#thinking about the next time Daniel shows up with a new tattoo and Max is fixated again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

123pixieaod · 1 year ago

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Tried to write a fun little fic about why Daniel unfollowed on Instagram Zak, Michael, Fernando, and Nicki, the most random quartet possible, only to end up with this lol

Daniel finally answers a call at just gone 4.30am, Max's time. It's 5.30am, Daniel's time, which admittedly is only marginally better, but maybe the hospital he's in has some crazy Get-Up-And-Seize-The-Day sort of ethos. Although from what Christian has told him, Daniel might not be seizing anything, metaphorically or otherwise, for some time.

"Daniel," Max says as soon as he hears the line clicking through. "How are you? How do you feel? Is your wrist alright? Do the doctors and nurses take care of you, do they speak English, or did Red Bull send a Spanish translator and I hope I have not woken you up and-"

He cuts himself off. There's a sort of stunned silence on the other side of the line. Sometimes, Max thinks his need for Daniel is a bottomless pit, something that has hollowed him out and leaves an ache echoing through him.

"Max?" Daniel says, incredulous. High, drugged up, gone on pain medication. "How did you get into my phone?!"

Max squeezes his eyes shut. His mouth is twisted, making some shape. A smile, a frown? He doesn't know, nobody can see him in his old childhood bedroom.

He wants to be with Daniel. He wants to brush a hand through his curls and run his fingertips along the lines of his faded tattoos like how a child would first begin to trace letters and numbers.

I miss you, he wants to say

I want you

I need you

"I'm not in your phone," he says instead, tone light and soft. "I called you. I am in the Netherlands."

"Oh," Daniel says, as if the fact Max had not been magically transformed into his phone is mildly disappointing. "What are you doing there?"

"We had a race, remember?" Max says. He's stretched out on his old bed. His feet dangle just slightly off the edge, and each year, he's promised a new one, bigger and larger and finally a grown-up bed. But it never materialises and Max has stopped bringing it up now.

The room is unchanged. Around him, the faces of former racing legends watch him, tapped to his wall. Above, stars look down, stuck to his ceiling in haphazard patterns. The day his father got to play God and created universes and cosmos splayed above his head.

"Of course," Daniel huffs good naturedly. "You won, Maxy."

"I know," Max replies softly.

"It was your ninth consecutive win," Daniel continues, his tone strong and proud, as if it's Daniel who has achieved it. Maybe he's so high on meds he thinks it is, that him and Max are some sort of Jeckyl and Hyde being, two sides of the same life. Max doesn't know. A headache is building behind his eyes. He hasn't really slept since Friday, three days previous.

"You're now equalling Sebastian Vettle. If you win the next race, you'll beat the record." Daniel continues before pausing, as if realisation is only just dawning. "I don't think I'll be there."

"No," Max murmurs. "I don't think you will be either."

"My wrist is really fucked," Daniel goes back to his jubilant tone, like a child with the best show and tell in school. "I have a metal plate in it, isn't that neat?"

He laughs. Max closes his eyes, just listening to the sound. "Imagine if it goes off at every airport security, Maxy? How annoying with that be?" He laughs again, the prospect sounding delightful to him in that very moment.

Max hums softly, and then shifts on the bed, turning away from the stars his father hung up for him. Instead, he moves to his side, facing a giant poster of Micheal Schumacher celebrating one of his championships. At the bottom, Max, to great things! MS. He was six. It was one of the best Christmas presents his dad had ever gotten him.

"How do you feel?" He asks. Daniel is humming a tune under his breath, the theme song to some gameshome Max barely recognises. He stops at Max's question.

"Good," he says happily. "I have gained deep clarity."

That shocks a laugh out of Max, as only Daniel, even doped, drugged Daniel, can do. The longing feels physical, the hole never ending in his chest. He closes his eyes, blocking out the stars and racing legends whose shine has faded and whose records he's now beating.

In another life, he thinks, he would be there. He'd be the first face Daniel would see, the first hand he'd get to hold, the first for nearly everything, just like Daniel had been for Max.

But instead they're a time zone apart and Daniel is alone in a country where he can't even speak the language and Max is in his childhood bedroom, surrounded by his family who are fast sleep and utterly oblivious to the fact he's gay, let alone in a relationship with Daniel Ricciardo.

"Clarity," Max forces his mind back on track. "How so?"

"Oh you know," Daniel says with ease. "Cleared my mental space."

Max huffs another laugh. His chest aches, empty. He wonders does Daniel know how hollowed out he is without him.

"Go on."

"Well, I deleted a shit ton of apps. That wellness app you made me download last year? Sorry Maxy, but that went," Daniel makes a popping noise. "And the fertility tracking app Scotty downloaded at his bachelor's party."

"Presumably he just got his and your phones mixed up, right?"

"No Maxy, it was a prank because I -" Daniel breaks away, finally understanding, laughing as if Max has made the funniest joke possible.

"Okay so you cleared up some space on your phone," Max prompts him.

"Oh yes, and then deleted twitter and went to WhatsApp and left about a billion groups and then I went to Instagram, and went through who I followed, and unfollowed tons of people."

"Oh? Did I make the cut?"

Daniel tutts as if Max is being purposefully dense.

"Naturally Maxy. In fact, I sort of debated unfollowing everyone except you, but then figured you might've been pissed at me."

Max can't tell if Daniel is joking or not. He doesn't know which he wants it to be.

"So firstly I unfollowed a bunch of people I had met years ago at business deals and stuff, and then Craig and Rebecca from school because I never really liked them anyway and they definitely never liked me and then Zak because the vibes were Not It and then my high-school teacher who I definitely only ended up following on a dare and -"

"Zak," Max says, picking out the familiar name in the sea of chatter. "As in Zak Brown?"

Daniel hums. "Yeah, the vibes were Not It. And then I also unfollowed Fernando -"

"Alonso?" Max splutters out another laugh of disbelief. "What on earth did he do to you?"

"I don't like how he acts around you."

"Me?!" Max voice goes up an octave. "What? But he's always nice to me Daniel. I like him."

"I know Max, that's the point," Daniel says, and before Max can even begin to comprehend what he means, he's continuing. "And then also Richard, from McLaren because I swear he used to tell Zak everything I did and then Michael, and then Sam, this old hookup, and -"

"Michael," Max cuts in, sure he's mistaken, "as in ..."

"Yeah," Daniel says after a beat. "That Michael."

Max swallows. Michael has been a constant strain on their relationship, the fly in the otherwise smooth ointment. Max had told Daniel he wasn't good for him, he wasn't looking after him. That friendship and business rarely mixed, and that in this case, it had congealed into something of neither, a strange, interdependent relationship which drained them both.

Daniel had said Max hadn't understood it, hadn't gotten how much Michael helped him, how good it was to have a physico who was also his mate. Max replied by saying that as far as he was concerned, Michael was proving himself to be neither.

Jealousy. That was what Daniel had pinned to him, had washed all rationality away with. Max was jealous.

He remembers feeling like he had been slapped. Jealousy. Fucking jealousy.

He never mentioned Michael again.

"But," Max begins slowly, mind whirling. "You had lunch with him last week." Even though you never mentioned it, even though I had to find out through fans' blurry photos.

"Yeah," Daniel draws the syllable out. "But... the vibes were not immaculate."

"Right," Max says, hating how terse the single word sounds. And the vibes were fine when he encouraged you to do that fucked up intermittent fasting? When he recommended yoga and gym sessions instead of therapy?

"And then I unfollowed Nicky Latifi, because unfortunately, he's going to do a masters in London, and following him online will simply remind me of all the missed possibilities I had in the academic world," he goes on.

"Daniel," Max says, trying to force his mind to move on, Daniel has unfollowed Michael Daniel has unfollowed Michael. "You dropped out of school when you were seventeen. In the most loving of ways, I would hardly call you an up and coming scholar."

"Details, Maxy," he says, but then goes quiet, and so does Max. He opens his eyes. His room is painted in shadows, sunrise still distant. The trophies he won as a child are carefully displayed in neat rows, their plaques opaque with dust, now thick and heavy. He remembers winning them, young and already starving for more, remembers the weight of plastic, the way sugary pop soda dried sticky on his skin.

"I think you were right," Daniel says softly. Max nods, face pressed against his pillow.

"I mean about him. Michael."

"I know who you meant," Max murmurs.

"Okay good, because you're definitely not write about my academic prowess, I was one hundred percent on track to be this world's Stephen Hawkens."

Max laughs softly. "It's Hawking not Hawken."

"Once again Maxy, details."

There's another exhale of quiet between them, and outside Max hears the world beginning to rise. Birds waking, their whistles winding their way through the crack in his window.

"I miss you," he says softly, as if the words are barely permitted to be spoken aloud.

"I love you too Maxy," Daniel replies with ease. Then - "you should come. I think it would be nice. If you were here too."

"I think so too," Max says. The longing grows. The trophies are dusty on his shelf, forgotten. His feet hang off his childhood bed. Birds begin to sing.

"So will you?" Daniel persists. Max squeezes his eyes shut.

"I don't know. I do not think you would be saying this if you weren't off your head on pain meds," he tries to joke. His chest aches. Hollowed out, always wanting more than he's allowed.

"Of course I would," Daniel says confidently, even though he ends it with a yawn. "I anyways want you around."

Max keeps his eyes still tightly shut. He tucks his knees up, bringing them to his chest. When he was very young and his parents were still together, he'd do this. Curl up on the bed with his eyes squeezed closed. The door shut, their shouts muffled; as distant as the bird song is to him now.

"Maxy?"

His sister said the same. Maxy? Climbing on his bed, tugging at his arms. What are they talking about? Nothing, nothing, it doesn't matter.

"How's your wrist?" Max asks. He opens his eyes - the room has grown lighter, dawn finally creeping in.

"Good," Daniel says, already forgotten what he said. Like a butterfly, moving onto the next topic, nothing permanent. "Sore. I'm on some strong shit though." He laughs. It sounds so near.

Max imagines it. He could do it. Book the ticket to Spain. It wouldn't even be that bad. People know him and Daniel are mates, and mates visit each other in hospital. And that's if it even comes out, which it might not. Nobody has to know.

"I love you," he blurts out, cheeks warm. Daniel laughs again, soft and delighted.

"Good, because my right hand is currently out of action, so I might need help over the next few weeks with a few particular things."

Max laughs, cheeks warm. He's not being quiet any more. His family can probably hear him through the walls, just like he could hear his parents all those years ago.

He can imagine his sister asking him, echoing their childhood as she questions him on words she's grasped through walls. This time, though, he thinks he will tell her the truth.

"I've heard Spain is very beautiful at the end of August," he says.

Daniel hums, "I've heard something similar, Maxy."

Outside, birds sing. The dawn continues on, filling the emptiness of night.

#shhhh nobody mention the fact the time zones are back to front please #i only realised while editing and I'm too tired to try and fix it #big thanks to Isabel and Lily for talking all about Maxiel longing with me!#lotsa longing here #believe it or not this was meant to be a fun fluffy piece #but apparently I am incapable of not writing angst #parallels!#max unable to differentiate longing for a stable upbringing with longing for Daniel #and so the merging of childhood trauma is occurring with the loving of Daniel #indistinguishable and Max can't figure out which longing is good and which is bad #because as a child he wasn't allowed to want more from his parents #and not Daniel had so much more to give him #but Max had to accept the fact he's allowed to want it before he can have it #jealous dan lol #my fic #my writing

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blamemma · 2 years ago

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Top 5 Maxiel headcanons you've come up with

this is going under the cut because it got waaayyy too long to quickly (also this very quickly divulged into headcanons vs. au's oops sorry) (also that first one i could really expand more on if i had any brain power whizzing through my head today)

max is obsessed with daniels tattoos but not in the sense of them being sexy and hot (he likes them also in that way, plz keep writing it into fics xx ) but in an appreciation way....i truly believe max would love museums and art galleries (more traditional than new wave kinda ones, at those he'd be like 'but daniel, i could easily make that, why is it £1,000,000)....idea stems from his love of geography and maps and history but I can honestly see him wandering around the national portrait gallery or the rijksmuseum and admiring these portraits and statues of historical figures and just spouting his facts that he somehow knows and enquiring about how they were made...LIKE SORRY imagine max with one of those lil headset things with the really bad headphones which are often so tiny they fit over no ones head that you get and you type the number in that corresponds to the art you're currently looking at and it tells you all about it hE'D LOVE IT (i think idk i'm hypothesising about a man i dont know) i just think max likes the slower things in life from what he says in his interviews and stuff and I think if he knew he could just wander around and not be noticed and take his time admiring things...he would..sO anyway back to the tattoos got a bit distracted I think Max likes Daniel's tattoos because they're all different...you've got his massive thigh tattoo which is traditional/neo-classical style full of colour and bright and has dedications to family and home...and then you've got text ones but a lot of them are done in different fonts, some more minimalist than others and then you've got the astronaut and the cupid which so obviously have stories behind them and max would love to be told those stories, repeatedly, never tires of hearing daniel explain his tattoos to him and i think he just likes that daniel has art all over him that HE gets to admire....when daniel gets new ones he sits and shows max the designs and asks what he thinks (same with his merch) and max is just straight-up honest and helps daniel tweak things

2. an ode to mine and ray's single dad daniel au but its truly one of the things i now think about most often because its loving someone and their someone!! knowing that loving them means loving their child and their family and that not being a problem!! for max, that is so easy, because it's daniel's child, he loves daniel (even though he doesn't really realise it yet) and so it is easy to love henry??! max literally does not second guess it all whereas daniel is panicking, has seen max and henry get along since he first introduced them (henry really hasn't known a life without max also being there) but adding this extra dimension, where max is something more to him, a partner/lover, and therefore something else to henry terrifies him - he backs out of taking the next step with max SO often because he would rather continue to get these little family moments of him max and henry which he can watch over and pretend they're a real family than take a risk on a relationship with max and truly ruin it and leave henry without max and ultimately leave himself without max!! it's about your priorities as a parent and sometimes thinking you're making the best decision when ur not!!

3. daniel is obsessed with max...u literally just have to refer to the countless interviews where he mentions him, unprovoked, and the way his face lights up!! loves to worship his body, loves seeing how it has changed....THE THESIS (thank you @fourmula1 for ur service)....and i obviously think max is also obsessed with daniel....but its just different idk words are evading me but like daniel knew max as a teenager as a spritely 17 year old and he's now seeing him as a man at 25 winning two world championships already??!?!!?? eyah there's gotta be a bit of admiration and obsession.

