#thought if i had the interview anyways why not translate it

[gayferrari]

can you share about the interview with jules bianchi's dad and what he says?

It was an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the article is paywalled. I started typing up a tldr but I couldn't do it justice with a summary so here's a full translation. It goes into some details about Jules's crash and the aftermath, so broad cws for that, but there's a lot more. He talks about their foundation, about Jules as a kid, and a bit about the Leclercs. The second half is very sweet

Note: I translated literally. Italian as a language can be more flowery than English, so if some sections feel a bit melodramatic in English, that's why; I'd rather sound a bit off than take creative liberties with the content

Q: Where were you on the day of your son's accident?

“I was home, watching the race on TV. The day before Jules had told me that the race would probably not go ahead because of bad weather conditions, but when I woke up on Sunday I saw that they had decided to race anyway. I saw the crash live but from the broadcast, it wasn't clear what had happened. But I couldn't see Jules, I didn't understand where he was. When I saw that one of the marshalls was holding a piece of the car that had crashed, and it was a piece of my son's car, I understood that something tragic had happened.”

Q: Did you leave for Japan right away?

“I tried to phone everyone, but nobody would pick up. After half an hour Nicolas Todt, Jules's manager, called me and asked me to come. He said: ‘You have to come here, he might not make it’, so Jules's mother and I left immediately for Suzuka”.

Q: Did you understand immediately how serious it was?

 “At first we hoped for a miracle. When we saw him, he was handsome, he hardly had any marks, he looked like he was asleep. He was always a strong boy, somebody who never quit, so at first we thought he could recover.”

Q: Then the months passed... 

 “He was moved to Nice and every day we told him to fight, to stay with us, to hold on and recover. At some point, though, we understood that even if he woke up, it wouldn't be easy: the doctors told us that he would probably remain paralysed, blind, and many other things. One day, even we stopped asking him to fight and started to reassure him [instead], we said: 'Alright Jules, you can go, don't worry because we will see you again' and eventually he left us.”

Q: Has Jules's accident truly changed the safety standards in F1, do you think?

 “Yes, I am sure of that. One of the things that gave [the most] strength to our family after such a tragedy was knowing that Jules didn't die for nothing. Nowadays in F1 the safety car is called much more often, after Jules's passing the virtual safety car was introduced, and often there are red flags in situations where it would never have been called before. Moreover, the halo was added to the cars, a protection that has already saved many lives, I am sure. This gives us some peace.”

Q: Ten years after the crash, where do you find this strength?

“In the knowledge that no one wanted Jules’s death. It is true that mistakes were made, but that is life, and nothing would give me back my son regardless. When we go to races or when we organise events for our foundation, we feel the fondness that people have for us and Jules, and it’s what makes us go on. The past cannot be changed.”

Q: What does the Jules Bianchi Foundation do?

“We raise funds for the hospital in Nice where Jules was hospitalised for many months [the CHU — Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice]. With the money we raise, we buy treatment equipment and instruments, we try to do something useful. When his commitments allow him to come, Charles (Leclerc) never misses an event, he does it to be with us and help us raise funds”.

Q: You and Leclerc have a very strong relationship. Where does it come from?

“Charles’s dad Hervé was my best friend. We were always together and I was the one to put Charles on a kart for the first time: he was very small and pretended to be sick to skip school and come with his father to us, to the kart track in Brignoles. Jules was older but Charles was quite close to him, he always asked Jules for advice. Then I lost my son and he lost his dad but this didn't separate us, on the contrary, it brought us even closer. And every now and then when I look at Charles, he reminds me of my son”.

Q: Many people say [Jules and Charles] look alike. Were they similar in character as well?

“They both had the same obsession with racing. It was more than a passion, they just wanted to race and win. A true vocation. Charles sometimes would want to go to sleep in his racing suit, we told him to take it off and go brush his teeth, but he wanted to stay in his suit at all costs. Jules was the same. I remember I once told Jules he should focus more on school and less on racing and he called me crazy: ‘No, Dad, I just want to race’. Then they had the same competitive mean streak in their eyes when they put their helmets on, an incredible [resemblance].”

Q: Leclerc also gave you a very special helmet this year.

“We actually did a swap. When I saw the helmet Charles had made in honour of Jules for the Suzuka Grand Prix this year, I asked him to give it to me and I wanted to give him a Formula 1 helmet that belonged to my son. We don’t usually give Jules’s helmets to anyone but Charles had to have one and when we gave it to him he was overjoyed. He does so much for us, it was right that he should have it”.

Q: Everyone knows of Bianchi the driver, but what kind of boy was your son off the track?

“A good boy, that is what made me the most proud of him. He was always a very strong driver but off the track he was sweet, sensitive and smiled with everyone. Everyone who knew him couldn’t help but love him”.

Q: When did Jules start karting?

“At three years old, very early. I managed a kart track so he had the chance to start when he was very little, he liked it a lot.”

Q: And when did you realize that he had something special?

“To me, he was always very good, but as a father, it’s normal to think that. I thought he was stronger than the other kids but I thought it might be just experience and extra training because he had started so early. When they first started calling us about contracts I realised that maybe he really had something special”.

Q: Then Ferrari came into your life.

“We had been followed by Nicolas Todt as Jules’s manager for some time, and at the end of 2009 came the big opportunity to drive a Ferrari F60 on the track in Jerez, for a test open to young drivers. Jules went very fast straight away and everyone was impressed by his talent and his ability to adapt to the car. I remember that on the return trip I was with Andrea Stella, who had been Jules’s engineer for the test, and he said to me: 'You can tell me, Jules had already tried a Formula 1 car before today, right?'. But he had never done it, he was simply very good.”

Q: How exciting was it for you to see him dressed in red?

“My son was the first driver in the Ferrari Driver Academy and it was a dream come true for everyone, especially for him. He was really proud to wear the Ferrari colours.”

Q: Were you the ones who facilitated a connection between Leclerc and Nicolas Todt?

“Charles’s father had told me that his son’s career was becoming too expensive and so I called Nicolas, telling him that in all those years I had never recommended him any kid to take on [as a manager] even though I saw so many of them pass through our karting track, but he absolutely had to give this kid a chance because he had something extra. I remember that we organized a meeting and Charles and his father showed up dressed very elegantly, it looked like they were going to a wedding. Then they reached an agreement and I was happy because Hervé and I, we always said we had a dream for our children…”

Q: What was this dream?

“To see them race together in Formula 1, maybe even in Ferrari. One a little older, the other younger, but together.”

[lucyandalexiafan]

Could you write something where Alexia is obsessed with the reader boobs please

Movie night | Alexia Putellas x reader

I wrote this few days ago and I find now the time to post it🫠. I don't know if you wanted a more smut work, but the result was something really fluff and cute; I don't know why but it came out so sweet, even though the initial idea was something more sexual. Maybe it's because of all the tweets and TikToks that make me watch thousand times the interview she did for the top 11 and I keep hearing 'thank you' and 'Are you a Manchester City fan', which make her seem so cute; or maybe because I'm feeling so single ahah.

Anyway, I'm sorry if you wanted something more smut and less cute, and thank you for the request!

Do not copy, translate or claim my works and fics as your own; if I find out I will report them and block you. Instead, write to me, my directs are always open, and ask me if you can publish your work/fic inspired by one of mine. However, you can reblog them!

I bite my lip trying to hold back a moan.

Ale's hands on my breasts, her fingers caressing and playing with my nipples.

It had all started very innocently.

Since this morning Ale had been very clingy, very physical.

As soon as the alarm went off she pulled me tighter into her embrace, her hands squeezing my chest, muttering jokingly about how 'I don't love her enough' as I wanted to get up, then kissing my neck just below my hairline every time I stayed a few minutes longer in bed with her.

After almost being arrived late at the training, she tried to be paired with me during both the gym and athletic training, finding every time an excuse to touch me.

Her hands had always been on my thigh, arm or hand at lunch.

It was as if she had an extreme need for physical contact, to touch me, but not necessarily sexually.

On the way home we stopped at the restaurant near our house, my favorite Chinese restaurant, and Ale took there our takeaway dinner that she had ordered while she was waiting for me at the end of the second training session. She composed it with my favorite dishes.

We went into our apartment and had dinner on the sofa laughing in front of a stupid American talk show (even though she seemed to understand one word in ten and only laughed when I laughed).

Once we ended our dinner, Ale asked me to watch a film, one of my favorite dark academia films, and I agreed; so, she helped me to clean the table in front of the sofa and the dishes and we lay down on the sofa.

After a few minutes from the start, she lay between my legs, her head on my chest and her hands at her sides. The position itself wasn't uncomfortable, my back was resting against the couch and my head was on a pillow turned towards the television, my hands caressing her back.

I felt her body relax second by second, the tension from the training slowly flowing out of her body. Every now and then she let out a few moans or gasps, but nothing overly sexual.

About a quarter of the way through the movie, she had moved a little lower, her navel touching my inner thigh, her right temple against my sternum; her hands had started to caress my torso under my shirt, to lightly scratch my hips.

The contact had given me shivers, her cold fingers tracing light circles with her nails.

“I thought you wanted to see the movie amor,” I say, chuckling.

She moans into my chest, her hands gripping the edges of my shirt.

I lift her torso, allowing her to push it over my breasts, braless.

Ale she starts kissing my skin, leaving endless little kisses on my boobs, she draws wet paths that connect one nipple to the other.

Her fingers squeeze my breast in a light grip, playing with my nipples.

"What happened Ale? - she looks at me confused - You are so physical"

"Since when I can be more physical with you? - she asks smiling - I love your boobs so much amor" she says assorted while she squeezes them with her hands.

I gasp, seeking contact with her, and grip her hair between my fingers.

My neck arches back when she bites my right nipple.

She grins against my sternum.

She runs her nipples between her fingers.

"Your boobs are so sensitive - she gasps and then kisses a nipple - That's one of the reasons why I love them… I just need to touch your nipples and you're soaked for me" she whispers absorbedly while she kisses them.

"Only for you, amor - I moan - only for you"

Ale smiles satisfied.

She bends down and kisses a patch of skin just below her nipple. She sucks it, leaving a clear purple mark on me, releasing it with a dull sound.

"When you're really horny you can have an orgasm just by me playing with your nipples - she bites my right one, passing it between her teeth and making me moan- It's never happened to me before, but it's so… so-"

I gasp when her fingers squeeze a nipple tighter, too tight.

My hand shoots out and grabs her wrist, not knowing if I want to stop her or ask her to do it again. Ale bends down to kiss the fingers surrounding her wrist, leaving small sweet kisses on my skin while she whispers to me that she's sorry.

I arch my back towards her asking her to touch me, to keep touching me.

“They're so soft – she whispers as she leaves a hickey on my other tit – and just the right size for my hands.”

I bite her lip looking at her.

She raises an eyebrow.

"Are you saying they are big? - She looks at me confused - Alexia, I've never had a girlfriend with bigger hands and longer fingers than yours"

She opens her mouth wide in offense, her eyebrows raised dangerously, while the sides of her mouth turn up in a smile.

Then, suddenly, she lowers herself towards my breast, biting it.

I groan in surprise.

It's not a painful bite, but it will leave a mark.

She smiles satisfied as she watches it.

"Looking at how you ask me to fuck you with my long fingers I wouldn't say it bothers you" she replies in a mock offended tone.

The tongue touching the edges of the bite.

I turn my head towards the couch, trying to avoid her gaze, my embarrassment clear from the color of my cheeks.

"Ale…" I gasp, not knowing exactly what he wants.

"Keep watching the movie, amor" she tells me, her voice betraying a trace of excitement, before resting her head on my sternum.

Her hand continues to play with my breast, the one towards the television, playing with the nipple, running it between his fingers, pulling it towards her.

[ily-fictional-women]

Bloody but Beautiful

Summary: The night can bring in many dangers, many monsters, and many realizations. 

Pairing: vampire!Kate Bishop x fem!reader

Warnings: Talks of blood, minor implications of abuse, and a small dash of spice

Word count: 1448

a/n: Been gone for a long time lol. Was at a mental health low, got good, had my birthday, and got broken up with. Anyways, I’ve been obsessed with Interview with a Vampire so ya’ll are getting a vampire au! (Reblogs are welcome and critiques/advice are heavily encouraged, but please no translating.) 

Kate stands at the top of the rooftop listening for any type of commotion. But the thumping hearts coursing with rich red blood are too distracting. It’s been over a month since she treated herself to any good blood. Animal blood works. But it can only keep the urges down for so long. Tonight is the night, she's sure of it. 

Or, that is until she smells a familiar scent. “What are you doing here Y/n?” Y/n lets out a dramatic groan before laughing a little, “I swear Kate, I’m gonna be able to jumpscare you eventually.” Kate keeps her view on the city, “You are welcome to try. Again though, why are you here Y/n?” 

Y/n moves closer to Kate, wrapping her arms around her neck from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder, “Before Clint left he emphasized it was good to not go on patrol by yourself. And you weren’t at your apartment.” She’s too close Kate thinks to herself. 

It’d be so easy to do a quick turn and take a drink from her pretty neck. But her phone buzzes with a police alert before she can give too much thought to the idea of draining one of her closest friends. Y/n moves her gaze to Kate’s phone, “What is it?” 

“Hostage situation not too far from here, the tracksuit mafia is holding a few girls. Did you bring your knives?” Y/n lets go of Kate quickly flashing one of her many daggers with a grin, “Did you bring enough arrows?” Kate rolls her eyes at the tease, “Always.” 

//

Y/n takes out an electric arrow drawing it back and releasing it to take one of the guards at the front entrance. “That should be the last one on the outside, you ready to go in?” Y/n gives her an affirming nod. Kate takes another arrow shooting it to create a zip-line. 

Making it across the way the two observe the scene through the glass rooftop. If it weren’t for Y/n being here this could be quick for Kate. She could use her strength to easily knock out all the men. Then used her speed to bring the girls to safety, leaving her enough time to drain at least three of the men and dispose of the bodies before any police would find the girls safe. 

But, she also does love a challenge. “Looks like there’s about seven of them on the inside, three with guns all aimed at the girls. Four with bats or crowbars. How do you want to do this Kate?” 

“I’ll use a few of my smoke arrows giving us enough time to get in. You take out the ones without guns with your knives, I’ll use my arrows to get the ones with guns. But I’ll need you to get the girls out of there before I tie them up just in case one of them gets up. Just in case any backup arrives.” 

Y/n looks at Kate with slight concern, “Are you sure you can handle them all?” Kate grins assuringly, “I’ll be fine, are you ready?” With Y/n nodding Kate breaks the glass of the rooftop the sound already triggering the tracksuit mafia to look up. Quickly shooting a few smoke arrows though and their vision is compromised. 

Y/n drops down first based on the memory of where each man was she throws her first knife in the direction of a man with a crown bar. Hearing a loud yelp once the knife made contact she ran in the direction being able to see him from behind she put him in a chokehold long enough for him to pass out. 

With Y/n now occupied Kate aims from the rooftop as the smoke starts to clear. Before the men can start shooting she draws her arrow making sure to not aim at any lethal areas for the men. She shoots two in the shoulder with tranquilizer arrows. Then the last in the foot with a glue trap arrow. Using another arrow to knock the gun out of his hand. 

As the smoke fully clears Y/n looks up at Kate as she begins to untie the girls, “Everyone’s out like a little kid. You can come down.” Making her way down Kate gives Y/n a serious look as she unties the last girl, “You should go right now. They probably already called for backup. Get them as far away as possible, okay?” 

Y/n hesitates for a moment, “Fine.” As she leaves with the girls Kate knocks out the man she stuck with the glue trap. Beginning to pile them up so it would be easier to tie them together Kate pulls out a knife from one of the men Y/n took down licking the blood clean off of it. 

The rich taste was definitely something incomparable to animal blood. She can feel her fangs start to slip out, but she manages to control herself tying up the rest. Making her way outside she hears some yelling in a nearby alleyway. Taking a quick peek she sees a man yelling at a woman. Then he slaps her.

Wasting no time Kate uses her speed to take the woman a few blocks away noticing bruises all over her. Some old. Some new. Making her way back to the man before he could even notice the woman was gone she used her strength to toss him so hard into a nearby dumpster it leaves a dent in it.

She picks the man up by the jaw lifting him to his feet. He groans in pain, “What the fuck are you.” Kate slams him down on the ground, “Someone just trying to good. You on the other hand. You’re a monster.” She draws out her fangs, “I don’t like monsters.” Lifting him up again she sinks her teeth into his neck sucking out his blood, draining him dry. 

