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brf-rumortrackinganon · 1 month

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My central thesis has always been that the Harkles wanted everything the Wales have and more. I know I remember reading that she cried after hearing William was made Prince of Wales. Right from the get go, her PR was all "Meghan is way better suited to be royal". Then there were all the Commonwealth flowers on her bridal veil and their insistence that they move into Windsor Castle. Now I don't believe everthing Neil Sean says, but his latest video mentions that Megxit was an ultimatum to get Windsor. As that is the traditional home of the Monarch, I feel as though they were attempting a coup.

Then there is the thought that Harry believes that the Dutchy of Cornwall should be split and he should eventually be made co-King or King of the Commonwealth. Let the Wales have that tiny island while they are jetted and feted around the world.

Here's my question for you. Did Meghan and Sparry REALLY believe they could leapfrog over the Wales??? I know her jealousy and envy of Catherine is bunny boiler level and he absolutely eviscerated his brother in Waagh. Has this been their plan all along?? Death by a thousand cuts for the Wales to force them to resign their place in the LOS or that they could somehow convince Charles to make Harry the heir??

I'd like to know where you think the delusions stem from. It wouldn't be the first time in history that younger brother has attempted to remove old brother from the throne.

Sincerely appreciate your blog and all the work you put into it. I'm always learning something new.

I'm pretty sure that was exactly their plan: they wanted to use their popularity to force The Queen to name them as her successors. I don't remember where I read this or when, but allegedly Harry sent "documentation" to someone - to whom specifically I can't recall, but options are The Queen, Charles, William, and/or grey suits - providing evidence for claims that he and Meghan were more popular than any of the others and deserved more than what they were getting.

And if they couldn't get the actual crown, they were going to do their damnedest to try and get a co-kingship with William. That's where Meghan's obsession with the Commonwealth came from; she had been told (again, I don't know by whom - all signs point to Harry exaggerating to keep her interested or maybe Charles spitballing ideas during his 'Magnificent Six' planning circa 2012) that William would rule Britannia and Harry would rule the Commonwealth.

I think that's why Meghan went all in on 'racist Kate.' Not only did she want to knock Kate out of the spotlight, she wanted to do enough damage that Commonwealth/realm nations would threaten to quit and The Queen would capitulate by offering to install Harry and Meghan as new leaders. This actually had a chance of working; it's been said quite often during her last years and since her passing that The Queen saw the Commonwealth as her greatest legacy and there was speculation that she would have done anything she could have to keep it in tact. And had Meghan played her cards right, she and Harry probably could have ended up becoming the main ambassadors of and for the Commonwealth, like a Commonwealth version of the UN Secretary-General.

But where the plan failed, obviously, was that it required blaming Kate for problems and issues that don't exist. Because remember, in 2021 when Meghan was making these claims, we'd just gone through the huge global reckoning that was Black Lives Matter and the agreement during/after BLM was "call racist people out on their BS. Put them on blast. Don't let them get away with it anymore." So not only would Meghan have been perfectly justified to name names, cite events, bring receipits, air the real dirty laundry and everyone would've been so much more supportive of it. But she didn't. Instead she played coy and said something like "I'm protecting them even though they don't deserve it."

Girl, please. That was Meghan's one chance to go justifiably scorched earth and air out all the dirty laundry and she fumbled hard.

Anyway. Let's get this train back on track. Where do the delusions come from? Traumatic childhoods courtesy of Mommies Dearest.

We all know Harry's story with Diana. She was a young, fun, free spirited loving mom larger than life with a neediness that she depended on her children to fill, rather than her own husband or other adults her age, so Harry grew to find satisfaction in supporting and providing her what she needed. He probably saw, and understood, the way Diana received what she wanted by exaggerating what she needed and following it up with excluding or isolating herself until whoever came chasing after her to give her what she wanted. And ultimately this led her (and Harry) down a path that ended up killing her; she exaggerated the relationship with Dodi to get attention from Hasnat or the BRF, then isolated herself in France to force whoever (Hasnat? Charles Wales? Charles Spencer?) to come chase after her. We know how that ends.

That's where Harry's delusions, IMO, come from. He saw how it well it worked (mostly) for Diana - exaggerate her needs/wants, then run and hide until she gets it - so he does it too. He probably started doing it right after she died, when no one knew what to do or how to handle him so they kept indulging in everything he wanted, so those wants kept manifesting bigger and bigger. And I think the way we see the BRF treating Harry is what would have happened to Diana had she lived; eventually the public would sour on her (this was already happening, by the way), which would then enable the BRF to grey rock her, devenomizing her in effect, and move on without Diana having too much of an influence on their day-to-day.

It's sort of similar for Meghan. We don't know specifically what happened (the way we do with Harry and Diana), but we know that Doria was a young, fun, free-spirited mother herself married to an older husband who had other priorities (eg kids from his first marriage). Unlike Diana, Doria probably didn't want the responsibilities of motherhood (which is the vibe Meghan and Thomas have given about Doria during Meghan's childhood) and left. And like the BRF, Thomas may have also overcompensated Doria's absence in Meghan's life by giving her everything she asked for, which made her asks get bigger and bigger and when Thomas couldn't deliver, she threatened to leave him...like Doria did and Thomas, erstwhile girldad he was, just kept throwing more and more at Meghan to keep her happy. Her delusions come from preying on other individuals' trauma to ensure she gets what she wants. The bigger her wants (ie the more grandiose her delusions), the harder she manipulates other people's trauma to make sure she gets what she wants. Which is kinda the opposite of Harry and Diana; they create the trauma to get people to do what they want, whereas Meghan exploits it to get people to do what she wants. Both are skills they learned after being abandoned (metaphorically and literally) by their mothers.

And all of Meghan's PR about "young mother," I think it's more insidious than that. Yes, it's a very overt evocation of Diana's narrative. Yes, it's a judgement against Kate. But it is also digs at Doria. "See? Motherhood is hard but I'm prioritizing my kid. How dare you to have left me" kind of spiteful digs meant to shame her for whatever happened that caused her to disappear. Meghan is the kind of person who must always have the last word, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's been targeting or belitting Doria about not knowing certain things about Archie/Lili because she wasn't around when Meghan was that age.

So...yeah.

I've realized now that this is the third or fourth Wednesday in a row that I write these super long analytical/in this essay I will posts. I guess Wednesdays are my thinking days...

#ask #sussexes #theories #brf

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annes-andromeda · 3 months

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Long Post Incoming

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I don’t know who needs to hear this (*cough* TB stans *cough*) but Aegon has always had a stronger claim that Rha*nyra.

According to Andal law, a son comes before a daughter, and a niece comes before an uncle. The only time Rha*nyra had a strong claim was when she was Vis*rys’s only living child. No one wanted Da*mon on the IT because they knew that he would essentially be a second Maegor (or worse). Not only was Rha*nyra more well liked at the time, but in accordance to the law, she had a stronger claim that Da*mon.

At the end of the day, Rha*nyra being named heir had nothing to do with Rha*nyra. In the book, she was named heir so that Da*mon wouldn’t become king, and in the show, she was named heir because of Vis*rys’s guilt for killing Aemma. It was never about her. But, once Rha*nyra heard her daddy name her his successor, she rolled with it and refused to give up her claim. Which again, at the time, was at its strongest.

That is, until Vis*rys married Alicent and had Aegon.

Otto states that the succession changed the second Aegon was born, and although Otto isn’t the easiest man to like, he wasn’t wrong. As soon as Vis*rys fathered a living son, Rha*nyra was brought down from being first in line, to being second in line, with Da*mon now being third in line.

Now GRRM harkened back to Henry VIII and the succession crisis regarding his three living children (Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward), and states that Edward was third in line but was to become king first.

There’s just one problem. There was no succession crisis.

Edward, despite his age, was ALWAYS first in line for the throne. Everyone and their mother knew the second he was born, he would be Henry’s heir. Henry removed Mary and Elizabeth from the succession and denounced them as illegitimate because he annulled his marriages to his first and second wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Mary and Elizabeth were only returned to the succession through the Third Succession Act of 1543 because Henry did not father anymore sons, and he needed spares should anything happen to Edward. But Edward remained first in line nonetheless, whereas Mary and Elizabeth followed right after despite both of them being older.

Because of Aegon’s birth, Rha*nyra’s claim has weakened substantially, and while it’s still stronger than Da*mon’s, people will naturally gravitate towards Aegon due to the majority of Westeros, save for Dorne, following male primogeniture.

If Vis*ys really wanted to strengthen his daughters claim and instill her as heir, then he would’ve never remarried and had sons. He would’ve helped Rha*nyra gain allies, and teach her how to rule. But he didn’t. He just named her heir and that’s it.

Which is why Vis*rys still wanting Rha*nyra to be his successor despite having Aegon is stupid, because the law dictates that Aegon is first in line. And Vis*rys never changed the laws of succession, he only wanted his daughter to be the exception.

Now if this were Dorne, where absolute primogeniture is practiced, then Rha*nyra would most certainly be the uncontested heir. But since she’s not Dornish, Rha*nyra’s claim to the IT is weaker than Aegon’s. And it only gets weaker once Vis*rys sires two more sons following Aegon.

With the births of Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron, Rha*nyra is pushed even further down the line of succession. And when Aegon has two legitimate sons of his own (Jaehaerys and Maelor), she’s pushed even further down the line.

It’s why Da*mon groomed and married her: so he would get closer to the throne. But even with their claims combined, and despite the fact that they have Aegon III and Viserys II, Aegon’s claim is still strong.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is what the succession should look like:

Aegon II—>Jaehaerys—>Maelor—>Aemond—>Daeron—>Rha*nyra—>Aegon III—>Viserys II—>Helaena—>Jaehaera—>Da*mon

Fans can scream about how Rha*nyra and the Blacks had more houses supporting them during the Dance (which realistically doesn’t make a lick of sense), but it doesn’t change the fact that Aegon has always had the stronger claim.

