#to clarify this is actually my dads video

[mx-misty-eyed]

I WAS SO CLOSE

[starkwlkr]

you are NOT the world champion | max & charles

in another ruby fic it’s mentioned that charles is a world champion WELL for this fic that’s not true but he still drives for ferrari …

Formula 1 posted a new youtube video

Kids test their F1 knowledge! Featuring Ruby and Mathéo Leclerc and Noah Verstappen

The official channel for Formula 1 had uploaded a youtube video with the Leclerc kids and Noah Verstappen, of course with their families permission. The kids were going to be tested on their f1 knowledge with their dads asking them questions. Ruby was sat in between Noah and Mathéo, a white table was in front of them while Max and Charles were on the ends of the table with cards in their hands.

“Okay, welcome everybody! We are here to test these kids that should know at least something about formula 1. Are you ready?” Charles began.

“Wait! What are the rules? We need rules!” Mathéo interrupted.

“Uh, if you get the question right you get a point and whoever has the most point at the end—” Charles explained but Ruby spoke up.

“Is the world champion?” She questioned.

“My papa is one! What about yours?” Noah told Ruby. Then the kids got distracted talking about how many world championships their dads have.

“My papa doesn’t have one.” Ruby replied to Noah.

“Why?”

“I think it’s because he drives a Ferrari.”

Max bursted out laughing as Charles tried to regain everyone’s attention back to the game. “Okay! Okay! Are we ready?”

“Yes!” All three kids yelled.

“Alright. First question, what team does Lewis drive for? And you have to say it right or else you don’t get the point.” Charles clarified.

“The orange one! He drives that one.” Mathéo said, but Ruby aggressively shook her head.

“No! Lewis doesn’t wear orange, Théo. Lando and Oscar do! Lewis wears cool clothes.”

“He drives for Roscoe.” Noah added. “I like Roscoe.”

Ruby gasped and turned to face Noah. “He’s so cute! I like Roscoe too!”

“Does anyone know?” Max asked the kids. The kids stayed silent. “The answers is Mercedes amg petronas formula 1 team.”

“They should change it to Roscoe formula 1 team. It sounds better.” Ruby suggested, Noah and Mathéo agreeing with her.

“I’ll let Toto know. Okay, next question. This is the easiest one ever. Who is the current world champion?” Charles asked.

“Not you.”

“You’re very funny, Ruby Jules.”

Several questions later, the kids barely had enough points. Noah had actually remembered some things that Max had told him like what where the track names and how many races there was. Ruby managed to name a couple world champions other than Max while Mathéo remembered the numbers of drivers.

“So you are all tied and this is the last question.” Max told the kids. In the distance, he saw Mick with his girlfriend walking so he called Mick over just do he could ask the final question. “We have a guest here who is going to do the honor of asking the last question.”

“Hi Mick! Hi Mick’s pretty girlfriend!” Ruby waved to the couple as they made their way to the table.

“Hey guys.” Mick high fived the kids. He then took the card from Max’s hands and saw the question. He chuckled but proceeded to ask it. “Who is the best formula 1 driver ever?”

Immediately the three kids shouted “Michael Schumacher!” which made the adults laugh.

“You all won!” Mick gave more high fives to the kids and gave back the cards. “You’re all so smart. Keep it up, okay?”

“We will! Bye Mick and his pretty girlfriend!” Noah said.

“Does that mean we’re all world champions?” Mathéo asked.

“Papa, me and Théo are world champions before you!”

[velvees-archive]

Making my case for ManoSouta, Ace Attorney’s token doomed yaoi

Bronco knew, and still he told nobody.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 full game spoilers ahead!

Chalk it up to lucky guesswork or my expertly honed writer’s intuition (sarcasm), but so rarely do I latch onto side ships that when I found myself gravitating towards Bronco (Manosuke Naito) x Simeon (Souta Sarushiro, hence ManoSouta) simply because of this line, I knew something was up…

…and boy was I right.

Simeon Saint’s fall from grace was a direct consequence of subjection to a corrupt justice system and equally as corrupted individuals. There was his father, who saw Simeon’s existence as a means to an end (the end being a pharmaceutical “recipe” book that could cure Gusto’s affliction and a shiny world class confectioner title), his best friend, who kidnapped him and almost killed him on his dad’s orders, and—if that wasn’t enough to destroy someone’s psyche—there was the presidential assassination trio, who tormented, interrogated, and dangled their judicial and executive power over him like a special-brand curse.

This is a character who hit rock bottom so long ago he believes nothing is left of him except agony, paranoia, and anger. He crafts an intricate revenge plot that dishes Simeon-esque justice to everyone who wronged him. The acts are performed mercilessly, too, no hesitation, regret, or unnecessary feelings involved in the flawless execution of his plan.

Well, almost.

There was one person in the same boat—no family, no longstanding companionship (barring each other)—who set Simeon’s descent in motion. Ironically, it is also through this person that we’re shown what remains of his humanity.

For me to talk about Simeon’s feelings as shown before we found out he was the mastermind, though, we have to see how he reacted after the big reveal. Upon being fingered as the villain, Simeon makes it clear he does not feel remorse towards any of the people “he” killed. After all, they drew first blood; Simeon firmly believes retaliation was warranted.

That is, until Miles clarifies the following points surrounding Simeon’s kidnapping, his memory loss, and the fate of his and Bronco’s fathers:

The reason Simeon was kidnapped wasn’t so Bronco’s dad could kill Simeon’s; Bronco was only meant to stall Simeon so he couldn’t help his dad win the confectionary competition finale

When a murder did occur, the victim of the murder was not Simeon’s dad, but Bronco’s.

This is how Simeon responds:

“He deserved to die!…Didn’t he?”

This line, in conjunction with the contemplative flashback shown in the video, conveys Simeon’s uncertainty/regret about inciting Knight’s murder, though one could argue this is only in reaction to the revelation rather than a lingering attachment to Knight, who he “stopped thinking” was his friend 18 years ago.

But then he follows it up with this.

“Then what was all this…for…!?”

At this point, you have to ask yourself why Simeon is questioning his entire plan (keyword in the quote is all, not just Bronco’s death) because he realized whose father actually died. Technically speaking, Bronco did still kidnap him. On top of that, everyone else Simeon exacted revenge on still wronged him, so it makes no sense to say this unless Bronco’s supposed role in “Simeon’s” father’s death was pivotal in Simeon’s decision to proceed with his whole plot. In other words, the reason Simeon questions his plot after Miles’ clarification is because this fundamental misunderstanding was what pushed him to take revenge on everyone in the first place. Bronco’s betrayal weighed so heavily on him that Simeon had no choice but to kill him in line with his principles, but he didn’t actually want to.

I’m not saying he wanted to spare Bronco because of the power of friendship or some misplaced sentimentality. It was inevitable that Bronco would die by Simeon’s hand because Simeon vowed to get his revenge on everyone who hurt him. What I am saying is that Simeon’s resolve is clearly shaken once Bronco’s role in his suffering is cleared up. As soon as Simeon realized Bronco’s dad didn’t murder his dad, he regretted killing his only friend. This is the only time Simeon shows remorse.

You might think Simeon’s hatred for Bronco stems from his kidnapping and its consequences, aka setting off the chain of events that would ruin Simeon’s life outside of “his” dad dying. However, Simeon doesn’t hold a grudge over Bronco for anything other than the kidnapping. The statement, “If you hadn’t detained me 18 years ago…it wouldn’t have had to…end like this” is vastly different from “If you hadn’t detained me 18 years ago, none of this would have happened.” His “hatred” for Bronco was a personal grudge he had against his best friend, who also happened to be the son of his dad’s killer. Bronco was on Simeon’s list because his betrayal stung Simeon most. “What was all of this for” really meant, “I wouldn’t have gone through with any of this if I knew you weren’t involved.”

Had Simeon truly hated him, it’d be difficult to justify why he snuck away from his carnival preparations to talk to Bronco. Why did he pay such an incriminating visit when he’d already delivered Bronco’s chess set during visiting hours? And why did he tell Bronco he snuck something into it, leaving him vulnerable to counterattack should Bronco tattle?

Why did he bother saying goodbye?

Simeon’s actions betray logic because try as he might to hate Bronco with all his heart, he cared. Bronco Knight’s betrayal was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but imagine if the misunderstanding had been sorted from the start. Simeon's reaction to wrongfully killing Bronco was a stellar portrayal of his desire for genuine companionship, and a peek into what remained of his humanity before he was unmasked. He really was all alone.

If you’re still not sold on them being the doomed yaoi representatives of Ace Attorney, if a misplaced desire for revenge cutting their time short doesn’t make this tragic enough, then consider this: Bronco legitimately cared for and trusted Simeon, but unlike Simeon, he was left completely in the dark.

He’s legitimately excited to see Simeon’s performance. He happily awaited Simeon’s chess correspondences because he just likes being around him!!

Perhaps the biggest sticking point in all of this is that Simeon admitted he put something in his chess set, Bronco definitely opened his chess set, and yet when it came time for Fifi Laguarde to interrogate him (aka when she discovers the chisel), Bronco does not tell her he doesn’t own it, he does not tell her he’s been set up, and he does not tell her his best friend—who the precinct knows visited him—is the one who put it there. Why didn’t Bronco tell her?

That’s the greatest pull of their dynamic: we don’t know. Maybe everything happened too fast. Maybe he did try to protest. Maybe he ratted Simeon out but Laguarde was already in hysterics. Maybe Bronco didn’t understand why the chisel frenzied the warden so, and paid the ultimate price for it.

Or maybe, just maybe, Bronco already knew the moment he saw the chisel. Maybe he died a knowing victim of Simeon’s retribution. Maybe he thought it better that the knowledge of their past—Paul Halique’s ring and Simeon’s secret hatred— dissolve with his last breath.

Worse yet, maybe he couldn’t believe Simeon would do something like this. Maybe he continued to have blind faith in him despite the damning evidence. Maybe he believed in him.

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

Some things I’ve noticed on my second viewing of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (2023)

(Some of these are obvious, don’t @ me, I’m autistic and I had work the day I first watched the film so my brain was all over the place)

Once again, SPOILERS ARE UNDER THE CUT, PLEASE DONT READ IF YOU ARE AVOIDING SPOILERS!!!!

On my first viewing I thought that showing the security guard at the very start loosening the bolts of the chair straps was a fake out to make us believe he’d escape, but actually he loosened the bolts which is how Mike was able to escape later on

Just want to say that the opening credits are fucking cool and I love them so much

In my previous post about things in the FNAF movie, I incorrectly said there was no Golden Freddy - Golden Freddy is in fact in the film, he’s the one who goes to the house/kills Aunt Jane/is in the taxi

Following on from the above point, I said last time that I thought the cupcake was the fifth ghost child but I actually think it’s Golden Freddy to be honest - the blonde girl was obviously Chica, the boy with the bunny ears was Bonnie, the ginger boy was Foxy, and then there was the blonde boy and another boy with a top hat on. I originally thought that the blonde boy who wore the brown shirt was Freddy because he seemed like the leader, but now I’m wondering if the boy with the top hat was Freddy and the leader boy was in fact Golden Freddy (given his blonde hair)? I’m interested to hear what everyone else thinks

This is obvious but the doctor foreshadowed the ending because she told Mike that drawings are powerful tools for children to express things and understand things, and that’s exactly how Abby communicated to the gang at the end that Afton was responsible for their deaths

^side note but as an early years practitioner at a nursery/for preschool children, it’s actually true that pictures are used to help children learn things even before they can read, write or talk. I don’t know, it just interested me to be like “oh yeah that’s true!!”

There was not that much focus on Mike’s dad, like he was seen so briefly compared to his mom, which makes me wonder if there’s something to it that might be revealed in a future film. Like maybe his “dad” isn’t his dad or something? Because in the game canon, William is his father, so… I don’t know. I also saw someone else point out that in the training video Mike watched, there was a man working on the animatronics who maybe looked like the actor playing Mike’s dad, so maybe his dad worked there with the animatronics?

The film appears to be set in 2000; I’m 90% sure the security cam of Mike in the careers office showed the date as being in 2000, but if someone else can clarify or confirm the exact date then that would be great. It would make sense though because Garret presumably went missing around the same time as the ghost kids (in the 80s), so the film being set in the present day (meaning Mike would be in his 50s) would make zero sense. Also the mobile phones/computers all seem like they come from the early 2000s

Someone on Twitter pointed out that one of Abby’s drawings on her wall appeared to be a red airplane, which could just be an indication/foreshadowing of her knowledge of Garret’s disappearance (his toy airplane) but also someone else said it could have been 9/11 which….?!?! If this film is set in 2000, then that’s FUCKED

(I think it’s either a random drawing or to do with Garret’s toy tbh but the idea of her having foresight of 9/11 is fucking horrifying)

I’m still not totally sure which animatronic the gang were going to force Abby into, like it’s one with spring locks and at first I thought it might be Circus Baby but it doesn’t really look like her. It looks almost like a marionette or something? And I mean, yeah, it could be that they changed the design a bit but they literally stayed faithful to the designs of all the animatronics in the series so… you know.

Desperate to know if Matthew Lillard is aware of the fact that his DILF status has been multiplied by one hundred after this film like can someone check in on him and see if he’s alright? 💀 the FNAF girlies fans are frankly RABID about Afton

On that note, I wonder if Josh Hutcherson or Matthew Lillard have ever played any FNAF games, like were they fans before being cast or…? I really wish we could have content of them talking about the film or promoting it, but Hollywood refuses to pay their actors fairly so 🤷‍♀️

Listen, I ADORE both Josh and Matthew anyway but in this film I feel like Matthew especially stood out??? Maybe it’s just the character he’s playing but he ATE this role up (so did Josh but still)

I feel like the springlock scene was actually more terrifying upon a second viewing like at my first one I was like “that’s not as bad as I imagined” but this time I was like “holy shit he’s in agony” like his screams were PAINFUL to listen to

Speaking of painful to listen to, Freddy gave this really guttural and pained roar/scream at one point during the ending and it really made my heart hurt, it’s like the child inside of him was reliving the memory of their murder or something??? I can’t describe it but it was such an intense moment

I honest to god feel like I enjoyed it more on a second viewing and I don’t know why??? Maybe it’s just because the other people in my cinema weren’t laughing every five minutes but still.

I now have the urge to rewatch ALL of Markiplier’s playthroughs of ALL the FNAF games so… yep!

Once again begging for people to talk about FNAF because I’m not the most knowledgable on the series but I do enjoy it!

[ggukkiedae]

[N'-49, 54, 55, 56] NCT in SMTOWN OSAKA

(conversations in italics are spoken in english)

#1 - 방배정 게임 (Pick your roommate)

Hannah’s sitting next to Taeyong in the beginning, and you see him looping their arms together while Doyoung explains what is going on

after mark clarifies if the groups are randomized, haechan speaks up “what about haeeunie?”