As she drops the man feeling satisfied she looks up to see Y/n her mouth agape. Panic immediately rises in Kate, “Y/n I- I can explain. Just don’t-” Y/n cuts her off. “You’re beautiful.” Y/n looks at Kate admiringly. Covered in blood, the moonlight giving it a slight shine. Y/n repeats again moving closer to Kate resting a hand on her bloodied cheek, “You are beautiful.”

Kate leans into Y/n’s touch, “You’re not scared?” Y/n leans closer to Kate her lips only a breath away from hers. “How could I be afraid of a beauty like yours?” Kate closes the space between them the kiss slick with blood. As things became more heated Kate pulls away looking at Y/n, her lips now tinted with red. 

“So you knew? And you don’t care?” Y/n wraps her arms around Kate once more, “No I don’t care, and I assumed you were either a vampire or a narcoleptic recluse with a hobby of archery.” 

Kate giggles kissing Y/n again, pulling away for a breath Y/n smiles. “How about we clean this up,” she gestures to the man on the ground, “then you take me back to your apartment.” 

“Deal.” 

//

Tossing their gear on the floor not wasting any time getting into the apartment Kate pushes Y/n against the entrance door kissing her like she needed it live. As Y/n’s hands move to grip at Kate’s waist Kate's hands wander up to the zipper of Y/n’s jumpsuit. 

Tying the top half around her waist her sports bra exposed, but more importantly, her neck exposed. Y/n pushed Kate away for a moment, guiding her to sit down on the couch. As Kate sits she watches as Y/n takes a seat on her lap. She rests her hand on Kate's cheek again lightly brushing her thumb.

“You can take a small drink, if you want.” Kate squits her eyes for a second, “You trust me enough for that?” Y/n nods and Kate begins kissing her again. But slower this time, as her hands move across Y/n’s body she moves her lip’s attention from Y/n’s lips to her cheek, then her jaw, but as she reaches her neck she pauses. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I’m sure.” At the confirmation, Y/n can feel Kate’s fangs slowly enter her neck. The feeling causes a sense of excitement to swell inside her. This blood was different for Kate though, it was so much better. Blood always tasted good, but blood with lust– no. Love, rushing through it. It’s a rich delicacy. A delicacy Kate could get used to. 

[mxtxfanatic]

Hi! If you don't mind me asking:

What does mxtx says about jc's character? Like some jc stans claim that she has said he has a knife tounge and tofu heart, (I don't believe it still) is it true? I don't know where to find her interviews, so I asked you instead:)

Thank you 💕

MXTX speaks on Jiang Cheng’s character in two places that I know: the old version of the postscript of the novel (absent from the official 7seas release) and an interview from before she left socials.

In the postscript, she only has this to say about Jiang Cheng:

Everyone should know what Jiang Cheng’s keyword is without me saying it. In the beginning, I thought with with XY’s [Xue Yang] existence, Jiang Cheng’s negative energy would definitely seem skimpy. Who knew he became the ultimate superstar of the comment section? Compared to him, XY was almost a poor, has-been idol. Only now and then would someone decide to drag him out again. Of course, in the end, under the combined PDA attacks of WWX and LWJ, the past and present superstars were obliterated.

And in this interview, she goes more in-depth. Sidenote: while I appreciate the interview for what it, I do not appreciate the ways in which they insert their own opinions about how they think MXTX should feel about Jiang Cheng into the actual interview commentary, and it shows how much of a bias even the interviewer had towards his character to have asked so many leading questions in an attempt to get a positive response out of her about him.

Anyways, here's some expansion by @jiangwanyinscatmom on the nuance of what mxtx meant by “not heinous/evil” that was lost in translation here and some more re-translation (still of the same interview as above):

墨香铜臭：本性不是特别坏，但是有人要讨厌他的话，那也没办法。因为你讨不讨厌一个人，也是……也是自己的问题。

He is not a 坏 (basically spoiled broken, corrupt) person by nature, but if someone wants to dislike him, there is nothing I can do about it. Because whether you dislike someone or not is also... your own choice.

MXTX's answer about why Jiang Cheng never could marry and how she sees him as a character (parenthesis section for jiangwanyinscatmom's own translation notes):

墨香铜臭：就性格比较差劲吧，谈了几个，吹了。 (He just has an 差劲 (average/lame/disappointing, let down) temperament, he dated several times but they were all failures) 墨香铜臭：我眼中的江澄……我眼中的江澄，就……其实没怎么样，我写文还是比较客观的。我看他……我看他就、就像是在看一个作品。 女主持：如果让大大本人来介绍江澄这个人的话，你会怎么介绍他？ 墨香铜臭：我觉得他是一个负能量比较……重……的人。 女主持：这么简单吗？ 墨香铜臭：对，负能量比较重，但是也不是个、也不是个十恶不赦的人吧。对。 MXTX: In my eyes, Jiang Cheng... In my eyes, Jiang Cheng is... Actually, it's nothing special. I am relatively objective when writing. When I look at him... When I look at him, it's like looking at a work of art. Female host: If you were to introduce Jiang Cheng, how would you introduce him? MXTX: I think he is a person with a lot of negative energy... Female host: Is it that simple? MXTX: Yes, he has a lot of negative energy, but he is not a heinous person. Yes.

In short: MXTX describes Jiang Cheng as a character that is filled with negativity and unable to date, but he is not inherently evil nor to the point of being irredeemable. He is a product of the story and fulfills the role he was created to fulfill in the plot. He's not a good person, not overtly and not secretly. That's it.

[ladyluscinia]

What Exactly Did David Jenkins Say?

Look, I'm still staunchly of the opinion that Word of God statements and creator interviews are overvalued in fandom, especially when they get pulled out mostly as gotchas without then continuing to analyze whether or not the show canon is successful at getting across that same message. Death of the Author is good, actually, and we should remember that. But they are worth looking at in the context of evaluating intent vs execution, and for future speculation - just, like, please with less of the whole mile high pedestal idolizing and backlash cycles.

But if overvalued "Word of God" is annoying, then overvalued "supposed creator statements that have gone through three rounds of telephone and any given blogger has only heard about a quarter of them, which they'll use confidently anyway" is worse. So, since I'd already looked up interviews for various reasons...

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of interviews David Jenkins has given and statements he's made during them, presented without commentary (save curating which statements get highlighted). All provided with links. I definitely missed some, so if you have any that you want to add, please do - though if you could trim off any commentary and save it for tags / your own post with a link that would be cool.

Also, again, just because he said it doesn't make it incontrovertible canon that only a blind person wouldn't understand. Some of these even arguably contradict each other. The creator's intent doesn't always translate to what the show is doing, nor do you even have to think it was a good idea.

(Listed in chronological order from oldest to newest - post contains spoilers below the cut)

Pre-S1

Gizmodo - Feb 22, 2022 - with Cheryl Eddy (io9) - Link

Why this story - Really, it was the enigma of Stede that drew him in. "I think actual pirate stuff is fine, but it's not necessarily my cup of tea. And I think Taika [Waititi] felt similarly. But hearing about this guy and reading about him and seeing that, you know, he left his family, then he met Blackbeard, they hit it off, and we don't know any of the details in between. So filling those blanks in, and having a very human story, and then being able to do it with the pirate genre, that was like, 'Oh, this would be cool.'"

Post 1x01 - 1x03

Polygon - March 5, 2022 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

About Stede running off to sea - "Stede thought he could outrun his baggage, and you can't outrun your baggage."

About S1 - "I don't think there was enough improv on set! We had an insane schedule, with a huge amount of plot. We were budgeted and designed as a one-hour show, but with a half-hour production schedule, which means we really had to chase these episodes to get them shot. And then there are certain emotional beats that we really needed. So trying to find places to find the fun was hard."

Mashable - Mar 5, 2022 - with Belen Edwards - Link

About the show concept - "It was Jenkins' wife who first told him about Stede's adventures; she thought it would make a good TV show."

On casting Rhys Darby - "Stede did a terrible thing to his family. If you cast it wrong, he's a very hard character to get behind," Jenkins said. "Very quickly, the only person I thought of for this was Rhys [Darby]. He has this childlike quality that's endearing."

About the story - "Seeing them discover a need for each other that neither anticipated and charting how that relationship goes is the meat of the story." + "If you're on this ship, you're running from something, and you're running to something that you can't be on land"

Mentions of matelotage - "In fact, one of Jenkins's favorite pirate facts that he learned while working on Our Flag Means Death was the term matelotage, which was a civil union between same-sex pirates. "The more you look at it," he explained, "the more you write to the fact that this is a queer-positive world.""

Discussing piracy careers - "Something else that astounded Jenkins about pirates was "just how fast it all moved — their lives were quite short," he said. "Your career [in piracy] wasn't very long.""

Post 1x09 - 1x10

Decider - Mar 24, 2022 - with Kayla Cobb - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

Pitch for the show - "That was in the pitch," series creator David Jenkins told Decider. "That was the reason, to make them fall in love with each other."

About the romance - "The main thing to me was to side-step coming out," Jenkins continued. "I just want a romance. I want a Titanic romance between these two people. We don't have to do the coming out story and then the non-binary story for Jim [Vico Ortiz]."

About S2 and the show - "The show is the relationship," Jenkins said. "So, we end in a place where there is this breakup. What happens after a breakup between these two people who, one’s realized he's in love and the other one is hurt in a way that he's never been hurt before? What does that do to each of them in an action, pirate world with them trying to find each other again? So again, I really love those rom-com beats."

Collider - Mar 24, 2022 - with Carly Lane - Link

On making it a romcom - "It's the only reason to make the show. If you didn't do that, it would just be weird. I mean, you're using the rom-com beats. You're using these like they're together. And it's funny because so we're so habituated to be like bromance, bromance, bromance, and it's such a simple move to put them together."

Discusses focusing on romance - "I guess I really... I get kind of bored. How much pirate can you do? They're going to rob stuff. They're going to steal ships. There's only so many pirate stories you can do. So if you're going to do a workplace story, I mean, you're essentially having this... You'd have this same amount of relationships in Grey's Anatomy in the ER. So it's standard. It's the most standard. We're making a soap opera on a pirate ship, and to use those soap opera beats... I like it, and I like the flavor in a comedy when you have something that's played genuinely up against very ridiculous things."

Discusses history and kissing scene

Discusses importance of going home to Mary - "Yeah, that was the problem for me in the story. I knew that I wanted to have the end where he goes home, because you need to give Mary her day in court. I just wanted to know from Mary's perspective what happened and then to see that, yeah, they're friends."

Is Lucius dead? - "You got to wait."

EW.com - Mar 25, 2022 - with Devan Coggan - Link

David Jenkins, Taika Waititi, and Rhys Darby interview

Pitch for the show - "To me, [Stede and Blackbeard's relationship] is the reason to make the show," Jenkins explains. "When Taika and I were first talking about it, he was like, 'Oh yeah, that's the show.' I first started reading about Stede and how he befriended Blackbeard and we don't know why. Very quickly, it was like, 'Oh, it's a romance.'"

Polygon - Mar 25, 2022 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discusses 3-season intent - "I think three seasons is good. I think we could do it in three."

Discusses acts within S1 - "To me, when you see him get stabbed, and the blood runs through his fingers, it’s like 'Oh, no, the clown got stabbed! And not comedy-stabbed, he got stabbed stabbed!' That to me is cool. And then having Blackbeard find him as the end of what would be the first act of our story felt good to me."

Discusses kiss scene filming and the national moment around gay rights

What to focus on a rewatch - "I think Con O'Neill does such a great job. He's such a complex character, and it's such a tortured relationship. And that's a love story too, between him and Blackbeard. It's a very dysfunctional story, but it's fun to watch. Watch that maybe, on a rewatch, looking where their relationship ultimately goes."

TV Insider - Mar 25, 2022 - with Meaghan Darwish - Link

Discusses show pitch - "When I was pitching [the show] to people, I'd be like, 'Okay, so it's about Stede and Blackbeard, and then they hit it off and then they fall in love.' And then people are like, 'Okay, cool,' Jenkins shares. "And then they really fall in love, and become intimately involved."

Discusses historical inspiration

Discusses S2 direction - "But when [Stede] goes to find [Blackbeard], he's gone and his crew's been abandoned. And so watching them try to negotiate that, that's a good rom-com beat," he adds.

The Verge - Apr 15, 2022 - with Charles Pulliam-Moore - Link

Discusses being surprised by queerbaiting legacy - "...part of me knew that, yes, Stede and Ed's romance was going to be real. But one part of me felt like, 'We're going to do this story, and they're going to kiss, and maybe that's not even going to be that big a deal. Maybe it'll just be a blip.'"

Discusses writing romance - "I'd never written a romance before this one, but I think with Ed and Stede, the question's always 'what's the need for each other?'"

Discusses falling in love and Stede's accidental seduction - "It made sense to have that love be almost like a teenage version of falling in love — one with all these intense and conflicting feelings. They're middle-aged, but Stede's young. Ed's young. Emotionally, they're like 16, and they've both got a lot to learn."

Discusses Con O'Neill as Izzy - "He plays an exhausted quality that's really lovely because this character could just be generically evil, and the way Con plays, it is like, he's credible. I believe that he can do some damage if he wanted to. My favorite thing I've seen about the show is somebody saying that Con's playing the only human with a bunch of Muppets. It does feel like that a bit where he's like Charles Grodin in The Great Muppet Caper."

On Izzy being in love with Blackbeard - "I think Izzy's deeply in love with Blackbeard, and it's a very dysfunctional kind of love, and he's like the jilted spouse who's losing his man to fucking Stede Bonnet, and he can't believe this is happening."

Discusses masculinity and piracy as an escape from that

Discusses diversity and trauma based stories - "And the consensus in that very diverse room was that we wanted to show that isn't just wallowing in trauma. We don't have to do a coming out scene or focusing on the trauma of it — not to say that those stories aren’t valid."

Gizmodo - Jun 20, 2022 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Musing on fandom response to the show - "I'm wondering if the fact that because the queerness of this show isn't gaslighting the audience, and isn't a function of wanting to do something, but not being able to produce the results because of network standards. I think we just happened to be in this lucky spot where the show is actually queer… and I do think that people are responding to that."

Comparing fanfiction to writing - "And Con O'Neill's audition was one of those things I would go back to. I would watch that and be like… Oh, right, that's the show. And in a way, you're writing fanfiction for a certain actor and character because you want them to do something, and you're like–" at this point, it must be said, Jenkins let out a maniacal little giggle. He’s just as thrilled to show off Con O'Neill's ability to seem both deeply exhausted and menacing as the rest of the fandom. "And you [as the writer] you're like… And then Izzy does this now."

EW.com - Dec 13, 2022 - with Devan Coggan - Link

Discusses The Chain sequence - "I had initially wanted that end sequence to be like the FBI raid in a mob movie, where the feds come in, and they've got boxes of stuff, and everyone's running, and someone makes a dash for it," Jenkins explains. "So, it's like a mob movie or FBI raid story, and then it's also a story of Stede's lover coming back."

Pre-S2

Collider - Oct 2, 2023 - with Carly Lane - Link

Discusses fan reaction to S1 - "I thought that they'd kiss, and people would be like, 'Oh, cool, cool!' I kind of thought people would know a little bit more [about] where we were going, but then in hindsight, no, people have been hurt and burned on so many other shows and then made to feel silly."

Discusses starting S2 dark - "One of these characters is very, very damaged and has never made himself vulnerable in this way before, and I don't think [he] would react very well to having his heart broken in this way. I don't think it would be cute, and I don't think it would be funny. I think it would be scary as hell to watch a very damaged guy that we've established in Ed, who killed his dad and thinks he's not capable of being loved, deal with rejection and see that Stede really hurt him."

Discusses adding more female characters

Discusses S2 needle drops including "This Woman's Work"

Discusses 3-season arc

Post 2x01 - 2x03

Mashable - Oct 5, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

Discusses fandom response to S1

About the canon gay relationship - "To watch the explosion of enthusiasm around [the kiss] was disorienting, almost," Jenkins said. "I thought people would react to it, but I didn't think the reaction would be that big. And then it was moving, because I didn't realize that this audience felt so unserved in general, as far as storylines go."

Insider - Oct 5, 2023 - with Ayomikun Adekaiyero - Link

Tease on leaning into the Stede / Ed / Izzy love triangle - "I think Izzy, in a certain way, got the worst deal in the first season," the showrunner tells Insider. "He gets jilted and then he still is in spurned spouse territory at the beginning of the second season."

