#this also happened to be the show i was completely off the grid for because i was at a festival with no service

[kaleidoscopeminds]

DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHOW THIS IS FROM I AM ASKING FOR A FRIEND THANK YOU BYE LOVE YOU

hi anon it is from the minneapolis show! a show that gifted us more than we could ever imagine. tmht minneapolis u will always be famous.

i will use this as an excuse to compile a few more photos

[adventuringblind]

Breathe For Me

LandOscar x Reader

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Dialouge: "It's okay, you can rest. We've got you. Just Breathe."

Summary: Marks on your soulmates skin appear on yours. Oscar and Lando hope they find whoever it is before they run out of time.

Warnings: SELF-HARM, Alcohol, scars, blood, panic attacks,

Notes: This is Part of my 1000 follower event. Feel free to click the link and throw me a request!

Masterlist

It's not every day you meet your soulmate. It's certainly not rare, but it also isn't an everyday event and is supposed to only happen once. If you're Lando Norris, then you get to go through it twice.

Originally he thought only one. I mean, maybe his souldmate is just clumsy. That is not the case however, because Lando has more scars, cuts, bumps, and bruises then anyone else he knows. He would be fine with it if he wasn't on national television all the time.

Max and Charles were lucky and found each other in Karting. Max had a bruise on his face from his dad and showed up to the race with it still getting darker. Charles had one to match. Now they're happily in love and the public doesn't now (is what they tell themselves).

So Lando finds himself stuck in between a soulmate who bruises every occasionally and on who gets scrapes nearly every day. He feels for whoever the first is because Lando is clumsy and is always running into things. Between himself and whoever the latter is, he probably is already exasperated.

Aside from his family, Carlos is the first person to notice. He double checks nothing is happening in Lando's own life that is causing all the marks. He assures happily that he's clumsy and the two soul mates certainly don't help.

Lando has heard of people carving names and addresses into their arms to find their destined partner. He lets it happen naturally. It's supposed destiny and who is he to rush it?

Daniel admits to an extreme worry of Lando. The older driver kept a close eye on him and Lando has to reassure him non-stop that he's clumsy, but it's not that bad.

He soon realizes that it's not the bruises Daniel is worried about, it's the scars. When his sweatshirt sleeves roll up the red lines are visible. It's something he's gotten used to over the past couple of years, but he dosen't think about it when he's not being filmed.

They cover a good amount of space on his body. Biceps, collarbone, thighs, stomach, and shins. It wasn't that bad until 2021 when it got significantly worse. It's stressing him out if he's being honest with himself.

He's is pieces when Daniel tells him he's losing his seat. No other driver lined up yet. Another teammate gone.

Daniel reassures him that Oscar looks like he'll make a good teammate. Lando is skeptical. Oscar is younger and a rookie.

The first time he meets Oscar is at the MTC. They shake hands, two sets of sleeves role up and Lando can't help but stare.

They match. Their wrists are completely identical.

They don't talk about it until a while later after spending the off season getting to know each other. They determined in Febuary they would be really close friends. It obviously escalated and now Charlotte keeps tell him to make it less obvious.

He's nit afraid to say he's weak for Oscar. A calm in his storm of emotions. The one person who can get him to actually rationalize his anxious thoughts.

In 2023, three rookies came to the grid. One of them being a female driver for alphatauri and a good friend of Oscar's. She then consequently became a friend of Lando's.

Which would be so terrible if Lando didn't know for a fact she's hiding something. She's shy and closed off to everybody unless it's him or Oscar. Mostly because he's forced his way under her skin.

"There is something about her, Osc. I can feel it in my bones."

"Are you sure it's not the cup of milk you downed getting to your head?"

"Rude!"

Oddly enough, it's max who approaches them about her later. He'd gotten to know her through media things and race weekends and often asked Lando about her or vice versa.

He pulls Oscar and him aside early one morning in the paddock. Oscar is still half asleep and Lando doesn't know what's happened until Max slides their sleeves up.

The ones they decided to wear to the cameras didn't pick up the fresh scar close to their elbow on their forearms. Completely identical to each other.

"You said you have another soulmate right?"

"Yes?"

"I think I might know who it is."

This is how Lando and Oscar find themselves in front of her hotel room door after the race. A DNF that wasn't her fault had ended her race early. Max had been about to go get her himself, but Lando and Oscar had said they would. If Max is right then they have a higher chance of getting through to the female driver.

Max sent them with the key card he has to her room. The one he forced her to give after he found her last night with a blade in her hand.

They knock out of curtosey first. No answer, as expected, but at least they tried. Maybe She’s asleep? Lando knows that’s probably not the case but he really doesn’t want to and see what is most likely happening. If the sting on his thigh says anything, it’s definitely not sleep.

Oscar keys the door open and hesitantly steps inside. Lando follows right on his heels. The lights are off and he would probably think it was empty if it weren’t for the visible blob of blankets in the corner that’s sobbing violently. to close to hyperventilation for Lando’s liking. He takes immediate action and pulls her out of the blankets.

Immediately, he keeps her body from curling in on itself so her chest is open and can get air easier. Oscar manages to find a lamp switch. She’s a wreck. So incredibly broken that Lando doesn’t know where to start.

“Breathe.” Is all he can come up with. "It's okay, you can rest. We've got you. Just Breathe."

Somehow he coax’s her to sleep. Him and Oscar combined manage to get her to bed, wrestle her shoes off, and bandage what they could see without removing clothing.

Oscar practically forces Lando into the be with her and he takes the floor. He’d said he’d take the floor with him, but Oscar claimed that Lando is the lighter sleeper and would know if she moved at all. Curse his soulmate and his logical thinking.

She manages to sleep until five in the morning. This time she just cries and huddles closer into Lando.

“I’m sorry you have to see me in such a state… I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

Lando maneuvers then int a sitting position. He then takes a pillow and throw it at his lover on the floor. Oscar stirs and groans.

“Must you.”

“Yes, It’s funny.”

Oscar makes his way up onto the bed and looks immediately like he’s going to fall asleep. Lando consequently throws another pillow at him.

“You should know something…” Lando starts. He doesn’t finish because the word are not doing what he needs them to. They jumble on his head and he can’t figure out where to start.

He’s entirely to grateful for Oscars presence. “Max thinks that the three of us are soulmates.”

Lando was thinking it would be like the first. Realization followed by smiles and laughs. This is not that. Instead it’s panic. She defends into the depths of her mind as she studies the match scars, even revealing her own identical one.

The pain, embarrassment and shame are written all over her features. She’s mumbling through some kind of an apology.

“Breathe.” He repeats. He says it over and over again until it’s all her own mind can hear.

Oscar looks gutted and lost. He’d helped Lando through many panic attacks, but this is completely different.

“I didn’t think I would ever find you. The doctors had tried to cut me off because it was a mistake since there were two. They said I wasn’t supposed to have one.”

Are the two boys shocked? A tad. Why would a doctor do that?

Lando doesn’t get time to ask as she pulls out a bottle of medication from the drawer in the nightstand. It’s stuff he’s heard of, but never actually seen. “This has been suppressed to sever the connection, but it hasn’t worked. They said to take it in higher doses at smaller intervals until it stops.”

She pops open the lid and pours a couple into her hands. Thank goodness for quick reflexes because Lando goes to get the ones in her hands, and Oscar goes for the bottle. She's too focused on Lando to notice the Aussie who manages to swipe it from her.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Didn't feel relevant."

"But this is incredibly dangerous! I've heard most people who do it end up -" Oh. It dawns on him why she's doing this to herself. The connection between them was already rough for her. She had been trying to 'fix' it like her doctors said. Had been told her entire life that the people who are fated to lover her unconditionally won't because she is nothing to them.

"How long have you been taking the meds?" Oscar's voice is so careful. The Brit would love to swoon, but it feels impolite at the moment.

"Years. They've tried everything. Put me on different kinds and change the dosage."

"Thirteen?" Lando whisper asks. His voice was barely audible. The small nod from the female confirms it. That's when the first scars arrived.

Lando places his hands on either side of her teary face. "You are not a mistake. You have never been a mistake. We've been aching for you. Scared maybe one day there wouldn't be any more marks and the implications of it. I've wanted nothing more than to tell you for years that you are loved and wanted."

He didn't even notice his own tears. Everything is just so overwhelming at the moment. They came so unexpectedly that it almost startled him. Screw Oscar and his ability to be amazing emotional support. The hand on Lando's knee is the only thing keeping him grounded.

They don't let her go until Max comes to get her. She's flying to do some filming with him. Neither of the males want to let her go, so they don’t. They end up flying with her since McLaren hasn’t filled their schedules.

But then they don’t leave. They spend every moment possible reminding her she is loved. That they want her. That nothing between them is a mistake.

Soon the scars start to fade.

But have no fear, Lando is clumsy enough to make up for it.

