#the first one i saw that i knew was an anime though was speed racer

[dropintomanga]

Initial D - The First Stage to the Overall Magic of Anime and Manga

Seeing this display at my local Kinokuniya Bookstore branch made my day and got me reminiscing.

In the early 2000s', I was still in my phase of consuming everything Dragon Ball. I followed Dragon Ball GT at the time and knew it ended around 1997. Since simulcast streaming wasn't a thing, I had to rely on Chinese-dubbed VHS tapes to rent for all the episodes.

When watching one of the final episodes of Dragon Ball GT on a tape I got, there was a trailer (which was actually the opening) for another anime that played before the episode. It wasn't for a Shonen Jump series and I heard some really cool-sounding techno music.

That opening began my journey into a series that highlighted what anime and manga was really like outside of American marketing - Shuichi Shigeno's Initial D.

For those who don't know, Initial D is about a young man named Takumi Fujiwara who gets himself involved in the mountain street racing scene. He drives a car that isn't suitable for street racing, the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. The car lacks horsepower and speed, but Takumi is able to utilize amazing drift techniques to make up for it. While reluctant at first, Takumi gets pulled into a race when a street racing team called the Akagi Red Suns challenges Takumi's local team. Takumi beats one of the Red Suns' top members and he slowly becomes a legend as he encounters more street racers who want to challenge him. The manga lasted 49 volumes, had 6 anime seasons in 16 years, and a Hong Kong live-action movie adaptation of the manga (which I appreciated as a Cantonese speaker) was made in 2005. The series also inspired a good amount of people all over the world to get into Japanese cars due to every car featured in the series existing in real life. It did not hurt that fans loved the Eurobeat music that played in races throughout the anime.

As you can see from the photo I took, Kodansha USA decided to re-release the entire Initial D manga in a 2-in-1 omnibus print format for a newer generation as the original English manga release by Tokyopop in the mid-2000s' left a lot to be desired for translation reasons.

After watching the OP teaser in that one tape of a DBGT episode, I decided to watch all of the First Stage season of Initial D in Cantonese Chinese on VHS. I became hooked. I absolutely loved the music. I appreciated how analytical some of the characters were. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the conversations being had due to my Cantonese not being good enough to talk about vehicle intricacies, I had the help of Initial D fansites to summarize things. I became obsessed when the manga was ongoing at the time to see who Takumi was facing. Fansites helped to bridge the gap.

Speaking of fan-related material, I learned about yaoi/boys' love through Initial D. I saw many fanfiction sites about the relationships between the major male characters. In a sense, I got to see why sports-like series appealed to female fans way before the current sports series boom we have now.

Initial D also helped me get close with my dad. He actually watched the anime with me. During the years when I was so depressed, my dad always spent time with me. We played a lot of basketball, talk sports, and watched Initial D together. It helped that he was into car culture, so he helped explain a few things to me about certain cars.

One more thing Initial D did was that it got me to go to my very first anime convention in 2003. It was the Big Apple Anime Fest and the Third Stage movie was screened. While I watched the Third Stage movie before, it wasn't dubbed in Cantonese. This time, I got to see the full film with English subtitles. I stayed for the 7:30pm screening and was excited with so many fans around me. The convention was also where I finally got to connect with a friend who lived in the same area as me. I still talk to and hang out with them today.

While Dragon Ball got me into anime in the first place, it was Initial D that got me to expand my worldview about anime and manga. The series gave me a glimpse of the other anime/manga communities out there. I got a first glimpse into series that weren't mainstream yet loved by passionate fans.

When both the Initial D manga and anime ended in the 2010s', my anime/manga interests were in a different place. But I still enjoyed Final Stage when it came out because I got to see Takumi grow immensely over time and the payoff was good. The final battle felt like two very similar individuals trying to impose their superiority over one another. It was a perfect way to end Takumi's story, given that almost all of his opponents were different from him.

I know Initial D isn't talked about as much as Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon in terms of impacting people's lives, but it has done wonders for me in genuinely seeing what the world of anime/manga fans was like outside of the usual fare. I know I'm not the only one.

So I want to say that if the super-mainstream anime and manga series aren't your thing, it's okay. There will always be something that will catch your eye and maybe change your perspective for the better. And maybe it will find you a community that you love being around and help you grow.

To quote one of the Initial D opening songs sung by the group, m.o.v.e, let's move into the brand new world and let's dive into the brand new trip.

For more perspective on Initial D's impact on its fans and car culture, this post from a car enthusiast is worth a read.

#Initial D #manga #anime #street racing #mental health #fandom #community #Asian culture #Youtube

[yourdeepestfathoms]

pegasus grounded (part one)

[horse racing au]

———————————

...and they’re off!

 “Lawrence will you stop cringing and HELP ME?”

Barbara’s partner peeked into the barn, his face pale and expression disgusted, then immediately yanked himself back out.

 “Oh, that is so gross! I didn’t sign up for this!”

 “You didn’t sign up for ANYTHING! I am letting you LIVE in MY HOUSE for FREE! So get your ass OVER HERE and HELP ME!”

Standing against the far wall of the barn, Adam, Barbara’s husband, and Lydia, their young farmhand, stood by, watching the exchange go down. Lydia was holding any tools that might have been needed. The barn cat, Hemlock, came strolling by, took one glance at the scene, then bounded out.

 “Are they…?” Lydia’s words trailed off as she scratched the top of her head. “Does this…?”

 “Oh, yeah,” Barbara said, looking over at her. “This is our process!” And then, shrilly, “LAWRENCE!!!”

 “You have your ARM in a horse’s VAGINA!! You never said anything about THAT when I came to live with you!”

 “I’ll stick my arm up YOUR VAGINA if you don’t get over here!”

 “I don’t have a vagina!!”

 “I DON’T CARE!!” Barbara then quieted her voice and stroked the fur of Latte, the foaling horse she was assisting, “Shh, Shh, Shh. It’s okay, sweetie. You’re okay… LAWRENCE I SWEAR TO GOD!!”

 “Okay! Okay! I’m coming!”

Beetlejuice dragged himself over to the fallen horse and did his best to not look at the hooves sticking out of the mare’s vagina.

After some time went by, Barbara was pulling on the foal’s front legs, sticky and wet with birthing fluid and covered in the placenta. She was doing her best to be gentle, yet firm enough to pull out the baby, but the mare continued to let out louder whinnies. Adam gripped tightly to his shirt as he watched. They had already lost three dams that season. They couldn’t take losing another.

Despite its name, The Netherworld was one of the most successful horse ranches in all of America. In terms of the equine community, Barbara and Adam Maitland were basically famous. They had bred several winning foals from the finest mares and the strongest stallions. People came from miles just to bid on one of their colts or fillies. All the horses on their farm were like family, and losing them was like a shot straight to the heart.

 “Come on, girl. I can’t do it alone. Push.” Barbara said encouragingly, pulling out more of the baby.

 “Come on, Latte, push. You can do it.” Beetlejuice said to the mother. The horse’s wild, tired eyes looked up at him.

And then, as if she was actually listening, she began to push harder. The foal’s head slipped out a second later, followed by the rest of the upper body.

 “Hey! She’s doing it!” Beetlejuice exclaimed. “Oh, that is disgusting. But she’s doing it!”

 “Almost there,” Barbara murmured as she got a hold of the foal’s middle.

After a few minutes, the foal was finally out. A spew of birthing fluids and placenta followed, and Beetlejuice was darting out of the barn, causing Barbara to laugh as she peeled off the soaked glove she had on her arm.

 “Good work, Beej!” She called.

 “Urrg…” Beetlejuice groaned from outside.

 “You okay, love?”

 “Fine,” Beetlejuice replied, then grumbled, “Like you care…”

Barbara laughed again and then looked back down at the baby. The new foal looked just like its mother. Under all that goo was a beautiful, chestnut-colored mustang, with a sweet little patch of white on its nose. She just about swooned when she saw those large, gleaming brown eyes look up at her.

 “It’s a filly,” Barbara called to Adam, who was taking deep breaths of relief.

 “Oh, she’s perfect,” Adam said, walking over slowly. “I was so worried for a moment there. You know, after Misty and Prancer and Baylock…”

 “Hey,” Barbara cupped his cheeks, making him look at her. “That isn’t going to happen. We aren’t going to lose anymore.”

Adam nodded.

The filly began to gather her surroundings, looking around to see where she was while her mother licked and nuzzled her from above. After a moment, she slowly began to stand on her long legs, wobbling and tumbling down a few times, making Lydia laugh a bit before she finally started to get the hang of it. She clumsily tottered her way over to her mother and instantly began to nurse.

 “Can’t believe you made birth your profession,” Beetlejuice said as he entered again.

 “What do you think doctors do?” Adam looked at him.

 “I--” Beetlejuice shut his mouth. “Shut up.”

Adam laughed. Barbara shook her head, then looked over at Lydia.

 “What did you parents say about tonight?”

 “They said yes,” Lydia said.

 “Awesome!” Adam looked excited. “FINALLY, we can show you proper horse racing! Barbara, go get changed! Hurry!”

None of them blamed him for his energy. Horses were everything to them, and there was no better way to pass the time than watching horse races. This would be Lydia’s first time watching one firsthand since she was employed by them.

Lime Rock Raceway was a huge, towering stadium, filled with sharply-dressed patrons, colorful slot machines, and expensive fine wine. Barbara, her two partners, and Lydia got to watch the races from the highest point, where the whole track was stretched out before them, eager for their attention. They discussed their bets on the contenders in the next race as they waited.

 “That one.”

Beetlejuice scoffed.

Barbara did not. She continued to stare down at the horses filing onto the muddy racetrack. The one that had caught her eye was at the back of the pack, head held low, ears flicking all over as if it heard something nobody else did. She checked the number.

 “Beside The Dying Fire,” Adam said, having already looked. “Jockey’s name is Jeopardy.”

“What a curious name,” Barbara mused. “Must be a nickname.”

“I sure hope so,” Beetlejuice snorted. “Or else his parents must hate him.”

 “Why are they always men?” Lydia grumbled. She wasn’t having nearly as much fun as Adam had been hoping for, but Barbara didn’t blame her. Watching a horse race wasn’t for everyone.

She looked up at Barbara, asking again, “Can women not race or something?”

Barbara chuckled. “Of course they can. A lot just choose not to. It’s a very male-dominated sport.”

 “That’s weird,” Lydia said, squinting down through the glass at the jockey in question. Despite how thin all the riders were, this one in particular was awkwardly small compared to his competitors. His silks were red and white with black and white stripes down the long sleeves. “Aren’t jockeys supposed to be, like, light? Wouldn’t it make more sense for women to race? It’s easier to be lightweight when you’re a woman.”

 “You got a point there, kid,” Adam said.

 “The weight thing is so fucking stupid. Also, no offense, Babs, but you can’t possibly think that will win?”

Barbara turned to Beetlejuice with a coolly raised eyebrow, a smile playing around her mouth. “Do you doubt me?”

Beetlejuice grinned at her. “Never.”

Nobody knew exactly where Lawrence “Beetlejuice” Shoggoth had come from. He had just shown up one day down in town, presenting himself at Yonkers Raceway with dyed green hair and barely the clothes on his back. But when he started to ride, nobody cared about that anymore. Up on that saddle, Beetlejuice was unstoppable force of speed and grace. Nothing stopped his stride, ever. The races he rode seemed to unfurl as though to a script he had written; a script that left everyone else trailing behind his broad shoulders like a wake left in water. He was the best rider Barbara and Adam had ever seen, but never got to actually become professional due to the weight limit required to be a jockey. Now, he had become more mellow, living among Barbara and Adam as a horse trainer, wanting to teach others about his methods, but still not finding the right student. Nobody he ever came across was good enough for him and his golden wonder: Sandy aka “It’s Showtime,” a magnificent black and white thoroughbred mare with bulky muscles and a knack for sprinting.