Discusses Izzy's arc - "What is that relationship about? And I think by the end of the season it kind of becomes a little unexpected of who they are to each other and what they mean to each other," he teases

Discusses addition of Zheng - "He likens Zheng's way of pirating to a successful tech startup, compared with the garage sale vibe Stede had going on the Revenge."

Discusses introducing Hornigold - "I thought Hornigold was the most obvious because he was the person who made Blackbeard what he is. And Blackbeard has a father complex, so it's natural that he's going to bring his former captain back," the show creator said. "It's a struggle with him because he and dad figures don't historically do well."

Discusses importance of the mermaid scene

Inverse - Oct 5, 2023 - with Hoai-Tran Bui - Link

Reveals he didn't commit to the romance until shooting 1x06 - "Jenkins always intended his pirate comedy to end with a romance, but he'd envisioned it as an unrequited love. "It was going to be about Stede learning what love is, and Ed making himself vulnerable and getting burned," Jenkins says of his original pitch. But Darby and Waititi's choices in the scene, which they played without diffusing the tenderness with a joke, made him wonder if they could take the show in a new direction."

Discusses mermaid Stede idea from S1 - "We talked about Stede as a mermaid very early on in the writers' room," Jenkins says. "At some point, yeah, I want to see Rhys Darby as a merman." + "They wanted us to come up with a Season 2 pitch during Season 1. And that was one of the ideas we hit on, and I can't quite remember how we got there, but it was us asking, what is a pirate world? Are there mermaids? Is there magic in this show? With pirate stuff, I don’t know that I want there to be magic, but there was a way where it was something really beautiful about a mer-person, and I like the idea that their coming together would have a mythic size to it."

Discusses historical divergence

Discusses matelotage and pirates as weird outsiders

TV Guide - Oct 5, 2023 - with Allison Piccuro - Link

About the shipping culture - "It's the meat of the show, so it's great to have people bought into the central romance. If it were a bromance that we were trying to make look like a romance, that would suck."

Discusses playlists he makes

Discusses opening dream sequence - "I just like that it started with something badass. Stede, Blackbeard, and Izzy are on an arc together. Whether they're in stories together or not, their ultimate arc is together. I think, by the end of this season, the last episode, that first scene will be gratifying. I won't say why, but their fates are tied together."

Discusses Kraken arc - "But I think the thing that's good about this show is that it can go to really sweet comedy land, but I want there to be, like, if someone loses a body part, for instance, they lose a body part. To do justice to the fact that this guy is a killer and a monster, and dealing with heartache that he doesn't know how to deal with, I think you really need to go there."

Discusses Izzy in S2 - "I mean, he's jilted. He had a partnership with Blackbeard, and he knows he can't live up to this person that Blackbeard fell in love with... Who is that guy? What are his hobbies? What does it look like when he's not totally subsumed with his boss's love affair with somebody, and heartbroken?"

On S2 reunion - "The second season is them being a little bit more mature... It's the thing where you're in your 20s or 30s and you're like, "Well, should we move in together?" They have to make up some time because neither of them have been in a functional relationship before."

About genre of pirate stories - "...is a show about multiple relationships. That's what I want to see when I see this show. I don't want to see a bunch of pirate things that I've seen in other things, I'll just go watch another thing if I want to see that. That's not really my thing. I like the genre, but it's a very hard genre to budge. I want to see relationships in a pirate world."

Discusses the A Star is Born aspect of seeking fame / retiring

Mashable - Oct 7, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

About the mermaid scene - "You need something expressive for when they come back together," Jenkins said. "Their reunion moment has to feel big and mythical. This is not a world where mermaids actually exist, but their love for each other has that size that you can get [a mermaid] in there somewhere."

About Kate Bush - "I love Kate Bush, and I love that song, and I know Taika loves that song," Jenkins explained of the choice. "So I wanted to find a place for that song somewhere in the second season."

Polygon - Oct 9, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson & more - Link

Compares S2 and "Golden Age of Piracy" stuff to Westerns, lists 5 he was thinking of - "Every Western that’s good is that story," Jenkins says. "'This way of life we made is coming to an end. It can't last. It's a blip in time. We created this thing because we need it to exist. We're outlaws, and we need a culture that suits us, but it's running out of time.'"

Gizmodo - Oct 9, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Short tease on leaning into the love triangle

About Stede, Edward, and Izzy - "I think the three of them are on an arc together that's pretty inseparable," Jenkins said in an interview with io9. "And to watch Izzy try to process what's happened [in season one]… to watch him kind of grow and figure out what's his own story, if he can separate himself from this kind of toxic relationship, is interesting to me and I think gives him a lot of room for growth."

Post 2x04 - 2x05

IndieWire - Oct 12, 2023 - with Sarah Shachat - Link

Discusses directing and show creation

"The limitations of the show also naturally push it back towards moments with the ensemble and plot problems that it would frankly be irresponsible to tackle if you had a giant budget and a fully working ship-of-the-line to sail and then blow to bits. "That's the fun of the show to us, I think. If you open this up and you're like, unlimited budget, that would be terrible because I think you can get seduced," Jenkins said. "[It could be like,] 'Oh man, it's all leading up to a climatic battle on the sea.' And those things are great. But that’s not this show.""

"The nice thing about that, though, is you get to be the lo-fi show that’s like, 'Hey, we’re making The Muppets.'"

PopSugar - Oct 12, 2023 - with Victoria Edel - Link

About S2 Stede - "I like the idea that he learns and grows and he doesn't just stay a bumbling captain. He might be ridiculous, but he is getting better at it."

Discusses genre challenges - "How do you have a show that's a romance show but it's also a workplace show and they're criminals?"

Discusses Edward's redemption - "But Blackbeard still has to come back and apologize and be part of the community again, and give his little press conference. It was fun for us to look at that in the context of piracy, where they all do terrible things to each other. But even by their standards, what Blackbeard did was a bit much."

Discusses Izzy in S2 - "When Izzy shoots Blackbeard and they all mutiny on him, that's Izzy breaking up with Blackbeard. And they're both having their own journey in the wake of it, and Izzy's having his own redemption arc. He's trying to figure out, "Who am I if I'm not Blackbeard's first mate? Who am I outside of this relationship?"" + "If Stede's Spongebob, he's Squidward. I don't know what that makes Blackbeard. But there's a real pathos to Squidward."

Discusses trauma-based narratives - "As a diverse room in terms of sexuality, socio-economic background, and race, we thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a non-trauma-based story for these characters who don't get that historically?""

Variety - Oct 13, 2023 - with Hunter Ingram - Link

Discusses three act structure and making Stede work for a relationship - "The way I like to look at a season is in threes. The end of the first act is when they find each other, and this is the beginning of the second act. They've found each other, but they are pissed. Stede thought it was going to be [Kate Bush's] “This Woman's Work,” but, in reality, it is this headbutt –– literally."

Discusses the central romance - "It was always part of the pitch... that is the reason to make the show. The pirate genre is fun, but I wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. Taika wasn’t dying to make a pirate show. But the thing that was interesting to me was that Stede finds love, and he finds it with Blackbeard."

Discusses 2x04 plot - "This episode is based on a very, very thumbnail sketch of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?." Anne and Mary are Martha and George, and they are Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton."

Discusses adding historical pirates

Discusses Buttons exit - "I just love the idea of him turning into a bird: I love the idea of Buttons somehow being the one character that is able to figure that out."

Discusses Izzy and the crew's trauma plot - "We liked the idea that there is something about trauma and getting past that trauma, even on a pirate ship. They have been through two very different ways of living and they have to get used to each other again. But it's also a family that was separated, and becoming one family again is painful."

Discusses bringing characters back - "We could bring Calico Jack back, who, if you remember, was hit by a cannonball last season. Anyone who is that fun to play with and wants to keep playing, you always find a way to bring them back."

Polygon - Oct 14, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discusses 3-season arc and how keeping them apart with some plot device was never in the cards - "at the end of the first season, they're 14-year-olds, emotionally. In this season, it's more like they’re in their late 20s."

Discussing New Zealand production and ensemble cast writing - "It's pretty organic, because as we're going through and tracking everybody's journey for the season, we're watching the thing that holds us together — what stage of Stede and Blackbeard's relationship are we in? Because the overarching arc is, are these guys going to learn how to settle into a relationship?"

"The second season is more overtly about romance, and more a relationship story."

Energizing aspect of fan reaction

S3 is about "love is work"

Gizmodo - Oct 16, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

About the story - "I want to see them become a functional couple or fail to become a functional couple," Jenkins said. "Those are the most interesting parts of the show."

Discusses fandom engagement - "...ultimately the writers are also "the fans in the room." He goes on to say that, "We're fans of the world. We're writing fanfic about our own characters, our own worlds… It's paid fanfic, but it's fanfic." He gives another example: "If you're writing a season of Succession, you're writing fanfic Succession. You're just getting paid to do it. We, as writers–" it's clear that he's not just talking about the writers in the writers room, "become fans of the world and we all have things we want to see these characters do. What we do is not that different."

Discusses the A Star is Born aspect of seeking fame / retiring

Discusses Zheng Yi Sao

Villains of the series - There are a lot of new villains this season, but, Jenkins says, ultimately, "the antagonist on this show is normalcy… These pirates have a way of life that they're not finding in normal life. They've found a way to live and support each other and be there for each other. And that's always threatened by these larger, tyrannical forces that want to shut them down."

Post 2x06 - 2x07

Mashable - Oct 19, 2023 - with Belen Edwards - Link

Discussing drag performance in 2x06

"It is nice to see with Izzy's arc, where he finally breaks through whatever he's been doing to himself. He lets himself have that moment, which I just love. It resonates for Izzy, and I think it resonates for Con. Just personally, it made me feel good to see how it turned out."

Consequence - Oct 19, 2023 - with Liz Shannon Miller - Link

Discusses intent for romance - "...telling a love story in a serialized medium like television has its perils, largely because it's tough to know how much you can draw out any unresolved tension. "I think we take it episode by episode and we try to not piss people off in taking too long and doing double beats and triple beats," Jenkins says. "You can only do Will They or Won’t They for so long. Then you have to deepen it.""

Discusses pirate setting - "The emphasis on relationships also fits into the show's high-seas setting, which Jenkins finds similar to post-apocalyptic narratives. "It is a little bit like you're doing Mad Max, except there's relationships," he says. "Stuff's shitty, so you gotta try to find some joy. Of course, people are going to have a need for each other in these extreme circumstances, and I like the idea of these characters finding some level of a healthy relationship in these extreme circumstances.""

Discusses Jim x Archie

Discusses 3-season arc

Polygon - Oct 21, 2023 - with Tasha Robinson - Link

Discussing gender and power dynamics in Jackie x Swede / Zheng x Oluwande / Blackbeard x Stede + A Star is Born aspect

Jim not being jealous of Oluwande - "I think that relationship was always seen in the room as a friend relationship that got romantic."

About adding a villain - "I think a lot of the internal forces in Our Flag are the villains." + "I think this is a story about the age of piracy coming to an end. This way of life is coming to an end. And every Western that's good is that story: This way of life we made is coming to an end, and it can't last. […] I think every story about outlaws is about trying to preserve a way of life against normative forces that are kind of fascistic."

Historical accuracy - "The balance of the show is 90% ignoring history, and then 10%, bring it in, whenever we're like, Ah, gotta move the story forward! Remember, the English are out there, and they're really bad!"

Post 2x08

AV Club - Oct 26, 2023 - with Saloni Gajjar - Link

Killing Izzy was always the plan - "We wanted to show the depth of that character. Izzy is one of my favorites. He's like middle management who is in a sort of love triangle [in season one]."

Discusses how they really wanted the happy ending for S2 - "I think with season one's end, it was a gamble to leave it the way it was. Everybody stomached through it. Now if it turned out they didn't want us to make more, I just didn't want to have another story where the same-sex love story ends in tragedy, unrequited love, or if one or both of them are being punished."

Discusses S2 progressing the 3-season romance - "They’re a couple who is like in their late twenties right now as opposed to being teens at the end of season one." + "It was an interesting tension of, which one gives up their dream? A lot of times in relationships questions can come up, like who is going to give up on their dream to take care of the kids? Obviously, no one wants to, but someone ends up giving up more than they want to at some point. What's wonderful about a mature romance, and what I'd want to see more of in season three, is Ed and Stede making these tough decisions." + progressing past the getting together point

Discusses parallels, Republic of Pirates, and Zheng Yi Sao

Short bit about fan response

Collider - Oct 26, 2023 - with Carly Lane - Link

Discusses Ed leaving fishing - "I like that he had a little prima donna moment where he thought he could go and be a simple man, and then it's revealed that he really isn't a simple man; he's a complicated, fussy, moody guy. No, he's not gonna be able to catch fish for a living. For him to be told that, "At your heart, you're a pirate. You have to go back and do it," he doesn't want that to be true, but it was true."

Discusses Izzy's speech to Ricky - "I wanted to give Izzy a proper eulogy for himself. He gives a eulogy for himself, but it felt true writing it."

Discusses Izzy's death scene - "In a way, it's very much for Ed, that speech. The "we were Blackbeard" is claiming that he is also Blackbeard, that Blackbeard is not just Ed’s creation, and I like that for him, too, because he's worked so hard for that — and then just to say, "You can give it up." There can never be a Blackbeard again as far as Izzy's concerned because he's dying, and they did that together."

Discusses Republic of Pirates / music parallels from premier to finale

Discusses finale wedding - "We knew we wanted a matelotage in the season, which is the real term they had for marrying crew members. And yeah, they've always been in relief to Stede and Ed, and they're a little bit ahead of Stede and Ed in how much they can talk about things. So to have a bunch of family things in the season, like a funeral and a wedding, and have the parents kind of watch the kids sail away, felt right, and all of those things seem to work well together and build on each other."

Discusses retirement ending - "That will-they-or-won't-they is interesting to a point, but the real meat of it is always like, "Can they make the relationship, and can they do better than Anne and Mary?""

"Frenchie's in charge of the Revenge" + teases Stede struggling to give it up

EW.com - Oct 26, 2023 - with Devan Coggan - Link

Discusses Izzy's death and telling Con - "It feels like the logical end of Izzy's arc. It's heartbreaking to me because he's my favorite." + "I told him in the middle of shooting because I didn't want him to find out at the table read, obviously. I also didn't want it to leak. He was lovely about it."

Discusses Izzy's final arc - "You know, I didn't expect him to become kind of a father figure to Ed. I think we hit on that while we were breaking the [final] episode. He's in such a weird position: He's like a jilted lover, and then he's a middle manager who has to work for a terrible boss. He gets thrown away, and then he comes back. He really develops, and he becomes a part of this family. I think the biggest surprise was the extent that he was a mentor to Ed. They were both Blackbeard. They both made Blackbeard happen."

Discusses the happy ending intent - "With this season starting so dark, I kind of wanted to reward them for the work that they've done and the character growth that they've had. I wanted to leave them in a place where they're really going to try and make this work. I don't think it's going to be easy for them, necessarily. They're both still immature."

Discusses the wedding - "We knew we wanted a matelotage in the second season, and pretty quickly we landed on Lucius and Black Pete. It seems like they were ready for that. We made up a ceremony and everything, where they call each other mateys, and it was just fun to make our own version of a pirate wedding ceremony."

Discusses potential S3 and Frenchie's Revenge - "But it felt like a good place to end the second season. It felt like a contrast to the first season. If it turns out we don't make any more, I'm comfortable with that being a resting place."

Variety - Oct 26, 2023 - with Hunter Ingram - Link

S3 endpoint - "I love things in threes," he says. "That first act, second act, third act structure is so satisfying when it is done well, and you don't overstay your welcome. I think this world of the show is a big world, and if the third season is successful, we could go on in a different way. But I think for the story of Stede and Ed, that is a three-season story."

Discusses the draw of a "Golden Age" and it's ending

Talks about father figure Izzy and wanting a real sense of loss - "There is a nice parallel to have Ed treat him so badly at the beginning of the season and then come all the way around to where Izzy is this sort of father figure he doesn’t want to lose — because Ed usually kills his father figures."

Gizmodo - Oct 26, 2023 - with Linda Codega (io9) - Link

Teasing future Izzy - "Jenkins looked slightly sad himself, saying that "Ghosts exist in this world." I told him not to make promises he couldn't keep."

"Jenkins said that he doesn't see Izzy as a pure antagonist in season one because on some level… Izzy was right in his hesitations about Stede."