[mango-yoyo]

you have really good taste in fanfics in the tag game so was wondering if you would mind sharing so more of your favourites?

oh my god YES

i would love to thank you for asking <3

because i have no self control, i'm going to restrict myself to 3 5 10

1. the condominium community committee by @jusst-you-race . it's funny, it's light-hearted, and it has all the good feels. honestly it's the chat fic of chat fics, where the grid all lives in the same apartment building and have different lives, but are still super close! if you're feeling a bit down or if you want something fun, this is a great fic to read! status: WIP. word count: 28K+

2. crash landers by @janinaduszejko . carcar omegaverse my beloved, where oscar is an alpha and carlos is (secret) omega. a little bit angsty, a lot bit smutty, and overall delightful. it hurts a little bit, but it feels so good, and there's a happy ending! status: completed. word count: 57K+

3. i’m going back to 505 (if it’s a seven hour flight or a forty five minute drive) by julodinae_sunsets. another omegaverse (my weakness) but this time it's maxiel, where daniel is an alpha and tries to court max by accident, but stops himself because OBVIOUSLY max is an beta and doesn't want that. well. he's wrong. but second chances exist for a reason. it's really enjoyable so far, and it's made me grin stupidly way too many times, so. it's a win! status: WIP. word count: 19K+

4. Don't Want Your Sympathy (Just Your Company) by @1425fivefive . landoscar, where oscar is outed via blurry photos of him kissing another guy at the club. to get his mind off it, lando offers to have him stay at his place for the summer. a very cute teammates to friends to lovers, with a little bit of hurt but a lot of comfort. and smut. also, logan is best friend goals, honestly, and the little pockets of humor make you laugh when you least expect it. status: completed. word count: 64K+

5. Sunlight by @onboardsorasora . an absolutely delightful magical realism au (my other weakness) with a dewis pairing. they're one of the authors that got me into the pairing in the first place! people are touched by the elements in varying degrees. some people aren't touched, while others are touched by rare elements (like sunlight). daniel doesn't think he's touched by any. it's whumpy and a bit angsty but so, so sweet. honestly a lot of fluff too, with a sweet ending. status: completed. word count: 10K+

6. Loud and Clear by @oscatmeowstri . race engineer oscar with driver lando au, landoascar. it was wonderful. the formatting was so cool, and their relationship developed really well, from colleagues(?) to friends to occasional kissing buddies to lovers. some angst, but it's resolved pretty quickly, and there are lot of fluffy moments. status: WIP. word count: 48K+

7. cheap wedding (sticky pretenses) by @wormeo-and-juliette . i know i've mentioned the strollonso work by her before, but this is also so, so good. honestly, all her works have got me in a chokehold. it's lesteban, with a marriage of convenience (that eventual turns into love!). lance shows up in rural France, meets esteban, decides they're both lonely, and proposes marriage. absolutely delightful, and there's even the public coming-out which had me squealing. status: completed. word count: 12K+

8. champagne problems by @brocedesmadhouse . it's a love story to brocedes, and it's beautiful, heart-wrenching, and utterly amazing. toto gets replaced with a new team principal — who happens to be nico rosberg. it's set during the 2024 season, and it made me both cry and laugh — sometimes at the same time. absolutely wonderful. status: completed. word count: 60K+

9. empty streets, it's only you and me now by @the-ships-to-rule-them-all . intriguing and sweet, it's an exploration of Jewish folklore and golems, with sweet, sweet strollonso. lance has a golem, who happens to be incredibly protective of fernando. lance also happens to be in love with fernando. it's very cute and has the perfect plot-to-smut ratio. status: completed. word count: 5K+

10. k19tog (knit 19 together) by @nobrakesdown . really sweet and lovely, it's set in the 2022 season with seblance teammates. lance is a knitter, and seb convinces lance to teach him — and eventually, the rest of the grid. really heartwarming, and it has serious grid-as-family vibes that had me smiling like an idiot when I read it. also got me interested in the fiber arts, and it's really cool! status: completed. word count: 7K+

there are so many more fics that i could rec, but the sake of this post (and my need to study) i will limit it to just 10. please let me know how you like these recs, and feel free to rec for more (and if there are any particular pairings you're looking for)! this was a lot of fun, thanks for asking!

[quitealotofsodapop]

I was also thinking of shower thoughts and it occurs to me that Marbled Egg! Wukong is pretty paranoid to a rather ridiculous degree. Now, I love him like that, it makes sense for him to be protective of his cub after everything... what I was wondering tho is WHY! Because if he had Nezha as more support, than presumably he should have less reason to be distrustful of people near MK... then a small though came to me.

What if it's because something had happened before?

Look, Wukong has a LOT of enemies. More than anyone can possibly count. The show even goes so far as to say he's fought and presumably killed hundreds upon hundreds of demons. In the show, it's been established that even if Wukong had once killed someone, it isn't impossible for them to come back to life. Both Macaque and Azure are both heavily implied to have done so.

So what if one of Wukong's other enemies, one that has perhaps fallen into obscurity with age or their influence downplayed by historical biases, were to return long before Wukong ever met Tang. When MK was still a newborn cub, I was too young to remember much of anything. What if they tried to attack FFM and somehow got their hands on MK, if they tried to do something to him because he is Sun Wukong's son and heir? What if the event left Wukong paralyzed with fear to the point he becomes overly paranoid and protective of his cubs, to becoming a helicopter parent?

My mind immediately went to the Demon King of Havoc/Confusion - Wukong's first ever victory. Not sure if I like the big cat or the baboon versions more (maybe a Gelada?).

Its been over a thousand years, and while some old villains have redeemed themselves and adapted to their new lives (Black Wind Demon and Moon Jade Rabbit in particular), some are so "off-grid" that its hard to get a read on them and their motives.

Enter the former terror of Flower Fruit Mountain. A demon who initially presents himself as reformed to demonkind... until he learns that Sun Wukong has a helpless infant in his care.

Wukong is fast asleep, exhausted from caring for both his cub and his Stone Egg. A earth-shaking scream of dispair rings through all Three Realms when he awakens to an empty nest and broken doors.

The Stalwarts assemble immediately. They recognise the foul stench of the Demon King long before Wukong - having each survived the beast's rule for over a decade.

They find the Demon King burnt to a crisp inside his old cave.

Wukong never thought he'd be so relieved to see his baby crying on the dusty cave floor. Xiaotian is shaken but completely unharmed.

This leads to a little bit of confusion to how the baby survived such rough treatment. And why the Havoc Demon is currently little more than a pile of ash.

Nezha (alterted by Wukong's call) explains sheepishly that he placed a stronger-than-usual Man Yue blessing that activated when true danger threatened the baby. The blessing + Xiaotian's inherent power had pretty much vaporized the former Demon King the second a claw or fang dared touch his skin.

Wukong is too relieved to even listen to the reasoning. He's just overjoyed that his cub is ok!

Despite the kidnapping having a happy ending, it left its mark on Wukong. He became more cautious, more paranoid of other demons - especially ones he knew from the old days. He never wanted Xiaotian out of his sight, something that annoyed the little monkey as he started to grow.

A similar kidnapping likely occurs in Aus where Xiaotian's connection to Wukong is also known.

The only difference being; the Demon of Havoc likely doesn't get far before the Six Eared Macaque rips him to shreds. Or getting a furious pig charging at him with a kitchen knife.

[beabnormal24]

My hot takes on this gp:

1) Donald Trump thing

Edit: I might rewrite this ‘cause I’ve been thinking about it a little bit more.

I know that it was not right of Lando to say nice things about Trump, but I also know that him and all the other drivers on the grid are completely PR indoctrinated, and I sincerely believe that he just went with what the team told him to say.

In top of that, I also sincerely think that he wasn’t thinking at all about his own words with all the adrenaline of the win, which might not be a complete justification, but it’s still a reason why he would say those things.

Apart from that, I also feel like I can’t talk about this in primis because it���s not something I’m an expert in, so this is merely my opinion.

2) Carlos’ penalty

First of all, can we all appreciate the show him and Oscar put on? Incredible racing, just top quality, so so beautiful, I got the chills for every single lap and held my breath every time Carlos tried to make a move and Oscar just closed the doors for him.

I loved it a lot.

Second of all, I won’t say if the penalty was deserved or not ‘cause I’m not a steward or anything, but what I do want to say is that Oscar did indeed push Carlos off the track at first (that doesn’t mean that Oscar is a bad driver, I’m just stating the obvious).

On top of that, Checo not receiving a single penalty for that basically “dive-bombing” is… I don’t even have the words for that, really.

And it’s not only them but also Lewis’ move during the sprint that basically took Lando and Lance out both and finished Fernando’s race.

So, maybe, when these things happen together, you start really thinking that when Fernando Alonso says “Because he is not a Spaniard” then maybe he might be right, you know?

3) Carlos saying that he was frustrated with Oscar

It is like- the most normal thing he could say?

He said the same exact thing about Daniel in the sprint! He appreciates their skills, but obviously got frustrated that he could not get past them (in Daniel’s case, literally, in Oscar’s case, because of a penalty).

He never said he hated Oscar, he never said anything similar, and neither did Oscar! If they did on the radio, then please go in and be calm on a radio in a car going around 200kpmh while fighting another car, let’s see what you can do.

They were both really calm after the stewards’ office and they did not say anything bad about each other anymore, why do you feel the need to stir unnecessary drama all the freaking time?

Carlos even went to the McLaren garage to congratulate the engineers. And for those who are saying “he should apologise to Oscar”, uh, no? Why would he?