“nct’s princess has the privilege of choosing wherever she wants to sleep, which is why she has her in-ears with her already”

hannah cheers while showing off the box in her hand, “princess privilege!”

when jaehyun picks jisung you can hear her in the background “oh, that sounds like a nice room” (then haechan’s “no, haeeun-ah, me!”)

but when kun picked johnny, haechan yelled “no! that’s where she’s gonna go!”

everyone laughed as johnny and kun stood next to each other, johnny going “hannah’s korean and chinese dads”

the camera zooms in on hannah who gave a simple shrug and a smile

once doyoung was sure no one would switch rooms, he called hannah to the front

“right now, hannah is going to choose her roommates. drumroll please!”

17 pairs of hands started hitting the floor while hannah laughed

“plain and simple, everyone. mark and jaemin, you’re stuck with me”

the two boys got up and cheered to high five hannah while others (read: haechan, ten, jaehyun, yuta, jisung, and chenle) protested

that’s how the video cut off

#4 - The Roommates Part 3 _ MJH/JHJS/CW

hannah’s sitting on the small shelf behind mark and jaemin while mark starts the video, just smiling at them

“this is mark” “this is jaemin na” “...”

mark looked back at her while she just stared back “hans, say something” “hey, guys! i’m hannah!”

while jaemin and mark discuss them being a couple with their snapbacks, you see hannah walk behind them to sit on the bed

“hannah, for some unknown reason, wanted the foldable add-on bed, so she’s there” “it’s comfier!” “anyway, can you guess which bed is jaemin’s”

when mark told jaemin he was being over, she snorted

“please, mark. we had a solid thirty minute conversation about how jaemin would get in next to you or if we would share the foldable bed” “wait, really?” 

then jaemin explained how he eventually got in bed while hannah still watched in amusement

jaemin pulled her over to his bed, and they shifted so she was resting in front of them and all three of their faces were in the screen

she gave a playful judgy look with jeno popping out behind jaemin and mark’s exaggerated shock

“and the answer to why our room is popular among the members is? Jeno-shi?” “the answer is lee hannah!”

jaemin laughed “true, actually”

then jeno explained the real reason why he was there

then mark was explaining the actual answer of why the members came, and you can see hannah look up in surprise when jeno gets on the bed and start pretending to put kisses on jaemin

when jaemin almost said what mark said that morning, hannah snorted and got up off the bed and back to hers on jaemin’s other side

you can see jeno plop himself on her bed, and she’s trying to shove him off, but he just kept plopping back onto her bed. mark and jaemin kept talking like nothing was happening

“good night! hans, say good night!” “good night! it will be once lee jeno gets off my bed!”

#5 - BEHIND THE STAGE

taeil starts of the video walking to hannah who was getting her makeup retouched and hands her a cup of what looks like coffee. she grinned while she took it

“hannah-yah, what are you doing?” “now? i’m getting touched up. oppa, how’s my makeup?” “pretty” he then taps her cheek and walks over to mark and winwin

the next cut you see of her is when mark and jaemin’s cakes are there the next  day

kun goes “kids, hannah baked those cakes”

mark does a double take “what?” and jaemin looks at her in shock “you were with us in our room! you fell asleep before us”

she laughed, “i snuck out with kun baba and youngho oppa at like 2am, you guys were so tired you didn’t wake up”

“dude, thank you!” mark went over to her and gave her a quick side hug while jaemin just engulfed her “haeeun-ah! thank you for baking the cake haeeunie!”

and you just see her squirming to escape the hug when it got too long

#6 - ENDING STAGE ‘빛 (Hope)’ Selfcam FULL Ver.

she’s with yoona, minho, and mark on their cart, and while yoona and mark are waving to fans and smiling at the camera, you can see minho behind them making hannah jump with him, and she’s just laughing

at some point, she stood next to mark, and he put an arm around her while they sang along to the lyrics

haechan met them where they were going to get down and assisted her onto the stage

further down the video, you see her waving to a stage camera, then she looks around confused

bc surprise: she can’t find nct

kun appeared in the distance, and hannah ran straight to him, seemingly rapidly talking while taeil just smiled and nodded along all while walking her towards where the rest of nct were lining up for their bow

taglist: @1-800-enhypennabi @strwberrydinosaur @sunflower-0180 @caratinylyfe @1-800-minji @one16core @kimhyejin3108 @chansols @akshverse @world-full-of-roses @stopeatread

drop an ask or a dm if you wanna be added or taken out of the taglist 🥰 requests are also open!

[ang3lv0mit333]

My head cannons of the tuplar crew had tik toks

Curly definitely follows lots of gym and wellness things. He also reposts a lot of work out tips and tricks. He also follows pilots and likes air show videos. He has two videos on his profile of him benching and both of them are under 60 views and Anya and Daisuke are the only ones that liked it. Anya left a comment about how great he’s doing on both. They definitely are each other’s biggest fans.

Anya follows a lot of nurses and people who do skits about nursing. She has three videos she’s posted one a trend med school people did, second is her just posting a selfie, and the third is her giving a rant about some reality tv show and her opinion on one of the stars. She almost got mini cancelled for her opinions. Curly also always comments on her videos with like a simple emoji. She always likes his comment and responds back with an emoji. They definitely send each other tik toks all the time.

Swansea has one thing posted to his tik tok and it’s a bad selfie with some cheesy filters. He only follows Daisuke on there(cause Daisuke was the one to convince him to get tik tok). A lot of his fyp is hunting and fishing. Maybe some golfing. He also always leaves like dad comments or passive aggressive comments on Daisukes tik toks. Anya and Curly followed him but he never followed back.

Daisuke is a very typical tik tok user. He posts videos being funny or doing dumb dances. His most popular video is him scaring Swansea with some like minion makeup he did. He reposts lots of memes and skits. He definitely follows a lot Pokémon, arcade, and gaming profiles. He always likes Swanseas comments on his videos. He also always has to clarify Swansea is not his actual dad. He and Anya also always send each other tik toks. He doesn’t like some of the stuff she sends but he always replies back with laughing emojis. She also doesn’t get a lot of the memes he sends so he has to explain it to her lot.

Jimmy definitely emo ass male toxicity posting. Slideshows of like anime characters looks beat and sad with like some awful captions about women or being lonely. Curly and Anya blocked him after the third slide show about women being bitches. Daisuke has an alt account that he bullies Jimmy on leaving comments like “CORNBALL!!!” He reposts like sigma male podcasts and sigma male shit. Swansea just blocked him the moment he got a tik tok account.

[shawtythatluvsurgut]

What made you go from feeder/ffa to feedee?!

Also, what is your biggest feedism kink that really gets you going?

(before you read this, please know that nothing i said in response should be taken as me being upset with OP because i am not at all upset with this ask)

i’ll answer the bottom part in my video, but i want to address the top question because i received it more than once.

I am still a feeder. I am still a FFA. I’m a part-time feedee and FULL-TIME feeder.

I am not saying that i’m not a feedee because, I mean, cmon look at my page lol. but i am still a feeder first and foremost. that will never change. i decided to get into testing out the feedee role because i didn’t have anyone irl who i knew that was into feedism or even willing to try it. my last partner made me think he was into it for a bit, but then did a huge 180. it wasn’t until one of my close ‘friends’ (😏) and i started flirting a bit that i realized he was actually into the idea and it brought me back into feeder mode. just because i am dipping my toe into the feedee realm does not mean that i am not a feeder first, so please stop taking that title from me.

i know i have a lot to prove. between my dad’s health rapidly declining which led to my disney arc being cancelled and also my constant switch between feedee and feeder content, i know i’ve disappointed quite a few people recently. for that, i am sorry, but i also don’t regret spending that time with my ill father instead of making feedism content at disneyland ngl. i know a lot of people were pissed (i can tell by how many subs i lost) and i do feel bad and sincerely apologize, but life gets in the way of work at times and i needed to prioritize life in that moment. as for my indecision between being a feedee and a feeder, ive realized that im much more into the feeder role. i love eating and doing it for you all to enjoy which is why im not rejecting the feedee position and am still leaning into it, but i get much more pleasure from being a feeder. i’m much more into the dominance and control that i get as a feeder. however, i do like the plushness on my body that i obtained from being a feedee. i say this all to make the point that i still play both roles, but Feeder will always be my main role. it comes to me naturally and sometimes i have to force myself to be a feedee which can kinda ruin it over time.

also please keep in mind that i’m 21, so i’m still at an age where i flip flop between my sexual identity so so so frequently. I like being a feedee at times, but i always have and always will LOVE being a feeder. now that i have the december trip planned and have someone willing to let me feed them that i also happen to know really really well, im excited to get back into my feeder mode. i will probably switch between the two for a while, and i’m sorry if that annoys any of you.

also, just because i mainly feel like a feeder does not mean i am planning to get ripped or skinny again or any of that. i’m just not focused on gaining right now and haven’t had the appetite or $$ to do stuffings. i am not trying to lose weight; it is just happening naturally due to life circumstances. please stop messaging me accusing me of being a fake feedist or saying that im ‘intentionally getting skinny again’ because that is not true. i don’t care what my size is tbh, im comfortable in my body, i just have other priorities right now and a lack of appetite.

just please stop trying to imply that i’m no longer a feeder because that couldn’t be farther from the truth. it sucks having other people tell you who you are, especially when you’re still figuring that out for yourself. please keep that in mind.

thank you and ily guys. and NO I AM NOT MAD lol. i am not mad at this ask at all; just wanted to clarify what my role in this community is and that is full-time feeder/part-time feedee.

Thank you.

Nico

[snappedsky]

ROTTMNT: Retired Leo AU

Leonardo helps April with a job interview.

--

Mr. O’Neil

April slumps down the subway tunnels, head low and feet dragging. When she enters the lair, Leonardo is sitting in the TV chair with Splinter on his lap; Leo and Casey are sharing a beanbag chair as they play on their phones; Donnie and Raph are facing each other in a video game on the TV; and Mikey is sitting in the other beanbag, watching them.

April drags herself across the room and collapses face first on Mikey’s beanbag, groaning.

“Hi, April,” he says happily.

“Hi, Mikey,” she mutters. She groans again as she rolls over onto her back, dragging her hands down her face. “I’m gonna remain a jobless loser forever.”

“Why, what happened now?” Donnie asks apathetically.

“I applied to be a security guard at the mall,” April explains.

“Oh, you’d be good at that,” Casey remarks.

“I know!” she agrees, “but because I’m not 21, and because I’m a woman- they didn’t actually say that part, but I’m sure it’s gotta be one of the reasons- they want my parent to come in with me for the job interview.”

“So what’s the problem?” Raph asks.

“My mom will never agree to the job,” April replies, “she’s been real worried about me lately and wants me to stay safe and responsible and whatever.”

“Does she not know that you helped saved the planet from a hostile alien invasion?” Leo asks.

“That’s part of the reason she’s worried,” she clarifies, “she doesn’t know I helped fight the Krang, but I was away from home during the whole invasion. And I’m always staying out late and often coming home with bruises. I feel bad for stressing her out all the time, but I really want this security guard job.”

“Well, April,” Splinter says, “I will gladly pose as your father for the interview.”

“Uh, I appreciate that, Splints,” April replies hesitantly, “but I don’t think anyone would buy that we’re related.”

As he pouts, she looks past him up at Leonardo, who’s mostly focused on his can of soda. “But, Leonardo! You could totally do it!”

“Huh?” he questions as April jumps up to her feet and grabs his arm.

“You’re great at sweet talking people,” she points out, “you could pose as my dad and convince the manager to give me the job!”

[angellic-critique]

Hey, I want to ask something: why Is using a drag queen's persona to create a female character a bad thing?/genq

The implication of cissification/forced gender norms is what I take issue with.

You're okay anon. I am going to clarify that this is a queer person critiquing upon a poorly mishandled drag persona of an animated Italian mobster spider that is named after cocaine. I am aware of the extremities here but I cannot stress enough how harmful viv's surface level writing for only her character designs is genuinely harmful and hurtful to me, as a queer person.

I see the themes she attempted to write but having angel dust only centered purely around sex, sexual advantages from the porn industry [without substance[, the pimp abuse and nearly racist depictions of Italians [Gold tooth mobster who only likes guns, violence, sex, drugs, money, alcohol etc,]-

I could go on and on and on as to why Angel Dust despite seeming to come from some level of apathy to drag kings/queens is nothing but surface level tripe. I do not care if the show releases and all it is focused upon is Valentino's abuse and misdeeds towards angel, IS THERE ANYTHING TO THIS CHARACTER BESIDES BEING ABUSED.

there is a difference of wanting to design a drag persona and having the gender be ambiguous but it is an entirely different level of tripe bullshittery to have a character that is allegedly surrounded around drag performing and openly being himself, is supposedly forced under a guise of abuse to undergo the said drag performing...????

Having a AMAB crossdressing to be a drag persona but then take that empowerment away from him, as if he was never allowed to be feminine in the first place. Angel Dust screams tryhard sexy appeal. I do not understand his, alastor, or Stolas for that matters' 'sex' appeal if they are not written well nor with any care for that regard about the communities they are representing.

Viv just wants to write the themes of addiction, gay trauma and industry abuse? That's perfectly fine as long as there is nuance and reasoning and justification for those characters turning to those types of aliments for aid. What do I meaaan????

Alastor has no asexual/aromantic representation, if anything the fandom has proven that it is APHOBIC !!!

Stolas takes pills and it never going to be brought up until Octavia finds out and then SHE is casted to be the villain over calling out the fact that her dad is a POS that only cares about Blitzo! GENUINELY WHAT?

Blitz is an alcoholic stalker SEXUAL HARRASSER that has NO REPRECUSSIONS WHATSOVER FOR SAID DRINKING, IF ANYTHING THE SERIES PRAISES HIM TO BE ONE!!!!

Husk is also a surface level alcoholic that doesn't get called into question! I'm sorry I'm not talking about the main point you asked anon but genuinely please look at the larger scope over why viv just depicts abuse and substance use as 'haha comically funny' while attempting to 'humanize' her Demons. It seems that the show is just pro-abuse and of they genuinely actually have Valentino try to be threatening or a well written pimp ill laugh and delete my blogs honestly since I have no hope from script leaks revolving around him comparing guns to cocks. Viv really loves writing about industry abuse with no nuance here.

I did not bring up Molly whatsoever because unlike Viv I actually love the drag performer community and empowering culture they represent. It's the same reason I believe that Brandon Rodgers is anti-drag despite constantly crossdressing/displaying it within his videos. It's harmful because his drag didn't NEED to be a separate person angel dust should BE the DRAG PERFORMING NAME.