You can say that she was usurped all you want, but it doesn’t mean that Aegon didn’t have a claim to the throne. If anything, he had the strongest claim of them all.

And not only that, but Aegon had legitimate sons as his heirs, unlike Rha*nyra, who was trying to pass off her illegitimate bastard sons as her heirs, despite it being very illegal.

People say that Jace, Luke, and Joff were fighting for their claims when… they literally had no claims to begin with. They’re illegitimate bastards who shouldn’t be anywhere near the line of succession. Just because they have the last name Velaryon and Laenor “accepted” them, doesn’t suddenly make them legitimate.

That’s like that saying that because Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen had the last name Baratheon, it suddenly means they were Robert’s trueborn children, when we know they weren’t.

All in all, Vis*rys was the real reason for the Dance happening, all because he couldn’t make up his mind about the succession and was politically inept. And no, him marrying Laena wouldn’t have stopped the Dance from happening because there still would’ve been a chance that Laena birthed a son (or sons).

#house of the dragon #game of thrones #pro team green #anti team black #anti viserys i targaryen #anti rhaenyra targaryen #anti daemon targaryen #neither aegon nor nyra deserved the throne #but you cant say that aegon didnt have a claim #cause yes tf he did

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houseofbrat · 3 months

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As someone who works in PR I am ASTONISHED at how bad Kensington Palace is at all of this. It’s the most interesting part of the whole thing for me. Well that, and how much it seemingly vindicates H&M and Harry in particular in what he’s said about the firm and the media’s role in protecting the Heir at all costs.

Yeah I work in PR for a public company and anytime we want to put something out we have to run it up the chain - we need legal and Investor relations and executive approvals.

Even if KP and BP had their individual PR teams, which makes sense, there should still be one main central PR office that everyone answers to that manages the entire royal families PR, makes sure schedules and press opportunities and STRATEGY AND MESSAGING all aligns, before running up the chain for final approvals. There’d be a social team and a crisis team and government relations team and a branding team and a general “talent rep” kind of team, all working in tandem to serve the overall strategy for the royal family.

The fact that there are so many cooks in so many different kitchens is why the royal family has had so many PR disasters honestly for decades now. They’re truly doing it all wrong. So many Worst Practices here, not Best Practices.

It really doesn't seem like there is an overall PR team. Just the separate entities

Yeah and that’s the problem IMO. They are a business that should be run like a business. They should have the individual departments I suggested, and even more, working in tandem.

The fact that there are so many separate entities with different agendas and priorities is a huge part of their problem IMO.

But Charles has been transparent for the most part!! And photographed repeatedly. It’s so bizarre when compared to KP, and feels passive aggressive to me to be honest lolol.

They’re really so so so bad at this 😭😭😭😭 but the British public and the media lets them get away with it 🙃🙃🙃

For heaven’s sake. If she’s recovering nicely, why resort to recycling old photos?

Other sources are making a pretty good case for the fact that it’s a November photo, taken after Catherine and the children visited the baby bank.

Does nobody, and I mean nobody, know how to do PR in that place anymore? Now it's pin all of this on just-recovering-from-abdominal-surgery Kate? Why not on William since they were so proud about how he was the one that took the photo? Somehow they keep making everything ten times worse.

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for a second that Kate personally edited that photo together in such a way that it had to be killed as inauthentic. The pulling of the photo is likely more about the refusal to provide metadata or the raw image for proof rather than silly Photoshop choices. That isn’t an issue of “mummy going wild on the computer,” it’s a larger organizational issue about trust, transparency, and KP’s overall poor approach to news orgs and the press lately.

Why is Kate taking the fall? Why is William such a lout to let an ill Kate put this on her own shoulders rather than admit KP made an error or say KP is going to reevaluate their practices and make a change?

Are college interns running Palace p.r.? Because I cannot understand how they're botching this so badly. If Kate couldn't/wouldn't pose for a legit photo, then just don't release anything. The Royals are basically dumping tankers of gas on the inferno by playing all these games.

Sorry, am I going insane? After saying they wouldn’t respond to these conspiracy theories, they

a) responded by putting out a doctored image,

b) responded to the backlash of doctored image by claiming the woman recovering from a medical issue was playing around in Photoshop, and

c) responded to the backlash of editing claims by putting out an image where the person in the photo is supposed to be Kate but could LITERALLY BE ANYBODY.

NONE OF YOU ARE FINDING THIS WEIRD? NONE?!

"Kate's Back"

Well, it is indeed a picture of Kate's back

Apparently the main symptom of her mysterious medical condition is that any photo with her in it immediately becomes grainy, blurry, or with people's wrists trying to escape into a fifth dimension.

Good Lord, I haven't followed a disaster story this closely since Oceangate Titan and this one may be even worse. The narrative is out of control and the rules have gone out the window.

They already lost control of the narrative at this point. No matter what they do now, they will be scrutinized more than they've ever been before. And they seem grossly unprepared for it.

She’s not even facing camera, how is this supposed to help? This just feeds the conspiracy theorists! headdesk

It's becoming a PR nightmare that only Olivia Pope can rescue.

Maybe the better question is that people are concerned about Kate's welfare, and most WERE okay with waiting under the timeline KP initially offered that is she will likely return by or after Easter.

However KP has mismanaged the messaging, and with that concern grows over how weird some of the updates are. The article explains why this medical time out is turning into an absolute PR crisis. It isn't so much about Kates right to medical privacy (she definitely deserves that )

It now is about institutional reliability, the heir William's arguably erratic or unusual behavior or his courtiers' comments, the mess with the all kill photoshopped/Frankensteined photo (which has never happened before with a palace released photo), the very different approaches from BP vs KP, etc etc. It's become bigger than Kate sad to say.

And ultimately now people are worried for her, in a way they wouldn't have been, because things have become so irregular and bungled. So the urgency to make sure she is safe and okay has become louder and more insistent.

“CNN is now reviewing all handout photos previously provided by Kensington Palace.”

“In editorial photography, photojournalists and editors commonly adjust a photograph’s exposure or color balance in order to more accurately reflect the scene. Most news organizations, including CNN, regard it as unacceptable to move, change or manipulate the pixels of an image. To do so would alter the reality of the situation the image is intended to document.”

“In the past, the family’s amateur photographs have been well received when posted on social media. But on this occasion, this photo was also released to media organizations as a handout and the palace wasn’t transparent about the fact it had been adjusted.

That will have damaged the trust between the palace and media organizations – many of which, like CNN, will likely be assessing all royal handouts. The editing storm has undermined the existing relationship and when public interest over any possible cover up escalates, as it has done recently, many news outlets will now have take that speculation more seriously.”

#my gif #reddit #PR fail #fail!#kensington palace #palace officials #William The Prince of OWN GOALS #William The Weak #William The Terrible #prince william #William The Prince of Wales #scandal!#ESCANDALO!!!#kate middleton #Catherine The Princess of Wales #british royal family #fleet street #media

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acetone4veins · 2 months

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Quotes + Mean Girls

associating angsty quotes (and some fluffy ones) to mean girls characters and dynamics, this is definitely longer than it should be and will probably be part 1 of many but anyways. lmk which were your favorites and which ones ruined you :) also shoutout to the cautionary tale discord who saw some of these already and ramble about these characters with me <3

posting under the cut so i don't clog anyone's feeds

Regina

"what a terrible thing to wound someone you really care for - and to do it so unconsciously."

Haruki Murakami

"and when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. what do you call it, freedom or loneliness?"

Charles Bukowski

"i am changing. i am trying to be better. it is slow; it is rough; it is repetitive, but i swear i am."

Abdulsamad S. M.

"i did not like to be touched, but it was a strange dislike. i did not like to be touched because i craved it too much. i wanted to be held very tight so i would not break."

Marya Hornbacher

"i was not a loveable child, and i'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs."

Gillian Flynn

"if only my heart were as cold as i pretend it is, maybe i could get over this."

Jessica Katoff

"i wasn't beautiful anymore. now i looked like what i was, a raw wound."

Janet Fitch

"i'm restless and harsh and despairing. although i do have love inside me. i just don't know how to use love. sometimes it tears at my flesh, like barbs."

Clarice Lispector

"i did not mean to be cruel. i swear i am good, i am good, i am kind. i have love inside me. some place far far away."

unknown

Cady

"how much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before its some kind of murder?"

Richard Siken

"your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing."

Dyodor Dosteovsky

"what and how much had i lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what i myself wished to do?"

Ralph Ellison

"my god, my god, whose performance am i watching? how many people am i? who am i? what is this space between myself and myself?"

Fernando Pessoa

"it was good for a while, being empty. i didn't hurt anymore. but as time went on, it was like i could hear myself from far away, begging for permission to come back."

Myra McEntire

"is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?"

Friedrich Nietzsche

"who's the real you? the person who did something awful, or the one who's horrified by the awful thing you did? is one part of you allowed to forgive the other?"

Rebecca Stead

"you're a mess of good intentions gone wrong. you strike a match on yourself to keep others warm, and now the whole goddamn world's on fire. you try to put it out, and you try so hard. the dam breaks, and the waters of your sorrow pour free. you are sorry; so very, very sorrow - and you will drown everyone to prove it."

unknown

Janis

"there are times when i am convinced i am unfit for any human relationship."

Franz Kafka

"i am eternally, devastatingly romantic, and i thought people would see it because 'romantic' doesn't mean 'sugary'. it's dark and tormented - the furor of passion, the despair of an idealism that you cannot attain."

Catherine Breillat

"but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself."

Kate Chopin

"there were two reasons i was scared to let people in; the damage they could do, and the damage they could find."