4. things got frosty in the middle part of this season between them both because they can't communicate. daniel will hide behind jokes, often self-depreciating, when times get realllyyy tough, and max just wants honesty. wants daniel to lay his cards on the table and tell max how he feels. wants to see daniel punch a wall if that will make him feel better. and so they just....weren't talking....because anytime max asked, he just wouldn't get the truth and then when he'd call daniel out on it daniel would get defensive....i dont think max would want to help with the situation... they know their boundaries when it comes to racing and their teams and what they can and can't say to each other...but I think essentially what happened was just a breakdown in communication and max just feeling like he was being left on the sidelines with a depressed bf who he didn't know how to help...they regressed for a little bit....spent time apart....daniel went to montana and then perth...max spent time in monaco with his friends, rode jet skis, partied etc. they missed each other, they pined for each other, they got advice off their friends, they kissed they talked now they're ok again etc etc. and daniel knows that he CAN tell max anything and max will listen or give advice, whatever daniel wants, but he just needs to know

5. ...they're both vers... like what you like read what you wanna read enjoy what you enjoy we're all writing and reading about these men for our own enjoyment and I also like reading different people's takes on either/or... BUT i just think sometimes a man needs to fuck and sometimes he needs to be fucked and there's different reasons why and its whatever the moment calls for but we go back to number 3 and the obsession daniel has with how max has changed and its just another way for him to enjoy and obsess over this change in max....i do think they would have started with daniel topping but as max becomes more confident in his skin and LOVES what daniel does to him he wants to give daniel the same....max lOVES to make people happy, daniel fucking him makes him so happy and content and he knows that makes daniel happy to but he wants to try it the other way, try something new etc etc. it's about them pleasing each other at the end of the day and just being able to serve each others needs....

#asks #5 things game #this is a mess sorry #i have done 4 things on my list this was my reward #dr #mv #maxiel

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wolfiemcwolferson · 2 years ago

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Oh my god I want all of it! If any of these take your fancy:

- does daniel have his tattoos by the time they reconnect? If so would love a snippet of max discovering these and where they reach 👀

- a snippet of a different time where Pierre is really drunk and Charles isn’t and Charles looks after him…Pierre says a lot and Charles says stuff back but knows Pierre won’t remember

- daniel revealing he found out what du felst m…I can’t remember it sorry but that phrase!

So, I'll answer 1 & 3 and save 2 because I want to post the end of Piarles and then send me another ask and I'll swing back around to it.

Daniel does not have tattoos by the time they reconnect, but it's like A Thing he wants to do and he mentions it a couple times to Max and Max is like, yeah whatever you want babe. It's your body.

And like, healing is NOT linear and a couple months after they get back to San Diego, Max is feeling really just off and Daniel is like, we're going to get a tattoo! and Max is like WE wtf do you mean WE?

Daniel gets what he wants though and he gets Max wrestled down in a tattoo chair and Max refuses to tell Daniel what he's getting and Daniel refuses to tell Max what he's getting and they wrap them up at the studio. Max can see that Daniel's hand is bandaged and Daniel can't see where Max's bandage is and he's giving him so much shit thinking he chickened out.

But, then they get back to Daniel's apartment and Max is like, you first and Daniel KNOWS Max chickened out. He KNOWS it, so he's ribbing the shit out of him, and Max just drops his pants on the floor. Daniel is shocked and goes to pull the little bandage off his thigh and there's a tiny little state of Texas high enough on his thigh that no one else would ever know it's there and Max says, "It's a pretty important place," and Daniel takes the bandage off his hand to show Max the rose and Max says, "like the ones outside your house that summer."

And Daniel says, "the yellow rose of Texas" and somehow Daniel can't stop getting tattoos and Max holds his hand through all of them, but never gets another one.

And also anytime Daniel gets asked about the rose, he makes up a different story and the only person who ever knows is Max - and probably Grace, but she keeps her mouth shut.

Du fehlst mir.

Daniel doesn't know what it means for a really long time - like their first Christmas together. They're laying on the couch at Daniel's parents house and the Leclerc's are there (minus one brother who will be home for New Years' Eve) and it's chaos and Arthur is shouting at Enzo in French and Daniel sighs and says, "just like home" and Max - who has been drinking mulled wine with Grace all day - starts laughing.

He whispers to Daniel in German something low and filthy and some little lightbulb goes off in Danny's brain and he says, "Hey! You never told me that thing you used to say to me! Before we got together? Du - Dul - Du something me."

Max laughs and kisses his neck. "Du fehlst mir?"

Daniel nods. "Yeah, that one!"

Max shifts them around so he can put his wine glass down on the table and he pushes a hand through Daniel's hair and he says, "It means that you are missing from me. That the thing I was missing was you all along."

And Daniel intends on kissing him, but Arthur flings himself down on top of them, demanding that they tell him all about the trip they're going on next summer.

But, later that night after gifts are done and everyone is tucked away in their beds, Daniel insists Max teach him how to say it so he can remember to someday get that phrase engraved on something highly sentimental and entirely too soppy to ever let anyone else see.

#tiredtiredsharl #the blue neighbourhood #maxiel #daniel ricciardo #max verstappen #f1 rpf

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eponymous-rose · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina Episode #100 Highlights!

That’s right: 100 EPISODES. That’s a lot of great questions, greater answers, questionable pronunciations of usernames, even more questionable uses of overlays, and a++++ excellent dogs.

The entire cast is answering questions this week!

Max runs an (adorable) intro in the above puppet theater, and each cast member gets a title. Laura is The Heart, Sam is The “Funny Guy”, Travis is The Brawn, Liam is The Actor, Matt is The Brains, Marisha is The Face, Taliesin is The Pyramid, Brian is The Convict, and Ashley is The Favorite.

The cast’s entrance is majestic. There are balloons, sashes, tiaras, and champagne. Henry has a tiara too!

The Search for Grog will air this Friday, February 22 at 7 PM Pacific on twitch.tv/criticalrole. If you miss the stream, it’ll be available Saturday morning on CR’s YouTube channel!

Talks Machina and CR will air on CR’s official channels starting today! Starting next episode, TM will be available on CR’s YouTube channel on Thursday at 7 Pacific, and also in podcast form!

Stats: in 100 episodes of TM, there’s been 81 episodes of Brian’s glorious beard. There have been 9 Skype/FaceTime call-ins! There were 244 guest misnomers before that well ran dry. 93 episodes of pre-show hijinks (thanks to Max James!). 95 episodes of Arsequeef. 826 days of being on the internet!

Brian: "The concept of creating a talk show about a D&D campaign has always been absurd to me, so we wanted to embrace that terribleness.”

There’s now a Steve Cam (quietly reading, meal prepping, and ignoring the show), and a Zach Cam (staring at a monitor that’s all just Liam’s chest hair and the Fjord bust), and a Max Cam (dancing in a stripper cop outfit), Lockey Cam (practicing with a sword in front of a mirror and then charging at Daniel for filming it - Brian: “Hopefully Daniel’s non-union.”), Ed Cam (drinking scotch and counting down the days until football returns, and also lint rolling his new goatee), Chris Cam (rapping in the VO booth), Brittany Cam (dancing with a unicorn blanket, huffing compressed air - Brian: “You can’t show that on Twitch!”).

Matt is asked how his DMing style has evolved with campaign 2. “Well... I’ve been forced to embrace a little more of the tragedy in the characters’ backstories.” The internal and external conflict has been really interesting for him to watch and react to. “I’ve learned to be very proud of my players for mucking up my perception of where things are going to go.”

Coming to Xhorhas, Nott’s thrilled to no longer have to worry about the mask. Sam’s excited about the City of Beasts “to see what kind of fucked-up individuals we’re going to find and seeing how Nott will react to that.”

Yasha definitely sympathizes with Nott trying to save her spouse, but “there’s a lot going on with her going back to Xhorhas. It’s definitely triggering for her, but she understands the need to want to go back. I wish I could go to Xhorhas. We’ll see what happens.” Travis: “I’m pretty sure once we go to a place we can never go back.”

Favorite item on the Talks shelves? Taliesin mentions a magnetic Percy mini, Sam likes the tiny Sams (”It looks like my bedroom!”), Ashley and Brian are partial to the Sully painting, Laura loves the Pike painting, Marisha loves all the stuff the cast bought on a hungover voyage to the flea market when they were first building the set, Matt loves a very cool dice tower. Brian likes the Vecna with Marisha’s face. Matt: “I don’t know if I like that one.”

Laura doesn’t like the party using the derogatory term for the Krynn, because she wants people to be happy even if she doesn’t know them. Sam: “I haven’t been the best for that, but if Jester wants me to... I guess I’ll change.”

There are new wipe transitions featuring the Matt pillow and the Fjord bust. It’s glorious.

Gif of the week: Sam calling Travis “studly” for catching the candy. Laura: “...I like that I’ve been cut out of it completely.”

Arsequeef gets the Lifetime Achievement Award for Gif of the Week. He wins Max’s 2006 Honda Accord.

On Caleb taking off his bandages because there’s nothing to hide anymore: “Was that terrifying for him, or a relief?” Liam: “Yes!” He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it feels good. He’s got f...r...iends?” Marisha: “I love that sitcom. (weakly) F...r...iends?”

Caduceus being a source of comfort, insight, and advice was built into the character. Taliesin looked at low INT high WIS, and Matt immediately started laughing and told Taliesin he’d do well with that. Taliesin: “There’s plenty of things that will eventually flap that, but we haven’t hit them yet.”

As a player, Travis doesn’t like to weigh things carefully all the time, so a lot of Fjord’s leardership has been a bit about pressing fast-forward. Marisha: “So what you’re saying is that your Grog’s poking through.” Matt points out that if both characters have a trait, it’s probably just Travis.

Liam: “I’ve got a little Travis poking me from behind.” Marisha, musing: “So many conflicting beards...”

Beau’s prayer to Ioun mostly came from a “couldn’t hurt” perspective. “I’ll try it out. Give it a spin.” When Travis asks, Marisha clarifies that it was Ioun specifically because of the Cobalt Soul. Travis: “Oh yeah, I totally knew the relationship there. I just wanted to make sure the audience did.”

Bugbear friend or bugbear foe? Sam: “He speaks goblin, he seems cool, his name’s Gluzo. He has a hard-to-pin-down accent, but it’s amazing.” Taliesin: “You have a hard-to-pin-down accent, too. It’s something you have in common.” Taliesin gets asked if his insight check revealed that the bugbear is secretly pretending to be someone else. “Yes, he’s just pretending to be a bugbear. He’s actually Matt Mercer.” Laura: “I like him. ‘Cause he’s cute and he let me give him a tattoo.”

Sam: “Nott trusts her friends to be as strong as they can be, and at this point, I don’t know if she’s as concerned with one of them dying as just getting to her husband in time before he dies. If we lose one along the way, Nott will probably cry a little, but will move on.” What if it were Fjord? “Fjord’s expjendable.”

Matt: “I’ve reached a point where Travis controls Yasha in combat, but I don’t consider any of his roleplay canon.” Ashley: “I trust Travis. Barbarian respect.” Laura: “Don’t give him that.” Ashley: “Travis himself is like a Deck of Many things. This is risky, but it’s kind of fun!”

Sam: “That dunamancy shit is lit.” Liam: “And it’s tied up in everything that Caleb wants, so if he can get on the entropy shit and the gravity shit, you know he’s going to go back in time, motherfucker.” Sam is so excited to have these mystery spells because they’re so new, and they’re inherently something they don’t know how to counter or prepare for. Travis: “It’s almost like every time we play D&D.”

Fanart of the Week: a spectacular group shot.

Everyone freaks out over how good Travis looks with glasses. He takes them off and puts them back on sexily for a while. I was too slow grabbing a screencap, but don’t worry, the gifs will be everywhere.

Laura: “Jester hasn’t experienced a lot of emotions. She hasn’t experienced a lot of anything, really. She’s definitely dealt with sadness in her life, but I don’t think it’s been so in-your-face constantly, just the trauma of it all.” Liam: “Yeah, she’s with some very terrible people.” Laura: “While it is traumatic, it’s also been a great adventure, and she’s enjoying being out and doing things. Even if it might hurt her, it’s so much better than reading about it, drawing it, just imagining how it would be.”

Caleb’s still feeling out the shift in his relationship with Nott, but there’s no question that everything they’ve gone through can’t be forgotten or overlooked. “He sees her as an absolute ally no matter what, and will do anything for her. In a weird way, he feels like they’re even more alike than he thought they were, and he loves her and wants her to succeed in what she’s doing, and hopes that the things that he wants don’t fuck it up entirely.” Sam: “Are you talking about Liam and Sam right now?”

Caduceus’ thoughts on Xhorhas? “A new environment, certainly, and a new aspect of nature that he’s unfamiliar with. This is just more terrain to him at this point. He’s also very unaware of the political realities. He’s vaguely aware there is war. He’s still not sure why we can’t just go up and ask for directions from everyone.”

Brian: “That tiara is the most blessed image.”

Travis on the Captain Tusktooth tattoo: “Brand recognition is huge in Xhorhas.” Taliesin: “Viral marketing.” Laura confirms that it’s not likely to change apart from some small differences from tattoo to tattoo. “Each person gets a special google.”

Laura on fans actually getting this tattoo: “I am ALL ABOUT IT.”

Marisha: “Guys! How about instead of M9 tattoos...” Sam: “We let Laura tattoo us? I would legitimately be down with that!” Ashley: “I’m kind of into it.” Liam: “This is what splits us apart.” Laura: “Everybody gets a dick.” Travis: “How would we explain that to our kid? ‘What’s that?’ ‘Your mom did that.’”

Beau is holding back a bit since her impulsiveness started having negative repercussions. “I think it’s about accountability. She’s started to learn--- especially when she first joined M9, she didn’t have friends, really. I think you had to learn, oh, my actions do affect others around me. I think that’s something you can learn and you can grow in, but yeah, she is trying to not be a total fuckwad anymore. Trying. But old habits...”

Favorite TM moments? Travis: “Do you remember that episode where Brian wasn’t the host?” Brian remembers Travis throwing the card that almost took him out. Ashley fondly remembers PullOutKing. Laura remembers Taliesin saying the phrase “I love teenage assholes” (referring to Percy acting immature), and Taliesin is super glad someone brought that up again just when the tweets were finally starting to die down.

Ashley talks about how proud she is about how far Brian’s come, and how great he’s doing at this. Everyone has an uncharacteristically sincere moment of applause for Brian. Liam: “Everyone take 30 seconds to drop the bit that we think you’re a total fucking weirdo. You’re so good at this, and you’re such a good friend, and we’re so glad you’re part of this family.”

Marisha pitches the idea of trying to sell TM syndicated on LifeTime now that they have 100 episodes.