Discussing Con O'Neill & Rhys Darby acting

Jenkins confirms the season was always 8 episodes due to budget cuts

About S2 finale vs S3 - "The first season ends on such a downer, so it made sense to end the second season in a kinder spot." + "I think there's plenty of story left for season three, but I think that it was important to end this as if it was the end of the show, and on upbeat note and avoid the kind of "kill your gays" trope. I don't want to see Stede and Ed punished for giving it a go. I want to see them really say, 'yeah, we’re going to we're going to try to have a relationship'."

Teases S3 revenge against Ricky and going to the Americas

Vanity Fair - Oct 26, 2023 - with Sarah Catherall - Link

About the ending - "It's bittersweet. There's death and there's the rebirth of Stede and Blackbeard's relationship; there's a funeral, there's a wedding, and the idea that this family is going to keep fighting even as they lose members. And then it's about belonging to something." + "A lot of times, with this narrative of characters, same-sex relationships end on a dour, downbeat note, where one of them dies and it's unrequited or it's unrealized; something horrible happens and they're punished in a way. So it was important to leave it open and a lot more show to go, but also leave it in a place where it's happy."

Discusses Izzy as a mentor / father figure - "We felt like Izzy's story had reached its conclusion, where we put him through enough. And then there was the realization that he is kind of a mentor to Blackbeard and that he is kind of a father figure to Blackbeard." + "And it's also a pirate show, so he's got to die."

Discusses filming challenges - "It's a big show; it's basically a one-hour show that we're doing on a half-hour budget."

Discusses adding Zheng Yi Sao

Is the show a queer romance? - "For this show, it's important to me just to write a really bold-bodied romantic show that happens to be between two characters of the same sex. I think that the story beats don't matter, because if you've been in love and you've been hurt and you met someone you love—hopefully we all know what those feelings are."

Blackbeard's arc in S2 - "...the second season is about Blackbeard's midlife crisis. And then when they both have their midlife crises, they can open a B&B together." + "I don't think Stede and Blackbeard are ready to be married. They're emotionally saying: 'Let's give this a go.'"

Discusses historical piracy as "counterculture" that's been straightwashed and whitewashed

Did he feel responsibility to the fan community? - "As opposed to responsibility, it feels more like relief—that people feel seen and they feel good about it and they liked what we did. And so it feels like, Okay, somebody's out there and wants the show. The makeup of the writers room looks a lot like the makeup of the fan base. So as long as we're true to our stories in the writers room, I think we just feel excited that there's somebody waiting on the other end to enjoy it."

Paste Magazine - Oct 26, 2023 - with Tara Bennett - Link

Discusses whether fandom expectations felt weighty - "I think particularly for this season, that "bury your gays" thing… I didn't want to end on a downbeat for Ed and Stede. We did that in the first season. I like that there's a lot of different flavors. It's even a little melancholy because the Republic of Pirates got blown up. But there's still more good things."

Discusses production and plotting - "I wanted to start at the Republic of Pirates this season and end at the Republic of Pirates. And I knew I wanted the Republic of Pirates to be destroyed, ultimately. Within that, we are making a one-hour show on a half hour budget, on a half hour schedule."

Discusses planning the ending - "In terms of ending this season, it all felt right just in talking through it when we were in the room. It felt pretty intuitive. When you get to the third act of the story, things kind of settle in. There's gonna be a funeral. We always knew we wanted a wedding at the end of the second season. And I knew that I wanted Stede and Ed to start an inn together. So once you have those beats, it's kind of locked in."

Discusses Izzy's arc - "It's kind of a strange arc in that I knew we were going to put him through all these things, and I knew he would ultimately die. But I think him becoming a father figure to Ed in the last episode didn't really dawn on us until we were breaking the last episode. Asking what would this man say to Ed at the end because they've been together through everything? He went from a troubled and downtrodden employee to a jilted lover to a discarded employee, to someone that is just trying to find his footing again—no pun intended—to actually becoming this guy's parental figure on some level. And he's one person who kind of raised Ed right, because Blackbeard usually kills his parental figures. So, it felt right and it felt like that's how the mentor dies. The mentor in a story usually dies in the second act and then our hero has to go on and try to do it without them. It felt like the right journey for Izzy and a gratifying one for Con."

On leaving open for S3 - "I don't think it was a very hard thing to do. I think it was more that I felt a responsibility to leave Ed and Stede in a good place, at least for now. It's not gonna go well. They're not going to run a business well. Ed's too much of a talker. Stede can't focus. It's gonna be challenging."

Vulture - Oct 28, 2023 - with Sophie Brookover - Link

Discussing Izzy as a "father figure" and his S2 send-off being a priority

Meaning of piracy - "...what our pirates stand for is a life of belonging to something larger than they are in the face of a crushing, slightly fascist normalcy."

Re: Con O'Neill & Izzy's death - "I had to tell him about halfway through the season"

Third season about the work of a relationship between still damaged main characters

Discusses middles as about change and transitions, and wanting characters to change instead of reset, have them experience permanent consequences

About the final scene - "...Ed and Stede as the parents kind of watching the kids take the ship. Frenchie's the captain now..."

Objective of the crew - "...have had terrible things happen to them at the hands of colonial forces, so they want some payback. Party, plunder, and payback — the three P's."

Metro Weekly - Nov 1, 2023 - with Randy Shulman - Link

Discusses historical premise of S1 and easing into the romance

Discusses S2 genre - "In the second season, it was great because we know it's a romance and we can lead with that. It's a workplace show essentially. I wanted it to be more in the vein of early episodes of Grey's Anatomy or something where there are all these relationships on those shows. That's what you’re following — relationships and friendships that are taking place in a hospital, procedural. That's Grey's Anatomy. This is less procedural for the pirate stuff — and you need the pirate stuff."

Discusses not being into pirates - "But I'm like you. I'm not a big pirate person. In general, it's a big creaky genre that's hard to budge" + "Pirates of the Caribbean, those movies are great. That's not necessarily what I hunger to see, but in that genre, it's great. You're not going to beat that, especially on something that's lower budget. We've seen a lot of this stuff, so it's fun to take it then and don't do any of that stuff."

Discusses adapting historical piracy - "You don't want to see them punch down. You don't want to see them do terrible things to people who don't deserve it, which is not what they really did. So, in the show's world, I think piracy is like a stand-in for something. I think it's a stand-in for being an iconoclast and an outsider and queer in some ways and just different." + "Yeah, I mean, the British are there to be Stormtroopers, or Nazis in an Indiana Jones movie. I mean, they're in there to die essentially."

Discusses diversity staffing

Discusses performative masculinity

Discusses Izzy's death, happy endings, and openness to S3

[sarahivi]

This is a loong interview, i'll try to translate some parts

Min 0:00 - 8:12

Pati – In This occasion I have the huge privilege that in front of me is one of the most important actors in the last decades in this country and I’m talking about Tenoch Huerta. Welcome to the YouTube channel, thank you so much for being here, however only few people know that your first job after you finished the career of journalism in UNAM was of cameramen here in Azteca, how did you get here?

Tenoch – That’s right, some friends, well I was learning in a cable channel and some friend came here, the calls were opened for “La academia” and I came here as cameramen, and it has been one of the funniest experiences in my life

P – Really, why?

T – I loved it, I loved the camera, in fact I have thought if I wasn’t an actor I would have end up as camera director or film photographer

P – But you decided to be in front of the screen, it was to please your dad or because truly the interest of being an actor was born in you

T – Taking the classes was a little so my dad stopped bothering me ,truly, cause it wasn’t to “please him”, my parents are more like do whatever you want as long it makes you happy, so it was so he stopped bothering me, but I liked it and I remember that once I asked him, why you insisted so much? and he told me, because I saw something in you, and I was satisfied with his answer, above all the first part “I saw you” my dad was looking at me and it was like, lovely my dad has always been looking at me and with that I was saved of a lot of traumas and a lot of money from therapy

P – but I don’t think you save money because I heard that you are in therapy

T – Yes, usually I go to therapy, it is a personal discipline, but now it has had to be a little stronger

P – Why?

T – because dragging a lot of topics, evidently everything that happened to me in the last couple of years, are situations of a lot of stress, because not only hits you, it hits your entire family environment.

P – We are talking about Miss Rios case?

T – Yes, because with this accusations my life, my career and my work and family environment were affected, and the hardest part is when you face a lie , when there is a lie, when there are inaccurate data, and the worst part of a lie is not the lie itself, A totally fictitious construction, but when you take elements that are real and misrepresent them and move them so they can fit with things , that's the worst part because even the person that is receiving the attack, in this case myself, it puts you in a state of alert, confusion, pain, you question yourself a lot of things, even there is a self-punishment, a lot of thing mixing and for that you need a therapy

P – What kind of relationship you had with her?

T – we were colleagues in Poder Prieto, I admired her, I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting her, then we attended an event, some collectives were invited and we met there, that’s when we started to get close and at first she seems like a fun girl, very strong, very attractive too and that’s it, the relationship was always like a relationship that was not exclusive

P – An open relationship

T – An open relationship yes

P – So you had relations but you both could have other relationships

T – Yes, even that, I mean in all groups there are other groups of closer friends, in this group of closer friends she told us that she was seeing other people, which it was ok, I too saw other people, there was no problem, simply maybe it was something that we should have talked more precisely, put labels

P – Exactly

T – It could be that, but anyway, not putting labels doesn’t give you the right to destroy a person's life, so that was the kind of relationship, it lasted a few months until there started to be some attitudes, more aggressive.

P – From her?

T – Yes, there was a moment where I got closer to a colleague that is my age, we saw the same cartoons when we were kids and it was fun to talk, and she didn’t like it even if this colleague was only a friend, also it was a friend of hers, and this kind of frictions started to show a weird behavior from her, until she started to attack me within the collective

P – So first was an attack, let’s say in relation with the person within the collective, without posting it on twitter nor social media

T – Nothing, and that’s when I talked to her, we met in a park and in this conversation that we had, she suddenly told me, we were talking and suddenly told me “ ok enough, what are you willing to give to calm all of this?” and I told her, a public apology if you want , I can talk with the people, I don’t know you tell me , I thought that we didn’t have a problem, simply we should have talked more, I don’t know but whatever you say and that was it, some time later when everything exploded and I’m in a huge stressful moment, I had a reunion with some friends, I met a person, that maybe by fate he was sitting next to me and he is a therapist specialized in supporting families that are victims of extortion and kidnaps , so in the conversation the topic arose , I told him and he said, in my experience that was an extortion, the “what are you willing to give?” and I told him “ she didn’t ask for money” and he told me, no, the professionals are very subtle , anyway he didn’t know my case in detail, so I simply took it from there, then time passed, we found some information, the lawyers started investigating, we realized that indeed there were shady things of which I cannot point directly to someone because it will be doing the same that was done to me, I only can say that there are proof that are verifiable, file numbers, and that’s the job of the authority to get to the bottom of those affairs that have years, there are files that have more than 10 years

Update 8:12 - 20:32mins

P – What were the legal actions that you took

T – Legal actions, first I got a solid lawyers team in different stages, a 1st stage was a team of lawyers then a 2nd stage another team of lawyers even in USA, 1st the lawyers, they gatherd information , but also put some legal mechanisms of which I can not talk about but are legal mechanisms that are activated that are carried out, that are like a kind of, I don't know what to really call it, it's like a kind of antecedent, like putting a warning, like that there is a record that this is happening those actions have been carried out, but more important we have been monitoring this last year, 2 years, every week if there is something against me if there is a lawsuit, a complaint, something

P – She has not raise a complaint

T – No one, there is nothing against me , I don’t even have traffic violations.

P – Tenoch, what happen with you when suddenly in social media they are lynching you?

T – Is painful, is scary because once someone filter information about my daughters, with pictures and more , and in anonymity is hard to track , when the lynching started, from real people , bots, troll and more they start to attack my family , we received some direct threats that threatened the integrity of members of my family, and things of that kind so you put yourself in a state of permanent alert, you can’t let your guard down , and as i told my team, is like carrying a dragon breathing in your ear all the time , that you don’t know what might happen because with the topic of anonymous complaints you can take advantage of that, I understand where is coming from, I understand from the desperation of a lot of people that cannot achieve justice for many reasons sometimes they are only left with this, then there is a whole system that favors the men that provokes that people have to resort to this methods that at the beginning might sound good that I even say that, yes they are there for something but when you take advantage of them, you start to use it for personal purposes, politics, economic, electoral or to have better jobs, is when it start to be a problem, because is public, there is no need to prove anything there is non an authority to tell you , mr please you came to make an accusation, if you don’t show proof doesn’t proceed and if does not proceed you are affecting this person , those mechanisms doesn’t exist in social media, simply people believes it or not and that’s it, it’s over, there is no contrast, there is not a method to see if this works, to see if this is real or not and that’s the problem, I think the problem, not talking about my case, talking in general that i also want to clarify that I’d like that my case is not used to demerit the feminist movement,

P – Those are different things

T – Absolutely, and I’m glad that you are saying it, because it comes from a woman and it’s ok, and are different things, the feminist fight and the media lynching are 2 different things that’s why I don’t want that my case is taken to demerit the other, also I understand the reason why there are anonymous complaints and public complaints , but there are not regulated

P – they are not valid

T – they are not valid, and they are being used for other purposes , I think there should be another protocol , I don’t know, for example in usa to make a complaint first I have to have a formal complaint or lawsuit before the authorities, and then with my file in hand I can make a public complaint, not here in Mexico, here in Mexico you made the public complaint and if someone believes in you good and if they don’t too. I think those are the topics that are complicated and for me it was not only the personal impact, you get used to it and you take it and you say, well I’ll take care of it, the problem is when you see that your family

P – How old are your daugthers?

T – 4 and 11

P – They are so young

T – Yes, the older one had 9 and the younger one had 2, fortunately the younger one doesn’t know yet a lot of things, but the older one yes and that is so painful, also my parents,

P – They have suffered

T - *nods* my sisters

P – You being a man, this situation affected how you approach other women?

T – Yes, it affects, undoubtedly, but I’m not of the idea that things happen for a reason, I believe that things happen and you give them a reason and you take the lesson and learn from it, so the way it affected is that I tried to approach in a better way, be more careful and more selective, not everyone deserves our heart , not everyone deserves our vulnerability, not everyone deserved that we are open with them, not everyone deserves it, you have to take the time to know the person and now I’m more careful, more selective, but now I’m more clear, I have always been clear with people, I have always been like “I’m here to work, we are going to be here 2 months it might something happen between us, maybe not” you know, I have always been clear, now I’m more clear , now I’m more straight and basically I stopped interacting with many people, I’m scared that’s a reality

P – Is natural

T – there’s this alert of get to know the people little by little, I don’t interact further than a friendship ,for example at the moment I don’t have a partner , It is not my intention to have a partner in the medium or perhaps in the long term, but that’s it I have to be more careful, and yes it changes everything , changes your vision, but I believe , the people you interact with is reduced, but those relations are more rich, more profound, more beautiful, at least that’s what I have been trying to work with my therapist

P – at this moment this affected your career in a devastating way

T – Look, there were 2 things, I don’t know if I should say “fortunately” but during this period there was a strike in USA, most of my work is in USA, so is not like I was able to work anyway and the strike ended 10 months after the scandal, so anyway I didn’t had the chance to work so there was not too much problem, but once the strike is over and things started to re-activate, above all in Mexico, it becomes complicated for me , because this scares and puts in alert to producers, platforms, brands and more, even events, events that commonly actors are invited, they start to put some distance, but I don’t feel that is a distance of rejection, but more like a distance of alert, like saying look we don’t have any problem with you but solve this, the thing is to solve this topic, when we start to get the information it was like wait, here are shady things.

P – Let’s say when the bomb exploded, did you had the chance to talk with miss Rios?

T – the first time that she talked within the group, yes, I talked to her

P – But when it exploded on the internet?

T – When, the first, let’s say the first time that she talked publicly it was a week and a half, a week after I had a reunion with the president in the national palace, then when that happened it was like , wait, 2 or 3 weeks before you just sent me a beautiful message telling me that you loved me, that you admired me , that you were glad that we met she told me beautiful things in that message, after, I was in the period of interviews, tours and more (note: this was during the time of BPWF press tour) when I go back to normal, I met the president and 10 days after this appears and it was like wow, so the last communication I had with her was like “what happened?” and her replies were very aggressive, so I called the lawyers and they told me “zero contact, we understand that you want to fix things, we understand that she is important to you but us as lawyers we have to tell you that this , this cannot be fixed in a personal way, you have to stop here because from now you have to think that this person is dedicated to harm you” , we didn’t understood yet what kind of harm , that came after, when information starts coming and it was like ah! So there are bad intentions

P – at this moment you feel that you are restarting your career?