Barbara winked at him. “Exactly.”

Out in the mud, the horses were lining up at the gate. Barbara’s bet, Beside The Dying Fire, had drawn a bad position, way over on the outside. Barbara glanced over the information again. The horse was coming up to age four, stood at a staggering seventeen hands, and had terrible form. His jockey was basically a nobody, too, as scrawny and aloof as the horse. And yet, she was drawn to the stallion. There was something to look at with that dull grey horse, even if nobody else saw it.

The racers came under starter’s orders and then they broke from the gate as one at the siren’s scream. It was a small field- plenty of hooves had scratched their own trenches from the earth due to the weather. Beside The Dying Fire hunkered down the outside, ears pulled back against the driving rain. Barbara watched him gallop, watched the low, straight stride stretch and release over the sodden ground. She had grown up around horseflesh, had watched races obsessively for years; she knew a good horse when she saw one.

This was not it.

But all the same, she found herself unable to look away. There was something.

Slogging through the slippery mud, Beside The Dying Fire did not display the brilliance locked deep within him--but when the finish line passed beneath him, his nose was one of the ones in front. Barbara could see the jockey, slathered in muck all over, smiling with relief.

Barbara smiled too, which turned to a smirk as she looked at Beetlejuice. “I told you.”

 “Never doubt you,” Beetlejuice said. He looked back down at the horse in question. “I’m glad I listened to you. Let’s go have a chat with this one.”

——— ——— ———

 “How many times do I have to tell you? Use your goddamn whip!”

 “I don’t want to! It’s mean!”

The sound of arguing echoed down the stable corridor like thunder.

 “Mean? What kind of PETA shit have you been looking at? It’s a damn animal. It doesn’t know anything.”

 “Peril knows a lot of things! He’s smart!”

 “You’re losing us so much money.”

 “I can win without hitting him. I don’t need a crop. I did good today!”

 “You got third. You should have gotten first.”

 “At least I wasn’t last.”

 “Each day you prove that your kind doesn’t belong in racing. Not unless you use your fucking whip!”

 “Well, I think I raced really well.”

 “Your parents will be hearing about this.”

A grizzled man stormed past Barbara, Adam, Beetlejuice, and Lydia as they were making their way down the aisle, hissing and cursing underneath his breath. They all looked forward again to find the victim of his verbal assault: the jockey of Beside The Dying Fire.

 “I think we did good,” He said to the grey giant munching on some alfalfa inside the pen he and that man had been arguing in front of.

“Jeopardy?”

Saying that name made Barbara feel a little stupid, but her call was received when the jockey just about jumped out of his skin. He whirled around, startling his horse into a stomping, huffing fit. He blinked big, doe-like eyes at Barbara and her group.

And that was when Barbara realized he wasn’t a he at all.

Beside The Dying Fire’s jockey was a girl.

Well. That probably explained what that man had meant when he said “your kind.”

She was a tiny, skinny little thing, barley 5’1, bearing no muscle at all. She was young, too, much younger than any of the jockeys Barbara had ever seen before. At most, she had to be fifteen, but by how high pitched and youthful her voice was, she could be even younger. She was completely slathered in mud from head-to-toe, face smeared with sludge and blocking most facial features, but her youth was clear and her hazel eyes were bright behind her goggles.

 “Hi! Hi. Yes, hello. I’m Jeopardy.” She said, stammering slightly, and her voice was a lot higher up close, but not in an obnoxious way. It was sweet and silvery, like candy.

“You’re a girl,” Lydia said in wonder.

The jockey blinked, then looked down at herself. “Last time I checked, yes.”

Lydia laughed.

Jeopardy tried to dust herself off now that she was in the presence of other people, only to remember that she was completely covered in grime. She dropped her arms, looked back up at them, and said, “I swear, I’m not usually covered in this much mud.”

They all laughed. It was nice to see a jockey that had a sense of humor. There were too many that got cranky for asking simple questions or even breathing in the general vicinity of their horse. This girl was the complete opposite of that, and it perhaps had to do with her young age.

 “Does it get in your mouth?” Lydia asked.

 “Oh yeah,” Jeopardy answered. “And my nose. And my ears. ”

Lydia laughed. “How?!”

 “I have no idea!” Jeopardy exclaimed. “Usually it isn’t this bad, but it was rainy today, so it kinda got everywhere. My dinner tonight is going to taste like earth.”

More laughing, and Jeopardy looked delighted. She was giving off a strong sense of loneliness, like it wasn’t normal for people to talk to her in such a friendly way.

“I’m Presley Lind,” Jeopardy— no, Presley, said. “Jeopardy is just a show name.” She then extended a hand to Barbara, only instantly rip it away when she realized how dirty her glove was. “Oh dear. Pretend I shook your hand or else my Southern Belle training will go down the drain.”

“I’m Barbara,” Barbara said. “These are Adam, Beetlejuice, and Lydia.”

��It’s nice to meet you all,” Presley said politely, smiling, and her lips were caked with drying mud. “What can I do for you all?”

 “Oh, we just wanted to come down and congratulate you on your victory tonight,” Barbara said. “You were amazing.”

Presley perked up, as if it wasn’t uncommon for her to be congratulated. “Oh, really? Th-- thank you! But I didn’t really do anything. It was all this big guy!” She turned to her horse, who looked more brown than grey with all the mud sticking to his coat, and she had so much love in her eyes.

 “He’s beautiful,” Adam said. “What’s his name?”

 “Peril!” Presley told him proudly. “Presley and Peril- it’s kind of our thing.” She reached out and patted the stallion’s freckled nose.

Barbara felt a sort of endearment fill her heart. What an adorable girl.

And then Peril snorted and spit half-chewed alfalfa and huge globs of saliva right into his rider’s face.

For a moment, Presley was frozen, then spit the muck back out onto the ground and raised her gloves hands to wipe her face off. She took off her goggles, and the rings left around her eyes were perfectly clear of grime.

 “I deserved that,” Presley said. She looked at Barbara and her group. “Do not mess with this one when he’s eating.”

 “Say, Presley,” Beetlejuice spoke up. “Do you have a trainer?”

 “Yes, sir,” Presley said, and her manners shocked Barbara. “He was that guy yelling.”

 “Does he always yell at you like that?” Adam asked, sounding slightly concerned.

Presley nodded. “Usually. He doesn’t like me or Peril very much. But he was a lot nicer today. He didn’t hit me with my crop this time!” She laughed, and then realized the others weren’t laughing with her, so she stopped and cleared her throat. “I’m-- I’m totally joking. That was a joke!”

 “Well, it sounds like your guy right now is an ass, but you’re in luck,” Beetlejuice said. “Presley, I’d like to be your trainer.”

#horse racing au #ta-daaaaa! #beetlejuice the broadway musical #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice au #beetlejuice fanfiction #beetlejuice fanfic #beetlejuice fic #beetlejuice #lawrence beetlejuice shoggoth #barbara maitland #adam maitland #lydia deetz #the jockey #beetlelands #chasing pegasus

[spirit-of-vengeance]

After MONTHS, I was finally hit by something that made me completely piece together Rozália's story of what she is and why and I'm HYPER. Aka: here it comes the usual tragedy

Origins:

Attila Véghváry was a descendant of warriors whom protected Hungary throughout the Ottoman period of history, to be able to live up to his ancestors he joined to serve the Vatican as a Hunter. He had fallen in love with a half Italian, half Hungarian woman named Liliána, charmed by her ethereal beauty and kindness. His desire to have children, to continue his name bathed in blood was grand, after wedding they tried, struggled with the task; without success. Liliána was terrified upon her husband's devastation, fearing he will throw her away, back into the clutches of her father and that was a fate she desperately wanted to avoid. So she prayed, begged for a miracle, yet still nothing happened. In her despair and distress, she turned to a darker force; she had made a deal with the devil: she will be able to successfully bear a child, but the child will serve hell after his or her death.

Rozália was born in 1823 and Liliána was gnawed by guilt from her first cry for air; yet she found herself unable to tell anyone in fear of harm. Even though she couldn't give him a boy, Attila was thrilled to have her and began teaching, treating her as a son as soon as possible. He was a harsh teacher with little to no reward to pay off the hard work and Rozália soon learned she has to fight for her father's love and praise.

The Hunter:

It was no question that she will join her father in the quest of banishing evil, Attila couldn't bear to give his only offspring in the hands of Nuns. To everyone's greatest surprise, the young girl proved to be more capable than most of the men, including her own father: fast, fearless, fatal, brutal yet still a tactician. Despite the available arsenal of weapons she favored hussar swords above everything (+ a few must have religious symbols) with her unique twist: she wielded twin blades, instead of the traditional one, earning the title of Doom Duelist.

Rozália only saw the creatures as obstacles between her father's love and well deserved recognition. She never really believed the preachings, she hasn't came to do God's work but to seek her own glory, to carve her own path.

When she could visit her mother, Liliána started to worry upon listening Attila's tales of how efficient their daughter was, instead she saw it as a sign that the devil already begun his work with her violent personality. As a solution when she was home, she turned her attention towards arts and found out her thirst, passion and talent for dancing. Liliána had given her all the love she could in hope it would provide a tiny compensation for Attila's harsh ways. She didn't condemn nor stood in way of her hunt for the so called satanic creatures in hope of that will somehow lessen or even lift the curse she had bestowed on her before she was born.

The General:

The 1848 revolutionary war swept through the country like a wildfire, both father and daughter felt their obligation to protect their country, just like their ancestors did. Her talents shone brilliantly on the battlefields and despite being a woman, she climbed ranks in lightning speed. Eventually, Attila had fallen in a battle and the title General was given to her along with a legion of hussars, the Főnix Légió (Phoenix Legion). Her horse, Vihar (Thunder) was a wild, aggressive mare from the Herd Lipica, since they couldn't get her to accept any of the stallions, they wanted to get rid of the nuisance but Rozália has had other plans.

They understood each other from the very beginning, they moved together as one. Vihar was as quick and strong as if she was a stallion along with her rider. The name General Véghváry was associated with bravery, power and true Hungarian virtue. She often utilized the tactics of ancient battles like barrage of arrows when they were 'fleeing', used the environment to her advantage, quick, devastating strikes usually at the enemy flanks then disappearing into the thin air. She knew her army well, keeping many personal relations since most of the soldiers were almost still children. Strangely, no one ever questioned her command and the legion moved, fought as one.

Birth of the Demon:

The greatest heroes are designated to fall. Her mistake was that she believed fighting for their country, defending it from the Habsburg's rule unified everyone and didn't take betrayal into consideration. The legion was crossing the mountains of Vértes, advancing into uncertain territory when the ambush happened. Rozália knew they are all going to perish, they were in a valley, no space to utilize the hussar tactic, so she set Vihar free and issued one last command: die as heroes. So they fought like caged wild animals but the Habsburg army had the numerical superiority along with the element of surprise. Rozália watched her men, her friends slaughtered, executed the remaining survivors. Even at the door of death, bleeding from numerous wounds she stood defiant and unmoving, refusing to beg or kneel in front of the enemy general. Swords pierced her body, more than she can or want to remember, pinned standing like a grotesque sculpture of glory. Life left her body and sealed the deal. The ground cracked beneath her body, the flames of Hell itself soaring into the woman, resurrecting and possessing her at the same time. The first gasp for breath was ragged, she was confused, furious and lost. So she did what most children would do, immediately returned to her mother's house, only to find her dead with unmistakable evidence of her falling victim to a vampire. Unbeknownst to her, Liliána had written a diary she kept locked away, detailing why she accepted such offer, her sincere apologies and asking for forgiveness for bringing a cursed child to life.