HELLUVA BOSS HAS PROVEN THAT ALL VIV CARES ABOUT IS EXCUSING AND MARKETTING ABUSERS RATHER THEN CALLING INTO QUESTION WHY ABUSE IS HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

[amberjazmyn]

burning questions🫶

pairing : max verstappen x verstappen fem!reader

summary : times in which max verstappen and girlfriend have done the "burning question" video with gq sports that celebrities do, throughout their relationship from being boyfriend and girlfriend, fiancé and fiancée to husband and wife.

warnings : none, it's a fluffy one-shot for my fave maxie today! except the odd greek and dutch translations

a/n :  welcome back to another instalment of amber's recycled works that have already been published before but due to having no original ideas has decided to bring back an older chapter and rewrite it! also, decided that because i have done so many sad one-shots recently, here is a lighthearted one :)

a/n : reader in this is also an olympic gymnast for greece even though she was born in france btw :)

max verstappen and madelena laurent (boyfriend and girlfriend)

madelena giggled the moment the camera turned on and the producer called out "action". max, madelena's boyfriend also chuckled as they then introduced themselves to the viewers who would be watching this video. 

"hello gq sports, i'm madelena laurent and i am an olympic gymnast for team greece," 

"hello, i'm max verstappen and i am the current formula one word champion with oracle red bull racing and today my girlfriend, madelena and i will be answering our fans' most burning questions so, let's go!" max finishes the introduction as madelena gets given the small tin bucket that the questions are being held in

"how do you guys feel about answering these questions?" a producer behind the camera quietly asks as the two athletes smile at each other before responding 

"umm, i think we feel pretty confident as we have had some very interesting but also boring, very generic questions and moments with fans and the media so i don't think these questions could do too much harm," madelena giggled softly as max nodded his head in agreement as madelena unfolds the first question

and it makes her giggle before speaking up, "how many siblings do you have?" madelena smiles at the question, as does max, it had felt like ages since a normal question like that was asked 

"that's a nice, easy question, it's actually really funny though because, like most european families, i have ten and max has--" 

"--so, are there eleven siblings in total or are you one of the ten?" a producer cuts in before max could tell his answer as madelena giggles before she clarifies, max also giggling

"there are eleven siblings in total, eight are biological and the other three are by techncial terms, half-siblings. so, me and my four brothers and sisters are all biologically related and then my two older brothers and one younger sister are from my mum and their dad which is different to mine," madelena giggles at the complexity of her greek family, the producers were all shocked as max then spoke up 

"and i am the oldest of five kids. i have one biological sister, victoria and then i have three that are half-siblings from my dad's other marriages," max chuckles as the producers looked even more shocked because it seemed as though european families shocked a lot of people

"next question!" max then called out as he picked out the second one

"max, if you could switch bodies with one of your fellow drivers, not just from red bull , who and why and madelena, if you could switch bodies with one of your current or former teammates, who would it be and why?" max reads out, a little laugh leaving his mouth after as madelena immediately lights up at this question, max laughing as he let her lead this question 

"ooh, this question is literally my favourite question ever! i have been asked this a couple of times by this same fan account but, it would for sure either be my former teammate aaliyah since she was my first real best friend in the squad or any of my current teammates since new ones come in and the older girls retire so we always get a relatively new stream of girls in our team regularly," madalena pauses as she thinks up of a way to explain why she'd want to switch bodies with either aaliyah or any of her current teammates

"the reason why i'd want to switch with aaliyah is that she's stunning, first thing and, i just wish i had the same confidence and oomph as her! i mean, she is the queen of floor work which is my main event and i wish i just had the same skills as her! she is so humble about her talent as well like, of course she knows how good she is but in the most humble way. so getting to know everything i do know from aaliyah has been truly magnificant and if i could keep on doing that, i'd love it. and the rest of my girls just simply because they are my family and i wouldn't be going to the paris olympics if it wasn't for the rest of my team and just how well we gel as a group!" madelena chuckles as max nods his head as he feels as though he has a solid answer to the question

"i think i'd love to switch bodies with daniel ricciardo. whilst i think i'd love to be all of the other drivers, i think i'd love to switch bodies with daniel the most. whilst i do enjoy having checo as my teammate, i really loved having daniel as my teammate as he really showed me everything i know and i truly do think he shaped me into the person i am now so, i think i'd love to just spend a day being daniel for sure. also because i'd love to be australian for a day *giggles*..."

"...like, just a singular day?" madelena interjects, her giggles matching her boyfriend's as max nods

"yeah, just one day, a whole 24 hours of being australian," max chuckles, his head moving to the side as madelena just shook her head

"madelena, what is it like going into your second-ever olympics in the hopes of defending all of your gold medals you got four years ago at your first games and max, does it ever get tiring winning all the time?"

"ooh, this is a question that we don't get asked a lot believe it or not! but, honestly, it's such an honour to be representing my country once again for a second games. and to be coming in as the reigning champion gold medalist as well for all my events is just so special. and, i hope everything i've done during training and the championships in preperation for these olympics has done enough to get me the gold medals once again so it's a lot less stressful than it was four years ago but, yeah, i'm a lot more calm about it this year for sure," madelena responded, her head nodding as she turned to max so he could say his answer to his specific part of the question

"oh wow, umm, obviously, it's always a joy to win anything but especially in a sport that is so fast-paced and adrenaline-pumping but i think i can get a little bit tiring when the same person keeps on winning because it feels like there's no competition. like, of course i want to win, it's why i'm in the sport, but i love being challenged too. i love seeing other drivers win and put up a fight against me and the others that are the leads in the races. otherwise it doesn't seem fun and it just gets boring. but, saying that, i do love the thrill of winning a race and it's truly something that i'll always love and crave the feeling of for sure!" max's answer was a little longer than madelena's but made sense as the couple moved on to the next question 

"what's one thing that max and the rest of the grid do that bothers the crap out of you, madelena. and max, what is one thing that madelena and her gymnastic squad do that annoy you?"

"oh my gosh, second best question ever!" madelena giggles as max shakes his head, suddenly feeling attacked as he jokingly crosses his arms over his chest

"one thing that max does specifically is, he'll just explain things with such intensity it's hard to even get a word in because he gets so excited that he can't stop talking. but in saying that, it's also one of my favourite things about him because he gets so into it and so happy and smiley that i can't actually have it within me to be annoyed about it. and for the rest of the grid, i'm only going to single out a few of the drivers so, lando's most annoying thing that, similar to max in the sense of i can't really have it in my heart to be that annoyed by it, is his laugh is so contagious and finds everything and nothing funny that he'll just randomly start laughing."

"i have a story about lando actually *giggles* and it was when he was visiting me in greece during summer break a couple years ago, may have been just after my first ever olympics. max fewtrell, lando, charles, oscar, carlos and a couple other drivers had flown over to greece alongside maxie and i for the summer. and unfortunately, whilst they were on summer break, i wasn't technically since i still had more competitions and meets to attend to so i was still working and training. but anyway, lando had been begging me to come with me to one of my gymnastic meets and i agreed and whilst he promised me he'd try his absolute best to not be giggly or distracting, he was. but it was my fault that he was giggly and distracting me because i had failed a trick on the uneven bars falling flat on my stomach like a starfish and he had just happened to be filming the trick i had been practising and the second i splattered on the mat below me, all i hear is just this symphony of hysterical laughter. all for me to lift my head up from the mat to see that it was lando. still filming me by the way with tears streaming down his face because he couldn't stop laughing..." madelena trailed off as max's smile and giggles hearing this story again was sweet

"...but, by the end of lando's giggle session, he actually stopped recording and did actually make sure i was okay since my spotter had turned his back for a mere second. and it was in that second that i had slipped and fell stomach first. thankfully i didn't acquire any serious injuries but it did bruise a little bit of my ego cause i remember after the hilarity of the fall had passed, i actually got really embarrassed and started to cry. and lando was a sweetheart and made sure to comfort me because he, just like the rest of the grid, hate seeing me get upset so he was trying so hard to make me smile again. especially since this had happened not long after the major injury of mine i had just finished healing from before the olympics but yeah, lando's most annoying thing that i find more sweet about him at the same time is his ability to have the best laugh in the world that it can be percieved as annoying to some people because of how much he laughs," madelena smiled as max nodded his head in agreement as she then thought up of some of the other drivers in the grid

"an annoying thing about carlos is again, another thing i love about him that i can never actually find annoying but, his big brown eyes *laughter*..." madelena gets cut off by max's hearty laughter as she also started to giggle

"...i know a lot of people have mentioned the same thing about carlos' eyes but they just tell so much with just one look and i think i find it annoying because i wish i had eyes that were that pretty! i mean, mine are also pretty cause they're like an emerald green but, i think i just love the chocolate brown colour as well as the sweet blue colour as well! but an actual thing about carlos that can sometimes be annoying is that he just always looks so confused about everything..." madelena pauses as max laughs wholeheartedly again with a big headnod

"oh my god yes! it's like, what is so confusing every single time someone speaks to you, mate!" max chuckles as he shakes head as madelena nods her head

"literally, when you or anyone speaks to him, he just looks at you like he's in his own little world half the time! but, again, it's another thing about carlos that i find very endearing and a little bit sweet and adorable! and something about charles i find annoying, i think just how he still doesn't understand english *laughter* but yet again it is sweet because he tries so hard with english because it isn't his first language but yeah, sometimes it can get not annoying but like, i just wish he knew what he was trying to say when we speak english. even though we don't usually speak english to one another since i speak french and italian as well but, yeah..." madelena pauses as she tries to think up of something annoying about oscar as she laughs as it was so obvious

"...and the last person on the grid i'll talk about is oscar. and i think it's very obvious but, it's so annoying how calm he is. like, i just don't get it! sure, i've seen people say that it's just an australian thing but like, is it really? or is it just oscar and daniel because i don't think i've ever met any other australian that is as calm as oscar jack piastri! like, there are moments where i just want him to get angry when something goes wrong in a race! like, max will tell you, sometimes i will scream at poor oscar and like act out like i'm grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him because i just want him to get a little angry or feel any other emotion except for his default emotion which is calm," madelena finished up as max nods his head in a little bit of agreement

"whilst we say these things that are quote 'annoying', just know it's not in a mean way! we genuinely love every single person that is in one another's respected sport and if it was something that was genuinely annoying in a negative way, we wouldn't be airing it out in public but mentioning it to that person in private. but yeah, that's just a quick little preface before i give my answer to the question!" max gives out a quick psa as madelena nods her head in agreement

"for me, the most annoying thing that madelena does is actually not really an annoying thing, similar to what she said about me, whenever she gets really passionate about something, it's like she has to tell me or someone straight away. in the way that if she doesn't tell someone, she'll forget about it or move on from the thing that got her so excited. like, example, one time we were in australia during the grand prix one year and the whole flight on the way to australia, madelena had been telling me how she wanted to learn how to surf but was too scared since straight after the grand prix she had to fly back to greece so she could return to training back at the gym. and because of that, she didn't want to risk hurting herself trying to surf for the first time. so every person we spoke to in australia, she was getting tips on how to learn how to surf in the safest way possible without hurting herself once she had explained to them that she was a world champion gymnast on her way to getting into the olympics. and yeah, whilst it wasn't really annoying per se, it was like i was listening to a broken record a little bit every time she mentioned wanting to surf but was too scared to to someone new that we had come across. but in saying that, it was more so endearing then annoying because i love it when i see her get excited and passionate about something else that isn't gymnastics or formula one," max responded as the two nodded their heads as the next question was read out

"madelena, we've all heard about the awful crash that max had with lewis hamilton in silverstone back in 2021 and how you reacted since you were there and watched it happen live. so we want to know what was your worst injury that you've ever had. whether that's come from gymnastics or a different sport since you've mentioned on previous occasions that you also did other sports growing up alongside gymnastics, so, what was your worst ever injury?"

this question made madelena think back since she's had some pretty awful injuries before remembering her worst. max already on that wavelength as the joy on his face was wiped by the fear that he still felt towards that specfic injury and accident.

"ooh, that's a loaded and tough question! but, honestly, since i've had so many, at first it was hard to pick one but now that i really think about it, i have a top three injury podium in my notes app on my iphone. and the third worst injury was when i did ice skating cause that was one of the first sports alongside gymnastics that i did growing up but this accident happened when i was seven and it was actually the reason i quit ice skating. and i had a tear in my acl which at the time was the most painful injury i had ever received in my sporting career at the time. whilst the acl tear was able to heal over and i had the chance to return to ice skating, i never did professionally because i always had the same fear that i'd make the tear worse over time."

"so that was third place, second place on the injury podium was an injury i got from the cheerleading squad in junior high so i was doing cheerleading and gymnastics at the same time since i was now like fifteen and i was starting to get into the headspace of one of these sports becoming my top sport and to do it professionally. and like ice skating, this cheerleading injury was the one that had me stop being a cheerleader. and it was a dislocated hip. i was a flyer which meant that i was obviously being thrown up and down in the air and being twirled around and doing flips and everything. and one time, it was during a dismount into the air when i was thrown up wrong and then when they tried to correct it on the way down to catch me, i didn't get caught in the proper, safe way and my hip became dislocated and it was painful. even more painful then the acl tear and i was in tears straight away. obviously, it was an accident that was never meant to happen but, it was so bad that i couldn't continue cheering the rest of the season and it was my final year at that school before moving into senior school and i was devastated. thankfully i was able to cheer for half of my senior year but i could no longer be a flyer because of the dislocated hip that i was now the captain that was also a backspotter so they had to train a whole new girl to replace me as the new flyer for that year."

"now, saving the very best for last, my first place on the injury podium was my gymnastics injury that i am so very lucky and blessed didn't end my career as this was only a year before my first-ever olympics. i was horrified thinking this injury would force me into giving up my spot on the olympic squad that year. so being able to recover from it was amazing in the way i did. the reason why it also takes first place was because it happened a week after i had my qualifying event that actually got me into my first olympics and maxie, lando, max, charles, carlos, and so many others on the grid were all there to support me since it was during their break in the season. and it was a shattered bone in my leg that actually had me needing to relearn how to use that leg again."

"it was horrifiying cause at that time, i didn't care about the fact that i had just shattered my leg at all. it was about the fact that my boyfriend and all of our friends and family were there and had to watch it happen. that and them not being able to do anything to help me. they weren't allowed to come out of their seats and onto the gym floor otherwise the routine that i had just gotten a perfect score from would have had me disqualified and taken out my spot in the olympic team. i can remember clearly the look on their faces, especially maxie's. i mean, i had never seen him look so terrified in his entire life. and also it was the first time i had seen a group of f1 drivers not have something be in their control. cause of course, when you're in your designated sport, you control everything and that's how you know you are that little more safer because you are the one that's controlling the ship and the way it goes. however, when they are away from their cars and are watching me and supporting me, they lose that control in the snap of a finger. and in that moment, the moment they heard the loud shatter of the bone that had snapped, they knew they had fully lost control. but not just they had lost control but that i myself had ultimately lost all control..."

