#extra lap recap

[wileys-russo]

katie mccabe, “are you blushing?”, any place 🫶🏻

hot in here II k.mccabe

"oh gosh its a bit much isn't it?" your mum spoke with wide eyes and a wince as your girlfriend went tumbling to the ground, up on her feet within seconds and shoving at the chest of the player who'd taken her down.

"thats it katie! get into her girl!" your dad cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted supportively as you smacked him on the shoulder. "dad! don't encourage her." you groaned, pulling him to sit back down as both katie and the other player were awarded yellows.

"mccard strikes again." you heard someone chuckle behind you, shaking your head as your dad turned around to speak with them. "she gets a lot of those is all." you explained to your mum who seemed hopelessly confused.

"wait why is there more time?" your mum frowned as they announced there would be three added minutes of injury time. "its extra time to make up for the time where the game isn't played. like if a player falls down and needs medical attention the game is paused, so this is the time added for that interruption." you explained as she exhaled in understanding.

"go on katie! rip in!" your dad shouted as your girlfriend readied herself for a throw in, catching your eye with a wink and a grin before turning and lobbing the ball towards steph. "i hope you know the more you fluff her ego the more insufferable she gets." you sighed as time ticked down.

"ah she's confident! you need confidence to be successful. she's good at what she does and she knows it, that should be encouraged!" your dad patted your knee as you only hummed. "you should try living with her then." you chuckled with a shake of your head.

"oh! theres that lovely song again." your mum beamed as katies chant started up, your dad yelling along as katie took off down the right hand side. "go on katie! go girl!" your dad boomed as suddenly she side stepped the last player in her way and hit the ball with aloud thud, sending it hurtling forward toward alessia who tapped it in widening arsenals 3-0 lead.

you grinned as your girlfriend raced past you and your parents blowing you a kiss and giving them a wave as there was barely time for villa to kick off before the final whistle blew.

"oh that was exciting. i still don't understand much but i see why you like it!" your mum pulled you into a hug making you laugh. "she appreciates you made the effort to come, but she was nervous this morning." you revealed, watching as katie did her laps thanking fans, stopping every now and then to sign something.

"katie? nervous? thats something you need to see to believe!" your dad laughed patting you on the back as you chatted away with them, introducing them to leahs mum who made her way over to say hello, all four of you speaking until you heard a familiar whistle.

"we'll be down in two seconds darling." your mum nodded for you to go as you left them with amanda and made your way down to your girlfriend.

"well aren't you a sight for sore eyes stranger." the irishwoman teased, having been away the last week visiting your parents before they returned back with you to spend the next few days in london.

"wow its been so long when was the last time i saw you? oh was it maybe...this morning in bed?" you teased, having returned last night. "i'd almost forgotten what your face looked like." you winked, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

whatever smooth one line she intended to quip back with was interrupted at the arrival of your parents, katie hopping over the barrier to greet them properly as your dad launched into a very animated recap of how well she played.

"oh and that yellow? load of horse shit you were only defending yourself!" your dad bellowed as you winced, his voice carrying far beyond your small huddle. "dad!" you hissed, katies arm wrapping around your waist as her hand grazed the small of your back in a wordless comfort.

~

"i warned you they wouldn't let you pay baby." you laughed as you and katie stepped inside your shared home, unwrapping the multitude of layers which had been keeping you protected from the bitter chill of a winter evening in london.

"i'm callin ahead next time and settin up a tab!" your girlfriend scowled, having been easily shut down by your dad who'd paid for everyone's dinner despite both you and katie trying to protest it.

"watch it mccabe, at your age you'll get frown lines and crows feet." you teased, reaching up to smooth the wrinkles from her furrowed forehead. "oi! watch it cheeky i'm only a year older than ya." the defender warned as you sent her a wink and made your way to the living room.

"my parents really enjoyed the game baby, and you certainly gave them a show to watch." you grinned, pulled into your girlfriends lap as she sank into the lounge beside you. "i'm glad they finally got to see one, we'll get em to a national game next and then they'll really see a show!" the brunette smiled wolfishly as you laughed and pressed a tender kiss to her lips.

"i think my dad might actually contend me for your biggest fan, he was going on and on and on about you long before kick off. mum said he stayed up watching a bunch of your highlights in the hotel, she had to take his phone to force him to sleep!" you laughed, a slight pink flush coating your girlfriends cheeks at your words.

"are you blushing?" you gasped, grabbing her face as she frowned and shook her head. "no! its just...warm in here. me cheeks are red from it being so cold outside!" katie dismissed with a wave as you smirked.

"you're blushingg, you're so cute baby." you cooed, pinching her cheeks mockingly and shaking her face side to side teasingly. "aih lay off! i am not and i don't blush." katie scoffed with a roll of her eyes, shoving you off of her causing you to yelp.

"we've got mccabe! who? katie mccabe! who? i just don't think you understand!" you started to cry out, standing to your feet as the footballer stared up at you unamused. "she plays out on the wing, she blushes at every little thing, we've got katie mccabe!" you sang out, squealing as she grabbed at you and pulled you down back to lay across her lap.

"did you not like the remix babe? i think it'll go down a treat at the emirates." you smirked, your girlfriend glaring down at you though you saw the usual sparks of amusement and mischief present in her eyes.

"you're bloody lucky you're so cute darlin or i'd have dropped you a long time ago." "oh god and she's a charmer too? the full package you are love, i'll try to work that into the next verse."

#woso x reader #woso #woso fanfics #katie mccabe x reader #katie mccabe #woso community #woso imagine #woso blurbs

[shotmrmiller]

okay but what if pet angst going in a completely different day....

imagine the boys come home to find a sullen, on-the-verge-of-tears pet curled up on the couch, blankly staring at the wall with fingers tightly curled around her collar. as soon as he touches her knee gently only for her to put her collar on herself (something she's never done before) and crawl into his lap, sniffling and whining softly. they sit like that for hours, his pet trembling gently in his lap while he cards his finger through her hair and softly rubs her back.

after a couple hours of quiet cuddling he sits up, unbuckles the collar and takes it off, asking "what happened?" and listens patiently as his pet launches into a shaky recap of the absolute WORST day she had at college/work/running errands, and how all she wanted to do when she came home was curl up in bed and cry

–– 🐇

🐇 coming in with the feels. okay, let's talk about it.

He sat stock-still as he watched you put on your collar. Usually, he was the one to put it on to play, but your countenance was somber. This wasn't playtime. His pet needed her owner, and so he answered your silent plea.

With a delicate touch, he caresses your collar and softly utters, "You're safe here, I got you." He cradles your face tenderly, his hands conveying a sense of protection, and with one soft kiss to your nose, says, "Let go, sweetheart."

His demulcent tone is what breaks the dam— fat tears start cascading down your cheeks, and he instantly pulls you to him, tucking your head under his chin.

He sweeps his fingers through your hair and presses emollient kisses on the top of your head for hours. He silently holds you as you release your pent-up emotions, uncaring that his legs fell asleep a while ago.

Your sobs eventually wane down to sniffles and hiccups, and he deems it a good time to ask you what happened.

Voice hoarse, you explain how today has been one of the worst days in a long, long time and that all you wanted to do was come home to him.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. But today is finally over. Let go of it all, and I'll take it from here, yeah?"

A muted nod is his only answer before you get on the floor, ready to forget about everything but him for the next few hours.

extra self-indulgent bit: if only he could convince you to let him take complete care of you, as a pet and as his lover. He makes enough to provide for you, and then some. And should something ever happen to him— knock on wood— the boys would immediately assume his role. You'd want for nothing, not now, not ever.

#🐇 #task force 141

[primofate]

The Ruthless Prince (Part 21 - Finale/Epilogue) Scaramouche x fem!reader [Genshin Royal AU]

Summary: When Prince Scaramouche picks you out of a random group of commoners to marry, your life is turned upside down. He’s mean, snarky, condescending and he doesn’t act like a proper husband or prince at all. However, when Prince Tartaglia from the neighbouring kingdom takes an interest in you, Prince Scaramouche finds himself even more annoyed than usual. This is the story of him and you navigating this roller coaster of a relationship.

Note: aaannndddd it’s done! It’s not a very long chapter for several reasons. I just wanted a clean ending and though there were not a lot of details of what happened to the gnosis, Serena and Finnian and other things, I decided to keep those for the extra chapters! Thank you so much for going on this journey with me lovelies! My first full Genshin fanfiction has finally ended and what a nice journey and process it was! 

Warnings: mentions of a honeymoon, soft-ish Scara

Word Count: 3k

Summary and a recap on the Royal AU plots are here.

Read other parts: (Ruthless Prince Masterlist)

“Where do you think you’re going?” Scaramouche’s gruff and sleepy voice reaches your ears. His arms are suddenly tight around your waist, tensing at the slight movement of you trying to take his hand off. 

“Just to the bathroom, Scara,” you tell him, still grasping the back of his hand to take it away from your waist. He huff-sighs, retracting his arms to himself to let you jump off the bed. He pushes himself up by his elbows, the blanket pooling on his lap as he props himself up into a sitting position, back leaning against the headboard of the bed. 

He doesn’t say anything as he watches the door to the bathroom click close, and he lets out a stifled yawn, not bothering to cover his mouth. From the looks of it, it was probably nearly time to wake up anyway, judging from the sunrays peeking through the curtains. 

Scaramouche sat in silence, mind still a little foggy at the sudden awakening, but he’d rather be awake than asleep whenever you had to be away from him, even if it was just to the bathroom. He’s painfully aware that it’s probably leftover trauma from your disappearing act a month ago. 

His eyes peeked open when he heard the bathroom door open up again and you came strolling out, sporting a yawn just as he did earlier. You’re about to walk over to your side of the bed, but Scaramouche beckons you over to his side instead and you tilt your head in question. 

He’s shirtless. That’s how he slept now, becoming more comfortable around you and behind closed doors. He’s nicer, occasionally still harsh and biting, still incredibly stubborn and sometimes still insufferable. But now, he didn’t seem to have a lot of problems being clingy, or was that more of his paranoia speaking?

You supposed it was because of the incident, and you couldn’t quite blame him for being paranoid of history repeating itself. Though you insisted that he should really ease up. 

As you approached his side of the bed he easily envelops you in his arms and pulls you on top of him, then he rolls to his side, bringing you along with him while you yelp in surprise at the sudden move. You’re trapped in his arms again as he closes his eyes, ready to go back to dreamland.

“We’re supposed to be waking up,” you mock glare at him, knowing that he can’t see you. You’re inches away from his peaceful face.

“...When have I ever woken up on time?” He counters and you can’t say anything back, just shaking your head to yourself. You end up resting your eyes as well. It’s getting colder in the kingdom and you thought that Scaramouche’s tendency to be more cuddly in bed came at the right time. 

If the blankets weren’t enough, his warmth surely was. 

“We’re visiting Kuni today,” he suddenly mumbles. You don’t open your eyes, but your heart sinks a little at the statement. You hadn’t visited his grave, perhaps part of you wasn’t ready yet, but the two of you had agreed on it today. 

Dragging it on just didn’t seem respectful. 

“...I know,” you relax into his hold, your mind moving into your subconsciousness as a slight sleepiness overtakes you, going back to the day you found your way home.

“The broken arm is the biggest problem,” The doctor told Scaramouche when he came back into the room after the doctor’s evaluation. “But the bruises on her back are bad too,” the doctor prescribed a tub of salve but Scaramouche wasn’t aware of the bruises at that point and he turned to you with his brows furrowed. 

“What bruises?” he asked you and you could only turn back around and slip the yukata off your shoulders to show him just how purple your back was from whatever impact it went through. Scaramouche held back from grimacing at the sight, it spanned near your shoulder, up until below what seemed to be your shoulder blade. 

The doctor was dismissed, and after a nap you’d woken up feeling better than the past few weeks. Scaramouche was in bed with you, but he was sitting on his side of the bed, just silent and accompanying you till you woke. Part of him was trying to sort out his thoughts, but while you were asleep he had already sent a letter to your parents, along with asking a maid to update his own. 

Scaramouche made sure you were awake enough to answer his questions, and you told him everything. Starting from when Tartaglia had forcibly entered the room, to him wanting the gnosis, Kuni staying behind, up until you found yourself with Serena and Finnian, finding out you lost the ring but somehow kept the gnosis safe. By the end of the story, Scaramouche had a difficult expression on his face. 

“...About Kuni,” He couldn’t meet your eyes as he told you, but your eyes had nowhere else to go to except his face, and the more he talked the wider your eyes became. 

Kuni had passed away. 

The first thing you thought of was it being your fault. If you were stronger, if you maybe stayed, maybe gave the gnosis up, even though all the solutions you could think of were bad solutions it might’ve at least left Kuni alive. You were flabbergasted for a moment, Scaramouche’s gaze still turned away from you, until you turned yours away from him too. 

There’s a moment of silence that passed between the two of you, both of you sort of letting it really sink in that these things have really transpired. People were lost and you almost lost each other. 

“...It’s–It’s my fault–” it came out involuntarily, your sentiments about Kuni’s death, but Scaramouche, almost as if he predicted you would feel that way, cut you off without a second for you to argue. 

“You know very well that it’s not,” 

“But it feels like it is,” you whisper, voice wavering at the slowly descending knowledge that Kuni was gone. He might have seemed like a small part in the grand scheme of things. But to you, he was a sort of kindness in an unknown world. A guide that was patient and understanding, wiser than anyone else in the castle. “...You blame yourself too, don’t you?” You end up asking Scaramouche.

His silence was a clear answer. 

He blamed himself for more than just Kuni’s death. The war itself. Your disappearance. Your current state. The knights that fell under his command. Losing the gnosis. Not planning in advance. In a sense it was as if the whole world was on his shoulders, and he had failed everything that he was responsible for.

His thoughts broke when he feels a weight on his shoulder. He glances sideways to see that you’ve laid your forehead on his shoulder, concealing your face from his. 

“...I’ll stop blaming myself if you stop blaming yourself,” You bargained with him, but that was so much more easier to say than to do. 

“...I can’t do that. This Kingdom is my responsibility,” He was truthful in his answer. Yes, perhaps not everything was his fault, but there were definitely things he could have done better. He wasn’t depressed nor distraught over his mistakes. He was simply disappointed, but it was fuel for him to plan and do better next time. He wasn’t going to let it cripple him. 

“...Share it with me then,” you whisper, almost inaudible. He dips his head a little closer to hear you better. 

“...Share…?” He repeats, not exactly knowing what you were trying to say. 

“...Your responsibilities, your burdens, your struggles… Share it with me. As the princess of this kingdom and as…” you pause, still having your face concealed from his gaze had probably made you a little braver. “...as your wife,”

Scaramouche feels himself freeze at the words. He held back a shiver that crawled up his whole being, an electricity that woke him up to the reality that you were here with him. Not just physically, but in his mental state, his struggles. You were here, and you were willing to experience it all with him.

There’s a squeeze at his chest that he could only describe as beautifully painful. Your sentiments of wanting to be acknowledged as his partner, and wanting to be involved in what he went through had probably cut through him easier than any blade. 

He relaxes as you continue to rest on him, a secretly tender gaze on his face when no one else is looking. “Idiot,” he whispers, but leans down to press a kiss on the top of your head.

Scaramouche remembers that clearly in his mind. 

That was probably one of the things that pushed him into planning for today.

As the two of you stand in front of Kuni’s grave, you offering a prayer as Scaramouche laid down flowers next to the stone, it’s a wonder that peace is all that he feels. He didn’t know if that was because he had already mourned enough in his own time, or if it was because you were there with him, but he felt like he could face his old advisor once again. 

There was still a deep set sadness, seeing the grave, but as you spoke to Kuni out loud, Scaramouche was more comforted than anything else. 

“I made it back, Kuni. Thanks to you, and thanks to Scaramouche, I guess,” You added as an afterthought, almost as a joke. Scaramouche can’t help but scoff next to you. It feels like talking to an old friend who had never left. 

“Scaramouche is still an asshole,” you start, to which Scaramouche was ready to scold your head off for, but you continue within seconds. “But he’s also a little nicer. To me, at least.” You grin a little, feeling the evil glare on you. “He’s trying his best to sort things out in the castle and he’s always so preoccupied about keeping the kingdom safe. It’s all he ever does.” Scaramouche could sense the eye roll on your expression, though he wasn’t looking. You continue to subtly insult Scaramouche in front of Kuni and ended with “but I’ll keep an eye on him!”