Szerte nézett s nem lelé Honját a hazában*:

Even though she had no idea what she had became, Rozália knew she can't return to the Holy Order, but she no longer fit among humans and due to her Hunter past she wasn't welcome among other creatures. She lost her identity, the war, her home and her beloved mother. She did what she could: survive. Learn what she is and trying to control it. She soon realized her human face is only a mask, when the pendant is separated from her, her appearance shifts: skin cracks until it looks like ash, her veins are glowing orange in contrast, clawed hands, feet, wide jaw filled with razor fangs, crimson eyes with slit pupils and ink black wings curling from her back, almost impossible to tell when the flames morph into feathers.

Rozália is restlessly searching for her mother's killer while trying to figure out what and who is she, struggling to decide between warrior, demon or dancer.

After finishing off all the Habsburg officials (except for the general whom was nowhere to be found even though she tore through the whole country in her fury), she turned her special attention towards vampires in hope of finding her mom's killer. These encounters often ended with death even though the said creature wasn't the cause of her loss. Soon she learned the Holy Order wants to eradicate her from existence, without regard for her outstanding service; she understood she is truly torn between two words and she could never belong to any of them.

Rozália took part in both World Wars, the Korean war, the Vietnam War, numerous crisises throughout Africa and Middle East; to keep herself occupied, to not let the memories of the war pass even though she suffers from minor PTSD from it. When not occupied with bloodshed, she restlessly learned new styles of martial arts and dance styles, throughout the century she has lived many lives in many places: cage fighter, dancer, racer, pole dancer, acrobat, fitness model; anywhere she can get her rush of adrenaline and spotlight. Rozy can't nor want to slow down, she blazes to the utmost, running from melancholy and loneliness.

To save herself from the heartbreak, the must have 'why do you still look 25 even though we've been together for 10 years' talk, and the danger of being hunted by everyone, Rozy doesn't really date. If she feels a mutual spark between her and an another, she is totally down for a one night stand then disappear, leaving only the traces of overwhelming heat and pleasant memories behind.

Power & curse of the Hellfire:

Rozália needs to consume souls to survive. If she refuses, can't find someone unworthy of life, her 'gift' starts to turn against her. The pendant unable to keep up the false facade of a human, the insatiable demon clawing through the surface and ultimately, the Hellfire would consume her, resulting in a second death which would be hell of a record to beat but Rozy is not interested in that.

With the pendant on, the signs of what is she truly are subtle: Her teeth a little too sharp, dagger like stiletto nails as if she just had a manicure, her body heat feverish, candles leaning towards her or burning more eagerly in her presence. The most notable traits her almost overwhelming, smoldering aura and behind her emerald eyes occasionally a glimpse of Hell itself flash, brief enough to make humans believe their mind is only playing tricks.

She has fire under her control, high temperature cause no harm; her cursed flames able to burn through everything and destroy anything in their path including supernatural creatures for whom normal fire isn't fatal. Being destruction itself makes her unable to bear children, not like she would've wanted in the first place.

If she has the mortal remains, she can raise that being back into life for a few hours as an infernal creature, and at full power she can open a portal directly to Hell and reap all the souls nearby though she isn't aware of this ability yet watch her raise her dead army in heartbeat if needed. Both of these actions leave her drained for weeks, unable even to transform so she will only use these as last resort.

@count-v-dracula you might like this :D

@thxwxlf ...you said I am allowed to throw stuff at you😅

#👹 blazing through history au🔥| heavenborn; hellraised #with this done she is 'officially' separated from Cindy and should have her own blog :`) #* Looking everywhere she could not find home in her homeland; line from the Hungarian hymn because I find this incredibly fitting #🔥headcanons🔥 | secrets of the fire #might update with the powers & their explainations #spoiler: she can raise her army from the dead as infernal soldiers for a few hours #this actually collides with heavenborn because sure af heaven had nothing to do with that; but I love the tag too much to change

[omnivorousshipper]

12 Days of Shobbs: Day 8- Ice Scupltures

Summary: This is a serious of prompts following the relationship between Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw through the twelve days of Christmas.

Day 7           Day 9

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… 

“GO!”

Luke threw his car into drive, slamming his foot on the gas pedal and was off. Next to him, he could hear the cacophony coming from the eight cars that were around him. He glanced over to the car on his right, and could see a glimpse of Deckard smiling like a maniac as he pulled in front of Luke and three other racers. 

“Shaw! Don’t get to excited! We aren’t actually trying to win!” Luke shouted into his earpiece.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t make this more interesting!” Deckard shouted back. 

“Amen to that, brother,” Dom laughed.

“I know losing is an odd concept to you two, when it comes to racing. But I don’t want to see either of your asses crossing that finish line before Lane,” Luke warned. 

“I’ll keep on him, but don’t you worry your little head, Hobbs. He’ll be getting what he deserves,” Deckard responded. 

Luke could only let out a quiet sigh of exasperation. There was no keeping those down when it came to fast cars and street races. But for their mission, they would need to keep it reined in. They were trying to get in the good graces of a drug lord, Simon Lane, and since the man loved street racing, it was a perfect opportunity to put their plan into action. The only thing making the task difficult was that Lane was a sore loser, meaning they needed to make sure he won the race. 

So, they had stacked the odds in his favor: in the group of racers were two of Lane’s men and the three of them. And by the glint Luke saw in both Deckard and Dom’s eyes, he was guessing the last three racers weren’t going to last long. 

Focusing on the race, Luke could see that Lane was right behind Deckard, with Dom and Luke himself trailing after the two. Behind him, he could see one of Lane’s men coming after him. The henchman’s car was painted like a shark, even with an added fin to the top of the car. And Luke couldn’t help an eye roll at the gaudiness even though the henchman’s nickname was Shark. 

“How’s it going up there, Shaw?” Luke asked as he took a sharp turn, barely dodging a minivan.

“The bastard is going as slow as a gran. No wonder he has to stack the race,” Deckard’s voice piped through the earpiece. 

“Just don’t-” Luke started, but was sent crashing into the steering wheel as Shark came up behind him and rammed his car from behind. “Fuck!”

“Hobbs?!” Deckard shouted.

“What’s going on back there?” Dom hissed.

“Looks like Lane’s men have their own plan to make their boss win,” Luke grunted as he pushed the gas pedal harder. In the rearview mirror, Luke could see that the other car was almost on top of him and was matching his speed whenever Luke would accelerate. 

“I’m trying to let you guys win, so stop messing with me, you punk,” Luke growled to himself. Slowing slightly, Luke allowed one of the independent racers to pass him. Unfortunately, the bait didn’t take because Shark kept on Luke.

Suddenly, a burst of movement caught Luke’s attention. Coming in fast behind Shark was Lane’s other man, Palp. He seemed to be weaving through the traffic with ease, almost like he knew where everything was at once. Almost too quickly, he was next to Luke. Bracing himself, Luke expected for Palp to try to ram him as well. Instead, the henchman pulled in front of him, and Shark took his place next to Luke’s car. 

“What are you two planning?” Luke whispered. 

He soon got his answer as he saw a flap on Palp’s trunk flip open. Uncomprehending, Luke could only stare at the other car. He wasn’t expecting for his own car to jerk, and the steering wheel to fling his hands off. The car went wild as he tried to control it, but nothing he did righted the car’s path. Slamming on the brakes, Luke could hear a horrendous squealing noise from his tires as the car went spinning into some fence. 

Luke could feel the impact vibrate his whole body as the car finally came to a stop. Blinking the black spots from his vision, Luke could see Shark and Palp racing away into the distance. 

“Hobbs! What happened?” Dom’s voice filled the silence.

“Lane’s men didn’t want anymore competition,” Luke sighed. “It’s up to you two.”

“Bloody wankers,” Deckard hissed angrily. 

“Better me than one of you two,” Luke reassured. He knew that compared to Deckard and Dom, he wasn’t anything special when it came to racing. Put him in a military vehicle and he could catch anybody, but put him in a race car, and you might have a problem.

“We’ll make sure to come pick you up,” Dom told him.

“Don’t worry about me. Just stick to the plan,” Luke grunted. The driver’s side door was jammed shut. Tensing, Luke was able to twist around in the confined space and angle his foot against the door. Bringing his foot back, he kicked the door several times before it finally came loose with a groan. 

Stumbling out, Luke took in his surroundings: his car had gone straight through a fence, and was currently sitting halfway on the sidewalk and in a park. Luckily, the abundant street lamps illuminated everything, including the wreck his car had become. There were scratches and dents from where Shark had rammed into his bumper, while all the tires had gone flat, destroying the rims.

“Asshole dropped nails,” Luke fumed to himself. Accepting his fate, Luke sent his location to the team, telling them he would be waiting in the park. 

Stepping around the ruined cast iron fence, Luke walked further into the park, letting the lamps guide him. Soon, he saw a path that was lit up with Christmas lights wrapped around the trees. Shrugging, Luke went down the path, hearing a dull murmur of people talking up ahead. 

At the end of the path was a clearing near another entrance to the park. In the middle, people were milling around elaborate ice sculptures that had colorful lights shining through them. Joining the crowd, Luke couldn’t help the sense of awe that came over him; the sculptures were almost life-like. One sculpture was of a group of mermaids, who were piled on top of each other, all reaching up to the sky, almost as if pining for something. While another sculpture showed a mother reading to her children, who sat at her feet and clutching at her dress. 

However, it was one sculpture in particular that caught Luke’s attention. At the edge of the clearing, and not receiving as much attention as the rest, stood a sculpture of a bear. Stepping away from the crowd, and closer to the sculpture, Luke could see that the bear was sitting on its rump, while it was pawing at something on its shoulder. Peering at it, Luke could see that on top of the bear’s shoulders was a cat, who was perched precariously and swatting back at the bear’s paw. 

Even though the two animals looked to be annoyed with each other, the artist had been able to capture how at ease both of them were. The cat’s eyes were wide with curiosity and its ears perked up in clear interest. While the bear looked to be carefully sitting still, so as not to cause the cat to fall off its perch. 

Luke didn’t know how long he had been analyzing the sculpture, but he had a feeling that it had been too long when he heard a familiar huff of frustration close to him. Looking away from the bear and cat, Luke saw Deckard stomping towards him. He was shivering and rubbing his arms.

“You couldn’t’ve waited in a cafe or something?” He glared at Luke.

“Wanted to enjoy the sights,” Luke said absently, too focused on Deckard’s shivering. “And why aren’t you wearing a hat or gloves?”

“Didn’t think I’d be searching for your dump arse in the freezing cold,” Deckard snapped back.

“For the love of...here,” Luke rolled his eyes. Taking his own hat off, he shoved it on top of Deckard’s head even though the man tried to slap his hands away. Adjusting the hat over the smaller man’s ears, Luke couldn’t help but smile. “There. Now nobody will see your elf ears.”

“Bugger off, you arse,” Deckard grumbled, but left the hat on. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Sounds good to me,” Luke nodded. Casting one more glance at the sculpture, he followed Deckard out of the park.

Once they were on the sidewalk, Luke looked over at Deckard, seeing that his shivering had subsided. “So, how’d the race go?” “Let Toretto get second. Lane got first, obviously.”

“Aw, look at you being nice,” Luke teased. 

“Like hell I was being nice,” Deckard huffed. “I just didn’t want to have to spend time with that weasel nosed ba- Ah!”

Reacting swiftly, Luke just barely caught Deckard as the other man slipped on the icy sidewalk. Pulling Deckard to his feet, Luke kept his arm wrapped securely around his waist as he found his balance. “You ok?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Deckard said almost breathlessly.