Chris McGeown

"perhaps its good for one to suffer. can an artist do anything if he's happy? would he ever want to do anything? what is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life?"

Aldous Huxley

Gretchen

"i want so obviously, so desperately to be loved, and to be capable of love."

Sylvia Plath

"she wanted to say 'don't leave me', but she couldn't do it, not again. she was so tired of begging people to love her."

Kristin Hannah

"he is charmingly telling me how much he does not love me...and i, - listening to him carefully, - am approving it."

Marina Tsvetaeva

"she's gonna forever say 'i got this' even with tears in her eyes."

unknown

"still there is this terrible desire to be loved. still, there is this horror at being left behind."

Michael Cunningham

"can you understand me? someone, somewhere, can you understand me a little, love me a little?"

Sylvia Plath

"i am trying to make myself digestible. i am trying to make myself easy to love."

I.B. Vyache

"do you think it is possible that some people are born to give more love than they will ever get back in return?"

Tyler Knott Gregson

Karen

"the sensitive suffer more; but they love more, and dream more."

Augusto Cury

"a lot of people tell me i'm a bit dreamy. but i like the idea of that. of being somewhere else."

Alam

"you cannot make everyone think and feel as deeply as you do. this is your tragedy, because you understand them but they do not understand you."

Daniel Saint

Regina and Janis

"the bear loved the deer, it was obvious. it ripped the deer's throat out, and then licked the dying deer with the most passionate affection. i thought of you and me."

David Cronenberg

"can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been?"

Jodi Picoult

"love isn't soft, like those poets say. love has teeth which bite and the wounds never close."

Stephen King

"i love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul."

Pablo Neruda

"they will hook me up to a polygraph and ask me if i love you and i will say no but the needle will jump and sputter exactly how you laugh."

unknown

"there's a sickening feeling of familiarity, when the wrong person knows you too well and you know them too well. and they weren't always the wrong person."

unknown

"we don't mean to hurt each other, but we do. and perhaps no matter how right we are for each other, we'll always be a little wrong."

Beau Taplin

Regina and Cady

"i am intense darkness and you are a golden sunrise."

Arijit Singh and Pritam

"even before you touched me, i belonged to you; all you had to do was look at me."

unknown

"whether you come as a lover or an executioner, i am ready to receive you."

Agustin Gomez-Arcos

"for the longest time, i saw myself as a bad person. you don't know how much it meant to me when you looked at me and could see the good."

unknown

"but i have seen the best of you and the worst of you, and i choose both."

Sarah Kay

"i promised myself i would never fall in love with you. but it was 4 am, and we were laughing way too hard, and i felt happy for the first time in a long time, and i knew i was screwed."

unknown

Gretchen and Karen

"i would rather be with you - even the you that you seem to think is diminished - than with anyone else in the world."

Jojo Moyes

"it hurts, he realizes, to love someone who can't love themselves. like watching a work of art set itself on fire."

unknown

"how amazing it is to find someone who wants to hear about all the things that go on in your head."

Nina LaCour

"come love, make me better than i was. come teach me a kinder way to say my own name."

Andrea Gibson

"i wanted you to see a mess and still find me worthy of love, to tell me that you could still love me anyway."

Georges Bataille

"sometimes, love is as simple as watching the moon and sometimes its as difficult as counting the stars. but i love doing both for you."

unknown

Janis and Damian

"you may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. some you'll discover you should put behind you. others are worth every risk."

Adam Silvera

Regina and Gretchen

"but i am very homesick for arms that have never held me."

unknown

"i burned so long so quiet you must have wondered if i loved you back. i did, i did, i do."

Annelyse Gelman

"so i wait for you like a lonely house till you will see me again and live in me. till then my windows ache."

Pablo Neruda

"how do you tell someone that the reason you're sad is because you love them?"

unknown

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timetorace · 2 years

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𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭

HELLO! My first Max one shot, so excited for this one. To the anon that requested it: Thank u so much I hope you like it.

ship: max verstappen x toto wolff daughter!reader.

summary: Five years ago you used to love Max but you had to say goodbye, will you be able to save what you could have been?

warnings: SMUT. SMUT. Unprotected sex. Oral (f! receiving). Doggy style. Dirty words.

word count: +6.0K

waity katie: Catherine Middleton was given the nickname “Waity Katie” to mock her because of the time Prince William took to propose to her.

May 2017 | Monte Carlo, Monaco

It was raining buckets; you weren’t surprised it rained that week. It was almost a tradition that it rained for the Monaco Grand Prix. All of Monaco was in a bubble after yesterday’s race but you were going to see him. You had decided that you had had enough. Max and you had been seeing each other secretly for a year now, long enough for both of you to know what you wanted. You had been mulling over going public since the beginning of the year while Max was still scared of the consequences. Or at least that’s what you thought at first. Now you weren’t sure anymore, especially after last night. You and Max had hung out with his friends and some mutual friends who worked on some teams. The club was full, but even so, when you had returned from the bathroom you had heard how one of Max’s friends called you “waity Katie”, the rest laughed and Max just stood there, said nothing or moved. You didn’t even try to say anything. The problem was that this had been like a wake-up call for you because when you arrived home you couldn’t stop thinking and seeing what you had lost.

When you thought about it, you realized the signs were always there, the way he changed the subject when you talked about going public with what they had or at least telling people around you like your dad. Oh, your dad. That was another thing. Your dad was Toto Wolff, who had tried to get Max to sign with Mercedes instead of Red Bull a couple of years ago but he had failed. Your dad would not be too happy that you got involved with a driver. They were strictly forbidden, especially since you were only 19 years old and most of them were much older than you.

You felt like a toy, after not sleeping the night before thinking about it you had concluded that Max didn’t care enough about you, you really hoped you were wrong though. Because otherwise, you could already feel your heart breaking. You were afraid, afraid that Max wasn’t into you half as much as you were into him.

You let out a sigh as you got into the elevator and put in the magnetic key so you could go up to Max’s penthouse. That’s how serious you thought you were, you had the key to go up to his apartment; you liked to use it to go to his house after leaving work and cuddle up against him. You liked that. Now that made you feel so stupid. Haven’t you seen the signs? Or had you seen them and ignored them because you were too into him to recognize them? When the elevator stopped at the top floor and before the doors opened, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath to prepare yourself.

“Hey, you’re early,” Max greeted you when you got out of the elevator. He was in shorts and a T-shirt watching a soccer game on television.

“My boss let me go earlier,” you explained. You were interning at a venture capital firm and living with your father, Susie, Jack in Monte Carlo. Your father was more than happy because he had always kept you at a distance, living in Germany.

“Surely he saw you hadn’t closed an eye last night” You hadn’t but not for the reasons he believed. You hadn’t even had enough to drink to have a hangover, you hadn’t stopped giving the subject a run for its money.

“Yeah, probably” You shrugged and crossed your arms. If you were going to have that conversation, you were going to stand still.

“Are you okay?” he asked, frowning.

“Yes,” You hesitated “Well, no” You added, “I think we should tell them” By them, you meant your family, his family, and possibly Max’s PR team.

“I think it’s still too early”

“Soon? Max, we’ve been doing this for a year now” “This” was referring to whatever it was you had, until yesterday you thought it was a relationship but now you thought it had actually been just an adventure or an affair all this time. “My father will get over it,” you told him before Max winced and you knew it. Toto Wolff wasn’t his problem “But my father is not the problem” You murmured before closing your eyes “Oh my God” What a fool you had been. Max wasn’t afraid of what his father might say. He wanted you as his little toy, his secret. You let out a bitter laugh. Less than 24 hours ago you were sure that he loved you. How had life changed so fast? “Don’t” You told him, taking a step back when you saw Max get up from the couch to approach you.

“(Y/N)” He called you

“I don’t want to be your dirty little secret, Max,” you said, letting out a bitter laugh. That couldn’t be happening to you “I can’t and won’t be the other woman” Max was a young promise and the girls literally threw themselves at him. You had had to shut your mouth more than once in the last year when he was involved with other girls. And above all, believe him when he told you that everything was rumors. Had he lied about that too?

“You are not my dirty little secret” That was a lie. He knew it, you knew it.

“You treat me like one,” you pointed out. It was almost as if he was ashamed of you, but you knew that in reality, he was too immature to be honest with you about it “And I deserve more than that”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you weren’t ready to commit, you just had to say so, Max! There was no need to have me hovering around you” You were angrier at his lack of honesty than anything else.

“It’s not that I lack commitment, it’s that for me it’s still too early”

You released an ironic laugh “You and your friends must have had the time of your lives laughing behind my back”

“No one is laughing at you, (Y/N)” He said in a calm tone that almost made you think it was all in your head.

“One of your friends called me 'waity Katie' yesterday” You pointed and saw how his expression changed to a mix between astonishment and surprise “Yes, I heard it, thanks for defending me by the way”

And then he did probably the thing that hurt you the most that night. The bastard shrugged. He shrugged. As if he didn’t care.

“They are just messing around” Was he downplaying it? Wh-What was going on? You had entered a parallel reality suddenly.

“And you let them do it?” you raised your eyebrows

“What am I supposed to do? A scene?”

“Em, yeah,” you told him as if it was obvious.

“Don’t be ridiculous”

“I’m not- “you started before stopping mid-sentence. It made little sense. He had already said everything you needed to know. He didn’t interest her. Not only was he not interested in whitewashing you, but he didn’t even care enough to stand up for you. "You know what?" You left the magnetic elevator key next to the coffee table next to the elevator. “Have a good life” You ended up turning to look at him one last time before walking towards the elevator.

“(Y/N)” He called you but you ignored him and pressed the elevator button.