You bow your head towards the grave then turn to Scaramouche, mischief in your eyes. “Anything you wanna say, Scara?” you ask and he has glared at you all through your tattling to Kuni about him but he takes a deep breath and sighs it out just as deep. 

Scaramouche turns to Kuni, closes his eyes, as if talking to him privately. He stays like that for a moment before opening them and stating, “...I’ll be fine now, Kuni,” there’s determination in his voice and nothing but confidence. But he had to ruin it with an equally condescending comment about you. “Y/N nags me so much that there’s no way I’ll forget to do things. I even hear her in my sleep.” 

“Hey!” you protest.

“You started it!” he barked back.

You huff and cross your arms over your chest, grumbling. This was certainly not the type of behaviour one would expect in front of a grave…but since it was Kuni, you had a feeling that he understood anyway, and was perhaps happy to see everything was still as it is, maybe a little better.

“...I forgot something at the carriage, wait here a second,” Scaramouche mumbles, averting his gaze away from you and starts the short walk towards the carriage. It was just a few feet away from the two of you. If you turned, you could see it waiting by the street, but you turn your attention away from it and back to Kuni’s grave as Scaramouche walks away.

“...In all honesty, he’s doing much better, Kuni,” you whisper, not wanting to get caught saying nice things about the ruthless prince. “He’s so stubborn, so annoying and so insulting but he’s just a little concealed in his ways. I think you knew that already though, right?” You smile and stifle a laugh, “He’s nice to me, in his own weird ways,” 

“What’re you laughing about?” You whip your head around to see Scaramouche raising an eyebrow at you. He’s clutching something in his arm, and when you realize what it is you let out a gasp. 

“Th-That’s my teddy bear! Where’d you get that?!” Scaramouche had conveniently left out the part where your mother had given him your teddy bear. The bear in his arm looked new though, and it was then that you knew he had it repaired. Though you always liked the rustic look of your old bear, knowing that it was repaired and could last longer was a surprise too. 

“Somewhere,” Scaramouche replies cryptically. He hands you the bear, and you happily take it. You recognized it as your own because of the purple ribbon around the neck but, on closer inspection, there’s something different about the ribbon.

“What’s…?” You mumble absentmindedly, taking the ribbon on your palm and noticing that something was tied around one of the strings cascading down.

It was a ring tied to the ribbon, letting it hang on the teddy bear’s chest. You touched the ring, and turned it around in your fingers, inspecting it. 

It was a simple rose gold band. Very subtle and very unassuming with no jewels or gems at all. You lift your head up to look at Scaramouche with question in your eyes, but he had his gaze averted away from you, hand rubbing the back of his neck. He mumbled something that you didn’t quite catch. “...Huh?” You ask again, leaning ever so slightly closer to try and hear him better.

“I said,” he says louder, taking in a breath, “Marry me,” 

The wind is knocked out of your lungs. 

The proposal was so unexpected and awkward and yet so endearingly sincere. He’s looking straight at you now, a stern gaze on him and you look back at him with your heart caught in your throat, breath taken away, and all you can think of is how much more handsome he looked at that moment. 

You stared at him wide eyed, your mouth opening “...We’re already married, idiot,” you couldn’t help but state and he snaps his gaze towards you at that.

“I know that, stupid!” he glares, but you can see that there’s slight unease in his posture. His arms that are always crossed over his chest is not because he was feeling smug at the moment, but more of embarrassment and unsureness. 

“I meant, marry me, for real, this time,” 

And though your heart was pounding you could only really reply to his proposal with some humor. You were bursting with warmth from your chest, but you didn’t know if he was being serious. “...We ARE married for real,” 

Scaramouche lets out an exasperated sigh and draws himself closer to you, hand catching your elbow, not letting you scamper away from him. “You KNOW what I mean,” 

“Do I?” You whisper, a bit of blatant disobedience coming out from you. You feel him lean closer to you and you don’t resist. His other free hand places itself on your waist, gripping at it to move you even closer to him. He closes his eyes, tilts his head the slightest bit sideways and leans in to capture your lips in a chaste kiss. 

That’s how you know he was serious. 

The kiss lasts for a few innocent seconds, yet the message behind it is priceless. There’s a hint of want, as if this alone was not enough and though he was gentle, he’s held back. As if he wants more than just your lips and your body, like he wants every part of you, your heart, your soul, existing next to him for all eternity. 

He pulls only an inch away with a soft sigh, “A wedding with a real kiss at the end,” his hand snakes up towards your neck and tilts your head at the right angle for him to pepper kisses down your jaw. “A wedding with real vows,” he whispers, stopping at your chin then moving up to press one on your cheek. He can’t help but think how warm you are, even in weather that’s bordering on winter, his fingers and lips are heating up on your skin and he loves it. “So? Are you gunna give me an answer, or not?”

There it is. That somewhat charming assertiveness and the rare show of affection. It melts you a little inside when his touch as much as grazes you. “...A small one? With just the few people we care about, maybe?” You try to bargain though it must be strange to have a re-wedding, even with just the closest people there, but you had a hunch that Scaramouche had it all planned out already, excuses and all. He’d always been a detailed planner, if he really wanted something to happen. 

He lets out a half-huff and a half-laugh, “I don’t care, princess. As long as you’re there and I’m there,” 

It’s your turn to stifle a smile, giving yourself a silly, lovesick, lopsided grin at his statement. “...Alright then, you greedy man. I’ll marry you. Again.” You roll your eyes, but no words can describe how much of a teenager you feel at that moment. How those flutters in your stomach were in fact from this man who had once given you nothing but trouble and grief. He had a long way to go, and so did you, but the world had brought the two of you together, two different shades of the same colour that clashed yet blended together so effortlessly in the end, turning into a pleasant painting of an imperfect yet fervent relationship. 

“Then you agree to a real honeymoon too?” There’s a grin in his voice and you gasp in mock surprise. 

“Is this why you want a re-wedding? You just want the honeymoon that we missed the first time around!” You put your hand on your chest, pretending to be hurt and wounded but he slinks away from you and flicks your forehead at your antics.

“Maybe,” a smug grin splays on his face, but you know well that he’s just playing along with you. He takes your hand and pulls you along with him, back to the carriage as you continue your act of being torn and hurt. 

“You wound me,” though you squeeze his hand back, and you tuck the teddy bear under your arm as you willingly follow him. The smile on your face a complete contrast from your constant complaining and teasing.

He puts your voice at the background as he calms the storm in his heart. As per usual he had a confident and put-together look on, but he had been anxious that you wouldn’t have liked the idea of a “real” wedding. 

It wasn’t so much the wedding or festivities that he cared about…it was strangely the authenticity of it…that you deserved more than just a fake one and that he wanted a sincere one for you. 

He had it in his mind, had it at the tip of his tongue, but there were some emotions that he wasn’t brave enough to face yet, and some feelings that he wasn’t sure how to put into words, still discovering and exploring it with the thought of you, but he knew what he had envisioned:

A wedding. With sincere and real feelings of what he thought he never needed: Love and a lifetime of companionship.

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#scaramouche x reader #the ruthless prince #scaramouche #scaramouche royal au #genshin royal au #genshin impact #genshin impact royal au #scaramouche fluff #scaramouche angst #genshin impact scaramouche #scaramouche fanfiction #genshin impact fanfiction #scaramouche x reader fanfiction

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Kinou Nani tabeta. aka My Heart is Full aka I suck at titles

Let me just say before anything else. This is not a recap or a review. This is me feeling the need to write down my feelings because they are pouring out of me. This is more a personal note than anything else so skip it if that's not your thing.

I always watch this show on saturday mornings, with my coffee and breakfast, because it gives me a boost for the weekend. And I wanted to postpone the final episode as much as possible but I just couldn't. I gave in.

Second FYI. This will probably be incoherent and a mess because that's how I feel. Also, this fucking menopause (surgical, don't give me too many extra years) is really making a mess of my emotional state this week, so I'm all over the place. Also I might've had some wine. Also this may be a bit long. I think that's it.

How I got here

So, I've loved cinema since I was like 7. (yeah I'm going really back in time) Because my mom like films, she dragged to the cinema even when I was way too young for whatever was on. [ Fun Side note- The first film that I saw in the cinema was Bram Stoker's Dracula, when I was like 6, and my mum got into an argument with the cinema employee because" I am her mother, and I'll decide what she can or can't watch"and so I did watch it.]

So I always loved watching films, talking about them and eventually went to uni to learn how to make them. During that time, I went through a phase (which happened to a couple other people in my school) where I kinda got emotionally detached from the stories. I could only see the camera angles, the lighting, the editing, etc.

When I was done with uni, and had decided that editing was my favourite thing I started doing a bit of work in editing, mostly online stuff and a couple of ads in London, and 3 years later I was done. Obviously there were life factors and health factors that contributed to this, but still I left it all behind.

Then, I quickly went back to being able to watch stories with all the emotions.

Let's skip forward to present day.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? feel in my lap by way of my very first BL. Seven Days. I watched those films and went through all the emotions and needed more. More of that serotonin please.

So I got in research mode and that's when I found this wonderful world of BL and eventually this show.

Now, a little bit more about me, just in case you aren't sick of me talking about myself. I'm not a jolly person. If you asked anyone that knows me irl, they would describe me as someone who always thinks the sky is falling. However, I also love a lot of things deeply, and when it comes to things that I can't find a word big enough for it I call it magic. So I'll use it here.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? is magic.

If this show was a meal then the absolutely right ingredients were found, they were put in the hands of the best cooks and everything was prepared with love and care. This show that I love, was put together by people who love it, and couldn't not make it. This is what I believe. It's my kind of faith.

I've seen so many shows, I've loved so many of them, a lot of them touched me deeply. But only a few touched me this way.

When there is love in something, real care and empathy in the making of something, you can feel it, I believe. And I feel it so much watching this show. I get emotional just writing this.

I wish I could thank every single person that made this show possible. And we could argue all day about the quality of a show, its actors, writers or directors. I could argue why my favourite show is better than your favourite show, and why your show is more important than my show, and why that show failed and another succeeded. I will not argue about the importance of this show and my faith is unshakable.

Maybe because I love food so much and in my life my love filled moments were always around food, I connected at first with Kenji, because his reactions to food resemble mine. But this season Shiro stole my heart and soul. His quiet but profound way of loving Kenji made cry more than any sad scene ever could. And onions and chicken thighs will forever have deeper meaning in my kitchen. These two characters are so well written and so well acted, the words are so layered and so meaningful, that it's a miracle to me that it exists and that I got to watch it.

I'm sure other people will write much better posts about this show, and will probably be better (at a hell of a lot more on point) at writing about all the amazing things that this show has done. But I'm an emotional wreck and I could only write from a personal place today.

I'll be rewatching this show in it's entirety soon, because the evolution of these characters, Shiro specially, was such a joy to witness.

If you read this far, thank you. 💜

#kinou nani tabeta? #what did you eat yesterday? #what did you eat yesterday S2 #it has never been so hard to hit the post button #i'm having so many feeling about posting this #i'm a wreck right now

[oftenwantedafton]

The Perfect Girl - Dave Miller/William Afton x Female Reader

Finale

Rating - Explicit

Warnings - restraints, captivity, blood and violence, sexual content

Also available on AO3

There’s a large turnout for the candlelight vigil.

Former classmates. Members of the community. Your mother. Employees at the mall. William Afton remains at the edges of the crowd. Stares into the flame until his vision goes blurry. Thinks about you tucked away in his pizzeria. All his. Only his. His own.

Your car was finally discovered earlier that day, outside of town where he’d abandoned it. Wiped clean. No evidence he’d ever been inside of it. Purse found inside, apparently intact, no contents missing. Driver’s license. Social security card. Health insurance card. Credit card. Car insurance and registration. Makeup. Cash. There’s a film crew present doing a brief recap of the story of your disappearance. Interviewing your mother. Several others. They don’t ask the one person who knows what really happened.

He has to be extra cautious when returning to see you. There are so many people around. He actually leaves and comes back. Still waits to make sure he’s not being watched or followed. Slipping back through the mall entrance that’s been long forgotten. Winding through liminal spaces. Back inside the restaurant. Now back inside the room with you.

***

It’s late when your captor returns.

You’d fallen asleep on the couch, barely making it through the opening credits of the movie you’d put on. The cell phone is hidden behind the refrigerator, tucked on the floor just within reach but securely out of sight. You can tell William’s been outdoors; can feel the cooler autumn air still clinging to his body. You sit up, making room for him.

He still sits close. One arm curling around you. Possessive. His fingers are cool against the bare skin of your shoulder.

“How was the vigil? Did it just end now?” You glance at the clock. Nearly 3am.

“No. I left for a bit. To make sure…” You nod your understanding. No chance he was followed, then. Your location still a secret.

“Is my mom alright?”

“She’s being brave for the cameras. Behind the scenes, too. Optimistic you’ll be found.”

“Cameras?”

“The local news station was here. Doing a little blurb to refresh people’s memories. Hoping someone might suddenly remember a detail that had gotten overlooked previously. There aren’t any, of course.”

Afton sounds so confident. “You’re cold,” you say, the fingers absently stroking your bare shoulder making you shiver.

“So warm me up.”

You lean to kiss him. Even his lips are cool. He’d been outside a while. Maybe not so confident, then. Hesitating. Your tongue spears his mouth. Warm inside. Your fingers on his cheek. Rough stubble. Settling into that mess of hair. You’re already throbbing. Straddle his lap, the links of the chain clinking with the movement. Your hands now fiddling with the fly of his pants. He moans into your mouth and you answer in kind. His cock released, hot against your skin. “Please fuck me, William.” You beg against his ear. Lav at his neck. There are pajama shorts and panties to contend with. The shackle. He’s too impatient. You hear the snick of the pocket knife on his keyring opening. Tearing through the thin material barricading you from him. Clumsy sawing drags of the blade, not his usual artful handling. Desperate to get at you. The elastic waistbands give him the most difficulty. He curses when he knicks his thumb in the process. Shifts slightly to line you up with his erection. You sheathe him slowly. Hands resting on his shoulders trembling. Bloodied thumb pressed against your bottom lip. Your eyes flutter closed. Let it slip past your lips. Sucking. You finish your descent. He’s fully inside of you.

You bend to kiss him again. The taste of his blood still lingering. His tongue greedy for it. You raise and lower yourself. Grinding down. Bouncing. Fast and then slow. One hand cupping your ass cheek. “William…” You say his name over and over. What will your reward be this time? What do you dare ask for? Fresh air. A chance to use the phone. Just a quick call to emergency services. Let them trace it.

Is that really the only reason you’re doing this?

The pendant of the gifted necklace lying against the base of your throat. Your hand wrapped around his. You’ve no idea how it’s gotten there. He’s meeting your hips now. Moving faster. His eyes locked with yours. “Do it.”

You frown. Your pelvis hesitates mid motion. Does he want…?

“Do it,” he says again. He hasn’t stopped pummeling you.

He’s asked for this before. Your fingers tighten. You feel the movement of his Adam’s apple. The forced swallow against the pressure you’re exerting. The thin hiss of air exchange through the compressed passage. Your body dropping down onto his. Struggling for air yourself. Your arm shaking with tension.

Your fingers relax. Your face drops into the crook of his neck. A heavy rasp of air. He’s stopped moving. You’re still impaled. “I can't do it, I can’t hurt you.”

“Why not?”

“Because. I’m not violent,” you murmur, your face lifting so you can see his features.

He tucks a swathe of your hair behind one ear. “You are when you let yourself be. That’s the only difference between us. Restraint. Inhibition. I know you so well. Better than you know yourself…” His mouth on yours. “There’s another reason you won’t hurt me, isn’t there?” He kisses your neck and you shudder. “Isn’t there?” Firmer now. He expects an answer.

You nod.

“Say it.”

“William…”

“Why are you so afraid?”

“Because I’ve given you everything else. I’ll have nothing left if I…”

“You’ll have me. You have me. A decade ago I would never have forgiven…What have you done to me, to make me feel…” You kiss the rest of the words away. Grinding against him again. “Come to bed with me and let me fuck you properly.”

You climb off his lap. The sudden absence of his cock buried inside you already leaving you aching. Clothes discarded along the short path to the bed. You’re pressed down beneath him on top of the comforter. Back inside of you. As if you’d never been parted. A hand knotting in your hair. His mouth on your throat. Your fingers on his scars. Hot breath huffed against your skin. Little pleading noises escaping you. Half formed words. Nails digging into flesh. Knees pressing into ribs. A shake of muscles. You can’t withstand the battering any longer. Melting against him. His shuddering breath. Body dropping down, his weight on you. Making it hard to breathe. That molten flow deep in your core. The taut frame nearly suffocating you relaxing, stilling, depressing the mattress beside you instead.

