quote this movie all the time whoops say anything - i love complicated love sometimes ok sue me high fidelity - i live and breathe for it oK grosse pointe blank - i think about this movie everyday (also war inc. was decent and is a bit of a sequel, not officially, and there's this really funny thing i think about with that movie but its a spoiler so alksdjf) con air - the nic cage accent, john malkovich puns, and john cusack specifically choosing to wear those sandals of it all serendipity - i love love and convoluted romcom plots centering on fate and destiny and dare i say serendipity being john malkovich - ohmygod. hot tub time machine - it's so *clenches fists* dumb i love it sebastian stan as an all american asshole 80s ski bro what eight men out - maybe i just LIKE BASEBALL OK is that a CRIME? hot pursuit - ok maybe hes just cute in this one identity - honestly it's a decent flick but last time i rewatched it i laughed so har dholy shit. like throughout the whole thing. theres a moment ray liotta picks up a key on the floor and john cusack is TWO INCHES AWAY FROM HIM and liotta is like look at this and cusack is like where'd you find that and liotta was like it was on the ground holy shit also when the Twist Is Revealed cusack says ............ wHat. the way he says its... . . . .ohmygod ... jesus wept. one crazy summer - ok maybe hes just cute in this one too also its such a great late night trippy 80s movie the sure thing - i love the john cusack pointing out constellations in the sky as a pickup line cinematic universe the raven - i just really dig him as edgar allan poe ok like the movies not amazing but thanku for casting him as poe I JUST!! the grifters - this movie fucked me up&lt;3 true colors - they should've let john cusack and james spader get it on

[dear-ao3]

please let this be a normal race weekend 🫣

with f1? NO WAY ‼️

today is march 9, 2024 and welcome aboard the magic school bus f1 ride, saudi arabia edition. we’ve got lots to cover, as you probably can imagine.

starting once again, as always, with red bull. which continues to be. as the kids would say. a shit show.

let’s review:

-horner gets accused of Something involving “inappropriate workplace behavior” with a female employee

-these accusations get leaked to the press

-results in an internal investigation

-everyone ever tells horner to resign but he’s adamant he didn’t do anything wrong and doesn’t

-the internal investigation clears horner of all charges

-someone leaks a google drive to the press and various other people that allegedly has evidence against horner in it

-no one publishes said drive because they will get sued

-helmut marko reveals that max has exit clauses in his contract, one of which is that max can leave if the car isn’t performing and supposedly there is another that says he can leave if helmut marko leaves

-jos verstappen reportedly says that max will not be staying with red bull if horner doesn’t leave

-jos was also seen talking to toto wolff in the paddock in bahrain last weekend and when asked about max going to mercedes, toto said “anything is possible”

and now, onto this weeks drama:

-max dismissed rumors that he would be going to mercedes next year, saying that he has no intention of leaving because he likes red bull and everything that they have done for him

-he was asked if he would stay if helmut left red bull, and he said that things would have to get very silly for helmut to leave but he would see

-not too many days later, low and behold, one helmut marko said that there was a good chance he could be suspended from the team amid all the controversies

-at the same time it was also announced that the female employee who made by he accusations against horner was also suspended on full pay

-max came out and said that if helmut leaves he cannot continue with red bull

-but then hemut said that he was confirmed staying

so. it’s a shit show as per the absolute usual.

now, since horner and everyone else at red bull is kind of saying as little as humanly possible about this, the media have turned to the other drivers to speak to to get some good juicy headlines.

the problem with this is that the other drivers really don’t know what’s going on at all. they know just about as much as the rest of us, which is basically nothing. that and, clearly none of them want to be interrogated about this.

the responses all fall into basically the same two categories: calling for more transparency and this isn’t really my issue but it shouldn’t be happening.

now though, this is not nearly enough of a juicy headline for the media. so some outlets decided to paraphrase, cut and splice or just plain make up what the drivers responses have been. (which i dont think a lot of people have realized is what is going on. there of course have been some people who have wholly supported horner (like checo) but most of them seem to be like. theres better things to be asking me about but of course this shouldn't be happening)

it’s happened to a good chunk of people, seemingly just to stir the pot and make people look bad.

take lando, for example.

one news source (i do not remember which one) quoted him as saying this:

but it would seem that that news source actually has no proof of him saying that and would further seem that they cut and splinted together what he actually said (below) to make him look bad:

a similar thing happened to charles leclerc who was asked something about the situation in french, something along the lines of "how will ferrari benefit from the red bull situation" and he kind of just ignored it and started rambling about the car (supposedly, i dont actually speak french) but he was paraphrased or translated badly (or both) to make it seem like he was in support of horner.

thats just a few examples, but they were not the only ones to have this happen to them. there were drivers though, like lewis and george, who were fully calling for more transparency.

in all, it seems like most of them are equally as confused as we are and dont want to dig themselves into a mess that they know nothing about. though, it is good at some of them are calling for more transparency. a lot of people are pissed at peoples responses and i really think that they really have far more important things that actually pertain to them to be thinking about, also no one knows what the fuck happened, and when you add that to the media misquoting people and creating drama, its never a good combination.

now, someone who missed all of this media day nonsense was none other than carlos sainz. he missed media day because he didn’t feel well, came to the track the next day and did practice 1 and 2, was supposed to come the following day for practice 3 and qualifying, but was diagnosed with appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery.