“Then let’s get you to the car before you go breaking your neck,” Luke said and pulled Deckard to his side, keeping the man there so he wouldn’t fall again. 

“A small fall wouldn’t kill me,” Deckard mumbled.

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Luke chuckled and squeezed Deckard’s hip.

… Eight racers a-racing

Seven criminals a-stealing

Six missiles incoming

Five grenades!

Four stab wounds

Three fast cars

Two loaded guns

And a punch to the face!

#shobbs #deckard shaw #luke hobbs #dominic toretto #christmas fics #12 days of christmas #ice sculpture #fanfic #my fanfic

[anabe23bookwormstuff]

Castilon

(After searching in the wrong places for the troopers who want Rey’s head, they finally reach Castilon, the water planet where they are. What do they find here and what does Ben discover about himself and Rey?)

"Rey... I think they want us to join them" Ben wispered to a very asleep Rey  on his chest.

There was a small drool line going down her lip and he laughed at it, taking it off with the covers.

"Rey! come on" this time he shook her a little.

"Noooo..." she extended as much as she could as she clinged even more onto him, hiding her face on his neck.

"We're landing in 20 minutes, every one up!" Someone knocked on Ben's door, not knowing that inside there was also Rey.

"Come on, if not I can't guarantee that there'll be something decent for breakfast" he tried bribing her.

"I don't care, I'll show you how you can make a very good breakfast soup with a piece of bread and some water" she half jocked.

Instead of answering Ben rubber her back  and her hair.

He wondered how Rey had to grow up, and at the same time felt her loneliness.

"That's not helping either" Rey said yawning and kissing his shoulder.

"You slept more yesterday"

"It still doesn't feel like enough" she said going to the bathroom.

The past days  as a small crew including Finn, Poe, Jannah, Rose, Kaydel and some others, had begun the search on the outer rim planets searching for the base of people waiting for Ben to come back and the ones trying to kill Rey, so she hadn't been able to sleep well.

Which only meant that Ben couldn't sleep either. It's not like she wanted that to happen, but like in Naboo their emotions ended up tangling with each other and the constant fear that Rey felt rubbed off on Ben having nightmares about her dying.

"I'm starting to think that maybe that trooper lied to us" Rey said now getting out of the bathroom fresh and changed.

"We're not looking on the right places, but this time, I'm sure they are here." Ben declared.

Rey stopped her yawn when he stood from the bed, his chest naked and walked past her. She froze.

She felt like it was a little dumb to still feel uncomfortable watching him like that and at the same time it wasn't.

"I'm- I'm getting us something to eat. I'll see you there" she said loud so he could hear through the door and then got outside.

"Like we didn't know you two are sleeping together" Kaydel said behind her, making her stop trying to tip toe to the eating area.

"Do you camp outside the room or something?" Rey asked sighing and turning back to look at her.

"Nop. I just recognize how you blush when you've been caught" She winked.

"Come on, once again, I saved you some food" she said walking past Rey.

Rey was still not sure if she wanted to slap her or hug her for always messing with her.

"Rey. You got up late. Whatever, I wanted to show you that we did got a signal from here and a tip that someone on Castilon saw the symbol on that troopers helmet" Poe said taking Rey from the eating area to the control zone.

"And you believe them?" she asked taking another spoonful of her breakfast.

"Yes ,Rey. This time I think we're in the right place" Finn answered instead.

She sighed. If they were wrong this would be the sixth planet they visited with no success.

"That's what I told her too" Rey heard Ben's voice behind her and handed him another bowl of food without turning around.

Sometimes their synchronicity amazed the others, because it came natural to them they didn't notice, but if Finn tried to ever give something to Kaydel for example without looking they would drop it. Or the times that just by saying one or two words they had completely understood the other, or the thing that many of the girls on the ship swoon about... when Rey seemed tired Ben would always end up next to her and his arm was always there for her to rely on, or the way Rey would casually hold Ben's hand as they ate or walked past each other...

The public forgot about it and went back to the monitors instead.

"Since this planet is more water than islands we'll have to land on the biggest island and get to the other ones with the racers (just smaller ships) and search in caves or any type of place that may serve as a hiding spot okay?" Finn started.

"You and you, search here"

"Ben, you're coming with me and Jannah" Poe continued calling names.

"We were unsure to let you go because they're after you... but... we also know you can take care of yourself Rey, so you're coming with us" Finn said.

When all the teams were ready they landed and gave each team a radio to communicate.

"Good luck" Rey gave them a thumbs up.

"Be careful" Ben said taking her hand.

"I will, we'll see you here in four hours" she reminded him.

Sure... Ben mumbled and started walking away with his team.

"Do you want to bet on who gets there first?" Rey asked Fin signaling to the island they were headed to, he rolled his eyes and guided them to the racer.

"So... can you feel anything?" Poe asked Ben as they arrived on their island.

"Like what?"

"I don't know... some energy... something...?"

"Not really" he admited. But this had to be the place... if they had read the map right this time and the tip was real then this had to be the place.

"And if we find them?" Ben asked suddenly.

"You know, we call the others, we round them up... interrogate them and make sure that they are the last ones then kill them" Poe said like it was nothing and a strange void set on Ben's stomach.

"Island number two. Nothing" Rey said.

"Rey... you have to be more positive than that" Rose said.

"I'm sorry it's just that not being able to sleep and having a target on your head is sooo fun and relaxing" she said crossing her arms.

"Rey why don't you go check the cave and I go to that other one near the palms?" Finn tried separating them.

"Okay" Rey took out her saber to be able to see better and headed there.

"I'm checking the cave" Ben announced and took out his saber.

"Stupid planet filled with water and rocks" Rey mumbled as she walked deeper inside the cave. So far she couldn't hear or see anything, but a few insects on the walls of the cave and a faint rotten smell.

Without a though she flinged her saber and sliced some kind of animal that came her way.

"Oh no, I'm sorry" she kneeled to pick it up and help it but her ears catched something else.

"Who is there?" She called out standing in a defensive position with her saber in hand and the other extended ready to stop anything coming her way.

No one answered but she could feel someone watching her.

Ben heard a faint rumor of running water and decided to follow that path instead of the other tunnel.

He didn't trust this place as it reminded him of the darkness in exegol.

Slowly he got closer and closer to the sound, and he could swear that the water was whispering to him.

"Focus, focus, come closer" they mashed together and called for him.

Without wanting to he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the next thing he knew he was being pulled to the water by some invisible force.

He tried resisting and holding to a rock, but  it was useless.

He held his breath and tried to swim to the surace once he hit the water, but when he opened his eyes he saw Rey. She was at the bottom, her eyes closed and a few crystals on the walls lit the water.

He swam to her and when he extended his hand Rey opened her eyes.

She got close to him and pulled him by his shirt even deeper into the water.

This can't be her, he thought and fought to get out of her grasp.

This other Rey, or this vision, whatever it was pulled him to another tunnel underwater and finally let him go. He got to the surface gasping for air and got out of the water as quickly as he could.

He walked backwards until his back hit a wall, it was cold and smooth.

"Come out" Rey dared whoever was there.

Instead of answering she saw something shinning and it started moving so she ran towards it.

"Stop" she threw a rock at it but it dodged it. She contemplated collapsing a part of the cave and traping that thing, bt she wasn't sure if she'll trap herself too.

She closed her eyes for a mnute focusing only on the sound that thing did and somehow knew that it was rolling, she started running towards it with full speed and jumped in the exact moment to pass it and stand in front of it, pulling her lightsaber out and managing to stop it.

"What the..." A weird kind of octopus was frozen in front of her and it was carrying what she recognized as her blaster.

"Where are you going?" she asked and that thing replied, the problem was she couldn't understand it. Without letting her power weaken on him she dragged it outside to see if maybe Finn or Rose could understand something.

"Ben..." he heard his mother's voice.

"Mom" without being able to stop himself his hand reached for the wall, where he could see ethe shadow of who he thought was his mom.

"Well done, son" His fathers voice said.

Confused he turned around looking for anyone who might be messing with his mind.

"Ben..." this time Rey called for him.

He swallowed his fear and got close to the wall again, he ran his hand through it trying to get a better look of what was behind it.

Another hand seemed to mirror his moves ont he other side and he held his breath until the faint glow of a red lightsaber shone from the other side and he took a step back.

"You've betrayed me" his grandfathers voice said.

"This isn't real" he mumbled over and over.

"It isn't" he took out his own saber and tried making a cut on the wall to silence all the voices.

"Ben..." Rey's voice was so real.

He opened his eyes to find that there was barely any damage to the wall.

And then he saw himself, as a young jedi, and as Kylo Ren, then as himself, Ben Solo.

"Whatever you want to show me.... just do it" he said. This had to be some weird void on the space... some kind of oracle.

Something on his mind told him to step closer and press his palms to the wall.

With a deep breath he opened his mind. He felt chills going down his spine as a flash of images flooded him, they slowed down a little to show him and Rey back to back and his mind heart changing from the light to the dark side, he took another deep breath.

This time he stood next to Rey, he wasn't sure where but their hands were together and he could feel... balance.

Rey's dark version stood next to him only to be replaced by her standing next to Kylo Ren and they all came together to change every few seconds as they held hands.

"Equals..."  he  murmured.

And then it all stopped, he was dragged into the water again and this time he was able to get out fast and out of the cave.

"Do you think he was just stealing it or he had other motives?" Rey said lifting the thing from it's tentacles and showing it to them.

"I think I can understand him"  Rose said and went on with making noices that made Finn and Rey exchange glances.

"I don't understand everything, but he says he was taking your blaster to someone... as a proof?"

The creature made a weird, sharp sound that made them cover their ears and dissapeared into the water.

"No shit, it must've alerted someone or something" Finn said running to get the radio and call everyone.

Rey took her blaster from the sand and prepared in case someone came.

"The weirdest thing we saw coming here was a group of creatures swimming to that island" Kaydel said once they were all reunited.

"That one?" A boy asked and signaled the wrong way.

"No! that one, to the left! they were all swimming there"

"That was the next place we had to look at" Ben said crossing his arms.

"We should all go there, together" Poe said and they hurried.

"Why are you all wet?" Rey asked Ben as they ran to the racers.

"It's an island" was all his explanation.

Poe made a signal for them to wait and instructed them to instead go to the island next to where they were headed.

"If there's someone there we can't just show ourselves" Finn explained.

"Sure" Rey mumbled. This time she had no doubt that they'd found what they were looking for and she wasn't excited to comfront whatever was expecting her.

"You and Ben, please get as high as you can and tell us if you see a camp or anything" Finn said.

"It'll just be dumb for them to be camping outside like nothing-" Ben shut up the second he saw some creature rolling in the sand and a trooper coming to get it.

"They're here" Rey said into the radio.

"How many?" Poe asked.

"I can't tell, we've only seen one, with the thing from the island. He's going inside the cave now"

Rey had started to climb down when Ben stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

" We'll have to go to them, we can't wait forever for them to come out. " She declared.

"But they could be armed"

"When has that stopped us before?" she said and kept climbing down.

He rolled his eyes but followed her anyways.

"I can't wait anymore for them to come for me or risk that we lose them. We need to go there... now" Rey said to everyone.

"Ben?" Poe wanted to know his opinion and for a moment he couldn't believe it, he even noticed that the rest of them were also waiting for him.

"She's right that we shouldn't lose them, but I don't think that the best plan it's to just to after them like this" he admited.

"But Ben-"

"Strategy" was all he said. No one but them understood what the hell were they talkign about.

"Care to explain?" Kaydel said.