Facing each other. Still on top of the covers. Respirations normal. The little firing of nerves less frequent, less intense. “What do you want?” His voice quiet.

“You.”

It’s only half a lie.

***

The roof of the mall the next evening. The first fresh air you’ve inhaled in months.

William keeps you tucked inside the shadowed stairwell. Still cautious. Bound to his wrist. You can see the stars. The autumn air is welcome. You've been gifted some new clothing. Weather appropriate for the coming months, although the pizzeria interior is always climate controlled. Maybe this wouldn’t be your only trip outside. If you were good. If you could convince him…

The phone is in your pants pocket. Turned on. Ready to use. If the battery lasted. If you had a signal. And then what? You’d have to toss it and hope it wouldn’t break. It would be better if you could somehow convince him to sever the ziptie. But why would he? Especially after what had happened last time. The agony of the indecision tortures you. Did you want to be restrained even more? Go back to having him not look at you, not speak to you? Not touch you…

In the end the mobile device goes unused. You can’t risk it.

You’re brought back to your confinement. Afton doesn’t stay. You don’t ask. You hide the phone in the same place as before, checking the battery life first. A warning to charge the device. The screen goes dark.

***

William finishes his security guard shift and lingers in his customary hiding spots until he’s certain the coast is clear before he returns to his restaurant.

Eases down into the swivel chair before the monitors on the security office. His eyes immediately focus on the displays for your room. You’re reading. Or at least you appear to be. He doesn’t see you turn a page. Notices the glint of your silver necklace. The wicked silver wink of the butcher knife on the desk in front of him. He reaches for it, rocking back in his chair. Point pressing against the new scab on his thumb. Not hard enough to puncture, just testing the sharpness. He already knows the blade is ready, freshly prepared after his most recent kills. Knows all about the secret you have stashed away. He’s the one that had placed it on the bathroom sink, after all. Another test. Another slim opportunity you’d wasted.

He wonders about that. Why you hadn’t at least made the attempt. Fearing his ire, perhaps. Of course he would’ve had to punish you.

But you were so good at finding the mercy in him.

The security guard realizes he’s bleeding again. He’s pushed too deeply. Or the knife is sharper than he’d thought. A little of both, perhaps. He rises to his feet. Rolls the handle of the blade in his palm. Leaves the room and enters yours.

***

You look up from the page you’d been stuck on, the same paragraph read repeatedly without comprehension. The door remains open behind William.

You notice the knife immediately and shrink back a little against the cushions of the couch. See the blood dripping from his other hand.

“William, what happened?”

He realizes where you’re staring and shrugs, unconcerned. “Cut myself.”

“You’re not going to put something on that?” You’re thinking about grabbing some napkins from the kitchen cupboard, already moving off the couch. He watches you, making no move to take the paper offering. “William…”

“I’ve been thinking about the other night. When you said you could never hurt me. You could, though, couldn’t you? If the circumstances demanded it. If it was your only chance of escape.” He sets the knife on the counter. “If I gave you one fair chance. Would you take it? Would you abandon me?”

“William, I don’t—”

“—Why didn’t you use the phone last night?”

You suck in a deep breath. Christ, he knew. He always does. When will you learn? Your heart races. “The battery was practically dead, I didn’t think it would even work.”

“You brought it with you, though, didn’t you? Intending to use it.”

It was useless to lie. “Yes.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“I just told you…”

He lifts the knife again and the argument dies in your throat. “You still don’t understand. After everything I’ve tried. It doesn’t matter how many rewards or punishments I mete.” The older man advances towards you. There’s nothing but the kitchen counter and cabinets at your back. He reaches for your chin, lifting it firmly. “I’m going to unlock your restraint.” Kneeling now. Your entire body is shaking. You don’t know what’s happening. You don’t think you’ve ever been this afraid.

The metal band releases. He tosses it aside, standing once more. Blood still leaks from his wound, pattering to the floor. “Take this.” He uncurls your fingers from their white knuckled grip on the edge of the counter. Presses the handle into them. “You only get one chance at this. Make it count. Your best bet is here,” he taps the side of his neck. “Quick thrust to sever carotid and jugular. A little slower for the axillary here,” he lifts his arm, gesturing to the hollow beneath. “Right side here for the liver is another good choice. But you should go for the throat. A quick end if your aim is true.”

“I’m not…I’m not doing that. Any of that.” There are tears sliding down your cheeks.

“Why not?”

“You know why not. I told you I’m not like you.”

“Not like me? Not crazy like me, you mean?” A bitter smile. The backs of his fingers drag through the salted tracks staining your face. “Don’t waste this opportunity. There won’t be another, I promise you.” His thumb dragging across your bottom lip. The bloodied one. A final mark upon you.

Your grip on the knife tightens. You hesitate. You can’t do it. Impossible. He has you trapped here in more ways than one. He knows it. Not just the restraints. Not just the threats. There was more preventing you from leaving. His influence over you too strong. Breaking you down steadily over the months. You hadn’t even been consciously aware of it before now. Every uttered consent. Every desire. You were his.

Your last chance to flee. A window of opportunity shutting. Hurting him wouldn’t be enough. Running would never put enough distance between you. There was no escape. He had to be the one to let you go. And he never would. Not unless you forced him to. An idea comes to you. The place where you could bury the blade that would do the most damage. Not inside of him. Inside of you. That which he treasures the most. The most damage you could inflict.

“Close your eyes.” You don’t want him to see what you’re attempting, trying to prevent you from doing this.

He nods in understanding, obeying. Those long dark lashes laid over smudged skin. So calm and accepting. You reverse the blade. Position it on the left side of your abdomen. You’ve no idea how lethal the placement is, just paying attention to Afton’s impromptu anatomy lesson and steering clear of any of those dangerous zones.

Now. Do it now. Don’t think. Just do it.

You grit your teeth. Shove the knife inside of you.

The pain. Unlike any other. A gasp. William’s eyes fly open. Frowning, not realizing what is happening. You collapse and he goes down with you, preventing your head from striking the concrete. You can feel the blood soaking through your shirt. His face above your wavering vision. The realization. You’d beaten him at his own game. You’d won.

***

You awaken to the bright lights inside of a hospital room.

So. Your gamble had paid off. You’d managed not to inflict any lethal damage. You’d finally escaped Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.

William had brought you here. Surrendering. Letting you go.

He could come for you again, you suppose, the temporary relief smothered with this realization. But for now, you were free. You were safe.

Your wound really fucking hurts.

You find the call button to summon a nurse. Other staff follow. You’re told you’ve been out for nearly a week. Left outside the ER. Injured but no weapon found. A call that is traced to a very confused looking homeowner nearby. You know William won’t have left prints. Surgery. Sutured back together. Your mother is called. The police don’t allow much time before you’re questioned. And this is where you find yourself lying about your captivity. Stating you were driven somewhere. Far away, in the van a long time. Blindfolded. The sound of water. A young man’s voice. The lies spill from your lips easily. The authorities seem convinced. Your mother is anxious for you to be discharged.

You wonder if she’ll ever let you out of her sight again.

***

You’ve only missed one semester of college.

They allow you to begin in January. Your classes are shuffled around to accommodate you. Courses for first years will now be handled during your second year instead. You’re something of a celebrity. Constantly pestered with questions. The occasional journalist seeking a story. Your account never wavers and interest fades with time, like the healing laceration on your stomach.

You find yourself looking over your shoulder frequently. Imagining footsteps that aren’t there. You leave class one evening and fumble with your car key, struggling to fit it inside the lock. That nagging feeling that you’re being watched persisting. The hairs on the back of your neck lifting. The parking lot is emptying. There are a row of trees beside the building. The feeling intensifies. You cease your struggles and let the keyring dangle from your fingers. Tuck your backpack over your shoulder and step onto the mulch bordering the curb. Weaving between hedges. Nearly to the trees now. Cloaked in shadows.

You know the sound of William’s breathing as well as your own. Drawn towards him like a magnet, you find him. He’s dressed to match the night. Dark shirt, dark jacket and pants. The only lightness that pale skin of his. Visible in the brief moment the moon peeks from behind the clouds before becoming shadowed once again.

You shift the weight of your book bag. Finally ease it off of your shoulder, letting it drop to the carpet of pine needles and leaves.

“Why didn’t you tell the police about me?”

A valid query. Why hadn’t you? Why were you keeping the pizzeria and its murderous owner a secret? Preventing justice for all of its victims, yourself included?

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

“Are you going to take me back?”

“Do you want to be taken back?”

“No,” you say softly.

A grunt. “You could have died. Stupid, what you did.”

“I was dying already, William. Just at a slower pace. I couldn’t stay there any longer.”

“Do you ever think about me?”

You swallow thickly. “All the time.”

“Is any of it fond? Or is it all bitter, tainted…You’ve no idea the emptiness you’ve left behind. The sheer ache…”

You move forward, wrapping your arms around him. Surprising you both. His arms finally settling around you, the stiff awkwardness melting.

“It wasn’t stupid, what you did. It was brilliant. Something I hadn’t anticipated.” There’s a note of pride in his voice.

“Please don’t hurt anyone else. Promise me you won’t. I’ll never tell anyone about what happened, just…”

A heavy sigh. “There are conditions for everything, aren’t there?” He combs his fingers through your hair. “A price to be paid for the things we desire.” Pushing gently against your face tucked against his chest. Lifting it. His lips finding yours. So warm contrasting with that winter air around you. Your hands linking behind his neck. Pulling him tighter. That familiar heat stirring your insides. The kiss becoming wetter, more frantic. Gasping breaths when you finally part.

“What do you want?” He’s trembling in your arms.

“You.”

It’s the truth.

#william afton x reader #william afton x you #dave miller x you #dave miller x reader

[idkwhatimdoinghere1655]

Saudi Arabia GP 2024!

Mads' Race Recap!

Right, here we are, with another race recap. Yes, I know I said I would split these into 2, qualis and race, but I didn't. Oops. Anyway, we're going to do this in constructors again.

Red Bull - Refer to last weeks comments, I have nothing else to say really.

Ferrari - Right. Here we go. I'll start off with Charles, then I'll move onto the other fiasco. I think the overtake from Checo was inevitable in the end, the Red Bull has more pace, and Checo is great on street circuits. I didn't really see much of Lord Perceval, since he found a very comfortable spot between Checo and Oscar for the majority of the race. Very nice, brought some good points home. I like how he said in an interview (at some point after the race) that he thinks the Ferrari can have more pace later in the season. I would prefer it now, but I will wait. And fastest lap? OK my love, go for it. I saw it pop up and I thought it was a glitch on the graphics, I can't lie. He just though 'sod it, I've got space, let's go' and go, he did. Now onto my hero for the weekend. Ollie bloody Bearman that man is an absolute phenom. His first ever F1 race, some nice overtakes, did so so so well in qualis and in the race. He has gotten more points in one race than some people do in their entire career, which is quite funny IMO. Seriously though, on such short notice, he did such a brilliant job, and he is going to go far. Sad he missed out on the F2 race, and that's going to do a detriment to his points and Prema's, but he could have very well just made his career. One more thing before I move on to the other teams. Carlos. Carlos Sainz. Carlos fucking Sainz.

He drove for some reason during FP1 & 2, and I commend that, he wanted to get the job done. But, the man looked blue (the colour, not emotion). He looked so sick it was awful. Then I see the news that the poor man has already had his appendix out. I was just glad he was alright, THEN I SEE HIM AT THE TRACK?! I was just like 'Someone please put him back in bed and make him rest'. Then I see that the doctors told him to stay in bed and not go to the race. That man is a fighter, I'll give him that. And it was nice to hear from Ollie that he gave him all the tips and tricks, since it was his setup and everything like that. Hopefully, Carlos is back for Australia, but if Ollie has to drive for whatever reason, I won't be annoyed. Forza Ferrari!

McLaren - Oscar had a good race, he really tried to overtake Lewis. But, if they knew he still needed to pit anyway, why burn out the tyres and try to overtake? It would've gotten a better gap, yes, but I guess there wouldn't have been any point in just sitting back and letting him possibly gain extra time. Some good points in the bag there for them. As for Lando, I reckon if he didn't have Lewis badgering him the whole time, he would've been able to overtake Ollie for the P7, since he was lapping a whole lot faster and was on better tyres. Thankfully, Lewis actually did us a favour and kept Lando back, but Lando did a nice job. I don't know why he didn't come in under the safety car, but it didn't work out too badly for him, I guess.

Mercedes - Whatever is happening there is an absolute shit show. George stayed under the radar, just kind of driving in his big ol' empty space that he had between him, Ollie and Fernando. Lewis is really right when they have no speed in the high speed sections of the track. He did some nice defending on Oscar though, he was right to try and keep him back as much as possible, since that would have opened the space for other people to attack. All in all, Merc seriously need to sort their shit out if they want to compete for the higher places. Even then, they'll have to get through the McLarens, then the Ferrari's for those P3s that we are interchangeably giving to Charles and Carlos. Maybe P2s can be up for grabs if Checo fucks it, and maybe P1s if we get another Singapore situation.

Aston Martin - Not a bad one from Fernando, nice race from him. Instead of trying to compete with McLaren, he just let them do their own thing. He knows what he's doing. But, he was definitely in the top 3/4 for pole. Him, Charles, Max and Checo. But then he comes out bottom of the 4? He set osme mega laps, but then he just lost it. The Aston does that a lot. Lance was setting some lovely Q2 laps, but then it was like the car just said 'nah mate, I'm clocking out'. And, back to Lance. He just needed to be a little more careful. It was funny to hear his radio message, I'll admit, and I think his bringing out of the safety car definitely helped some of the others out a lot. Was I surprised though... no. Fernando nearly did the same thing, so did Oscar, but they were just a little lighter on it. Aston really has fallen, though.

Haas - Right, I'm officially a Haas girl Kevin Magnussen I absolutely fucking love you man. Matt & Tommy from P1 called it the Haasterplan. I completely agree. If Ollie wasn't driving, I would've given Kevin driver of the day. No, I would've given him driver of the year. After that first 10 second pen, he just said 'fuck it, I'm off' and just started going for it. Contact with Alex? Fine. Track limits? What are they? Do you want to absolutely send it into turn 1 again? Is that even a question? I bloody loved it. He just backed up all of those people from P11 and just let them suffer. He even ended up P12, even with the 20 seconds worth of penalties. Bloody lovely. I loved Kevin's radio just kept on going 'yeah, great one, keep it up'. Haas have found their new strategy.

Williams - Erm... not much to say? Mediocre qualis, Alex can get through to Q3 on a good day. Logan was out in Q1, this time it wasn't the steering wheel's fault. And... yeah. Wish I could say more, but I can't, really. Sorry.

VCARB/RB/REDBULLSHITTYEDITION - Daniel. Daniel Daniel Daniel. What is going on with you? I check the leaderboard, and I just see him chilling at the back. I don't even know what's going on there. And Yuki fell victim to the Kevin Magnussen Train of Terror. I honestly thought these guys were going to be your P11s-P14s, maybe with a few 10s and 9s sprinkled in there. But, I guess we have to put up with 15 and 16.

Kick Sauber - Right Valtteri really doesn't give a shit. He is quite happy just to toddle along at the back, as you do, in his little highlighter car. Good on him. I just felt bad for Zhou, I can't lie. He kinda just got stuck at the back and there was nothing he could do since the poor guy couldn't even set a quali time because his car was fucked.

Alpine - Jesus love of the lord above someone save these people. Pierre didn't even start the race, they had shit qualifying, and they have become the laughing stock of Formula 1. Estie was kind of just left to die, I guess. My delusional ass blames Pierre for a bad Charles start since his tyres were colder because he was faffing around at the back. Bullshit, I know.

#f1 #formula 1 #saudi arabian gp 2024 #jeddah gp 2024 #ferrari #ferrari f1 #mercedes #red bull #red bull f1 #mclaren #mclaren f1 #aston martin #kick sauber #haas f1 team #visa cashapp racing bulls #vcarb #rb #williams racing #alpine f1

[eleetalks]

BRAZIL RACE RECAP

FP1

I don’t like Sprint weekends, or let’s put it this way, I like the extra race and all… what I don’t like is the fact there’s only one practice. Only 60 min to try different set ups and paces.