“I don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit,” you replied, looking into his eyes one last time. Max looked devastatingly beautiful, as always, even with that look on your face “Not anymore” you added before the doors closed in front of you. He didn’t come back. He just stood there.

You greeted the doorman on your way out of the building. Dammit. The storm had broken, and you hadn’t brought an umbrella. Could that day get worse? Apparently yes, because when you were halfway home, soaked to the feet, your phone vibrated with a text from Max.

Max: Call me when you calm down, please?

Call him? He wanted you to call him? Hadn’t he caught the vibe? If he wanted to talk to you, he knew where you lived. He could call you instead of asking you to do so. Suddenly you realized something else. It was always you who made the effort for you. You just sent him to hell, and he was making the minimum effort. How pathetic and painful. Not even the rain could erase the tears in your eyes. It was incredibly painful to find out that a person didn’t love you even a quarter of what you loved about him.

(Y/N): Do me a favor, delete this number.

———————————————————————————————

June 2022 | Montreal, Canada (Five years later)

There you were. Canada. It wasn’t like you didn’t like to travel and accompany your father from time to time, but Canada meant jet lag and jet lag. He insisted and you couldn’t tell him no, since you had moved back to the UK, you didn’t see each other as often. The bad part was that he hadn’t gotten a room in the same hotel as his, so you were staying somewhere else. What you didn’t know was that Max was staying in the same hotel as you. You were going down in the elevator to have breakfast when it stopped at the fifth floor and Max went up. Great. You two met twice but just exchanged glances or a brief hello, as if you were strangers as if you barely knew who each other was. Actually, for the rest of the world, it was like that. You two never existed.

You moved your leg up and down impatiently, looking at the floor numbers as the elevator descended. Just as they were about to take you downstairs, you saw out of the corner of your eye that Max, who had been staring at you ever since he entered the elevator, would open his mouth, ready to say something.

You beat him to it “Whatever it is, save it, I don’t want to hear it” You told him before the elevator doors opened and you shot out of there.

The fight between Red Bull and Mercedes was real. Especially after last year, when he had been world champion. You couldn’t help but be happy for him even when your father was still complaining about how Masi had given away the championship to Red Bull. Max deserved it because he was an incredible driver but also now everyone was doubting last year’s championship and you knew he wanted to show that he was worthy of being world champion. You could respect that.

That same night, when you were watching a movie and about to sleep, someone knocked on your door. When you looked through the peephole, you saw it was Max. You got nervous. Anyone could see him standing there in the middle of the corridor in front of his door.

You yanked the door open “What are you doing here? People are gonna see you,” you whispered before grabbing his arm and pulling him into your room to close the door behind him.

“I need to talk to you,” Max explained

“I don’t see why,” you replied, crossing your arms over your chest.

“You know why”

“No, I don’t, I don’t read minds”

“I wanna talk about it” You knew that by “it” he probably meant the obvious. What had happened to you? You didn’t want to put labels on it because you didn’t even know if what they had qualified as a relationship.

“About what? You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, Max.” If he wanted to talk, then they were going to talk, but first, you were going to make him suffer a little.

“I wanted to talk about what happened, in Monaco, five years ago”

“You will say”

“You tried to give me an ultimatum” Oh, if that was how he was going to start by accusing you, then it would not end any better than last time.

“After a year Max, that doesn’t even count as an ultimatum, especially when you were supposed to be in a relationship,” you replied, trying to keep your voice as calm as possible. What you had had had been a relationship, at least for you.

“We were in a relationship,” Max corrected you.

“It didn’t seem like it.” You wanted to be as honest as possible. For a year it had seemed that way, but then you realized you had just ignored the signs.

“I’m sorry, for everything”

“You’re going to need more than that Max” That he apologized was the beginning, but now that he had stirred up the past, you wanted him to really mean it.

“I was an asshole” Max ruffled the hair on the back of his neck with his hand.

“Yes, you were” There was no point in denying it when it was what you thought.

“Thanks,” He replied with a sarcastic tone

“You said it first,” You shrugged

“I’m sorry I kept you in the dark and kept you a secret,” He clarified. At least he acknowledged that he had done wrong “You deserved more”

“That’s not even the problem” Actually it was okay for Max to admit that he had been wrong for keeping you a secret but that wasn’t even what hurt you the most “You made fun of me by letting other people put me nicknames” The fact that he had said nothing. Uff, that if he had hurt “You played games with me, I didn’t deserve that” The lie had bothered you the most. He just needed to be honest with you “You could just be honest and tell me you weren’t ready for commitment in the first place”

“You’re right, I was immature”

“Yes, you were”

“I should have been honest with you”

“Yes, you should have”

“And I should have said something that night at the club”

“Yes, you should have,” you repeated with a nod. You would deny nothing or try to make him feel better about it. If he wanted to be a big boy, then he had to accept his mistakes.

“Are you going to agree with everything I say? Well, that’s something new,” He scoffed.

You shrugged. “If you’re going, to tell the truth, I won't make you feel better about yourself.”

“I’m really, really sorry” He finished, and you believed him. After he listed the mistakes he had made, you believed him. It meant that he really knew that he was wrong and that he wasn’t saying it to sweeten your ears or because it was what he thought you wanted to hear.

“Because right now?” You asked, a little curious, why he had removed all this so many years later and why he seemed so eager to clear things up, “Why did you come?”

“Your perfume”

“What?”

“Today, in the elevator, I could smell your perfume,” Max explained “It reminded me of a lot of things, but it made me realize I miss you and that I could never fill the void that you left”

“We have crossed paths many times in the last few years,” you pointed out. You had not spoken, but you had seen each other on over one occasion afterward. It wasn’t like I saw you for the first time today.

“And I’ve always been able to ignore what I felt after seeing you, letting it go” Max nodded I understand what you were referring to. It was strange because his visit that night had taken you by surprise “Until today”

“And what happened today?” You raised your eyebrows.

“Today I couldn’t let go,” He said and you couldn’t help but gasp. Was he saying what you thought he was saying? “And I hate I can’t move on, get over you. Today I just stare there, watching you walk away from me and it felt painful” Oh God. Oh my God. He was saying what you thought he was saying. There were no doubts. You didn’t believe in destiny. You were a person of facts. If you couldn’t see it, you didn’t believe in it, but your heart wanted to believe Max. You hated when your heart got involved because he was the one who made you make stupid decisions.

“So…” you said after a moment of silence between the two of you, not sure how to continue that conversation or if there was actually anything else to say.

“So…”

“You like my perfume,” you told him, raising your eyebrows in mockery.

Max let out a laugh “I just gave you an entire book of apologies and that’s the only thing left in your head?”

You shrugged “You said my perfume made you come here, so it’s an important fact though” You answered before he took a step towards you, closing the distance between you “What are you doing?”

“I’m kissing you,” Max answered before leaning towards you to meet your lips with yours. That took you back in time, to those sneaky caresses, to those stolen kisses and secret encounters. It took you back to his apartment in Monaco, to his couch, petting Sassy, while Max watched a football match. It made you remember him and the familiarity of him and, unfortunately, you liked that a lot. He felt like home, he felt like he belonged. When you separated you stayed looking at him but you saw how his gaze lowered a little and you noticed that from above he had a good angle of your boobs under your pajama satin tank top.

“Stop,” you told him, crossing your arms over your chest to cover yourself.

“I didn’t do anything,” He replied, feigning innocence and raising his hands up.

You gave him a reproachful look. Clearly, he was looking at your boobs, taking advantage of the fact that he was a couple of centimeters taller than you. Honestly, you weren’t expecting visitors either, so you were in pajamas and without a bra, so you didn’t want to lower your eyes to see if your panties were showing on the satin.

“Ok, sorry, it’s not my fault they’re exposed like that”

You let out a laugh “Really? You just apologized and now you want to offend me again?”

“Is a compliment”

“You are very close to being kicked out of my room” You warned him

“What do I have to do so you don’t?” He asked to give you a puppy look. You hated the way he was a professional extortionist and the soft spot you had for him.

“Stop acting like a slug when I just forgave you,” You said, and he licked his lips almost without thinking, which made you unable to prevent your mind from drifting towards not holy thoughts.

“Ok, ok, I’m done,” He said, raising his hands in a sign of innocence before you approached him a little closer, bumping your chest against his to kiss him again. Were you acting contradictory? Yes, of course, you did, but suddenly you wondered how it would feel to run your hand through his hair. To feel again the sensation of your fingers massaging the nape of his neck.

“Who’s acting like a slug now?” He scoffed, briefly separating from you to rest the back of his head against yours.

“Shut up,” you complained before kissing him again so you wouldn’t have to listen to his arrogant and stupid mouth mocking you. Max was arrogant, and he knew what generated you, you were not immune to his charms and there was no point in denying it. What were you doing messing with him five years after you dumped him? Clearly, I wasn’t thinking rationally. You were thinking about your vagina. Were you going to regret it later? Definitely not because sex with him had always been good. Now, the problem was going to happen after that. Because if there was one thing you didn’t want, it was to go back to where you guys had been and there was no chance of getting back into a relationship with Max after what had happened. You weren’t sure you could bet on yourself again.

Your hands slid down the back of your neck caressing your hair. You remembered how much you liked to do that. Max grabbed you around the waist to lift you slightly into the air and carry you to the bed. You pulled him to you again by his shirt from him when he put you on the bed. He was still wearing the same perfume. You took a few seconds to inhale his scent. That felt familiar and felt too close to make you feel sentimental. That was a bad idea. You had to act and not think. You slid your hands to unbutton his jeans before removing the Red Bull polo shirt.

“You really want to undress me I see”

You rolled your eyes. “Shut up.” You had forgotten how arrogant he could be. As in everything he did, he liked to succeed in all areas of his life. You hated to admit it, but he fucked well and he was well aware of that.