They explained that as they were expecting for Ben, or Kylo Ren to show up, he'll go there first and let Rey now how many of them were and the she'll tell the rest of the crew. Then slowly, in groups they'll get close to the island waiting for Ben's signal to come in and either kill or trap all the people inside.

"I'll cover your back" Finn offered but Ben dismissed him.

They went to the racers and got them as close as they could to the island without getting their attention. Ben went by his own in another one and entered from the front of the island, Rey's heart raced when she watched him dissapear inside the cave.

"Master Ren!" A trooper called out when he saw him walking close and dropped to his knees.

"He's here!" another trooper shouted.

"Finally!" another said.

Ben stopped walking and stood in the middle of their improvised camp. Inside the cave was cold which allowed them to wear their armor and forced them to have torches through the place.

He counted twenty troopers, men and women as fast he could while nodding at them.

"Who is in charge?" he asked in a deep voice.

"I am, Captain Phasma left orders for me to look over the first order and reunite with you again master, if anything went wrong" A woman took her helmet off and kneeled in front of him.

"How long have you been here?"

"We've went from planet to planet waiting for you to get the map that'll lead you to us master" she said.

Ben counted four more people that came out of the tents and figured that they were all.

"twenty four visible, maybe a couple more inside tents, not armed" he said to Rey in a flash as their minds connected.

"I also heard that you offered a reward for the head of the jedi girl" he said walking around them. Not only to take a better look at them but to make sure that the arms were far from them.

"There are many people wanting that reward but only one got close to getting it" she said.

"I would slice her neck if I could get off this island" a trooper jocked and a couple of them laughed. The others waited for Bens reaction and didn't know how to act.

"And where are you exactly getting all that's been promised from? The first order no longer exists" Ben said walking again to the front.

"You don't need to worry about that master, show him" the troopers got something from the back of the cave and left it at Ben's feet.

"Rules for the New Galactic Empire, weapons, prison plans..." there were more stupid things on those papers that Ben had no intention of reading.

"We're coming in" Rey's voice said.

"It's best if you shoot" he answered.

"At your command" Rey said.

"When you're close, in five"

"Do you really think,  I, the Supreme Leader needs this... things, this nonsense to get my empire back?" He said pushing some of the papers away from him with his foot.

"No... not at all, this are merely ideas... Phasma and-"

"Who's the one in charge? Phasma or me?!" He roared pulling the girl forward as the other troopers walked closer in fear and excitement.

"Y-you mast- Ren" the girl said choking.

"All of you, come forward!" he ordered, that way Rey and the others would be able to see them better.

"Coming" Rey's voice whispered.

"Shoot" Ben told her.

"Show him the army" the girl on the floor said making Ben confused.

One of the troopers yelled an order and a group of kids came out of the tends.

"Fire!" he heard Finn said.

"Wait!" Ben shouted and his mind raced trying to make a plan in seconds.

#reylo #fanfic #fanfix #ben solo #adam driver

[robot-unicorn-attack]

alicia’s plotting ideas/notes??

SNOW (MARIVANA)

ideas & stuff!! feel free to message me either here or on urstyle or wherever else u have me, or comment directly on this post, to plot! ill put finalized notes w/ rest of snow’s info once we have it down :)

Sky - so since seraphina’s a newer racer, she and marivana don’t know each other super well? but they’re almost complete opposites, in terms of like racing specialties, and marivana doesn’t feel threatened by seraphina in any way. she probably keeps her distance whenever they aren’t doing things their agency has sent them on? 

It would be kind of fun to say that maybe, as a publicity stunt, twilight’s official statement is that snow has been mentoring sky behind the scenes? 

and they have to pretend that’s true, even though it’s not lol

LOL but it would be funny if one day marivana showed up at the track while seraphina was doing stuff and was just like, “so twilight wants me to teach you something that makes it look like i’ve actually been helping u. u free atm?”

but overall I don’t think marivana has too many strong opinions about seraphina, unless we want to create some kind of drama?

Ice - premade; tbd

Supernova - Marivana is…pretty indifferent? when it comes to Supernova. She knows who she is and what she’s done, of course-who doesn’t?-but if you think that she’d be starstruck and/or falling over herself when Supernova’s around her…well, you’d be wrong. Marivana’s had multiple trusted parties tell her that she’s just as good as Supernova was, at her peak, so she knows that she’s not a threat-for now, at least. Marivana’s a bit wary of the other racer, but also a bit curious to see as to where this comeback will lead.

So, depending on how much of the wedding and divorce was public....Marivana def would remember 1) the wedding, and 2) not giving a shit about it

The 2 of them have raced together, right at the very beginning of Marivana’s career? like 10+ years ago? and if As even remembers all that girly snow princess stuff, she could be like “lmao so twilight really pulled a 180 on her”

AHHHH so I know I never made this explicitly clear because I suck as a human being but - the deal with unicorns is that agencies/manufacturers/etc say that they’re just robots? agencies probably actually believe it, but in terms of the manufacturers they might be vaguely aware of otherwise but also don’t want to jeopardize any profits so they keep that shit on the DL

but obviously for ppl like Mari/As who have been riding for p much their entire life, they can tell when horses are distressed, happy/content, etc?

and robot unicorns are basically horses in terms of how sentient they are? 

so i have no fucking idea when this would happen, but the 2 of them mutually acknowledging that RUR is pretty fucked up for the unicorns?

also like....IT WOULD BE SO CUTE if the two of them sort of rolled their eyes at the same time about some kind of story regarding another rando racer who quit maybe a lil after As did (so the newer racers aren’t familiar with her)? and then they realize that they both rolled their eyes at the same time LOL

honestly just being Tired Grandmas together

anyway. @interluxetumbra LMK what u think!!!

Sunbeam -  tbd

Flower - Marivana knows exactly what 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸 is pulling with Flower (her own agency did the same thing to her, after all), and she is not fooled at all. She’s not stupid; in the robot unicorn racing industry, nobody is completely, utterly unknown when they debut unless they had no prior experience with robot horses/unicorns in the past. Marivana knows that Flower probably had to work her butt off to stay with 𝑅 𝐼 𝒮 𝐸, and she would bet her right hand that the image that Flower puts out to the public is just that - an image.

*chanting* AURIVANA AURIVANA AURIVANA

is the lil club plot we have how they meet/1st time they actually talk 2 ea other????

speaking of which - how do we want to write that? collab in a gdoc???

& then they just keep coincidentally running into ea other randomly????

aura saying something super Flower-esque and marivana just rolling her eyes and being like, “ok great now tell me what you really think about __” ??? lol

aura somehow discovering that marivana is into BOTANY, of all things????

maybe this is when she makes some sort of dry remark about the bio for Flower on the RISE website? “[Flower] grew up in a lush green meadow, hidden away from prying eyes by miles and miles of ice. How Flower managed to get the ice to melt for long enough to plant flowers and trees will always be a mystery.” and marivana’s like “lol magic my ass there’s literally no fucking way”

she explains it with a good amount of scientific jargon thrown in and aura’s just like watttttttttttttt :0000

literally hit me up ANYTIME i already adore them

also - their aesthetics as racers? put together? a+++++++++

OMG THIS IS LIKE WAY IN THE FUTURE BUT LIKE, we should say that their secret relationship somehow ends up going public for the ~drama~??? and instead of being super freaking pissed off, both of their agencies are just like “lmao okay ice queen x fairy princess? best ship” and use it for publicity?????

Flame - Marivana knows about 1) the image that she projects, and 2) that this image is pretty true to who Flame really is, for the most part. Her verdict? Flame could prove to be annoying, if she gets relevant while Marivana is still in the industry as a racer. Marivana doesn’t know what life not racing would be like, but she’s well-aware that she’s the oldest racer out there (well, besides Supernova, who doesn’t count. She’s making a comeback, after all), and that retirement is probably not too far out in her future. So, if Flame is still around within the next 5-10 years, then Marivana might start worrying about her. For now, she’s just the irritating racer with ʟᴀᴢᴇʀ who won’t ever stop causing a scene.

So they haven’t really interacted much yet, do we wanna say? 

they’re wary of each other because both their unicorns specialize in high power/strength so they’re like, more directly in competition?

are they going to engage in the RUA equivalent of a twitter fight??? in a publicity stunt that both of their agencies are putting on?

maybe snow has once insulted kehlani in an interview??? though it was fake/staged/scripted by her agency so she doesn’t actaully feel that way but ya know. doin it for the vine

and kehlani responds in kind, maybe at the behest of lazer, maybe not?. and it just keeps going???

but ya, marivana prob finds her personality kinda annoying so would generally avoid her unless kehlani approached first

Nyx - so like, snow probably thinks sol is way too flashy and all over the place, & does not engage her ever? she knows of the rumors of foul play, ofc, b/c who doesn’t, but she assumes that the rumors are super blown out of proportion (as rumors tend to be)?? and snow knows that if sol ever tries to target her/other ice world racers specifically, twilight will literally strong-arm lazer into dropping her. so she’s not that worried about that stuff????

definitely thinks her razor-sharp precision with U-800 is something to be admired, though, even if it’s not the flashiest skill like dressage or speed

OMG LOL spoiler alert but the 2nd event is a race on lava world, so they’re all on the main LW training/practice facilities in the days leading up to the race???? and we TOTALLY need to have them do that weirdly super aggressive staredown/pre-game smack talk sesh that they do in super extra sports anime LOL

Widowmaker - snow’s heard of her, knows of her, has competed against her, but since they both tend to keep to themselves they haven’t really talked? it could be potentially cool if eleni guessed about/found out about what actually happened with marivana’s 1st unicorn?? OMG DRAMA but what if she actually knew of the armed thief? who was on ice world for whatever reason lmfao we can hand-wave it. bonus points if she’s pissed that 1st unicorn killed the person?????????? lol

and it could be POTENTIALLY FUN to write a scene with them where eleni basically calls her out on the fact that, yeah marivana fucking hates twilight for deactivating the first unicorn so why tf does she still race for them/earn them so much money???

also marivana has literally no retirement plans atm so.....i have NO FREAKING IDEA if this would ever be possible or not, but if she somehow?? gets involved? with the people who wanna fuck up TEF govt for not giving a single shit about black hole ??? ? ??? ?? thru eleni????????//

idk dude feel free to just be like “lmao alicia that would never happen” if it feels too OOC!!! it’s also like 4 am & i’m only half coherent so ;D

but i literally have no idea in what context the calling out would be in!!! maybe if marivana saw some top sekrit info that eleni might have access to and was like “i won’t tell anyone at TWILIGHT if you tell me why you have this”? and eleni is like *eyeroll* “not like u have any reason to like ur agency”

Taglist: @ayzrules @bebemoon @jay-swagsby @filthysoulls @shiftyprincess @kzombi3 @now-on-elissastillstands

#plotting #snow #marivana #this is....so incoherent #and i am sorry #racers #writing #i guess??? lol

[hypnoidvoid]

UhHhHHH platonic or romantic stozier finding a hurt bird on a bike ride

A/N: Okay so this deadass turned into a oneshot. Stozier is my fuckin’ brotp so here I come with the FEELS. Also, for those of you that read my Reddie fic Key to the Jungle, I wrote this to be an additional out of storyline excerpt/blippet of the highschool versions of Stan and Richie in their junior year. Ecologist!Richie and Ornithologist!Stan are best friends and have been forever and now I’m crying, thank you and have a kickass day. I love adding on to this universe.

[Title: Neapolitan Bird Bath]

[Friday, April 16, 2010]

The sun, as much life as it nourished with its light and warmth, disappeared behind thick clouds as only a disfigured apparition. Rays reflected, yearned to bust through, but could only try its best to light the naturally shadowed town of Derry, Maine.