Red Bull and McLaren risked it and didn’t try qualy pace, it paid off for them seeing the results.

QUALIFY

Not too many surprises in Q1 and Q2 honestly.

What a Q3 tho, everyone waiting until they had enough time for one lap and then half of them not having a good lap time because of the weather changing. And this made so that Stroll got a P3 !!!!

RACE

The race didn’t start really well for us Ferrari fans. Charles was OUT on the formation lap, after everything he did and managed (saved a new set of Softs for the race) he had a good chance to be on the podium.

A pretty bad start from the two Astons gave Norris and Hamilton the chance to pass and go P2 and P3.

The accident at Turn 1 between the two Haas and Albon was shocking and created a lot of damages to not only Albon and Magnussen (OUT) but also to Piastri and Ricciardo who had to pit and would have had to retire the car had it not been for the RED FLAG.

After the restart the race setteled to be honest, not too many changes in positions except for the two Mercedes. Like we saw yesterday in the Sprint they attacked in the first few laps but then lost all power after 15/20 laps and were left fighting for their lives.

Alonso still surprises me (I know I shouldn’t be) the fight it’s Perez in the last few laps was AMAZING !

I dont even know what Sainz was doing, he didn’t do anything.

🏎️❤️

#formula one #f1 #formula 1 #ferrari #charles leclerc #carlos sainz #max verstappen #brazil gp 2023 #race recap #interlagos

[theformula101]

The Highs and Lows of the Singapore Grand-Prix 2023

The Singapore grand prix was truly the epitome of adrenaline highs and lows as for the first time in months we were able to see a true fight for the top position, so to recap this incredible grand prix lets begin with all the highs

The strong Ferrari start- though it seems there was true havock happening at the back, with Leclercs strong overtake and Sainz keeping his position in the front, the Ferrari boys seemed to have it all in control at the begging of the GP

Estaban and Alonso's fight in lap 37- in lap 37 we witnessed a true "fight for survival" between the Alpine and Aston Martin, with Alonso trying his best to keep Ocon at his tail, Ocon managed to be victorious in his overtake and gain an extra position

Liam Lawson getting his first points- Even though Lawsons entry to F1 was under some disappointing circumstances his performance at the Singapore GP was one that truly did deserve an applause

Lando Norris's Performance- the Singapore GP served to be yet another display of Norris's true potential, with some excellence offence and defence and of course some absolutely gruelling moments between George and Lando- it's clear that Lando has his first victory coming up in the next few races.

Carlos Sainz's performance- There are plenty of memes already on it but Carlos Sainz was an incredible strategist during this GP (and should probably take over for Ferrari's current strategists), he showed tactical excellence and showed us the true meaning of a "smooth operation" by giving DRS to Lando in order to hold back the Mercedes, making it an absolutely brilliant move by the Spaniard and ended up securing his position at the GP, plus knowing that we were going to have a Carlando moment at the GP made the win even sweeter than it already was

Moving on to some of the Low's

Yuki Tsunoda retiring the car in the second lap due to collision with Sergio Perez in the 1st lap

Logan Sargent crashing at turn 8 on Lap 19, completely destroying his front wing, this move puts his already unstable future in F1 in more jeopardy

Redbull's strategy... or maybe the lack of Strategy- the Singapore GP put an end to Redbulls complete dominance this season, with episodes of terrible timing and strategy giving hope for fans of other teams that this marked the end of hearing he dutch national anthem every GP this year

Ocon crashing out- Esteban Ocon showed some incredible potential and offence strategy during the race, sadly it all came to an end when he started to face gearbox issues, similar to the ones he had in Silverstone.

The slow pitstops- it cannot be a F1 race without its slow pit stops and the Singapore GP was no different with some incredible slow pit stops from Charles Leclercs Ferrari and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin

George Russel- Whether you're a Mercedes fan or not, there is no doubt that George Russels crash in the last lap was absolutely gut wrenching and one he's definitely not going to forget

And that's a wrap on the Singapore GP's highs and lows, so what do you think I missed any? (I'm sure I did) and what are your predictions for the Japan GP 2023?

Signing off,

~Writergirl

#f1 #formula one #charles leclerc #max verstappen #alex albon #carlos sainz #danielricciardo #estaban ocon #lando norris #pierre gasly #formula1 #singapore gp 2023 #singapore grand prix #singapore23 #liam lawson #forza ferrari #ferrari #ferrari f1 #scuderia ferrari #tifosi #aston martin #mercedes #aston martin f1 #motorsport #fernando alonso #logan seargent #logan sargeant #yuki tsunoda #checo perez #sergio perez

[leclercskiesahead]

Singapore Grand Prix: from the ground

Hello everybody this is gonna be a blog recap of what I got up to with F1 in my city.

(will update with pics later)

Pre-race events

Various racing-related pop ups started appearing even on Thursday or Friday the week before the race (aka during the week between Monza and Singapore). However the bulk of the events really only started from the Sunday before or Monday of race week.

There are some team-specific pop ups as well as general grand prix week events. Last year Heineken had a trailer that gave out free beer but sadly they didn't have it this year.

There are also lots of trailers around selling F1 merchandise - mostly team shirts, jackets, and caps. Prices are super high though. $90 for a cap...$200 for a shirt...it feels really jacked up and I've heard that if you purchase it directly from the teams pages or certain sites it is cheaper even with shipping. Even previous years' shirts are still going for like $60.

Wednesday

Arguably the biggest in town was Williams' pop up which took up a corner of a mall close to turn 9. They had 5 sim stations (you get three laps and it is free!), a reaction test station, as well as some activity with their team app where you go around the store to check in at various stations to collect badges. If you collect all the badges you get a pair of plastic Williams sunglasses. They also had quite a lot of merch and a display of some shoes from Alex's new range.

On Wednesday they had the meet and greet cum q&a session with the two drivers. To get into the m&g, staff would give out wristbands starting from 10am that morning. I had to go into work that morning, ran down at lunch time but the wristbands had already all been given out. Apparently people camped at the mall at 5 or 6am to claim their wristbands!

Anyway the same mall also had a Tommy Hilfiger pop up for Mercedes so I went to check that out. This was a lot smaller and mostly a series of photo ops, plus one sim station. There was a queue for the sim whenever I passed by so I never got to try it. They also gave out free postcards, and you can also get some stickers if you download some Tommy Hilfiger app.

I walked over to a different mall where there was a Ray Ban pop up for Ferrari where they also had a sim (1 free lap, if you make a purchase at the Ray Ban store you get another 3 laps and your fastest lap will be entered for some challenge with prizes to be won. but alas, these shades are expensive). However the highlight here has to be the full-length mirror with life-size cutouts of the two drivers in their sunglasses at the side of the frame. Amazing photo op. The pop up wasn't busy while I was there so the staffers gave me extra laps on the sim hehe.

Side track - Williams vs Ferrari sim. I dunno if the set ups have reflect anything about the actual racing cars but. The Ferrari sim had a looser steering wheel and I was crashing so much on that sim. Williams had gone ALL OUT with their set up with the full seat that's actually reclined at the angle the drivers sit at (Ferrari's was still a little high) and haptic effects and everything, and their steering wheel had a bit more resistance. I also don't know if there are any in-game settings that affect the drive. But I only crashed once on the Williams sim and found it easier to control. Or maybe it was just time of day, who knows.

After I walked to Marina Bay Sands, going along parts of the circuit in the process. The cafe in the lobby of the ArtScience Museum (the small building in front of MBS that looks like it has a hand or a lotus for a roof) had some racing-theme desserts and drinks but the menu didn't seem appealing enough at the price point so I gave it a pass. I strolled around the mall a bit - only found out at the end of the day that apparently Charles and Yuki had both been spotted that same afternoon around the mall! But sadly I did not see them. I went over to the hotel side of MBS where the SF-90(!!!) was displayed in the lobby. It had this year's livery pattern on it though. Carlos and Charles had both signed it.

Walked back to the Williams pop up and waited outside to catch a glimpse of the drivers. The team were staying at a hotel right next door so there was a walkway the drivers would come through and I got a spot there. Logan's event had already started, and we had quite a huge international crowd here. I later heard that the fans in the m&g asked him some stupid questions like "do you know the difference between km and mile" or "how does it feel to be the first f1 driver i've met" and the poor guy didn't quite know how to answer. He stopped at intervals on the way out to sign things and take photos. Then it was an hour wait for Alex's event to start and by this time, more people had ended work or school so a larger crowd had formed along the walkway. You could also see a crowd gathering outside the second entrance on the other side of the pop up, within the mall. Someone brought a giant Williams flag and was waving it around at the back.

Alex made a pretty speedy entrance down the walkway although he did stop for one or two quick pictures and signed some things for kids. Lily was there with him too! Then he entered the pop up and went over to the fans at the second entrance to sign some things for them, so the start of his m&g/qna was delayed. He finally came out like an hour plus past when the event was meant to end and stopped for EVERYONE along the walkway. I got a selfie with him :) a lot of people also wanted to say hi to Lily and she was very patient and nice.

On this night was when some people went to the track late and saw Carlos jogging around in his tank top 🔥 imagine seeing that in real life.

Thursday

Thursday afternoon had a few more public team events that I couldn't attend due to work. McLaren had an m&g with Lando, George had one with Puma, and Red Bull's drivers were expected to visit the team's Tag Hauer pop up. I heard a lot of people fainted while gathering at the RB pop up before the event because it was outdoors and the weather was just too hot.

Thursday night however was very exciting: I went to the Pit Lane Experience! This event has been going on for a few years now - on Thursday night they open part of the fan village and the pit lane while the teams may be working in the garages! The event is completely free, Singapore residents simply apply for a ballot. The tickets are given in pairs and I had no one to go with so I actually invited someone I was chatting to outside the Williams event while waiting for Alex the day before. We ran into someone they knew while in the fan village and those people had also ran into other people they knew so we ended up having this little group that went around together.

I have to say, the fan village was a tad disappointing? I don't think everything had been fully set up, but there was a store to buy merch

Already as we entered the circuit we saw Yuki whizzing by on a scooter. All the teams had people working in the garages this year (I've heard that at previous years some teams had not been around so the garages were closed) so we could all look in (they barricade it at a certain distance so you can't actually enter the garage). However, McLaren didn't have their cars in the garage so no sneak peek of the stealth livery.

Some teams even had crew members doing work at the pit wall. Lawson's car was wheeled up the pit lane at one point and then wheeled back down over an hour later.

Zhou, with his freshly announced contract, came out to greet the fans outside Alfa's garage. There was a large gathering at Ferrari's garage as the mechanics came out to practice pit stops (oh the irony) AND THEN CHARLES CAME OUT but I was too far behind in the crowd to see him 😭 he signed a few things and took a few pictures but went in pretty quickly. I waited outside the garage to see if Carlos would make an appearance too but no :( also I did not see Fusaro. You know, THAT mechanic.

Some people got glimpses of Pierre and Alex as they made their way out for track runs. Max and Fernando were seen having their seat fits. George and Esteban came out quite late on to greet fans. There was a crowd outside Red Bull that kept chanting Checo's name but he didn't make an appearance.

People were mostly waiting around outside RB, Ferrari, and Mercedes. I kept waiting outside Ferrari because I had some artwork I was hoping to give them but eventually someone got a call from a friend outside the circuit that the Ferrari and RB guys were all spotted leaving the track altogether.

I also saw pictures much later on that Lewis had also come out at some point to sign things for fans. I have no idea how that went under the radar because every time a driver appeared you would hear a cheer - as we got when George and Esteban came out late on.

Anyway knowing the Ferrari guys weren't around any more, I went to the end of the pit lane to take a look at the podium and the safety cars. As I was exiting the pit lane (although we enter in the opposite direction so this is actually at the entrance where the cars would drive in during a race), George came zooming out on his bike and he whirled around to wave at fans before starting his cycle round the track.

I forgot to take a photo with the DRS sign along the first straight.

I think around 10.30-11pm they started clearing everybody out of the track and pit lane. We saw Alex return from his run just before leaving.

RACE WEEKEND

Friday

It's Friday theeeennnnn... Of fking course I fall ill on this day. At the start of the race week. I had planned to see a few other race week pop ups before practice, maybe go back to the Merc/Tommy one to have a go on their sim and compare it to the other teams', but that was not to be. Luckily, I recovered in the late afternoon and headed out to a viewing spot.

The good thing about street circuits: if you don't have a ticket, there are lots of buildings around to watch from.

I watched FP1 and 2 from two different locations. No one around me had a stream on so I only found out the results a while after each session. Very happy with the Ferrari 1-2s and cautiously optimistic for tomorrow. In between practices, there was testing (I think) for the Porsche Carrera Cup, which was our feature series (last year we had the W series which was cool). The sounds of those cars were so different from the F1 cars, lower and a lot louder. You could almost feel them rumbling from where I was.

Saturday

I had personal commitments so wasn't able to see any of the sessions from near the track, but passed through the mall with Merc and Williams' pop ups on my way to one said commitment. Ran into one of the new friends I had made at the pit lane experience and we caught up for a bit.

Watched FP3 over dinner, went for my other commitment, which ended right around the time Lance crashed in q1. I went for supper with some people and there is one other person in that group who is also a Ferrari fan so we were both glued to our phones throughout. We couldn't make too much noise to not disturb other patrons but we were making all these tiny noises and gasps especially when Lawson improved his time to knock Max out of Q2. And then punching the air when Carlos got pole.

Sunday

I had a commitment in the afternoon and then immediately bolted to the malls so I could nab myself a good viewing spot. I went to the same spot I watched FP2 from as it is near a supermart so I could make a quick pit stop for food and drinks that needed to last me the next 6+ hours. My only mistake was I, much like Charles on a twitch stream, forgot to pee. So I had to ration my drinking before the race start.

Because I was there early, I watched the end of the Porsche race. Then we had the driver's parade! I think some of the drivers weren't expecting spectators at this part of the track because it doesn't have grandstands, but they didn't account for non-ticket holders gathering at the malls and hotels around. We were also close enough that if you yell, they might hear you, so you saw their heads all turning as they realised there were people calling out to them. A lot of people did the Piiiiieeeeerreeeee Gaslyyyyyy when he came by but I was the only one who did Nico Huuuuuuulkenberg.

Then we had to wait again before the race start and I ate my dinner. Some guys had been camping all day with proper foldable camping chairs and a large stash of mcdonalds that they were slowly making their way through.

About ten minutes before the race I tried to set up a stream on my tablet - I always do this when I go to watch the race from a viewpoint so I can still see what's happening once the cars have passed our section. However reception in that area was bad so I eventually gave up and resolved to just texting people for updates on the lap number - if I wasn't busy taking videos that is.

The viewpoint I was at, there's a linkway between two malls that the cars emerge under. It's really tall as there are some shops within the linkway itself, so your view is partially blocked. (However there's a decently long straight after that and your can make out the corner and run off area at the end if you tilt your head right.) You hear the cars approaching from the other side and hold your breath a bit wondering what order they will appear.

Because I didn't have a stream, I didn't know how the race start went. I was just praying that Carlos would get a clean start and keep his lead from George. I SCREAMED so hard when the cars emerged fro under the bridge and both red cars were at the front. That's how I knew Charles got the jump on George from lights out. I was so excited I almost didn't clock Lewis had come out in third.

Knowing my boys had a good start I half-settled a little bit - never fully because they were still so close together that I knew they would lose a lot of places when pitting. Yuki came by on the bike after his DNF. A few times I used the stopwatch on my phone to get their intervals myself, since I didn't have a stream to check it.

Some people were refreshing live blogs on their phones, plus an overseas friend texting me, and eventually word went around that Sargent had brought out the safety car. My heart fell when the pack appeared and I saw that Charles had lost places, plus Max was now right behind Carlos. I had honestly lost track of the laps so I didn't know how old the RB tyres were. Luckily, when the SC ended and we saw the cars again, Carlos was still first to emerge. We had a few overtakes or near-overtakes happen in front of us right after the safety car and everybody was really enjoying it.

Somehow, Valterri's retirement went under the radar until we saw him on the bike being escorted back to the garage. Because he has a blue helmet and Alfa Romeo also have black-based race suits, someone thought it was George at first and everyone was confused for a hot second.