now, surprisingly, this isn’t even the first time a driver has had appendicitis during a race weekend. in monza 2022 alex albon got diagnosed with appendicitis and neck de vries replaced him and ended up scoring the first williams points of the season which resulted in him getting signed to alpha tauri for the following year where he did not slay and ultimately got replaced by daniel who liam lawson then was subbed in for after he broke his hand and well, very long story short alex almost nearly died of complications, a lot of people got fired and a lot of people got hired. pretty much everything can be traced back to alex albon's appendix, somehow. and alex, predictably, was nothing short of supportive of carlos on twitter:

carlos himself is fine and doing significantly better, according to himself via instagram. and i don’t know if we have talked about this previously but carlos’s f1 nickname is smooth operator, like the song, because he will sing the song when he does well over team radio.

and in a ferrari pr video a while ago, carlos and charles told eachother their full names:

carlos found it incredibly funny that perceval is part of charles name and said it sounds like it should be a lord name. lord perceval.

and what on earth does this have to do with carlos’s appendix? well, this was his instagram story post surgery:

and then he also posted this:

which is him recreating a picture of his dad having his appendix out in 1985. man came out of emergency surgery high as hell off anesthesia and was like. ive got an idea. remember that one photo of you dad?

yeah. even in the midst of appendicitis, carlos sainz continues to be nothing short of iconic. carlos also was in the paddock for the race today, having quite literally had surgery basically 24 hours ago. although, he did aparently discharge himself from the hospital against doctors orders to be there and showed up still wearing a medical bracelet and the bandage from his iv. hes hopeful that he will be able to be back in the car for the australian gp in 2 weeks, though he has admitted that it will be fairly close on recovery time. people all over the internet are torn between outraged that carlos would refuse to give himself rest when hes Clearly being given the time to (and all the videos of him walking around the paddock were insane, hes clearly in pain and it looked like he could barely move) and impressed that he showed up to be a strategist for ferrari, watch all his friends race and also take the time to give ollie some advice (as ollie is driving his car)

now, while yes it is terrible that this happened to carlos and we do wish him a speedy recovery, we do get to see ollie bearmans f1 debut.

who is ollie bearman? well i’m glad you asked.

ollie barman is an 18 year old british f2 driver. he is the ferrari and haas reserve driver and notably this year has 6 scheduled practice sessions with haas. his name was already being thrown around as someone who could be getting a contract for f1 next year (likely at haas), but he was unexpectedly given this opportunity to show what he can do in an f1 car.

he was already in jeddah for the f2 race, and had qualified on pole position and had done the f2 sprint race when he got the call on friday morning that he needed to replace carlos (as carlos didnt actually go to the hospital until friday morning and that was when they figured out what was happening). so with a grand total of a 1 hour practice session (that was cut slightly short dude to a crash by zhou) under his belt, he was set to make his f1 debut. in a ferrari. which is positively bonkers.

now, qualifying and practice was not overly incredibly interesting (except for when charles ran over not one but two plastic bags and said "this track is just like mario kart theres plastic bags everywhere" and oscar kissed a few walls and hamilton almost smacked directly into logan sargeant during practice and zhou guanyu crashed at the end of practice three so he couldn't qualify and nico hulkenberg lost all power in his car in q2 of qualifying) so were going to mostly skip over all of that and jump right into the race cause that was where the good stuff was. here was the qualifying start order:

pole: max verstappen p2: charles leclerc p3: checo perez p4: fernando alonso p5: oscar piastri p6: lando norris p7: george russell p8: lewis hamilton p9: yuki tsunoda p10: lance stroll p11: ollie bearman p12: alex albon p13: kevin magnussen p14: daniel ricciardo p15: nico hulkenberg p16: valtteri bottas p17: esteban ocon p18: pierre gasly p19: logan sargeant p20: zhou guanyu

and so. it was lights out and away we go in jeddah, a very fast street circuit.

well, lando tried to go early. he jumped the start slightly (meaning he started before the lights went totally out) but ultimately he didnt receive a penalty for it. it did mean that he had a slower start though, which would later cost him.

also it was hilarious that he did jump the start because when he was asked in an interview the day before what his plan for starting the race was he said, very jokingly "jump the start"

immediately there were problems. as there usually are. and the problems were for our favorite little meow meows, alpine.

on the formation lap pierre gasley said over radio that he had a gear box issue (aparently the car couldn't shift past 6th gear) and ultimately he had to retire the car during the first lap. it was the first dnf of the season the grid was down to 19.

and on the 19 drivers went, around the track again and again before lance stroll crashed into a wall on lap 7. he was fine, but evidently the aston martin pit wall didnt quite understand that he was literally in the wall:

lance: "hit the wall" engineer: "ok can you bring it back lance?" lance: "no im in the fucking wall."

now this had an interesting affect on the tire strategy. see, this race is generally a one stop. meaning they box for tires one time. and lance's crash brought a safety car and a yellow flag onto the track. which shaves down the time lost during a pit stop because the cars are not going as fast.

so, even though it was very early on in the race, everyone pitted to change their tires so that they wouldn't have to later. predictably, there was a decent amount of traffic coming out of the pitlane and checo cut fernando off pretty spectacularly, almost causing an accident. this got him a 5 second time penalty.

everyone except for lando, lewis, nico and zhou.

now hamilton was not pleased that he was staying out. and lando wasnt overly pleased with it either. under the safety car he ended up in p1 ahead of max and was told to not stress the tires but try to keep his position for as long as he could. (which was kind of impossible because he had none other than max verstappen behind him, hungry for yet another victory). it was speculated that he might have been told this so that oscar could get as close to the front as possible with lando holding max up for a little.

so with the safety car ending the standings were:

p1: lando norris p2: max verstappen p3: lewis hamilton p4: checo perez p5: charles leclerc p6: oscar piastri p7: fernando alonso p8: nico hulkenberg p9: george russell p10: zhou guanyu p11: yuki tsunoda p12: ollie bearman p13: kevin magnussen p14: alex albon p15: esteban ocon p16: valtteri bottas p17: logan sargeant p18: daniel ricciardo

and off our 18 drivers went.