T – Yes, but not only the career, the life as well, everything and I feel , it might sound weird but I’m feeling positive, happy, and above all I feel with a lot of energy like with euphoria to start my life you know, I have always had a beautiful relationship with my daughters, but now the teenager is now a little person a little adult , with her my relationship has become super endearing, the little one always had mamitis (Mexican expression for wanting to be only with the mother) and now she has papitis (same with mamitis but with the father) so you know that

P – You spend much time with them?

T – Yes

P – You live together

T – No but the older ones is one week with me and one week with her mother

P – Are they from different mothers?

T – Yes, and the little one, she was born during the pandemic, her mother and I didn’t have anything else to do so we put ourselves to…. Kisses to her mom, she is a beauty

P – You live with her?

[laura1633]

Fic writer interview thank you for the tag @481boxboxbaby and @souvenir116

Tagging @saviour-of-lord and @ilyarozanove (not sure if you have been tagged already and no pressure if you don't like tag games!) and anyone else who wants to do this feel free to use this as your invite.

How many works do you have on AO3? 155 - Wow okay I don’t know how I ended up writing so many.

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,076,320

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Preloved  2. Good Boy 3. A million times over 4. Weak 5. My Pretty Princess

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to respond to comments and I have gotten a lot better at it. If I have ever not responded it's because I have left it too late and then panic over whether it's still appropriate to respond!! I read all comments though, it’s the biggest motivator so thank you to everyone who leaves comments on fics, I appreciate you all <3

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Either ‘One last night’ or ‘Hitching a ride’ Both are open ended though. 

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?There are a lot that have happy endings but off the top of my head I will go with ‘A million times over’. It’s just an overall short cute one-shot.

Do you write crossovers? No

Have you ever received hate on a fic? If I have then I have forgotten about it because I can’t recall any hate coming in. I am sure there are plenty of people who hate my stories though, I’ve just been lucky they haven’t told me about it! 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes I do and lots of it. Almost any kind. Dom/sub, pain play, tentacles, omegaverse, lots of kinks, nice soft sex, loss of virginity. I would definitely say varied!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but hmmm I have seen something very close to what I have written. 

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, not that I have seen anyway. I have had people ask before but I am not sure if they ever actually translated them.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No but I have spoken about it with @481boxboxbaby unfortunately I am disastrously disorganised so I don’t know if I should really inflict that on other people 😂 I do think it would be fun to have a fic with a set up and then multiple authors taking a chapter each to write the scenario from various drivers points of view. That would take a lot of organising though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Lestappen

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?There are so many of them, I have a folder full of random wips that will likely never be finished. At the moment I am fighting my way to try and finish a cowboy Max au one shot, I have started it and deleted it soooo many times, I will finish it though, it’s just not clicking right now! 

What are your writing strengths? I guess maybe just having a certain level of creativity when it comes to coming up with ideas. That can also be my downfall because there are too many ideas pinging around for me to concentrate on one! 

What are your writing weaknesses? I always say that my writing style is more about a general vibe rather than it being grammatically correct 😬

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’ve personally never done it. I’d have to use google translate and I wouldn’t trust that it would read properly.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? F1

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?Charles/Oscar or Max/Rico Verhoeven. I will get around to writing them eventually

What's your favorite fic you've written? It’s probably recency bias but the fic I am writing and posting right now “Preloved” is probably my favourite. I think it's also super encouraging when people are commenting and enjoying the story so it has made the whole thing more enjoyable. I will definitely be writing some more multi chaptered fics going forward. Of the one shots maybe The Sweetest Deal because it plays into my love of babygirl Max.

[magicalrocketships]

A while ago you had a post about things people would like to see you write, and you know those romances where someone gets jilted at the altar and then five years later they meet again? If you HAD to write either Max or Daniel jilting the other, who would it be and how would it come about/how would they meet again?

I've been turning this ask around in my head for a couple of days now, and at first I thought it would OF COURSE be Daniel who left Max, because there was an age gap and Daniel was having some kind of commitment related meltdown coupled with some as yet un-dealt with internalised homophobia, and Max is left devastated and puts all his feelings in a box in his head and never lets anyone see for a second that he was hurt at all.

Delicious, particularly when Daniel shows up in his life again and does his best to show Max he's sorry etc etc etc, would read, would write, would roll around in like a dog in a big pile of leaves,

BUT what about when MAX leaves Daniel and there's still the age gap and there's still Daniel's weird slightly fucked up relationship to his sense of self but he's putting all that to one side to marry Max and then MAX jilts him and disappears from his life. And then IDK it's a racing adjacent AU where F1 never worked out for either of them in the way it did irl, and Daniel just keeps on doing the stuff he's doing in this verse and eventually ends up working in the paddock somehow. I can't decide if he's doing stuff like interviewing or talking because he's such a great presence on screen, or if he's doing more technical stuff for a team because he was always so good at understanding the car and translating between track and planning and development etc. Okay, he's working FOR a team.

ANYWAY Daniel never tells anyone about his wedding that never was but he's always extremely not into relationships and just does a few casual hookups etc etc and everybody loves him. Then one day one of the race engineers falls over a kerb and breaks their leg and they have to ship in a new one for the race at the last minute, and suddenly there's Max Verstappen on the pit wall and all the colour disappears from Daniel's face as he turns around and sees Max at the other side of the pit lane at the start of fp3.

I couldn't decide if they're at the same or opposing teams but it makes it more awkward if it's the same one and Max has just started working for them. Also, Max never told him why he didn't show up at the ceremony, and why when Daniel went back to their shared flat, Max and his stuff was gone.

Spoiler: something something Max's dad something something Max had to leave something something idk Max is hurting too something something Max's dad also persuaded Max that Daniel didn't love him idk the detail is immaterial the AWKWARD PAINFUL REUNION IS KEY

(what happens to get them back together? idk)

[i4bellingham]

MORE THAN JUST AN INTERLUDE: pedri x reader

SYNOPSIS: in which a relationship thought to be a fleeting moment lasted for more than they'll ever know.

CONTENT: incorporated with a slight social media au! + obsessive hateful fan speaking shit. conversations are in (google translated) spanish and english + gavi being an adorable child + innuendos by pedri :’p / also NOT PROOFREAD please don’t sue me. read part two here

pedri

❤️ 💭 ↗️ 　　　　　 • •

Liked by gavi, alejandrobalde and 1,768,923 others

pedri el más feliz contigo. feliz aniversario mi amor. the happiest with you. happy anniversary my love.

tagged: yourusername

View all 13,901 comments

user1 wait what- one year ???? 😧

user2 y'all been together for one year i-

user3 remembering the days where your fans thought this was just a fling 😭 you guys are celebrating one year with each other now congrats 😭❤️

gavi happy anniversary!

fcbarcelona sending love to you and yourusername ❤️

user4 another month now and you'll break up anyways 😐

user5 shut yo stanky ass

user4 let's bffr here besties they're not gonna last ☺️

user6 user4 and this is why your father left you, your mom hates you, you failed school and you're single meanwhile yourusername is here living the absolute best of life 🤷🏻‍♀️

　　　

yourusername

❤️ 💭 ↗️ 　　　　　 • •

Liked by jamalmusiala10, neymar, pedri and 195,986 others

yourusername here's to many more small midnight talks about life with you. happy anniversary bebe ❤️

tagged: pedri

View all 4,679 comments

_rl9 never let the haters ruin such a beautiful relationship!

pedri never

gavi the second picture is when you text him and his focus is not with us anymore :/

yourusername i always tell him to stop texting me when he's out with you guys though ☹️

gavi i know, pedri just doesn't listen because he's annoying like that

yourusername say sorry pedri :/

yourfriend1 happiest anniversary to you both! ❤️❤️

pedri i love you

yourusername i love you more

pedri i love you the most

yourusername i love you more than most

pedri i love you so much that no words could ever describe to which extent

alejandrobalde pedri we get it man 😃 (anyways happy anniversary yourusername)

gavi pedri simp (i don't know if i used that word correct)

Pedri was still high on adrenaline when he was whisked away for an interview just after their game.

His football jersey clung onto his skin in an uncomfortable but familiar hug with grimes and sweat all over his body. If people looked closely, they'd find small specks of dirt on his cheeks from the amount of time he tried intercepting a ball pass from the opposing team. He still looked good nonetheless, not that he needed someone to remind him that as he stood carefree in front of the multiple camera shooting his every angle as he waits for the first question to pop up.

“So... what a game huh?” The reporter chucklesㅡ for what reason, Pedri doesn't know but he simply chuckles alongside him. “How do you think of your performance today Pedri? And how do you think that contributed to the win tonight?”

Pedri scratches his nose bridge, then placing both hands over his waist as he takes a lean back to keep the mic near from his lips.

“I think this is one of the best games that I’ve played entering this season. I think that defensively I’ve gotten a lot of progress and it showed in this game tonightㅡ but I believe there is still room for improvement. I think that I had made a few bad calls during the game as well so I’ll definitely look into that as to not make the same mistakes again but overall, I’m pretty satisfied and happy with how my performance played out tonight and contributed to our team’s win.”

The reporter nods his head behind the camera, seemingly impressed at the response he got from one of Barcelona’s golden boys.

“Any celebrations happening tonight for this big win? For another 3 points on the board?”

Pedri smiles but he shakes his head. “No, the guys will get into that but I will be celebrating something else tonight, this is a special day for me and for my girlfriend after all so I just want to spend this night with her.”

“Speaking of girlfriend...” The reporter trails off, flicking through his card with a teasing glint and smile on his face as he follows through with his statement. “It’s your guys’ anniversary today yes? Made quite a lasting impression on Twitter, this one.”

Pedri nods his head, eyes steering away from the media crew momentarily when his eyes catches a familiar figure walking towards them alongside Gavi.

“Yes, it's our anniversary today so not only do I get to celebrate the win tonight but I also get to celebrate an entire year of love and happiness with my girlfriend.”

Pedri shoots you a smile when you catch his eyes, mouthing ‘wait for me’ as he tends to his media tasks by finishing off the interview with a few more remarks for the game, team improvements and whatnot before he walks over to you and Gavi in brisk steps when he's finally done.

He's a few mere foot away when you immediately open your arms for a hug, not minding that he's still dirtied up from his previous game, all with the sweat and gunk clinging onto him. Pedri immediately falls down into your embrace, and Gavi takes that chance to slip away when he sees the cameras pointing to you both while still airing live.

You plant a kiss each to his cheeks and nose, leaving more than a swift peck to his lips that he returns gratefully and with glee.

“I’m so proud of you, do you know that?” You tell him as he leans his forehead against yours. “You did so well today baby, I’m very very proud of you.”

Pedri wraps both of his arms around your waist, locking you snug against him as you snake your hands around his shoulders.

“You always tell me that, no?” He leans down to whisper in your ear. “But you can always show how proud you are of me yeah?”

You don’t say anything but you do slap his chest when Gavi comes in barreling through your hug, jumping behind your boyfriend while he's got both hands over Pedri’s shoulders.

“Happy Anniversary to the two of you!”

Pedri shakes the younger one off before moving to walk away, pulling you behind him. “Too loud Gavi.”

“But we won! And it's in your anniversary and you guys should all be loud!”

Pedri smiles tight-lipped, another whisper going through your ears before he's leaning back up as if he never just said something to rouse you up.

“Oh you'll definitely be loud tonight, that's for sure.”

Not only did the media capture you lip-locking live with your boyfriend after his post-game interview, the interaction with Gavi and Pedri’s whispered suggestive comments that left you stunned and bothered definitely made it to the trending topics on Twitter for the next days to come.

[aois-amaterasu-painting]

Black B- PASS- Special Issue - The GazettE - NINTH Reference book - (part 3 - Members interview translation)

■ Interviewer: Finally... after three years, a new original album!!

Aoi: Why are you trying to force the excitement? (laughs)

■ Interviewer: Please don’t tease me (laughs). Since this band interview will introduce the magazine, can you tell us your first thoughts upon completion?

Ruki: First thoughts? All I could think of was "death." There was nothing but death (laughs).

Uruha: (Laughs)

■ Interviewer: Death, you say (laughs). So you felt utterly spent.

Ruki: It felt like a posthumous work.

Reita: (Laughs) When it was done, it felt like, “Ah, we made it through.” When you’re extremely sleepy, it’s like…

Ruki: Turned to "nil" (laughs).

Reita: Yeah. And it’s amazing we finished in time.

Ruki: Anyway, I was thinking, "We have to make it in time!" But even when we did, it didn't feel like we could take a breather.

Kai: That's true. There was a sense of relief, but also a feeling of, “Did we really do everything we could?” (laughs). Now that some time has passed and I’ve listened to it repeatedly, I feel like we made a good piece of work. Of course, there were no issues (laughs).

Uruha: For me, after the mastering was finished and I listened to the final version, my first word was, “Fast.”

■ Interviewer: What do you mean?

Uruha: It’s about 45 minutes long, but it felt shorter. Like, “That was quick.” Even though we spent so much time on it, I thought, “Is that all?” (laughs). There was a sense of ephemerality in those 45 minutes.

Ruki: Your words just summed it all up... Thank you very much.

■ Interviewer: No, we’re not done yet (laughs). What about you, Aoi?

Aoi: If I only talk about the moment we finished... it was like I passed out, and then it was over (laughs).

Reita: That’s right (laughs).

Aoi: But everyone really did their best. By the end, everyone was working purely on willpower. The mixing took a long time, working from noon to morning, and then starting again at noon. But those behind-the-scenes stories don’t really matter to the listeners.

■ Interviewer: Since you’re all saying it was that tough, does that mean this was the hardest production process ever?

Aoi: The production process seems to get harder each year. Not just the music, but everything we release takes a considerable amount of time.

■ Interviewer: In recent years, it’s not just about judging the music but also doing more hands-on work yourselves, right?

Aoi: We want to release something we think is cool... because we are people who want to show everyone something we find cool. It’s a natural flow for it to take time. It’s not about how others evaluate it, but about showing everyone what we think is good. We want people to listen and feel it, so we get particular about it regardless of the time it takes. Of course, the workload varies, and we hardly saw each other towards the end, but being together for 16 years made it possible... Is it okay if we wrap up here?

■ Interviewer: Hahaha! So, we're still in we're still in the introduction part (laughs).

Ruki: Please structure it with bold letters like this.

Reita: Shall we move on to the personal interviews then? (laughs).

■ Interviewer: No, no (laughs). Let's go back to the topic. the GazettE is often seen as a band that emphasizes its worldview, but you are also a band that follows what you want to do at the time, making you quite free. From "TOXIC" to "DIVISION. BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY," and "DOGMA," what direction were your desires headed in with "NINTH"?

Ruki: "DOGMA" was a conceptually strong album, so the songs had a certain direction. This time, we wanted to show that this is our ninth album, something that reflects our journey from the first album to now. Rather than focusing on a musical genre, it’s more about showing our life perspective—something that reveals the history of the GazettE.

■ Interviewer: So it’s a condensation of the GazettE’s trajectory.

Ruki: Yes. We’ve done many things to get to this point, and now we’re straightforwardly showing that. Without aiming for a particular image or how we want to be seen, we wanted to say, “This is the GazettE now.”

■ Interviewer: When this kind of guiding principle—being both a theme and not a theme—was presented, what did you all think?

Kai: It fit perfectly with being a theme yet not a theme. However, we didn’t specifically discuss it like we did with the "DOGMA" concept.

Ruki: Yeah.

Kai: It wasn’t something that could be understood simply. I kept wondering if there was something more to it. Of course, I knew it was our ninth album, but I initially thought the title “NINTH” was temporary. But when it was officially decided that the title would be “NINTH,” my thinking shifted to what RUKI mentioned.

Ruki: Regarding each song, I think we were talking about their positioning in live performances, whether they were fun, intense, or whatever.

■ Interviewer: I see. So, while it's full of aggression, there are also ballad-like, melodic, and melancholic songs.

Uruha: Yeah. At the initial stage, it was like deciding a setlist, keeping live performances in mind. That was always the foundation. Since the previous work "DOGMA" was such a strong image-driven project, we knew we weren’t going in that direction again. We thought it would be natural to go in a more straightforward direction this time. So, we naturally came up with songs while considering live performances. As the songs gradually came together, we sometimes felt a certain atmosphere was missing and created new songs to fill those gaps. But the basic approach was natural.

Aoi: So, while we were mindful of live performances, there wasn’t a clear overall vision. It was more about putting out songs and adjusting as we went along. Even when you talk about a “live feeling,” there are many different forms that can take.

■ Interviewer: So, as time passed, "NINTH" gradually took shape, and everyone started to share a concrete overall vision at the same time?