Brian remembers having food poisoning that led to him running off-screen, throwing up in the middle of the show, and then having to come back. Marisha remembers Travis texting everyone that night with “lol, did Brian just yarf on TV?”

Matt talks about how proud he is of Brian for going from zero tabletop experience to co-running his own game.

Talks Machina After Dog ft. Sleepy Boi Henry

“This is the best dog-petting show ever.”

Liam was skeptical about TM initially, because he was worried it would take away from what would be shared in-game. Marisha: “I was stoked for it, not gonna lie. I was very misunderstood and people hated my character, so I was kind of stoked to just get to explain it.” Travis was sold once they picked the name.

Marisha: “It also set the precedent for really dumb, punny names.” Brian points out that, as a channel, they now can’t stick with serious names as their final choice.

Laura’s sister has been watching the show, and she texted Laura after the show to ask what the whisper was, so Laura’s going to tell her and no one else. Liam: “You’re gonna tell your real sibling?”

There’s a horrified discussion about giraffe fighting. Some segues happened in there.

What’s something their characters have done that’s made them proud? Liam: Caleb using the Wall of Fire. Marisha: the Plank King execution episode as a whole (everyone agrees). Travis: “I was proud of hooking up with an NPC when my wife wasn’t here to threaten me with death.” (he immediately turns to Taliesin: “Help.” Taliesin: “No god can help you now.”) Taliesin: “I sunk a boat.” Laura: Proud of not getting caught with Nott in the Platinum Dragon sanctuary. Sam: Taking the blow for Jester so she could escape. Liam: “Molly showing his dick covered in eggs.”

Matt: “I’m proud of you guys not entirely descending into evil madness. I’m proud of the character arcs of being broken, terrible people, and finding out that it’s okay to be broken; you’re not necessarily terrible.” Liam: “The entire cast went, ‘He’s talking about everyone but me’.” Matt thought it was going to be very hard to keep the group together, but the party turned it into character growth moments. “I’m proud of you.” Laura: “Thanks, Dad.”

Yasha loved the arm wrestling. “Oh man, it’s so fun to be the tank.”

Laura: “I’m really proud of us for saving Kiri!”

Everyone has Liam’s chest hair:

Wishes for the next 100 episodes? More Ashley.

Brian: “I hate this coffee table more than anything in the whole, entire world.”

What’s something that should never change about the show? How ridiculous it is, the barrel, Dani. Also always have a dog. They fundamentally do the show for themselves, still, and that’s made it a really good environment for them to open up about the show and their characters.

Liam: “There’s a lot of beauty to what we do, but it’s also inherently silly. And to deny that is silly.”

Matt likes that it’s unpolished and imperfect. “Things are going to go wrong regardless, and you can either get angry and frustrated about the lack of control, or you can embrace it.” Sam: “None of this is real anyway.”

Brian points out that this is not an excuse to stop paying him.

And that’s a wrap! This is the last After Dark for a while, but there are some big ideas in the works for the coming weeks!

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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eddycurrents · 5 years ago

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For the week of 28 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Afterlift #1 is a digital original from Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne, and Aditya Bidikar. Very interesting concept here playing with a character who drives for a Lyft analogue in Cabit, leading to becoming a rather unique courier.

| Published by Jams & Jellies

Batman Annual #4 actually gives us many adventures and stories as we go through almost two months’ of diary entries of Batman’s exploits from Alfred, as told by Tom King, Jorge Fornés, Mike Norton, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. It’s a nice way to pack a lot of story into this annual in a fairly unique way, while also showcasing just how busy Batman really is.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #17 sets up for the next confrontation with N’Jadaka and his forces, also giving us a rather...awkward but interesting conversation between Storm and Nakia. Gorgeous art from Daniel Acuña.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodshot #2 continues the balls to the wall action as Bloodshot and the Black Bar conflict escalates, from Tim Seeley, Brett Booth, Adelso Corona, Andrew Dalhouse, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a bit of a throwback to a more action-oriented style, but it definitely works for Bloodshot. A nice change of pace to give a variety of storytelling.

| Published by Valiant

Conan the Barbarian #10 spins us the twins’ yarn as they plotted their revenge on Conan, from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is gorgeous. The backstory building up to last parts of this story and the fate of Conan is gripping.

| Published by Marvel

Contagion #5 brings an end to this series from Ed Brisson, Adam Gorham, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit. Gorgeous and creepy art here from Gorham and Gandini.

| Published by Marvel

DCeased #6 is surprisingly hopefully, even as everything dies and everybody hurts. It appears to be setting up a sequel, though likely to be incredibly bleak. Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Neil Edwards, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte conclude this series in epic fashion as we say goodbye to Earth.

| Published by DC Comics

Death’s Head #4 is another ending to a series this week, from Tini Howard, Kei Zama, Felipe Sobreiro, and Travis Lanham. Some very nice character work here for Death’s Head and Vee.

| Published by Marvel

Doctor Strange Annual #1 gives us a pair of tales. The lead from Tini Howard, Andy MacDonald, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit is a fun Halloween story dealing with the spirits haunting the Sanctum Sanctorum. Any art from MacDonald is a treat. The back up is a bit more deadly serious with Pornsak Pichetshote, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Sean Parsons, José Villarrubia, and Petit revealing a failsafe should Strange go rogue.

| Published by Marvel

Ether: The Disappearance of Violet Bell #2 continues to be incredibly inventive as Boone tries to track down the assassin. David Rubín’s art is absolutely amazing. And Boone’s continued inability to really think about anyone other than himself is telling.

| Published by Dark Horse

Excalibur #1 is another tick in the win column for “Dawn of X”. The X-Men dabbling in magic isn’t common, but Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit do so with amazing flair, fittingly taking us in through Otherworld, Captain Britain, and Betsy Braddock. Apocalypse’s new incarnation as “ •|A| •” and his newfound interest in magic is fascinating.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #5 spotlights Zoe’s rather elaborate imagination for coming up with ways to murder people. Granted, the Russian agent may well deserve it, but still... Terry Moore continues to deliver some unexpected twists as the end of the world inches closer.

| Published by Abstract Studio

Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1 is a one-shot finale special from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. It picks up roughly a year from the end of the series, dealing with why Esther has been missing from their reunions. It’s full of all of the humour that we’ve been used to and hammers home the power of friendship. Also, it gets very, very weird.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Harleen #2 works hard to portray Harley’s seduction by the Joker. Stjepan Šejić and Gabriela Downie portray it as an insidious, manipulative thing. It might appear romantic on the surface, but there’s definitely a darkness there. There are ideas of bringing back a monster from the edge of insanity, but the story makes you realize that some may well be beyond hope.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Hellboy and the BPRD: Long Night at Goloski Station might well be the best of these new format tales yet, and both of the previous ones were incredibly strong. Here Mike Mignola, Matt Smith, Dave Stewart, and Clem Robins deliver a single issue story building on Hellboy’s confrontation with Baba Yaga, Sir Edward Grey, and demons.

| Published by Dark Horse

Invisible Kingdom #6 begins the second arc, “Edge of Everything”, as the crew first try to find food and fuel and then run afoul of a salvage ship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano keep things interesting as we start to see the crew’s life after Lux.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Invisible Woman #4 is disturbing, basically everything goes to hell and everyone that Sue was trusting to see this operation through has let her down. Or worse. Mark Waid, Mattia De Iulis, and Joe Caramagna set up a rather horrifying situation in this penultimate chapter. Again, De Iulis’ artwork is stunning.

| Published by Marvel

Joker: Killer Smile #1 is essentially a psychological horror from Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Jordie Bellaire, and Steve Wands. It comes from the point of view of a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Arnell, who is trying to get to the heart of Joker’s mental state. It’s not going so well and it appears like the good doctor is losing time, doing strange things, and possibly worse. Very intriguing beginning to this story.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Knights Temporal #4 has some stunning artwork from Fran Galán, particularly during the gangster sequences where colour comes into play as another important storytelling element. There are some very nice twists this issue, making you wonder about a lot of what we thought we knew.

| Published by AfterShock

The Last God #1 is dark fantasy done right by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Sunny Gho, Dean White, Tom Napolitano, Steve Wands, and Jared Blando. It gives us lying kings, heroes who weren’t rightly heroes, and a Lovecraftian terror returned to show the truth. It plays deep on resentment and distrust, and of a complete failure of institutions to uphold a decent society. All with absolutely stunning artwork from Federici, Gho, and White. This is a beautiful, haunting work.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Last Stop on the Red Line #4 is very, very weird. We get a peek behind the masks of the monsters and it’s even stranger. There’s a very interesting mix of symbolism and the supernatural where we’re really not sure where one begins and the other ends. This was a very unique series from Paul Maybury, Sam Lotfi, and Adam Pruett.

| Published by Dark Horse

Mall #3 goes even harder into inter-faction warfare as it seems like all of the groups are at one another’s throats. Great world-building here from Michael Moreci, Gary Dauberman, Zak Hartong, Addison Duke, and Jim Campbell, with some interesting plot developments.

| Published by Vault

Manor Black #4 concludes the series as we see what essentially amounts to order vs. chaos as the old blood takes on wild magic. This doesn’t feel so much as a conclusion as an end to a chapter of a wider arc, leaving much unresolved. Hopefully we see more. The artwork from Tyler Crook is phenomenal.

| Published by Dark Horse

Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #1 is really damn good. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Leonard Kirk, Guru-eFX, and Travis Lanham kick off this series with a new angle on the Marvel Zombies, playing up more on the horror angle, with a truly terrifying spread of the disease through a new vector. Gorgeous artwork from Kirk and Guru-eFX.

| Published by Marvel

Monster Planet #1 is the kind of thing that you used to see regularly published by Image and Top Cow, the military action comic that throws in horror elements, from Joe Brusha, Marcelo Mueller, Maxflan Araujo, and Taylor Esposito. It’s not bad, setting up a world where humanity has been turned into dinosaur-like beasts and the remnants of society need to turn to classical monsters for help.

| Published by Zenescope

The Necromancer’s Map #3 takes a bit of a different approach, giving us a fair amount of action as Tristan’s Will catch up with Bethany and co. as well as some great character building in between the action. Great stuff from Andrea Fort, Michael Christopher Horn, Sam Beck, Ellie Wright, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by Vault

The Plot #2 is wonderful horror storytelling from Tim Daniel, Michael Moreci, Joshua Hixson, Jordan Boyd, and Jim Campbell. Very creepy build of supernatural events once Chase Blaine and his family arrive back at his ancestral home. Hixson and Boyd’s presentation of the black, gooey masses are also disturbing.

| Published by Vault

Queen of Bad Dreams #5 concludes this excellent series from Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and AndWorld Design. Rather interesting confrontation with and revelations about Eleanor Chase here.

| Published by Vault

Red Goblin: Red Death #1 is a one-shot featuring three stories set during Norman Osborn’s tenure as the Red Goblin at the end of Dan Slott’s run on Amazing Spider-Man. It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t instead tie-in with current events in Absolute Carnage, but it’s not bad for what it is. The art of the first two stories from Pete Woods is great.

| Published by Marvel

Relics of Youth #2 is even better than the first issue, delving deeper into the mysterious tattoos that the kids have been branded with and their connection to the island that they’ve landed on within the Bermuda Triangle. Matt Nicholas, Chad Rebmann, Skylar Partridge, Vladimir Popov, and AndWorld Design are telling a very compelling adventure here.

| Published by Vault

Roku #1 begins another mini-series focusing on one of the luminary villains in the Valiant Universe, this one from Cullen Bunn, Ramón F. Bachs, Stéphane Paitreau, and Dave Sharpe. It’s full of action and intrigue as Roku is hired by an unknown client to retrieve...someone. Things get more interesting as a new face stands in her way and we find out the unusual nature of the target.

| Published by Valiant

The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1 is a homecoming of sorts for John Constantine, back to his old haunts alongside some of the other Vertigo corner of the DC Universe. Si Spurrier, Marcio Takara, Cris Peter, and Aditya Bidikar spin a yarn that reconstitutes John after a massive magic war led by an evil Tim Hunter. How exactly the pieces fit are anyone’s guess, but it’s a brilliant darker take resetting him here.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label / The Sandman Universe

Savage Avengers Annual #1, though largely a self-contained story, is still integral to Conan’s adventure through the Marvel universe and the overall narrative as he, Hellstorm, and Black Widow stumble across a human trafficking ring that bears the marks of Kulan Gath. Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and Travis Lanham deliver a compelling story.

| Published by Marvel

SFSX #2 does further world and character building, showing us just how much has changed since the Party took over, and how utterly betrayed many of the people from the Dirty Mind felt of Avory abandoning them. Very interesting stuff from Tina Horn, Michael Dowling, Chris O’Halloran, and Steve Wands.

| Published by Image

Silver Surfer: Black #5 concludes what has been a very trippy series from Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. There are some very interesting revelations of the past here, and it really makes you wonder about the Surfer’s new incarnation.

| Published by Marvel

Star Pig #4 concludes the series, kind of, from Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee. There’s some rather disturbing tentacles in this one.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #5 brings an end to this round of the series. I think it’s a perfect approach for some all ages “ghost stories” within the Star Wars universe. Wonderful resolution for the framing story from Cavan Scott, Francesco Francavilla, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by IDW

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman #1 is the second of these one-shots spotlighting DC events gone horribly wrong, this time giving us a much angrier Lois Lane’s grief at the loss of Superman to Doomsday. Jeff Loveness, Brad Walker, Drew Hennessy, Norm Rapmund, John Kalisz, and Clayton Cowles present her as vengeance against a world that didn’t deserve Superman’s grace, raising some of the questions that you’d often see in The Authority. Only, you know, kind of evil. It’s not bad, but definitely dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #99 is the extra-sized penultimate chapter of “City at War” as all of the pieces begin falling into place for the grand finale. The story here from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee feels truly epic and that something huge may just happen next issue. As it is, there’s still a ton of action here, some interesting developments with the Rat King, more disappointment when it comes to Raph, and something new with the mutagenic bomb.

| Published by IDW

Test #5 is very strange. Christopher Sebela, Jen Hickman, Harry Saxon, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou end this story as Aleph and Laurel find one another and a new way is planted, but there’s still seeds of something going awry.

| Published by Vault

Venom #19 largely plays out the end bits for the Maker and Dylan’s portions of Absolute Carnage, with some very interesting revelations. It seems like even bigger seeds are being lain for future stories here. Great art from Iban Coello and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #16 gives us the fight between Alex and Haley, after a few distractions and discursions. The stakes are pretty high here and there are a few rather tense moments as it plays out. Beautiful art from Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wonder Woman Annual #3 is largely a flashback tale, set five years ago as Wonder Woman and ARGUS attempt to extract an agent sent to infiltrate Gorilla City to see the legitimacy of Grodd’s rule. What Steve Orlando, V. Ken Marion, Sandu Florea, Hi-Fi, and Pat Brosseau do with is establish a new backstory and interpretation for a very old Wonder Woman foe in a fairly interesting way that even ties in to Event Leviathan. It may strain a bit of credibility for the villainous turn, but that will largely depend on the follow-up.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie 1955 #2, A Basketful of Heads #1, Batman and the Outsiders Annual #1, Chrononauts: Futureshock #1-4, Dead Man Logan #12, Fantastic Four: Grand Design #1, Fight Club 3 #10, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13, Ironheart #11, James Bond 007 #12, Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance #2, Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Alliance #4, Jughead’s Time Police #5, Kick-Ass #18, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #44, Rick & Morty #55, The Ride: Burning Desire #5, Runaways #26, Star Trek: Year Five #7, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #3, Star Wars Adventures #27, Superior Spider-Man #2, Tremor Dose, Warlord of Mars Attacks #5

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man: Red Goblin, Amber Blake - Volume 1, Black Science - Volume 9: No Authority But Yourself, Deadpool - Volume 3: Weasel Goes to Hell, Dept H. Omnibus - Volume 3: Decompressed & Lifeboat, Dick Tracy Forever, Hit-Girl - Volume 5, Jimmy’s Bastards - Volume 1: Year One, Lucifer Omnibus - Volume 1, Marvel Action: Spider-Man - Book 2: Spider-Chase, Punk Mambo, Spider-Gwen: Gwen Stacy, Star Trek: The Q Conflict, Symbiote Spider-Man, Thor - Volume 3: Wars End, Tony Stark: Iron Man - Volume 3: War of the Realms, Vamps: The Complete Collection, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men, The Wild Storm - Volume 4

d. emerson eddy feels like stale, day old pepperoni pizza.