"...and yeah, it was just an awful time because the rehab to get back to where i was able to compete in my first ever olympic games and then win all of my events was very special but also excruiciatingly painful and emotionally draining. and i don't think anything could beat that, not even this years that i have coming up. even if i win every single one of my events this year, it won't compare to my first ever olympic games and i think that's why i'm so much more relaxed this year than i was four years ago," madelena finished her response as the producers were horrified as they looked up the images of all the injuries but that last injury was the most horrific

the entire time that madelena was mentioning her 'top three injuries' it was clear that it was affecting max. but most especially that last injury she talked about that he was actually there to witness in real time. it was obvious that hearing the love of his life talk about her injuries made the racer emotional because like she mentioned, he had never been more terrified in his entire life then in that moment he watched the love of his life go down to the floor after her leg snapped. he remembers the way she screamed and how she began to cry immediately. not because of it hurting but because she felt awful that everyone she could ever love in this world had watched it happen and were now just as traumatised by the injury as she was.

thankfully though, those emotions were only brief before the producers realised it was probably best to change the subject so they did. asking a new question, they moved on swiftly and in a new cut scene, both madelena and max were smiling again.

"max, which win was more special, your first world championship win or watching madelena win all of her events at the olympics?"

"oh wow, that is a loaded question! i mean, whilst i will always find my first wdc an emotional and special moment, i can't lie and say that watching my girlfriend win all of her events was any less important than my championship that year. because, watching her win all of her gymnastic events after the leg injury she had the year before and how brutal it was, i'd say what she went through and the way she won was more special than my wdc for sure. i mean, she had to go through so much rehab the year before to be able to use her leg again and as well as that, she had to relearn everything. from walking on that leg in general as well as all of her routines from start to finish and some of them had to even be simplified or changed in some way because whilst she had mostly recovered from her injury, she still wasn't 100% healed. i honestly think it was only recently that she was told by her medical team that her x-rays was finally starting to come back clear of any reoccurences of the injury. so this will be her first olympics without an injury and being fully healed. which just saying that completely blows my mind quite frankly because she is a superstar and i'm honoured that i have the privilege to love her every single day..." max trailed off as madelena's face softened as she cooed at him

"...aw, maxie! that's so sweet of you ayapi mo my love!" madelena cooed as she gave max a kiss to the cheek

"last question guys. do you get along with each others fellow drivers and gymnasts?"

"and, the answer, the very short, simple answer is yes, we all get along!" madelena gives the short answer as max explains it 

"we all get along amazingly! we all grew up together since even though we are in different sports and disciplines, we were always travelling for karting races and gymnastics so there would be the odd occasion i'd be seeing this little gymnast turn up to the karting circut and just watching during a break in her training with the rest of what is this year's team greece for the olympics! like, genuinely, we are all the best of friends and i know gymnastics and f1 crossover sounds so strange but it is truly the best thing in the world because we all genuinely love and support one another. like, even though we love it when our significant other wins, if that doesn't happen or there's a disqualification for one of us, we then start cheering on the other girls and guys kind of thing! like, we're family at this point, like, we all are in contact with one another, we all follow one another on social media! it's truly a fun time in the world of team greece gymnasts and f1 grid," max smiles before looking at madelena as they both smile towards the camera 

"so, that was the last question! i'm madelena laurent..." 

"...and i'm max verstappen and we just finished answering our fans' most burning questions! we hope you enjoyed this video and laughed along with us whilst also finding out an interesting fact about the both of us! bye-bye and thank you so much for having us!" max smiles as he holds his hand out for madelena as they leave the frame of the camera, laughing in the last thing heard before the video eventually ends 

max verstappen and madelena laurent (engaged to be married)

"hello gq sports, my name is madelena laurent and i am with my fiancé, max verstappen and we will be answering more of our fans' most burning questions that we may have missed the first time before we got engaged," madelena introduces as everyone cheers at the engagement announcement as the couple giggle 

picking up the first question, madelena chuckles, "what are madelena and max's middle names?" 

"well, first of all, for those who don't know or weren't aware, the majority of european people, similar to our families, have more than just one middle name..." madelena prefaces with a giggle as max nods his head 

"...so, after saying that, my middle names are georgette alaina," madelena answers, turning to her fiancé as he smiles 

"and mine is just emilian which people always question and wonder why i just wasn't called 'maximillian' but yeah, my middle name is emilian," max giggles as he then picks up the second question

"where were madelena and max born?" he chuckles and shakes his head as madelena jokingly rolls her eyes as she always answers this question 

"i was born in belguim but raised in the netherlands!" max answers with his short and less complicated answer then his girlfriend's

"i was born in france but was out of there before i was even old enough to know i wasn't born in greece and i was raised in greece where i grew up speaking greek as my first language followed by french and then english as well as the odd spanish word and dutch word as well!" madelena smiled with a giggle as she picks up the third question

"which races does madelena attend during the f1 season?"

"the number of times i get this question daily! but, to answer it, out of all twenty-four races i attend about four or five and it's usually one or two during the first half and then the rest in the second half with the odd surprise race attendance every now and then if i can. i always make sure i am available for the first race of the season and the last race of the season to see who wins the championship. but all the other races inbetween i sadly can't be at excluding the planned ones that fall within the four-five races because i still have to train as well. since i am also an althete that's also in an active season as well as training for some major word championships as well since we've just returned from the olympics!" madelena smiled as everyone cheered as that was the next question that max had just picked up as the fourth question

"speaking of the paris olympics, how many event medals did you win madelena at this year's olympics?"

"ooh, great question! and for those wondering, i have just returned back from the paris 2024 olympics which was so much fun and i'm so blessed that max was actually able to be there with me since it was during his summer break. so he was able to fly over to be with me in paris! but, back to the question and my answer out of all four of my women's artistic gymnastics events i got gold in all four of them! and then because i also do rhythmic gymnastics as well, i was also in that team and for my two events i got gold as well! so it was a very successful olympics for me this year which i'm enamoured by still!" madelena smiled as max nodded his head, his smile huge as madelena picked up the fifth question

"there's a new piece of jewellery on madelena's finger, is that an engagement ring and if it is, when did that happened?"

"damn, they've discovered our secret!" max sighed dramatically as madelena giggled as max shook his head and continued

"yes, it is an engagement ring and that happened after madelena won the last of all of her gold medals. i had been planning this for a while now and i had planned on doing it just us two but, because i had the ring with me in my back pocket and we had all of our loved ones there and we had just finished the podium ceremony where madelena had just been given her sixth gold medal, i couldn't wait any longer. i just ran, jumped out of my seat knowing that if i did that, i wouldn't get her in trouble or disqualified and i just cried tears of joy as i asked her to marry me! i didn't say anything else cause i couldn't and, yeah. it was a lovely moment and i'm glad i did it the way i did because it just felt magical and like we were the only ones there even though we weren't and it was being broadcasted live out to the entire world..." max trailed off with a shy smile as madelena smiled brightly as she looked at him like he was the entire world

"...yeah, i have to agree. i mean, of course, i never expected it i mean, who does really think they're going to be proposed to? especially during something as grand as the olympics? but, i mean, i do remember people thinking that if max was to propose to me, he would do it at the very last f1 race of the season but, no. he proposed after i had won my sixth olympic gold medal," madelena giggled as max got shy again but it was really sweet cause it reminded people that not only did max know that his world no longer just revolved around f1 but madelena wasn't just to be shown off at his races but also in her own sport and discipline as well

"was there ever a moment where either of you, madelena or max, wanted to throw the towel down and run back home and just lay low?" 

"do you wanna go first maxie, my answers kinda long," madelena whispered as max nodded his head, saying his response first 

"umm...in all honesty, i don't think i've had that moment yet, touch wood! i mean, of course, we take scheduled breaks during the season as well as when we were driving through the covid-19 pandemic and had many races cancelled. but, i've filled those up with visiting family or training on the simulator. but, no, i don't think i have actually wanted to give up, leave formula one yet and go back home to madelena, no," max responded as he turned to madelena so she could give her answer

"that's a very good question but, yes, there was a moment in which i wanted to give up doing gymnastics and it was a couple of times actually. the first one was when i was in my in between my high school and college gymnastics career and i was really struggling during that time because that was when we had a huge loss in the family. we actually went through the stillbirth of our youngest sibling and i was travelling around europe at the time so i wasn't back home in greece when it happened. i was actually competing at the time and it wasn't until hours later after the podium ceremony that i was told by my trainer that i was needed urgently and had to fly back home to greece. of course i was confused but i didn't mention it because at that point, i was so desperate to be home that i just didn't question it. it wasn't until i was dropped off at the hospital that i realised what had happened and it was just awful. it was the worst thing my family had gone through and there i was, waltzing into the hospital wearing my team gear with five or six gold and silver medals hanging down from my neck to be told that we had lost our newest sibling all the whilst i was winning and coming second place in my events. i was so depressed that for i think three months, i stopped doing gymnastics and didn't do anything until i was physically forced back into the gym by my parents. they knew i didn't want to stop doing gymnastics entirely but they knew it was hard for me to do it after i had been telling everyone around me how excited i was to get a new sibling..."

"...the second time i wanted to give up was definitely after i had that injury that i acquired just after qualifying for my first olympic games in 2021. i was absolutely distraught and i was in so much pain that i just didn't want to get out of bed. i couldn't get out of bed some days but i was very grateful to have my max with me to take care of me and to keep me going. because i seriously think if it wasn't for him, i wouldn't be sitting here with all of the medals and championships that i have since 2021. because if i had it my way, i would have left that injury pull me into an early retirement. and yeah, those were the two moments that i really wanted to throw the towel in and say i give up," madelena chuckled shyly as she picked up the sixth question

"you both mention having siblings in the first video, madelena with ten and max with six so, what are their names?" 

"i have my biological sister victoria, another two little sisters who are half-sisters, blue jaye and mila and then i have a little half-brother jason and i'm the oldest of all of us!" max answers straight away since he could name his siblings from the top of his head whilst madelena had them all written down in her notes app since she had an extra few to remember

"the eldest of my eight biological siblings is my eldest sister cora, then after her is lyra, then athena, iris and penelope are my biological sisters, then we have my four brothers, nikolas, sebastian, phoenix and george. and then, my two older half-brothers are hunter and finn and then my younger half-sister is opehlia. and, for those wondering, in age order, i am younger than lyra but older than athena, iris and penelope *laughter* but, those are all my silblings,"

"max, you mentioned that you proposed to madelena after she was awarded her final and sixth gold medal. was there any doubt beforehand that she'd say yes since you mention it was such a spur of the moment thing because you could no longer wait?"

the couple let out a collective awe at that question, it was the first one that was directed at their new engagement so, it was exciting for them. max had gone to answer first this time as madelena listened. 

"aw, that's a sweet question! umm, after the proposal to madelena when the adrenaline of everything really settled down there was no worry because i was just so relieved. however, just before i had the spotaneous idea to do it, i was absolutely terrified because i did think she'd not say anything at all. not necessarily that she'd say 'no' per se but that she'd just clamp up and not say anything which i think would have been worse than her saying no. but another thing i was terrified about was i had realised after promising myself i wouldn't if madelena won any medals was that i wasn't going to cry. but she just had to win all of her events and i was an emotional wreck and now i know how she feels when she watches me race and everything! so yeah, i was just a mess as i went down on one knee to madelena and yeah, it was quite embarrassing on my part because i think that was the most i'd ever cried whilst professing my love for my fiancée so, yeah..." max giggled as madelena nodded her head as she then spoke up

"...however, in saying that, it was clear that as soon as he placed the ring on my finger, i could tell he was relieved and he could finally breathe again because it was obvious that whilst he had planned to propose for a while like he's mentioned, he didn't mean for it to happen that sepcific day during that specific moment. but because of the adrenaline and the emotions of the moment, it just took over and that was when his mind and soul felt as though it was the right time to do it. and, i have to agree and say it was the perfect moment for him to do it," madelena smiled, reaching her hand out for max as he smiled and grabbed it as he picked out the next question

"how was the engagement announced to the public?" 

"aw, another sweet question but, do you wanna take this lena?" max responded as she nodded her head 

"sure i can, maxie. the way the engagement was announced was that because i still had a lot of media to do similar in any sport that is live to the world or somewhere, i had to do a lot of interviews. mainly on how i felt winning all of my events but the main question was that they all wanted to know my reaction to the new piece of jewellery i had on my finger *giggles*. however, before that, me and max ran back over to the drivers that had attended with him and we had a little group celebration hug that was probably the most emotional and meaningful hug that we've ever had as a group *giggles*. and then we facetimed everyone else who were watching at home and then i went and did all my media interviews and explained it to them. it was so much fun explaining to my siblings for sure, especially my sisters cause they love max so much so they were so excited and overjoyed to be told that they were finally getting max as their older brother for certain and that it was set in stone and they didn't need to worry about losing him,"

"and even though it was broadcast live, we still wanted to post about it to our social media platforms so that's what we did by posting photos and the video taken from the live recording and posted it. so, that is how it was announced to everyone else that me and my fiancé are getting married soon!" madelena giggled as she grabbed the last question which was a question in regards to her career now and max's opinion of it

"the last one and, ooh, it's a question in regards to me but for max to respond!" madelena called out as max's eyes widened 

"max, now that madelena has won her second olympic games, how do you think she can improve and do you think she'll stop anytime soon and think about taking a sabbatical for a year or two so you guys can begin to settle down?"

"oh, wow, that's a great final question! umm...madelena, can you answer it?" max chuckled as madelena shook her head no, making max answer it as he groaned but answered it anyway 

"quite frankly, it's not up to me with what madelena decides to do after this now that she has accumulated so many wins and trophies. if she does decide to step back for a little bit so we can slowly start the beginnings of settling down then i have no arguments about it in the same way that i wouldn't if she decides to keep on going for however many years she decides to. and it's the same way if she decides whilst in talks with me if we're ready for children and want to start trying for our own little family since we're now planning on getting married and on our wedding. but, it's all in the hands of madelena and it shouldn't be up to me on whether she wants to take that break or if she wants to keep on going for a little bit longer," max smiles as madelena felt her heart do a flip as she smiled proudly at her fiancé for his very intelligent and likeminded response 

"so, guys, that was the last question! i'm max verstappen..." 