Rain collided with the glass from outside of the classroom. It pounded hard, making music of its own along with the monotone voice of their AP biology teacher lecturing about the differences in photosystems. Richie half listened, and half paid attention to different couplets of raindrops, making bets in his head as to which one would run faster down the glass. The one he always bet on seemed to be the losing raindrop unfortunately; good thing he didn’t wager any money. It was also a good thing he sat pretty far back in the classroom, otherwise the teacher may have heard his quietted hums of the Speed Racer theme song.

Richie knew every detail the teacher was talking about. Transcription blah blah, NADPH+ blah fucking blah, cytochrome this electron flow that, more blah blah. Not even with cockiness, he just already knew the information from reading as much as he did. He’d probably be able to teach the material better than the teacher, even at seventeen years of age.

“Why the fuck would they keep it photosystem I, if photosystem II comes first. Just rename that shit,” Richie whispered with annoyance after leaning into Stan’s ear, who sat in front of him.

Instead of verbally responding, Stan tore a piece of paper out of his spiralled notebook and wrote in masterful cursive ‘to make us miserable’, and indiscreetly passed it to Richie behind his back.

Richie took the pencil resting atop his ear, twirled it twice in his fingers and scribbled back, ‘must have been the same dude that took Pluto away from us. i fucking miss Pluto’.

Stan snorted, and wrote ‘don’t we all’.

Doodling a frightening sad face next to Stan’s response, he continued on the next line, ‘id rather die than have to spend more time listening to this george bush lookin motherfucker. me tHinKs we know more than he does’.

Stan admitted in his delicate text, ‘even you probably have more brain cells than he does’.

Richie muffled a snigger, writing back ‘you wrote that on paper staniel, im going to get it published. you dun fucked up’.

In big, bubble letters where he used a yellow highlighter to perfectly color in the lines, Stan admired his work that depicted ‘FUCK YOU’.

As he passed the piece of paper back to Richie, their teacher became aware of their note passing. He scowled, clipped his lazer pointer pen back into the stained pocket of his button up shirt, and slowly stomped towards the two.

“Boys, would you like to share with the rest of the class? These notes must be much more important than paying attention to my lecture.”

Nervously speaking up, Stan panicked, “It was about homework, sir.”

Looking between Stan’s jittery composure and Richie’s smug smile, he was unconvinced by the lie.

“Is that so gentlemen. Well let me see then, hand it over-”

Richie quickly crumpled and shoved the scrap piece of paper into his mouth. The class burst into laughter, as well as Stan. He chewed the awful tasting inked paper quickly and swallowed, bearing a guiltless smile at the teacher without another word. That infamous, toothy, Tozier smile flashed that his father also sported on occasion.

The teacher pinched the bridge of his nose and wagged a reprimanding finger in Richie’s face, “You’re lucky you have the highest grade in the class, Tozier. Another stunt like that and it’s detention,” then craned his neck to meet Stan’s anxious gaze, “You too, Mr. Uris.”

“You got it, teach’a man,” and Richie used two fingers to salute him. Exhaustedly rolling his eyes, the teacher returned to the front of the class and lectured for the remainder of the period, which was only about fifteen minutes. Before the bell signalled dismissal into the weekend, all of the students were promptly packed and itching to flee the classroom. They sat on the edges of their seats buzzing with excitement.

*BIIIIIING*DING*BIIIIIIIIING*

“Don’t forget to read chapters seven through-” But the teacher’s demands were drowned out by shuffling feet and giddied shrieks as the class stormed out into the swollen mist of rain.  

Swinging his patched backpack over one shoulder, Richie threw the hood of his rain jacket over his head and turned to Stan on their way out with a devilish grin, “You’re welcome.”

Stan blankly positioned his folded bag over the front of his body, “Yeah, okay. Deal’s a deal, what flavor you want this time?”

Richie looked into the sky letting droplets hit his freckled face, and pondered for a moment, “Neapolitan.”

“Neapolitan it is then.”

“With sprinkles. And fudge. And Oreo bits.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Stan chided, briskly shoving Richie’s shoulder. They unlatched their bikes that had been chained next to each other from the bike rack and peddled south of town.

They had this agreement that if one of them ever got the other, or both, out of trouble (detention, arrested, whatever) then they owed a serving of ice cream. It’s a simple enough compromise. Stan religiously ordered butter pecan, but Richie’s choice was always a gamble. Detention was a waste of fucking time, even for Richie who had spent more than enough hours there, and if they could avoid sitting in silence without doing anything for god knows how long, they rewarded each other. It’s what best friends did.

Pumping hard with his feet, Richie swiveled up on his bike alongside Stan and exclaimed, “Did you know kangaroos have two uteruses?”

Stan chuckled and shook the rain off of the top of his curls with a jolt, “You reading animal porn now?”

“The males even have two dicks to match, can ya believe that? Nature is fuckin’ craz-”

Stan abruptly yanked the brakes of his bike with enough force to slide and create a minor tire mark in the middle of the street, where Richie shut his trap and followed Stan’s lead. He was wildly confused, but mirrored him nonetheless, for Stan always had reason behind his actions. Always. Richie would never admit, but he believed Stan to be wise beyond his years, and when Stan did something unusual it was best to pay attention. Richie was smart, brilliant even, but Stan possessed a superpower of intuitive awareness.  

Face stern and focused with calculation, Stan tipped his hooded head in different directions to pick up on a sound Richie failed to initially acknowledge. All Richie heard was rain.

He pushed midnight curls aside to frame his thick glasses, “Stan?”

Pressing a strict finger to his lips, Stan shot him sharp eyes, “Shhhhh.” They listened.

Then he heard it. Little chirps echoed off of the asphalt; a peculiar place for bird noises to be coming from, especially during a storm of this severity. How Stan was able to pick up on the muted cries flashing by on a bicycle astonished Richie. It was indeed a superpower.

Zeroing in on the location of the bird, Stan hopped off his bike and propped it gently against a tree to stay upright. Richie carelessly threw his bike down on the soaked grass lining the sidewalk.

“That’s a black-capped chickadee. A distress call,” Stan informed with concern, Richie trailing close behind.

“Gotcha.”

Stan strutted to a close American elm tree, scaled his eyes up the trunk, and saw a nest. It didn’t titter, make noise, it only rustled with the passing winds of the storm under its protective canopy of leaves. He circles the tree’s trunk and on the other side, in the unmowed grass, a petit bird hobbled, desperately alerting for help.

Richie’s expression was one of bewilderment, “Holy shit, how’d you-”

Bringing his knees to the ground without care of getting grass stains on his khakis, Stan expertly picked the chick up and evaluated it. He stretched out its wings, made sure there was a healthy pulse, and strategically bent certain limbs to check for breaks. Richie just watched with magnified eyes.

Grunting, Stan seemed to have found his answer, “Rich, got anything hard and flat?”

As much as Richie wanted to make a disastrous joke, he refrained.

With Stan gingerly holding the young chickadee’s foot cradled in his palm, Richie innately understood his inquiry. Chucking off his backpack, Richie found a popsicle stick that he had neglected to throw away days ago and snapped it in thirds. He offered a piece of it to Stan’s free hand.

Stan continued, “Get the bandaids out of the front button in my bag too.”

The chickadee had a broken foot. It was nearly shattered from presumably falling out of the tree, needing adjustment and splinting to heal properly. Correcting the bird’s mangled digits, Stan flattened out its foot (even though it nipped his hands and drew blood in places), and used the bandaids to wrap the appendage atop the piece of popsicle stick to keep it straight. While the bird seemed angry with him in the process, it eventually relaxed, and cooed chirps of comfort rather than distress as it was being wrapped. It realized it was being helped and not under siege by a predator. This was a friend.

Richie admiringly observed, sitting cross-legged next to his best friend with a warm smile, “That was amazing, buddy. You’re going to make a great ornithologist some day. I know it.”

Stan only responded with a creviced, dimpled smile. He shed the sweater under his raincoat and made a ‘nest’ in his bag to transfer the chickadee safely. Instead of heading for the ice cream parlor, they rode their bikes back to Richie’s house to care for the young bird and make it a temporary home until it was healthy enough to release back into the wild.

Ice cream could always wait.

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#reddie #my writing #key to the jungle #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #prompts #drabbles #it fanfiction #it 2017 #it fandom #it stephen king #it au #stanley uris #hannah writes #hans writes #brotp

[recentanimenews]

How Batman Tricked Us Into Liking Anime

  For every kid that gazed upon Toonami in the late 90s and early 00s and found stuff like Dragon Ball Z and Outlaw Star to be everything they'd ever wanted in life, there were likely other kids that...didn't do that. For instance, while I'd seen "anime" and loved anime before (Bless you, Pokémon and Sailor Moon,) when I actually learned what anime was, I wasn't in the right state of mind to recieve it. I was in middle school when I learned and at the time, I was desperate to retreat from all subjects that might've made me appear overtly nerdy. That meant leaving my Star Wars Expanded Universe novels at home, shutting up about Fellowship of the Ring in class, and never once engaging in anything anime-related. No Goku. No Yusuke. No Gundams. 

  I was never gonna find a date to the dance anyway, but anime surely wasn't going to help. 

  However, little did I know that I was getting primed to really, really enjoy anime later. Because the Western cartoons that I considered a "safe zone" were slowly getting more and more anime influences, influences that've been openly explained and embraced by their creators. And this build-up to one day letting anime into my heart started, as most things do, with Batman.

    Or, well, a protege of Batman, that is. The 2003 Teen Titans cartoon has long been known for a style that resembles anime far more than it does the DC Comics superhero cartoons that preceded it in the decade prior. Glen Murakami, a producer on Teen Titans, had spent a long time working on classics like Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. And while both shows are fantastic and iconic, he wanted to do something different with Titans.

  "We were fans of anime for years while working on the other shows, and it seemed natural to use that as the new direction to go in," he said in an interview with Animation World Network. "I had seen a lot of different things being done with anime, and I thought that was a wonderful opportunity to tell stories in a different way, a very stylistic way. So it just seemed sort of natural that a hybrid would occur."

    He goes on to cite series like Speed Racer and Kimba as stories that influenced the tone and storytelling of Titans, and it doesn't take too long to see where the animation has been influenced as well. Teen Titans is full of exaggerated reactions, diverse color palettes, and well-choreographed fight scenes. It also features a fun team dynamic that is way more One Piece than it is Justice League, though that likely has more to do with the basic nature of young, teenage superheroes. 

  But this wouldn't be a one-and-done experiment for DC characters. Though often maligned upon its release as an unworthy successor to Batman: The Animated Series, I found something undeniably awesome about The Batman when it premiered in 2004. Little did I know that a lot of what I gravitated towards (The extended combat sequences, the stylized character designs by Jeff Matsuda) were straight out of the anime playbook. For example, just take a look at this short portion of the fight scene between Joker, Batman, and Penguin in the episode "The Laughing Bat" and check out how much more it looks like Naruto vs Sasuke than anything an animated Batman had been involved in before:

    At the time, I just enjoyed stuff like this because it felt so new. I'd been so used to a few kinds of Batman for so long that seeing this dynamic take was refreshing. Then, years later, when finally watching something like Shippuden, I couldn't quite put my finger on why the chaotic taijutsu combat seemed so familiar. Of course, it was because I'd watched the Dark Knight pull it off a decade earlier. Supervising Producer Michael Goguen even said in an interview that the anime influence is pretty obvious and "fun." Hot take: I think I agree with that.

  Of course, many people that didn't watch anime were first introduced to an anime-esque style with Avatar: The Last Airbender. No Western show has perhaps been more open with the fact that the creators think that anime is rad than Avatar, with creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino letting it not only influence the art style but the storytelling as well. The arcs of characters like Aang and Zuko are rarely episodic, instead playing out in intricate ways over time, with a long term goal already established. There was an end in mind, which is a far cry from the usual system of Western hero cartoons which just go on until people stop watching them.