lando managed to stay more than a second in front of max for quite a few laps, which was good because it prevented max from getting drs and passing everyone by 20 seconds.

down in the mid field on lap 11 kevin magnussen cut off alex alboon while fighting for p11 and damaged alex's front wing. 2 laps later kevin magnussen said that he thought he might have floor damage, regardless, he stayed out.

and then he was given a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision with alex albon. not a good day to be kevin magnussen.

also on lap 13 max passed lando, retaking the lead of the race.

and on lap 14 one ollie bearman passed zhou guanyu, taking 10th position and putting himself into the points for his first ever f1 race (and lets remind everyone that he had barely 2 hours in the car prior to the race)

leclerc was able to overtake hamilton on lap 15, as leclerc had fresher tires. this began the start of an intense battle between oscar and lewis hamilton for 5th position. on lap 18 oscar tried to pass him, but ended up going wide into the runoff area and had to give the position back (otherwise he would have gotten a penalty). the fight between oscar and hamilton though revealed that mclaren had kind of shit drs (drag reduction system. basically when you are within 1 second of the car in front of you you can open the back wing of the car and get an extra 20kph per hour. oscar's mclaren was only getting an extra 13 kph with the drs)

meanwhile, perez overtook lando on lap 18, pushing lando down into 3rd position (and still on older tires)

ollie bearman was hot on nico hulkenberg's tail for 9th position, he tried to overtake him multiple times before getting frustrated and saying "mate, he's so slow" over the team radio. he was finally able to complete the overtake on lap 21

then, the 10 second penalties were not over for one kevin magnussen because he overtook yuki while going off the track (again!) and was given yet another 10 second penalty. which would weirdly come in very useful for haas pretty soon.

but first, back up in 5th and 6th oscar and lewis were still fighting it out. hamilton changed the line of his braking on lap 25 (not allowed! because it could cause an accident) and the mclaren pit wall, who were annoyed that oscar had been stuck behind hamilton for so long, reported it up to the stewards. the stewards ultimately didnt do anything with it though, much to their general chagrin and the battle continued.

speaking of mclaren, lando was still barely holding onto p3, with charles leclerc less than a second behind him. and it was lap 26, more than halfway through the race. and he still hadn't changed his tires. in the middle of him trying to defend against charles, his engineer radioed him to say "hey mate, we're probably going to go for something like the germany situation." and lando responded something to the nature of "all good mate just give me a second here i gotta push"

basically british for, buddy shut the hell up im busy.

reguardless, he was still passed by charles on the next lap.

now, lets shift back to the mid field because there was something very, very interesting going on just out of the points. a real fight for the ages was taking place between kevin magnussen and basically everyone else.

magnussen was running in 12th position. zhou was in front of him in 11 (and also still had to pit) and nico was just holding onto 10th, the last points position. but, nico still had to pit. and while there was some space between nico and kevin, it was not nearly enough to keep kevin safe from reentering back into a load of traffic after he pitted.

basically, kevin needed to keep everyone behind him and widen the gap between the back of the grid and nico to keep nico in a point scoring position.

and that is exactly what he did.

kevin already had a 20 second time penalty so he knew he was going to be coming in close to last at this point, it was not about his race, it was all about maximizing the teams outcome. and kevin had, yuki, esteban, alex and logan all just a wee bit behind him (when i say wee bit i mean they were all less than a second off of eachother) with daniel and bottas further back. his work was rightfully cut out for him.

on lap 30 yuki managed to get past kevin, but kevin managed to pass him again, regaining 12th position and keeping nico safe. he had to go a little off the track (again) to do so, but he already had time penalties out the wazoo and probably didnt really care too much. yuki did care though and said "what dangerous driving" over the radio.

but kevin kept at it. as it stood at lap 30 there was a 17 second gap between nico hulkenberg and kevin, and the total time for a pit stop was 23 seconds, so he still had some work to do.

and while he was working on that, lando norris was still running up in 4th position. still yet to pit. on lap 32 his race engineer said "ive got a question for you. at some point we are going to have to go back to plan a and then get back through all these cars. is that possible?" meaning that he was going to need to pit for tires and would he have enough time and speed to get back through everyone to try and retake 4th spot.

lando said "yes, but we should pit as late as possible." in order to give him the most time to build a gap between himself and the rest of the grid to minimize the work that he would have to do after coming out of the pit lane.

by lap 33 kevin magnussen had increased the gap between nico and himself to 21 seconds by barely using any of his electric battery power on the turns and then going flat out on the straights (as the haas had a fuck ton of straight line speed and the track itself was mostly straights). and in the words of martin brundle "magnussen is utterly destroying the race for all these cars" behind him. and he was.

nico pitted on lap 34. and he came out in 11th, 10 seconds behind zhou (who still had not pitted and would not be a problem for haas especially with kevin still managing to keep everyone behind him)

back up at the front, oscar tried once again to pass hamilton on lap 35, but went wide and had to go into the runoff yet Again, ending up having to give back the place Again. but he did come close to passing him and he did, as crofty said, "finally saw the light at the end of the mercedes rear wing tunnel that hes been staring at"

the next time oscar was ready to overtake him, hamilton pitted for softs. putting oscar in p4.

also boxing for softs was one lando norris on lap 38, and despite the slow stop, he was still able to come out just ahead of hamilton and behind ollie in 8th position.