"...and i'm madelena laurent, you guys asked some amazing questions yet again! thank you for being here with us and for watching this video and we will see you next time for more questions when we are mr and mrs verstappen!" madelena ended as everyone cheered as the couple then left the studio after they both made funny faces to the camera as they walked off set 

mr and mrs max and madelena verstappen

"we're back gq sports!" max yells triumphantly as madelena chuckles, shaking her head 

"hi, i'm madelena verstappen and this is my husband max verstappen and we're back for the third and final instalment of our fans' most burning questions!" madelena chuckled as she picked up the first one, laughing again 

"how do you pronounce your wife's name, max and how long did it take you to pronounce it properly?" 

"even though it shouldn't be too confusing because it sounds like a relatively normal name, it is when you need to bear in mind that i'm greek, as are my whole family, but i was born in france. so because of that, they decided the best way to commemorate their only child out of all their other ones being born in france was to name me a french name rather than a greek name. and because of that along with the spelling, my name all throughout school in greece was always mispronounced as well as misspelt. however, for those who do get confused, my name is pronounced similar to madeline but it isn't. it's pronounced phonetically as mad-uh-ley-na if that makes sense *giggles*. it's just pronounced like madelene but instead of the letter 'e' at the end, it's replaced with the letter 'a' which is not the letter that is stressed but the 'ley' in the middle of my name. does that make sense? so, the 'ley' of my name is the more aunnciated phrase and it makes saying the 'na' at the end flow off the tongue a lot better and properly," madelena chuckles as she strugged to give a pronunciation lesson for her own name 

"for my answer to this question, it honestly never took me that long to learn the pronunciation of madelena's name. i mean, i don't find it that hard except for maybe when we first met because my english wasn't very good since english isn't my first language, dutch is. but the more confident i got in speaking english the easier it was to pick up even with my heavy dutch/belgian accent and pronounce it properly so i wasn't always calling her by a nickname. even though now that we''er older and i can very much pronounce her full name, she perfers being called lena over madelena because she feels like everytime i full name her that she's in trouble *laughter*." max smiled, blushing a tiny bit at the end of his answer as madelena smiled, her eyes widening as she found her husband's response sweet 

"aw, that was so sweet but yes, i do prefer it when he calls me lena instead of madelena and i call him maxie but, anyway, the next question though is..." madelena continued as she grabbed the second question 

"where was it that you two got married? the netherlands, monaco or greece?" 

"ooh, that is a very good question! we got married in greece since that is the home in which we spend the less amount of time at throughout the f1 and gymnastic season. so whilst we're training and doing our respective championships, we're based out of monaco where we spend a good majority of our time since it's our main home base out of the three countries we reside in. and then on the odd occasion if it's been too long, we'll spend two to three weeks each in the netherlands and then greece just to be closer to our families since we don't see them as often as we'd like to anymore. but, yeah, we decided very early on that we were going to get married in greece and then switch it up and have our honeymoon in monaco, the netherlands and italy during the time we'd usually be spending two to three weeks between the netherlands and greece. but after that i think we also visited ibiza for a little bit to a week as well before we had to fly back to monaco so we could get back into training again. but yeah, it was beautiful that's for sure, most magical day of our life!" max smiled as madelena nodded her head in full agreement to her husband's response as max picks up the third question

"what songs on madelena's gymnastics routine playlist are max's favourite?"

this was the question that made the husband and wife giggle, max responding as madelena smiled whilst listening intently 

"that's a tough question but i have to say, my favourite songs on her routine playlist that she dances to during routines and competitions are most definitely songs that we can also connect to formula one *giggles*. and one of the first ones that comes to mind is actually a song that reminds everyone of carlos and it's smooth operator. madelena's gold medal winning olympic floor routine from 2021 was done to that song and it's for sure up there as one of my favourites. but another one has to be another floor routine song and it's called volia by emma kok and it was just gorgeous so that was from her championship winning floor routine from this year! but, i have a lot more but volia and smooth operator are just the first two to come to my mind straight away," max smiles as madelena doesn't stop her smile from widening

"who was in your wedding party at the wedding?" 

max smiled at this question, letting his wife take over as he sat back this time, relaxing. 

"my bridesmaids were five of my sisters and the other f1 wags, luisa, carmen, alexandra, rebecca, heidi and lily zneimer and my maid of honour was shared by athena and alexandra. and the flower girl was my little sister ophelia and the ring bearers were actually one of max's nephews," madelena smiled as she turned to her husband who smiled and said his answer 

"my groomsmen were obviously the boyfriend's of madelena's bridesmaids so lando, george, charles, carlos, daniel and oscar as well as three of lena's brothers since i only have a much younger half brother and my best man was nikolas, lena's oldest biological brother," max smiled with a small giggle as the couple nodded thier head as he found the fifth question

"do you two plan on settling down to the point of thinking about wanting kids and if so, how many?"

this question made madelena chuckle whilst max's eyes widened, slightly frightened as he answered the question nevertheless 

"i mean, we did just get married basically but, of course i'd love to have kids and, honestly i'd love to have an even amount of kids. i mean, not to the extent that madelena has with her ten siblings*giggles*. but i'd say around four or three? i'd say around three to four because whilst i do love the largness of my wife's family, i do still want a small enough family that they have siblings but not too many that it's crowded. and i have four other siblings of my own so i'd want to have relatively the same amount as well. even though i do love having a lot of people to go to for help as a plus of having a big family but not to the point that we're confusing the names of our kids and which sibling is which," max smiled proudly as madelena smield sweetly as she reciprocated the kiss to the head that max gave her

"as a small continution, i would also love to have around three or four kids but, right now, we are focused on our brand new marriage and our jobs. so, yeah, i think we'll maybe wait a few months to a year before kids are included or even thought about but, i don't know, who really knows what's going to happen until it happens," madelena smiles as she grabs the sixth question 

"who cried more at the wedding: madelena or max?"

madelena laughed as she read that question out, her head flying back as max just sighed as he shook his head, a fake angry pout on his face, chuckling as he rolled his eyes 

"well, for those curious and wondering, max did have the sweetest reaction but to confirm, he did cry first and the most. it was very sweet though because it's not a side that a lot of us, including me, get to see very often. and, it was just lovely seeing him feel so comfortable to the point he could let his guard down and be that vulnerable even on the day of our wedding. because i honestly thought that because he cried at our engagement that he wouldn't cry at our wedding *giggles*. and it is a video i watch a little too much when i feel the need of missing the wedding and wanting to watch it back," madelena smiles as max also smiles as he says his own response

"honestly, thinking back to that moment, i was a wreck the entire day. my mum has mentioned before that i am an emotional person and it was that day truthfully that mum's statement came true. i had been nervous all day just waiting to see lena and i was feeling worried that she may be panicking and not able to see each other really wasn't something we would do now if we decided to get married again. but, the moment i turned around and saw lena in the full white dress and shoes, i was out for the count *giggles*. i may as well have been on the floor because i was that far gone. thankfully though the first look we had was only between us two with a photographer and videographer with us that captured the entire thing. and it was beautiful and i'm glad we had that private moment together where we also shared our private vows which were also filmed by the videographer as well. and yeah, like lena, it's also something i love to watch as well on the occasion that i feel like i need it. just as a reminder that we actually are married now and that i get to fall further in love with her every day for the rest of my life from here on out," max finished as the whole room fell into awws and coos as madelena felt herself blushing at her husband's words

"one more question!" a producer behind the camera shouts out, rushing over to give it to max as he chuckled before looking at it

"hi lena and max, i'm about to get married and my husband-to-be and i just want to know what's the best thing about being married to the love of your life?"

"awe, this is a nice question! lena, you wanna take over?" max smiled as madelena nodded her head 

"of course! well, this was a lovely question so thank you to the upcoming bride who asked this! and for me, the best thing about being married to the love of my life is just knowing that we no longer have to worry about anything anymore. in the sense that we don't have to worry about not being together anymore. for a little while we were long distance, max in monaco and me in greece which is typically a four hour flight depending on where in greece you're going to or from and it was awful having to say goodbye to one another constantly whilst he was leaving for races and other things and i wasl leaving for gymnastics and other things. and it would be so heartbreaking because if something was to happen to one another, like our injuries for example in 2021, the silverstone crash for max and my shattered leg for me. when it came to going to the hospital, we weren't allowed to go in straight away because we weren't family nor were we married. whilst we were acknowledged as one another's partner's, it was because we were married that we weren't allowed entry to see one another before being allowed to alongside everyone else that was there that weren't family. so it just knowing that if one of us was to ever be in a similar situation again, now that we're married, we don't have to worry about getting into fights with hospital staff about wanting to see one another because they'll know and they'll see on record that we're now married! so yeah, that's my best thing other than the obvious things about being married to the love of my life but that's the first one that i think of that isn't really due to the physical things that i love about him like his eyes, hair, looks, humour or anything of the sort..." madelena cut herself off as max smiled as he then said his answer

"...and for me, the best thing about being married to the love of my life is just knowing that we'll be there for one another all the time now. we no longer have to worry about necessarily being apart from one another for too long now. because now that madelena is on her summer break, she's able to travel with me for the next two weeks that she has off before she has to return back to monaco to start training again. and the other thing is seeing that the rings that are on her finger are the ones i gave to her, no one else. i love people knowing that she's my wife and that i'm the one who gets to love her for the rest of time and no one else can," max smiled with a cheeky wink as madelena giggled and shook her head

"so, we've been madelena verstappen..." 

"...and max verstappen and those were the questions you guys have asked me and my wife for our third and final instalment of some of our fans' most burning questions on us for gq sports! we hope you guys enjoyed and we thank you guys so much for joining us for the last three videos! if you want to see more of us than you can at the upcoming formula one grand prix in singapore for me and in monaco for the gymnastics world championship meet for madelena and we'll see you soon!" max finishes the video as he chucks the paper to the camera making madelena's laugh the last thing heard before the video cuts to a black screen

fin

such a fun but weird thing to rewrite and i'm sorry that it's a little bad. i should really consider this as a little bit of a crack fic cause wtf is this lol! in saying that though, i really think i could make this into a little series and expand it cause i've seen so many of my fave f1 fic writers write olympic inspired fics and i really would like to flesh out madelena and max a lot more now that i think about it! anyway, i really need to get my flow back on track for my charles request as i feel awful for how long it's taken to start it!

©⠀amberjazmyn's original work. do not translate or steal any of my fics. 2024

[turtlethebean]

CC OC Week Day 1: Family

Read it on AO3: Family Campfire - Turtle_The_Bean - Criminal Case (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

OCs: Cherri Arrow-Shepherd and Michelle Clayton-Scott

“It’s a bit weird. Y’know, it’s my first time in America, and now I’m meeting your family for the first time. I mean, my first time meeting you in person wasn’t too long ago, and you met my family then.” Michelle Clayton-Scott commented as she and her partner, Cherri Arrow-Shepherd, walked through the woods to where Cherri’s family were currently situated.

“Hey, there’s a first time for everything,” Cherri playfully nudged their partner, “But I think our family dynamic is a bit simpler to understand compared to yours.”

“Uh-huh, and how many adopted siblings do you have again?”

“…Four…”

“And how many of them look like you?”

“I mean, Felix and I kinda look alike. To be fair, the bar is low. He’s the only one I share a skin tone with…roughly anyways, but I did dye my hair to look kinda like Gwen, and I’ve taken style inspiration from Hope.”

“What about…oh, what was the other guy’s name…Luke?”

“Oh, Luke? I guess growing up adopted by two dads is something we have in common, although I think he calls them his “foster dads”, so I don’t know if he was actually adopted. Anyways, we’re here now.”

Cherri pushed both of them through a bush to reveal a small campsite. There were four different RVs, one of which was their own, that they shared with Hope. Two men, one muscular and bald wearing a blue apron and t-shirt and one wearing a red sweater and missing one of his arms, sat at the campfire, waving at the two as they approached.

“Hey, Pops. Hey, Dad. This is my girlfriend, Michelle.” Cherri introduced the two men as they and Michelle both sat down on a bench.

“Ah, I’ve been wondering when we’ll get to meet her,” The bald, muscular man smiled, extending a hand for Michelle to shake, “I’m Ben Arrow-Shepherd, and this is my husband, Jacob Arrow-Shepherd.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Michelle grinned widely.

“I’ll call the rest of the group when I’m finished cooking dinner. For now, both of you kids, just relax and enjoy the fire.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Please, just call me Ben.”

“That is like half of one of my dad’s names, so no, thank you.”

“Oh, you have two dads yourself?” Jacob, the man in the red sweater, cocked one eyebrow as he took a sip of his beer.

“Yeah, I do. They’re actually in the city right now, meeting up with one of my dad’s old coworkers. I call them my aunts and uncles even though they’re not really my aunts and uncles.”

“Don’t worry about that. Cherri does the same with Priya and Zander.”

“Did someone call my name?” An Indian woman with long, brown hair emerged from one of the campervans wearing a yellow top and a white coat.

“Sorry, Aunty Priya, we were just talking about how Michelle calls her dad’s old coworkers her aunts and uncles, and Dad pointed out how I do the same with you and Uncle Zander,” Cherri explained, a little flustered by Priya’s sudden appearance.

“Oh, your girlfriend’s here. I never knew that. Zander, come say hi.”

A man with black hair and a matching leather jacket emerged from the same campervan as Priya did. The couple then sat beside Jacob to enjoy both the warmth of the campfire and the conversation that was happening.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Michelle. We’ve all heard so much about you over the…how long have you two been dating again?”

“Two years. We started dating around the same time I started high school, remember?”

“That’s right. Now, I remember. What about you, Michelle? Are you in high school as well?”

“Yeah, I’m actually doing my last year of my GCSEs next year. I’m considering whether or not I wanna do my A-levels afterwards.” Michelle explained.

“I’m assuming your GCSEs are similar to our SATs?”

“I’d say so. I don’t really know much about the American school system.”

“It is pretty much the same as the SATs.” Cherri clarified.

“See, this is why I love your kid. They’re so much smarter than I am.” Michelle chuckled, nudging Jacob playfully.

“Hey, you might not be the smartest academically, but I’m sure you've got some other smarts,” Ben reassured her.

“I mean, history is pretty much my passion. I love learning about ancient civilizations and how people used to live back then.”

“Oh, so I’m sure you’d get along well with Felix.”

“Well, I actually hope I can get along with everyone here.”

“Speaking of which,” Ben stood up straight as he removed the hot dogs from the grill in front of him, “Hey! DINNER’S READY!”

Once Ben finished his sentence, several people came out of the campervans. Michelle could recognise some of them, but others were a bit more unfamiliar. Another couple sat on the empty bench opposite Ben and Jacob, while a boy who came out of the same RV sat next to Cherri. Hope, pretty much the only one she recognised given that she and Cherri shared an RV, sat next to Priya and a man in a wheelchair pulled up beside the new couple.

“Michelle, this is Gwen and Pierce and their son Arthur, who’s the same age as us. I’m sure you know Hope since we share an RV, and that over there is Felix.” Cherri explained, pointing to each person as they sat down.