It’s the sport, it’s how it works! I sincerely think that Oscar would be more offended if Carlos went and apologised to him for that, ‘cause that’s racing. And also, if you’re thinking like that, then Oscar should also apologise for pushing him off the track and almost causing him a proper incident.

But they don’t apologise because it’s racing, simple as that.

Good God, just please think twice before writing hateful comments about Carlos or Oscar.

[petertingle-yipyip]

NEVER FELT SO ALONE - MARC SPECTOR

Pairing: Marc x Reader

Word Count: 2,579

Summary (Request): hey!! i just finished moon knight and was wondering if can request a marc spector x reader fic or basically all of the moon knight boys where marc cheats on the reader so she doesnt get hurt and by cheating on her there would be no questions or suspicions coming from the reader n all. (basically same way how marc tries to divorce layla but she ended up finding out the truth in d end) angst with happy ending pls <33

//i don’t like cheating tropes so i didn’t actually have marc cheat and also… marc spector brainrot. love it. him and matty have permanent spaces in my brain//

“He’s been gone too long.” You paced your living room with your phone in your hand.

You were speaking to yourself, of course, given that your boyfriend was out on the town yet again doing God knew what. You knew he kept secrets, he always had. Just getting him to talk about what music he liked or what movies he liked was like pulling teeth. But of course, it wasn’t always like that. There were more goods than bads so you were willing to put up with his distance and fight and poke and prode to get him to tell you something of substance because he knew you.

He loved to hear you talk about your life. Your childhood, family and friends, work. He liked to hear you talk about your favorite shows and books, ranting about what stupid things your beloved fictional characters were doing and how you knew they were smarter than that. He asked you about school and sometimes brought food to your campus if he had time before he disappeared on some job. He’d leave a few hidden notes before he left too - usually under your pillow, in your wallet, and under your favorite bowl. You once found a note between pages of your book, his own anticipation of how far you’d get while he was gone.

Problem this time around was that there were no notes this time. There was no text or voicemail. There was no explanation. Admittedly, it happened sometimes. Sometimes it was so sudden he didn’t have time to let you know anything, but even then, he was never gone that long.

This time around, before he left, you noticed some odd things. You noticed more hushed conversations, hidden phone messages, darting glances, looking over his shoulder. He spoke even less than usual, as if he was building a wall between you two. Looking to put distance. You noticed his phone was being turned off when he left the house and a few times during his absence, you could’ve sworn you’d seen him running into the local museum.

Usually you could shrug off his odd behavior because, overall, Marc Spector was an odd man. You knew his life had been challenging and naturally, it closed him off in some regards. But shutting you out completely, going radio silence at the drop of a hat, that just wasn’t like him.

So you did some digging.

Given his phone was off, you couldn’t track any sort of locations from there. You didn’t know who he worked with when he left, save for one woman named Layla who was often as off grid as he was, so you couldn’t ask anyone. He hardly talked about family and you weren’t even sure he had friends other than you so that was a dead end. The only real starting point you had was that museum.

When your last class ended, you hopped on the crowded bus and headed over. You were welcomed by the man at the front security booth and wandered the vast space. You had to squeeze past tour groups and couples on dates, kids running around with novelty swords and replica headpieces. You squeezed between people until you found a bench that allowed you to breathe, despite the heavy crowd. You hadn’t expected it to be quite as busy and you were so tired. Just as you were about to give up, you saw him.

The spitting image of the man you loved. Only his clothes were different, baggier and plainer. His curls fell across his forehead more and he seemed to hold hismelf shorter than Marc. Maybe it wasn’t him after all.

You sighed to yourself and headed towards the exit, catching a small snippet of his voice. It was softer, tinted with an almost fake accent, with more inflictions than Marc had. You shook your head slightly as you headed out, trying to clear the idea of the doppleganger from your head but the notion seemed to keep you around the museum. You found yourself sitting on the steps outside, near a streetlight so you could try some of the assignment you needed to finish. You hadn’t even realized how long you had been there until your headphones beeped in your ears that their battery was low.

As you were putting the headphones into your bag, you noticed Marc’s doppelganger heading to the nearby bus stop. He noticed you at the same time and made his way over to you, which made your body run hot for a moment.

“Hello.” He smiled slightly. “I, uh- I saw you inside. Can I ask why you’re still out here?”

“Yeah, it looks a little weird, huh?” You laughed, trying to contain the whirlwind of thoughts set off by the man’s voice. It was so strange to hear such a soft, relatively hesitant tone coming from a face that you knew to be much more confident. “I just thought I saw someone I’ve been looking for… Turns out it wasn’t him.”

“Old friend?”

“Boyfriend, actually.”

“Oh…” He nervously wrung his hands and you almost laughed at how out of character that movement seemed. “Wait, why are you looking for your boyfriend?”

“No reason.” You shrugged. “Just thought I saw him.”

“Right… Well, are you alright to get home? It’s not like a… “we’re in a fight and he kicked me out” situation?”

At that, you did laugh.

“I’m alright, thanks.” You shook your head with a smile. “But if you hear about a guy named Marc coming around, tell him Y/N needs to talk to him, yeah?”

“Marc? Uh.. Alright, yeah. Yeah, okay. You said Y/N?”

“Mhmm…”

“Have we…”

Your brows raised while the gears turned in his head. His eyes darted around your face, down to your clothes and back to your eyes while he tried to put the pieces together. He opened his mouth to say something before he shook his head, seemingly confusing himself in the process. 

“You okay over there?” You asked carefully, leaning in slightly for your own examination.

“Yeah, just… I don’t know. Deja vu maybe.”

“Hmm.” You nodded and leaned away. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Steven.” He tapped the pocket of his jacket and you saw a little pinsized hole for where you assumed his nametag usually sat. “Steven Grant.”

“Cool.” You said simply. But you recognized that name as one of the characters that Marc told you about, from one of the things he used to watch with his brother that turned into their own little roleplaying game. And maybe it was a coincidence but something was strange. “See you around, Steven.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

A few days went by before you saw him again. You had tried going by the museum but he wasn’t there. You even asked the man who watched the cameras and he said that Steven - though he called him by some unrelated name - hadn’t been in since the night you met him. You were at another dead end.

You wandered the streets when you got a vague text with an address. It was an unknown number and the relatively common text style gave you no clues. Automatically you assumed it was Marc from a burner phone. Who else would it have been? With as much of a hurry as you could without drawing extra attention, you made your way to the apartment.

You gave a quick knock to the door and it popped open, seemingly on its own since no one was on the other side to greet you. You wandered the cramped space, finding a bed in the center of a sand circle, books stacked on books on every table, a small trashcan overflowing with crumpled balls of tape, A vast fishtank stood in the middle of the room and you leaned in to see the fish, a small thing missing a fin, and caught glimpse of the man watching you from the other side. His near sudden appearance made you jump and bump your head against the glass.

You mumbled an apology to the fish as he scurried to another corner of the tank and you stood straighter.

“You’re the one who texted me?” You asked simply, not wanting to take a guess if it was Marc or Steven that stood before you.

“Yeah.” He said in the same plain tone and you didn’t catch any accent. It was definitely Marc. “Heard you were looking for me.”

“Wouldn’t have to look if you would’ve told me where you were going or that you were alive, at least.”

“”Yeah... I never meant to worry you.”

“Clearly.” Your brows raised quickly. “Nice place.”

“It’s not mine.”

You made a small noise in your throat before wandering the space a bit more. You peaked through some of the books, finding a book of French poems by a woman who you knew Marc didn’t read. But someone Marc knew and worked with did.

“This Layla’s place?” You asked simply, swallowing the rising bile in your throat.

“Layla?” He asked, arms crossing over his chest but not moving from his spot. “What makes you say that?”

“The French poems.” You said honestly. “Not to mention all the Egyptian stuff, you having a fake accent and working at the museum in the Egypt wing… It’s a lot to do just to be a good partner.”

“Right… Look, about all of that..”

“You didn’t answer my question.” You cut in firmly.

“I’m trying to.”

“No you’re not. You’re avoiding. You’re choosing a piece of what I said rather than the actual important part.”

“This isn’t Layla’s place, okay?” He rolled his eyes slightly.

“So this is your place?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of.” You repeated with a scoff. “Right. So, what, it belongs to that fake persona I talked to a few nights ago.”

“Fake?”

“Steven. Come on, that accent? And he’s named after that thing you told me from you and your brother… Did you think I was stupid?”

“What do you think is going on?” His brows furrowed.

“Well, I have a couple working theories.” You said with a shrug as you dropped to sit on the edge of the bed. “One is that you’ve been cloned. You know the American government, doing experiments with soldiers and not telling them.”

That one made Marc chuckle.

“Not a clone, baby.” He smirked. “But keep going.”

“Okay, good to know.” You nodded. “Second is that you’re just working.”

“That all?”

“Well there’s the idea that you’re cheating on me but…”

“But what?”

“But if that was true then I’d have to leave your ass and I don’t really want to do that. Which is why you’re gonna tell me right now if that’s the case or not.”

“And who would this mystery woman be?”

“Layla.” You shrugged.

“Layla?” His brows raised incredulously, almost insulted that you would say that.