He giggled and just kissed you again, making you smile between the kiss, remembering how much fun you guys could have together. Max grabbed the edge of your shorts and pulled them down your legs, along with your panties. Your legs stretched out and your feet stood on tiptoes, craving his touch.

He moved you to the edge of the bed, and he knelt between your legs. You rested your elbows on the bed so you could see him. He ran his tongue along your folds and you gasped, throwing your head back. The anticipation was killing you. He started playing with his tongue in your pussy, playing with your opening, teasing you, and getting to know him. Max was enjoying taking you to the limit. You moved slightly, and he placed his hand on your belly to keep you still by pressing you against the mattress. He moved up your folds to your clit and sucked on it, making you let out a loud, clear moan. The way he took his time, to adore you, to make you feel as much pleasure as possible. Your hands clung to the fabric of the sheets as Max worked on your pussy. You felt how the muscles of your pussy contracted against his tongue and you knew he was stubborn enough not to stop until you came in his mouth. You moved your hips against your mouth as much as his hand pressing your belly against the bed allowed. Max nibbled lightly on your clit before outlining it with the tip of his tongue, making you crave contact as he ran his tongue around his without touching it. He knew what he was doing because two minutes later he was back at it, licking up your juices and sucking on your clit, making your cunt twitch every time he did it. Your moans grew louder as he reached for his arms to play with the tips of your nipples between his fingers. That was it, that sent you over the edge and it was all it took for you to let out a little yelp of pleasure before you came against him. Even in the post-orgasm fog, you could feel him sucking your juices. Playing with your fingers there didn’t feel nearly the same. You had forgotten what devastating orgasms were like.

Your mind was still trying to recover from the earthquake that had been your orgasm when you felt Max pull you towards him and turn you over, placing your face down on the mattress. You let out a lopsided smile. He still remembered it. Bastard.

“I still remember how much you liked to do it that way,” he murmured, pushing you into doggy style on the bed.

“Do you?” You asked, raising your eyebrows as he brushed your hair to one side so that it fell over your shoulder.

“Yes, I remember it pretty well actually,” He whispered, playing with the tip of his cock against your folds. You couldn’t help but move your ass against him “Along with your moans when you were full of my cock”

“You may imagine things,” you pointed out, letting out a gasp as you felt him place just the tip of his cock inside you.

“Do you believe so? We will see,” He said before sliding the rest of his cock inside you in one motion.

“Fuck yes” You exclaimed. You felt so full with his cock inside you.

“You were saying?” He asked, and despite having his back turned, you could feel the arrogant smile on his face.

“Shut up,” you moaned before he moved inside you. How good that felt. You were so full, so wet that his cock slid smoothly inside you. You felt how he approached your ear and played with the earlobe, nibbling on it while he rammed you hard. Max’s hands slid in front of you to play with your clitoris between his fingers, rubbing it hard and making you let out a couple of moans that came out more like screams than anything else. The combination of sensations and movements was exquisite. You needed it as much as you needed to come at that moment. You could feel your juices soaking into your thighs too. He panted and moan against your ear, causing the air to tickle you, making you want his cum more and more. You wanted to cum, you needed to cum.

“Should I-” Max asked in a gasp. You knew what he was going to ask. He always asked you the same thing when you guys had safe sex.

“No” He wanted to know if he had to get his cock out of him or not. The answer was always no, but you were taking pills and the idea of having your cum between your legs really turned you on. “It’s okay”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah” You confirmed him and that was enough because he started moving faster against you. You could feel the noise of his balls slapping against your legs until the tug of your earlobe between his teeth and you knew he was on edge. You contracted the muscles of your pussy around his cock on purpose, which made you feel the first load of his cum inside you, which triggered your second orgasm of the night. How good that felt.

You rolled over to place your back against the mattress and Max threw himself next to you. You fell into silence for the next two minutes before Max spoke again.

“Everything is ok?”

You just gave him a shaky smile in response because you weren’t sure you knew what to say.

————————————————————————————————————————

July 2022 | Monte Carlo, Monaco

The next few weeks were a bit of a blur. You had returned to England but then found a lame excuse to visit your father in Monaco. You and Max hadn’t stopped fucking in those two weeks. If it wasn’t in bed, it was on the couch and if it wasn’t on the couch, it was on the kitchen counter. Anywhere was a good excuse to get naked. You hadn’t talked about what was going to happen to you later. On the one hand, you didn’t want to do it because you really wanted nothing more than sex. You needed to repeat it to yourself. Just wanted sex from him. You couldn’t hope for anything more about Max. They hadn’t spoken until that night. The next morning Max was going to go to Silverstone, and you were going to stay with Susie and your brother Jack.

You were both in bed after watching a football game, watching the post-game interviews with Max hugging you from behind in a spoon position when he turned down the volume.

“I grew up,” He said suddenly.

“I see,” you told him, raising your eyebrows, thinking that he was referring to his sexual abilities.

“No, not like that,” He shook his head “I’m not a kid anymore”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that I learned from my mistakes,” He clarified.

Oh. He wanted to go there? You straightened up to separate yourself a bit from him, sitting on the couch to turn to look at him “What are you saying, Max?” You wanted to know what he meant before you said anything.

“I want to say that we deserve a second chance”

You laughed “Yeah, I’m not doing that again, you wanna fuck? Fine, but I’m not trying anything else with you ever again”

“Why not?” He asked, and you felt a little guilty for being so blunt about it, but you had to be. You felt you had to protect your heart.

“Cause we already tried once and everything went down the drain”

“(Y/N), I’m not just fucking with you, I don’t want just sex from this” Max frowned "I thought we agreed about it”

You raised your eyebrows “Apparently we are not”

“You thought I just wanted sex from you and that’s why I went to apologize? I was hoping you would have a higher opinion of me.”

“I do, It’s just that-” You let out a sigh “We already collided once Max, the last time it didn’t go very well”

“So? Let’s try again”

“Max, I-” You passed your hand around your neck “I can’t allow you to break my heart again” The feeling of losing it and the anguish of having done it that way had left you broken into a thousand pieces.

“I won’t do it”

“You can’t give me guarantees,” you pointed out

“(Y/N)” He called you taking you by the cheeks so you could look at him “I know what I did wrong five years ago and I don’t plan to do it again, this time we are going to do it right”

“And what if not?”

“Then I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.” He replied, and the sweet way he said it made your heart race.

You sighed “Do you really want to do this?”

“Yes, I do”

“Don’t break my heart again Max”

“I won’t”

—————————————————————————————————

July 2022 | Le Castellet, France

You believed it could not be repeated and yet, Max and you had returned to stolen kisses and secret meetings everywhere. You had agreed to try something serious again with him, but you had not agreed to make it public yet. Now, the one who did not want everyone to know was you. The roles had been reversed. You still weren’t sure that this was going to end well, and you didn’t want to stir up the abyss for nothing.

“Ok, we need to tell them,” Max told you as he stroked your hair. You were lying on the bed of the motorhome waiting for it to be time for him to go to the paddock.

“No, we don’t”

“You know what Christian is going to do if he finds out for someone else? Eat me for breakfast,” Max complained.

You rolled your eyes “Sometimes I can’t believe how dramatic you are”

“(Y/N), we are going serious about this,” Max frowned “I thought we agreed on that”

“We do, but I don’t want to stir everything up for nothing,” You shrugged “Let’s go step by step”

“Are you afraid that we won’t last?”

“Honestly? I don’t know what’s going to happen” You confessed biting your lower lip “And I don’t want to add more factors to the equation”

“Your father deserves to at least know” Max’s family already knew and had kept it a secret, so it was only fair that your father found out too.

“Now, do you want to tell him?” Five years ago, that had been one of the turning points for you and now he kept pressing you to be honest with your father.

“I told you to grow up and I think so. He deserves to know” Max shrugged “Besides, I’m not a child. Toto Wolff doesn’t scare me”

“Sure?” It didn’t scare him as a director of Mercedes but as a father-in-law? That was a whole other version.

“I would do anything for you” He wasn’t a romantic who was always making grand gestures or saying cheesy things to you, but when he said things like that your heart swelled.

“Ok, I’ll try to tell him after this weekend”

The “after this weekend” ended up becoming “today” because you couldn’t deal with the anxiety of sharing the garage with your father and the only thing you could think about throughout the race was that you were a liar. Max’s words kept echoing in his mind. Susie was with you and Jack was staying in Monaco, so maybe with her around you could soften the blow? Would you have to tell Susie first? You walked to your father’s office. He was working on his laptop. Your flight back to Monaco was supposed to leave in an hour and the airport was five minutes away, so you weren’t surprised your father was still working. You walked into the office that had the door open, rubbing your hands, not knowing what to say, or having an armed speech. were you doing the right thing?

“What happened?” He asked before looking up at you and chuckling, “Why do you look like you’ve broken all the china?”

“I need to tell you something,” you told him, swallowing hard.

“You say,” your father replied, leaning back in his chair and putting aside his laptop. One thing you loved about him is that he always found time for you, but at the time you hated he was staring at you like that.

You decided to just blurt out the truth at once, without anesthesia “I’m kind of dating Max” You confessed with a sigh before clarifying “Max Verstappen”

Your father stared at you for a minute, which made you wonder if he had even heard you because he didn’t even blink at you “For how long?”

“For a few weeks now” You bit your lower lip

“Is it serious?”

“Yes, well, I hope it’s” You wanted to be as honest as possible with your father so that he wouldn’t believe that you simply had a crush on Max.

Your father just stared at you. He didn’t say a word. You opened your mouth to ask if he was okay before he jumped up and walked past you to leave the office.

“Dad?” You asked, walking next to him. Your father didn’t answer you, he just kept walking out of the Mercedes garage. “Dad?” You repeated a little more anxiously when you followed him into the Red Bull garage. The garage was half empty except for some engineers and Christian who seemed to review some papers.