“Wow, that’s certainly a lot of people.” Michelle chuckled nervously as she took her plate from Ben. She took a look at it, noticed the hot dog and baked potato, and moved the hot dog onto her partner’s plate.

“It’s not as much as your family. Remind me of how many- hey, what’s wrong with the hotdog?”

“Oh, nothing. I just forgot to mention that I’m vegetarian.”

“That would be my fault, actually, but since that's the case, here.” Cherri grabbed their baked potato and put it on their girlfriend’s plate.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure Pop will throw on another baked potato if we need it.”

“I think two hot dogs is enough food for you, Cherri, especially with the lunch I heard the two of you had.” Ben laughed.

“Yeah, I had a big lunch. You didn’t have much, though, Michelle.”

“The salad was the only thing I could eat,” Michelle jokingly whined, “Besides, I’m sure all this potato will fill me up.”

“Oh, trust me when I say Ben always gets the best potatoes for whatever the time of year is.” Felix, the man in the wheelchair, chuckled as he picked at his potato with a fork.

Michelle turned to look at Felix and almost fell out of her seat. She was not expecting him to be missing almost everything below his hips. She tried to collect herself, which elicited more laughter from Felix.

“Girl, you’re fine. You can ask if you want.” He responded, throwing his head back in laughter.

“Oh, okay…so…what happened to you?” Michelle asked, feeling bad for asking but feeling somewhat comforted by his approval.

“Got chomped on by a lizard man when I was in college. Y’know, normal college stuff.”

Michelle laughed along with the joke about his backstory before she slowly realised that he wasn’t exactly joking about the “lizard man” part. She looked at Cherri for an explanation for what exactly was happening.

“Guys, I…I haven’t exactly…explained everything to Michelle.” Cherri looked around, a little flustered.

“Cherri, what’s going on?” Michelle asked, confused.

“Michelle, I…I need to tell you something. You see, supernatural creatures like werewolves, vampires, and even demons are all real. That’s actually how I got the scars on my face, and my dad lost his arm and his wife. Don’t worry, though; not all of them are bad. Priya and Zander are both werewolves, and Pierce is a vampire. Oh, um, Hope is also a demon, but she is the one who killed the demon queen back in the day…or so I’ve been told.”

Michelle froze for a minute there. She could not believe this. This had to be a joke, right? She was just being pranked. Surely, the camera crew would come out of those bushes any minute now.

But there were no camera crews. There was no one pointing and laughing at her for falling for a silly prank. There was a sombre silence, indicating that this wasn’t a joke. The only thing she could muster up was a small “oh” in response.

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” Jacob scooted over to their bench and put his stub of an arm on her back, “That’s a completely normal reaction to finding this out. Most of us have had that reaction at some point, and most of us have lost something because of the supernatural. You’re lucky to figure this stuff out on your own.”

“Is…is it just an America thing or?”

“From what we know, there tend to be supernatural creatures all over the world. An old friend of mine was from Romania.”

“An old…supernatural friend of yours?”

“Yes, he was a vampire.”

“W-wait, aren’t vampires supposed to be immortal?”

“Not if you chop their head off. That’s what I threaten Pierce with sometimes.” Gwen joked.

“Do you actually?”

“Nah, I love him too much to do that to him.”

“Well, erm, this is certainly an eventful evening. D-don’t worry, I’m not leaving, but…thanks for telling me all of this.”

“As I said, it’s best you know now before something happens to you.” Jacob reached over his other arm and gave Michelle a pat on the shoulder.

“True, I don’t know what I’d do if Cherri got killed on the job.”

“Oh, they’re not allowed on the job since their face got slashed. Not until they’re an adult, at least.”

“I can still defend myself if someone attacks me,” Cherri stuck their tongue out at their dad, “Anyways, pops, any chance I can get another baked potato?”

“You’re not full after those hot dogs? Alright, one more baked potato coming right up. Anyone else?” Ben sighed, getting up from his seat and stretching.

“I’ll take one, sir,” Michelle spoke up before remembering Ben didn’t like being called Sir.

“At this point, kid, just call me Pops. You’re part of the family now, after all.”

[tangerinethecat]

King and Rouxls NOT in a Relationship Masterpost

The spiritual successor to my King and Queen Divorce Masterpost. Similarly to that post, this will all probably be common knowledge to most of the fandom. But apparently, some people still exist out there who think King and Rouxls are a couple (or in some interpretations, that they used to be one, making them exes now), so I guess I gotta make this post to explain to you all why that is incorrect and they were never a thing together in the first place.

(Once again, apologies for the not-so-great screenshot quality. It's easier to grab it from YouTube videos rather than having to play the whole chapters over again for the dialogue, lol...)

Starting off with some shop dialogue from Chapter 1...

Rouxls is very insistent on not being related to Lancer. If he and King were romantically involved, that would make Lancer his stepson (or soon to be one), and therefore related. Then, the line "I placate you for your Father's sake!" refers to the fact that the King makes his subjects take care of Lancer. This makes Rouxls much more like a babysitter than anything, specifically one that Lancer latched onto as a secondary father figure because Spade King can't spend enough time with his son himself. In a way, you could see it as Lancer "adopting" Rouxls as a new dad, rather than the other way around!

And to clarify, the fact that King makes his subjects care for Lancer is established a bit earlier on, with this leaf-fanning Rudinn NPC.

Notice the use of the word "obligatory" here... The original definition of this word is "required by a legal, moral, or other rule; compulsory." So in other words, it seems that they are (quite literally) legally required to take care of the King's son, whether they want to or not.

And then, this last line from the Rudinn about Lancer is actually rather sad... But, looking at Rouxls Kaard's full dialogue about Lancer, we can see that he does genuinely care about the kid deep down. (The following screenshot is taken from the wiki.)

Perhaps this could be at least partially why Lancer latched onto Rouxls in particular over any other subjects.

Now, my next point... In-universe, Rouxls has some fans.

This specific Rudinn NPC, as well as Clover (or at least her friendly middle head), both appear to have crushes on Rouxls, referring to him as a "hunk". If Rouxls was already taken, I'd imagine that they would have mentioned this in their dialogue, since dating the King would probably be hard to keep a secret (especially when Rouxls seems like the type to brag about dating someone in power)... So, to me, this dialogue seems to imply that Rouxls is single.

Bonus fact: Clover's fondness of Rouxls is referenced in Chapter 2 as well, with "Rouxls" being one of the correct answers for choosing a thing she likes during her rematch challenge in the Party Dojo. (Screenshot taken from the wiki again, with Rouxls highlighted for clarity since, uh, there's a lot of options listed, hahaha)

And on the topic of Chapter 2, it also has its own evidence to share.

Throughout Chapter 2, Rouxls is shown to be very fixated on becoming Queen's minion. A post of mine compiling all of these moments can be found here. While it's not entirely confirmed yet to be with romantic intentions, it really seems to me like it is implied as such. Especially with Rouxls thrusting a flower vase bouquet onto Tasque Manager because he thought she was Queen. If this is the case, then it should be safe to say that he is not already in romantic relationship with anyone else canonically when he is going after someone else in this manner.

Now, time to address some potential counterarguments...

A small number of people seemed to have interpreted this line as King and Rouxls being exes as well, instead of just King and Queen. However, I believe Rouxls Kaard's choice of words here is only meant to be in reference to King and Queen's divorce, rather than implying that he had a past relationship with King himself (aside from simply working for him). Describing himself as Queen's "nyew (new) Man about Towne (town)" implies that King was her "old" one. And although Rouxls apparently never met Queen back when she was still a part of Card Castle (since he mistook Tasque Manager for Queen as mentioned before, and Queen certainly doesn't recognize Rouxls either), I imagine it wouldn't be difficult for him to figure out on his own that King and Queen are exes, assuming he was eavesdropping on their conversation before butting in during this scene.

Then, King telling Queen that Rouxls is Lancer's "Lesser Father"... This implies that Lancer has referred to Rouxls as Lesser Dad in front of King. I can only imagine how awkward and embarrassing that must have been for King to hear his son let that nickname slip. And he certainly does not look happy about it here, most likely annoyed by the fact and by Rouxls Kaard's antics in general. So, why would he introduce Rouxls this way to Queen? Well, the answer is simple. If Lancer let the nickname slip in front of King, then it is very possible he could refer to Rouxls as Lesser Dad in front of Queen, too. Remember, Queen came here in the first place to tell Spade King that she is going to take care of his son from now on. So this explanation by King provides her with context in case Lancer starts talking about "Lesser Dad" to her.

Now, I'm almost done here, but I'd like to go over one more thing: Why King and Rouxls are simply not compatible with each other.

Starting with Rouxls, he is not a very loyal person. He constantly switches sides throughout the game so far. From King, to the player, to Queen, to the player again (when all the NPCs help you create the giant mech to fight Giga Queen), then back to Queen in Castle Town.

His shop dialogue is a great example of this. After completing the second K. Round fight, he starts sucking up to you, brags about always being on "the winning side" (gee, I wonder why /s), and even claims that he planned to overthrow the King all along. And even before the K. Round fight, Rouxls's dialogue about King isn't exactly respectful, calling King "cruel and terrifying" and noting how he only got to become the Duke of Puzzles because every other option was fired and/or imprisoned.

Now, moving onto Spade King... He has some pretty bad trust and abandonment issues, to say the least.

His entire reason for hating the Lightners in the first place is because they abandoned him and his kingdom, and when he is overthrown by his own subjects at the end of Chapter 1, he gets very upset and even starts shouting death threats at them.

Although King is much calmer in Chapter 2 (at least towards the Lightners, ironically enough, as he still loses his temper at Queen), he still isn't exactly fond of you. So it's safe to say that he would still not take kindly to traitors, either, even if he might not react as extremely as he did in Chapter 1's ending.

So, considering both characters' details here, I can only conclude that they would make a terrible match for each other. Rouxls is the exact type of person that King is known to despise, and trying to claim otherwise would require stripping away some very significant traits of both King and Rouxls in order to make this disaster pairing "work". It would either be an extremely unhealthy relationship, or an extremely out of character one. And in cases of the latter, at that point I think you should just make your own OCs instead. This ship is not canon, it never was canon, and it never will be canon.

Thanks for coming to my second TED Talk.

[clarenecessities]

so, hey. I haven't updated you guys on the situation with Scott and Ethan in a while. it's been a very eventful 10 days.

You can see Ethan's updates here but I will be offering my own biased perspective and summary.

i'm sure my mother would want me to clarify that i did not advise anybody legally, nor did i tell anyone to bring a lawsuit, but. i did lay out my understanding of the law as it pertains to Ethan's case & tell anyone who would listen that i would have sued months ago

and uh as i provided ample sources and a laconic summary of the fair use doctrine and alternatives to federal court, i may have contributed to Ethan's decision to file with the CCB :3 which is (to be overly brief) like small claims court for copyright infringement specifically.

nobody has said so explicitly, so i do have some plausible deniability. but if by some grave miscarriage of justice Ethan were to lose a single one of these claims y'all Know I'd do my damnedest to recoup the man's losses anyway so i feel very comfortable in saying SPITE WORKS!!! THAT'S THE POWER OF SPITE-FUELED RESEARCH BABEY! THIS IS A WIN FOR CLARE!!

even the very worst case scenario for Ethan is a win anyway; the CCB's awards are capped at 30k, but since he's a much, much kinder person than I am he elected to pursue their "smaller claims" options, which further caps it at only 5k.

and let me tell you. the statutory damages alone would cost Scott upwards of $180,000 in federal court (not even counting the libel), so if he doesn't take this case (participation in a CCB case is voluntary for both parties) he is a fucking idiot. But I guess we kind of knew that already.

Let's see. So, Ethan started getting his copyrights registered last weekend (another benefit of the CCB; registrations can be filed concurrent to submitting your claims, though I don't think I told Ethan that) like right after my last post on the matter here. He submitted proof of his intent to bring legal action to YouTube, who can't actually apply strikes until a decision is reached, though those videos are sort of in purgatory.

Meanwhile, that allowed Scott to begin posting content again. He immediately abused that power. On the 23rd, Scott posted a fourth (4th!) defamatory video, whose thumbnail looked like this:

That action figure is his childhood OC, which he put into the MOTUC line. In addition to his literal, actual face. But don't worry, not his name! That was a DC Classics exclusive 🙃

For those of you that are unfamiliar: That's the license plate from Better Call Saul.

He made a bunch of really, painfully wrong assertions that I tried to write up again just now and bro I can't. It is fucking Cringe. I can't. He did claim he had a lawyer, which as I told him following the second defamatory Community Note, is grounds for him to fire that fucking lawyer.

Ethan did a second interview with Dad-At-Arms basically updating people on the situation, letting everyone know he was going to take things to court. That went up the 24th.

On the 25th, Scott posted another Community Note, this time doing a little victory lap, concluding, "So much content coming to ya! It is great to be on the air again!" and resuming his regularly scheduled posting for the remained of the week.

Then along came Monday.

Every single one of Scott's videos was privated, including the advertisements for his consulting firm and stupid bullshit AI comic.

Well--come to find out, he emailed Ethan right around when everything went dark saying he was "truly" and "sincerely" sorry for everything, and "never meant to create a fight" between them and that it was "never intentional".

"To make things right I am going to halt any videos and take down what I have. I hope this will make it right and restore your site to its full capacity."

Which like, alright, I try to be a little more level-headed in spaces these creeps might see, since they're already fucking wilding about every other aspect of my identity and personality. But the fucking BALLS on this guy!! The fucking audacity!!!!! MONTHS of claiming he was being BLACKMAILED and HARASSED, giving Ethan's identity to one of the biggest pieces of shit I've ever seen in the fandom (and that is saying something) and then his thousands of subscribers?? Telling those people really really obviously fake bullshit to make himself seem like the super reasonable victim and not the perpetrator of--ballpark, 'cause I don't know who may have granted him permission--five to ten thousand copyright infringements?

And "to make things right"!!!!! Right for whom, Scott!!!

I've been assuming he finally talked to a lawyer, because even with receiving notice of Ethan's intent to take him to court, I just don't believe we'd see this complete a 180 in him without the advice of counsel. Whom I do not envy right now, he's shot himself in the foot at every fucking opportunity. I doubt they told him to private everything, since a jury at least might construe that as hiding evidence (there are no juries CCB proceedings) but he's a big fucking idiot. Of course he'd panic and try to hide everything.

Case in point, this morning he unprivated everything. And then just unlisted it. Presumably because he realized he'd broken his embeds across every website out there, including his own (not that that ever got him to fix his LinkedIn button...). He did delete all of the Community Notes about Ethan though, just for good measure :) Still absolutely no public word from him since last week.