“You have her favorite poet on your desk, Marc. You two constantly go off on little excavations and jobs. She’s cute, fiery, not afraid of challenge, just your type really. Not to mention, you’ve been pretty close since you met.”

“You know why we met.”

“Yeah but did you ever tell her? I bet she wouldn’t fuck you if she knew you killed her dad.”

“Wow.” His eyes went wide. “You had that one ready, didn’t you?”

“Well you’ve been gone for a while. I had some time to come up with some good ones.”

“Y’know what…” He pushed his tongue against his cheek with a small scoff, as if something just came to him. “Yeah.. Yeah, I’ve been sleeping with Layla. Every time I ‘go to work’ I’m just meeting with her.”

“Hmm, funny.” You offered a sarcastic expression. “Just tell me what’s really going on.”

“I just did.”

“And I don’t believe you.”

“Course you don’t.” He mumbled and ran a hand down his face.

“Wanna say that again?” You challenged sharply, daring to close the distance between you two. You glared up at him, ignoring the fact that the height difference made you less intimidating than you were aiming for, but you stuck to your guns. “Or do you want to say something else?”

“I love you.” He put his hands on your shoulders and turned you around. “But there’s the door.”

“You son of a bitch.” You twisted out of his grip and spun again to face him. “You don’t get to kick me out after you tell me you’re cheating.”

“You’re the one that said you’d walk out.” He shrugged.

“If you two shack up here, then I'm sure she has some clothes here. Bathroom products, maybe. Toothbrush? Hair brush? She’s gotta have some underwear here at least, right?” You kept pushing as you stepped deeper into the small apartment in an effort to mate Marc couldn’t throw you out.

“Y/N.” He sighed and followed after you.

“Just tell me the truth.” You stopped and spun quickly to face him, almost colliding with his chest as he was coming up behind you. “Because I’ve never felt so alone. These few weeks without you have been like my world is falling apart. It’s gut-wrenching to wake up without you. No calls, no texts, no little notes around my place…”

His heart twisted when he realized how much he had been hurting you.

“You’re right… I’m not cheating on you.” He admitted with a sigh as his eyes fell to the ground.

You breathed a small sigh of relief and reached out to take his hands in yours. His thumbs ran back and forth along the backs of your hands. You gave them a small squeeze and he managed to meet your eyes again.

“I… Jesus, this is gonna sound nuts.” He sighed.

“I'm listening, Marc.” You said softly.

“You won’t believe me.” He shook his head.

“I believe you love me. And I love you. I believe you thought you were being noble and protecting me, but I always feel safer and more protected when you’re with me. Just be honest and we can work it out.”

“I serve Khonshu.” He said suddenly, as if it was his only chance to get the words out. “He saved my life before I met you and my servitude is how I repay that debt.”

“Khonshu…” You repeated, an expression of uncertainty on your face. “Is that the Egyptian moon god that looks like a bird version of Jack Skelingtion?”

At that, he chuckled and it brought a small smile out of you.

“Pretty much.” He laughed and nodded.

“And Steven?”

“That’s a longer story.”

“So let’s go home. I’ll make some food and we can talk about it.”

“You sure?” He gave your interlocked hand a small pull so you were chest to chest. He guided your hands to rest on his shoulders while his found their place at your waist. “You’re about to find out how much of a trainwreck I really am.”

You shrugged slightly. “Good thing I’m in it for the long run. I’m gunning for your last name eventually so I better buckle up, huh?”

“God, I love you.” He grinned.

[copperbadge]

When I mentioned I was feeling a bit apathetic about my usual phone games and apps, therapist (I should give her a nickname of some kind) suggested rotating in a new puzzle or game for a dopamine hit, so I thought I might go back to "Diagramless" crosswords, which is where you do a normal crossword but without any of the dark spaces or numbers. I used to do the normal crossword but when you've been doing crosswords since the age of 15 they stop being very challenging after a while.

The problem is that because diagramless or skeleton crosswords are more difficult, they're not readily available, like I couldn't just go out and buy a book of them; there was one Chicago paper that would print them but they were cribbing the clues from the LA Times and anyway that only worked when I was stealing the paper from my workplace years ago.

My workaround was to create a 15-square grid in Excel, print that out, and do them by hand (more satisfying anyway) using clues from the LA Times crossword that I copy-pasted in. I stopped doing diagramless basically because just acquiring them was slightly more work than I wanted to be doing on a regular basis. (If anyone knows of a phone app that offers them, or a book of them I could buy, sing out.)

Anyway all was going well; above you can see the first two I did, and while I'm obviously rusty it's very satisfying to just do one, let alone complete them. I didn't bring very many with me while traveling but I was doing today's and something seemed...very off. It took me about four lines in and several headscratchers to realize that the puzzle clues were randomly and unusually for a 16 square crossword and I was trying to cram them into a 15 square grid.

Insert old joke here about "You aren't allowed to do crosswords anymore when you can do them entirely wrong" etc etc

Personally I blame Dan and Doug who designed it, and Patti who let it through, but on the other hand "Dan Doug and Patti" is a great name for a folk trio so I can't be too mad.

[ID: Several images of a printed 15-square grid filled out by hand with both crossword clue answers but also the squares and numbers that give the puzzle structure; the third image is only partially filled and clearly full of errors, and the last image is of the actual LA Times puzzle pattern, showing that there are 16 squares instead of 15. This never used to happen.]

[gaslysainz]

Lost (PG10) pt4

Summary: The world is utterly unfair. He was her most prized possession, her life, her first ever commitment of love. But to him, she was just a mere person lost in his big world.

warnings: ; unrequited feelings; Pierre is a douche , arrange marriage, angst, explicit scenes and languages.

Author's Note~ Heya guys! I present to you the 4th part of my fanfic. I'm overwhelmed by the response ❤️ Really Thanks a lot to everyone who had liked the story so far. Something's have started to cook. Hope you look forward to it. Love You All 😘 Here's my first ever story for you guys. As soon as I finish this one, I'll start taking requests maybe! Till then please show your love and support for "LOST".

This one's a filler chapter, so please bear with me.

Something completely different happened today. A knock at my door woke me up from my 1 hour nap which has unfortunately turned into a 3 hour nap. I stood up from the bed and opened the door only to find my husband standing there and running a hand through his curls. Oh! What a sight! He looks like a Greek God.

"Hey! Did you need something? I'm sorry I fell asleep, also you can come inside"

He thanked me and entered my room, this is completely new. But nonetheless, I had to take a chance. He was looking around the room and the pictures hanging on the walls. His eyes stuck to one picture in particular. A picture captured by Pierre's mom of Isaac, Pierre and myself. It was Halloween and Isaac wanted to be a Vampire and on the other hand Pierre and Me were Romeo and Juliet. He was 6 and I was 4! We did not even know who Romeo and Juliet were! It was because of the elders who had insisted on these costumes! Oh! What I'd give to have those days back.

"You need something?"

"Ah! No, um actually yes, I have to attend an event with the rest of grid tomorrow. And you have to come with me. So be ready by 7pm tomorrow, will you? Wear something nice. I'll send someone with dresses for you to choose today in the evening. Just pick something from there."

There it is! Like I've mentioned before, he only remembers me when he needs something or needs to go somewhere to show off the world our so called amazing married life. *Scoff* But I'm not mad, at least I'll be able to meet HIM after so many days. The only person who happens to care even a little bit for me. Who always greets me with a beautiful smile on his face. A friend? Nope, he's like an angel for me.

I really hope everyone gets a friend like him!

" *Cough* *cough* You there?"

" Oh yea! I'm sorry, I was a bit distracted. Umm, Why don't you take Julia with you? I'm sure she would love to accompany you and also I'm sure she has several dresses in her wardrobe already. Won't even have to buy a dress last minute"

The look Pierre gave me after I mentioned Julia simply yelled 'ARE YOU CRAZY'. I mean I knew why he wouldn't take Julia, but I just find a different kind of satisfaction by reminding it to him.

"Um, I'll be ready tomorrow. Don't worry. By the way, where's Julia?"

"I sent her home, no need for her to stay here for these two days, either way we'd be busy. It'll only distract us."

Oh well! That was odd! Distract us from what exactly? Sometimes this man leaves no tables unturned to confuse me to no end. Anyways. I know better now than to crack my brain over these things. It's actually useless cause I won't get anymore clear answers from him than this.

"Any specific colour that I need to keep in mind while choosing the dress?"

"Not that I'm aware of, just keep it a bit formal. I'll get going. If Julia calls or comes asking for me, just tell her I've been out for a meeting since morning."

And then he rushed out the door, not before checking our childhood photo once again. Okay! That was highly confusing! I mean why was he avoiding Julia? Or am I reading too much between the lines? No one knows. I better go eat something until then.

But still, I'm a bit lost here.

LOST in confusion.

PS - Please lemme know what do you think about LOST and also let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list ❤️

@peachiicherries @crimeshowjunkie @oblomovissad @torossosebs @janeholt3

[scoobydoodean]

As much as I’m a Sam lover, my biggest gripe with the fandom is when people try to make it seem like it was Dean’s fault for Sam not liking Benny. 😭😭

Because okay, Sam is allowed to be hurt by Amy dying, she saved his life and maybe he feels like he owed her something. HOWEVER, that doesn’t change the fact that she was willingly killing people in an attempts to save her son.