thus started a civil war between lando and lewis. hamilton was with a few seconds of lando, who was a solid 6 seconds behind ollie. hamilton went fastest lap on lap 39, getting closer to lando, who didnt have a whole lot of straight line speed in the mclaren. lando got a black and white flag (a warning for track limits and general unsafe driving) on lap 41, still trying to keep hamilton behind him. he was trying to get ahead of ollie, and the striking distance to do so would be on lap 46, but in order to do that he would have to keep Hamilton behind him.

in the meantime, zhou had an absolutely awful pit stop, firmly planting him at the back of the grid while nico took p10 for haas. kevin was behind still managing to keep all the others at bay. talk about float like a cadillac sting like a beamer.

on lap 45 ollie's engineer radioed to tell him "norris is fighting with his tires and with hamilton now we can do it" as in stay in p7. and he did.

and to close out the race daniel ricciardo spun out on lap 49, but managed to correct himself to finish the race.

and with that. our remaining 18 drivers took the checkered flag in the following order:

p1: max verstappen p2: checo perez p3: charles leclerc p4: oscar piastri p5: fernando alonso p6: george russell p7: ollie bearman p8: lando norris p9: lewis hamilton p10: nico hulkenberg p11: alex albon p12: kevin magnussen p13: esteban ocon p14: logan sargeant p15: yuki tsunoda p16: daniel ricciardo p17: valtteri bottas p18: zhou guanyu DNF: lance stroll DNF: pierre gasley

so max got his 100th podium, ollie got his first points and f1 debut and all in all it was a good day for f1. unless you were lance or pierre. or yuki, who got a 5 second penalty post race for cutting lando off in the pit lane.

ollie was congratulated by pretty much everyone, by drivers on the cool down lap, by george and lewis right after he got out of the car, by other teams, by drivers in there post race interviews, by carlos on his instagram story. overwhelming support. several said that its only a matter of time before hes on the grid. wonderful to see.

and rightfully so! he had basically one hour of practice in an f1 car, missed out on q3 by literally only .036 of a second and came in p7 beating BOTH lando and lewis. and he has 6 f1 points and is 10th in the standings right now (doesnt matter cause hes not an f1 driver but still!!)

onto a sampling of the media this week!

-george russell cut through the williams garage for funnies and was like "??? oh?? is this the wrong garage"

-williams continues to dunk on oscar being bad at paddle. oscar continues to side eye them. there has been a paddle match proposed to occur between lando and oscar against alex and logan

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Williams Racing (@williamsracing)

-mclaren showed their support of ollie taking carlos's spot for this weekend by saying that oscar would not be the youngest on the grid anymore (true) (they also whipped out the timeline of Fernando alonso's career again and pointed out that when ollie was born fernando was winning a first world championship)

-lando was asked about his winter break again and what he did with daniel in australia. aparently they made eggs. terribly.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Fast And The Curious (@fastcuriouspod)

-someone at the fan stage offered to adopt oscar. he said "i am not up for adoption unfortunately, but thank you."

-alex albon called logan sargeant a frat boy. logan agreed.

-the cameras kept cutting to ollies dad in the ferrari garage during the race and he looked, rightfully scared out of his mind:

jack doohan, the alpine test and reserve driver, said during the post race show that he thought that ollies dad was on screen more than max was (jack was correct)

-lando posted support for carlos calling him both "broski" and "matey 🫶"

-oscar posted on his instagram story after the race that he is now an "expert in the mercedes rear wing" after spending so much time staring at it during the race.

-and lastly, ferrari posted this video of charles and carlos earlier in the week where charles manages to be the funniest person:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Scuderia Ferrari (@scuderiaferrari)

and thats all from me. see you all in 'straylia mate

Sorry i tried to scroll past but, i know nothing about f1 other than max verstappen is fast, my dad doesnt like lewis hamilton, fast car goes in a loop and sometimes expodes. Could you give me a crash course in f1 drama? Im very intrigued. Whats the tea as it were?

a terribly loaded question, but i will do my best. i’ve talked about some of the drama before like the red bull second seat and the chronicles of haas but allow me to briefly try my hand at explaining the nightmare that is the upcoming silly season

under the cut we go

silly season is when the drivers go through contract renewals, extensions and switches. usually it’s confined to the first half of the season (march-july) but it has been known to extend all the way to the last race of the season and they like to switch people around at random sometimes. driver contracts are complex, there’s a lot of money involved and basically You Are The Face Of The Team so if you have a shit season then you make the team look bad. but at the same time you could have a shit season because you have a shit car. it’s sticky stuff.

so. there are only twenty seats in formula 1. 10 teams. each team gets two drivers. (there’s also reserve drivers but we’re not going to get into that). who ends up with a contract is largely up to the teams, they can pull the contract out from under people they can also cut you mid season. they’ve done it before.

of the 20 drivers on the grid, 14 of them have contracts expiring at the end of the year. yes. 14. you see how this could get complicated.

so let’s meet the teams.

red bull racing. they came first this year (and last year) in the championship. like aggressively first. like they won the championship by over 350 points. they are definitely the team to beat. but if you end up with a seat at red bull, you do have to deal with max verstappen being your teammate and he won all but three of the races last year. he’s the golden boy. red bull are also notoriously silly when it comes to contracts and famously swap people mid season who aren’t performing.

mercedes. merc is home to 7 time world champion lewis hamilton and they have won the championship a great many times, though not since 2021. they are kind of in their flop arc and their car the last 2 years has been pretty garbage, but they have still made it work because they were able to come in second last year.

ferrari. god help the poor little meow meows with a ferrari contract. ferrari is a notoriously great team and they’re trying to get back to the top again but their strategy every single time has fallen short. to the point where their drivers are the ones doing the strategy in their cars while driving. they came in third last year and have been decently consistent at getting first in qualifying and then getting beat by max verstappen on race day.