Horner looked up when he saw your father walk past him without even acknowledging him. “Toto what-“

“Not now, Christian,” your father replied curtly. You gave Christian an apologetic smile before following your father down the hallway to the garage.

You let out a groan when he watched as he yanked open the door to Max’s driver’s room. Shit. You got to him and saw that Max was putting on his shirt with your father staring at him.

“Dad,” you called him, standing between him and Max to get into your father’s field of vision. Max reached out his hand to take one of your hands in his.

He ignored you “This is what we are gonna do, you are coming to my house when we return to Monaco and we are having dinner properly, with you as my daughter’s boyfriend because I hope you are decent enough to make her your girlfriend, are we clear?” Your father hadn’t even looked at you. He was staring at Max, who could only nod.

“Yes sir”

Your father rolled his eyes, although you could see a small twinkle in his eyes. He was enjoying having Max at his mercy “Now take your dirty hands out of my daughter,” He added without waiting for an answer before leaving Max’s driver’s room.

You giggled as your father left before turning to Max “I never thought I’d live to see you call my dad ‘sir’”

“Oh, shut up,” He replied rolling his eyes before pulling you in for a kiss. You were going to make it work. This time, everything was going to be different.

#max verstappen x reader #max verstappen one shot #max verstappen x oc #max verstappen imagine #max verstappen x you #f1 imagine #f1 one shot #f1 smut #f1 x reader #formula one one shot #formula one x reader #formula one imagine #formula one fic

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stargazingcarol · 19 days

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And this is why the carriage scene in bridgerton is my favorite:

The fact that Colin says: "you cannot marry that man. He will leave you. And he is too particular" 'too particular' bc he eats only vegetables? Colin is a certified hater. There's nothing wrong with a person who's vegetarian and here is Colin bridgerton being a fucking hater. Just to have no more words to say on why pen cannot marry that man and just resolve with "and he is just not right for you pen."

Colin's "friends" said it themselves. There's practically nothing bad to say about lord debling. Except that he doesn't eat meat. That's the only particular thing about him. That he loves animals so much he won't eat them.

When Pen suggest that Colin might like her is a silly idea, she might laugh. Gosh my girl is so hurt after her love being one sided for 2 seasons...

Her soft "What?" After Colin says what if I had feelings for you. She never expected that. She obviously doesn't believe it.

And then Colin blurts the most romantic poetry I've heard in bridgerton yet. Telling her how he prefers sleeping because that's the only way he might seek her out. Don't even get me started. I swooned.

But Penelope STILL doesn't believe him. "do not say things you don't mean" this girl. This girl thinks he is JOKING. only way a person would think that is if they have been hurt in the past before from said one sided love. She has even been mocked by her mother in season 2: "Colin is no more your friend than I am catherine the great". No one thinks Colin might like Penelope. So why should she think differently? That he might actually like her? Not possible in her eyes. Not after everything.

"but Colin we are friends" the face he makes when she says this. He apologizes for thinking she might feel the same as he does.

But when she says that she would love to be more than friends. He eyes her with lust and love all the same. And he kisses her open mouthed. This man was fucking STARVED.

And and I KNOW pen has wanted to run her fingers through his hair since forever and the pleasured face he makes, makes the scene all the more better. His smug face before he kisses her...

The boob grab!!!!!! 🐝🐝🐝

And the silent permission to touch her where no one has ever touched her...

When the carriage finally stops and Colin makes the joke of the carriage driver it's so HIM. And it's so THEM. cause they make jokes and puns and they're both funny people and writers. WHAT ever...

The final small peck, not open mouthed anymore or frantic, just pure love. QUE VIVA EL AMOR!!!!

Colin holds her dress with the fingers that weren't inside her if y'all even care btw.

When he silently gets out of the carriage and pen calls out to him, looking scared, as if she still thinks this is all a joke. A dream. That he does not like her at all.

Until he asks her to come inside. To marry him. And then she's on cloud 9. That's all she ever wanted. To marry him. To marry Colin bridgerton. Her best friend.

He does NOT want to court her. He already is in love with her. He grew up with her. He KNOWS her. No need for courting in Colin's mind. He wants to MARRY her. Gosh.

Anyways I made real notes on my journal to gather my thoughts on this.

I've seen the carriage scene a bunch of times, bye.

#bridgerton #daily life with lola #bridgerton spoilers #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington #i have gathered my thoughts on this finally it has been eating me since yesterday #🪞🪻🐝

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thecagedbard · 3 months

Text

Help a Writer Out?

You know what. Writing fluff is easy. Writing traumatic scenes are easy....

Finding references for armor is HARD. In The Caged Bard, I'm preparing to send the entire gang into Gortash's coronation (they have a personal invite thanks to some unintended fey charming) and I've skimmed over the whole 'measurement and idea' portion. But I'm eventually going to have to describe these clothes.

You might ask: Why not use base game or modded clothes? Because Astarion and Vesper's sister did nothing but insult Figaro Pennygood and he's decided to prove his worth to society. (this does not make him a good person.)

& The purpose of this is to poke the *ahem* hive mind on what they should be wearing.

So, here's my ideas: (below the cut)

Astarion: Triple classed: Rogue, Wizard, Fighter. So light armor proficiency, usually wears the Elven Chain.

Designs by: eggperson & catherine?mirror

Gale: Still purely a wizard, but he does have light armor proficiency. I like the middle one because it's very much like his epilogue outfit.

Designs by: catherine?mirror, ko1moys, & unknown

Shadowheart: Pure cleric, and remains in the Trickery domain. (I don't want to lose sending.)

designs by: jaiwitreen & risoluce

Jaheira: Fairly set...just wanna show it off.

Wyll: Has not yet begun his multiclass into Ranger. So full warlock has light armor proficiency. But he also is of noble birth, he should know what will and won't be seen as 'out of place.'

Lae'zel: Pure fighter so has heavy armor proficiencies, still rocking Githyanki gear for the most part, but even she has to dress up for this.

design by: laminatati & eggperson

Halsin: He likes this plan even less than Lae'zel. Mostly because of how restricting he finds the upper city fashion.

design by: unknown & catherin?mirror

Karlach: Wyll isn't thrilled, but Karlach wants to show the world what Gortash did to her, so engine on full display.

designs by: brillantezza, cherrydesigns & jaiwitreen

Vesper (Tav in the story): Original design was likely more revealing, but after events she's not thrilled with the idea of showing skin anymore.

designs by: lonary

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion ancunin #tav #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #karlach #wyll #bg3 shadowheart #bg3 astarion #halsin #jaheira #i'm being annoying and tagging all the characters #a girl needs HELP

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bloodgulchblog · 3 months

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Have you seen that YouTube video where some guy reads every Halo novel back to back and then reviews them? If so what did you think

The Brian David Gilbert one? Oh yeah, all my friends showed me it when it came out. (It was honestly kind of cute seeing how many people thought of me immediately.)

Rewatching it to refresh myself because it's been a couple years and a full-novel reread for me since the last time...

youtube

High fiving BDG because the Master Chief parts of The Flood were definitely the most boring parts.

He didn't have anything to say about First Strike which I think is a shame because I think it's better than The Fall of Reach and actually has A Theme I Find Interesting.

Rightful recognition of Contact Harvest as pretty damn good.

Rightful recognition of the Forerunner Trilogy as dense oldschool-style SF with deep worldbuilding. (Also the San'Shyuum thing.)

I disagree with him about, and have significant problems with, Kilo Five. He is correct that Kilo Five actually delves into some of the dark places in Halo in a way it really needed, and I would even say that its writing is extremely engaging by Halo novel standards. However, while he does notice the obvious parallels between what ONI is doing post-war and the kind of shit the CIA has pulled again and again irl, I think he misses some of the subtext I see where it feels like it justifies some shit a liiiiittle too much if you know the author's irl politics re: the military. He also doesn't seem to notice the character assassinations (particularly of Catherine Halsey) that I and a lot of other fans see/object to in those books. I kind of gaze into the middle distance with a haunted expression at the suggestion that these are the ones to read if you don't touch any of the others just because they are, ironically, so heavy-handed and feel like they treat certain kinds of evil as inevitable in a way that actually feels way worse to me than the excuse plot offered by the earlier/lighter Halo novels. (But idk, that's me? Nobody is committing a crime if they disagree with my frenzied insane person red string diagrams about Kilo Five.)

I'd swap Pariah for Dirt in the Evolutions anthology if it were me, but I think these are solid standouts.

Broken Circle is neat but really nonessential he's not wrong.

A one-sentence review of New Blood is probably not enough space to get into how fucked up the Spartan-IV program is, but yeah. New Blood is fun if you don't find Buck's first person narration annoying. (It comes and goes for me in that one.)

BDG you're an absolute sweetheart, I think Hunters in the Dark is kind of goofy in a way I cannot in good conscience ignore if I'm gonna review it. But it really really is so much fun and I love that one a lot anyway. The "it's like Halo 3... 2" observation is solid.

High fiving him again because I also found Last Light disappointing. And it is also a me problem.

Fractures!

Hell yeah these are all good pulls from Fractures, I would say Shadow of Intent is the pick of the litter in that anthology for me. Interesting that as a Kilo Five enjoyer he didn't single out Rossbach's World, which is the last we've heard about Osman and Black Box. (Also, that one is good.) I think Oasis is worth an honorable mention because I'm an Envoy stan, and the Forerunner stories are interesting but I wouldn't go for them if you don't already have a healthy interest in the trilogy.

This tangent is so fucking funny now that we know more things:

Oh BDG, oh buddy, it's really not for the people like you and me huh. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if BDG likes the Halo tv show or not and I have no desire to dig up evidence about it.)