Word of the VSC came around a bit late so I heard about it right as Carlos was already coming out under the bridge followed by Lando and Charles back in P3, with neither Mercs in sight. From that point, it was a nervy watch till the end watching the Merc closing the gap to Charles each time the pack came by, while Lando was keeping tail with Carlos. Once both Mercs had overtaken Charles, it felt like Carlos had managed to pull a gap on Lando. Then at about six laps to go they came by and Lando looked super close to Carlos again with the Mercs rapidly catching up too. Plus I was updated by text abotu Carlos saying on the radio that his front tyres were gone. I didn't dare film any more because I was so scared I would catch Carlos getting caught on camera. Each time I heard the cars approaching I held my breath and had to bang the railing in front of me to release the tension when Carlos still kept appearing first.

I was quite comfortable with the gap between Charles and the rest at first, but then Max got Pierre and was rapidly catching up and that made things even more nervy.

There were some screams and 'shit's around when George crashed out.

At the corner of the linkway there was an open-well staircase that was also packed with people trying to get a higher vantage point. Someone up there probably got a stream on because there was then a loud cheer - I wasn't sure if Carlos had yet crossed the line or something else had happened. Then Carlos zoomed past one last time, out in front, and everyone cheered for him, even though during the race you could hear people rooting for one driver or another. I was banging on the railing yelling YESSSSS VAMOS CARLOS VAMOS.

Surprisingly, the crowd dispersed pretty soon after. In previous years people have hung around to see the fireworks and watch the podium on whoever's device had a stream. I finally managed to pull a stream up on my phone in time to catch the top 3's interviews and just sat on the now emptier balcony watching the podium and finishing my food and drinks. Some people were also still sitting around, catching their breath. Everyone had been on their feet for near two hours getting our heart rates up. I might have cried except that I was sweating out all the moisture in my body.

And then I finally got to pee.

#singapore 2023

[bunnieshoneys]

i have a f1 how does this work question!! during qualifying i think? i saw charles did great on a set of used softs but i was curious about why this would be a good thing? does he have to save other tyres for the race…? sorry if this doesn’t make sense lol! i also love your f1 recaps and anything bunny talks f1!

AAAAAAAA thank you

long post under the cut this is hard to explain lol

so obviously, drivers only have a set tyre allocation per race weekend from free practice one onwards.

Taken from Williams F1:

"Teams and drivers do not have an infinite pool of tyres they can dip into over F1's three-day weekends at a Grand Prix. Instead, Pirelli provides 13 'sets' of tyres for each driver's use throughout the sessions.

In 2023, the allocation of tyres for every competitor is eight sets of soft tyres, three sets of mediums, and two sets of hards. Additionally, each driver gets four sets of intermediate tyres for damp tracks and three sets of full wets for the heaviest rain conditions.

After every Free Practice session, a driver must return two sets of tyres to Pirelli, so by the time Qualifying begins, a driver will have just seven sets of tyres to make it from Q1 until the race's chequered flag.

To give a slight advantage to drivers that don't qualify in the top 10, any runners who don't make Q3 retain all seven tyres for the race, while P1-P10 qualifiers hand Pirelli one final set after qualifying ends."

used tyres have less grip. Soft tyres (usually, there are exceptions) are the quickest to degrade, because they warm up - activate - quicker. this means they're fastest over one lap and used for quali where every sliver of time counts, a lot.

mediums degrade slower, but are typically slower, hards slower still but take a while to warm up.

tyre strategy starts all the way back in FP1, so journalists keep track of tyres that drivers are using to guess what strategies they might be using for the race. depending on the intended race strategy, a team will use certain tyres during practice to preserve the tyres they need for a race. for example, in jeddah, the ideal strategy is a one-stop, medium to hard or soft to hard. however, safety cars are a factor.

jeddah has a high rate of safety car use. so teams have to factor in the potential of a safety car and capitalise on it - lando norris was a key example this weekend gone. They saved him an extra set of new mediums in the event of a late-race safety car, but the safety car came early courtesy of stroll and they didn't pit him and hence ended up not using the extra medium tyre. but to save that medium tyre, they had to return a set of new softs, compromising him in quali. not the strategy decision i would have made, personally, but it was a gamble. it just didn't pay off.

coming to charles and using used tyres in quali:

this weekend was a bit of a weird quali for him. he said the feeling was worse on the new tyres for him, which ???? very confusing. Newer tyres = more grip = faster. But since every driver only has eight soft sets, and most likely will have used a couple during Free Practice, they'll use "used" softs for a few laps in quali to get a feel for the track, and set a time on the board. sometimes, teams will use mediums to do this, too (mercedes did in q1 in jeddah). most of these tyres have only been used for a few laps - between 3 and 5 - but they still are considerably slower than new softs because the deg kicks in after just a few laps on the soft. most quali sessions will be all about building to the final perfect lap, with new softs, at the end, when the track is fully developed / rubbered in (a whole other convo, lol), where they'll have the most grip and be able to push the most.

the field, in quali, is often remarkably tight, especially in q1. the entire field in jeddah was seperated by a second, and similar in bahrain.

when drivers put in a competitive lap on a used tyre, its usually an indication that there's more pace, especially when comparing the time to other drivers around them on new tyres. i.e leclerc goes second by a tenth to verstappen in q3, leclerc on used, verstappen on new, you would be expecting leclerc to take pole after putting in another lap on new tyres, because by using used tyres he is naturally going to end up slower.

the teams want to keep the tyres intended for use in the race as new as possible. in jeddah, the main strategy doesn't include the use of a soft tyre, meaning that the teams are pretty free to use all their softs in quali. in other races, soft tyres will be a part of the race, so they have to save new softs for the race and do a few more quali runs on used tyres to make the most of track evolution and get used to it. but ultimately, track position is the most important and teams will prioritise qualifying well over saving a set of tyres.

(if they want to save softs, usually they just do Less Quali Runs in general, and the pressure is on the driver to deliver a competitive lap more quickly.)

used tyres can be used in the race. But they have less grip, and are slower, and activate less well than new tyres. if your competitor is on newer tyres than you, he'll be faster and you're vulnerable to lose track positions and points. tyre age and offset is a huge factor in F1 strategy.

TLDR: drivers have a limited amount of tyres for an F1 weekend. new tyres are faster and have more grip than old tyres, so teams try to set aside new tyres for the race, and use new tyres in quali to achieve the fastest time. because of the limited allocation of tyres per driver, they'll use used tyres to get a feel for the track in quali, and if a driver is able to put in competitive laps on used tyres, it is a positive marker for both the driver's skill level and the pace of the car overall.

in regards to charles leclerc specifically in jeddah, he reported not feeling in touch with the new tyres on a lap, and tried to do multiple warmup laps to counteract this, but it didn't seem to work. Feeling less in touch on new tyres is unusual for drivers. no idea what was going on there, to be honest. but the longer you watch f1, the more u realise charles is often very strange in quali, lol. he's a beast (7 front row starts in a row, anyone?) but often doesnt seem to lock in properly until q2 or even sometimes q3, and sometimes manages better lap times on used tyres. hes a freak (affectionate) (hes my fav driver).

hope that answers ur question somewhat!! tyre strat is honestly one of the things i find most interesting about f1

#bunny talks f1 #bunny answers

[bowtiesnmusicals]

Here is my recap of the Major Juice (Duets) episode of the podcast.

Jenna said this is an exciting episode and they were recording on an off day.

Kevin said he was so looking forward to this episode. Even as much as he was looking forward to it he was still surprised. He was booped and gagged by so much that happens in this episode. This an episode that just sticks out to both of them.

Eric Stoltz directed this episode. He is one of their favorite directors.

This episode aired on October 12, 2010.

The #1 song was Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars.

The #1 movie was Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

There was a bit of controversy this week in 2010. the GQ magazine cover with Dianna, Lea, and Cory was released that week. Kevin believes it was shot by Terry Richardson. Kevin isn’t entirely sure why the cover was controversial. Jenna said she thinks the execs felt like this was a slight veer from the path of the underdog from the characters and not so much the content of the show. The girls look real sexy and Cory has his hands in all the right places. Jenna said she didn’t think a lot of people knew they did the cover until it came out. She thinks it was a situation of instead of asking for permission they asked for forgiveness. Kevin said this was one of the times Fox was very good at protecting the image of the show. Since it was a high school show they were protecting the cast like the were high schoolers.

Kevin talked about going to London the Summer before and did a talk show. Russell Brand was on the show. There wasn’t enough room for everyone on the couch so Kevin sat in Russell’s lap. While the host, Alan Carr, was doing the teaser bumper thing Kevin and Russel started to fake make out in the background. Fox put the kibosh on it and were like no no you can’t use that. Kevin thought it was funny. Jenna only remembers Kevin sitting on Russell’s lap but doesn’t remember him fake making out or the kibosh Kevin said that was because she was being professional. Jenna said she thought it was just her and Kevin doing that press. Kevin said that Matt Morrison was with them.

In advance of the Rocky Horror Glee episode they decided to release the album. It was the 7 songs from the episode. THere was a week break between episodes and this was probably done to get more hype for he Rocky Horror episode.

This was the first episode that Eric Stoltz directed. Eric is also an actor. Kevin said he is an actors director. Kevin said you will notice there edits of reaction shots that linger just a little longer then the normally would have and their are less cuts because he wanted those real reactions. He was interested in making sure everyone got some screen time. Jenna mentioned there are always more extras and things going on in the hallway scenes. Kevin said there are lots little shots between people and through arms of people that they had never done before and it was really sweet. Jenna said Eric had some rules. He was an actors director and he did not let lines, scripts, or pages on set. Every morning when they got to wor in their trailer would be the all the scenes for the day they were doing. They would be on small rectangular pieces of paper. They were not allowed to have them on set when Eric was directing. Jenna said there were probably a myriad of reasons he did this but a lot of it had to do with preparation. Jenna worked her way around it after awhile and took screen shots of the sides so she had them on set. She said even if she had done the preparation she liked to look at her lines before she went in to shoot. She said it was really interesting and they were like what he’s making rules, he’s doing what. She said some people could careless and some people cared a lot. Another thing he would do was when they made their days. This means that you complete your day in and all the scenes you are supposed to in 12 hours. Eric generally would make his days. He would move very quickly and they were like whoa especially coming off working with Alfonso who liked to take his time. Eric was very efficient. He would always show up in a full suit. Kevin said he cared. He was so concerned about making sure the kid were represented fairly in the show. Eric carried that torch for as long as he directed episodes. He added scenes that were not scripted because he thought the would fit in thematically.

There are a lot of songs in this episodes. This episode is about the songs and there is not a lot of plot.

There is no Jane Lynch or Mark Salling in this episode.

Mark wasn’t in this episode because there was some issues with him making his own music. He made his own album and put it out which he wasn’t supposed to do. So as a punishment he was suspended for an episode. Kevin said it was like getting suspended from school. He still got paid for the episode but didn’t work for the week. He was a series regular and guaranteed a certain amount of episodes. Kevin got in trouble during the first season because he was in a record contract from the boy and he was in before Glee. He had to pay to get out of it. Fox worked out a deal. Kevin was having money taken out of his checks to pay for the deal. The record company eventually apologized to Kevin. It just seemed unfair that Kevin’s thing was unknowingly happened while Mark knowingly put out his own music and only got a slap on the wrist and had to sit out a few episodes. Kevin said he is over it now.

In this episode as the Glee club gains a new member their is a duets competition that changes a lot of relationships within the group. Rachel and Finn have their own side thing going on and Kurt struggles with being the only out kid at school.

Kurt sees Sam come in and is like oh he’s gay. He sees the dyed blond hair and says oh he’s definitely on my team. Kevin said it’s a little aggressive. Anyways, Kurt approaches Sam to be his duet partner. Sweet Sam says yes. He’s a good guy and he’s great about it. Finn gets wind of this and tells Kurt he can’t do this. That he would be painting a target on Sam’s back. Kevin said it is some of the high school bs is favorite in glee, when the episodes aren’t about anything but high school stuff. It is also frustrating because these kids are so naive. Jenna said the stakes feel very high but their not which is a very high school thing.

On the side Finn and Rachel think they are going to win the duet completion. Rachel is weirdly selfishly but unselfishly trying to get somebody else to win out build morale so they win at regionals. Their plain s to get the new kid to boost his morale and get him to stay. Kevin said the scene in Rachel’s bedroom of them plotting is so good. It’s hilarious.

Kurt is having his issues with the Sam thing. He opens up to Burt and Burt doesn’t take his side on things. Burt brings up how Kurt was with Finn. Kevin said it is nicest show the perspective because if you are the only gay person how are you supposed to figure out if anyone else is gay without sort of being the aggressive one. It presents that problem and Burt is like you are just going to have suck it up until you can find someone as brave as you.

Kurt releases Sam from the duets of it all. Sam gets slushied and Quinn cleans him up. They have the most charming romantic scenes. Quinn and Sam end up being partners and spoiler alert winning the completions. They then go to Breadstix on a date. The scenes are very cute, intimate, and charming.

Kevin quotes the I needs me some Breadstix. Jenna said okay we are getting there.

Mr. Schue gives them a little bit of incentive to work hard by having a prize for the completion. The prize being dinner for two at Breadstix. Everyone is very excited about this especially one Santana Lopez. Jenna said these are some of the most ingrained lines that she delivers. Kevin said Naya is getting more and more stuff as the season goes on and she had a lot in this episode. He did not remember that half of these numbers are in this episode. Jenna said she didn’t remember that I was this or that number but she remembered there were a lot of numbers in this episode. They did a lot of these numbers on tour so this episodes music stuck with them for a long time.

Kevin said lets just talk about the duets. Quinn and Sam do a very cute rendition of Lucky. They did this song on tour.

Jenna said lets just get to River Deep Mountain High. It’s one of the best numbers of series according to Jenna. Kevin said it is by far one of the greatest things that Glee contributed to pop culture. Jenna said it only gets better every time you watch it. Kevin said those two had a proper sing off. Naya is fully keeping up with Amber in this number. The choreography is phenomenal. Kevin said they were dying. They were screaming during the filming of this like they were at a meet and greet. They wee at the Mercedes and Santana meet and greet. Jenna said you could see them getting riled up because of the rest of the cast was so excited. They were feeding off the rest of the casts energy. Every night on tour everyone was doing the dance moves in the back because they all know the dance moves. This is the best and the most fun. It’s so good. Jenna quoted Santana’s line of cause we going to Breadstix. It had them rolling. Kevin mentions that what leads to this is a magical scene between Brittany and Santana. They talk about sweet lady kisses and scissoring. One of the producers found out this was the first time the use of the word scissoring was on American Network Television as well as the first time it was used in a series with live family viewership. This got covered internationally. Kevins said I love that. Also more and more into the cannon of Brittana. Santana basically said this isn’t for me I just need a warm body underneath me while Puck is in juvy. Jenna said that is her favorite quote.

Because of Brittany and Santana splitting up in this episode Artie and Brittany have a big storyline that is a milestone for Artie. Artie loses is v-card this episode. Jennas said thats big and it’s the beginning of the Tina, Mike, and Artie triangle and Artie loses his virginity to Brittany. Kevin said you know what was more nerve wracking then having Heather pick him up and put him in bed was doing the vocal run at the beginning of the scene. He was used to being in a vocal studio at that point. He wasn’t trying to sing live ever. He said Heather was so funny in this and Eric was so lovely about this scene. He made an oops and moved his foot right before he gets put on the bed. Jenna said to be fair that is scary thing to be picked up like that. Kevin said he knew his foot was going to hit the bed and was trying to lift it a little. Jenna said just the fact that she picks you up, she was like oh my god this is crazy. Kevin said then we made sweet sweet love. Jenna said sweet sweet love that wasn’t love at all. Artie breaks up with Brittany shortly after because Santana is pissed about this. Kevin said he has referenced this scene many times when he says Naya and him couldn’t be in scenes together. Santana is telling Artie that Brittany has sex with everyone and he’s not special and she was using him. Kevin said if you notice he doesn’t ever look at Naya, he is looking forward. He does this even when she gets eye level with him. He said he thinks they got one take where they didn’t break. The scene is not even that funny. They just could not be their characters to each other and not break out laughing. It was bad. Jenna said it is also very funny. Kevin said to wrap up this storyline when Brittany talks about wanting to share spaghetti with Artie Lady and the Tramp style there is a shot during the Quinn and Sam scene at Breadstix where the camera pans to Brittany rolling the meatball with her nose. That scene wasn’t scripted. Eric had Heather stay at work a little extra long and added that scene in. Jenna said it is really cute. Kevin said he loved that Eric fought to get those little things in the episodes.