    But while Avatar was the King of anime-influenced cartoons that were made in America, it certainly wasn't alone. Shows like Megas XLR, which was both a loving tribute to and a satire of the popular anime mecha genre, were also around. In fact, while I knew of Gundam, I never actually watched a Gundam series until after I saw Megas. So RIP Megas XLR. You were taken away from us too soon.

  And the list goes on, from The Boondocks to Jackie Chan Adventures to Transformers: Animated to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Samurai Jack - all shows where an anime influence seems at least partial, if not extremely obvious at times. It just goes to show you that the significance of anime is global, and that it can reach as high as the Northern Air Temple and as low as the BatCave. And for a kid like me, it was so necessary. Because I likely never would've gotten into anime if these cartoon creators hadn't loved it first. 

  Do you remember any of these shows? What's your favorite anime-influenced Western cartoon? Let us know in the comments!

    ------------------

  Daniel Dockery is a writer/editor and is currently singing the Teen Titans theme to himself. You should follow him on Twitter.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

        By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[deannaphantom95]

Cars 3 Review (Spoilers)

2 Weeks after seeing the film I finally post a review...XD

Heads up, spoilers in case you haven't seen the movie. ;) The start of the movie brought me right back to the first one, absolutely loved it. Having Doc being mentioned practically first thing I could tell right away that he was going play a huge role in this movie. The intro really felt exciting and nostalgic at the same time, especially with the music. I felt like they rushed the beginning a little with Lightning having friends on the racetrack like Cal and Bobby, I feel like they could've been fleshed out a bit more. Also I feel like Jackson Storm's introduction was a bit unrealistic, like why would only at the end of the race would he notice that there was a new rookie racing with him? I get what the writers were trying to do, and I get why it would make for a good introduction to his character, Jackson is basically an unexpected character to appear in Lightning's life, taking the race by storm as you would say...XD But from a literal stand point, Lightning should've known about Jackson prior to the race...then again Lightning was always in the front...and Jackson didn't decide to be up the front till the very end so...make sense I guess. When it comes towards the crash scene (and I really hate that I saw this part back in January...cuz as soon as I saw it on screen I knew what was coming), I could definitely tell that this was reality and not a dream as many had speculated in the trailers. The music here is just so emotional, especially after Jackson Storm takes back the lead and Lightning fights back and I could really feel his pain. And when I saw the reaction on Sally's face...I was practically in tears (though for some reason I just can't seem to cry in public so I actually didn't, but mentally I was breaking down). I just love how there is nothing but silence as the crash takes place, the movie really wants to hear every scrape, every smash and every hit that Lightning makes before he tumbles to a stop. It was truly a shocking scene, I really wanted to see some sort of hospital scene, but I was disappointed to see it skip 4 months, it would've been real nice to see Lightning in hospital, everyone around him and all. I feel like the writers would've included it if they had more time for it but I guess they didn't, oh well... So they skipped 4 months, a bit of a bummer there. Nice to see Radiator Springs again...then we move to Lightning painted in nothing but primer and a 95 on his sides, this scene I could just tell how down and depressed Lightning was. I really like that about Pixar films, they make the emotions so realistic I just love it. Anyways, the flashback scene here from the first movie really got me, it just really makes you think how much time has passed from when Lightning crashed into town and then in that part of the movie he had just been in a crash and was now trying to mentally recover from it. When Sally came into the scene, I just knew I was going to love what was going to happen because I love these two together, and I loved already how much attention Sally is getting so far. Sally helping Lightning get his motivation back was a great idea, it just felt kinda rushed that with only two weeks left until the next racing season starts...and Lightning's spent 4 months doing nothing but stay in Doc's garage...that Sally could've encouraged him a lot sooner, unless she did behind the scenes but we'll never know I guess. Also I just loved it when Sally called him Stinky instead of Stickers, and I'm really loving what a character Sally is becoming, more witty but still as confident and self motivated as she was in the first film. It is also in this scene where we're introduced to Mater outside of the races (the same went for Sally, but I'm talking about mainly from the viewpoint of the 2nd movie), it's nice to see that Mater is back as that comedy relief sort of character and not the front stage. Moving ahead a little, I loved how Pixar brought back Rusty and Dusty from the first film (though I am aware one of the brothers has passed...RIP). Things from here really started to speed up, I feel like that with a little more time this section of the movie could've been fleshed out more to provide more of that realistic feel of recovering both physically and mentally from a crash. So far this movie has had so many call backs to the first film it almost seems like a remake of it, especially after seeing a travel montage with Mack and "Kings Highway" playing, truly settling, but it'll never beat "Life is a Highway" for sure. Oh, and my number one scene in this movie so far is when Lightning and Sally say "love you" to each other, aww...^^ And we get to the training sight, man when I first saw it...it was just huge, I didn't even think Rusty and Dusty could make that sort of thing, I knew there was someone behind it other than those two, obviously the silver car from the trailers known as Sterling. At first glance I felt like something would be up with him, and later in the film I was right. But first, when Cruz and Lightning first met, I totally fell for Cruz saying Lightning was a fake, insulting him but I just love how she turned back around, telling him to use that for motivation. The next several scenes I felt like Cruz shouldn't have treated him like he was old and brittle, she had seen him race before, and most definitely in the more recent times leading up to the crash, so shouldn't she understand that he can go a lot faster than that? At the same time this was all after the crash so it was a little understandable that she wanted to take the training slow with him. When I got around to seeing him on the simulator, I just knew this wasn't going to work out, with the confidence Cruz was lacking in him and with Sterling watching I just knew things were going to go wrong...and they did. But I do find it funny when Lightning said. "I have crashed." Lol so funny XD Things get intense after this, I knew Sterling was up for retiring Lightning, just like what happened to Cal and some of the other racers last racing season. All he could see was dollar signs, not a racecar who could keep going, he wanted Lightning to retire so he could start making Lightning a brand. But I love the turnaround Lightning makes here, and I knew within an instant that Cruz was coming with Lightning to train the moment Sterling said he would be taking someone with him. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard the good old Mac start up sound with the treadmill, hilarious. I still think Cruz isn't treating Lightning right here, she should know he trained on this sort of terrain before, but I understood why she wanted him on the treadmill, since she wasn't experienced like Lightning was. And then begins the montage of Lightning beginning to train Cruz, I can just see Lightning acting a little like his old self here where all he wants is for his speed to be measured and be on with it, but he had to train Cruz how to drive on sand. And I just love the "crabbies have gone night night" part, so cute! ^^ The Thunder Hollow scene was spectacular, I made sure to look into how realistic the mud look because I knew that the animators had a hard time working with that. When I saw Miss Fritter, I could just see that she was super awesome right away, you could see she's a badass character... XD Anyways, with Lightning and Cruz having no choice but to race, I could see that I was going to be in for one heck of a ride. I was surprised at the end that Cruz actually won the race, and how Lightning and she barely got damaged...other than Lightning losing a wheel (it always seems to be the back ones with this guy huh? XD). But I kinda hate how perfectly timed the next scene was...with Lightning being revealed, the water tank coming to Miss Fritter's aid...passing Lightning at that very moment, with Cruz just narrowly passing the water tank truck at that same time felt all too perfectly timed for me. Anyways, skipping ahead a little, I just loved Lightning's annoyed or "So Done with you" look while Cruz gloated a little about her victory. Then this is where emotions start to kick in, I can really connect with Cruz over this part. Feeling like you didn't belong and decided to back out instead of taking that chance...I could just imagine myself in her spot, there had been so many opportunities I could've taken that could've changed my life but I didn't take them because I was worried I didn't belong there. I could really see how hurt both Lightning and Cruz was in this scene, I could connect with Lightning too, not having realised how much of an impact you have on others until they tell you at their lowest point. It was truly an emotional scene that I'll never forget. With Lightning calling Mater instead of Sally afterwards I felt like it was just a scene the writers put in so Mater would have a bit more screen time, although he had his own movie they needed to acknowledge Lightning's best friend still. And I could see even more of why the writers made Lightning call Mater instead of Sally, I can't totally picture Sally telling him to find Doc's teacher...don't know why I just can't. So the next scene is hilarious with Lightning trying to make it up to Cruz, I felt like I was just laughing in embarrassment and feeling sorry that Cruz had to see that. But seeing Lightning dance to that same training music from earlier was simply priceless...XD Nice to see that Cruz came around and decided to go with Lightning (just so he would stop dancing...XD), I still find it a little rude of how Cruz assumes all old cars (especially for someone like Smokey) to have passed away, man I can't wait for her to meet Lizzie then! XD So anyways, I was surprised at how soon Cruz managed to "turn right to go left", it took Lightning a few days to do, this was literally the day after Cruz was being taught how to do that (sort of), it kinda feels a bit rushed, and it feels a little too coincidental that Lightning and Cruz just happen to find Smokey there at the abandoned race track when they were actually looking for him in the first place, but I love that Smokey's first assumption of why they were there wasn't the actual reason. It was really interesting seeing the other legendary racers like River Scott, Louise "Barnstormer" Nash and Junior "Midnight" Moon and how they reminisce about the good old days when Doc was racing alongside them, and seeing that signature move Doc made was amazing. It was sad for Lightning to assume that racing was the only time Doc was truly happy, but after Smokey showed him the letters from Doc, and seeing him on the wall with Doc...I could truly see just how much Lightning realised how important he was to Doc's life. The flashbacks made it even more memorable, and seeing Doc speaking was even more amazing. Then moving onto the training scene, I just loved Cruz's character here, putting her motivational skills to the test with Lightning, and seeing Lightning going through the struggles of realising he's a slower car now and needs to learn new moves. And when the camera panned to Cruz, I just knew that all these valuable tips were going to be useful to her real soon. With the last bit of training before Lightning leaves to Florida, I could really tell just how torn Lightning felt about himself, this was where he was beginning to process that Cruz could really be a better racer than he is, and how he had to really accept that he couldn't beat everyone anymore. Then we're taken to the Florida 500...damn that race track dome structure looks stunning! It was nice to see Sally come back into the picture, and I just loved her witty talk to him about moving on from him no matter what happened during that race. So cute and hilarious. And then we see Jackson talking like his usual self again, putting others down and bragging about himself, truly a jerk like Sally put it. SO we commence the race, I could just tell something big was going to happen, seeing Smokey coaching Lightning on was a true callback to the first film with Doc, only it didn't have the same amount of excitement as the first one unfortunately. Then this is where things begin to take an unexpected turn, seeing Sterling just labeling Cruz as a trainer and not a racer, it really hits Lightning then and there that Cruz is truly meant to be a racer. I could just see it in his eyes, and when Lightning came to pit, I was not expecting Cruz to be fitted with racing gear so she could race, I was just as shocked as she was. This part was so intense, the music, the arguing just made it feel like that split second decision, and I loved it. So now Cruz is racing, and I felt like from this point on Cruz was going to win, not that I had seen it in spoilers but because it wouldn't seem right if she didn't win...then again now that I really think about it...no, moving on! It didn't feel right with Smokey telling Cruz what to do, I could definitely tell that Lightning was going to be coaching her, and when he did I couldn't be happier, I was truly amazed at how much of a great crew chief Lightning would make. And all in the end this causes Cruz to do the unbelievable move Doc made on his encounter with a rude rookie, in a way I could see it coming, but when the music kicked up as Cruz crossed the finish line first and just how nostalgic it all was from the first film truly made it feel more memorable. ^^ Also it came no surprise to me that Cruz quit Rusteze and raced for Dinoco (if only they could hold out the merchandising...XD), but I was more surprised to see that Lightning did technically win the race too, part of me should've realised that sooner. It was great to see that Lightning wasn't retired, and I was more surprised when Tex actually bought Rusteze. The ending scene was on point, ending where the last two movies ended, with a race around Willy's Butte. Seeing Lightning painted pretty much like Doc was priceless, and that ending music is now my favourite song ever, it is just so awesome! I loved the photograph of Lightning looking a Cruz the same way Doc looked at him when he was younger, it truly shows what you can teach the new generation and what fun you can make out of it. Overall it was a truly amazing movie, however it doesn't top the first movie unfortunately, I don't think any amount of Cars sequels would ever par with the first film, but I will say I enjoyed it far more than I enjoyed Cars 2 (which was barely at all...lol). It taught me that life long lesson that the best part of anyone's life is not when they're in their prime, but when they're watching someone else be in their prime because of their influence, and in the future I hope to do that to the next generation. I hope I make a great impact on the next generation just like Lightning has done with Cruz. Truly a spectacular film. :love: Overall Ratings for each film