Not only that, but she was intentionally going after people she knew the cops were least likely to investigate (lower class people, addicts, drug dealers, etc.) Which is also another gripe I have, because the fandom tries to play down Amy’s killings with “But she was only killing criminals!” which just REEKS of classism, and I hate to be the person who ties their irl experiences with the show, but as someone who has relatives who struggle/struggled with addiction, it just gives me the ick when people try to justify Amy’s choice of victims.

And then there’s the fact of Amy and Benny are just not comparable companions in my eyes. Sam met Amy when they were both kids, and while he was grateful to her for saving his life, there were no attempts made on either end to keep up some form of communication, which in my opinion was very possible, because we’ve seen the boys regularly keep track of people who otherwise would be considered “off the grid”.

Dean and Benny were together for about a year, solely relying on only each other for at the very least a few weeks before they found Castiel, learning to read the others movements during a fight with other inhabitants of Purgatory, and it was made very clear in the show that the pair of them understood Purgatory and shared a bond like no other character had. Even when it was agreed that they should keep communication limited, Dean STILL made the effort to go after Benny and help him out with his nest + came to his aid after the machete fight, and he refused to leave even after Benny said he was okay.

To me those relationships aren’t even remotely comparable. And again not saying that Sam couldn’t be upset about Amy, but the way he chose to in turn mistrust Benny to the point of almost getting him AND his great granddaughter Elizabeth killed was just 😮‍💨 Especially when Sam is usually all for monster redemption? That’s just something I can never excuse no matter how much I love Sam.

I totally agree.

Benny and Amy are simply not comparable. Sam makes that comparison because he's angry and jealous and he wants to lash out, but in the same conversation, Dean also points at Sam's own inconsistent morals: they just let Kate the werewolf go a few episodes before and now Sam wants Benny dead with no proof of wrong doing—whereas Amy willfully killed people on purpose and pre-meditated. Sam caught her in the act, and she easily admitted she did it and felt absolutely zero remorse.

Benny became a vampire, sought out redemption, went to Purgatory, and came back holding himself to the same principles he did before he died... and honestly, the idea that he and Amy are the same also reminds me of a "once a criminal/addict always a criminal/addict" mindset—even after over 100 years clean. Someone might want to argue that's exactly how Dean thought of Amy in season 7, but I don't actually think Amy's monsterhood has anything to do with her being a supernatural creature for Dean and everything to do with her actions.

Sam compares her to himself and acts like she's an addict who relapsed, but... that simply is not what happened? It's a completely erroneous comparison. Amy didn't kill people because her addiction became too strong and she had to eat. She didn't eat anyone. It wasn't a relapse in any sense of the word. She killed people because her son was sick and needed fresh brains. She decided his life was more valuable than four other people's lives, and she maintained that perspective during and after—going so far as to run from Sam and find someone else to murder within an hour while still being pursued because she was that cold and unrepentant about what she was doing—that utterly remorseless. She slaughtered humans like cattle. And as you pointed out, her choice of targets reeks of classism, whether that's a commentary on her as a person or society and how the trauma and experience of lower income people and addicts and petty criminals tends to be minimized and dismissed as if any terrible fate that befalls them is "deserved" (or both? Both is good).

There's this very weird thing that happens in fandom where Dean is rewritten as this black and white "supernatural creature bad, human good" character and Sam as the "supernatural creatures can always be good" character, when the reality is much different, and actually reveals much more consistency in Dean's perspective than in Sam.

Sam will rewrite Amy's motivations into something so much more sympathetic than what actually happened and will say killing her would be wrong, then in the same season will kill a kid who was born like three days ago and hasn't killed anyone and is his brother's biological child and then lecture Dean about hesitating. And then he will let a pretty, young, blonde college kid go and a few episodes later wants to kill a vampire who saved his brother's life and who hasn't done anything wrong to Sam's knowledge and will look for any excuse to murder him... and the real reason is that he's enraged by the idea of Dean having someone in his life who has never let him down after Sam chose to abandon him and Cas and Kevin. Sam can't stand being reminded of how he failed. Dean's trust in Benny gives Sam deep feelings of shame.

Deep down, what Sam relates to in Amy and defends about her has nothing to do with her Supernatural status or addiction, and everything to do with the fact that Sam too occasionally flirts with the idea of human sacrifice to save the people he loves—which is a fascinating facet of his character... but fanon prefers a nonsense narrative Sam made up in the heat of the moment, refusing to see how Sam completely rewrote events to suit his feelings. Meanwhile, Dean doesn't even think of killing Amy's son for a second even after he tells Dean he'll come back for revenge because him being a supernatural creature does not make him evil and well—wanting to avenge your mom is fair! He protects Benny, and Lenore, and Bobby John, and Andy, and tries to talk Emma down. What he doesn't have sympathy for, is a woman who kills four people because deep down, at least some humans are nothing more than cattle to her—food for her sick boy.

[superm4ks]

Top 10 essential Verstappen races list please!

I habe been watching since I was a literal infant but I kinda took a break from 2014 until 2018 so I missed a lot of teenage Max lore. Now I treated myself to some f1tv for Christmas and want to rewatch a couple old races!!!

Malaysia 2015 Baby boys first points on his 2nd ever f1 start. Drags that lil toro rosso to q3 and then beats both red bulls. Also very funny to listen to the sky commentary because they dont take him seriously at all but he keeps doing things with that car he shouldnt be able to do so they have to keep talking about him and they're so annoyed about itnklfdjgkfdj

Singapore, 2015 classic max race. car d1es at the start. somehow makes it back on track 1 lap down, waits for his main character moment. gets it on lap 13. breezes past the field. gets told to swap positions. literally yells 'NO' and does not do it. U thought brazil 2022 was shocking, well. Educate yourself

USA, 2015 first of all there was a whole hurricane happening bro like a literal hurricane everything about thsi race is like .. what is going on. Hello. Is that Elton John???? Mind you, its Max's rookie season. Austin with wet conditions is the race track equivalent of a fucking minefield I think like half the grid retired. And still, u will witness that lil boy bring the fight to Merc and Ferrari. He actually fought Lewis and Seb Vettel for a podium. In a toro rosso. yeah

Spain, 2016 anime protagonist race. lil babby makes the jump to the big sister team amid much mockery and controversy, and wins on his debut. I can't say this enough. Max has made a career out of owning up to bitches. Every single time. Mercs take each other out, Danny ric gets inexplicably put on a 3 stopper ((lmfao)), and Max holds off fucking RAIKKONEN on DRS!!!! for like a billion years. Not a wheel out of place. And not even his defining moment of the year. For that, u gotta go with--

Brazil, 2016 He became MOTHER age 19 in Interlagos. Nothing else to say. if ur a verstappie u gotta watch Brazil 2016 like twice a year for ur troubles

China, 2017 just a super underrated race imo. Imma go on a tangent for a bit sorry but one of most insane aspects of Max's move to f1 is that he did so with 1 year of experience in f3. Like f3 had been the strongest engine he'd driven up to that point. f3 cars are fast but they're not f1 fast. So Max was supposed to be like a lil squid in a bowl of sharks. To anybody else it wouldve been extremely intimidating and scary to make that jump and its likely they would've sacrificed speed just because they didn't have that confidence in the car yet. And there'd be nothing wrong with that, thats just normal. Well Max never did normal. Seb put it perfectly and Im pretty sure he's not the first driver to comment on this, but Max goes for moves that nobody in their right mind would even dream of attempting. Shit that takes a special type of instinct, but more than that, a complete lack of fear. And with that comes the other side of the sword, which is the recklessness. Max was a reckless driver. A lot of drivers can be reckless, especially if the car doesn't allow them to just cruise to podiums, but Max was a child. This race is so important in his curriculum because it solidifies that his recklessness is not foolishness, but necessity. Bro passed 9 cars in one lap and held off danny ric with older tires. This after a disaster quali where he finished second to last because of an engine problem. To come back from that and get a podium the way he did, its a character drive. It showed who he was and Max was the future

Mexico, 2017 here. Yeah

Austria, 2018 quali is a must watch for this one. Listening to Max educate his engineers on 'discipline' for even DARING to ask him to pass danny ric prolly makes that move to Renault less confusing. Like u cant fight that. That is not a mf who will ever let u win a world title. But he didnt show it just during quali. This race is important because u can compare it some of his most dominant 2022 victories, in a car that would literally spit out its own tires and explode if Max idk farted or something.

USA, 2018 ok I'm biased but max has never come to the US and not served. Idk why its kind of funny but every time he steps foot in here he stunts and gets super wet and looks amazing. He's also absurdly good in US circuits for no reason. Like Max says, u gotta know how to defend not just attack. Prolly one of the most impressive defensive performances from him here, against none other than sir hammer herself. Lew had fresher tires and a championship winning merc and still couldnt crack lil bro with his renault engine, cap and a dream. Also they literally installed a whole new curb on the track specifically to make drivers stick to track limits and called it the verstopper and that. literal tears in my eyes yk look at this shit

Look at her . anyway

Enjoy thjs humble selection of our fav boy genius/fbi most wanted best hits. Next up

✨😤 Part 2 😤✨ Part 3 🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨

[shini--chan]

Yandere Character Sheet I

1p Lithuania: Tolys Laurinaitis

A continuation of the Baltics hcs ask

Trigger warnings: kidnapping, controlling behaviour, poisoning, isolation, neglect, battery, mind games, murder

Attributes - What sort of Yandere is he/she?