Moving on to the Tina and Mike duet. Jenna said this was like their first scenes you get to see them. Chicken feet and eating them became a whole thing. She said it was so strange. Kevin said she was very funny in that scene. Jenna said Eric brought out the best in Tina. She said it was really fun to support Harry in his featured moment. She said this number is so cute. She said she didn’t remember loving doing this episode. She said it’s so cute and Harry is so good. She said she loves the triangle of Artie, Mike, and Tina. Tina tries to go to dinner and duet with Artie and Artie wasn’t having it. Kevin said Artie isn’t mature again. Tina was upset and gets crapped on again so she is going for Mike. They talk about the scene with the chicken feet and couples therapy. Tina is upset at the idea that everything had to be Asian. Jenna said she appreciated that because it’s kind of like her. It’s not all that she is and it’s not all that Harry is either. Mike is very int dim sum and Asian’s couple therapy. She likes that Tina is like not everything has to be Asian. Kevin said he loves dim sum. Jennas said she loves it too but not chicken feet. Kevin said chicken feet are also not for him.

The mention there were lots of reactions shots that probably wouldn’t have happened without Eric. He talks about a reaction shot of Heather right after River Deep Mountain High where she is biting her nails and looking just off to the side but almost at the camera. He said that was all Heather.

Finn and Rachel do Don’t Go Breaking My Heart which is so cute and so wild because Rachel is fully acting out a storyline we are not privy to and then she sits down and has her confession about she’s really selfish and you are a good person. So funny this whole episode. Their number With You I’m Born again is bonkers. Jenna said her and her husband were howling last night watching the episode. It was very funny. Jenna asked Kevin if he remembered watching them while they were filming this scene. Kevins said yes. Jenna said she remembered trying to hold it together. Kevin said those two doing this amped up comedy together was flawless. Jenna said really really funny. Lea has three songs in this episode. She said she likes this song better then Run Joey Run. Kevin said shout out to Fordham University he was there with Heather and someone asked what their favorite songs were and someone shouted RunJoey Run and the place erupted. Jenna said tht is really funny.

Rachel had her third number, Happy Day’s Are Here Again. They said this song on tour as well. This is preceded by sweet scene between Kurt and Rachel comes to Kurt’s locker and we are a lot more similar then we realize. Kurt said that’s rude. She then has a really lovely speech about how he might be lonely but he has twelve other people who love him just the way he is in glee club even if it isn’t romantically. It is a really really nice moment and it’s nice off the heels of Rachel pretending to sort of be a good person and not selfish and plotting who is going to win. This is actually the real genuine nice thing she does. Kevin said if you have not seen the original black and white video of Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy with Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland go watch it. Go watch it and then watch the Glee version. Jenna said she thinks Lea has this engrained in her brain. Kevin said every movement, look, smile, shrug is Barbra Streisand in that number. He said he doesn’t think he realized it at the time and didn’t until years later when he saw the original video and thought this looks very familiar. He said Lea had something specific in mind and crushed it. Jenna said well it is Barbra. She said she remembers running around the stadium at that point because they were getting ready to do Single Ladies. He said he felt like this number and him talking were to just killing time to get things set up for Single Ladies.

Speaking of Chris, Jenna forgot that Le Jazz Hot was in this episode. Kevin said he did too. There is quite the story with this. Kevin asks Jenna if she remembers. Jenna said are you thinking of the Golden Globes. She said oh we are going to tell that. Then Jenna mentions she doesn’t know why they put Tina in this number. Kevin said you were good. They made her dance with all the dancers who do Vocal Adrenaline. Heather and Harry were in it. Brooke the assistant choreographer was also in it. All the dancers who were on tour. She said why am I there? She said she remembers stressing so hard. This dance is so hard. It doesn’t look hard but it was very effing hard. She was like I don’t belong here. She says if you look at the kick line you have all these dancers and then short Jenna. Kevin said there were a lot of high kicks in a row. Jenna said the whole thing is turn, stop, turn stop. It was a lot of core work that Jenna didn’t have at the time.

Jenna said so what happened Kevin, what is the story that we are telling. Kevin said the Hollywood Foreign Press, the association that hosts and votes on the Golden Globe Awards, came to visit set that day. They watched Chris rehearse the number before it was filmed. The music cut out. Kevin said this never happens. There was a slight pause and Chris just starts singing it. Jenna said they were mid song when music cuts out and they just kept going. Kevin said everyone paused for a second and Chris was like the show must go on. Kevin said normally this wouldn’t have happened because it was a rehearsal but the HFPA was there so keep it going. He sang the rest of the song and they danced through it and that boy got himself a Golden Globe. Jenna said she forgot they kept going and Chris was singing. Kevin said he was in the audience like oh my gosh and then Chris won a Golden Globe that year. Jenna said this happened one other time when they were shooting a scene and they kept singing because it was on Dot’s coverage. It was during Shake It Out. Jenna was like oh wow we really sound good right now. Dot had to cry the whole number so they just kept going. Jenna said she was like wow this a good song. Kevin said for the record that was beautiful version.

Getting back on track. Kevin said there was a fun fact about this episode. He was on an episode of The Office a year before he was on Glee. There was an episode of the Office that came out a month after Duets aired. The episode is called viewing party and one of the character invites the others to their house to watch Glee together and the episode they are watching is Duets. Jenna said so meta. Steve Carell’s character is asked who is favorite character is and he says the invalid referring to Artie, more Meta. Jenna Fisher who is one of co-hosts of the Office Ladies podcast, talked about in their recap of Viewing Party that they weren’t allowed to pull that many clips because it was expensive. They also couldn’t show anything that hadn’t been shown before so they had to use an episode that had previously aired and Duets had just aired. Kevin said he thought it was so weird. He had many friends texting him asking if he knew about it. He said he did not know that Steve Carell’s character was going to pick Artie as his favorite, respect, thank you, he would have been upset had they not. Jenna said they all would have been upset. Kevin and Jenna said they did not it was happening and didn’t know about until he saw the episode.

Jenna said that is pretty much the episode. Kevin said there was one more significant thing that happened this episode. It was Chord’s first impression. He does a Matthew McConaughey impression. That’s what really got Quinn. Jenna said it got us all. Kevin said and he is a bottle blond. Jenna said he forgot his hair was that blond when came in to the show. She said she is also glad his impression made it into the episode. Kevin said can we also talk about Chord got a haircut halfway through the episode. Jenna said, did he? Kevin said yes. Jenna said she feels there some drama about that. Kevin said Stoltz was not happy because it was a bad haircut. He went Justin Bieber band to blunt bang. All of a sudden somebody is performing and it cuts to Chord in the choir room and he has a blunt bang in like two scenes. Jenna asked if they were doing Rocky Horror at the same time. Kevin said yes possibly. That is the haircut he has for Rocky Horror because he had to be in that gold thong. Maybe that’s why. Kevin said its weird because he has scenes where he has the normal Justin Bieber hair and then bad haircut. Kevin calls it hair gate. Jenna said they had a few of those.

Kevin said River Deep Mountain High is the one the best things that has ever happened to him. Jenna said hands down. She said when she was watching it last night this truly goes down in history, not just glee history. Kevin and Jenna both say herstory.

Jenna mentioned that Kevin didn’t have a song in this episode but he does lose his v-card so its all fair.

Tartie Takes:

Cringe Moments/Ouchies - Kevin said the Rachel and Finn number is supposed to be cringe but it’s so good. Kevin said he felt cringy over Harry finally gets to talk and it’s just about dim sum.

Worst Dance Move - Jenna said she doesn’t think there is a worst dance but there is a best dance move which is all of River Deep Mountain High. Kevin said the choreography for Le Jazz Hot is incredible. Jenna said she has ptsd but it’s very good. Kevin said why didn’t Zach get nominated for an Emmy.

Best Song - River Deep Mountain High

Best Prop - Amber and Naya’s hair during River Deep, Naya’s skirt during River Deep, Jenna also likes the meatball. They were both very hungry during this podcast.

Best Line - Kevin said I don’t if we have time. There are a lot. Jenna said hers is Santana saying is like a lizard and needs something warm under her or she can’t digest her food but really any Santana line this episode also Brittany after Artie says he still has a crush on someone and she says the Clintons. Kevin’s is also the Santana reptile line. Kevin said they quoted that many times. He said were they just nerds and just fans of the show they were on and quote the lines in real life. Jenna said yeah she never thought about it like that. Kevin said they were. That it’s cute because they were such fans of each other.

Shit We Found On TikTok:

Someone posted incredible renders of fake Glee vinyls. They are gorgeous. Kevin said he can’t believe they aren’t real and they need to have a word with someone to make it happen.

They said they will have to have Stoltz on at some point.

Well that’s all until next week. Next week is Rocky Horror.

#and that’s what you really missed #atwyrm #jenna ushkowitz #kevin mchale #glee #podcast

[primofate]

The Ruthless Prince (Part 16.1) Scaramouche x fem!reader [Genshin Royal AU]

Summary: When Prince Scaramouche picks you out of a random group of commoners to marry, your life is turned upside down. He’s mean, snarky, condescending and he doesn’t act like a proper husband or prince at all. However, when Prince Tartaglia from the neighbouring kingdom takes an interest in you, Prince Scaramouche finds himself even more annoyed than usual. This is the story of him and you navigating this roller coaster of a relationship.

Warnings: NOT PROOFREAD forgive me, longer than usual, lots of things happen, steamy! but completely safe for work, implied sexual activities. 16.1 because I cut out the hot parts, 16.2 will be the one that details what exactly they did *eyebrow wiggle* but it doesn’t take away anything from the story if you don’t read 16.2. It’s just a little extra for those who feel like it.

Word Count: 4.7k

Summary and a recap on the Royal AU plots are here.

Read other parts: (Ruthless Prince Masterlist)

You sit in the silence of your shared room. Glancing at the clock on the wall, it is now past the birthday celebrations. Past your usual bed time, even. 

And yet, not a wink of sleep has found you.

There’s only anxiousness and uncertainty that makes your chest tighten. It drops to your stomach, and it dissipates the slightest bit, making you think that you’ve gotten control of your emotions back, but it shoots up your stomach and wraps around your heart again. The cycle of being anxious and uncertain continues.

Scaramouche disappeared as soon as the two of you got back to the castle. He strode past the big castle doors in a hurry, and when he remembered that you were there with him he swerved around and only said one thing. “Go to sleep,” It was rather dismissive, and for a moment you wondered if going to sleep was really the only thing you could do. 

It turned out that even going to sleep was difficult at the moment. For the past three hours you weren’t quite sure what you’ve been doing, sitting on the bed in your night gown, back leaning against the headboard, trying to read a book yet realizing that you’ve been reading the same line over and over again. You sighed, and dropped the book on your lap whilst closing your eyes.

Things escalated so fast. The moment that Tartaglia burst through those doors, you didn’t have any idea how much things could turn so bad.. 

“You’re here uninvited. Must be something serious,” Scaramouche sneered at the Snezhnayan Prince. Gone is his red scarf, replaced by a dark purple coat that seemed to radiate wickedness, the scruff of his neck is wrapped in a feathery white collar. There’s a red mask that rests on the side of his head, one that you’ve never seen before, and his armor that clung to his form made his hands look like claws instead of human hands.

He looked like a modern day devil.

“Quite,” Tartaglia replies, the grin plastered on his face rivals that of Scaramouche’s. He raises his arms and with a powerful voice addresses the whole room. “An important announcement, ladies and gentlemen,” he commands the eyes and ears of people to look at him just with a simple statement. Scaramouche’s demeanor changes, a frown replaces his sneer, he senses that this might not be the usual scuffle or fight between rivals that he initially thought it would be.

“I, Prince Tartaglia of Snezhnaya, declare war over the Kingdom of Balladeer.” He points one clawed finger towards Scaramouche, whose face was now painted blank. You, behind him, slowly internalize the words and start to process what was happening. People around you gasp, there are murmurs and mumbles and whispers all around as Tartaglia continues. “My victory will mean that I take over these lands, anyone who gets in my way will be punished.” He upturns his hand, palm facing up, “Everything of yours, your kingdom, your vision, your resources–” his darkened eyes dart towards your cowering form behind Scaramouche “your people…will submit to me,”

There’s an uproar in the venue, people start to shuffle away unsure of what to do, some of them file out of the ballroom, possibly wanting to get home and warn their family as soon as they could.

“But, I’m a fair man,” Tartaglia smiles all too pleasantly. “A battle isn’t fair if one of us is unprepared…by daylight tomorrow morning, my men and I will be outside your castle walls, ready to obliterate it,” The palm he has stretched out, crumples into a fist, and finally, he finishes his speech, dropping his hand next to him. 

“...Confident as ever,” Is the first thing that Scaramouche says. He crosses his arms over his chest and tips his head up to meet Tartaglia eye to eye. Then, as if the whole world was his, as if he wasn’t the tiniest bit threatened, he smirks. Smug. Matching Tartaglia’s superiority. “You’re taking nothing from me and when I’m done with you, you’ll never even think about stepping into my territory again,”

It’s a war.

No matter how many times you repeat it in your head it just doesn’t seem real to you. People could be killed, innocent men and women and children who are just trying to live day by day. People who have lived here for all their lives have nowhere to run and tomorrow all they can do is stay inside and hope for the best. That wasn’t fair and all for what? A power-hungry prince who seemed to have some sort of grudge towards Scaramouche.

And me, what will I do? Sit pretty and wait? What about my parents? 

You think to yourself, the clock ticking by and in the blink of an eye, it’s been another 20 minutes of just sitting and digesting everything. You shake your head away from your thoughts.

Scaramouche hadn’t come back from whatever preparations he was handling, it was past midnight. How was he going to lead a war without any sleep? Without thinking your legs swung over to the edge of the bed and you had the urge to go and see what he was still up to.

There must have been thousands of preparations, but when you stepped out into the hallway it was quieter than you thought it would be. Somehow the image in your mind were maids and knights running around, alerting the kingdom about the impending trouble. There was none of that. It was quiet, like any other night in the castle.

Your footsteps were light on the carpeted floor, following the path that you recognized out into the training field, your gut feeling telling you that if there was anywhere Scaramouche might be right now, it was there. 

When you opened the wooden door outwards a nice night breeze hit your face, your hair momentarily ruffled with the wind. You push past and you see him in the middle of the field, sword in hand, covered in sweat, and looking as if he’s been out there for far too long. He doesn’t sense your presence, too engrossed in his own stance and concentration, like he was in a duel with the real person. 

It’s a little cold out here with what little you wear, but something strikes you as you watch him. Admiration? Unsure of what it was exactly, you approach carefully, the crunch of grass under your feet grabs his attention, his eyes darting towards the intrusion. Realizing it’s just you, he straightens up, sword dropping on his side and raises an eyebrow as you approach. “I thought I told you to go to sleep,”

You stop an arms length away from him. The wind quietly whistles once again, and aside from the faint sound of crickets there isn’t much to hear out here in the field. He stays his gaze on you as you remain silent, it’s difficult to form the words in your mouth. In the first place, you didn’t know why you went out here anyway.

However, your silence seemed to have spoken to him, he looks at you for a few more seconds, before sigh-huffing and sheathing his sword on his side. “Whatever, I’m done here anyway,” Something in his voice tells you that he wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight, but whatever aura you had given off had probably changed his mind. 

“Come on,” Scaramouche walks past you, and doesn’t turn to see if you were following. It was partly the look on your face, but it was partly the fact that the ring on his finger had been radiating shades of blue and grey the whole time he was out there on the field. He didn’t exactly know what those colours meant, but the dullness of it told him that it wasn’t something pleasant.

You follow him in silence, noticing that your heart grows heavy as you walk behind him. You watch his back, and you can’t help but think that all you could ever do was watch his back, even in a crisis like this. 

The two of you arrive back in your room, and he quickly states he’ll use the bathroom to freshen up. 

The heaviness in your heart is still there as you lay yourself on the bed, facing the bathroom door. Your eyes are heavy, but the muffled patter of water on tiles in the bathroom reminds you to stay awake. You look at the space next to you, where Scaramouche should be. The fingers tucked under your face twitches, as if it wants to reach out and feel how empty it was.

Tomorrow…Will everything be okay?

People could be killed. You think once again. And so could he. He was human, despite how brash and abrasive he was, one precise stab to the heart or an injury beyond repair would cripple him. 