Uruha: Well, we might not have had a clear overall vision until the very end (laughs).

Aoi: Yeah, I think we didn't have one this time.

■ Interviewer: That’s surprising. Didn’t that make it more challenging?

Ruki: There was the difficulty of creating songs that fit, but we weren’t particularly aiming for a unified world view throughout the album. When you listen from start to finish, the flow was already good. It’s because we had “DOGMA” that we ended up this way. Instead of a single story like “DOGMA,” this album is more purely about the current the GazettE.

Aoi: That's right. It's different from saying we have no concept.

Ruki: Exactly. If you ask if there's no concept, it's more like, "Hmm..."

■ Interviewer: So, because you have 16 years of experience, you can naturally express what’s inside and shape it into an album?

Ruki: Yes… So, it was like making a typical album. Creating a piece with a beginning, middle, and end. The title reflects this too. It's not about having some big overarching theme, like the title suggests, but rather each song has its own world, expressing what "the GazettE of 2018" is about, I suppose.

■ Interviewer: I wonder if there's a deep meaning behind the word "NINTH" here.

Ruki: Well, that might have been typical for us in recent years. But honestly, I can't really say anything much about it this time (laughs).

Reita: Haha, yeah, that's true (laughs). Also, we've always been conscious of making something that shines in live performances, but I feel like that standard keeps getting higher each year. So, this album might just be a collection of things that meet that standard.

■ Interviewer: When the songs started coming together, did you all naturally understand and play them in sync with each other?

Ruki: How was it?

Reita: In terms of being in sync... This time, we really only gathered for pre-production at the very beginning (laughs).

Uruha: Well, there were parts that went smoothly and parts that were challenging. But we introduced a system for smoother data exchange this time, which made interactions between members less stressful than ever before.

Reita: Yes, we’re fully modern kids (laughs). It was very convenient.

Uruha: In the past, we’d email files, and if you missed the email, it could be a problem. This time, we had a place where the latest data was always available, so we just had to check there.

Ruki: Certainly, when the members gathered, there was always the task of taking something home with you, so the process of finalizing things was probably less than usual.

Reita: And (with emails), sometimes when you tried to download the data, it would already have expired.

Ruki: That happened a lot.

Reita: But that doesn’t happen anymore.

Uruha: It's hard to ask for a resend, so sometimes you just had to wait for the next one (laughs).

All: Hahaha!

■ Interviewer: You wouldn’t have to say, “Send it again,” which can delay things (laughs).

Aoi: Haha. But, it's really convenient, huh? Especially because corrections could be made quickly.

■ Interviewer: It seems like this approach really suits the current state of the GazettE. Just from this segment, it sounds like everything went incredibly smoothly, but...

Ruki: Actually, it was quite difficult (laughs). Especially the process of producing the songs. It’s like harvesting vegetables.

■ Interviewer: I see, starting from planting the seeds.

Ruki: Yes. And the cooking after harvesting is quite challenging too, waiting for the final product to be good.

■ Interviewer: So here we have 12 carefully selected masterpieces.

Ruki: Yes. There were some songs that weren't completed until the very last moment to ensure they were satisfactory. It's like that song from “Kiteretsu Daihyakka” - “What happened to the cabbage?” (laughs).

■ Interviewer: Which song was completed at the very last moment?

Ruki: ……………… Oh, it just smoothly went by. (laughs).

Reita: Ahahaha!

■ Interviewer: Oops, I should have reacted more! (The interviewer was not familiar with the opening theme of “Kiteretsu Daihyakka” called "Cooking March")

Ruki: It's okay. The 11th song, "ABHOR GOD."

Reita: That one was tough.

Ruki: It's the crucial part that leads towards the very end.

■ Interviewer: I heard that the whole band composed this song together, which is rare for the GazettE.

Ruki: Yes. Because I was working on the lyrics, I wasn’t able to join the band for that part.

Reita: Well, he was kind of like remote control (laughs).

Uruha: There were about three different versions... no, maybe more.

Kai: Yeah, there were more.

Reita: And in the end, it mutated suddenly.

All: Hahaha!

■ Interviewer: I see (laughs). The sing-along chorus “Wow - Wow” is also fresh for the GazettE.

Ruki: I recorded that part after everyone had already heard it. I didn't have time to let them hear the demo, so I presented it after recording it, saying, "Here it is." On the contrary, I was curious about how the four of them had created it together. When I asked Uruha, he said, "REITA jumped around..." and "We made it so that it would be jumpable."

Reita: Well, I just jumped around. And the next day, I had muscle pain.

All: Hahaha!

Aoi: I watched the process closely without getting too involved.

Ruki: This part was handled by Kai, this was what REITA mentioned, parts where members were involved are well reflected, I think.

Reita: When I sent the data and asked, “How is it?” RUKI responded with, “How do you all feel about it?” (laughs). He wrote something like, "Are you guys having doubts?"

Uruha: Well, we were (laughs).

Reita: RUKI probably had a different idea in mind. It wasn’t quite that… more like…

Ruki: Well, rather than different…

Kai: It was more like I received directions from RUKI saying, "I want it to feel like this," so I gathered up those keywords and started thinking from there.

Ruki: I thought it should be fun and intense, but the first sounds that came were quite maniacal. I thought, “Oh, maybe they’re struggling with it.”

All: Ahahaha!

Aoi: Especially these two (URUHA and KAI), they really felt responsible (laughs).

Uruha: We felt it, we felt it.

Kai: Yeah, yeah, yeah (laughs).

Ruki: When the song started to come together, it was quite dark at first, which made me feel a bit down.

Reita: (laughs) Sorry about that.

Ruki: There was just one phrase, an intro part in the original song. I personally thought, "Oh, that's good." So, I called and asked if it would be okay to use that as the intro.

Aoi: The rest was no good (laughs).

Ruki: No, no (laughs). We kept that part and just made the tempo a bit faster.

Uruha: Speeding up the tempo was tough.

■ Interviewer: That’s really a collaborative process for a song.

Ruki: If you say so (laughs). It might look like we flipped the table.

Reita: It felt like someone just ate the strawberries off the shortcake.

All: Ahahaha!

■ Interviewer: I see (laughs). That fun atmosphere can be felt in the sing-along parts.

Ruki: I thought it would be good to have that kind of vibe.

Aoi: So, it’s not us but the audience singing that part?

Ruki: I didn't think about it that far. Do you think they’ll sing it? In our case, even if we include such parts, our fans don’t usually sing along.

Reita: That’s true.

Ruki: It's like with "Maximum Impulse.” The members' faces just get redder and redder.

Reita: Yeah, especially me (laughs).

Aoi: Oh, I need to listen to the new chorus parts.

■ Interviewer: Yes, the new work seems to have a lot of chorus parts.

Ruki: We’ll verify it during rehearsal.

Aoi: Are there any parts that seem too difficult?

Ruki: I don’t think there were any.

Reita: Well, you say that every time (laughs).

Aoi: Sometimes, if the rhythm is completely different while playing, it’s the most tricky part.

■ Interviewer: I see. The new album also features melodious and emotionally charged songs with a straight beat, like "UNFINISHED," which might not have been possible in the previous album. Were you concerned that such impactful songs might overshadow others?

Ruki: No, not at all.

Aoi: Oh, we have a new perspective here.

■ Interviewer: Oh, really? (laughs) Did you also have the intention of showcasing the original coolness of visual kei, which is your forte?

Ruki: No, we didn’t have any intention of appealing outwardly. We just did what we thought was cool at the time. Things that might have seemed unconvincing or outdated before now feel better. We’ve always thought it’s better to be a band capable of various types of songs. After “DOGMA,” people might have assumed we’d continue in a certain direction, perhaps towards a more metal sound, but we didn’t think that way at all.

■ Interviewer: So, it wasn't intentional.

Ruki: Even if we’re good at something, it’s not intentional. On the contrary, sometimes we intentionally avoid certain things. During “DOGMA,” we purposely didn’t include audience singing parts. So, this time, it's more standard, I suppose.

■ Interviewer: Understood. And this time, you released the music video for "Falling," the practical opening track, ahead of the album. This is unusual for the GazettE, but it seems to show your unwavering confidence in the band now.

Kai: We weren’t particularly conscious of confidence in the band, but when RUKI created “Falling,” we all recognized it as the prologue of "NINTH." We felt it was the beginning.

■ Interviewer: Ah, so it's similar to the fans' perspective.

Kai: So for me, during the process of creating the song, I listened to "Falling" with the mindset that this is the prologue.

Uruha: And by not selling it, but instead choosing to release it for free, I think it definitely increased awareness. I think "Falling" was good because I heard that the evaluation of the song was high, which raised expectations for "NINTH." So, that song became a very good introduction, and I hope the album will continue to surprise with different approaches from "Falling" to "UNFINISHED." It feels like it was well-calculated, so it's ultimately alright.

■ Interviewer: Showing a glimpse of the album in advance didn’t have any negative impact; it made it more effective.

Uruha: Exactly. The album doesn’t continue with the same type of songs, so there’s no disappointment.

■ Interviewer: Aoi, how do you feel about the songs lined up in the album?

Aoi: There were parts where it was difficult to grasp the overall picture until it was completed, but the final result is very satisfying. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to fit together so well, but it turned out to be an album with a solid story.

Reita: Yes, it’s easy to listen to and has everything. We will perform other songs on the tour, but there won’t be any sense of discord when they’re combined, and I think this is the current ideal form of the GazettE.

Kai: As for me, the process was unusual and we were pressed for time, so I had mixed feelings. There were moments of anxiety, but also relief when it was finished. This album is packed with those feelings, and it’s different from anything we’ve done before. The process felt simultaneous with our emotions, rather than trying to catch up with them. The songs felt like they progressed alongside us, and I felt that strongly this time. It’s quite refreshing.

■ Interviewer: I see. How about you, Ruki?

Ruki: I poured a lot into each song, so I can’t look at them objectively yet. I have strong feelings for each song. But I can say that I put everything into it. Even though we were pressed for time, there was no compromise. It was a situation where we either compromised or didn’t sleep, and I think we managed to push through to the end. This applies to the staff and engineers as well. If I were in their shoes, I would have definitely quit. Normally, engineers don't stay overnight.

Kai: Haha, they might have felt like we were punishing them.

Ruki: So, I think what we've done up to this point won't happen again, and I feel like this album embodies that dedication.

All scans are from The Archive (rad-is-more) Interview translation is ChatGPT.

[mirai-e-jump]

ViVi Magazine, February 2024 Issue Murakami Erica x Hirakawa Yuzuki Interviews (translation below)

Publication: December 22, 2023

Erica and Yuzuyan's rambling talk

The close combination of Hirakawa-chan, known as Yuzuyan, and Erica appear for the first time in ViVi. During this photoshoot, we could feel the close friendship between them, as they giggled and talked the whole time. We asked alot about these two, who are a hot topic right now.

-Our youth is now! Anyway…I'm so glad we met~!-

"What do you call each other?"

Erica: Everyone calls her Yuzuyan.

Yuzuki: I've never had a nickname before, but I got one for the first time on set (laughs). I call her Marie.

Erica: I think everyone at ViVi was surprised to call me by that name. Actually, my real middle name is Marie, and everyone on set of the show calls me Marie. I'm so happy about my secret name~

"What is it like on set?"

Yuzuki: We chat alot while waiting to film. There's the 6 of us filming together, and when we've all gathered, it's like break time at school (laughs). It's so loud and noisy!

Erica: Someone will get into things, someone else will join in and do something stupid, and so on and so forth (laughs). Every day is jam packed with inside jokes. It's silly, but the 6 of us spending time together is so much fun~.

Yuzuki: We've been filming together almost every day for 10 months, so our friendship levels are amazing. From the very beginning, when we first started filming, we were all in perfect sync and got along well. But, when the cameras start rolling, everyone gets serious. It's amazing how everyone's faces change so quickly!

"What kind of personalities do you two have?"

Yuzuki: Marie is, in a single word, a bomb (laughs). Marie's explosive power when she's tired is insane (laughs). She'll suddenly explode and become cheerful. And, we all get caught up in it and get excited too (laughs).

Erica: We spend so much time on the set, that if we don't talk, I get sleepy, so I feel at ease exploding because everyone will pick up the pieces (laughs).

Yuzuki: She does things that go way beyond what you'd expect, so I never get tired of watching her. I'm like, "Even though you're so cute, why would you do something like this?" She's constantly one upping how interesting she can be (laughs). I can't tell if she's trying to be funny or if it's all natural.

Erica: Thanks for letting me do it, and for being on the receiving end (laughs). Yuzuyan is everyone's "straight man" older sister, but she can also be everyone's little sister.

Yuzuki: I'm often described as being a 5th grade boy~. We're the "mess around" combo.

"What does your existence mean to each other?"

Erica: After becoming an adult, I never thought I'd meet someone who I could mess around with so much, even more so through work!

Yuzuki: I'm so glad that someone like her exists, where we can joke around and laugh like this as friends 💜.

"What were your first impressions and current impressions?"

Yuzuki: I knew of Marie's modeling from reading ViVi, and I thought she was just so~ cute and looked like a doll. But, the more I learned about her, the more I thought she was like a bomb (laughs).

Erica: My first impression of Yuzuyan was that she was a very refreshing person. But in reality, she talks alot and is hyperactive (laughs). She notices things that other people don't see and takes the initiative to follow up, and is very considerate. From the very beginning, I felt like she was a dependable older sister. She's also good at remembering directions (laughs).

"How was today's shoot? How do you like Erica as a ViVi model?"

Yuzuki: When I look through ViVi, Marie is so cool…..she doesn't always look like this! It makes me want to get involved (laughs). She wears cool clothes and her expressions are amazing! It's so cool!!

Erica: This was the first time for the two of us to do a photoshoot together for a fashion magazine. I was happy to be able to work as a model like I usually do. We were able to shoot as our usual natural selves, which was alot of fun and very fresh. I thought it would be so much fun to shoot with someone who understands me.

Yuzuki: For today's shoot, she led me around alot, and I was impressed by the fact that she was such a great ViVi model!

"Do you see any similarities between yourself and the role you play in Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger?"

Erica: I think we share the same caring nature. However, I myself am not strong willed, so I admire her for that.

Yuzuki: I think we're similar in that we have humanity. We're both basically no nonsense, and we have our "on and off" switch. However, while my role is to be immovable, I'm actually extremely hyperactive, which is the complete opposite.

[bellewintersroe]

Carlos Sainz x Celebrity OC… Part 4.

Okay, I know I said this next chapter was going to be spicy but I don’t know if it fits in with the story so it’s just gonna be some Carlos x Jenna fluff of their first few days and I promise part 5 will be spicy 🌶️🌶️ Again any apologies if I’ve used the wrong name for the OC, I’ve gone through and tried my best to correct any mistakes so hopefully there isn’t any! No warnings, I’ve tried to make this a fun little chapter with mainly Carlos x OC x Platonic!Charles. Just some badly translated French, Italian and Spanish. Jenna does her first interview with Carlos since their first date together and things are overtly flirty. The only thing breaking that tension? Charles Leclerc the proud 3rd wheel.

“Good night.” Carlos smiled knowingly as I rested against the hotel room door frame. “I’ll see you on Thursday.” I spoke softly, shyly glancing down to my hands. “You’ll be doing the interview?” He spoke quietly as I nodded back up to the dark haired man.

“Yeah, thank you for tonight anyway, you really didn’t have to pay.”

“I’ve got it all covered.” He shook his head firmly. “Well I owe you.” “No, never.” He hushed as I giggled slightly. He was adamant all night that I wouldn’t pay, he almost looked offended when I offered to buy a €7 crepe for him. “Okay. I feel bad.”

“I know how you can pay me back.” He borderline giggled as I gazed up to his eyes. He had a shy expression, a childlike amusement spreading in his eyes. “What’re you gonna say?” I let out a soft laugh as he giggled again. “I can’t, it’s really embarrassing.” He rumbled our laughter, putting a hand on my shoulder. “What? Was it for a kiss or something?” I snickered causing him to snicker harder. “That’s so cheesy!” I teased, nudging his shoulder as he moved closer, cupping either side of my face as I chuckled out before he pressed a quick kiss to my lips. It was a little hard because both of us were laughing and he kept bumping his teeth against mine clumsily.

“Sorry.” He snickered, kissing me more gently as I ran my hand over his bicep, enjoying the feeling of his muscle. He was so toned, he was literally unreal. “You make me laugh.” I commented with a shy smile once we broke apart.