mclaren. they’ve definitely worked their way up over recent years. they ended fourth last year and have had some championship wins before but not nearly as many as say merc and ferrari. their team ceo (owner? director?) is a little interesting and their car started out a pile of flaming hot garbage at the beginning of the year but they did manage to get their shit together.

aston martin. they are owned by canadian billionaire lawrence stroll, father of lance stroll (one of the drivers for the team). they’ve undergone several name changes over the recent years (force india, racing point, etc). they positively slayed at the start of the season and then one day they sucked. they finished fifth in the championship.

alpine. the frenchest french team. they’re (i think?) still partially owned by the french government. both of their drivers are french. (their drivers also hate eachother but we’ll get to that. just know they’re in the middle of a modern french civil war). they had the opportunity to have a good rookie driver (oscar piastri) this past year but in a thrilling twitter battle, he publically flamed the shit out of them and went to mclaren instead (and slayed). they're usually solidly middle of the pack. they ended sixth in the championship.

williams. williams has been one of the back of the grid teams for the last many years but they have finally started to get their shit together and don’t quite suck as much as they used to. all of the points this year were scored by only one driver though (except one but we’ll get there). they came in seventh.

alpha tauri. they are the sister team of red bull. so technically redbull owns both teams (meaning they can swap drivers between teams. they like doing this.) they’ve just kind of been There for awhile but they did slay towards the end of the season when one of their drivers led the race for several laps. basically tho, this team is the gateway to redbull. they came in eighth.

alpha romeo. recently renamed to stake f1 team (but sometimes they are going to be called kick sauber. this is a whole other drama post and i’m not getting into it). they’re also just kind of there. generally unproblematic. seems that really great drivers who get ixed out of a contract for a younger driver end up here or young drivers who are in their early years are here before they go to a better team. they ended ninth this year.

haas. oh haas. goofy team. they suck. point blank they suck. they keep loosing sponsors because they suck, they don’t win ever (one time they came first in qualifying last year). they cursed themselves in australia in 2018 by not tightening their tires and its been downhill ever since. they came 10th. their team principle got let go (fired?) who’s to say today.

so those are the teams. it is important to note that:

-there is a cost cap. each team is allowed to spend no more than 135m per year.

-not all cars are equal. some things are standard. they all undergo the same testing. but the cars are all very different. so you can be a good driver but stuck in a shitty car. which makes it impressive if you are doing well in a shitty car.

let’s meet our drivers!!!

starting with the guys who’s contract is not ending in 2024:

max verstappen. 3 time world champion. 26 years old. general beast on the track. he dominated the whole season. he’s currently racing for red bull and has a contract with them through 2028.

lewis hamilton. 7 time world champion. 39 years old. he drives for mercedes. he will not leave mercedes until he retires. he really really wants to win an 8th world championship and is willing to stick it out a few more years as long as merc still believes in him. his contract expires in 2025.

george russell. the other merc driver. 26 years old. hes aggressively british and says thinks like blimey unironically. walking meme. got his merc seat in 2022 right when they entered their flop arc by getting his tractor of a williams to finish second in qualifying in the middle of a rainstorm. his contract expires in 2025.

lando norris. mclaren driver. 24 years old. he has notably never won a race in his five years of formula one (mostly because right when his car finally was good enough max verstappen was 20 seconds ahead of anyone) but he is regarded as Very Good. he has only ever driven for mclaren. and even though there is another year left on his contract there is mass speculation that he will not renew his contract with mclaren after it expires and he may move up to one of the top teams (red bull, merc, ferrari) (tho i think he doesnt hate himself quite enough to go to ferrari). his contract expires in 2025.

oscar piastri. the other mclaren driver. 22 years old. this was his rookie season and he positively slayed. like people compared his rookie season to lewis hamiltons rookie season. he also had the positively funniest start to his rookie year because alpine announced that he would be driving for them (he had been their reserve driver and in the alpine academy) and he posted a tweet that basically said yeah thats false i never singed anything with you and im going to race with mclaren instead (he dodged a bullet) and then alpine tried and failed to sue him for $4m USD. he signed a contract extension with mclaren this year and his contract expires in 2026.

lance stroll. aston martin driver and son of the aston martin owner. hes doing ok, tho there was conspiracy that he wanted to quit and have a tennis career awhile ago. but basically since his dad owns the team it seems that hes guaranteed a seat for as long as he wants one.

so now. moving onto the good shit. the people who have contracts expiring in 2024. hold onto your hats people.

charles leclerc. (everyones favorite slutty little soup can). 26 years old. he is currently at ferrari and he has been since 2019. notably, he was given the longest contract in the history of ferrari after a stellar rookie season at sauber (renamed to alpha romeo, renamed to stake f1) where he got the tractor of a car consistently into the points. having the longest contract in the history of ferrari was a flex at the time, but now its likely how he will introduce himself at therapy sessions. ferrari have fucked this man left right and center up the ass with a plastic lunchroom spork. hes talented, he can drive, and he can drive well. but the strategy that ferrari has absolutely sucks. either something is wrong with the car (see him blowing out his gear box on the formation lap in monaco, his car completely crapping out and spinning into the barrier in brazil before the race even started) or they fuck up his pit stops or put him on the wrong tires and honestly its just frustrating. but will he leave??? likely not. you'd have to pry ferrari out of his cold dead hands and at this rate that might be where this is headed though there has been some minor speculation of him going to another team like merc or red bull, but merc doesnt have any open seats and red bull is a whole other dumpster fire of drama. ferrari are going to have to pay him a boatload of money to make him stay.