#This Week in Comics

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sleepyverstappens · 6 years ago

Text

When the stars align (baby that's when you'll be mine)

Title: When the stars align (baby that's when you'll be mine)

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen

Rating: General Audiences

Word Count; ~4.7k

Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, First Kiss

Summary: His mum brushes a hand through his hair and starts to explain then. About how the mark tells him what his soulmate’s initials are. That somewhere out there, there is someone that’s made just for him.

A/N: I totally forgot to post this on here as well. But yeah just another soulmate!AU that hopefully has some twists from the usual trope.

Read on AO3

Max is eight when his mark appears. He’s in the middle of a karting race when nausea starts building up inside of him. He’s in the lead when the weird feeling starts swirling in his stomach, breaking his concentration. The boy he’s been keeping behind him for most of the race passes by him in a blur as his skin begins to overheat and becomes sticky with sweat. An itch crawls over his whole body and he has no way to scratch it if he wants to keep on the track.

By the end of the race 3 more karts have passed him and he’s fighting back to urge to throw up right there in his helmet. He knows his dad will be angry with him, throwing away a lead for seemingly no reason. He drags himself out of the kart slowly, clutches his helmet tightly in his hands as he slowly walks over to his father.

He ducks his head as soon as he sees his father’s angry face, preparing himself for the barrage of angry words that will surely follow. He swallows back some bile that’s trying to make it’s way up his throat as his father starts in on him. He’s going on and on and Max is apologising quickly “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I just…” And he throws up there and then, barely avoiding his father’s leather boots.

His chest heaves as he’s trying to catch his breath once his stomach has stopped rolling. He mumbles out another apology and looks up to find his dad look at him with a confused frown on his face. His dad’s eyes focussing in on where he’s scratching at the skin of his hand, between his thumb and pointer finger. It itches so bad now and sweat is literally running down his face in droplets.

“Max, how about you stay at your mum’s tonight yeah?”

Max looks up at his dad, confusion written on his own face now. They were supposed to be cleaning up his kart together, working on it the next day as well. But his father is looking at him puzzled, mouth downturned but different from before when he was just angry with him.

Everything feels weird to him then. His father is more caring than usual, his touches softer than usual as he helps him get out of his sticky racing gear. As he brushes his hair from his sweaty forehead. As he runs a thumb over the skin between his fingers slowly.

As they arrive at his mum’s house his skin is already sticky with sweat again even though he’d only just taken a shower at the track. His mum opens the door, confused to see them when he wasn’t supposed to be staying with her tonight.

“Max is sick and wanted his mum,” Jos says simply. And he hadn’t told his dad that he wanted his mum, but actually, yes he really does. As he thinks that he steps forward and hugs his mum tightly, his face buried into her belly. He mostly tunes out his parents then, the soft hand running through his hair soothing the headache that had started throbbing at his temple. He catches a few words here and then.

“I think it’s his mark, he’s been scratching his hand a lot.”

“But he’s so young, it can’t be.”

“Just keep an eye on it yeah. I just, I can’t be dealing with it tonight I’ve got things to do.”

“Fine.”

“Come on Max, let’s get you into bed.”

He sleeps then, somehow.

He wakes up and there’s still some light filtering into his room. He can make out his world map with the flags of all the countries all around it on the wall opposite his bed. He focuses his eyes on one of them, tries to remember which country it belongs to, but the headache that was throbbing in his head has only gotten worse now. The nausea is a familiar heavy feeling in his stomach as he scratches over the clammy skin of his hand once more. It hurts, his skin aching and still so very itchy. He digs his nails in deeper, tries to scratch away skin like you would the silver on a scratch card.

It doesn’t help. His eyes float back to the map, to the flag he was trying to connect to its country. Australia. A flash of pain shoots through his head then, his stomach lurching and he’s scurrying out of his bed quickly.

He makes it to the toilet just in time. There isn’t much left in his stomach after he threw up earlier, but his body tries its hardest to get every last bit of it out.

“Mama, I don’t feel so good,” he chokes out as he shuffles into the living room. The TV is playing some game show, but the way his mum is twisting the straps of her bathrobe around her hands tells him she wasn’t really watching it.

She pulls him close then, holds his right hand in hers and brushes her thumb over the skin between his thumb and pointer finger softly. He sees it then, the ever so light mark starting to appear. He knows about the marks on people’s hands of course. Knows they are important somehow, but he doesn’t know exactly why. And he doesn’t know why it has to hurt so freaking bad for it to appear.

His mum brushes a hand through his hair and starts to explain then. About how the mark tells him what his soulmate’s initials are. That somewhere out there, there is someone that’s made just for him.

“Why does it have to hurt so much though?” He asks, tears pooling in his eyes as his body keeps aching.

“I don’t know sweetie, it’s really bad huh? I don’t remember it being so bad for me, I’m so sorry it is for you darling.”

The aching doesn’t stop until late the next morning, when after a fitful night sleep three dark black letters are now decorating his hand. DJR.

---

Daniel is 12 when he first starts noticing the marks appear on the hands of some his peers. He doesn’t mind too much then that his own hand is still the blank canvas that it has been for twelve years. He knows you get your mark when your soulmate is 16, so surely his soulmate is just closer to his own age.

He’s sixteen and more and more of his peers and close friends have gotten their marks. Dark letters covering the skin between their thumb and pointer finger. Meanwhile his skin is still blank. He still doesn’t worry about it too much, maybe he was just a little older than his soulmate. It doesn’t stop people at school teasing him for it though.

He’s eighteen and the teasing only gets worse, turns into vile remarks. People call him a weirdo, a pedo for having a younger soulmate. He doesn’t get it, people didn’t get made fun of if they got their marks when they were 14, didn’t get called a toyboy or girl. His mum tells him to ignore it, that it’s just high school and people will get over it once he starts college next year. He tries to believe her and make the best out of the rest of the school year, tries to keep his trademark smile on his face even though it gets harder each day.

College doesn’t happen, instead he’s racing in Formula Renault where people don’t seem to care about the blank skin of his hand so long as he drives good races. They don’t care so he doesn’t either, just enjoys the experience of travelling around Europe to all the races.

When he’s in Formula 3 the next year people around him start to notice the blank space on his hand, though. They don’t outright say anything nasty to him, but he still sees the disgusted looks they barely try to hide from him.

It’s his twentieth birthday and he finds himself in a tattoo parlor at midnight after a night of drinking away his sorrows. He’s glaring at the empty space of skin, figuring he’ll take matters into his own hands. He’s picked out the letters already, W.B.B., his drunken brain picking the first letters of the things around him at the time. A glass of whisky, empty bottles of beer and a bar.

The tattoo artist manages to talk him out of it. He tells him he’s far from the first person to stumble into his tattoo shop half drunk wanting fake initials tattooed. He tells him he’s far from the oldest person he’s ever seen come in either. He tells him that there are people that get born with their marks. Meaning their soulmate is at least 16 years older than them, meaning their marks don’t show up until they’re at least 32.

The tattoo artist manages to talk him out of getting the initials tattooed on his hand, instead he leaves the parlor with a rose on his hand, leaving just enough space for when his mark decides to finally show up. A rose because he knows he’ll love his soulmate no matter how long it takes for his mark to appear.

---

It takes a while before his peers start to notice the mark on his hand, they’re too busy learning new stuff and playing the new game they’ve invented that particular week. The teachers and parents are a different story though. He can’t help noticing the looks his parents get when they drop him off and pick him up at school. How the eyes from his teacher had widened almost comically when she noticed the mark on his hand on monday morning.

He’s ten when kids start to pick on him for it, some mouthy kid has found out what the mark means and blabs about it to the whole school. Eyes follow his every move then, making his skin crawl.

He doesn’t cry when no one wants to sit with him at lunch anymore. He doesn’t cry when he gets shoved on the playground, no matter how much his knees hurt after it. No, he doesn’t cry until he’s back home and his mum asks him about his day.

“Why didn’t you tell me I am some abnormal freak?” He asks almost angry, as frustrated tears finally fall from his eyes.

“Of course you aren’t sweetie. Why do you think that?”

“People at school said I was a freak because I had my mark already and you aren’t supposed to get it until you’re 16.”

“Oh darling, you’re not a freak I promise. You get your mark when your soulmate is 16 not you, so you’re soulmate is just a few years older than you. But I promise you, you are not a freak because of that.” He does the math in his head quickly, if his soulmate was 16 when he got his mark than they are 8 years older than him.

“My soulmate is eight years older than me? That’s almost my whole life!”

“I know it seems like a big difference right now, but trust me when you meet them it won’t seem like that,” his mum promises him.

While the talk with his mum does make him stop worrying about being a freak it doesn’t stop the bullying. He’s twelve and he learns that high schoolers can be some of the most vile creatures that exist in life. He can see people’s eyes zoom in on the mark on his hand the first day of high school. Most people only send him slightly disgusted looks and don’t say anything, but it’s high school and people are already trying to gain popularity. Apparently making fun of the kid with a soulmark is the way to gain popularity.

“Hey, hey freak have you found grandma or grandpa yet? Oh no wait, they won’t even know you exist yet.” They snigger as he walks past a group of them in the hallway.

After ending up in detention after lashing out the first time, he learns to ignore them. The other boy hadn’t looked so smug anymore with blood running from his nose though. But it does make him think, about the fact that somewhere out there his soulmate doesn’t even know he exists yet. A thought that makes him feel a bit miserable. Would they be cursing the blank space of skin the same way he would sometimes curse the black letters on his?

By the time he graduates from high school the insults from the bullies just roll of his back as he tells them to at least get more creative with them. He knows he won’t be bothering with college, he barely managed to graduated from high school because he was away for races so much, but his mum still forces him to go to some introduction day. It’s fine, but Formula 3 is definitely a lot more interesting.

He’s 17 when he first meets him as he’s the new Torro Rosso rookie getting introduced to everyone from the big team as well. Daniel.

---

After his twentieth birthday he ends up back at a tattoo parlor on his birthday each year his skin remains blank. He would go back to that same one, but he’s on the road most years so he ends up googling the best tattoo shop in town instead. He doesn’t arrive half drunk and doesn’t ask for initials though. No, each year that spot of skin remains blank he adds a new tattoo to his right hand. A simple tulip appears next to the rose the first year. Then the year after a small flying paper plane gets added to the side of his pointer finger, with a shooting star joining it on the side of his thumb the year after.

And then when he turns 24 he fills the small gap between the tulip and the rose with three flying birds. But the space between his pointer finger and thumb, in between all of the ink, remains blank still.

He’s out celebrating a point score in the Italian Grand Prix with some of the crew. It’s nothing too crazy, but 7th place is still an amazing result for Torro Rosso. He has just downed his second shot in a row when nausea hits his stomach like a wrecking ball. He’s gasping for air as the room around him becomes sort of fuzzy, and really he’s never been such a lightweight. He shakes his head, tries to clear the fuzziness, but the bar stays blurry.

“Shit, what was in those things?” He asks Robert, one of the mechanics that had come along. The guy just shrugs and knocks another one back like it’s Ribena. The bar isn’t too crowded, but the music is on loud enough that the guys are talking loudly around him and a headache is starting to throb at his temple.

His stomach rolls again and sweat is making his loose t-shirt stick to his back and he needs to get out. He’s pushing himself back from the bar and blindly makes his way to the exit, gasping in fresh air as soon as it hits his face. He’s still so hot though, the cool night air not doing anything for his clammy skin. With a groan Daniel presses his face against the brick wall and squeezes his eyes shut. The shots can’t have kicked in that quickly can they? And no one else seemed to think they were strong, happily downing another one or switching to beers.

“Daniel dude!” Someone calls out to him and slowly he turns around, pressing his back against the cool brick instead as he tries to gets his eyes to focus on the guy walking towards him.

“You alright mate?” Jean-Éric asks with a concerned face.

“Don’t think those shots agreed with me, might need to call it an early night,” he manages to breathe out. There’s still concern written all over Jev’s face and he gives him a sympathetic smile.

“Okay, do you need me to call you a taxi?”

“No, it’s fine I can do it myself. Can you tell the others though, I don’t think going back in will help.”

“Yeah sure, take care yeah.”

Daniel gives him a nod and Jev disappears back inside, the music swelling up as the door opens and closes. He’s fiddling with his phone to call a taxi when one turns up just in front of him, a pretty woman in a red dress getting out followed by a guy that’s definitely punching above his weight. He steps up to the taxi before it can leave again and tells him the address of the hotel they’re staying at.

He’s in the back of the taxi and he’s scratching at his clammy skin, his body starting to itch all over for some reason. He’s scratching at his hand and briefly wonders if his new tattoo, the three little birds he got almost 3 months ago, somehow has gotten infected, when he notices that his nails keep raking over the blank space in between the tattoos. The space where his soulmark would be.