Also, while you're here, this is the bloodgulchblog origin story:

Smoke and Shadow is fun so it's a little sad that when he ends that sentence with "whatever," I can't actually say he's wrong to. (Sorry Rion your part of the lore just.... hasn't... touched anything that touches anything else anymore.)

ENVOY IS GOOD AND EVERYONE SHOULD CARE ABOUT IT okay okay I'm cool I'm normal, anyway. Envoy is the Halo novel that restored my faith in reading Halo novels and reminded me that authors can care and know how to do nuanced, interesting themes in this space. It's great. Everyone in this book has war refugee trauma (except the Spartans which have Spartan trauma) and that's incredible to me. Please care about Envoy if you have spare room in your heart for Halo side characters.

I am cheered to see someone indifferent to the Veta Lopis stories, but I still feel petty for feeling it.

I don't have a lot to say about Legacy of Onyx here but it's always so fun seeing someone else suffer and care.

Bad Blood, the Blood is Bad now is a fun joke but lol yeah. It does have this very vital moment where Chief and Arbiter talk, though. For the first and only time in years.

PROPS FOR NOTICING THE YA NOVELS they're actually pretty nice.

"The Master Chief is the protagonist and boy does he shoot some people" is most of how I feel about Silent Storm and Oblivion too, I know they have their fans but Troy Denning's Chief books don't do much for me personally.

Renegades hadn't had its followup Point of Light yet but yeah, Spark stuff is interesting.

I had to remember that oh yeah, there are multiple books now that didn't exist when this was made. I wonder if he read them?

OKAY I THINK THAT'S ALL I HAD TO SAY as always if y'all want specific book opinions, I might have a tag for them. Or just yell in my ask box, I'm sure I can scrounge up some thoughts.

#halo novels

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nellie-elizabeth · 5 days

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Grey's Anatomy: Burn It Down (20x10)

Ughhhh. Wow. That was not a good finale for me, for a lot of reasons.

Cons:

Gosh, where to even start, my list of grievances is so long. I guess let's go with a couple of the smaller irritants first: Jo being pregnant is such a no from me. And her not telling Link about it? What? Yeesh. I guess I'm glad that her dramatic passing out was just exhaustion and that she's fine, just pregnant, but I'm also very grumbly about the whole thing. It does seem like this show prioritizes storylines that I'm less interested in, and pushes aside the things that would really compel me.

Case in point number two, Lucas and his future fate. I wanted to be moved by everyone showing up to plead his case in front of Catherine, and in a way I was: good on Bailey and the interns for standing up to Catherine Fox, she badly needs to be told she's overstepping, honestly. But Lucas is just so fundamentally uninteresting to me, that the idea that the cliffhanger of the whole season is "but what about Lucas's career" just... sucks, from an investment perspective. Yasuda and Kwan and Jules are at this point far more interesting to me, and I like Simone a lot when she's not tied up in Lucas's drama. I'm just bummed about where the story investment is going, is I guess what I'm saying.

There's been a lot of retreading familiar ground this season, as I think at least for some of the characters, this show is really showing its age. Never have I felt that more than with Richard. Holy shit, Richard's role in this episode pissed me off like you wouldn't believe. The wishy-washy way he's almost retired or stepped back from surgery over the years makes every story like this feel like the boy who cried wolf, but honestly? Fingers crossed he actually finally fucking retires. Why? Well, so we can stop hearing about it, for one, and also... he killed a man???

I was honestly flabbergasted by the handling of this patient's death in this episode. The fact that Richard can wax philosophical about his past and say "it might really be time for me to put down the scalpel" after he realizes he made a totally preventable mistake and it resulted in a patient's death is just... so off, tonally, to me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Isn't this the kind of shit that should get Richard, and the hospital, into big, big trouble? Should we have seen the consequences through the reactions of this dead man's family or something? It just felt so flat! Someone tell Mika and Jules that they're not responsible for this man's death! And someone take Richard's badge away from him. Go on, Catherine, you're kicking every damn body else out of this joint, why not add your husband who clearly can't do his job anymore?

Before we get to Catherine, and oh boy are we getting to Catherine, let's talk about Bailey. I love Bailey, I love Ben, but this was another story that felt like such a retread of things we've seen a million times. Bailey being affected by Ben's job, worried about him constantly, it's nothing new - we see it all the time, whenever they want to amp up the potential drama here. Ben, evidently, survives the finale of Station 19, so I think hopefully we can put this to rest. I'm seeing rumblings that Ben might be coming back to surgery and thus jumping back over to Grey's. Wouldn't be mad about it, to be honest. Let's set this whole firefighter husband worry behind, for Bailey.

Then there's Nick and Meredith. Not much to say about this. I find them boring. I don't get why Meredith is invested in him. He is a nothing character with nothing interesting about him whatsoever. I hate that because of Meredith's part-time status on the show, we're probably just going to keep seeing the two of them go along in their boring relationship for the rest of however long this show goes. I wish Meredith could have been sunsetted off the show with a character I give a damn about.

And last but not least in my long list of complaints... yeah. Catherine Fox. You know, I've struggled to figure out my distaste for this character for a long time. Grey's is filled with brilliantly complicated characters, in particular it's filled with women who do bad things for good reasons, or even for bad ones, women who have egos and ambitions, women who refuse to fill a palatable role to make everyone comfortable. I'm fine with a flawed character, I'm fine with Catherine being in the wrong sometimes. But yowza! Her ego trip, her inflated sense of her own importance... I cannot with her! Do you know how much a character has to be pissing me off for me to take Owen's side on something? But when he snapped at her to let Teddy help with the surgery, I was cheering him on!

The pettiness of taking Meredith and Amelia's research away and giving it to Tom Koracick? Now, don't get me wrong, if this means we'll see Tom next season in some capacity, I'm all for it, but in terms of Catherine's actions here? It's aggravating beyond compare. Her playing politics with information that could actually save so many lives? Her complete lack of awareness that she's the one who fucked up by trying to silence Meredith in the first place? The absolutely petty move of cutting Owen's badge access off, along with Teddy's and Amelia's? Like, what the fuck did Owen do except snap at you a little bit for trying to stand in the way of a firefighter's life being saved? The audacity of her firing him too for that? Seemingly? Yeesh. Take several seats, Catherine Fox.

Pros:

Despite my many complaints about this episode, there were actually several moments I enjoyed just fine.

Catherine being annoying did allow for Owen to be a badass, and for Meredith to be even more of a badass. When Catherine says she's just like her mother, Meredith says "good, that means I'll win." Hell yeah, Mer. You tell her.

I also love Amelia so much, and I think the friendship between Amelia and Owen is honestly very charming and mature, so good for both of them there? I loved when Amelia asked him for advice and Owen said that she'd never taken his advice before, so why start now? He does eventually tell her that he personally wouldn't be giving the research to Tom Koracick, but that's just because he has extremely legitimate reasons to hate that dude.

I'm grieving hardcore for Yasuda not sticking around next season, and I hope there's a way for her contract to get renegotiated or something! Because that Yasuda and Jules almost kiss? Yes please? I haven't felt this invested in a romance that probably won't even happen in a long time on this show. But even without it being definitively a romantic thing, I love their friendship so much. I hope someone tells them right away that they aren't responsible for the death of that patient!

I'm still not "on board", exactly, for the Winston/Monica thing, but I suppose I can enjoy it for the drama for the time being? I do want Winston to be able to find happiness, honestly. I just hope Amelia/Monica is a thing we get to see in the future, too.

I'm also still in denial about Schmitt leaving next season, but I did like how annoying he was in this episode, honestly. He can be kind of a lot to handle, and I like that he's allowed to be a little more openly frustrating sometimes. Him being annoyed with Jo for not telling him she's pregnant was such a funny bit, as he realized what he had inadvertently done.

As boring as I find Lucas, I did like the little plot thread where he helps with the app to connect people who are trying to find each other. And I like that Dorian is finally discharged from the hospital - a happy ending for that patient was sorely needed after everything he's been through!

So... yeah. All in all, I'm annoyed with this episode. I'm annoyed with Catherine, I'm annoyed that Jo's pregnant, I'm annoyed that everyone's focused on Lucas, I'm bored by Nick. I'm happy that Dorian got discharged, and I'm happy that Meredith is standing up for herself, I guess? We'll be back for hopefully a bit longer of a season twenty-one. And we'll find out what the heck is going on with Kwan's amnesiac ex-fiancee... man, this show can be endearingly ridiculous sometimes.

6/10

#review #grey's anatomy #grey's anatomy review #greys anatomy #greys anatomy review #grey's abc #greys abc

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typicalopposite · 4 months

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i am so close to being done with both the psych fic AND this dog fic so i'm hoping this will be the last snippet i share for both of them before FINALLY posting them :)

and as always thank you so so sooo much @hgejfmw-hgejhsf and @onthewaytosomewhere for the tags <3

going first with psych to give some oblivious Lassie to your morning

“Spencer what the hell are you doing here?” Lassiter barks, taking his attention off the rookies (and they promptly use the opportunity to flee). He watches them scurry off with a look of annoyance, then turns his gaze angrily back to Shawn. “Aww, come on, do I really have to have a reason to come visit my favorite detective?” Shawn pouts. He steps closer to Lassiter, who promptly takes a step back. “When it interferes with their work, yes,” Lassiter retorts, arms tensing where they’re crossed firmly over his chest. “Besides, it’s O’Hara’s day off. Figured you’d already know that, psychic.” “Lassie, Lassie, Lassie,” Shawn sighs. “So naive in your middle rapidly teetering towards old age.” Lassiter’s eyes couldn’t narrow at him anymore… or they would be closed. Shawn basks in the annoyance he is causing. “I know today is Jules’ day off. I was talking about my other favorite detective.” He widens his smile at Lassiter; Lassiter blinks back at him confused. Shawn can all but hear the mechanics of his brain working overtime to figure out what other detectives in the precinct Shawn might know.

and to cleanse the palate with some good ol angst... <3 have some more Arthur and David.