carlos sainz. the smooth operator. 29 years old. ferrari driver. previously carlos was at toro rosso (renamed to alpha tauri), renault (renamed to alpine), and mclaren before signing with ferrari. he has been at ferrari since 2021 and has voiced that he would like to stay with them for however long he can. there is speculation that lando might replace him at ferrari (but landos contract is not up until 2025) and there is also some speculation that alex albon might replace him. while charles is clearly the golden boy at ferrari, carlos is slightly slower but also definitely consistent. he was THE ONLY non red bull driver to win a race this past year, in Singapore after max verstappedn was knocked out of qualifying by alpha tauri reserve driver liam lawson (more on him later) and because he basically came up with his own strategy in the car while he was driving.

sergio perez. aka checo. red bull driver. 33 years old. and oh boy here's where we open the can of worms. checo was previously at racing point (renamed aston martin) and it was very near the end of the 2020 (?) season and he was out of a contract. he had a bonkers race where he was knocked to the back of the grid and then overtook everyone and somehow ended up winning (there is more to that story but just trust me) and christian horner, red bull team principle, mr ginger spice and definite disney villain called him and said congrats sir you have a seat at red bull! well. fast forward. hes been causing problems. problems as in crashing a lot, generally not doing great and pissing the crap out of red bull. it is basically guaranteed at this point that he will not be getting a contract extension. there was actually talk this year of him losing his seat mid season to one of the alpha tauri drivers, because remember, red bull owns both teams and they can switch them whenever they want to (and they have!) but ultimately this did not happen. even though checo has a seat at red bull until the end of 2024, its mass speculated that he is going to get switched with an alpha tauri driver, probably daniel ricciardo (more on him shortly) mid season because there is a speculated clause in daniels contract that says that if checo isn't performing well in the first few races daniel is getting his seat.

daniel ricciardo. 34 years old. alpha tauri driver. man oh man what a guy. outside of being the prankster of the paddock, he has one of the most batshit careers of anyone currently on the grid. he started out at red bull and was showing real talent and skill and was on track to win things (and was!) and was there until the end of 2018 when max verstappen (his teammate) started getting preferential treatment and also red bull started having a lot of problems with their engines (which were being outsourced from Renault (now alpine) and another team on the grid) and well very very long story short he made the surprise move of the century and decided to sign with Renault (which makes no sense they're the one with the engine problems) and was there for 2 years before moving again to mclaren where he was reportedly not treated very well and had a hard time driving the car so they mutually ended his contract with them early and he basically retired at the end of the 2022 season and became a red bull reserve driver. then halfway through the 2023 season alpha tauri ixed one of their drivers, nyck de vries, because he wasnt doing well and promoted daniel back up to a full time driver at alpha tauri (which we know is only a step down from red bull) but then he broke his hand in a crash in zanvort (?) and then he was replaced for a few races by formula 2 driver liam lawson (who we will also talk about) and then he came back to finish out the season in alpha tauri after he was cleared. daniel has admitted openly that he never should have left red bull and he was given bad advice to do so. hes towards the end of his career at this point and its well known that he Really Really wants to finish out his career at red bull again. he and max have already been teammates before and they do work well together and daniel is great driver (see his comeback in texas (or maybe it was brazil?) this year). so. Pretty Sure that daniels going to get either an extension at alpha tauri or go up to red bull. thats what we all want. get this man in a red bull we need him there biblically.

liam lawson. now technically liam is not actually a formula 1 driver. hes a formula 2 driver, but he was daniels replacement for five races and there has been some speculation and some confirmed news about him so hes getting included. when he was racing for f1 he was at alpha tauri. hes 21 and looks like he belongs in the movie grease. no one was expecting him to slay in formula 1 and he positively knocked everyones socks off. the scene: Singapore. which, if you'll recall, is the one race that a not red bull driver won. this was largely because liam lawson slayed the absolute game in qualifying. the qualifying part of racing determines what order the cars start in on the grid for the race and theres three parts, the first two parts the bottom 5 drivers each time get knocked out and then the top 10 complete for the last 10 spots. liam lawson knocked BOTH max verstappen and checo perez out of qualifying in the second round by going very slightly faster than them, effectively fucking up red bulls race and allowing carlos to win. and he also scored points in that race, which no one was expecting. now thats all fine and dandy, but here's the speculation: hemlut marko (im pretty sure) (who is somehow decently involved in the decision making at red bull though i couldn't tell you how) said that he thinks that liam lawson will be in an f1 seat no later than 2025. meaning that he will probably get offered a contract this year. and hes already raced for alpha tauri. red bull have sunk a good amount of money into him. they clearly want him. so if he gets offered an alpha tauri seat in 2025, that means theres a good chance danny rics is going to red bull. do you SEE how the plot here is THICKENED

yuki tsunoda. age 23. currently at alpha tauri. and fun fact, the only alpha tauri driver to race there the whole year. he had three separate team mates. he is slaying and hes often slept on. he has a bit of a temper and likes to shout on the radio and also hates working out (they had to force him to move to italy or something to work out, long story) but hes been kinda killing it. he led several laps in the abu dhabi race this year and hes decently consistent. people think theres possibility that he could get moved up to red bull on account of the fact that he is younger than daniel and clearly has more years in him,, but there is also possibility that he might not because red bull like to make stupid decisions. and if he doesnt get moved up to rebel, will he stay with alpha tauri? we don't know.