He lifts his hand up to his face to get a closer look, but he can’t see anything but red skin from where he’s been scratching. It still itches like hell though and he has to force himself to stop scratching at it, because if he keeps going at it like this it’ll bleed.

He’s stumbling his way out of the taxi as soon as it stops in front of the hotel. The driver must think he’s absolutely wasted, but he can’t help it with how his vision keeps going blurry. The airconditioning in the elevator up is absolute bliss and he doesn’t care how he must look to the people already on it as he presses his face against the cool mirrored wall. His eyes falling shut as he lets out a soft groan, his breath fogging up the mirror. As he blinks his eyes open he can barely make his own face out from where the mirror is fogged up and his vision is still swimming as well. Someone has to tell him they’re on his floor and he sends a polite smile in their general direction as he pushes himself from the wall.

The second he’s in his room he’s peeling his now soaked shirt from his back and dragging his jeans down from where they are clinging to his legs. Once he’s fully naked he sprawls himself out on top of the plush bed, his hand blindly looking for the remote for the aircon. He pushes at the buttons until the aircon is on high, making him almost shiver against the cold, but it’s a welcome reprieve from how his skin was overheating before.

The headache from before is back and he’s resorted to keeping his eyes shut as he kept struggling to focus his eyes. He somehow falls asleep like that, sprawled out naked on top of the sheets.

When he wakes up he’s shivering against the cold. He crawls underneath the sheets and almost misses it, his brain still clogged with sleep, until he’s reaching for the remote control to turn the aircon off. Three black letters have now filled the space that had been left blank on his right hand. MEV.

---

Daniel is just another person he meets in the big Formula 1 world at first. Someone in a big mass of people that shakes his hand. And while the big grin on Daniel’s face does catch his eye their first meeting still blends into the big blur of meeting everyone.

He’s not really thought about his soulmate for a long time, with racing really taking off the last couple of years, so he doesn’t notice the letters on Daniel’s hand when they shake hands. And he doesn’t register the way his mark flares up red underneath Daniel’s thumb as their skin touches.

So for a year and a half Daniel just stays that driver on the big team, the one with the big smile that everyone loves, the one that charms the pants off everyone around him. But he’s still just this guy he only nods at in the paddock and barely sees otherwise. The guy he wants to replace one day.

That is until May 5th 2016, when all of a sudden he’s a Red Bull Racing driver and Daniel is his new teammate.

---

When he just gets his mark it’s all he can think about, the fact that he actually has a soulmate out there somewhere. He’s giddy like his classmates were when they got their marks when he was in high school. He tries to catch the letters on other people’s hands to see if they match his name, tries to leave little touches to see if his mark flares up. But the fact that he had to wait so long for his mark to even appear doesn’t mean he meets his soulmate faster.

Eventually he stops obsessing over it so much, figures he’s already waited so long to even get his mark, he can wait some more. He gets promoted to Red Bull Racing the next year and all his attention is on the car. He wins three races and finishes on the podium 5 more times, resulting in a 3rd place in the championship and he couldn’t be happier.

The next year Jean-Éric, one of his best mates in this crazy F1 world, gets replaced by some young up and coming guy. Max.

Their meeting is nothing special, he gives him one of his usual friendly smiles and then goes on with his day. He doesn’t notice the way his mark turns bright red underneath Max’s thumb as they shake hands.

His season that year is pretty shit, only 2 podiums and no win compared to the 8 podiums and three wins the year before is not what he wanted for his second year at Red Bull. He tries to forget the season quickly, enjoying his summer break then focussing on the next season quickly.

The news breaks not long after the Russian Grand Prix, Daniil will be replaced by Max. He had noticed the Dutchman last season of course, the rookie of the grid finishing with a decent amount of points in his first season, but hadn’t paid him too much attention otherwise. And now all of a sudden they would be teammates.

---

He wins, he wins his first race at Red Bull. He’d gotten a bit lucky with the Mercedes drivers crashing into each other for sure, but still a win is a win! A grin is splitting his face as he jumps onto the highest step and listens to the Dutch national anthem. The champagne sticks to his skin as the Ferrari drivers aim their bottles at him and he’s just so happy.

The press conference afterwards is a blur of questions he tries to answer succinctly and then he’s lead to the press circle for even more questions. He lets out a sigh as he’s finally back in the Red Bull energy station, the hubbub around him forming a pleasant background noise as he finally lets the happenings of the day really sink in.

All of a sudden there’s an arm slung over his shoulder and Daniel is saying, “You were amazing out there.” But all Max can focus on is his right hand. His right hand where three letters are flaring up bright red.

“It’s you.”

“What?” Daniel asks confused.

“It’s you,” Max says again as he shoves his hand in Daniel’s face to show his soulmark. It’s still bright red as Daniel’s arm is still slung over his shoulder. And instead of pulling his arm back to look at his own mark, Daniel just pulls his arm closer to his face from around Max’s shoulder, nearly choking him in the process.

“Wow, yeah,” Daniel says with a stunned expression. And his face is still so close to Max, his body warm against his own through the fireproofs still clinging to his body. His face flushes as a pleasant tingle runs down his spine at their close proximity.

“Can you stop choking me for a second so we can actually talk about what this means,” he manages to get out after Daniel just keeps staring at his own hand.

“Right, sorry,” Daniel says sheepishly.

Max points towards where their driver rooms are, figuring they should take this somewhere a bit more private and with a nod Daniel follows him. He sits down on the makeshift sofa heavily and looks down at his hand again. It’s not red anymore now that Daniel isn’t touching him, but he kinda wishes it was as he’s already missing Daniel’s touch. He shakes his head at himself, 5 minutes ago he barely knew the guy and now he wanted him to keep touching him forever? Was this some side effect of being soulmates?

“Well I guess this means we’re meant for each other or something,” Daniel speaks up from the other side of the room. He’s got one of his legs up against the wall behind him and keeps stroking over his soulmark, not meeting Max’s eye.

“Did you want it to be someone else?” Max asks, all of a sudden feeling unsure of himself.

“No, no of course not. I just… I just never really thought about what it’d be like when I finally met them… you. I’ve only had this for a little over 2 years you know, I’m still getting used to it to be honest.” Daniel says sounding unsure as well, still not meeting his eyes.

“I’ve had nearly ten years and I still haven’t got a clue,” Max chuckles.

“We’ll figure it out, right?” Daniel asks, finally meeting Max’s blue eyes with his own beautiful brown ones. And wait where did that come from? This soulmate business was gonna be interesting for sure.

“Yes. Now can you please come here,” Max says whilst patting the empty space beside him.

Dan shakes his head with a laugh and pushes himself away from the wall. He lets himself fall down next to Max with an excited grin on his face and Max can’t help but match it with a grin of his own.

“Can I kiss you now?” Daniel grins, wiggling his eyebrows around and Max can already see himself shaking his head at this silly soulmate of his, for the rest of his life.

“Yes,” Max breathes out nodding excitedly as Daniel’s excitement seems to be catching.

He feels Daniel shift around next to him, pushing himself closer to Max. And then Dan’s hands are on his cheeks, rubbing soft circles over them as Daniel’s face comes closer and closer. He feels his eyes fall shut before their lips even touch, Daniel’s breath warm against his lips and then finally they meet. It’s soft and slow and not at all like he’d expected, but it’s everything he didn’t know he wanted.

His heart flutters as Daniel’s lips keep moving over his own and he feels a pleasant hum go through his body, like a part of him just clicks in place. He feels like he never wants to stop kissing this man, so keep on kissing him he does. Bolstered by the happiness swirling in his belly he kisses firmer, opens his mouth and runs his tongue over Daniel’s still closed lips. They fall open for him easily and then they’re really kissing, mouths smacking together as their tongues touch.

They kiss and kiss until the need for air overtakes the need to keep kissing. They both gasp in the air they so desperately needed, eyes blinking open slowly. And he’s sure the dazed expression he can see on Daniel’s face is right there on his own as well, a smile spreading out on his face at the thought.

“That was amazing. You’re amazing,” Daniel repeats his earlier words. And it’s way too soon for Dan to be calling him amazing, but he can’t help but think the same of the other man. All of this will surely take some getting used to, their lives changing massively, but they’ll figure it out. He knows they’ll figure it out.

“So are you.”

~~The End~~

#my fic #maxiel #max verstappen/daniel ricciardo #formula 1 fic #formula 1 fanfiction #formula one fanfiction #for anyone that hasn't already read it over on ao3 #since I totally forgot to crosspost this for like a week

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gokinjeespot · 6 years ago

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off the rack #1129

Monday, September 24, 2018

Hello all you off the rackers. How's it going eh? I've been away the last couple of weeks on a trip out west. We landed in Victoria, BC on September 6 and did a road trip visiting Duncan, Comox and Tofino. Had a wonderful reunion with my childhood friend from the Glebe in Comox who I haven't seen in nearly 25 years. Time in Tofino was spent walking the beaches and enjoying all sorts of culinary delights. If you've never been to Vancouver Island you should go just for the drive through the mountains. We could see a glacier from the air B&B in Tofino that we stayed in. Penny and I spent an extra couple of days in Vancouver before returning to Ottawa where we had a lovely dinner with some Comicshop alumni from the 1980s. Thanks to Brent, Colleen, Keith, Louise and Scooter for showing up and catching up.

A tornado touched down in our area on Friday, September 21. The power at the house went out at 7 PM and we didn't get it back until 11 AM on Saturday. No damage in our neighbourhood but others were heavily damaged. Our new fence held up excellently, thanks to Keith Astley. We were very lucky to only be inconvenienced a little. I feel for the folks who lost their houses and businesses. I had to drive around on the weekend and was glad to see most people being patient and courteous at the intersections where the traffic lights were not working. I did see a few anal pores who thought that the rules didn't apply to them and made other drivers hesitate and thus slow the whole process down even more.

This may very well be the last off the rack that I write. Comet Comics is closing down it's current location and moving its subscription service to a used book store up the street. I will be out of a job and will not be able to borrow comic books to read anymore. Thanks to Brent at The Comicshop in Vancouver, I found out that I started to write for the newsletter back in 1986 with an editorial and then writing the Newswatch section. My first off the rack was in 1994 and I have been doing it weekly since then with only a few breaks. I love sharing my thoughts about the comics that I read but it sometimes feels like I'm doing an unpaid job too. Thanks to Ron Van Leeuwen at The Silver Snail and Heather MacDonald at Comet Comics for allowing me to enjoy my comic book hobby gratis. I wish you all the best. Thanks to the folks that read my musings and the comments you've shared with me. You guys take care, okay?

Cover #1 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Mack (art) Zu Orzu (colours) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). Things start off at a comic con where we meet Max Field, comic book artist. It looked to me that this was going to be about comic book covers like the reprints in the back of the book of the ones David Mack has done, but then we meet a super fan of Max's with very deep pockets. Her name is Julia. The story gets a lot more interesting when Julia shows up at a con in London, England and tells Max what her job is. David Mack's art is very distinctive but I didn't guess that this was drawn by him until I got to some painted panels later. This is an intriguing new book and I would put it on my "must read" list.

The Immortal Hulk #6/LGY #723 - Al Ewing (writer) Lee Garbett (art) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I am very impressed with the writing. It's sophisticated and thought provoking. The new military organisation set up to handle the Hulk is creepy and eerie. This issue sets up a big fight between the Hulk and the Avengers so it looks like next issue will be a smashing good time.

The Dreaming #1 - Simon Spurrier (writer) Bilquis Evely (art) Mat Lopes (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). The Sandman is AWOL, the Dreaming is crumbling and its denizens don't know what to do. Lucien the librarian is in charge but he seems overwhelmed by the chaos around him. Meanwhile, new character Dora is hopping about between dreams and we get a glimpse of her true self. There is so much that is intriguing about this new Vertigo series based on Neil Gaiman's creations that I think Sandman fans will be pleased.

Return of Wolverine #1 - Charles Soule (writer) Steve McNiven (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks) Laura Martin (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I consider myself to be a pretty good artist spotter. I can flip open a comic book and tell you who drew it but this time I was fooled and thought that Barry Windsor-Smith did the art for this issue. I still enjoyed the visual feast featuring Logan's return to the racks. Some fans might not be satisfied with no real explanation of how Logan came back to life and starts fighting the bad guys but I just accepted that he's here and has a mission to save the world. His foes are formidable and he starts off wearing the old familiar yellow and blue costume but changes by the last page to a more contemporary one. As much as I liked this getting a running start I do hope they tell us how Wolverine gets resurrected down the line.

The Immortal Hulk #5/LGY #722 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose (inks) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I had a feeling I was missing something when I was reading #6 yesterday. This book is hitting the racks every two weeks and I didn't get a chance to read this issue before leaving on my trip to Vancouver Island two weeks ago. I'm glad I did because it explains the mysterious reflection that Bruce sees in the mirror in #6. I thought it was Major Talbot or the Leader with a normal sized head but it's not. Here we have the Hulk fighting Sasquatch and saving Walter Langkowski from himself. This issue also emphasises the fact that this new Hulk isn't just a mindless monster. I really like that this Hulk can have a regular conversation.

Adventures of the Super Sons #2 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Carlo Barberi (pencils) Art Thibert (inks) Protobunker (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). How are a green Kryptonite weakened Superboy and a bound Robin going to defeat the Gang of young super villains? They get help, that's how. The last page made me smile because it uses a classic twist from the days of "The Death of Superman". This is a fun book.

Avengers #7/LGY #697 - Jason Aaron (writer) Sara Pichelli (pencils) Sara Pichelli & Elisabetta D'Amico (inks) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's the origin story of the very first Ghost Rider plus a super villain that Wolverine fans will recognise. This issue is a nice segue to…

Avengers #8/LGY #698 - Jason Aaron (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The current Ghost Rider, Roberto Reyes, arrives at the new Avengers headquarters and is officially made a member. The new HQ at the North Pole is very cool and pure comic book plausible. After a quick tour the team gets a global alert that Roxxon is up to no good and the battle cry is uttered. It's off to the southern seas and a confrontation with an old ally. Imperius Rex!

Batman #54 - Tom King (writer) Matt Wagner (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Dick Grayson sticks around after Batman and Catwoman's break up to help Bruce get through it. It's a good excuse to remind us of their partnership. I loved how Dick's humour contrasted with Bruce's dour demeanour. Matt's art was a bonus for me.

Batman #55 - Tom King (writer) Tony S. Daniel (pencils) Tony S. Daniel & Danny Miki (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). The Dynamic Duo continues to keep Gotham City safe while a one-armed stranger arrives to go about an unknown mission. That mission is revealed in the shocking last page. This incident may just top the Killing Joke.