I have receipts on all the libel saved in multiple locations, but I do appreciate him un-privating some of his videos for me. Gonna make documenting those much easier 😏

i had a second post up on the forums but it's being weird about copy/pasting into tumblr, I'll see about that tomorrow ig. And I'm working on a third summarizing my case law research. HUGE win for me today in that the finding which most directly contradicted my arguments was actually reverse on appeal in 2022 so I'm sitting real pretty, citation-wise. Very smug, very petty. Feeling absolutely great.

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Young Royals Season 2 play-by-play analysis

I should clarify that, as I reread these thoughts and delete some of them, I might be adding some stuff to expand on some ideas, that I wasn’t able to fully articulate at the time.

On to episode 3…

EPISODE 3

I appreciate that Wille is doing what he can to improve things for himself, with both Simon and with his mother. And I feel for him and his frustration at not being able to make it work. Right now he thinks it’s that simple, it should be that simple, but it’s not. It’s going to take a little more work, a little more dedication.

“Prison?” August now realizing the legal consequences of leaking the video, and yet he can’t not be an asshole as he seeks help. “I wouldn’t have called you if I had anyone else to call.” August trying to make it very clear how he feels about his stepdad. I wonder if he feels this way because his mother remarried, because she remarried someone who is “just a lawyer”, or because of his feelings about the way that his father died, and about not having a dad anymore.

I think August really wasn’t aware that leaking the video meant posting child pornography, and this is really the first time he’s hearing it. The other two don’t sound technically as bad in comparison, he probably thinks he can get away with those two. But child pornography? That’s a Prince Andrew level of scandal. And now his stepdad knows too.

And so when Sara encourages August to confess, he already knows that there’s no point, it won’t get him out of it. Because that’s all he thinks about, getting off scott-free.

Vincent constantly singling Simon out and berating him when he’s berating all of them… screw you, Vincent. “I always have to prove myself, otherwise he’ll just blame me.” It hurts that he’s so aware of it. Being in that school constantly makes Simon aware of how much he doesn’t fit in with his peers.

So are students at Hillerska not allowed to order takeout? Or would Wille get questioned by the Royal Court about why he’s ordering takeout for himself and his friend?

The way Simon just went “nope” and stopped working out is so relatable (credit to @themarsbar for that gif, which doesn’t appear in the gif tab so I hat to manually look it up because it’s my fav) . I too would hate kicking my knees up in the fucking snow in the middle of the night. I do love that Rosh is helping him, even though she doesn’t consider rowing a sport. And I love that Ayub is sitting by himself in the fucking cold just to be with his friends.

Rosh: “it’s not because Wille’s on the team?” Simon: “No.” Rosh: “You seem to have trouble keeping away from him.” Simon: No answer…

“I just don’t understand why I can’t fall in love with him.” Oh baby, if only it were that simple. Just because you fell head-over-heels in love with Wille in, like, no time at all doesn’t mean that it’s always like that. You can’t force it. And Rosh’s face realizing that Simon is not a rebound guy, he’s a relationship guy, and he fell hard for Wille and that it’s not going to go away that quickly…

“I know I should feel okay that he’s seeing other people.” No, baby, nobody said that. You’re allowed to feel sad and angry and jealous. Things with Simon didn’t end the way you wanted them too, in fact you didn’t actually want things to end. It’s too soon. These two boys are so impatient.

“Here to see the socialist? But like he’s actually pretty decent”. It’s so annoying how Nils is often such an elitist, but like he’s forcing himself to be. He says something disdainful, but then he says something nice. Or he says something in a disdainful tone, just so that no one around him actually thinks he’s nice. I keep thinking back to s1e1, when Vincent shouts at Simon “can you sing louder?” Obviously to embarrass him. But when Simon walks past August, Vincent and Nils, Nils says “hey you’ve got good pipes” or something, but he says it in a tone that makes it seem like a backhanded compliment, it sounds like bullying, because he’s with his friends. God forbid he might be upfront and nice…

“When you’re struggling, it can be helpful to see someone like me.” Wilhelm realizing that Erik was not as perfect as he thought, that he also had struggles. “So that you don’t feel you have to risk hurting somebody.” Does that mean that Erik struggled with self-destructive behaviors?

“He was always saying that we should keep what’s private private. That’s how we were raised. Otherwise… otherwise people take advantage.” Wille, like Erik, seems to have a skewed perspective of what privacy means and what secrecy means.

Wille’s whole confession about feeling lonely makes me so sad. He really feels like Erik is the only one who cared, and now he’s gone. “Then last year I made a new friend who awakened new feelings in me… in a way I wish I hand’t, it was better not knowing how it could feel…” Crying every single time…

It’s interesting how earlier Rosh was pointing out that Simon can’t seem to keep away from Wille. Maybe he is, but then he picks up the book that later Wille has to pick too because it’s the only one left, just by… coincidence? (No such thing. It’s the universe telling them something… *cough* soulmates *cough*)

Wille realizing that Kris by Karin Boye is basically about him… (and of course dear Henry being completely dense, love him).

Simon being conflicted about what he should tell Wille, because he doesn’t owe him anything, and yet knowing that Wille will be sad about it, and also knowing that there’s really nothing going on between him and Marcus (not from his side, at least) and not wanting to use Marcus to make Wille jealous or to simply be a rebound but actually knowing deep down that was the whole point of starting anything with Marcus. And then ultimately deciding that he doesn’t want Wille to be sad…

Simon watching Wille’s face as he processes the information. He had already pretty much decided at this point that he wasn’t going to continue to pursue anything with Marcus, and Wille’s reaction pretty much cemented it. Just like Wille still cares about Simon, Simon unfortunately still cares very much for Wille. He’ll just have to get over him the old-fashioned way. By writing a heartbreak song…

Sara asking Felice to promise that they will find better new owners for Rousseau and then feeling betrayed when Rousseau is still sold to those people is very similar to Simon’s reaction when Wille said he wouldn’t say anything about the video and then doing the interview to deny it was him. Neither Sara nor Simon understand that Felice and Wille weren’t given a choice, their parents decided for them. As privileged as Felice and Wille are, they still have to abide by their families wishes, even if they don’t agree.

“Can’t forget our golden days.” If that’s not an on-the-nose reference to all the golden Wilmon moments, then I don’t know…

“There they are our fucking slaves.” Jesus Christ, Vincent, what a choice of words. And getting all high and mighty and getting in Henry’s face… What the actual fuck… What’s more shocking about this whole tyrannical tirade is that the Housemaster is just sitting there! The entire time, he’s sitting there, watching, like it’s no big deal, like it’s totally okay for Vincent to speak like that and to treat his housemates like that.

When Walter comes to ask August if he’s coming to the shooting range, and August says “You can tell Judas that I’m not ready to make peace”… the irony, when he’s the biggest traitor of them all…

Simon coming into the frame as the lyrics say “I need you to hear what I mean and not what I say” as he heads over to talk to Marcus and tell him he’s not ready for a relationship… and then Marcus being pushy and not listening to him… ugh…

Simon asking Sara if she’s friends with August, and her basically lying. Or maybe it’s the truth. They are not friends. She blackmailed him into helping her get into Manor House, and now she’s horny for him. August, however, does seem to think he can trust Sara, and she revealed to him that Felice is the one who told Wille who the culprit was… maybe that’s what August thinks friendship is. August probably thinks that friendship is just convenience; you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. He probably also thinks that friendship has an element of idolatry, he idolized Erik in his time, and when he became the senior student and prefect and rowing team leader, he was in turn “idolized” (no, he wasn’t, he was tolerated, unlike Erik who, judging from the way that people talk about him, when he was still alive and now that he’s dead, probably was actually idolized, and August has not been able to replicate his popularity the same way, but since people still followed him as the leader then he thought he was doing fine… and now he knows he wasn’t). He thinks that his friends have all betrayed him… no August, your friends were never really your friends, and they’re done with your bullshit.

Sara rubbing in Simon’s face that he gives people second chances (“and third and fourth and fifth…”), but also kind of making it sound like maybe it’s not such a bad thing to give August a second chance. Maybe that’s the way she thinks now, because she’s getting closer to August… Sara had some very strict standards for Simon and then became upset when he disappointed her, but then she goes and makes similar mistakes, but doesn’t seem to be aware of how unfair that is.

The way she says to Rousseau “he’s going to see Marcus…” like she thinks it’s a good thing, like Simon seemed excited about it… the way she says in episode 2 “at least he doesn’t need rescuing all the time”… the fact that Sara hasn’t been home since the beginning of class and they haven’t hung out as much… it makes me think two things: that Sara doesn’t really understand or doesn’t perceive how messed up Simon is over his breakup with Wille, and therefore thinks that Simon is really moving on with Marcus, OR Simon has really kept all his feelings bottled up since before Christmas and therefore neither Linda nor Sara know really how much his breakup with Wille has affected him, and therefore Sara honestly thinks that Simon is moving on with Marcus (which would also explain why Linda was so enthusiastic about Marcus as well). I feel both might be true because of how much Simon doesn’t want to show how much things affect him because he doesn’t want to burden his mother with these issues, because he thinks he needs to be strong (“eres fuerte, Simon”), and so he has tried to force himself to move on or dealt with his emotions in private)… and therefore, if Sara doesn’t really understand how much this breakup affected Simon, how much Wille really meant to him, because she either hasn’t been there or because he hasn’t really shown her how he feels, then she doesn’t understand how desperate Simon is to move on and how much he’s still hurting. Not only that, she doesn’t seem to understand how traumatizing the video leaking was for Simon (after all, she was only really thinking of herself when it happened and it started to have a ripple effect, with their mum wanting to pull them both out of Hillerska).

And it makes me wonder what things would have been like between Wille and Simon if the video hadn’t leaked, what their relationship would have been like it their privacy hadn’t been violated… it sucks to go to that mentality immediately, that “everything happens for a reason” (not when it shouldn’t have happened), and it sucks because but maybe all of these terrible things that happened to them, as traumatizing as they have been, it forced both Wille and Simon to do some hard introspection, mature in many aspects, and find themselves coming out stronger out the other side… it sucks, because they’re just kids, and they didn’t deserve it… but also the only thing left to do in that situation is to focus on the positive outcome and work through the trauma… but I can’t help but imagine for them a life in which they didn’t unfairly get thrown into all this turmoil…

“I never said that I thought that you would hurt me.” Listen, Marcus, he doesn’t have to talk to you about this. He just said he’s not ready, he doesn’t know when he’ll be ready. If you’re a decent human being, you will back off. And why the fuck bring up the video???? This means that you know, you have known this entire time, about the video, about Wilhelm. You know that, if there are weird vibes with Wille, then Wille is definitely the guy from the video. You know that he’s probably trying to get over him… (and yes, you watched it, admit it, you watched it and you liked what you saw).

The rest of that conversation just boils my blood… “I know you don’t want to destroy something so beautiful.” Fuck you and fuck you for making Simon’s resolve weaken with your gaslighting and your superiority complex.

Sara doesn’t know that August has already looked into everything that could happen to him as consequence of the video, he used to think he was just going to lose everything because the monarchy would not tolerate it, but now he knows that he might even go to prison. Sara doesn’t, she still thinks he might want to redeem himself.

Simon cheering for Wille during the competition, then promptly stopping when he realizes that Marcus is there.

When Vincent falls off the chair, Forest Ridge is still ahead. When Simon gets in the chair, they’re still ahead. It’s some time after that that they lose their lead, and lose. But Vincent still blames Simon for losing.

Also August defending Simon in the locker room. Is he arguing with Vincent because he knows Vincent is wrong? Is it because Vincent pisses him off? Is it guilt because of what he did to Simon? Is it because Simon is Sara’s brother? All of the above? Also the “It doesn’t matter, it’s not real” argument because nothing matters to August anymore now that he doesn’t have the power. All the things that mattered so much to him are now so obviously pointless, he either realizes that it’s all meaningless, or he wants to diminish the significance, now that it’s not as important because he’s not at the top looking down

Wille putting on a sad song because it’s the only way he can process seeing Simon kiss Marcus and Simon not being on the team with him anymore. Everything is crumbling, let me listen to sad music and look at pictures of my ex to make myself feel worse. We get you, sweet prince. Next season that photo album will be brimming with cute pictures, new pictures, happy pictures…

That’s not Drottningholm palace or Stockholm palace, is it? As any nerd of this show, I’ve done some research and can’t match the façade of the palace where August arrives to any of the royal palaces of Sweden… but it’s at the waterfront…?

“If, and only if, Wilhelm can’t stand the pressure to take over the throne…” interesting choice of words. She’s saying that only if Wilhelm can’t do it, if he doesn’t want to do it, if he chooses to abdicate, then August would be next in line. Does that mean that if Kristina doesn’t think Wilhelm should be Crown Prince anymore because of his choice to be with Simon or any other reason, as long as he’s up for it he will still be the Crown Prince? They can’t justify him not being fit for it, it has to come from him?

”This will stay between us”, she says, then she tells Wilhelm without hesitation. Maybe it was indeed just a plan. Probably Kristina did need to get a backup (she does say it wasn’t her idea), but the main point of it, especially the point of choosing August, was to light a fire in Wilhelm, make him want to stay Crown Prince, just so that August will never be. (And then Wille turns the tables majestically on her, pun not intended).

I appreciate that she clarifies that it wasn’t her idea, because under the circumstances she would never choose him, the motherly side of her would always side with Wilhelm, but… the queen side of her wins again.

August’s self-satisfied smile, urgh… he’s back in the game. But he can’t tell anyone. He’s just gonna be smug all the time.

“How long do I have to feel like this?” Not long, baby, not long.

Every time… this scene… it’s like watching a train crash… but they both went in for the kiss at the exact same time. Felice definitely has some lingering feelings for Wille. And he knows she wanted him before, so maybe it would be pretty easy, this thing between them…? Let’s give it a try, perhaps? They’re both lonely, and he was desperate and she was not going to say no, so they basically kind of took advantage of each other.

When Felice stops, her resolve immediately weakens when he looks at her, because she probably got all hot and bothered, but she wants to check with him if this is okay. Wilhelm isn’t thinking, he’s desperate for touch, for getting Simon out of his head, for hopefully finding something equally as powerful with someone else, so he’s not even hesitating. He can trust Felice, she’s his friend. It’s not until Henry walks in that he snaps out of it, that he remembers where they are, who they are and what they’re doing, and now someone else knows. His privacy just keeps getting intruded upon…

(Next episode… ohmaigaddd, next episode, so tempted to rewatch just for the heck of it… )

[lumenflowered]

[A video is attached. Janine—a young woman with spiky purple hair and a long scarf on over what sure looks like ninja attire—appears to have just shut the door behind Maria into some sort of break room.