alex albon. age 27. currently a williams driver. alex albon is another one with a batshit career. he started out his rookie year in 2019 at alpha tauri then got moved up to red bull halfway through the year when red bull decided that pierre gasley wasnt doing a good enough job (more on him later) and stayed with red bull for a solid year and a half until he lost his seat in 2021 to checo. he has been with williams for the last two years and is basically carrying the team. like. williams as a team scored 28 points this year. and alex albon scored 27 of those 28 points. and as we know, williams is still kind of in their shit arc (though they are doing much better. they didnt score any points for a solid 2 (?) years. so this is an improvement.) and if you can get a shit car to perform you catch the eye of bigger teams. now, alex has already been a red bull driver. and he was on the cusp of podiuming two separate times when lewis hamilton ran into him. this (among a few other things) basically killed his chances at getting resigned at red bull because he wasnt ""performing"" and red bull are bitches who love to win. but some people think that red bull should give him another shot. like daniel, hes already been max's teammate and he can definitely drive. but theres also talk he might go to ferrari because ferrari think that he might compliment charles's driving style (or something). but going to ferrari at this point is kind of suicide. so.

logan sergeant. age 23. the only american on the grid. the other williams driver. he just finished his rookie year. he scored a grand total of one single point this season, in texas, and it was because charles leclerc and lewis hamilton both got disqualified because the floor of their car had more wear (by literally less than millimeters) than it was allowed to, bumping him up from 12th to 10th. he has never done better than alex albon. he was also the very last driver to get a contract for 2024, with williams waiting until i think december of 2023 to announce his contract extension. clearly, hes on thin ice. but people have also said that he needs time to get used to formula 1 (other people have pointed out that oscar piastri slayed his rookie season this year and this statement about needing time is largely false). where logan ends up next year though will largely depend on how well the 2024 season goes for him.

fernando alonso. 42 years old. many people like to point out that oscar piastri is actually younger than fernando's racing career. he won tiktok creator of the year (somehow) and is also a 2 time world champion. he retired a few years ago, just to show back up again and slay. during the first half of the season when aston martin had a zoom zoom car he killed it, and then they had problems on top of problems and he didnt do well. except for that one race in brazil where he came in third, beating checo by literally .05 seconds. he hasn't really made any hints about retiring a second time and he is kind of carrying aston Martin right now (he scored 205 points this season, coming in 4th and tying in points with charles leclerc, lance stroll only scored 74 points this year.) and they did have their best year yet this year. (though they are relatively new).

pierre gasley. 27 years old. french. drives for alpine. the french team. previously he raced with toro rosso (now alpha tauri), then got promoted to a red bull driver in 2019, then halfway through the season they decided he wasnt doing a good enough job and he got demoted back down to alpha tauri. then he won a race with alpha tauri just to stick it to red bull. after the great oscar piastri contract twitter war, he was signed as alpines second driver, with Esteban ocon being the other driver (more on him soon). estie bestie and pierre (both french) were childhood friends and now hate each other for unknown reasons and basically feuded on the track for most of the season. french civil war at alpine. he scored 62 points in 2023 and came in 11th. not really sure where he will end up, it is possible that he will stick it out at alpine.

esteban ocon. 27 years old. also french. currently driving for alpine. another one with a silly bonkers career. he started out at force india and had a baller few seasons there but his teammate at the time was checo, and checo didnt really cooperate with him too much and caused some drama that cost estie bestie some places and some points. max verstappen also beat him up in the garage once. thats not really relevant but it did happen. anyway, after the owner of force india was arrested for .... i don't remember what maybe it was embezzlement or bankruptcy or something money related, the team was backed by lawrence stroll and became racing point. but all of that happened mid season and lawrence was basically like look ill back you guys for now but next year my son gets a seat (lance) so one of you two (checo and estie bestie) have to go. and ultimately they let estie bestie go even though he was more consistent because checo had more sponsors and they needed money. so he was out of formula 1 for a few years (but was a merc reserve driver) and then went to Renault, which then became alpine. he did come in 12th though overall this season, just behind pierre. so. will alpine keep both him and pierre and keep the civil war going? whos to say.

nico hulkenberg. 36 years old. haas driver. in his 200+ f1 races he has never been on the podium and he really really wants to be on the podium. unfortunately this will never happen in a haas because haas fucking sucks. and everyone knows it. he is getting towards the end of his career though. though! stake f1 will become the mario Andretti and audi team in 2026 (don't question it) and they have supposedly voiced interest in nico. so we will see if he hangs on that long to end up at audi. for now tough, hes definitely hating it at haas. though, haas are going to have a different team principle next year so maybe that will change things. i have a sneaky feeling through that haas will probably end up with another 2 rookie drivers because everyone else is smart enough to not race for them.

kevin magnussen. 31 years old. haas driver. hes another deeply interesting character. he has had one podium. in his rookie season. in his first race. and none since. kevin started at haas in 2017 and then left at then end of 2020 when he basically got kicked off because the team needed money and they wanted to bring in drivers with more sponsorships. these drivers were mick schumacher and nikita mazepin. so kevin basically was forced to retire after the 2020 season. this went decently well for haas. until russia invaded ukraine right before the start of the 2022 season and, well, nikita was Russian and it was never distinctly proven that his dads company (who was sponsoring the team) wasnt also funding the invasion. so nikita got fired and they were literally like 2 weeks out from the start of the season, down a driver. who are you gonna call? kevin magnussen! and hes been back ever since. but hes clearly getting annoyed with haas. there was one great clip from this year where his car caught on fire and he kind of just stared into to, clearly hoping it would burn for a long time. so the likelihood of him extending his contract is looking slim.