Was that what you were anxious of, all this time? Or was it the fact that if he loses, Tartaglia claims everything of Scaramouche’s, and the Snezhnayan prince certainly wouldn’t spare you. Your eyes snap open when you hear the bathroom door open, not realizing that you had fallen asleep for a small moment there. It usually wouldn’t wake you up, these small sounds, but the atmosphere tonight has gotten you tense. 

Again he’s clad in his silk sleeping attire, towel around his neck and drying off his hair with one hand. He approaches the bed, passes you a glance, and sits on the edge of it, continuing to ruffle his hair with the towel. 

The sight is so mundane. So plain. So ordinary and yet the possibility that you won’t be able to see it again tomorrow night…the feeling that came with it was so complicated. He had been far from nice to you, the past few months. Perhaps there were instances wherein he showed parts of him that was human, an emotion other than loathing, but for most of the time that you’ve lived here, he was infinitely hard to reach.

But not impossible…

One had to squint, very very hard, to see the kindness in Scaramouche. One had to know that his words were harsh but they sometimes had an undertone of concealed and secret concern. You had to know him and spend time with him to know that he didn’t know how to apologize, but that his mannerisms changed when he felt apologetic. Only when you spent as much time with him as you did, would one realize that he didn’t like being vulnerable in front of others, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t care, he just had his subtle and rather grating and unconventional ways of showing it. 

“Stop worrying,” he suddenly mumbles, knowing that you were still awake. He’s moved on to drying his face, just as his routine goes. “I’ve made all the preparations I can, the knights have always been prepared for this, and your parents will be fine,” 

Your eyes move up to stare at the back of his head. There it is. That rare moment of him being humane. It’s been more frequent lately, and you wonder if he knows that as well. Strangely enough, you don’t respond to his statement. It dawns on you that you’ve been awfully quiet, it was strange even for you, but none of what he says eases your mind to a comfortable enough level.

“Kuni’ll stay here with you, in the castle,” That catches your attention, and he says this as he lays down on his side of the bed, his back facing you, as per usual. 

“Wouldn’t it be better if he’s out there with you?” Your head lifts up a little, there’s obvious concern laced in your voice. Kuni was a good fighter, from what you’ve heard.

“No. Along with him, there’ll be a few knights stationed here. Someone has to stay here with you, and it can’t be me,” He simply explains, and it makes a lot of sense to you, yet it doesn’t feel quite right.

You fall silent once again, looking at his back and how he seemed to be so close yet so far. He turns the lamp off on his side, usually an indication that you should turn yours off too, but you’re stuck still ruminating on your thoughts. Festering in what you would now admit was worry.

The same hand that was once resting under your cheek slides out and away, reaching over to him, towards his back, and suddenly clutching on the fabric of his sleeping shirt.

His eyes were closed, but they flash open when he feels it. His body tenses and relaxes in a span of a second. He’s blinking, staring at nothing in particular on his side of the bed, waiting for you to say something. He waited for a while, and he was confused if you were even going to say anything at all, or did you just latch on to him for some sort of…anchor? To let yourself feel that you were still in the real world, because, frankly, no matter how put together Scaramouche looked at this moment, he also had the feeling that this might just be a dream. That the war was not going to happen tomorrow and he would wake up to find out that it had just been a figment of his imagination or a sick joke. One or the other.

“...You’ve…taken care of everything else…but you haven’t said anything about yourself,” You finally started, piecing your muddled thoughts together and somehow coming up with the things that you wanted to clear up and say. “You’ll be back tomorrow when it’s over?” As casually as you could, you asked the most important question that had been weaving around in your mind ever since he told you to go to sleep.

Scaramouche could not place a word on the sudden feeling that engulfed his chest. It seemed to be a little bit of surprise and a little bit of astonishment, mixed with a pleasant bloom of warmth that made his heart pitter patter a little faster. “...I’ll be beyond the kingdom walls before daylight with the knights, and I’ll be back before nightfall, it shouldn’t be long,”

He talked about it as if it was just a meeting he had to attend. Like he didn’t have to go out there and fight for his land and his life. Like he wasn’t a prince, but a normal man out on an errand to buy fruits, telling his wife he’ll be back before dinner. But it wasn’t that at all, and you weren’t alright with that.

“...You’re sure?” You prod, and now it’s his turn to fall silent. You wait for an answer, five seconds, ten, fifteen. He doesn’t give you one and that’s how you know that he’s only trying to reassure you with false words. 

There was no way Scaramouche would know exactly what would happen, and there was no way for him to know if he would really return. 

Your hand loosens at the realization, releasing the now crumpled part of his shirt, hand inching back towards you as your heart tries not to drop. In a split second he’s turned around, now facing you, hand on your wrist before it could even rest peacefully beside you. Your eyes widen a fraction at the sudden movement, but you close it almost immediately when he flicks your forehead rather painfully.

“Ow!” your other free hand comes up to your forehead to rub it and you half glare at him for the sudden punishment. 

“What kind of question is that? Who the fuck is going to put up with your clumsy and stubborn ass if I don’t come back?” He asks, deadpan look on his face but there seems to be a genuine hint of annoyance there.

“I was just making sure…” You mumble while still rubbing your forehead and twisting your wrist away from his hold. He lets it go and glances at the ring on your finger. 

“See this?” He holds up his hand for you to see his own ring and you blink at it, before looking at yours.

“Oh, yeah, mine’s been turning different colours…What’s that about?” You ask.

“It’s connected to me. The Sangonomiya clan makes the rings with varunda lazurites, infused with magical properties of the sango pearl. Don’t ask me how it works, it’s just been tradition for the rings to be connected, so you know how the other feels,” He drops his hand and looks bored as he explains it, but you’re thoroughly intrigued.

You pick up your hand and turn it around in wonder. “Oh…So these colours are connected to your emotions… I didn’t think I’d see different ones cause you’re so uncaring,” You said it offhandedly, insulting him was like part of the normal conversation and him insulting you was equally as normal. He glares at you, about to have a comeback but you pipe up with your question first. “What does pink mean?” because the pearl on your ring was clearly glowing a pink colour.

He glances at it and scoffs, “Fuck knows. These things don’t come with instructions, you just have to go with what your gut tells you,” 

Your nose and eyebrows scrunch up as you lay your hand next to you. “Well that doesn’t make it a very effective “feeling” ring then doesn’t it?” 

He huffs, “It’ll at least let you know that I’m still alive. If the colour fades, then…”

And suddenly that curtain of dread and tense atmosphere descends on you again, just when you thought the mood was becoming a little better. 

So that’s why he talked about it. 

He wanted to tell you that there was a way for you to know what was happening, even if you were apart from each other. Wanted to tell you how to know if he had died.

“...I see…” there’s an almost uncomfortable silence when you utter the words, but he wasn’t done talking.

“...If the colour fades, you’re going to have to tell Kuni. He’ll take you on horseback to the neighbouring kingdom, we’re mostly on friendly terms and you’ll be fine there…your parents will follow,”

It hits you that he’s prepared even for the scenario in which he’s killed. Your mouth opens with slight indignation and shock. It felt unfair that he could just decide what to do with you and your life, but you couldn’t deny that it was probably for the best. There’s a shiver that runs up your spine, but you don’t tremble. You do, however, feel the tremble in your heart and you look up into his eyes to glare at him with great displeasure. “That’s not what I want to hear,”

Scaramouche wonders why it is that your eyes start to look a little glossy. He gives a lopsided grin, laying there next to you and watching the emotions race through your face, it was easier to decipher than what the ring shows him. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you glad you’re finally gunna get out of this hell hole? It’s one way to get rid of me,” He’s saying it with humor, but you find none in it and he knows it, because he’s never looked at you with such a tender gaze before. 

How dare he. You think. To just assume how you would feel and what you wanted, but it was exactly how you would have felt months before and now, you’re not too sure what exactly it is that spurs you to be so upset by his words. To be so bothered that he might not come back to you alive. To know that he had still thought about you, in the event that he was killed in battle. It was unexpected and touching, but somehow, in all the wrong ways and methods. 

“That’s not–” the unexpected tear that slips past your eye surprises you as well, but you look at Scaramouche and there’s no surprise in his face. It’s as if he knew this was going to happen. You gulp down the thick lump in your throat. “How can you talk about it so easily? I don’t–” another tear follows, followed by another and another until you can’t control them anymore. They’re more out of frustration, not sadness or anger. 

It feels as if whatever progress you’ve made with him was slipping away. Like the parts that you’ve seen of him had been ripped from your hands and the past few months in which you saw the confusing yet weirdly fascinating sides of him had burned away. 

“You’re an idiot,” he whispers and you feel his hand rest on your cheek, thumbing away the tears on one side of your face. “You can live a normal life again, away from the issues in aristocracy and free from my bullshit. Who knows, maybe there is someone else out there who would put up with your impossible attitude,” he grins a little when he says this. 

It’s ironic, the way he puts it. Because between the two of you, you believe that he has the more impossible attitude, and yet as always, he turns it around on you. As if trying to convince you that him dying was a good thing, that there was nothing but benefits. 

“Stop it,” You try to assert, but the words come out softly without any strength. Your moment of weakness dissipates despite still feeling the tightness in your throat. You take your hand and hastily wipe the back of it over your eyes, but there’s still wetness messily smeared around the area and if he continues talking, more might leak out. 

Scaramouche doesn’t take away the hand on your cheek, and now he’s only looking at you. Digesting the fact that you were so distraught over the thought of him perishing. Your tears speak volumes. He doesn’t understand why you’re so upset over it, yet at the same time, he understands it completely. He understands because he’d felt that anxiousness before, when you were shot in the chest by an arrow, he thinks that what you feel now is exactly what he felt then. 

Perhaps it was then that he had started feeling this way and piecing the puzzle together, or perhaps it had been before that. He couldn’t be sure. 

“...If you cry you’ll make it harder for me to leave in the morning,” he admits, and the words taste nearly sour in his mouth, saying something so unusual like that. But you take it in stride and answer in your own stubborn way.

“...Then maybe I should keep crying,” 

He almost laughs despite the situation. Leave it up to you to have some sort of clever and annoying response.

At that moment, it all feels right to him. The way that you can counter his snarky attitude, that you were able to not gawk at him when he did something unusual. The way that you were hard-headed in almost the same ways as him and the way that you had somehow wrapped his cold heart in a warmth that he didn’t expect to feel from somebody. Specially someone who only started out as a pawn in his plans, but he had to admit, you had your charms. 

“...Y/N,” 

The way he says your name prepares you for his next move. He leans forward without warning, you see him approaching and your eyes instinctively close, like you’ve envisioned this moment in your mind’s eye before. 

It feels like your heart shatters into a million pieces when you feel the softness of his lips descend on yours. Like the tiny little pieces of your heart scatter inside your body and spreads the tingle to every little crevice of you. It’s not a kiss that starts out certain, if anything, it’s a little unsure, a little skeptical and cautious until your hand tethers to his shoulder, pulling yourself a little closer to him. 

You feel him sigh into the kiss with your motion, and now he presses further, a bit more certain, his hand draping over your middle and tugging you further into him. His legs are suddenly bumping into yours, tangling a little with each other as he hooks his foot behind your heel to drag your leg towards him. His body just suddenly ached for that contact, to be closer, at least for tonight. 

By the time the two of you break away, it’s with a satisfied sigh. Neither of you are out of breath, for it was a very innocent yet complex kiss. There’s a mild stupefied look on both of your faces, like the two of you hadn’t expected it at all, but found that it wasn’t exactly disagreeable. 

Your heart has definitely jumped out of your chest, and you wonder if you’re still alive. You open your mouth to say something but close it again as you fluster, unsure of what to say but very aware that this is the closest you’ve been to him, wrapped in his arms and inches away. 

Scaramouche, however, had other plans. He had a strong urge to go for another one, watching your lips move and entice him. Again, he leans forward, but he whispers before he closes the gap, his eyes locking with yours and his breath fanning your face. “If you don’t like it you’d better say something now,” 

You don’t utter a word. 

So his mouth claims yours in an open-mouthed kiss. The intensity of it is different from before. He manages to slip his arm under you and now you’re flush against him. You can’t help the slight whimper that escapes when his lips relentlessly finds yours. You’re aware of the fact that your head starts to tilt and turn to receive his kisses more willingly, adding a sense of urgency into them as if he can’t get enough and as if you’re begging for more. 

Your hands slide up his shoulders and wrap around his neck, your tongues start to meet each other for the first time and you’d always thought that the lewd sounds of intense, sloppy kissing was not your thing, but for some reason it now lights a fire in your stomach and his small sighs and subtle groaning into your mouth was just fanning the flame stronger. 

It doesn’t let up, and you’re not sure you want it to, but all of a sudden he pulls away and buries his head into the crook of your neck. He breathes heavily, his arms retreating back to him and pulling yours away from his neck, forcefully placing it back next to you. You’re confused, but he speaks up before you can ask. “...We shouldn’t,” 

It’ll make it more difficult for him and this wasn’t the right time, he thought. Again he feels like this wasn’t the correct order of things, and he’s trying to calm himself down, eyes shut tight against your neck, and yet your scent just permeates his nose. 

“...I…don’t want to be worried,” you whisper, and it seems almost innocent at first until you continue. You don’t know what pushes you to say it or where the sudden courage comes from, perhaps it was adrenaline. “I don’t want to think about tomorrow or what might happen… so I…” You swallow the nervousness down. “I want to forget, just for tonight,” 

Scaramouche’s eyes snap open, but he remains hidden in your neck. He’s vaguely aware of what you’re implying and it takes him some self-control to confirm and ask you. “...What do you mean?”

There’s a few seconds of silence before you answer, stumbling on your words a little but clearly your desire overpowers it. “I mean that…you could help me…take my mind off of things… I’m too anxious about everything right now and I just–”

Scaramouche needs no further explanation as he suddenly pushes you down on the bed and towers over you, his hands on the sides of your head. Legs trapping your body in between and under his. There’s a carnal need that flashes in his eyes and they look clouded and darker to you. 

You bravely meet his gaze, you meant what you said, and perhaps part of you just wanted more of him to be ingrained in your memory, in case something dreadful happened tomorrow. 

“...You really are impossible,” he mumbles and you smile a little at his observation. He leans down to devour your lips again, and the rest of the night is spent in exploration of each other’s bodies and feelings, as if tomorrow was never going to come. Like the two of you were infinite and timeless in each other’s passion.

Like the melding of your bodies into one would tattoo and anchor you to each other forever.

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MASTERLIST

https://primofate.tumblr.com/post/653296890583154688/masterlist-for-mobile-version-main-links

#scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche angst #scaramouche fluff #scaramouche royal au #genshin impact #genshin impact fluff #genshin impact angst #genshin impact scaramouche #genshin impact royal au #the ruthless prince

[mlobsters]

supernatural s13e5 advanced thanatology (w. steve yockey)

givin a little side eye to the pre-episode recap but okay let's go. montage of the boys dying and misery, killing Death (for sammy 🥺) and billie (are they gonna finally do something with the ~consequences~?). and sadly comical that it doesn't even cover all their deaths

giving horror game vibes. plague mask so drama

strawberry jelly??? can't remember last time seeing strawberry in jelly not jam form and i do spend a long time staring at jams

SAM PB&J for breakfast? Strong work. DEAN Yep. SAM You want a beer with that? DEAN I’m cool? SAM Come on, live a little. Here. [Places bottle of beer from fridge in front of Dean] DEAN What’s going on with you? SAM What do you mean? [Awkward pause] Anyway, check this out. I think I found something.

lol me thinking, is he possessed? why's he acting so weird

SAM Yeah. So I thought we’d check it out, you and me. DEAN What about Jack? SAM He’s uh, he’s catching up on all of my old fantasy DVDs – Red Sonja, Beastmaster, uh, Beastmaster II – you know, with the time traveling ferrets. DEAN Yeah. Wow, how you ever got laid, I’ll never know. SAM Yeah, tell me about it.

sam, you're acting extra weird

SAM So I was thinking we’d leave Jack behind. DEAN Really? SAM Yeah. We’ll put up some extra warding. He’ll be fine. I mean, when’s the last time we worked a case, just you and me? DEAN It’s been a while. SAM Exactly. So?