Pearl #2 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Michael Gaydos (art & colours) Josh Reed (letters). When the first caption of the first page reads "years ago" you know it's origin story time. This story about a Yakuza tattoo artist/assassin is very different from Brian Michael Bendis's super hero stuff for DC. His work on Superman doesn't engage me like this book, Cover, and Scarlet do. I think it's because he's got to write the Man of Steel to appeal to younger readers too. Maybe I've outgrown Superman.

West Coast Avengers #2/LGY #104 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Stefano Caselli (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is a little more sophisticated than the Adventures of the Super Sons but it's still a lot of fun. I especially like Stefano Caselli's facial expressions. The B.R.O.D.O.K. AKA Bio-Robotic Organism Designed Overwhelmingly for Kissing is an upgrade from the super villain M.O.D.O.K. AKA Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, but he's still not nice.

Thor #5/LGY #711 - Jason Aaron (writer) Christian Ward (art & colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). We take a break from the present and travel to the far flung future to see if Old Thor can save the universe from dying. He meets an old friend who turns out to be not so friendly. The amalgam of Wolverine and the Phoenix Force is cool but wait until you see the huge mash up on the last page as the villain is revealed. This guy makes Thanos look like Forbush Man.

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imaginesblvd · 7 years ago

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Title: Here we go - part 3

Here is part 3. Sorry it took so long, but I've been experiencing writers block every now and again. I don't now about this one but at the same time I kinda like it but it seemed a bit much or rushed. Though I hope everyone enjoys. apologies for mistakes.

(Gif found on google, credit to whomever made it)

You paced Eric's apartment as you wrung your finger together. You heart was pounding hard in your chest as you thought back to the anger you saw Eric's face and it sent a shiver through your body. If looks could kill there would be two lifeless bodies on the floor of the hallway. Though, the glare was aimed at Daniel and the way his shoulders had sunk it brought a half smile to your face. You knew you wouldn't be dealing with him anymore. You noticed the dryness in your throat and went towards the kitchen and grabbed a glass. You filled it to the brim as you chug it down, you were about to fill it again when you noticed the two glasses in the sink. You placed your glass down and picked up the two and noticed the amber liquid in it, and then the faint trace of lipstick. You felt anger fill you, at the thought of the dauntless born being in the same from as Eric, and you wanted to throw the glass against a wall when you heard the door open.

You put the glasses down and turned. Eric's fist were clenched tightly that you could see the strain it had on his knuckles. You licked you bottom lip before biting it, you didn't want to address it. You didn't want to be shut out when you were only getting in. You pushed aside the anger and walked out of the kitchen and towards the couch that separated the two of you. His gaze was on you, and you couldn't take the anger off your face as you glanced up at him before looking down with a shake of your head. You wouldn't bring it up, you couldn't. You looked back up at him and he was closer than before and you backed up away from the chair adding distance.

“Do you know if Lindsey made it back to her bed?” The bite in your tone made Eric raise a brow and you rolled your eyes “Do you?” You added with less anger “No but Daniel is not going to be a problem anymore” he told you and you nodded your head “I should go check on her, and I'll come back here?” You asked wondering if he'd still need you “Why do you worry so much about her?” Eric snapped and you scoffed “That's what happens when you befriend someone, you care about them as they care about you, Though I'm sure you have no experience in this” You hissed as you made your way towards the door “I'm not coming back here, In fact find someone else to be in need of” You snapped before walking out the door and ran.

Eric went after you once the door closed but when he looked out the door left and right you were already gone. It fueled a new rage inside him, and all he could think about was dragging you back here. He figured he would do just that, and he started making his way. When he walked the halls he heard a drunken laugh, and a loud shushing noise. He made his way over to see you helping Lindsey into the room where the transfers slept. He leant against the wall, waiting for you to put Lindsey down before he stormed in side and picked you where you stood.

“You looked bummed out” Lindsey's slurred voice made him perk up a bit “Is it nerves? Jeanine asked you to meet her” Eric clenched his jaw as he moved a little closer to the door “It's not that” Your voice was hard and he rolled his eyes “Eric? It's him isn't?” Eric peeked over the corner of the entry way “No, he has nothing to do with the way I'm feeling” Eric licked his lips as he saw you bent over taking Lindsey's boots off “Really? Ever since that meeting with him-” Eric cocked his head to the side as you were glancing up at Lindsey “If you like him so much, go sleep with him” Eric heard the small mutter of something leave your lips and wondered if he should move closer to hear better but when you turned around he pulled back.

You had felt eyes on you and you didn't think it was from any of the sleeping people in the room. You finished up with Lindsey and walked towards the entry way. You jumped slightly as you saw Eric out of the corner of you eye. You hand pressed to your chest as you glared at him.

You wanted to slap the smirk off his face but thought better of it. You waited for him to say something, but he just stood there looking you up and down. You shifted on your heels as you crossed your arms over you chest. You licked your lips before opening your mouth then closing it. You didn't want to address the girl but it was eating at you and you wanted to know what had happened but you didn't want to at the same time. You two weren't anything but buddies that liked to fuck. It shouldn't bother you, well, you shouldn't let it bother you. You knew you wanted him to be yours and only yours, like how you were his and only his. You couldn't believe him and his actions but the look of lust on his face made you wonder if anything really happened?

“Goodnight” You whispered before turning on your heel and Eric grabbed your wrist and pulled you back “You think you're just getting off like that?” The look in his eye sent a shiver throughout your body. Eric's hand came up to hold your face and you pushed his hand away “Eric, don't be an ass” You whispered as he pulled you close “You're just making it worse for you” He smirked and you rolled your eyes as his lips smashed onto yours so hard your teeth clanged together.

. . .

Eric was right about how half the people leaving back to their old factions. You were standing in front of Lindsey saying goodbye. You didn't want her to leave, she was the only friend that you made. Your bottom lip quivered as she sadly smiled. She wrapped her arms around you as you did the same with her. She whispered in you ear about visiting her and keeping her updated on Eric. You knew she had figured it out. You didn't think anyone would but she had a knack for finding things out. You wished you would have told her but she knew you weren't much to share things regardless of your friendship.

Jeanine had found you after and congratulated you on making Dauntless, but it was interrupted by Eric. You noticed the intense eye contact that they kept for a second before she smiled at you and walked away. You glared up at Eric before walking away from him. You were showed to your new apartment and it was right next to Eric's. You frowned a little at that, you wouldn't be getting much sleep thanks to this.

Your roommate was a girl, who's name was Maria. She was smart and brave, she was going to the wall and you were happy to have the apartment for yourself but would miss the company of someone else other than Eric.

You were helping Maria pack a few things when the door to your apartment was thrown open. You both jumped as you both ran to see what was going on. Eric stood in your apartment checking things out when he turned to face the both of you. Maria raised a brow in confusion as she turned back around and went to her room.

“What the hell?” You hissed as you walked towards him “I thought she was gone” Eric rolled his eyes “She's still here, and you have to go” You pushed him towards the door “What is she going to do?” He asked as he scratched his tattooed neck “I don't know, but can you just go and come back later?” You pleaded “Fine, but once she's gone no surface is safe” He smiled as he walked out and you rolled your eyes.

“Should we change the code?” Maria came around the corner with her bags “No, well, if you don't want him barging in whenever he seems fit, go for it” Maria smiled widely “He'd be so mad” She went towards the panel and went to work on it “So, I was think we could go for a jog before I leave” You nodded your head and went to get ready.

During the jog you passed the factionless and you caught sight of a familiar looking boy. You stopped when you realized it was Daniel, you saw the glare in his eyes when he turned. Your eyes widened at the sight of his black eye. You looked away and caught up to Maria.

You looked back and thought you saw Lindsey but you knew she was back home, wasn't she? You had to find out but you also knew you had a meeting with Max about something when you got back so it would have to wait. Though not for long. You would check on her before the end of the week. You had to, you missed her and you wanted to see her.

With Maria gone and your meeting with Max over you now lay in your bed. You were to be working under Max along with three others. You were excited, but at the same time the girl that you saw on your jog kept coming to mind. You knew Lindsey like the back of your hand, you knew everything about her and how she looked. You felt sick to your stomach at the thought of her being factionless, but they were able to go back to their old faction, right? You added that to your list of things to do. You would visit Lindsey first and go from there, no way they'd just ditch them. You would take her under you wing and hid her if they ever asked you about it. Though you knew they wouldn't, it wasn't like they kept tabs on you. You vowed to look into all of this but as Eric walked back into the room every thought vanished.

“What's with your look on your face?” Eric got back into the bed and you raised a brow “What look?” You asked as he sighed “It's your face, you should know the faces you make” He told you as he fixed his pillow “I'm not making a face, maybe you're just seeing things” You suggested and he shook his head “Kitchen counter?” He asked and you scrunched up your nose “We'll be making food there, I don't want my ass there” You fixed the sheet over your body.

“Like I said no surface is safe” Eric grabbed at you as he pulled you atop him “Eric! Some surface need to be kept safe, and the kitchen counter is one of them” Eric grunted as you slapped his chest “I mean it” You added “Marias bed?” He raised a brow and you laughed shaking your head “That is a big no, a hell no” You told him

. .

The next day you woke in a mess of blankets in the kitchen. You found Eric still sleeping next to you, and you smiled at his angered face. You stood up and quickly went to get dressed. You planned to check up in Lindsey today, and nothing was going to stop you. Lindsey was on your mind after everything. You just wanted to know how she was and if she was okay. You didn't want to think of her being factionless. You wanted to solve everything right now but you knew it would have to take time. The ding on your tablet by your bed, made you look over at it. Max had called a meeting and you knew that this was going to eat up most of your times. So much, for checking on Lindsey early.

You heard a loud yawn come from the kitchen and you smiled. You pulled your pants up and walked into the kitchen. Eric was looking around and when his eyes landed on you, you saw his lip twitch but his face went back to his cold manner. You rolled your eyes and went back towards your room and grabbed a jacket. You pulled it on as you went towards the door.

“Max called a meeting, I'll see you later” You called over your shoulder before walking out. You raced towards the board room and found Max standing with Four. You smiled at Four as he gave you a nod of his head “Four has an offer for you” You raised a brow and looked over at him “I'd like to speak alone with you” Four ushered you into the board room and you looked back at Max and he nodded his head.

Four looked like he was going to blow, as he checked you over. He started patting you down and you pushed him back and away from you, your confusion clear on your face as he rolled his eyes. He pressed his finger to his lips and you nodded your head as he started patting you down again. He even had you shake your hair out

“What did Jeanine want from you?” Four finally asked and you rolled your eyes “What the hell was all that?” You asked and he took hold of your shoulders “What did Jeanine want from you?” His voice more urgent and hard “I don't know, she told me to go see her sometime this week” You explained and he nodded his head “Look, things are changing here, and right now you're the only one i trust” You shook your head eye wide “We barely spoke to each other, I have done nothing to gain your trust” You snapped and he nodded his head “I know, but I've seen the way you were with Lindsey, and I know I can trust you. Now go check on her and tell me what you think about helping me after” and with that Four left

“What'd he want?” Max asked and you shook your head “Asked me to do some security work for him, and I told him he could do it himself” Max nodded his head as he sent you on your way.

Your mind was racing as you went back towards your the doors of the compound. Your fear for Lindsey eating at you as you got outside. You were worried and your heart was beating in your chest as you made your way towards her old faction but you didn't make it far when you heard a familiar laugh come from your right. You stopped short as you saw Lindsey. Her clothing dirty and her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, and your heart dropped

“Lindsey?” You whispered and she turned and the sadness that filled you made your lip quiver. Lindsey was factionless.

Tag list

@jaihardy

@kenzieam

@letssweetvivialwaysloved

@maan2442

@beltz2016

@fuckthatfeeling

#eric divergent imagine #eric x reader #eric divergent x reader #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader

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buoyantsaturn · 7 years ago

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tagged by: @motivatedcryptidtamer

the last:

1. drink: water

2. phone call: idk my mom probably

3. text message: ((a very long text explaining that my grandpa is dying))

4. song you listened to: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde

5. time you cried: last night at like 1am

have you ever: 6. dated someone twice: No 7. kissed someone and regretted it: No 8. been cheated on: No 9. lost someone special: yes 10. been depressed: 24/7 11. gotten drunk & thrown up: no

Favorite colors:

12. turquoise

13. teal

14. royal purple

in the last year have you: 15. made new friends: yes 16. fallen out of love: No 17. laughed until you cried: also last night about 1am but for a different reason 18. found out someone was talking about you: lol dont even get me started 19. met someone who changed you: i mean probably 20. found out who your friends are: i guess???

21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: no

general: 22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: literally all of them 23. do you have any pets: a cat named jack who is my sister’s and a dog named douglas oliver gouldman who lives with my friend now

24. do you want to change your name: nah like i’ll just settle for nicknames

25. what did you do for your last birthday: went shopping with my aunt for a prom dress ((she coupons and we got a $180 dress for $40 fricken wild right))

26. what time did you wake up: 10:30am with my alarm 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: talking to my mom and my sister

28. name something you can’t wait for: being settled into college 31. what are you listening to right now: that 70′s show on in the background

32. have you ever talked to a person named Tom: eugh my aunt’s boyfriend, also i have a cousin named tommy

33. something that is getting on your nerves: my best friend acting like she hates me sometimes but the next day pretending that nothings wrong

34. most visited website: does google drive count as a website 35. hair color: naturally brown, rn its blonde with like 0.01% pink tint

36. long or short hair: short like shoulder-length max 39. piercings: ears, but i’m allergic to like,,,, every metal ever made,,,, 40. blood type: O+ 41. nicknames: catie, c.j., cate, julie, comrade joseph stalin, p.j., ceej, celeste, cecil jones

42. relationship status: Single

43. zodiac: aries 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favorite tv show: currently mtv’s catfish 46. tattoos: none maybe one soonish 47. right or left handed: right 48. surgery: no 49. piercing: didnt we already do this 50. sport: i played soccer for 6 years, baseball for 2 i think and softball for 2 or 3 and i hated all of them

51. vacation: a whole lot of them, i think my dad wants us to go North™ for the weekend 52. pair of trainers: ive got some like blue/grey vans and for graduation i got some teal converse but bro i have so many pairs of shoes dont limit this to tennis shoes

more general

53. eating: i had a clif bar this morning 54. fav drink: apple juice

55. what you’re up to: im,,,,, filling this out,,,,,,, 57. want: i whole lot of things,,,, idk,,,, 58. get married: eh 59. career: idk something comedy/theatre/acting related which is better:

60. hugs or kisses: hugs 61. lips or eyes: ??? 62. shorter or taller: taller

63. older or younger: ???? 64. nice arms or nice stomach: ???