First and foremost, he is possessive. During his whole life, Tolys has had to struggle to hold fast to what he considers his, with circumstances inflicting hardship after hardship on him, he has a vice grip on what he considers his. To him, you would be a person that he would have to keep safe from all the dangers of the world, and in turn, he would be a safe haven to him where he can be rid of his emotional baggage. And like any hot tip, he'll want to ensure that as few people as possible know of your existence, not even mentioning your virtues. Why should he have to share you with other people? After everything that he has endured, doesn't he deserve a person that he can consider wholly his own? 

In total, he is also frugal. Demands for expensive jewellery and exotic holidays will be met with raised eyebrows. Are you a golddigger? That would be the question that would come to mind. To him, life is more than material possessions, and it reflects in his lifestyle. If anything, you'll have to conform to his morals and way of life. Any compromises that you demand he participate in wouldn't be regarded well. Are you trying to manipulate him? Likewise, excessive flattery and unexpected gifts would be seen as you buttering up to him because you want something from him, not because you sincerely like him. Should you give him a present, the gesture would be appreciated more than the actual gift itself. 

This all is conjoined by his controlling tendencies. Tolys is not a controlling or domineering character in total, it isn't in his personality. Rather, the need from control stems from a need to ensure he isn't oppressed or used. By taking the reins in his hands and holding them in vice-grips, he would intend to prevent something like that ever happening again. On top of that, he would be so scared of you leaving. Looking for any warning signs and acting accordingly when they appear would help him in preventing you from leaving. Having you under his total control would give him reason to relax a bit - but even then it would never be fully, since he would constantly suspect that you think ill of him, and want to leave. It would just be a part of him that is never fully able to buy into true happiness. If everything is alright and dandy, then it is either just a facade or trouble is lurking around the corner.

Tolys would also be very connected with nature. Don't worry, it wouldn't be along the veins of the industrialised and overhyped nature fetish, but the sort where he could simply walk into the forest and live a somewhat comfortable life for the next few years. It would be a life he would love to share with you. With the cottage being deep in the woods, you wouldn't really have a chance to escape. Should you nevertheless contemplate running away, then he could scare you with stories of packs of wolves and hungry bears.

You would be dependent on him, since a life off the grid is hard and unfamiliar to modern humans. With all the tasks you would have to complete, you would have enough to distract you. The upkeep of the household would keep you busy, especially with the absence of a lot of electric appliances. It would also teach you that you can't survive without him and that you need each other. Providing acts of service would also be how he would show his "love" for you. You would have to get used to it, because, else he wouldn’t be really forthcoming when it comes to affection. Rarely would he give you heartfelt smiles, or words of affection, in part because he would have become reserved when it comes to such things over the years, and because he wouldn’t want to be viewed as soft or weak by you. In a way, he needs to be needed, because if he is useful to you, if you can’t live without him, then you can’t discard him and you’ll be forced to stay by his side.  

Cornering - How would they get you?

Tolys would know his desires and wants regarding you would be amoral, but he would find a thousand and one ways to justify his own vices to himself. Still, he would do the courting in a traditional way in the hopes of soothing his fears and obsessions. Flowers, dates at cool locations, doing sports together, winning and dining with you - all cutsey couple things meant to advertise his suitability to you and lure you in. The trap would spring when you would be in close enough; or in the case that you would try to leave him prematurely. 

Eitherway, it would be very cliche - drugging you and then bringing you to a secondary location, or breaking and entering and tieing you up. Should you make him angry, then he would stage the whole affair in a way that would make you think he is a serial killer: Ski-mask and daggers and hateful words - he would leave you awake and aware for the whole ride, maybe even dragging you out the car by your hair once you arrive at your new home. 

Expectations - What do they expect of you?

He would want you to idolise him. Above everything else, he would yearn for somebody that would see him as their personal hero, and he would do a lot to create such an image in your mind. This would be part of the courting phase, where he would do his best to show off all his skills, and also have a few third parties brag about his achievements to you. Afterwards, the need for this would grow all the more - he would want you to cling to him at night, to seek his approval in the most minor matter (but still be a person with independence and agency). It would tie in to the fact that he would desire you to be needy. Oh, sometimes he would wish to have alone time, but distance makes the heart grow fonder, and it would stroke his ego immensely to have you throw yourself in his arms when he comes back to you. 

A person with his levels of introvertedness and vulnerability would also be an important requirement. The only person you should confide in, the only person you should trust, should be him. You should be closed off to the rest of the world, and only in him find a person that you can confide in. He, Tolys Laurinaitis, should be the only person around whom you discard all your masks and show your true colours. That should be an honour that is reserved for him and him alone. 

Along the same vein, he would require you to be honest with him. Now, there are people that go through life saying nothing but the truth while still being deceitful. That is something that he would loath - you’re to be open with him, communicative and honest. It would also be in your best interest - without him second guessing all your words, his paranoia would flare up less often. You wouldn’t have to bat away accusation after accusation, and life would generally be easier. Heavens, he would prefer it if you would say you hate him to his face instead of plastering false smiles on your face while holding a knife behind your back. Honesty would make it easier for him to adjust his treatment to you, and he wouldn’t suffer the feeling of walking on eggshells around you. 

Furthermore, he would expect a certain degree of humility from you. This would make living with you a pleasant affair for both of you. The last thing he would want to do would be having to cater to excessive demands - it would make him feel like a butler, or a cash cow. Additionally, it would make guilt-tripping you easier, and result in less fuss once he squirrels you away. It would also lead to you being more open-minded, and more inclined to view him in a sympathetic light once he tells you the tragedy of his life. Though, with all this being said, the humility you present would have to go in the direction of self-sacrificing altruism to be the most attractive. 

Be resourceful, and your esteem would rise in his eyes. Little is more annoying than these modern types that need a special tool for every task. It would certainly be a beneficial trait to have, since you’ll wind up living in the middle of nowhere. This would also be a sign of reliability and agency in his eyes, and an assurance that he wouldn’t be courting a child. 

Faded - Would they let go of you in any way?

It goes without much elaboration that he would be very unwilling to let you go, and would construct circumstances so that it isn’t really possible for you to leave. That being said, one way that he might be forced to relinquish you would be if he grows too weak to keep you and somebody else swoops in to snatch you away. Tolys would vow to retrieve you, but the question would be if that would be feasible in the first place. Time weakens bonds. Out of sight is out of mind. With enough time, his obsession could fade. 

A similar principal would apply if you’d die or successfully escape and evade him for long enough. Though, you would have to avoid detection for a very long time. To him, you would be a source of happiness and purpose, without which he would teeter close to nihilism. As such, he would invest a lot of time and energy in retrieving you. You’d have to serve up another chew toy to keep him busy and keep his mind off of you. 

On that note, he would also be willing to allow you more freedom and time away from him if it is in the name of duty. Perhaps you’ve devoted your life to educating children, or have found your calling as an author and have to bring your scripts to the publishing house every now and then. Anything that is in service to the community and is important will be embraced by him and he’ll enter comprises for you for that sake. Watch out though - any ego-driven endeavours will never receive his blessing, and he would be quick to remove you from them. I.e - that YouTube channel is quickly going to go on permanent hiatus unless you can argue you’re doing it to educate the masses and not for clicks. 

Punishment - How would they proceed if you do something they disapprove of?

He tries to be mild with you, really he does his best to do that. So, his first punishments would be constructed in ways that wouldn’t even register as punishments to either of you. Guilt tripping, gaslighting and neglect - and it would all be played in ways that would leave room for him to claim that he is innocent as a lamb. He would spill tears and roll out sob stories to make you feel guilty for perfectly normal acts, would give statements that would contradict your memories and make you doubt reality, and would leave you to do the chores around the house. In case you two already live in the woods in an isolated cottage, he would offload all the chores on to you as a punishment, and then watch you struggle. When it is just the two of you, like that, he’ll be more bolder and open about his punishments, since there is nobody you can run to, nobody to reprimand him for his less than ethical actions. 

Punishments can also have much more concrete forms, mind you. Such as him giving you something to eat or drink and then telling you it was poisoned. He’d derive schadenfreude from watching the panic unfold, and from listening to your pleas. He’ll squeeze a few concessions out of you, or turn the whole affair into an interrogation, and when he has what he wants, he will reveal it to be a farce. On the rare occasion it might even really be poison, and he’ll wait until the symptoms set in, and let you suffer a bit and then give you the antidote. 

Or he would dress you in armour, and tie you up, and use you for target practice - bow and arrow, crossbow or spear. That, or he would beat you up a bit with a dulled sword. You’d sport some pretty impressive bruising afterwards. 