valtteri bottas. 34 years old. currently a driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo, kick sauber, whatever you wanna call it). previously, he was a mercedes driver and notoriously helped lewis hamilton win a great many championships, until he lost his seat to george russell in 2022. there was a rather awkward part of the 2021 season where valtteri knew that he was out of a merc seat the following year and kind of just chose violence. he slayed. then he went to alpha romeo, grew a mullet and made a calendar of his ass. quite the glow up if you ask me. hes also very interested in cycling. honestly though, i have my own personal speculation that hes going to retire at the end of this year.

zhou guanyu. 24 years old. driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo/kick sauber, etc etc). hes doing alright. he just finished his second season, in his first season he was majorly out qualified by valtteri but this past season he managed to out qualify him a good 6 times. which is decently good for the tractor of a car hes driving. its possible that he could get a contract extension, but like logan, its probably going to depend on how the 2024 season goes for him.

and thats all the drivers. theres also a few others i didnt talk about, like some other f2 drivers who want seats and mick schumacher, who is currently a merc reserve driver, all of which could be contenders for f1 seats. but one things for sure. this is going to be the silliest fucking silly season.

feel free to add on and peer review me

[rodneymckays]

"...To die for him - to die in his arms, like a Spartan, kissed once on the lips … or just run his errands in the meanwhile. You want him to know what cannot be spoken, and to make the perfect reply, in the same language."

Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love (x)

[commonrur]

I don’t get it, what’s going on between you and @pettywithanr ?

A lot. Wanna rlly understand where he is coming from but he is just contradicting and aggressive towards us.

PART 1

It all started when Geo left the server he created, he told us that he isn't in the fandom anymore and trying to move on from it. Were like ok have fun with ur new fandom (although we were very confused cuz he still post jamilton/hamilton content but think nothing of it)

Until one day out of the blue i found out im blocked including some of us in the server. I was confused and shocked at first cuz why would u do that? Did i do something wrong? (theres a lot of that in this relationship and if u think its tiring trust me its worse)

I only got an "explanation" from a mutual friend of ours that he did this to cut ties and properly move on, so I connected to him in Instagram (cuz he haven't block me there) and ask for an explanation which was again along the lines "they wanna move on and do different things" i was like ok (even though its a douche move of him to just drop me without explaining it directly to me) I said my last goodbye and that was that. Well so i have though cuz he keeps messaging me still everyday even go as far creating a gc with me in it, which was weird considering he wanted to move on but think nothing of it.

Until allie spoke out about how geo was an awful person to him. And well i thought Geo was only saying mean shit behind their backs ig he also do it right in front of their faces.

Its mostly in Filipino but its basically Geo saying how allie was annoying him just because allie disagreed with him and instead of talking to Allie (which i was urging him to do but refuses cuz he said and i quote "Dont u want that theres drama?" "Ur making everyone tense" "good") about it he made a comment for the entire server to see and it made us all uncomfortable.

Sooner or later a lot of people are speaking about the stuff Geo has done and said to them ( a lot of backstabbing, trash talking all because we have disagreed with something he says)

Example me saying "Oh i hc Thomas wearing dresses but thats ok too" he got so mad about that comment and put me on time out and forced me to apologize and blocked me

And so we all agreed that he was a bad person after all the things he put us through. We had a DC game night we had sm fun and we played gartic and well...

And apparantly he have spies in the server and saw that which he posted to his story

Naturally yes its mean I ADMIT but after all he put me through idc. Our friend Beat saw this and told him off (apparantly beat knew about all the backstabbing bullying and sided with us)

I mean all i did was draw a trashcan and made an arrow ur name but ig that's equivalent of me kms

This shows Geo actually admitting to all the times he made someone uncomfy ("ive been the mastermind in every single fucking drama we make")

Then it all spiraled after that. He send invites to his friends to attack us and victims blame us, invalidating all our horrible experiences with Geo. He sent spies to make himself look like the victim (actually funny thing his username was "victim" in the next story)

[actualbird]

Hi Zak. It’s me. I am surprisingly not dead.

I suddenly got curious

How hard do you ship Marluke

For me (with Martem) I literally scream MARTEM when they’re next to each other in official media or smth

Yes I know it’s a bit too much but I will go down with that ship

Marluke’s very cool too I am a multi shipper I’m fine with almost all ships

Welp sorry this is getting unnecessarily long I will excuse myself now

-🍁

OH MY GOSH, HI MAPLE!! long time no see, im v glad ur alive and i hope ur doing well :D

and hmmmm....this is a difficult question, cuz the moment i saw it my brain immediately was like "okay how do i numerically quantify ship enjoyment intensity...." and then i read the next lines where u gave examples and oHHH okay thats way easier to do

so here is a non-exhaustive list of things i think answer how hard i ship marluke

when i see them together in official material i also go "OH HEY MARLUKE" like theres one i remember, when tot posted this promotional material for the Flower MR series

i quote retweeted that tweet with something along the lines of "wow they rlly made marius and luke face each other like that, fuckin gay asses <3"

when i do NOT see them together in promo materials, i immediately try and see if i can edit them together anyway. ive done this many times. i will take the hammer and put them together and nobody can stop me

everyday i am co-making a new marluke au with a buddy i met on twitter. not exaggerating when i say everyday. it has been 0 days since our last new marluke au

there are currently 51 fics in the marluke tag on ao3. 11 of them are mine

the cumulative wordcount of the marluke fics ive posted on ao3 thus far totals to 70,647 words. if i exclude the nxx ot5 ship fics (cuz the giann finds out about marius' polycule fic takes a BIG CHUNK), it totals to 51,024 words. make of that what you will

conclusion: i cannot shut up about these two and i do not want to stop <3

pls dont apologize for long asks!! i dont mind in the slightest and i adore talking about these guys in particular hehe. thank you for the ask :DDD