“I hope so.. I’ll see you Thursday, yeah?” He spoke as I nodded, swallowing the urge to let the most excitable screech of laughter that would most likely scare him off. “Okay.” He smiled, eyeing up my lips once more in a manner that made my knees week. With one more lingering kiss we’d parted ways and I’d fainted as soon as I got back into my hotel room. Not literally, but I wanted to. The heaviest sigh escaped my mouth as I relived his kisses over and over again, swooning at the thought of his plump lips pressed up against my own.

Now there was only two more days until I’d see him again…

————————————————————————

“Hello, I’m back in M-Mon-“ I burst out in uncontrollable laughter as the two men besides me joined in. “I can’t- I can’t! Okay, I’m sorry!” I waved my hands at the camera crew who would crack me up further with their smirks and grimaces to bite back laughter.

“Okay, I’m calm.” I turned over to Carlos who has his hand over his eyes giggling. “Why is this so funny?” Charles then asked, the two Ferrari boys stood at either side of me as I straightened my back, dedicated to getting the introduction right this time.

“Somethings made her nervous… it’s set you off, hasn’t it, Jen?” Lisa asked, making my cheeks warm up. It’s as though she knew. I mean- maybe she did, Anise had a loud mouth when she was drunk. I didn’t blame her.

“Nothing to be nervous of.” Carlos shrugged from besides me, making my cheeks grow even warmer. “Oh- I’m going red, I need- okay, I’ll do it seriously now.” I pushed my blonde hair over my shoulder, clearing my throat and taking a couple deep breaths.

“Hi, I’m with Carlos and Charles-“ Charles burst out laughing from besides me, trying to hold it in as I burst out another giggle, my shoulder grazing against Carlos’. “Charles!” I exclaimed but Lisa ushered me to continue. “Um and we’re back in Monaco- and this interviews a mess I’m sorry- but we’re gonna um…” I covered my mouth from giggling as the two amused boys besides me watched.

“We’re gonna drive a car blindfolded!” Both of them started laughing again as I felt Carlos’ hand rest on my shoulder for support. “Not a real car!” Somebody cleared up from behind the cameras. Poor men were probably fed up of my nonsense. “Not a real car! Anyway- who wants to go first?” I attempted to usher the interview on, despite the fact I was blubbering out bursts of laughter every two seconds. Charles had lost it, he couldn’t even hide his laughter as Carlos jumped forwards.

“I’ll go.” He ran his hand off my shoulder, leaving it feeling slightly cold as I giggled again, nervous from his touch. “Okay, Carlos is going first.” I inhaled again, biting down harshly on my chewing gum when I almost inhaled it. That would not have been a good look.

“Where’s my blind fold?” The Spanish man smiled up to me as I turned to where Lisa threw one over, handing it over as he smiled up to me, before tying the black cloth around, over his eye. “Charles you gotta direct me!” Carlos exclaimed as the other man ensured his eyes were fully covered.

“I will try my best.”

“Ai, ai, ai, this is difficult.” Carlos muttered, feeling for where everything was on the simulator. I guided his hands to the wheel amused as I watched on as the chaos unfolded. Surprisingly the ‘interview’ went kinda well, it was chaotic but people enjoyed that. I had a good time, and even though I was nervous as hell with Carlos next to me, I’d managed to calm myself down from my giggling fit earlier.

“Make him crash.” Carlos whispered in my ear, cupping his hand as his fingers nudged through the strands of my hair. I didn’t know if it was purposeful or not, but it made my stomach twist with butterflies. “How?” I smiled back to him as he nodded me to follow him, pointing at the wheel as I reached forwards, nudging the wheel further and further to the left.

“Okay, I’m- Carlos where are you?! Why am I turning?!” Charles exclaimed in surprise as the whole simulator began jittering violently before he’d crashed directly into the wall. “Nooo!” He cried out dramatically, Carlos clapping his hands in amusement as I jumped back, acting all innocent.

“What happened?! Why did you crash?” I exclaimed as Charles forced the blindfold off his eyes.

“Carlos you fucker! You turned my wheel!” He jumped up out of the seat as I bit back a laughter. “Wasn’t me!” Carlos snitched as my mouth opened, mocking a gasp as the Spanish man laughed, holding either side of my arms and giving me a quick squeeze.

“It was you?!” Charles was wide eyes. “You are a bad influence on her.” The monegasque playfully shoved Carlos. “Now it’s your turn!” Charles pointed out. “I don’t even drive in real life!” I held out my hands.

“Even better!” Charles responded excitedly. “You don’t have to do it blindfolded.” Carlos exclaimed. “No! That’s not fair!” Charles held out the blindfold, clearly competitive about the whole thing.

“She doesn’t even drive!” Carlos defended as I climbed into the seat, feeling the Spanish man adjust the seat so I was further forwards. “Such a gentleman.” Charles pointed out before plopping the blindfold over my head. “Okay, I’ll use the blindfold but don’t expect me to be even able to start this thing.” I was just as shit as I thought, first of all I couldn’t even start the damn simulator, then my chair was constantly jittering from something I was doing wrong on the pedals. Who made a simulator this hard in the first place?! Maybe that was a stupid question. “Keep your foot down! No, no!” Charles screeched out in laughter, snatching the wheel to turn it- I was assuming back on the track. “I don’t know where I’m going.” I worried, yanking the wheel back to where I felt him turn me.

Carlos choked out a laugh. “No pensé que serías tan mala!” (I did not think you’d be this bad!).

“Qué? ¡Soy una mierda!” (What? I’m shit!). I exclaimed back out in Spanish. “Oh my god.” Charles snickered when the simulator lurched forwards and the simulator jittered furious.

“Mamma Mia.” Carlos playfully spoke as I lifted the blindfold back off my face. I had indeed crashed, and I had been going backwards for a good- “7 laps?! I was backwards?!” Both the boys began laughing profusely as I groaned, knowing they’d been messing me around the whole time. “Whatever, I think I was good.” I joked, biting down on my tongue as I jumped out of the simulator.

“Amazing.” Carlos teased back to me as I smiled back up to him. “Thank you!” I attempted to joke along but ruined it with a chuckle.

“Um, anyway, thanks for watching- if anybody made it this far in. This afternoon we’ll be joined with Daniel and Landon to see if McLaren can beat Ferrari’s high score.” I wrapped it all up as Carlos snickered. “You are funny.”

“That was the most fun I have had in one of these in a while.” Charles admitted as I secretly was super happy about the admission. There’s nothing worse than boring interviews that these drivers already had too many of to do.

Thankfully, we’d all have a break from the filming, I didn’t mind, I was having great fun, I couldn’t lie. It was fun to do something different other than just asking things all day. I was looking over the table of endless amounts of food, eyeing up what looked to be blackberry seeds piled on top of some kind of cracker.

“It’s caviar.” A familiar voice spoke as mg hand immediately yanked away from the food. “Ew.” I accidentally spoke before looking up and seeing Carlos besides me. “Where did you come from?” I smiled, biting down on my lip as he carried a plate full of the most food I’d ever seen.

“From the interview.” He spoke like it was obvious. “Holy shit, that’s a mountain of food!” I eyed him back up as he flashed me a toothy smile.

“I’m a hungry man, after this my diet starts again.”

“Fuck dieting.” I shrugged. “You never diet?” A

“Nuh uh, I don’t have the self control.”

“How do you look so good then?” He flirted as I turned back up to him with a perked brow. “I am being serious?!”

“I just… I don’t know.” I blushed, completely forgetting I was walking to put food on my plate. I was too caught up with being in Carlos’ Vinci it’s.

“You’re red now.” He pointed out. “Oh, Carlos don’t!” I laughed. “I’m sorry, will you come sit with me? Charles is there as well, he’s lonely.” I turned over my shoulder to see Charles eating alone like a lost school boy.

“Poor guy.” I giggled before looking up to Carlos again. “We best join him…” I’d been sat with them for a couple of minutes, swinging my legs nervously when I accidentally caught Carlos’ with my own. “Sorry.” I turned to see him smirking. “It’s okay.” He shook his head and continued eating as I joined back in the conversation with Charles.

“-sorry, and then she never ended up coming, so.. now it’s just me.” I shrugged, “do you enjoy it? Like the racing in general?” Charles asked. Just as I was about to answer I felt the nudge from a foot under the table once again that almost made me choke on my food.

“Mmmh!” I perked, knowing it was Carlos’ foot that had nudged against my own in a playful manner. “I didn’t when I was little, I have to admit I was forced by my brothers to watch it. But no I do, I have for quite a while.” Carlos let out a laugh at my words, as though he was being soo casual and definitely not playing footsies with me under the table. “Was it karting you used to do?” I then asked Charles, purposefully nudging my foot back into Carlos’s as he kicked back almost instantly. This time I jumped, reacting physically to the kick under the table. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean it to be that hard.” Carlos quickly put a hand on my arm.

“What are you doing? Playing footsies under there?!” Charles burst out in laughter. “No, he kicked me!” I lied. “Purposefully.” Carlos teased, biting back down into a burger.

“Jésus, je suis en troisième roue...” (Jesus I am third wheeling). My eyebrow perked back up to Charles.

“Je peux aussi parler français, tu sais.” (I can speak French too, you know). His eyes widened in surprise. “Really?!” Charles eyes landed on Carlos. “Sposala.” (Marry her). “Anche italiano Charles.” (Italian too, Charles).

[lemonflavoreddishsoap]

Hello!!, I saw that you were accepting requests so I wanted to ask for a LS with a S/o who is a member of a punk band!!

PS: sorry for my bad english… I'm using a translator to send this:(

Since I already kiiiind of did similar headcanons for Formaggio and Risotto, I won't include them in these headcanons, I hope that's okay!!

ADDITION IM ADDING NOW AS I FINALLY WORK ON SOME DRAFTS HOOOOOOLY SHIT AM I SORRY I'VE NEGLECTED MY DRAFTS FOR SO LONG I'm going to try to get back into a writing groove!!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

La Squadra with an S/O in a punk band

Illuso

He makes everyone and their grandma listen to your band. He's boasting about how good your music is, he's practically a living advertisement. If you don't want people to get sick of your band's music, please try to ask him to stop

If you're the singer of the band, he'll sometimes start singing your songs, hoping you'll start singing with him.

Hell, even if you aren't the singer, he'll do it.

Makes his way into as many concerts as he can - his stand comes in handy here as he sneaks in pretty damn easily...I mean I don't really know if he needs to but he does anyway?

Prosciutto

Music-wise, it's not exactly something you two connect on, however, he recognises talent when he sees/hears it.

And while he may not listen to your band's stuff on his own time, he will never turn down watching you practice a song or an instrument either on your own or with your band.

Your sheer concentration and skill captivates and attracts him, he loves it.

If you ask for it, he's willing to give feedback when you play him works in progress - he's very fair with his comments, never too harsh, never too soft.

Pesci

He is CONSTANTLY praising you. Number one fan all day every day, supporting your band as much as he possibly can.

I've said before that I think Pesci's music tastes are a bit of everything, so he has a good appreciation for the kind of art you make and you two can bond over music pretty easily.

He's very nervous about talking to any of your bandmates, but he always asks you to pass along compliments to them. Appreciation for everyone! aughghghg i love him

If he has the time, and you're okay with it, he loves to help with performances!!! If you need help setting ANYTHING, he is willing to help out

Also...be prepared for a very proud, mushy Pesci after any of your performances

Melone

"You've been playing together for how long? And your biggest inspirations are...?" idk why I just think he would like. Be a major contributor if you guys had like a wikipedia page or something. He's interviewing you and tippy tapping away (there's a post showing off how silly he types, I need to find it again)

He's asking about all the instruments, all the equipment - if you'd be so gracious as to possible teach him how to use any of them he will be thrilled.

He's just generally super curious about it all, he possibly asks too many questions...as in, you're wondering if he already knows the answer and just wants to listen to you talk.

Similar to Pesci, Melone spreads the appreciation all throughout your band!! No one's talent goes unnoticed to him, and in time he'd like to befriend the other members of the band.

Ghiaccio

Watching you perform does something to him. He's completely fucking silent and his eyes are GLUED on you. It's kind of scary from an outside perspective but to you it's absolutely adorable.

He's listening to your band all the time. Ghiaccio, at least in my thoughts, has such a deep passion for music and pays deep attention to how each individual in a group plays their instruments, how it all comes together to create a unique sound. Obviously, this is a million times more special for him listening to your stuff because well...it's you.

In previous headcanons, I mentioned that he blasts music into his ears when he listens as a sensory thing. With yours, he likes to close his eyes and imagine you and your band are right there.

No because now I can't stop thinking about it. Ghiaccio would love to have a musician s/o. He would love that so much holyshit?

You find him in heated arguments against random people in the comments of videos of your songs. Classic Ghiaccio.

[centrally-unplanned]

I was listening to this cast by The Weeb Crew, with SteveM as a guest, going through some other Evangelion video and dissecting the mythical memetic tropes it buys into. Which was a lot of fun, I recommend the cast, and the video they are critiquing is a bit of a grad-bag of zombie memes about Evangelion from the 2000's, which yeah have aged poorly.

One of the ones they get into is the idea that Evangelion's TV ending was "intensely unpopular", and Anno & crew were getting like bombarded with death threats and stuff. Which happened at some level sure, but certainly wasn't the median response. The video actually sites the "emails" shown on screen in End of Evangelion as evidence:

And like, bro those emails are fake! The staff wrote them for the movie, they didn't use real death threats or fan mail, that would be a huge legal liability. Not saying they are analytically useless or anything but, you know, you need to know that.

Anyway, SteveM mentions that of course there was pushback against Eva's ending, but actually the big wave wasn't interior to the fandom - instead it was sparked by Eva "going mainstream" discourse-wise. In particular a review essay by social critic Eiji Otuska (who is also a former lolicon creator ding ding ding) that was published after the finale aired sparked a widespread discussion in the media by other critics. He links to the essay in their discussion....except he doesn't. He thinks he did, and then when they look, its just someone else mentioning it in an article in 2003:

Bitter disputes broke out on online bulletin boards, with some critical of the producers for failing to provide a clear-cut end to the story, and others who praised the finish for being "typically Evangelion-like." But when commentator Eiji Otsuka sent a letter to the Yomiuri Shimbun, complaining about the end of the Evangelion series, the debate went nationwide. "The debate that erupted over the ending went way beyond our calculations," Gainax's Sato chuckles. "Anno probably knew what was going on. He realized that media other than anime had taken notice of Evangelion."

Which triggered in me the thought - why doesn't he have it? He references it in his own work after all. As you can guess, after some searching I am pretty sure I know why; no one has it. Its never been scanned or reprinted in an accessible format! It definitely is important in the history of Evangelion - I have seen this claim in other contexts, the essay that sparked a discourse, and you can find many works about Evangelion citing Otsuki (generally later works, like an article published in September of 1996 which you can buy) But what the article article said is only discernable via the clues dropped from second-hand accounts.

So can we find it?

First of all I need to figure out what is even being referenced. Searching through contemporary Japanese sources, I dug up an extremely handy find:

A somehow-still-existing 1997 fan page by a Japanese otaku (I'm giving you this stuff auto-translated btw, what would you do with a wall of kanji?) who extensively catalogued every media mention of Evangelion. I am sure they missed some, but they didn't miss a big one like the Otsuki letter - which we know from the above interview appeared in gigantic newspaper Yoimiuri Shimbun:

This gives us three candidates; given that we know it was written after the finale aired, and that was March 27th, 1996, our most likely candidate is the April 1st essay; I was able to find a secondary source mentioning the review was "immediately" after the finale, so I think that nails it.

Which alas does not bring up anything! Try as I might I cannot find any extant blog post, or scanned image, or long quoted form. But after trying the usual methods I did realize something - unlike my average document hunt, this is Yoimiuri Shimbum, a newspaper, a big newspaper. Which means they probably have their own archive, which I might be able to access. and low and behold, they do! And my university research services actually have an account!!

Incredibly blessed by this stroke of luck, I went digging for everything containing "Evangelion" and "Eiji Otsuka" in 1996, and found it:

And it's fucking blank. If the article is scanned or anything it will have that "Japanese Text" you see on the first result, or "Scanned Image" tag or something. I swear its like the only ones not scanned, all the random ads and list of best sellers are all there, but the entire cultural essays section is just an archival void. Shot in the skull right at the finish line.

Alas I am out of ideas of this one - its a newspaper, no one is selling this on Yahoo Auctions. Though hey, at least now we know the title:

"オウム」を超えるはずが... / It should surpass Aum...", 876 characters long.