Aside from that, you would really be dependent on him, and at times he would make that very clear to you through neglecting you. There would be no running water and he would leave the cottage on a hunting trip, or he would lock the shed containing the firewood and leave. Of course, he could go the traditional route and just subject you to solitary confinement for a week or two. The silent treatment would also be an option here. 

Reaction - How would they react to you escaping?

He would be more worried about you than angry, at least a first. Fragile, vulnerable you, stumbling through the forest with all those wild creatures. What if you trip and sprain your ankle? What if you fall down a steep slope and break bones? What if… what if? Constant worries and horror scenarios would be circling around in his head. He would resort to pacing, at some point wearing either the carpet or his shoes through. 

However, he wouldn’t go after you unless you’ve been gone for three days already. You see, the aim of this game would be to teach you a lesson, with the lesson in mind being that you can’t survive without him. Only he would know the way back to human civilization, so you would be lost without him, both in a literal and a metaphorical sense. Soon enough, you would come to realise that and return to him, with you fleeing the quaint shared life no longer being an issue. 

Still, the longer you would be absent, the more worry would morph into anger, with his thoughts about you becoming more dark and malicious with each passing hour. God forbid he would have to go out to retrieve you - any ailments causing you misery would be left untreated, provided that they are not fatal, with him even exacerbating them if he would feel especially wicked. 

That is only talking about how things would be if you are in his complete control. Should you elude him during the courting stage, then he would still view it as an escape. The problem here for him would be that he couldn’t make too much of a ruckus, and he would know this. Maybe he would try stalking you over social media, or tracking you through your phone. Perhaps he has people that would willingly come forth with your whereabouts and doings, or spill the beans with a little encouragement. 

Turnabout - Scenario: You have the upper hand? What would be different from their usual MO?

Not well, not well at all - as mentioned above, he needs to be in control of the relationship for his own personal comfort. You taking the steering wheel in your hands would be a big, fat red line in his books. He would do anything in his power to prevent it, even going as far as to mutilate you and kill people in front of you to get the point across and make you back down. 

Should all that be in vain, then he would resort to malicious disobedience. The tables would also be turned as soon as possible, and he would use every opportunity to make your tenure as his master/mistress as unpleasant as possible. Food would be over-, or undercooked, oversalted or the wrong spices/ingredients would be used. The living quarters would eb half-heartedly cleaned, and any technology that you’d possess would malfunction frequently. To be especially petty, he would take some things you would tell him too literally, and cause problems that way. Perhaps he would be even further, and leave glass shards lying around, or attempt to smother you in your sleep with a pillow. 

Don’t think that removing him from your life would fix this problem, because he would still find ways to harass you. The more you would ignore him, the more extreme his actions would get, ranging from insistent text messages to sending letter bombs and framing you for murder. Tolys would somehow commit all these acts in ways that would ensure that law enforcement wouldn’t convict him, but that you would know it is him. 

Vengeance - What would they do in the face of competition?

Lithuania’s solution is either removing you from the scene or the third party. In the case of the former, he would cook up an excuse to take you away. These could range from more innocent ones like saying he was to talk to you in private to sending you away to a different country to straight up threatening you to make you remove yourself from the scene. It would depend on your willingness to be in a relationship with him and at what stage your relationship is. 

In the case of the latter - either one of two extremes: mild reproachments or physical violence. Leaving it at that there. 

Art doesn't belong to me, nor does the character!

[biomic]

What 2010s Sentai do you think could get a "10 years later" celebration? I honestly think it could be Lupat, since I regularly see Lupat stuff at the top of jp sentai polls

extremely dependent on cast availability more than anything which is impossible to predict, but general vibes at this point in time:

toqger: jun shison and ryusei yokohama are probably too big to get back for sentai these days and im not sure if toqger has the popularity necessary to shill for them the way toei likely had to do to get yamada back for gokai 10, but then again i keep hearing rumblings about boonboomger having toq stuff planned later?? who knows, but really we already had a reunion movie in toq returns so im not sweating it

ninninger: lol. i mean the cast is still very close from what i can tell so they'd probably be down for it but i don't know if toei would go for it since it didn't land critically or financially. they should do it anyway and give me more trans kyuuemon moments

zyuohger: i really can't see this happening if only because leo's actor has been completely off the grid for years now and quit acting entirely. tusk's actor also hasn't really done anything after the show ended and had that whole minor police scandal that killed kyuranger vs zyuohger so i wouldn't hold my breath

kyuranger: this will absolutely happen. they'll get everyone back for it and new gavan will also be there. sakamoto will 100% direct. the worst thing for all of us is that that dipshit subaru kimura will be back to voice whatever new p-bandai bullshit they've got as well as some obnoxious villain and/or side character

lupinranger vs patranger: yeah this'll probably happen. everyone's still acting so far, they all seemed to have enjoyed their time on the show, and it was a hit with fans even if its toys flopped hard. maybe by 2028 they'll let keiichiro and kairi kiss without cutting away (kairi is lgbt in case you haven't heard)

ryusoulger: this will also happen and it will also be directed by sakamoto. canalo will still not have a wife.

[crazylittlejester]

Daily brainrot and today I've got a load of headcanons I've been mulling over because they won't leave me alone.

I know we've all done a college AU at some point in our lives, but I was up at like 3 am last night debating over which academia aesthetic each Link embodies because I may have spent way too much time on the aesthetics wiki recently. Did I procrastinate for an hour to work on this? Yes. I have no regrets. YOLO and all that.

Sky -- Definitely has light academia vibes. The man does not own a single dark piece of clothing, and everything in his closet is very soft and cozy. He double majored in aviation and environmental science, but he's debating transferring over to the biology department to pursue grad studies in ornithology.

Time -- He is not in charge of his own wardrobe, okay? Malon picks out his outfits. They match. It's always something tasteful and neutral with a little bit of color, but nothing that marks him as belonging to academia. He's part of the philosophy department and a strict teacher, but the students all love him because he genuinely wants them to do well and lets them know. Most of his work is writing for philosophy journals when he isn't teaching.

Legend -- Has more of a general/miscellaneous aesthetic that leans hard into gender non-conformity. He takes his work with him everywhere and whenever someone asks about it, it goes completely over their heads because they have no idea what he's talking about. There's an ongoing bet about whether his dissertation is about linguistics, sociology, or both.

Hyrule -- I don't think there's a word for his aesthetic, he just gives off "outdoors creature" vibes so hard. He's a cryptid and rarely in the classroom because he's always out doing field work. The most human contact he has is outreach programs with the environmental science and biology departments. No one knows exactly what his grad work is supposed to be because it's incomprehensible combinations of wildlife photos half the time and the other half the time he's off the grid.

Twilight -- This is what happens when cowboys and gothic academia have a kid. It's really freaking weird, but somehow he makes it work, so nobody questions it. He technically works for the agricultural department doing research and outreach programs, but he also haunts the English department and occasionally teaches 100 level literature classes online. The freshmen like him because he rounds grades up.

Four -- An unholy combination of academia and his unique color coding system. You don't know what you're getting until he shows up. He generally wears neutral stuff, but his socks and ties are color coded, much to everyone's chagrin. He's got multiple projects going at any given time and helps out the other departments when they get stuck on details. He's really cagey about his dissertation, but he practically lives in the science & engineering building, so he can't exactly deny that he's doing something in STEM.

Wind -- He tried being fashionable, but as soon as he decided to major in oceanography he was swept away by ocean academia. The amount of blue clothing he has is frankly horrifying, and Warriors is trying to get him to branch out into less garish shades of gray and stop wearing almost exclusively rubber boots as footwear. It's a work in progress.

Warriors -- I think he'd fall under general or queer academia because he'd be fashionable in a mostly-normal-but-also-queer sort of way. Stylish, and fruity. Definitely prefers autumn/winter because that's peak scarf season. He's the kind of guy who manages to casually slip representation into any curriculum you hand him and makes it look natural. He got an assistantship with the history department because the professors love him.

Wild -- 100% chaotic academia and doesn't even have to try. Everything is a mess, but it's his mess, he knows exactly where everything is, and to be honest it's not a safety hazard, so it's fine. Besides, he dresses appropriately for department events, and he's the only grad student that Flora hasn't scared off. No one actually knows which department he belongs to, but he knows something about everything.

IM SO FUCKING OBSESSED WITH THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA

THESE ARE SO PERFECT AND YOU’RE SO RIGHT ABOUT THEM ALL I LOVE THESE SO MUCH IM SHAKIN EM AROUND LIKE A JAR OF MARBLES

[kichona-s]

LMAO okay but you're absolutely righttttt George in the Racing Miku outfit would be unhinged. Like, the man already radiates ✨ tall, elegant, and just slightly ridiculous ✨ energy, so throw him in that outfit DEVASTATING. I Imagine Lewis just standing there, fully malfunctioning, trying to maintain composure but it's gone. He is like “Nope, Nope. This is it. This is how I die"

And Maybe George catches on to the effect it's having and decides to lean into it just a little. A subtle twirl here, an innocent stretch there, acting completely oblivious but fully aware. Meanwhile, Lewis is suffering. Every time George adjusts a ribbon or smooths the fabric over his (ridiculously long) legs, Lewis is fighting the urge to either leave the room or do something completely unhinged (fuck him right there).