🧐samuel seriously, what are you doing? you been reading some relationship advice book in addition to your gifted child book? is this how you take dean's line "I need you to keep the faith, for both of us. ‘Cause right now, I… Right now, I don’t believe in a damn thing." and put it into action? being weirdly copasectic and offer what you think dean wants? is cas gonna interrupt their "we time" lol (i reread my recap of 10x04 today)

always good to see dean with his soft touch with kids. (hmm makes me think about how sam usually doesn't take the lead with kids and, and now he's doing it for maybe the first time with jack? huh -- editing to say, sam had some good dad moments with kevin too!)

but also the point of the dean picture is the weaponized eye crinkles from jackles. that thing reminded me so much of george clooney in ER - i imagine he does it in other stuff but that bit here just had me like oh that's such a dr ross move. serious convo, a little bittersweet half smile but full eye crinkle, back to serious face. pretty sure jackles uses it regularly too (maybe not this particular scenario usually) but for some reason it just popped out to me today

aha, so this is where the sam trying to convince the stripper to go to nursing school during a lapdance conversation happens. makes more sense now what with the context of the wacky behavior from sam

DEAN Dude the last lap dance you had – was – was at Christmas. It was a gift paid for by me. You spent the entire song trying to convince the girl that she should go to nursing school. So what is it? Is it my birthday? Did – did I win a bet that I don’t know about? What? SAM No, nothing. Nothing. I – I mean, I’m just trying to be nice. DEAN Why? SAM Because… you know why. DEAN I’m fine. SAM No, you’re not, Dean. You said you don’t believe in anything and – and that’s… that’s not true. That’s not you. You – you – you do believe in things. You believe in people. That’s who you are. That’s what you do. I know you’re in a dark place, and I-I just want to help. DEAN Okay. Look, I-I’ve been down this road before and I fought my way back. I will fight my way back again. SAM How? DEAN Same way I always do – bullets, bacon, and booze. A lotta booze.

sam, sam, sam. if you're so bizarro out of character nice, dean can't appreciate it because you're acting like a mandroid! gotta sprinkle it in with the bitching and standard little brother behavior. ALSO, calling dean out on saying that he didn't believe in anything is surefire way to get him to a) shut down b) regret telling you the truth and not wanna do it in the future. i'm blaming this one on the writers, i think sam has more emotional intelligence than to do something this clumsy. AND it's like it's all being played for the joke, not a fan

i mean, how did sam not wake up to dean coming in so clearly plastered that he passed out on the floor still tangled up in accessories from the (presumed) strip club. and did he walk home? the perpetual dean drunk driving dilemma. what we get for sam pushing him, right. well the keys on the nightstand maybe were indicating he didn't drive? i'll give them the out on that one

anyway it's all for the jokes so i shouldn't take it seriously 🤪 on day 2 watching this episode and i'm awfully grouchy. not in the mood for them being "funny" i guess.

interesting the production draft of the script didn't lean into the joke (linked on the wiki per usual)

DEAN Easy. One needle stops the heart, the other one starts it up again. SAM No, no, no. DEAN Look, we can’t talk to ‘em on this side of the Veil, so I’m gonna go to the other side. I’m gonna work my way through all these Caspers until we find out where this freak hid the bodies. SAM Dean, you’re talking about killing yourself. DEAN Yeah? Well, it worked before. SAM That’s an insane risk to take. DEAN Listen, I need three minutes. Okay?

risking dying for good for this random hunt? when they could just like. go about this another way. find the kids. even peak self destructive dean winchester doesn't makes this risky of decisions. and i gather this is where the reaper/billie business comes

(i was wondering about the logistics of how ghost plague mask dude got the kid out of the house, so i do appreciate sorta this flashback but i'm pretty bummed they couldn't save the kid)

chest compressions, chest compressions, chest compressions

do we have a count of the number of times sam has had to watch dean die. with mystery spot jackin up the numbers, must be huge

i mean. cool fit and all. and lovely makeup

BILLIE It’s funny to hear a Winchester talk about the finality of dying. This reality – it has rules, Dean. So many rules. And one of them? Kill one incarnation of Death, like you did, the next Reaper to dies takes his place.

tough but fair on that finality of dying bit. reaper -> Death logic, ok sure whatever

i like that billie is getting to be less flat and not "all winchesters must die", that she can appreciate their place in the overall scheme of things. and this is a really good and depressing scene between her and dean. it's a shame they made such a ridiculous episode to get us here

DEAN Why do you care? BILLIE Because I do. Because…this whole multi-versal quantum construct we live in, it’s like a house of cards. And the last thing I need is some big, dumb Winchester knocking it all down. DEAN Hmm. That does sound like us. BILLIE You’ve changed. When you bargained with me just now, you could’ve asked to go back, to live. DEAN Well, I figured with you in charge, there’s no getting back for me. BILLIE That doesn’t sound like the Dean Winchester I know and love. The man who has been dead so many times but it never seems to stick. Maybe you’re not that guy anymore, they guy who saves the world, the guy who always thinks he’ll win no matter what. You have changed. And you tell people it’s not a big deal. You tell people you’ll work through it but you know you won’t, you can’t and that scares the hell out of you. Or… am I wrong? DEAN What do you want me to say? Doesn’t matter. I don’t matter. BILLIE Don’t you? DEAN I couldn’t save Mom. I couldn’t save Cas. I can’t even save a scared little kid. Sam keeps trying to fix it, but I just keep dragging him down. So I’m not going to beg. Okay, if it’s my time, it’s my time. BILLIE You really believe that. You wanna die.

trying to remember a time when he's been suicidal (feels like at least a handful at this point) but also in the position to actually die imminently. shades of when sam was ready to go but dean forced gadreel on him. but dean is coming from a distinctly suicidal place, of thinking he's useless and sam would be better off without him. which will always push my distress buttons, hard.

s13e5 / loki s1e2 the variant

this set gives me vibes a little bit of the loki series? tva library area

(i like that she's a little thicker than average tv actors and they don't cover her up, especially her arms)

the music is, dare i say it, appropriate?? for this conversations and the set and everything. once we get past the emotional music of dean wanting to die, it gets.. better. adds some urgency and intrigue. and even the emotional music was pretty good and unobtrusive

DEAN We can talk about it later. SAM We won’t talk about it later. You know that.

hurray for sam pushing the issue and dean acquiescing

SAM You okay? DEAN No. Sam, I’m not okay. I’m pretty far from okay. You know, my whole life, I always believed that what we do was important. No matter what the cost, no matter who we lost, whether it was Dad or – or Bobby or –. And I would take the hit. But I kept on fighting because I believed that we were making the world a better place. And now Mom and Cas… And I – I don’t know. I don’t know. SAM So now you don’t believe anymore. DEAN I just need a win. I just need a damn win.

interesting that it changed from us to dean

with this song (it's never too late by steppenwolf), the neon cross, the beauty shots of baby, the reflection of the cross on the window, the lyrics... the music pounding through with no foley/background noises. it's really effective. mourning the fact that i don't appreciate this reunion like i'm sure a lot of people did

no hug? even i was like, really? we skippin it or dragging it out to the next episode? i mean, it works in the scene they set up here without one. but also, dean is unmoored and needs a win and we're building this to be that win, right? so.

you know what. if i knew this i completely blanked it out, but there was more than one composer on this show! this episode was a christopher lennertz one. i was assigning all blame to jay gruska. now i wonder though, of all the (many) times i've bitched about the score, who was at the helm. 😬 project for another day when i'm itching to get out of my skull because i have nothing to work on

via the wiki

Billie taking on Death's mantle is a slight twist on the plot to the 1983 fantasy novel On a Pale Horse, in which the main character, Zane, kills Death and is forced to take the mantle on himself.

interesting, i recall really liking that book but it's been.. 20+ years since i've read it

#supernatural #spnwatch #spn 13x05 #spn clip #spn musical score #steve yockey #spn script #christopher lennertz

[creecher-feature]

Presents

The fist gift box was exciting; you pulled the ribbon delicately and watched the knot unfurl. You lifted the lid carefully, peering under the cardboard lip to spy its contents prematurely. An alarm clock, a tinny clicking filled the doorless room as you lifted it from the box; you returned it carefully, not bothering to recap the box as you moved on to the second.

The second gift box, you were slow, but not as delicate; you unknotted the red ribbon and pried it into a straight piece. The lid you lifted over your head, blinking twice to see the clock was not merely a mirage. You leave it in the box this time, moving on to the next box.

The third gift box you slip the loop of the ribbon off the box, not bothering with the knot at all. Another clock.

You go out of sequence, forty-eight, six, twenty, fifty-two, four, barely bothering to yank the ribbon aside as you tear in. The room rings with out of time clicking, each analog clicking in it's own synchronicity.

The room is drywall. you try kicking a section in, but the white paint resists and your knee becomes sore.

You return to order: five, six, seven. Each commencing its ticking as you unbox. Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, you continue for nothing else to do. Sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five, each box another crumb to keep you alive.

You begin dismantling the old boxes, just to waste time, with each clock you remove, the deafening drone grows louder.

By number eighty, the inconsistent buzzing has drawn into white noise, erasing itself into virtual silence.

Apprehension draws as you hit ninety. With ten left you slow your tempo, taking care with each ribbon and folded corner of paper. You try to enjoy the arduous task as it reaches its end.

Ninety-eight takes you nearly an hour, at least, you think it must; all the clocks are set to different times, who knows how long it's been? You're extra careful not to tear even a square of wrapping. 

Ninety-nine practically unwraps itself.

One Hundred. You press your ear to the paper, trying to tone out the drone around you, but if there was a ticking, it had long joined the chorus around you.

You slide a finger under the ribbon, but draw it back, leaving the gift unsullied.

The drywall is unpainted but glossy white. You follow the light for once, finding it emitting from some screen in the ceiling, miles out of reach. You stack the unflattened boxes and try to climb, but the ceiling stretches away, and the cardboard collapses beneath you.

Knees recovered with new vigor, you kick. You kick where the walls should be weakest, only succeeding in painting them.

You sit before box one hundred, hands on your lap. 

You watch it. You think you might cry if it's another clock, but the irony braces you with humor. Disappointment means death, and escape may mean the same. 

Tell me, child.

Will you open the box?

#creecher posting #writing

[weshipyourride]

2023 Sea Otter Classic Recap

Nearly every April, we make the journey to Monterey, California to gather with tens of thousands of fellow cyclists at the Laguna Seca Raceway for the Sea Otter Classic. This year’s Bikeflights crew included Sparky Moir, Michael Potter, Krissy Fox, Phil Dixon, Kerry Werner, Gordon Wadsworth, William Alcorn and Sue George.

While the main focus of the week was the consumer and industry expo held over four days from Thursday through Sunday, we arrived two days early to spin out our post-travel legs and enjoy some riding together. The highlight was a group pedal on picturesque roads adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and along the very scenic 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach.

At the expo, we appreciated the opportunity to get to see and catch up with many Bikeflights customers, shop owners, bike manufacturers, event partners and friends from all over the U.S. and the world. 

We even got an extra special visit from a group of riders from Little Bellas, one of our Buck Up For Bikes beneficiaries, as they were out and about on a scavenger hunt. And in case you’re wondering how many Little Bellas can fit in a Bikeflights Bike Box XL… well, now we know the answer is 15!

Our very own Kerry Werner got his first taste of racing in the Life Time Grand Prix Series. In a grueling, blisteringly fast 70-mile cross country mountain bike race, Kerry showed strong early season form, pedaling to an impressive 13th place among the elite men.

Shoutouts also go to the riders the Maxxis Factory Racing team, one of Bikeflights’ sponsored teams. Defending Life Time Grand Prix series champion Haley Smith rode a solid Fuego XL cross country race, moving up on the second lap to finish fourth on the day for the elite women while Andrew L’Esperance logged a seventh place in the elite men’s race.

Andrew L’Esperance leads out the start of the men’s Life Time Grand Prix Fuego XL race. Photo by James Stokoe.

Haley Smith navigates a downhill section of the women’s Life Time Grand Prix Fuego XL race. Photo by James Stokoe.

Their Maxxis teammates Cole Peterson and Lia Westermann also both finished in the top 10 of the elite men’s and elite women’s enduro, and Lia made it into the round of 16 of the dual slalom in front of huge, cheering crowds on Saturday evening. She then followed it up with a team-best 13th in the downhill the next and final morning of Sea Otter.

Lia Westermann during the downhill race. Photo by James Stokoe.

Cole Paterson getting some airtime during the enduro race. Photo by James Stokoe.

Check out Kerry’s one-minute video recap of the weekend.

#bikeflights #weshipyouride #seaotterclassic #bikeflightsforevents #eventshipping

[gtr24h]

GlamRacing 404 race recap From Le Mans 2022

GlamRacing 404 race recap From Le Mans 2022. After a bland Qualifying, we were starting on p4 on the starting grid for the 24 hours of Le Mans with Lee Russell behind the wheel. Lee had a blinding start by putting the 777 DSR-gadgethuset car under pressure and passing them under the Dunlop bridge on lap 1, he retained the pushing and passed CKR on lap 3 of the race going down to the 1st chicane on the Mulsanne straight using all of the slipstreams. So, within the first couple of laps, we went from p4 to p2 on the grid. Lee stayed on a really fast pace through the 2 stints, and at the end of his first couple of stints he handed the car over to Jarrod - Jarrod had some really good stints - staying out of any trouble and driving a good and steady pace. Taking over for Jarrod was Henrik and he took it nice and easy in the first stint, mostly just struggling with rear tire temperatures, after a new set of boots and a full tank he went to push mode and took around 20 seconds out of the competition before he sends the driving duties on to Nick Newcombe, and then trouble begins to show its ugly head. We got a DQ due to having turned off the headlight after we had blinked at a GTE car despite us not being able to see the lights really working and without any sort of warning from the game or from Race Control, so we had to just take a penalty for that. Now being 3 laps down we had contact with the leading DPI car that gave us enough damage that we had to repair the car, which took 70sec, but we opted to refuel and keep the tires. Henrik got back in the car and just tried to push as fast as he could while trying to stay out of trouble which he managed very well - so after 2 good stints he handed the car to Lee. Lee did have some issues with a battery that started to act up which meant he had some troubles with his wheel - but he got it fixed. When Lee took over the car, we were in P6 in class, but luckily for us but sadly for them, 188 Teleforeningen had some kind of issue so they DQ’ed, which meant that we got up to P5 with about 14 hours of the race left. In Lee’s 2nd stint he managed to unlap us from the leader in the class by a lap and had a great stint from then on. A very rested Jarrod was ready to take over from Lee - and he was just flying around on track making the great pace and staying clear of any bad luck. But unfortunately after the driver swap between Jarrod and Nick - our luck ran out again - we could not steer clear to an incident between Nick Newcombe and the Viadukten car which unfortunately required a reconnect and Race Control also gave us a 60 seconds stop and go penalty, so we were again down in 5th place. Nick stayed in the car after the stop-and-go but was unlucky to get tapped by DPI number 48 at Arnage which ended up costing us an extra pitstop, during the pitstop we decided to change drivers, Henrik was next up and he put in 3 fast stints in the early morning hours till Jerrod took over the car for another 3 stints With Jarrod behind the wheel, the 188 (Teleforeningen) had a disconnect which meant that we were back in 4th for the race, which also meant we would have enough points to secure 2nd place in the overall GT3 championship. We had decided that Lee would be the driver behind the wheel for both the race and the season - and of course, Lee being Lee; he never drives slow and did what he could to reduce the gap between us and the P3 car - And with 20 left of the race we could kind of taste the 3rd place because car 777 DSR-Gadgethust had technical issues and had rejoin the server again which meant when the checked flag fell - We were instead of 7 laps behind them only 3 laps. At the end of the race, we had no other things to worry about race-wise, so we had an internal competition to see who came closest to the remaining fuel in the tank at the end of the race and just making the best out of the remaining season finale. We finished just short of the final race podium on P4 but we are happy that we came out of the race this good because we did have a few difficult moments where things just didn't go well for us - and we might not have won a place on the podium but we got the second place in the GT3 Championship allover. We at GlamRacing just want to give the biggest thank to all of the other teams in GT3 - Thank you for the amazing battles this season, for keeping us on our toes, and for just such a wonderful vibe there has been between all of the team in GT3. To all of the folks in GTR24H, Commentators, Race Control, and everyone in broadcasting - ALL OF YOU! Thank you for giving us the EEWC and for keeping us awake in all of the dark hours of the nights. Thanks to all who have supported us this season - for seeing the live streams, sharing, and likes. Lastly thanks to our sponsors GrizzlySimgineering and Powerwrap.   - Maria Rinhack Read the full article