"So! Good to finally meet you, champ," Janine says cheerfully, practically bouncing on her feet as she makes for a comfy-looking couch and launches herself backwards into it, the camera following her there. "You beat Dad, so. I knew I probably wasn't winning, but damn if it wasn't fun to try!"

"I can see the resemblance," Maria comments, looking around the break room and eventually choosing to just remain standing, very awkwardly, near the door.

"Aw, really? That's really sweet, thank you. But anyway!" Janine beams at her. "What brings you here? Are you just the sort of overachiever who wants to get all sixteen of the viable badges, or... something else? My guess is something else. Though you do have overachiever energy."

Maria blinks, clearly confused. "Thank you? I... think?"

"Eh, it can be a compliment, could be not, I mean it as a compliment so you're welcome. Seriously, though, what are you doing here?" Janine pauses. The smile drops from her face. "It's Rocket, isn't it."

"As in the team? I... had intended to ask you that."

"Wait what."

"How much has Lance told you?"

"Pretty much just that he did get defeated but for personal reasons you're not taking over for him at the Indigo League quite yet. Also a quick physical description of you so we'd actually know when you turned up. Which... understated a few things, but never mind that." Janine sits up, arms crossed over her chest. "What's going on?"

"After being driven out of Johto, Team Rocket seems to have plans of some variety here in Kanto instead," Maria clarifies. "They seem far more afraid of me than they are of Lance—"

"Wait, were you the one who crashed Ho-oh into the Johto Radio Tower???"

"—and as such the plan is for the rest of the League to monitor Johto while I search them out and deal with them here in Kanto." Maria pauses, brow furrowing. "Also, no. Ho-oh crashed themself into the Johto Radio Tower; I was merely taking advantage of their offer of a way into the building."

"What the fuck, you're way too cool to be the new champ," Janine mutters. "Anyway. Uh. Got it! Fully understood. Honestly it wouldn't be the first time that Rocket has managed to listen in on League communications, so I get why Lance didn't want to say much, but also what do you want from me here?"

"I'd like to know," Maria says, "if you have seen anything particularly suspicious in or near Fuchsia City recently. Anything directly related to Rocket would be ideal, but anything... out of the ordinary would work."

"Hmm. Hmmmmm." Janine steeples her hands thoughtfully, shifting to an even more ridiculous sitting position on the couch if she does. "See, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I've seen Rocket's work before, and I've got a hunch about where they will be if they're anywhere near here. Give me a couple days, I'll let you know. Or I'll have one of the girls let you know."

"...One of your gym trainers is a boy?"

"Oh, Barry? Yeah, he's bigender. He delights in being one of the boys and one of the girls. Not the point though, I'll get on that after the gym closes tonight. In the meantime... stay close, give me a call if you find something first, and I hope you enjoy Fuchsia City!"

"Thank you," Maria says. "There is one other thing, more of a... personal matter."

"Oooooooh? Do tell?"

"I... believe there may have been a challenger here... close to a month ago?"

"Okay...? I'm gonna need something slightly more specific, I get a lot of challengers. It's mostly people who are here for the Safari Zone and figured they might as well try for a badge while they're in the area, but hey."

"Dee. The name she would be going by is likely Dee."

Janine's brow furrows. "About a month ago... yeah, I think I remember her. Actually, I thought she was you at first—Lance's original description of you wasn't as specific as it should've been, he didn't even mention that you're an edgelord."

"...A what."

"Uh, you like dark clothes and... don't worry about it, actually. What about her?"

"I..." Maria hesitates. "She... did Lance mention that I was a Faller?"

"Like Surge, yeah. But also it's pretty... you're not subtle. I like you a lot but you're not. What about it?"

"I believe that she may be too," Maria says. "That she may be from the same place I am, and... may even be someone I knew once."

"Oh shit? That's a good thing, right?"

"...I don't know."

"What, is she your ex or... yeesh. For real? That's rough." Janine pauses. "Also, you can totally sit down if you want. Like. There are plenty of seats."

There are, indeed, plenty of seats. Maria equally awkwardly takes one.

"Perhaps I am wrong," Maria says. "I hope that I am wrong. But any information on her that you are willing to share may help."

"Okay. Well. Um..." Janine's brow furrows. "Let me think on that one too, actually, it's been a long month."

The video ends.]

[evilkitten3]

@blueper-saiyan

#Not sure if I’m allowed to pull out these tags as a separate reblog#but that is an interesting and fucked up theory I like it#and absolutely want to hear the long version#vegeta

you absolutely are as far as i'm concerned but since op's post was getting a bit long i'll respond here

dbz always reblog i have a theory that there's actually a reason for this it stems from my theory that vegeta's mom doesn't exist bc he's a clone of his dad basically it eventually become obvious that frieza was going to take whichever kid was heir to the throne so king vegeta (kv i guess) went ''aight we need a Super Baby (no tuffles allowed) and i'm the coolest guy on the planet. need a baby me'' so he gets a bunch of the buffest nerds imaginable (be real saiyan scientists like the job bc they get to fight physics) and start working kv: i need this kid to last as long as possible we're gonna need to buy some time scientists: got it boss *proceed to make the universe's most ridiculously hard to kill infant* how's this kv: excellent. frieza catch! frieza: oh this is adorable! i'm going to traumatize it =) <-an extremely brief summary of my hc

(^the tags in question)

ok so first there are a couple of things i need to get out of the way ahead of time– namely, i'm not the first person to come up with the vegeta-is-a-clone idea; the first person i saw with that idea was someone who wrote a fic i read a while back that i'm blanking on the name of at the moment, and while their version is massively different from mine, the core concept of clone!veggie is more or less the same

the second thing is that i get way too into world building sometimes and so a lot of pieces of my hcs get mixed up with one another and often don't fit in with established canon (which isn't like abnormal or anything but i want to clarify that i already know some of this doesn't perfectly slot up. in my defense the db timeline doesn't even match up with itself half the time)

the final thing is that while i've seen bits of the anime and the first handful of super episodes, i'm mostly a manga fan, so i view any non-manga parts of dragon ball as free real estate

buckle up, i was not kidding about the length (*immature snickering*)

SO.

first and foremost the relationship between the tuffles and the saiyans: the tuffles are described as being a peaceful yet technologically advanced race, but in my hc, they're a bit more complicated than that. for starters, i don't see how a supposedly peaceful race is going to have high-tech blasters, and while it's possible that they're for defensive purposes, it... really doesn't give off that vibe. also they were super into some fairly questionable science, some of which objectively involved human experimentation (or... humanoid experimentation, i guess)

jumping back to the future for a sec: gohan. gohan is a half-human, half-saiyan male hybrid, and while two separate species somehow producing a hybrid child isn't unheard of, male hybrids are almost always completely infertile. and yet, gohan grows up and has a kid (another explanation is gohan and videl are t4t, which i also love, but it doesn't really fit into this). so how are saiyans and humans not only capable of reproducing together, but capable of having children that can also reproduce? my theory here is that saiyans are genetically modified (early) humans– tuffles arrived on earth sometime prior to homo erectus finishing the jump to homo sapiens, grabbed a handful of various lab rats, and got to work.

this would also explain why saiyan tails look the way they do. to elaborate, here's a spider monkey skeleton:

notice how the tail is made up of more vertebrae that continue along the same curve as the rest of the spine. meanwhile, goku's tail looks like this:

it juts straight out, almost perpendicular to his spinal cord. to me, that does not look like how tails work– it looks grafted on. in the video game kakarot, bulma even makes goku a fake tail for him to fish with that he can just... stick right on there. i know dragon ball science is already broken af (someone please explain to me how dr briefs isn't basically a deity for inventing capsules), but if the tail is a genetic trait that didn't evolve naturally, it makes some sense (in the way anything in dragon ball makes sense, that is)

so– saiyans are a highly adaptable species that seem to be able to eat basically whatever, can both endure and dish out catastrophic amounts of damage, are biologically driven to fight to the point where it's hard to imagine how a society full of them could function at all, get stronger whenever they recover from being seriously injured, can transform into giant apes, and yet have a glaringly obvious weakness that can pretty much completely incapacitate them if you know about it? they seem designed for war, and not in the natural evolution-is-just-funny-like-that-sometimes way.

what we know about the tuffles sort of differs from source to source, but the most negative opinions come from the saiyans– according to vegeta, the tuffles basically treated them as slaves. which... yeah, that adds up, given everything.

anyway, here's where i divorce from canon entirely bc according to gt, king vegeta iii is the one who led the saiyans in the war against the tuffles, which raises... honestly so many questions. so i'm ignoring that; it was vegeta i and he was never officially king, but more on that later. i also need to note that the whole "saiyans lived on planet sadala, fucked it up, and moved to planet plant which later became planet vegeta" to my knowledge is not manga canon but since i like the general idea, i sorta moved it a bit.

in my version, the saiyans and the tuffles both lived on planet sadala, but the war between the two species got a little out of hand and the planet was kaputski (to be fair, if you suddenly got to turn into a giant ape and wreak havoc on the people who were possibly enslaving you, you might go a bit overboard too), so the saiyans stole all the tuffles' ships and gtfo'd (this is why everyone was so sure the tuffles were gone. bc typically blowing up someone's planet is a good way to get rid of all of them. at least in theory– i'm sure frieza can tell you all about how well it works in practice)

back to vegeta i– he wasn't a king, technically, but he was the saiyan who started, led, and according to all saiyan sources (which are biased but w/e) finished the revolt, and chose to die on the planet in an act of heroic sacrifice and/or symbolism and/or his daughter twisted a fact or two bc propaganda is a game we all can play, and the new planet they landed on was named after him. said daughter took the same name, declared the planet and the king to be one and the same, and set about conquering the shit out of it. so vegeta ii was technically the first king but if you asked her she was the second and also disrespecting her father and probably also about to be killed via spear (oh btw king vegeta ii is famed for her giant war spear which was very cool and intimidating and probably didn't see much use outside of ritual combat bc it's honestly more efficient to just blast people but all the statues and art and whatnot have her with it)

i'm going to take a minute to gloat about vegeta ii bc honestly she's one of my alltime favorite ocs that i've made, despite the fact that i don't intend to ever have her show up in anything (yass gurl haunt that narrative!!!) but basically she's a deeply respected figure in saiyan culture, although she died way before any of the saiyans still alive in dbz were born (except nappa), bc she... basically built saiyan culture from scratch. pretty much all the core beliefs the saiyans as a people had were from her very deliberately and surprisingly sneakily forcing them to be developed bc she was fully aware that the saiyans needed more than a love of battle to actually survive as a society independent of the tuffles. she basically had the whole thing set up and ready to last and become a proper empire but unfortunately the one kid that lived long enough to succeed her (by killing her in combat, obviously, and yes the others all tried and died– she's an important figure, not a nice one) ran face first into frieza and we all know how that went down

anyhow, vegeta ii's reign (which lasted a crazy long time bc she lived way longer than she should've and almost certainly used some kind of not-so-great method of living that long, but in her defense she needed to make sure at least one of her kids was cool enough to be in charge, so what's a few war crimes between monarchs) pretty much cemented all the saiyan pride and identity that vegeta iv is so fond of, and not just bc she was his grandma either.

the reason i have to get through all of that to explain my clone!vegeta theory is bc i need to explain why king vegeta iii became king in the first place– under vegeta ii's system, anyone could challenge for the throne at any time, regardless of who they were. her own children were expected - but not required - to do so, and if she died before an heir could kill her in glorious combat, the princes would become stewards and have the duty of finding the next king (who couldn't be one of them. fight and die for that shit like a real saiyan or no throne for you). however, there was actively incentive not to do that bc A) whoever's in charge has to actually be in charge and therefore gets to fight way less, and B) in order to become king you had to be ritually stripped of your identity as a person with the understanding that if you died during your challenge your name would be stricken from all records, none of your family or friends would ever acknowledge that you had ever existed, and you would simply cease to be (the afterlife doesn't follow these rules but most of the saiyans who are there still do, including the ones who by saiyan law no longer exist. say what you will about saiyans; they're a dedicated lot)

so anyway vegeta iii (before becoming vegeta iii – he had a different name bc names are super important in my version of saiyan culture but if i get into that here we will literally be here for the rest of the week - but i'll call him that for the sake of my sanity) is somewhat reluctant to challenge for the throne bc none of his siblings have managed it (not that they exist anymore whoops), but one of his colleagues/presumed ruling partner (not gonna get into saiyan relationships here either sorry) has been pushing him to do so for a while now

i think i've gone through a few names for vegeta's not-mom, but the most recent one is touga (from tougarashi, or capsicum annuum, and yes i was thinking of neon orange glimmer song by the mountain goats when i named her), so i'll call her that. touga is a pretty saiyan-y saiyan– she's violent, temperamental, proud, strong, and so forth, but another thing she is is deeply, deeply loyal to her people. she's also very aware of vegeta iii's weaknesses (such as "will probably care a little too much about kids if he has any" and "may make decisions based off of feelings instead of cold hard practical logic" and "seems likely to develop emotional attachments to family members"; you know, normal kingly failings) and has the lady macbeth-esque stainless steel go-fuck-yourself coldness to make up for her future husband's pathetic little morals or whatever

anyway, touga pushes vegeta iii to go for the throne bc holy shit his mom has been alive for way too long but also she has faith in hi or something and duty and whatever and dude do it if you ever want this saiyan tail, and eventually he caves and goes for it. he fights his mom, wins, gets a shiny new king name and is all set to run his kingdom. and then king cold shows up.

now in between killing his mom and our favorite chilly boys coming to town, vegeta iii and touga have had a kid, prince escallion (who is a girl ftr but i can't get into saiyan thoughts on sex/gender or the language or even escallion herself in this post bc we will never ever leave). escallion is pretty neat, just the strongest baby in history or whatever, but then post-cold arriving and politely yoinking the saiyans into his empire, rumors start spreading that frieza miiiiight be wanting a saiyan under his personal command. no prizes for guessing whose palace he's looking at for pickings. obviously the only prince they've got is not someone they can afford to lose, but they need a sure bet on super-infants and can't afford hoping for a genetic bingo, so vegeta iii assembles the universe's swole-est scientists and has them get started on making the Coolest Baby Ever (by cloning him, the king, bc he's the strongest but also bc frieza is an asshole and likes playing mind games with people so let's be real he's taking one of the king's kids no matter how tough they are)

so vegeta iv gets made (and named inappropriately but that's frieza's fault and a story for another time so ignore it for now) and eventually tarble is born and almost immediately sent off just in case frieza decides to be a bigger dick than usual (spoilers: frieza is going to decide to be an even bigger dick than that), and vegeta gets to spend the first few years of his life with his dad, big sis, and not-mom until he gets shipped off to go be a child soldier/slave/distraction, at which point frieza goes ahead and blows up the planet. there's more to it than just that, but i may actually want to write it out some day, so i'll keep the rest to myself for now.