65. hook up or relationship: relationship

66. troublemaker or hesitant: ???? guys im ace

have you ever: 67. kissed a stranger: No 68. drank hard liquor: no 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: hard to lose them when u dont wear them 70. turned someone down: yes bc they thought it was a joke

71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: no 73. had your heart broken: no 74. been arrested: no 75. cried when someone died: Yes 76. fallen for a friend: no

do you believe in 77. yourself: whos to say 78. miracles: sure 79. love at first sight: idk

80. santa claus: nah 81. kiss on the first date: eh 82. angels: sure

other

83. current best friend’s name: danielle

84. eye colour: blue

85. favorite movie: oh boy how should i know

#mine #the only person i wouldve tagged tagged me

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technewss15-blog · 7 years ago

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Funny To A Point – Heeding The Call In Destiny 2

After years of listening to gamers gripe about how the original Destiny ruined their lives in every conceivable way (even as they logged in hundreds of hours), Destiny 2 is finally here. Does the shiny new sequel provide Bungie with the redemption it doesn’t really need and has never asked for? Seeing as how all the early criticism has focused on the way shaders are used to paint your guardian pretty colors, it seems like the answer is yes. But we all know that the real verdict won’t be rendered until the professional critics weigh in – and we all know that the only professional critic that really matters is ME. Well, fear not, dear readers: Like my hideous Smurfette of a guardian, I am up to the task and ready to save the day!

Full disclosure: I never actually managed to finish the original Destiny. I played for about a week or so when the game first came out, but lost interest when that weird emo prince showed up in the incomprehensible-yet-paradoxically-simple story. My experience with Destiny since then has been downloading every new expansion and then feeling progressively more guilty for not actually playing them.

So what imbues me with the expertise needed to weigh in on Destiny 2, you ask? Well, for starters I was one of the first critics to identify and outline some of the major problems of the first Destiny – I was so early, in fact, that I received a massive amount of hate from the same super fans who would become Destiny’s super haters once they realized I knew what the hell I was talking about. I also cracked Destiny’s biggest secret, which has still eluded everyone else, so I think that makes me the King of Destiny? I dunno. Anywho, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Note: You can click on any of the pictures for a better look at whatever misadventures are being documented.

Destiny 2’s opening cinematic lays out the series’ plot like it’s reading a picture book to a child, and it’s a decision that I wholly appreciate. At this point, all I really remember about the first game is that a giant ping-pong ball gave my zombie soldier some sweet superpowers, which I used to kill a bunch of angry aliens as I searched for shiny balls engrams to score more loot. The intro doesn’t contain any huge revelations (“a mysterious good force is fighting a mysterious evil force!”), but I no longer felt the need to look up a plot synopsis on a Destiny fan wiki after watching it, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Actually, Destiny 2’s intro did contain one particularly rude revelation: Because I didn’t max out my Destiny 1 guardian (I’m going to go ahead and blame Prince Creep for that), I can’t import her into the sequel. So as far as I can tell, from a lore perspective my original guardian gets blasted to smithereens during the cabal attack that kicks off Destiny 2. Not being able to carry over my character isn’t a huge loss, but it does undermine the fantasy a bit:

The Speaker: “You are the chosen Guardian, who will rise from the dead and save humanity from the galaxy’s greatest thr–“

*BLAMMO!!!* [Guardian’s head explodes into a fine mist.]

The Speaker: [Shuffling over to the next corpse] “Ahem…You are the chosen guardian…”

Anyway, with my old guardian now super-forever dead, I resign myself to creating a new character from scratch. I go with the Hunter class, because like me they are crafty and roguish and it’s my fantasy world so I’ll believe whatever I want! I also opt for a female Awoken, because humans are boring and robots are probably going to kill us all one day and I don’t need to be reminded of it every time I pull the trigger. At this point I realize I’ve remade all the same class choices I did in the first game, so I decide to just remake my character entirely. Think you’re getting rid of my guardian that easy? Think again!

Creating a character in a game usually turns into an all-night affair for me, as I obsessively shift every slider back and forth to its extremes before settling on the default position. Not so in Destiny 2! You get to create the exact hero of your dreams – by choosing from 7 stock faces and a handful of the ugliest hairstyles imaginable, because apparently the barbers were the first ones to be killed off in the apocalypse. Normally my wife weighs in on every minute detail during the character creation process, but the only feedback she offers me about Destiny 2’s limited options is that one hairstyle in particular makes my character “look like a heathen.” I’m not even sure what that means.

This just looks like Conan The Barbarian’s haircut to me, though come to think of it he probably was a heathen, so I guess she was right after all.

I opt for a crazy space mohawk instead, then move on to the face tattoos, which are always being as pointless and ill-advised in character creators as they are in real-life. Even so, Destiny 2 sets a new low bar for the extraneous category. Once again, I imagine an intern – possibly the same one who made Andromeda��s preset faces for BioWare – whipped them up in a matter of minutes.

Intern: “Hey, here are some face dots.”

Bungie Employee: “…You mean freckles?”

Intern: “Nah man, just face dots.”

Bungie Employee: “Alrighty then. Next!”

Somehow my guardian ends up looking vaguely like Margaery Tyrell, if she was thrown into the Mad Max universe and also purple for some reason. As totally rad as that sounds, I immediately regret every decision I made as soon as she pops up in the first actual cutscene – the gaming equivalent of getting dressed in the dark and then realizing you’re wearing your wife’s shirt as soon as you step out into the sunlight.* My wife also didn’t seem impressed, simply stating, “she looks quite striking,” which I assume is a polite euphemism for fugly. But whatever – at least it’s time to finally start playing!

Destiny 2 wastes no time getting into the action; after a brief cutscene starring the three characters from the first game that actually had faces, players are thrust into battle against a new faction of turtle-looking enemies called the Cabal. The Cabal are hellbent on destroying The Last City, which would normally be the name of a piece of armor or some robot butler in a Bungie game, but in this case it’s an actual city. Come to think of it, the Cabal is also a perfectly adequate name for an enemy faction…has Bungie lost its edge?!

What the heck are the space moles from Mass Effect doing in Destiny? And why are they so mean?!

The gameplay opens with your guardian returning to The Last City after some kind of patrol (or a sandwich run for we all know), and landing on the outskirts of the siege. I spend a few minutes of getting reacquainted with the controls, which includes immediately throwing a grenade at my feet and blasting away half my health. From there it’s on to the first battle, though things don’t go quite how I expect.

Even after all these years, I still remember my first open-ended skirmish in Halo; how dynamic the battle felt, and how the A.I. enemies seemed to be thinking and reacting for themselves. In contrast, much of the opening level in Destiny 2 feels more like Disney’s It’s A Small World ride than an FPS, as you’re guided from one small murder diorama to the next. Even for a self-grenading chump like myself, the initial enemies you face are about as threatening as the paper silhouettes at a shooting range, taking a step or two and then waiting politely for you to shoot their heads into some kind of ghost vapor. On the positive side, the controls feel as silky smooth as ever, and the first two guns I picked up were called Origin Story and The Last Dance, so at least Bungie’s still got it!

After a few more underwhelming encounters, the game’s seamless co-op kicks in – another guardian is just over the ridge and is in need of reviving! I’m not sure how he managed to die during this dog and pony show, but by the time I get over to him, a third player has him back up on his feet. It’s the thought that counts though, right?

Our improvised trio rallies around the bald dude who despite being a blue alien is always going to be Captain Daniels to me and anyone else who has seen The Wire (to my wife he’s the captain from Fringe, which is basically the same role only with parallel universes thrown into the mix). Daniels tells me that I should stay behind his shield, but I get annihilated by an incoming missile before it’s even deployed. So that’s how my co-op buddy died…

The Night King shows up in Destiny 2, but apparently he’s a good guy now.

One of my anonymous pals revives me and we hunker down and fight off a few waves of enemies together. It’s a cool, ships-passing-in-the-night kind of moment that reminds me of Journey, albeit with more guns and grenades and slaughtering aliens as they mindlessly funnel into my murder canal.** Once the assault ends, I turn to wave to my teammates, only to see that they have disappeared without so much as a goodbye –apparently manners were also a casualty of the apocalypse.

I move onto the next area and run into another NPC who I should probably know from the first game, but she promptly tells me that she’s going to “kick the Cabal where it hurts,” and then jumps onto the nose of a spaceship and disappears. I assume she’s talking about their space nards, though that’s an assumption in and of itself – how does she know the Cabal are males? Way to assume their gender, only human lady left on whatever planet this is. Seriously, is this Earth? Whatever. On to the next fight!

The next encounter actually gives me a run for my money, thanks to one enemy in particular: Pashk, The Searing Will. I know that’s his name because I actually took extra damage just to grab a screen of it.

No wonder he’s fighting so hard – people have probably made fun of his name for his whole life!

Unfortunately for him, Pashk is no match for Ode To An Unbroken Heart, which is the name I just gave my melee knife because two can play that game, Bungie!

With Pashk’s searing will extinguished, I head onto the next area, only to trigger a cutscene that introduces Destiny 2’s villain: a massive Cabal warrior named Ghaul. Well, mostly massive – his tiny bald head makes him look like a dude in a mascot suit who took his head off for a breather. Also, what is with villains wearing masks that distort their voices? Have we learned nothing from Bane?

I’m sorry, a world without what? Work on your enunciation, Ghaul! Also, why yo head so tiny?

Regardless, Ghaul gives a little speech about how puny guardians are, then drives the point home by planting his foot in my face and kicking me off of the magic tower we were trying to defend. As if that’s not bad enough, he also puts some kind of massive chastity belt on the ping-pong ball Traveler, which sucks away all the guardians’ superpowers. Talk about rude!

Despite just being a regular alien lady again, my guardian somehow survives the stories-high fall off the magic tower – though I guess that’s probably because it wouldn’t be much of a game otherwise (“And so the final guardian perished, and the might Cabal took over the galaxy. Thanks for playing!”). I limp out of the burning city with only a pistol, shooting some strange spikey dog creatures that also barf up their souls when they die (seriously, what kind of bullets are you shooting in this game?). Eventually a woman with a hawk shows up and invites me back to her village, which serves as the game’s first social hub. By that point in the evening my narcolepsy starts kicking in, and I repeatedly fall asleep while kicking around a giant soccer ball, only to wake up a few minutes later to sight of my character being nuked for wandering out of bounds – always a good time to call it quits.

You thought I was joking about falling asleep, didn’t you? Think again!

While Destiny 2’s opening doesn’t leave the strongest impression (even by tutorial-level standards), it contains at least a few sparks of Bungie’s patented dynamic combat, and does a much better job setting up a story and villain than the first game. And while I wasn’t particularly blown away by anything in my first night (well, except for the out-of-bounds limit), my subsequent play sessions have been more emblematic of what Destiny 2 strives for: tense and challenging fire fights against formidable enemies; an addictive loot loop that has me switching up my arsenal at a satisfying pace; and fun public events that you can jump into during the final few seconds and still nab the rewards. There’s also the PvP that I’m sure I’ll get obliterated in, and co-op strikes and raids if I can ever get Jeff Cork to put down Path of Exile and play with me (oh how the tables have turned).

Oftentimes in my column I tend to either gush endless praise for a game or take a big dump on it, but so far Destiny 2 hasn’t elicited anything quite so extreme from me. I’m enjoying the combat and the sense of progression, despite the fact that my character feels more like a mute marionette puppet than a super hero (seriously, a silent protagonist? In 2017?). And while I’m enjoying the game more and more every night, I don’t know that I’ll be one of those crazy people who plays it obsessively for years on end.

Anyway, I continued writing down more impressions and anecdotes in the subsequent play sessions, but rather than weaving them all into a(n even) long(er) and (more) boring narrative, I’ll just throw them in with some pictures and videos, and use the extra time to play more of the game. If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is!

Few games take the term “monster closet” more literally than Destiny 2. It’s seriously just a door with mysterious black smoke!

The European Dead Zone is like a taxi zone at the airport – ships are constantly coming in and dropping aliens off on the same street. You’d think they’d have a better invasion plan.

All joking aside, Bungie serves up some awesome sci-fi environments every now and then.

The hawk lady seems pretty cool. Even if she fell for the face dots.

Titan looks like an awesome neon-blue planet when you view it on the map, but it turns out it’s just Mother Base. Also, what’s with all these potato-chip bags?!

Sometimes Destiny 2’s combat suffers from the level design, with enemies funneling into murder canals because it’s the only path through the environment. Then again, sometimes it’s also fun to rack up a billion headshots in a row.

I ran across these two little frog aliens, which I’m assuming are Destiny’s equivalent of Statler and Waldorf. I’m hoping they play a big role in the story later on.

Not to get too deep into spoiler territory, but Cayde’s torrid love affair with this chicken is as emotionally touching as it is sexually graphic.

There are a lot of big balls in Destiny 2. Just saying.

Seriously, they’re all over the place.

Bungie says the EDZ is the biggest zone they’ve ever created, but I don’t know how that’s possible when every rig on Titan contains an endless sprawl of identical rooms and corridors. One time when I was hopelessly looking for an exit, I ran into a big knight-looking dude and received a Lost Sector banner when I defeated him. In my case the “Lost” was quite literal. Also, does anyone else find it weird that Titan is a class in Destiny 2 and also a planet? Too many Titans, Bungie!

I don’t even want to know what that is.

Breaking news: The totally useless spaceships return in Destiny 2! They’re not fooling anyone, but they do make for a pretty snazzy-looking loading screen.

Everyone spawns into the same location on The Farm, making you look like some horrific, multi-headed mutant. The extra arms would probably come in handy during battle, though.

I was super excited when I got sword from a treasure chest. A sword! Then I found out it’s some kind of weird magic sword that needs ammo. How the hell is that better than a rocket launcher?!

And finally, it’s not a sci-fi game if you don’t have floating rocks – and also point out said floating rocks to the player via NPC dialogue. In this case, ghost speculates that they’re caused by some kind of Hive magic. How’s that for science fiction!***

Need a few more laughs? Click on the banner below to check out Funny To A Point’s fancy-pants hub!

Funny To A Point – Heeding The Call In Destiny 2 was originally published on Tech News Center The Digital Generation

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corneliussteinbeck · 8 years ago

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GGS Spotlight: Kourtney Thomas

Name: Kourtney Thomas Age: 32 Location: St. Louis, MO

What does being a Girl Gone Strong mean to you? It means embracing strength in all aspects of life — even when that’s not the path of least resistance, which honestly, it rarely is.

To me, being a Girl Gone Strong is about finding who you are and then fully staying true to that, even through the tough times.Through physical strength, I’ve learned more about myself than I ever thought possible, and that has allowed me to find and stand in my power while creating a big, beautiful life for myself.