“There’s a good boy,” Arthur says with a smile when David pushes the door open and walks inside. He jumps up to the side of Arthur’s bed — it’s not the one he used to sleep in with Catherine, this one’s smaller and bends and makes noises. This one has cold metal sides, but Arthur always leaves one side down for David. “I see you’ve been getting into mischief today,” Arthur continues, slowly moving his hand to David’s head so he can scratch behind his ear before brushing the evidence that he has been sniffing around in Catherine’s flower pots from his nose. He should have known better than to mess in the dirt, it's wet from the rain, that’s why she had them brought in. David breathes out a sigh and rests his head on the bed next to Arthur’s hand, expecting it to go back to scratching his ears. It doesn’t and David looks up at Arthur; he is stiff and holding his breath, his face scrunched up like he’s in pain. David whines, and pushes himself up on his front legs, head tilting when Arthur finally lets out the breath. He worriedly nudges Arthur’s arm with his nose. “I’m alright,” Arthur says, finally going back to scratching his ears. “I’m just tired.” David rests his head on the bed while Arthur pets him, the latter rambling on about things; his kids, his wife… his life, and how he thinks this is all more unfair to his loved ones than it is to him. David listens, and stares up at Arthur intently, not fully understanding what he’s saying, but he can tell it’s making him feel better. Then from outside of the room Henry’s voice calls for David, who perks up and looks towards the door, tail wagging. “I’m so glad you two have taken so well to each other,” Arthur says happily. “That’s good.” He rests his head back in his pillow and closes his eyes. “That’s good…” he repeats and David hops down to the floor, trotting over to the door.

yall writing for a dog is not easy! I am trying so hard to not make this seem silly but still make it feel like its coming from the mind of an animal not a human! it has be A RIDE! But I'm really excited to share this one!

and for my tags today! as always a COMPLETE pressure tag for @scripted-downfall :) and some no pressure pressure tags to @luainthewild @taste-thewaste @meraki-yao aaaand @adreamareads as well as anyone else who wants to play along! :)

#wip wednesday #my wips #my writing #psych #psych fic #psych usa #shassie #shawn spencer #carlton lassiter #red white and royal blue #rwrb #rwrb fic #firstprince #david the beagle #arthur fox #henry hanover stuart fox

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lostfirefly · 5 months

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You’ve Got the Same Dream as Me (Ch.4)

Hello, kiddos! The idea for this fanfic came to me from a dream (again) I had about a month ago. Тhe main characters were Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill (don't ask me why), but with a light hand they have been replaced (sorry, guys). The main action of the dream took place somewhere in the sands. Аlthough this fanfic will feature Sir Crocodile and our beloved Buggy, the action shifts to the desert. No marines, ships etc. Sorry, not sorry :) The devil fruit's abilities are preserved. Catch the Mummy and Indiana Jones vibes :) I have no idea how many chapters there will be. Different titles and names from the original source material will be used to emphasise the general OP's vibe.

Since English is not my native language, errors may occur. As always, feel free to share your thoughts :)

And thank you to my dear @yujo-nishimura and @laurasoretta for believing in me :)

Description: Catherine, a librarian who is searching for the trail of her sister who went missing on an expedition. Notes in books and diaries lead her to Cairo. There she finds a retailer from an artifact shop who, in exchange for selling her a map and equipment, insists that Catherine take her along. They get into a little (or maybe a big) adventure..

Warnings: 12+, I think. As always, no smut, angst, violence. Adventures and fun only. Buggy x OC, Sir Crocodile x OC.

Words: 1236

The title is taken from «You've Got the Same Dream as Me» (Sonya Belousova & Giona Ostinelli) (One Piece, Netflix)

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

"A car?" Catherine looked in amazement at the big black jeep.

"What did you expect?" Buggy asked, leaning back on the bonnet, taking off his striped bandana.

"Well, I don't know. We’re in Cairo… But.. You got people around town who look like fish. And there's… just a car", she said, glancing at his long blue hair.

"Sorry, cotton candy, my personal flying dragon is at home. I can take you for a ride next time", he replied with a sneer in voice, wrapping his hair into a ponytail.

"Ew, jeez", Catherine pursed her lips.

"If you keep yucking, I'm not taking you with me,. You can go to the nearest rental shop and book yourself a magic carpet if you want".

"Tell me, were you born to be such an asshole? Or did it come with age?" Catherine drilled Buggy with her eyes.

"Stop it, both of you. Save your love quarrels for later!" Rika said loudly, locking the shop door shut. "By some completely idiotic irony, we all need to get to the same place. Let's focus on the case. Cathie, get out your maps and records".

"He started it first!"

"I don't care! I'm not going to be your mom or dad. I said, get out your maps and records now! Here's your book by professor Alabasta", Rika put it on the bonnet.

It was a large book, in a brown cover with golden monograms on it. The pages were a little yellowed in places, but fortunately the text was legible.

"Woooow", Catherine whispered and gently ran her hands over the sheets.

"You see?" Rika opened one of Cathrine's diaries and pointed her index finger at one of the entries. "The numbers here and here match. I think that old man Alabasta knew something. I don't know if they point to the location of the treasure or not, maybe it's just one of the dots, but I'm more than sure that this is where we should be heading".

"But if he found treasure, for example, why didn't he take it? Maybe it's not there anymore", Catherine asked, "and why did my sister go there? She and I are both adventurers, but I still don't understand".

"Maybe she didn't go looking for the treasure. Maybe your sister got so tired of your endless whining that she decided to join a caravan and hide from you forever. That's what I would do", Buggy said, leaning between the two girls, glancing briefly at Catherine and putting his hand on her back.

"You're pissing me off already", she whispered.

"Well, I don't know your sister, so her motives are unclear to me, - Rika said, shaking her head, "but I know what I want to find there".

"And what is that?" Catherine asked with surprise.

"It doesn't matter".

"Look, there are several routes", Catherine ran her finger along the lines on the page. "I think we should take the shortest route so we can get there faster. The less time I spend in the car with this clown, the better".

"No, no", Buggy shook his head negatively. "You see, this short cut is guarded by Baroque Works men. We can't make two steps out there. We'd be quickly captured and sent to some underwater prison. Believe me, you won't like it there. We'll take this way", he pointed down the long road, "sorry, you'll have to bear with me".

He started to put the bags in the boot of the car.

"Trust me, you'll be happy to be in those places with me. Because if we meet a man with a hook there, I'll be your best bet for salvation".

"A man with a hook? Have you been drinking since this morning?" Catherine moved closer to his face to test her hunch.

"Where the hell did you come from, cutie biscuit?" he whispered in her ear.

"Loguetown, why are you asking?"

"Oh, just curious. Alright. Hop in, girls. Rika. And my cotton candy", he said with a wink, getting into the car.

"Stop calling me that!"

⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥫⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭⥭

The journey to the coordinates indicated on the map took about two hours. The car stopped somewhere in the middle of a hot desert. There was only a small building, which looked more like an old barracks.

"Well, where are we? You said you could read maps", Catherine got out of the car and looked around, "I thought we'd be in the right place on time".

"Can you stop nagging, I'm getting a headache", Buggy said, looking for something in the boot of the car.

"Don't tell me what to do and what not to do. You're the one who brought us here", Catherine walked briskly over to Buggy. "Fuck, if I'd known you didn't know anything, I wouldn't have messed with you in life".

"Listen, pie", Buggy grabbed her arm and hissed, glaring at her with his green eyes. "I'm sick of your hysterics. If you don't stop acting like this, I'm gonna leave you here in the middle of the desert to be eaten by the local sand creatures. And drive back. Believe me, I'd rather be in a bar than stuck here with you right now".

Catherine felt his warm hand squeeze her arm with force.

"Okay, people, break", Rika said, getting closer to them. "According to the coordinates, we're in the right spot now. Catherine, anticipating your question, no, we're not at the final point of our journey yet. While you two were arguing the whole way, I was trying to get a good look at the map. But it was difficult, with your love dialogues distracting my attention".

Catherine rolled her eyes.

"And? What's next?" she asked.

"We should go into that building over there. There must be something important in there, since it's marked on the map. It looks like a shop or a small hotel. I don't know. At least it's on the map and in the diaries. You see it?" Rika pointed her finger in the notebook.

Catherine noticed Buggy re-hiding a small black, oddly shaped box.

"What's that in there?" she asked, placing her hand gently on his back, peering over his shoulder.

"It's nothing special".

"Okay… We'll go to that building then, see what I can find out".

Catherine took two steps forward and stopped. She turned round and was about to take half a step back.

"Buggy…"

"What?" he sounded annoyed.

"I'm s... You know. Never mind".

Catherine and Rika walked into a small building together. Inside, there were shelves with some bags of herbs and jars of oddly coloured water. The place smelled of coriander and lavender for some reason.

"What can I do for you, young girls?" a hoarse voice came from the corner of the room. A grown big-boned man with a grey beard and long grey hair sat in a chair.

"Good afternoon, sir. We seem to be a little lost. We need to go to the Sab...", Catherine didn't have time to finish her sentence because Rika stepped on her foot, silencing her.

"Rayleigh, I bet they're going there for the same reason I am", a low voice came from the front door.

"Sab... what? The Sabaody Desert? Why would you want to go there?

" the man asked, rising from his chair.

The tall man slowly began to approach the counter.

"Well, lassies, tell me what you're looking for there?", he asked, placing both hands on the table.

Catherine whispered in Rika's ear.

"Do you see that too? Does he have a… a hook instead of a hand?"

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