And then George, all causal, throws in a little “Does this look right to you,Lewis?” Just Lewis completely loses it

you basically wrote exactly what was happening in my head. like exactly. bro if you write fic you should fucking do this because the mental image you created was strong enough to give me a half boner in spirit and in truth

imagine theres a miku x f1 collab (i wish.. make the drivers cosplay 2025) and they pick george to be in the miku fit to promo it because lets be so real, out of everyone on the grid i think he has one of the best builds for it (ergo tall and lean and not afraid of showing off the top part of his body via skintight suit)

also george definitely uses that huge ass flag to full effect to tease lewis,,, the sexiest thing is revealing just a bit but not all after all! using it to shield himself give lewis lil glimpses before he bends down and BAM ass OUT legs STRETCHED lewis and mini lewis stand NO CHANCE (they fuck in lewis' drivers room. toto gets scarred for life)

rip to the miku suit that probably costs USD60. irreversibly stained.

[presdestigatto]

I doubt Charles and Max ever could be friends. Both are too competitive and I feel like Max would stop being too nice to Charles once things doesn’t go his way. I know everyone believes it’s Charles who would hate Max again if they start to fight for Championship again but for me it’s Max, he already showed annoyance toward Charles in those moments.

Hey anon! Thanks for sending something in, but damn, prickly topic. I have some time on my hands now so I’m going to go extra in depth with my thoughts on this

It’s quite difficult to speculate on the future state of their relationship, because we’re dealing with a lot of hypotheticals and we quite literally only know what they decide to show us, publicly. For all we know, they could secretly be besties who text every night. Though, I do agree with you (or what you implied) that they aren’t friends on a personal level right now. Honestly, I think they don’t have much in common beyond racing, if you look at their friends and their passions outside of motorsport. But then again, racing is and has always been a huge part of who they are, it is pretty much the core of who they are right now, and as drivers, Max&Charles are very similar. So outside of racing I don’t think they interact much, but within racing I see their relationship as two people who vibrate on the same wavelength. And that produces, yk, the Maxsplaining and Leclerifying.

As for whether there will be hatred between them if they have a tense title fight, I tend towards not at all, or not to a level that destroys their relationship as friendly colleagues. First, the stakes going into 2024 are simply not equal. If this were Charles and Max fighting for their first title, and only one of them could get it, I would place my bets on a Lestappen downfall. I do agree with you that both of them are crazily competitive, but Max has already won… trice. I’m not saying that this means he doesn’t want to win anymore, but he quite literally doesn’t have much to prove left. He’s just had the most dominant season in the history of the sport, the next step up would be like a complete win whitewash and I’d actually quit watching f1 forever if that happens. I don’t feel that Max is the sort of driver who’s aiming to break records for WDCs held, and I’m basing this off his comments about retirement and being bored at the front this season. From what I’ve seen, Max is a racing nerd. To him, the thrills are just as important as the accolades and that’s significant because he’s already collected a bucketload of accolades. And so I don’t think a 3 time WDC Max would resent Charles for giving him a close title fight. I also feel that from his comments in interviews about acknowledging that “everyone can be stopped”, his ego isn’t as large as some people make it out to be. But I also can’t really think of any recent instances of Max showing irritation towards Charles apart from on the radio in Vegas 23, and the overall race proved that Max does enjoy Charles taking the challenge to him. It’s probably because I don’t follow Max too closely, so feel free to update me haha.

As for whether Max would U-turn on his love-peace-Charles agenda if Charles presented a real title fight to him, ignoring my somewhat shallow Max knowledge, I’d point to Bahrain 2022 as an example that Max isn’t that insecure. It was the first race of the season, the Red Bulls DNFed, Charles won, but they were still all smiles and Max even took the initiative to come up to Charles to chat (on live tv). This ties back to the point above, that the stakes for Max aren’t as high anymore so we see less Mad Max. I’d also add that Max has been very consistent in showing that he sincerely admires Charles’ skill as a driver, I’d go as far as to say that Max respects Charles the most in the current grid. I’m pretty sure you can pick any year from 2018-2023 and Max has done at least one interview in which he praises Charles’ talent. And this brings me to what Max said in 2018 predicting that he and Charles will be “like Hamilton and Vettel, fighting for titles in the future”, which aptly illustrates how Max&Charles are, in my opinion, the most prepared to have a tense title fight without developing personal grudges. People like calling them the reverse Brocedes, I can certainly see it. Circling back to the very first point about them not being friends, they have always been rivals first. They’ve had over a decade of experience going into races and championships and seeing the other as “Max/Charles, who I have to beat”. They’re competitors with a healthy amount of hard-earned respect for each other, and I do believe them when they say that they’ve matured beyond petty rivalries. That is basically the tl;dr of this very long thing.

I don’t see why Charles, who is going into 2024 with the awareness that he’ll have to beat Max to win the WDC, would become resentful of Max in the process. Likewise, I don’t think Max, who has already proven himself, would be mad that his childhood rival who he rates very highly, beat him to a title. I think it’s important that they aren’t friends, as you said, because then there are no expectations or trust to betray and their professional relationship can be maintained.

The only scenarios I see happening where they fall out because of the title fight are if 1) either one of them decides to drive dirty and the FIA turns a blind eye (haha.) 2) they magically regress into their 15 year old selves and Charles shoves Max into the marina in Abu Dhabi in Val D’Argenton 2.0

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON THE POWER RANGERS COMICS: Billy broke the Grid in a fit of hubris and has now dedicated the rest of his life to repairing it. With this mission he'll - wait, what? the 2016 series is done? This is an entirely new continuity and unrelated story?

Well. Okay then.

You guys voted for it, so here it is - the first of my Power Rangers Prime recaps! So for the most part this new ongoing series is still the source of a lot of speculation. They keep hyping it up as PR's answer to Marvel's Ultimate or DC's Absolute series, as an alternate take on the franchise and characters, and my thoughts on that are........mixed. But putting that aside, the nature of it means we don't really know what is being planned for this or what exactly this will contribute to the franchise overall. We're in completely uncharted territory, and that's both a good thing....and a bad thing.

It's Power Rangers Prime #1!

= So true Rita now go [REDACTED] Elon Musk. oops, spoilers

= omg yay we're gonna see that altered Samurai suit that the covers won't stop showing off a

= oh wait nvm

Mark: there's a baby in this dumpster

= you know before the issue dropped I kept calling Jun a hybrid based on his name and hair but in the issue proper the implication just seems to be he's pure Eltarian (We only see his Eltarian mother, but Valentina mentions having to teach Jun human customs like traffic lights). Other Eltarians in this issue have non-Z names so I think that's just the book choosing to ditch that element of the 2016 Eltarians (which is a very good thing btw) but Jun's the only one with hair (not counting the few beards we see), so I don't know what's up with that. When are we going to hear the Eltarian hair lore

= Nice propaganda Jun did your MOM teach you that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes because political agendas are a cycle)

= If you know me you know I talk down Melissa's romances a lot and unfortunately this intro for Ryan/Valentina has already given me a bad first impression lol

I won't go further because again, first issue, want to be fair, etc. but I legit groaned out loud at the whole "I'M the scary one, I'M the one who taught him the cool moves >:)" dialogue. It's bad enough that Valentina's character introduction boils down to "girlfriend of Ryan and friend of Jun" but her only other bit of characterization is "whoa, the GIRL is the tough fighter who can beat up the boys"? It's tired at this point, I'm sorry. It's low-hanging fruit for a Power Rangers character to know how to fight. I don't care if she's a good fighter if she doesn't have an actual like. greater role beyond a romance. Ryan doesn't get a lot of screentime in this issue either but he does get established as part of the VR Troopers at the very least so we at least know how he'll impact the story, but Valentina literally has nothing beyond her attachments to guys. I hope that gets fixed in later issues, but after what happened to Aisha in Darkest Hour, I'm cynical. Anyway I better move on before I start ranting about how the women were treated in Darkest Hour again.

(also was Kaitlin not Ryan's love interest in VR Troopers or........)

= you need to lay off the comic books, seriously

= So as no one can shut up about right now: the VR Troopers are in this series. And yeah yeah that's really cool and all I guess, but as someone who's never seen the show, I'm genuinely surprised no one is asking......isn't VR Troopers' whole thing that they get their powers and stuff from a digital dimension? aka VIRTUAL REALITY Troopers? Is that going to be the case here? I mean, I guess it must since they're still called VR Troopers, but it just seems kinda out there for this specific use for them. Watch the VR stand for something like.......Velocity Range Troopers or whatever, something more military-esque.

Also going off that these guys are clearly being set up as antagonists (or at the very least foils to the Rangers) and I don't know why more people aren't picking up on that.

= Melissa I'm gonna need you to look me in the eye: DO NOT. HOOK UP. LAUREN AND ORION. PLEASE resist your instinct to hook up every girl Ranger that makes eye contact with a guy and DO NOT HOOK UP LAUREN AND ORION. There's already too many blond white people in this book we don't need them to make more

Orion: your ancestors are from feudal Japan? Then why are you wh

Lauren: please don't ask me why I'm white.

= ah yes, the well-documented 1954 iPhone

= Selena it should have been you.