"Aum" by the way is Aum Shinrikyo, the cult terrorist group that conducted the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. Which you can imagine really took the chattering classes by storm; it was the culmination of a series of "extremist" actions that began in the 1980's that built up a narrative of societal decay and alarm. It really isn't surprising that Otsuka linked Evangelion to Aum Shinrikyo; the apocalyptic connections were obvious, there was even an episode of the show that had to be changed due to the attacks as the production team thought the events were too similar. And additionally, if this essay was gonna spark a "societal backlash", it has to say something controversial right? I have definitely seen other critics like Hiroki Azuma discussing Eva in relation to Aum as a "social phenomenon" - I am betting Otsuka is the source of that comparison being so ubiquitous.

From other sources like people on twitter and other articles, I can pick up a few other details on what it contained; apparently he referred to Evangelion's finale as a "self-help seminar" for otaku and lambasted the idea of airing one of those on TV. And from his other writings I think you can certainly piece it together - essentially seeing Evangelion's self-involvement and hyper-introspection as a product of the same societal malaise that birthed Aum Shinrikyo, while failing to deliver a solution that could "go beyond" that. Which, the shit you said about media in the 90's, I want a hit of what he's having! But while today its quite obvious that groups like Aum were, sure, saying something about society but turned out overwhelmingly to be fringe weirdos as opposed to canaries in the mental institute coal mine, at the time this was very much the zeitgeist.

Still, I don't really care all that much what it says - its an important artifact! It started the "Eva discourse boom" that broke out of otaku circles and launched Evangelion into a cross-societal phenomenon! We should have a record of it, it should be preserved. I will ruminate on it, and see if any other ideas pop up. And meanwhile if anyone out there happens to see what I missed definitely let me know.

[andydrysdalerogers]

To The Limit - 3

F1 Racer Johnny Storm x OFC Maya Levinson

Summary: He's been away from the sport for 2 years. He has 24 races to prove he belongs here. There are two things that could derail this: his family and her.

She's the one thing he is willing to push to the limit for.

This a sequel to my original story, "Following Team Orders" If you want to get caught up in my Formula One world, you can find it HERE

Future Warnings: references to a partner's death, cheating (but not by the MCs,) alcohol consumption, SMUT!, angst, racing incidents, language, grief, etc.

Moon Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Car divider and Banners by me!

Previous Chapter: Two

Story Master List // Main Master List

I do NOT give permission for my work to be translated or reposted on here or any other site, even if you give me credit. DO NOT REPOST MY FICS. Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated

Maya 

I hate being late.  

If you ever had an overbearing brother who loves to criticize just because he’s been a champion in the most difficult and prestigious sports in the world, you would totally get me.  

You don’t? 

Lucky you. 

My brother, Ari Levinson, just had to go and win the Drivers World Championship in Formula One four times.  

Showoff.  

Anyways, he retired and took some time to himself until a couple of years ago. That’s when he was approached to be the team principal for Mercedes. I was working in formula three at the time as a social media reporter. That’s when I gor the call from Ari to be the public relations director for the team.  

I now work for my brother.  

Joy.  

Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother but I never thought this would be my life.  Ari is 15 years older than me. He left to drive at 18 and never looked back. I was three, still toddling after him when he left. He only came home during long breaks and even then, he was on his SIM or at the factory. But he always made time for me, the little tag-a-long that sat on his lap when he was practicing or always wore his team colors. I was his little girl.  

At least, not until mama and papa passed away,  

We don’t talk about it much.  I was 15 when it happened, and Ari was in the middle of his third championship run.  It was summer so I was with him on the road.  When it came time for school, he had asked me if I wanted to be home schooled or if I wanted to go to boarding school. I had two more years before university. I don’t know what Ari really wanted to do.  He never told me or mentioned if he wanted me to stick close.  

I went to boarding school. And then to university.  I only saw Ari at holidays or summer. It was... I don’t even know... lonely. It was lonely.  I had nothing in common with my brother. He was shoved into a parental role for a heartbroken 15-year-old girl. He gave up on the sleeping around and partying, especially when I was on the road with him.  

After the fourth championship, he decided to retire and move to London, where I started to work for McLaren in their social media department. That’s when we reconnected. We had Sunday dinners and lunches during the week. I got to know my brother away from the track. And he was able to, finally, get a life.  He met Sarah. She was nice. At least until she wasn’t. The divorce was hard on Ari. Especially when Sarah used how he had to raise me as reasons he was unreliable as a partner. Lucky I was old enough to testify to the contrary so she couldn’t take as much as she wanted.  

Now that my life story is done, for the most part, now you can understand why I am running through the paddock. I hate disappointing my brother when he has done a lot for me.  

I wish I had gotten to the track sooner. But the perfect PR storm hit the Mercedes Garage, and it required me to work out of the hotel instead of track side. While I’m happy for Olivia and Steve, the look of a pregnant driver testing, of all things, has made a lot of noise.  I had to do interviews and give quotes to questions asked.   

And on top of that, I had to deal with Cole’s accident and the hiring of Johnny Storm. Like I said, it's been a storm of epic proportions. I check my watch, hoping that I will have a quick minute to wish my boyfriend luck before my drivers are in the cars.  

But my mind drifts to Johnny. I haven’t seen him in two years. I can assume he won’t remember me.  I never gave my name that night.  I wanted a night where I wasn’t Ari Levinson’s baby sister. But I remember what Johnny called me.  

Luna.  

I really liked that. He liked me for me and not my name. And I wish we could have pursued something but the next day it was announced that he lost his ride. And then he was underground for two years before my brother brought him back. I’m excited to see him but I am not sure how to handle it. Two years in a long time for things to change. Its not like I can pursue anything anyways.  

If there was something there between us, like I thought we had.  

My cell phone ringing brought me back from the memory of that night.  Its Ari. “Hello?” 

“Where are you, Maya?” 

“I’m running. The last meeting with the FIA took longer than I thought.  I was just going to stop by Ferrari and then be right there.”  

“Tell Carlos I said be safe. But come ASAP Maya. I want to introduce you to Johnny.”  

“Yes, Ari.”  I hang up and rush into the red hospitality area of Ferrari.  I stopped on of the staff.  “Is Carlos in his room?”  

He shook his head. “Sorry I think he is already in the garage.”  

“Thanks.  I text him.”  

Maya: Carlos, where are you?  Carlos: sorry carina, they called me to the car sooner that I thought.   Maya: I can’t stop by but good luck today.   Carlos: I’ll see you after, hermosa.  

My heart flutters at the pet names. I shove my phone in my bag when I slam into someone. Big, warm hands grab my arms before I can fall over, and I grab my bag before my laptop hits the ground. A deep voice says. “I’m so sorry.” Its familiar and comforting. 

“It's ok, I wasn’t looking.”  

“Luna?” 

I look up into the ocean blue eyes of Johnny Storm. And clearly, he remembers me.  

Johnny 

Two Years Prior – End of Season Gala 

The gala had been nice. It was nice to celebrate Steve second championship, but it left me a little bitter.  I had come in second again. I tossed back the scotch I had and asked for another.  

“A man like you should be celebrating his achievements not mourning them.” Her voice was light and sweet.  The scent of strawberries and vanilla teased the air around me.  I turned to see a brunette with some of the bluest eyes I had ever seen. With the full moon behind her, it looks like the moon is framing her.  She’s gorgeous and I fight my jaw falling open. I instead, swallow the new drink placed in front of me.  

“Just missing out on being a world champion is a tough pill to swallow.” I lift my glass to her, and she toast me with her champagne. “To you, Luna, for reminding me that I need to keep perspective.” I sip my drink.  

“Luna?” 

I smile. “Yeah, Luna. Bright and inviting, at first glance, but an edge of mystery and darkness that you just want to get to know.”  

She snorts. “Does that work?” 

I play dumb, “does what work?” 

“That line.”  

I shrug. “Dunno. Never tried it.” I take another sip as I take in more of her beauty.  She must be the hottest woman I have seen since Molly.  

“Ok, speed racer, I’ll bite. Why do you think I am mysterious and dark?” 

An errant curl falls in front of her face. I take the stands in my hand and feel how smooth and silty they are before tucking it behind her ear. “Because you’re beautiful, I've never seen you before and I want to stay in your orbit. But I also think that you won’t be giving up your name tonight.” My fingers skim down her neck and I hear her breathing hitch.  

“That’s very presumptuous.” She gives me a smile that make my cock jump in my pants. “And a little true. I don’t usually come to these events, but my boss made all of us attend to celebrate Olivia Rogers take third in the championship.”  

“So, you work for one of the teams? Interesting. Mercedes, I’m guessing since you’re hear celebrating Liv.” She nods. “That's nice.” I see the dancing start. I grimace and turn back to my Luna. “Wanna get out of here?” 

I can’t believe it. Luna. She’s here, technically in my arms as I hold her steady.  She looks up at me with her beautiful blue eyes and just blinks. “Johnny.”  The way she says my name, it's like she was prepared to see me. I set her on her feet, but I stick close to her.  

“Luna, you’re still with Mercedes?”  

She blushes. “Yeah. Wow Johnny, you’re back.” She looks around nervously.  

“Is everything ok?” My awareness is peaked. She looks very nervous to see me. But I feel happy to see another familiar face. Being new to the team is hard and with how the car is handling, I feel lost. I used to be good at this job. I used to be number two.  

Now I’m at the bottom.  

I try to shake off the negativity as I watch as my Luna swishes her ponytail back and forth while she looks for something or someone. “I, well...” she stammers. “I have to tell you something.”  

“Uh, sure, ok.” I rub the back of my neck. “Do you want to go to my driver room? Its private or we can...” 

“Storm!” I turned to see Ari walking over to me. “I see you met our public relations manager.” He wraps an arm around Luna and tugs her close. “This is Maya, one of the best public relation directors in the business.”  

I stare at her for a second and then glance back and forth between them.  Are they dating? Are they married. They look awfully similar.  

“She’s also my sister.”  

Yep, that’s it. I know I can’t hold my shock face. How did I not see it before? They have the same coloring, but while Ari has obviously brown hair, Luna’s is a dark chocolate brown. But there is no mistaking those eyes. “Maya, was it?” I stuck out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”  

I can see the panic in her eyes, but I encourage her to take my hand.  “It's nice to meet you, Johnny.  I have a list of things I wanted to go over with you.  I’m sorry we couldn’t have met sooner.”  

I stick my hand in my pockets. “Yeah, well, i know that there have been so many changes around here.  You’ve had to be on your toes. Right, boss?” 

Ari nods. “Bug getting pregnant and then Cole getting hurt has left a shitstorm on Maya’s desk, but I knew she could handle it.” He kissed the top of her head. “Maya, I set up time for you to run things with me and Johnny after the race and review. I’ll see you after the race, sis. Johnny, you’ve got about half an hour before you need to start prep.”  

I mock salute him before giving him the shaka sign. He shakes his head before walking off.  I turned to Maya.  “This has been interesting,” I tell her.  

“I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you privately before the weekend started but with all the press surrounding Olivia...” 

“Hey, I get it. We never said names, Luna. And I was gone from the sport so there was no reason to find me again after that night.” I rocked on my heels. “Guess I shouldn’t ask you out then, seeing as you’re the boss’s sister and all.” I give her my best cocky grin, even if it's a bit forced. 

She grimaces. “I really hate my brother for telling everyone that I’m off limits. I’m not 12.” She huffs with indignation, and I can’t help but laugh.  But before I can say anything, my phone chimes. I look at it and pale.  

Susie: SOS sorry but I need you for a minute.  

“Sorry, I have to go. See you later Luna.”  I rush out of the garage, trying not to panic.  

I really don’t need this before my first race in two years. 

NEXT

Taglist:

@patzammit

@texmexdarling

@slutforchrisjamalevans

@firephotogrl74

@tinkerbelle67

@before-we-get-started

@bunnyforhim

@alexakeyloveloki

@sunnyhummingbee

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@peaceinourtime82

@saucy-sassy-sparkly

@kmc1989

@kandis-mom

@lokislady82

@raven-blue3000

[gioiaalbanoart]

Find the Word Tag

So.....I had several in the back-burner, I might get start now....😅

THANKS TO : @the-golden-comet (X) with : house, flower, rain, green AND (X) with cold, shiver, stream, and drop AND (X) with Fear, Trust, Summon, Horror

@wyked-ao3 (X) with : loyal, gun, tree, smoke and (X same as Goldie)

and (X) with : void, valid, villain, violent and (X) with  fire, aim, guilty, hell

@authorcoledipalo (X) with : ache, slash, bounce, wink

@tragedycoded (X) with tire, accurate, innocent, switch

@sableglass (X) with Sting, Chase, Care, Empty and (X) with Lock, Cross, Stick, Fly

From my wip The scarred angel under the cut with tags

house

And Amy wishes. She wishes so badly for time to stop.

Of course it doesn't, and the morning reaches easily the greenhouse.

rain (it was the closest one 😂)

As I keep staring, bewitched, I'm vaguely aware of part of my brain suggesting : "Must be what being hit by lightening feels like".

green

By some standards I bet he could be considered as handsome : tanned, green eyes, tick dark hair, really bright white teeth.

cold

I’m suddenly cold now, despite the too warm, too humid fucking weather, but I sink in the sensation anyway.

shiver

Suddenly the power of a possible implication hits him, eyes go wide : "They're not past fentanyl, are they ?" he blurts and shivers despite himself. 

stream

"Our work on the border is challenging by definition. Starting with drugs and  illegal immigration and all the possible downstream harms like  various smuggling, gun-running.... You name it. 

drop

When this one looks at me with those arctic blue eyes my jaws involuntarily drops and all hairs on my body go secretly hair-raising.

Trust

She puts together scratches of material she has written, mainly on paper because she doesn't trust to bring along her laptop in the patrol car. 

Fear

It's old enough that among other things she fears it might overheat and miserably melt.

Summon

Herrera's answer hangs in the air while I summon internally any entity whatsoever that might keep him talking without requiring another awkward prompt coming from me.

Horror

It still would be nothing compared to the horror's ripping her apart.

gun

Which translates as different groups at war engaging in gunfight and not finishing the job because more urgent matters.

tree

Can you imagine families in those streets? With children?"

smoke

Despite all the open windows and the "no smoking" signs a stale cigarettes smoke persists and combined with the heat makes the air stuffy, so much for breathing.

void

We almost argued and Phil hardly held his tongue to avoid lashing out on me.

violent

"We're helping with the operation." he says : "We are on watch if you prefer. We want to avoid as much as possible any violent consequence on ours side."

ache

Ashley arches an eyebrow like a challenge : "Rumors about me have reached your ears, perhaps?"

wink

Still Morales winks at her, the lopsided unpleasant smirk still plastered on his face.

tire

Maybe I'm failing at it, or he's just so tired, as his heavy eyes' bags show, that he just can't care less.

switch

Say I call in I wouldn't have a clue about whom I could ask for, I probably wouldn't pass beyond the switchboard.

Sting

Proper interviews it's usually when things get interesting.

Chase

Amy chases away fleeting images of light blonde hair and ice blue eyes sneaking annoyingly between responsible and fully functional thoughts.

Care

She' half sitting half leaning on the desk edge, splayed palms planted behind to props her up like an easel, body language exuding a kind of devil-may-care attitude that seems irritating Morales as much.

Empty

My stomach is still churned and part of me is focusing on keep it from emptying it just there on the floor which is probably why I don't mince my words when I ask : "What's Ashley Knox to you, sir?"  

fire

But she's rather glad she didn’t earn any new of them from the fire, new painful identification marks.

aim

"So, what is that you're good at aim?" the blonde asks before taking a sip, curiosity lingering in her eyes above the glass's edge.

hell

Why the hell does she shaves so? 

Lock

Ashley at first locks eyes with hers then her lips twists in a half shit-eating grin : "That's was lame." She breaths out almost like talking to herself. 

Cross

Sounds like a joke, it must me the most common family name here where we can just walk to cross the border and get to Mexico. 

Stick

She abruptly goes back sitting and stirs the fire with a stick, her gaze back to usual hardness.

Fly

There is no way I'm taking a fly back home right now anyway, I don't have the strength, so let's play the role just for a few days.

NF : flower, loyal, valid, villain, slash, bounce, accurate, innocent, guilty

****

Now, that was...Np tag but I wanna share the pain 🤣 . Pick up one/more than one/ whatever words :

@saturnine-saturneight, @davycoquette, @cowboybrunch, @authorcoledipalo, @leahnardo-da-veggie, @kaeru483 @alinacapellabooks + open tag and a drink because you probably gonna need one 🍻 🍻🍻