Being a Girl Gone Strong means I can be unafraid to be fully myself in this world.

How long have you been strength training, and how did you get started? I’ve been strength training about seven or so years now. I spent much of my life avoiding activity of any kind, to the point of skipping gym class in school. But shortly after moving in with my now-husband, he inspired me on my movement journey. I, believe it or not, got started with P90X! That was my first real taste of strength training beyond cardio dance DVDs or aerobics with three-pound weights. Completing that three-month program sparked my interest in other activities, and that’s how I got started running.

I was a dedicated endurance runner for about four or five years, with minimal strength training. I kept my strength basis with some yoga and weight circuits, but nothing heavy, and usually not more than 1 or two days per week. After four marathons in two years, I burned out and turned to heavier strength training.

I had found GGS and Jen Sinkler, so I started with Lift Weights Faster. I also dabbled in Get Stronger Faster, the accompanying strength program. That proved to be a bit serious for my tastes and abilities at the time, so I picked up Modern Woman’s Guide to Strength Training and completed the Level 4 program. It was perfect for me, and that sparked my interest.

I then completed the Advanced program of Strong Curves and started seeing huge results, both in my strength, and in my physique. I was totally hooked! After those 16 weeks, I hired a personal coach.

With a goal of packing on more muscle, I started down the path of specific hypertrophy training and bodybuilding style splits. I was so apprehensive at first, but quickly fell in love.

I saw more change in my physique than anything I had ever done, my strength was still coming up, and I was absolutely more physically well-rounded than ever before. To this day, that’s what I’m still doing, and that’s what I’m still loving.

What does your typical workout look like? Right now, I work out in bodybuilding style split workouts. Typically, two upper body and two lower body days per week, with push/pull emphases. I’ll go through phases though where I split further and add focus days like glutes, delts, or arms. (Arm day will always be my favorite!) I always get in a main lift – a version of squats, benches, and deadlifts – and follow it up with plenty of fun accessory work.

I also love to run, and cardiovascular health is really important to me, so I run one or two days per week, or do some kind of interval workout on the step mill, bike, or rower another couple of days.

Favorite Lift: Does “any kind of biceps curl” count as a lift?! Past that, I’d go with RDLs. I love a good hip hinge and some killer posterior chain work.

Most memorable PR: It happened just recently. I had taken about a six-month break from a program, and longer than that from any kind of low-rep strength training or testing. I was kind of flowing and experimenting with my training, working on the Bigness Project, and definitely sticking to hypertrophy and higher rep stuff. I decided I wanted a bit more direction again, and hired a new coach. She added a lower body strength day to my program, and the very first day I hit triples of my highest one-rep max squat weight ever! I hadn’t done that in over a year, and this felt easy. Like, astonishingly easy. I was just so pumped that, even though I wasn’t working specifically on strength, it clearly continued to build throughout the year with consistency in training and progressive overload.

Top 5 songs on your training playlist:

Cake by the Ocean – DNCE (I’m obsessed with cake, and I love the ocean, so yeah.)

Life Itself – Glass Animals

Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked – Cage the Elephant

Light It Up – Major Lazer

Say You’ll Be There – Spice Girls

Next 5:

Good Vibrations – Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch

My Trigger – Miike Snow

California Love – 2Pac

Dreams – Beck

Silvertongue – Young the Giant

I love music.

Three things you must have with you at the gym or in your gym bag:

Resistance bands – mini-band for glute work and full band for dislocates and pull-aparts

Training journal – pen and paper for me!

Ipod & headphones – I know it’s going to be a rough day of training if I have to listen to the gym music!

Do you prefer to train alone or with others? Why? I actually prefer to train alone. My gym time is time where I just get in the zone. I put on my headphones, tune everything out, and focus on my muscles. I’m big on the mind-muscle connection, honing in on effort and exertion, and being really connected to my workout. If I’m training with someone else, it’s fun, of course! But I find that it distracts me a little bit from the focus I like to have.

That said, I’m more open to running or cardio with others. I do like to run alone to connect with nature and let my mind wander a little, but there are also times when I like to have company for distraction.

Most embarrassing gym moment: Constantly fiddling around with bumper plates! I find them so cumbersome, even with the little bar jack thing! But really, I honestly don’t get embarrassed in the gym. Most people are just minding their own business, so I don’t even worry about it.

Best compliment you’ve received lately: I recently had to collect a series of testimonials from clients and peers. The responses that I received blew me away and brought tears to my eyes for two days straight. Without any prompting, it became apparent to me that I am affecting people’s lives in exactly the way I am intending to, and that was the absolute best compliment I could ever receive. My favorite example:

Kourtney is the type of woman that makes you feel stronger, more grounded and more capable simply by being in her presence. The strength I get from my workout plan has seeped into every single part of my life and a lot of that is due to the support, guidance and inspiration I’ve gotten from Kourtney. She’s showed me how to consistently show up at the gym… and, more importantly, in my day-to-day life, in a BIG, bold way.

Most recent compliment you gave someone else: “You are a (expletive) ferocious spirit!” I have cool friends, and sometimes we potty mouth together with complete mutual understanding.

Favorite meal: I joke that I love to live the #turkeysandwich life, but really, I do love sandwiches! My favorite fancy meal is a really high-quality, well-cooked pork chop with a perfect sear and delicious sides. Followed up with some kind of dark chocolate goodness for dessert!

Favorite way to treat yourself: Indulging in trash TV. I love TV. Like, way too much! Every time I travel, I stay up way too late watching stupid stuff on cable (we don’t have cable at our house anymore) and loving it – think Naked and Afraid, Duck Dynasty, My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding…

Favorite quote: “And though she be but little, she is fierce.” William Shakespeare (So much a favorite, it’s tattooed on my foot.)

Favorite book: I’m far more into fiction than nonfiction, so my top three right now are:

Lamb by Christopher Moore

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett

I also love anything political satire (think: Christopher Buckley) or science fiction/fantasy (The Martian, the Red Rising Trilogy, Divergent Trilogy, The Rook, Harry Potter, etc.).

And fitness specific, I love The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold, Strong by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove, Daniels’ Running Formula by Jack Daniels, and Superflex by Cory Everson.

What inspires and motivates you? Cliché, maybe, but my tribe. I never really had one until about the last year or so, and opening up and connecting with so many amazing women inspires and motivates me daily. I spent a lot of time in my life competing with the women I now stand side by side with and encourage. It’s crazy how different it can be to admire them and see them as inspiration instead of competition, or as someone or something else I’m not stacking up to.

My friends, my husband, my clients, and all the women I don’t even know inspire and motivate me daily to continue doing what I’m doing and using my voice to create a bigger, better space for all of us.

What do you do? I’m a personal trainer and coach. I do most of my work online through virtual coaching, and focus on training for bigness – physically, emotionally, and mentally. My tagline is Become the Boss of Your Body™: Watch Your Life Take Shape™ for a reason. When you determine what you want for yourself physically and find comfort and confidence in your own skin, it changes far more than the shape of your body. It changes your life.

What else do you do? I love to ride my motorcycle when the weather is good! I ride a Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe, and her name is Alexandra. Nothing makes me feel more powerful and free than riding.

My husband and I also like to go camping and hiking. We enjoy traveling to both new and familiar places, and always keep New Orleans on our list each year.

I love to read, hence the long answer for favorite books above.

I honestly really do love movement, so I love going to the gym and bro-ing out. It’s like my second home because I find it so fun.

Describe a typical day in your life, from waking up to bedtime: I get up at 6am. I head into the dining room where I keep my phone, clear off all my notifications, and take my resting heart rate. Then I head into my office to start working for the day. That usually starts with coaching in my Facebook coaching group and returning client emails.

Most mornings I then go to a client session or two. Then I come back home and work on client programming or write for several hours, with a lunch break mixed in somewhere. Sometimes, I have to attend to the business stuff like catching up on Quickbooks, or I’ll have a new client meeting.

Late afternoon, I close up shop and head to the gym for an hour or two. When I get home from the gym, my husband and I cook and eat dinner, watch an hour or two of TV, then shower and head to bed. Usually TV off by 9pm and lights out by 10pm.

Your next training goal: Uh, bigger arms. Always bigger arms.

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What are you most grateful for? This life! I am grateful for everything, big and small, every single day.

But I’m the most grateful for my husband, my best friend and partner in this crazy life who supports me in everything I want to do. And also puts up with all of my weirdness!

What life accomplishment are you most proud of? I’m pretty proud I started my own business and it’s actually become successful.

I was always someone who was perfectly happy working for someone else, not wanting to shoulder the responsibility of making big-time decisions for my livelihood – or so I thought.

Turns out, the opposite is true, and I am much happier and more successful working for myself.

Being an entrepreneur is not without daily struggles, but every one of them is worth it. I own the decisions and the struggles, I own the triumphs.

I’m also incredibly proud of riding my motorcycle to Sturgis and back. It was a crazy ride, several thousand miles, and it was a huge accomplishment, mentally and physically.

Which three words best describe you? Thoughtful, Forthright (this is a much better word than “doesn’t-put-up-with-bullshit!”), Supportive

What’s a risk you’ve taken recently, and how did it turn out? Going to the Radiance Retreat this year was a big risk for me. It was a big investment, it was totally intimidating, and it was very much outside my comfort zone. My entire life, I’ve struggled with female relationships, and this was basically jumping into one huge female relationship! But it changed my life. Taking that risk of attending an event that was really scary for me turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Not only did I get a return on my investment picking up business knowledge, I forged friendships – like, actual, true, deep friendships, and quickly! – and that was well worth the anxiety leading up to the trip and the price of admission.

Beyond that, it opened doors for me because it pushed me over the hump with similar things. Since the Retreat in May, I’ve done more things that brought up old fears or self-doubt with much more ease, and that has enhanced my life exponentially. It’s been a big year for growth, and it started with taking that risk.

What’s the coolest “side effect” you’ve noticed from strength training? Finding more and different common ground with new people. I get a lot of questions that often start with, “Wow, I love your arms!” and often they’re with genuine interest. Then, it’s fun to have a little chat about the gym and give people a quick little motivational boost for whatever they’re trying to accomplish. It’s been fun to connect with other lifters and fitness professionals to nerd out about lifting too.

How has lifting weights changed your life? Do you have like five minutes for me to talk your ear off? How has it not changed my life? Lifting weights, in all its different varieties, has opened up my life beyond what I ever thought possible.

Not only has lifting weights made me physically stronger, but it has made me so much stronger mentally and emotionally. Learning how to work through physical stress only increases your tools for being able to deal with other stress in life.

Taking control of my choices in the weight room and for my body allows me to take control of choices in the rest of my life.

Lifting has changed my physique beyond what I ever thought possible – especially when I started training specifically for hypertrophy. I’ve packed on muscle, completely changed my shape, and embraced my body fully from head to toe, which I wasn’t sure was possible. Some days are better than others, because hello, I’m human, but more than ever, I am truly happy with how I look – because I’m happy with how I feel. I’m bigger and heavier than I’ve ever been before, but lifting weights has completely changed my relationship with what that means. I want to be bigger. Because I want to be more.

And because of lifting, my confidence has shot to the moon, and that has spilled into every aspect of my life. If it weren’t for my journey in lifting, I never would have met some of the best friends I have now. I never would have connected with the GGS family. I never would have bonded with Jen over a fire one night to talk about how we could bring this feeling to as many women as possible.

I’m so fortunate that lifting weights has literally become my business. Before I started lifting seriously, lifting heavy, I didn’t have a lot of direction. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or could do, and for whom. But when I found my place in strength and size, I found my conviction, my voice, and exactly how I wanted to show up in this world personally and professionally.

Lifting weights has forever changed my body, my mind, and my spirit, more than anything I’ve ever done. There is a reason why my favorite hashtag is #bigarmsbiglife:

Tapping into your strength and size under the iron translates to the freedom to create much bigger world for yourself.

Speaking of confidence boosts… I stink at clothes. Clothes are so hard! I don’t think I’m alone there either – it’s not an inherent ability to look like a Pinterest pin every day. It was always something very frustrating for me. So, last year I worked with a wardrobe stylist to completely revamp my wardrobe. We cleaned my closet of everything that either didn’t fit me or wasn’t a good style fit for me. Then, we discussed what made me feel good, shopped for it, and styled it. Besides lifting weights, this has been one of the best things I’ve ever done! It takes such a weight off every day to know what to wear and how to wear it. I have always felt pretty good about my body, but now I feel 100 percent confident walking out the door because I feel good about my clothes, too. I think people underestimate the importance of feeling good about your clothes, and I can’t suggest working with a stylist enough—it’s just like hiring a personal trainer!

I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which helped me to get rid of a lot of stuff I didn’t need, and also helped me not to just replace it with other new stuff. I pretty much use a loose capsule wardrobe at this point, which now includes a lot of accessories, including scarves. I always wanted to wear scarves, so it was one of the first things I told her I wanted to work on. I also used to stink at scarves, so this is a video we took to help me figure it out, haha! I love it because you can see my face, like, “WTF, stupid scarf!” And then I’m like, “Whew, OK! Finally! I can do this!”

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What do you want to say to other women who might be nervous or hesitant about strength training? Please, give it a try. It doesn’t have to look like what it looks like on someone else. Social media is great, but it’s also really tough these days. You can sign onto Instagram and see super-jacked women crushing a barbell, or super-strong women talking about how they only squatted 275 – among about a million other comparisons – and it becomes completely overwhelming. There are days that even other Girls Gone Strong make me feel down on myself!

But it’s not about that. It’s not about competition or trying to beat anyone or anything, including yourself or “who you were yesterday.” Strength training is named aptly – it will help you find the strength you didn’t even know you needed or wanted, if you’ll open yourself up to it. And there are so many different ways to train! From conditioning circuits to powerlifting and everything in between, there are a million things to try until you find your match.

And I know the actual gym can be scary, especially if you were never an athlete. And I get that, because I wasn’t one. I remember having butterflies in my stomach the entire first week I started going. But you have options – start with a basic program (GGS has great resources!), hire a coach, even if it’s for only a few sessions to get some confidence with basic movements, or start at home! Be patient – stick to your program for the full, prescribed amount of time! – and just watch. Be open to the possibilities.

Discern the BS. The weight loss industry is still feeding us lies. The science and evidence tell us that strength training is actually the best way to reach many of our common goals – not to mention it provides us with a cornucopia of physical and mental health benefits.

One step at a time. One workout at a time. One day at a time. Try it. Experiment. Stick with it. Find out what Girls Gone Strong means to you!

Connect with Kourtney on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and on Snapchat: kthomasfitness.

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razorblade-eyes · 8 years ago