Cars: (10/10) Cars 2 (5/10) Cars 3 (8/10)

#cars #cars 3 #cars 3 review #review #pixar cars #cars 3 spoilers

[writtenonthesubwaywalls]

The Secret's Out (part 6)

-Japan- "Ready? Set. Go!" the young-yet-attractive flag girl shouted. The cars took off, both already traveling at breakneck speeds. Kiku had his head low, and his eyes trained on the exact spot he would begin his drift. Drift racing is a very popular and dangerous sport that originated in Japan. Ever since it was created, he found himself enthralled by it. Finally, after watching every race he could for about a month or so, he decided to take it up himself. Of course, being a personification, he had all the skill of the best racer, and then whatever individual skill be built up himself. Racing was still his favorite thing to do on Friday nights when the roads were lit with neon lights and the anime graffiti was highlighted by the bright colors. He never lost, and was regarded as a legend by the other street racers. He went by the pseudonym 'Kurai Ikari', or Dark Fury, translated. His car was black as pitch, with a single white streak on the driver's side. He worked on it constantly to keep it in the best condition. Once again, tonight's victory went to him. ~~~~~~~~~ Japan looked up at the huge entrance to the convention. Since pretty much everyone knew who he was, he came in full cosplay. This time he was Eren from Attack on Titan. The regular version, not one of the other story arcs. Conventions were another one of his favorite ways to sped his time. He always bought merchandise, and he always left feeling a little happier than he was when he went in. This particular convention was being held in Tokyo, so it was huge. And when I say huge, I mean /huge/. There were so many people that you never saw any one person twice, and you could have seen enough people to last you your whole life. He would sometimes set up booths to sell some of his art, but he chose not to today. He did bring his camera, of course, to catch any good pictures of cosplay and things. Kiku walked around the place all day, talking to other enthusiasts here and there. He even bought the cutest little cat plushy that looked a lot like Japan-cat. There was a surprising amount of people who dressed as the countries, even though they were technically in an anime. Himaruya was almost arrested because he did that, you know. Japan himself had to come to his defense since they are good friends. Out of everyone, though, they were mostly non-cosplayers who just came to observe. It makes him happy to see so many people coming together for something as weird as being an otaku. When he left, and the sky was dark, he smiled, looking down at his phone. He had three messages; one from his racing partner, one from China, and one from one of his cosplay suppliers. Japan opened the one from the racing partner, Hiori, first. There was a race not too far from the garage where he keeps his car, but it was in ten minutes. "I can make it," He said to himself, and disappeared in a flash of red and white light. Tonight's race was going to be great.

#hetalia #aph #aph japan #anime convention #drift racing #the secrets out #part 6

[acaranna]

Day six of the OCKissWeek17. It’s late, I know that, but at least I wrote it.^^ This ficlet’s Darling comes from my dear friend @tevinity. Her lovely Vaelen Lavellan was kind enough to accept this position. Enjoy!

Day One   Day Two   Day Three   Day Four   Day Five

Alec yawned widely and stumbled through the door into the stables. Winter held them firmly in his grip so the outside world was still buried beneath a dark sky. It would be hours before the first ray of sunlight could reach the towers or even the yard.

And yet the castle was bustling with life and a calm sort of cheerfulness that soothed his sometimes frayed nerves. The Anchor in his hand pulsed slowly and every once in a while would emit the eerie green light that spoke of rifts and breaches. Sometimes Alec wondered if the magic behind it knew when he had finally pulled his thoughts away from it and doubled its troubles to remind him again.

He wouldn’t let it win, though, and always tried to find new ways to keep his mind on brighter, happier things. Recently he found his peace in the stables between the heavy set warhorses and more slender bodied racers their messengers used. The air inside was warm from the animals’ body heat. It was comfortable and soothing. 

The horses neighed softly when he walked passed them to reach the one he had claimed as his own. She was a great beast with a steady mind and a calmness that had saved him on more than one occasion. Her name was Patience. Cullen always joked that Andraste must have had her hand in this situation.

“Hey there big girl,” Alec gently touched the soft fur on her nose. Patience huffed in reply and pushed back in greeting. He laughed softly and pulled the carrot from his pocket. “You always know when I got something for you, don’t you?” Patience moved her head and Alec decided that it counted as a nod.

“You’ve always been good with horses.” A voice said from the box next to Patience’s. “I wonder if there is a horse that doesn’t like you at first glance.” Alec knew that voice and for a moment his heart hurt. 

“I wondered where you had gone to,” Alec admitted instead of replying. “Josie actually threatened me with noble sitting duty if I somehow managed to run you off.” Quiet laughter answered him from the other box. It sounded a little melancholic to him. Maybe even a little nostalgic.

“Josie is a fine woman,” the voice answered with a chuckle. “A fine, if somewhat scary woman.”

Silence fell over them and Alec contemplated whether or not he should talk about what was on his mind. They had a past together and it couldn’t be easy for them to see him happy again. They had their good times and he liked remembering those.

“You’re thinking to loud again and do not worry, I do remember our past just as fondly,” the voice sounded closer than before and a lot more amused than Alec would have thought. There was no hint of another emotion either. He shook his head and chuckled softly. He should have known.

“You’re still frighteningly good at picking up my thoughts.” He turned around and looked at the smirking elf that leaned casually against the box’s door.

Vaelen Lavellan still looked as gorgeous as he had when they had first met. He had his hair pulled back into a ponytail rather than the side-braid he used to have. The Vallaslin was as intriguing as ever and his green eyes sparkled mischievously.

Alec’s heart skipped a beat, though it was more a remembered thing rather than current attraction. Not that Vaelen wasn’t attractive. He was still as gorgeous as ever but Alec’s heart didn’t speed up anymore when he saw him.

“You’re thinking again,” Vaelen sing-songed with a gentle grin. “Though I can’t blame you. I do the same when we’re this close.” His tone turned contemplative but not sad.

“Do you regret it?” Alec knew that he didn’t. They had been good for each other when they stumbled together years before but their time had been limited from the beginning.

“No, though sometimes I wonder.” Vaelen shrugged one shoulder and looked at the horse. 

“Yeah, me, too,” and he did, sometimes. What would have happened if they had stayed together? What if they hadn’t decided to part ways when they had? Would they still be together? Would they still love each other or would they resent each other?

“Hey, would you help me if I want to try something? I’m curious whether or not I’m right about it.” Vaelen’s voice pulled Alec from his thoughts. He nodded once.

“Sure, what do you want to try?”

“Just come over here, you giant,” Vaelen grinned though this time there was a hint of nervousness behind it. Alec frowned slightly but moved past his horse to get to his former lover.

Slender hands wrapped around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Vaelen’s eyes grew bigger and he bit his lip in hesitance yet he didn’t stop himself completely. Alec knew that he could have simply pulled back and away but he was able to admit that he was just as curious.

Their lips met softly and moved together as if they had never been away from each other. The motion was so familiar that Alec expected his body to return it with desire. There was nothing. His heart didn’t speed up, his palms remained dry and the only thing that cursed through his body was a sense of closure and contentment.

It ended as softly as it began and Alec smiled when he looked at Vaelen. He shook his head slightly at the questioning gaze. A soft smile answered him. They were over, truly and completely, but they still had a chance at being friends again.

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #alec valery #vaelen lavellan #vaelec #ockiss17

[pokefan531]

Star Wars Retrospective 2 - Prequel Trilogy

This time, I will do my retrospective on the Prequel Trilogy. Merry Christmas and may the holidays be with you. DISCLAIMER: This post will contain my opinions of the prequels. I am gonna be fair to the goods and bads on each three films. If you respect my opinion and understand my reasons about my retrospective and current thoughts of the films, I will appreciate it. No pure hate will be done on anyone involved in those films, and will be honest about the people and what I think they should've done. This is mainly about retrospective. To recap from my Original Trilogy posts, I played the games first before seeing the films in full length. Just to remind you, I did see Episode 2 in theatres first, before seeing any other Star Wars films. In late July 2002, I was in Peru for a trip. One day, I went to the mall in Lima. The mall looked nice, and it was mostly outdoors. The hallway and the eating area are all outdoors. I enjoyed looking around the mall with my family. Later, we said we're gonna see a movie. I didn't know at the time that I'm gonna see Star Wars, but when I sit on the seat in theater, I was waiting to see what movie it was. I didn't even ask, and the fact I have very basic Spanish skills. When I saw Star Wars logo on screen, that's when I realized we're watching it. Granted, this is my first time seeing a Star Wars movie in theater, but in the US, it's The Clone Wars movie, and The Force Awakens as a main film. The entire movie was in spanish, and I didn't understand much of it. Episode 2 came to Peru in July 2002 instead of May. I thought all the action scenes were interesting. I mainly focused on those scenes. I remember seeing the chase on Zam Wesell, The Kamino battle and negociations, Anakin fighting Tuskin Raiders, and the entire Battle of Geneosis. Also including the rest of the movie. I didn't realize the romance scenes because I watched it on unfamilar language, and filler dialogue. I would admit that they have a lot of them, but I still liked the action parts as a kid. My most memorable scene was Anakin vs Count Dooku because he cuts Anakin's arm off. I didn't notice much of CGI. I was a kid, but as of now, a lot of the CGIs don't really look terrible. Noticable, but not awful. There are exceptions like Dexter Diner scene and the hallway with Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Mace Windu. I know there's more, but the CGIs, admittedly, didn't age well. It's more like PS3 and X360 graphics than PS2 graphics. PS2 graphics would be like Food Fight or Sharkboy and Lava Girl. As a kid, after seeing it, I had fun seeing it. It's common that you had fun after seeing a Star Wars movie in theaters, but it was new to me. I remember having Galactic Battlegrounds, and so I tried to recreate the battle arena of Geneosis. I think we had a good time at the mall. I don't know if any of my family didn't like it, but I know I did. By the way, I don't remember hearing people gasping for Yoda grabing his lightsaber. Fast forward to December, we brought Episode 2 to see it in English. I understand some of them, but still enough to know a lot about the movie. I saw it with my other family members who didn't came to Peru with us. I remember some dialogues like I HATE THEM!!!. I enjoyed seeing the action scenes again, especially Geneosis. Even as a kid, I knew they had filler dialogues. I still didn't notice the romance scenes being bad though, at the time. I do think a great scene that everyone mentioned is Anakin's anger on Tuskin Raiders, and as a kid, I thought it made sense. After seeing it in English, I decide to see the Geneosis segments again few days later. I'd admit, the lightsaber duel looks pretty cool, even now. It was the only Star Wars movie I have at the time, but I mostly play the video games like Star Wars Racer, Galactic Battlegrounds, and Rogue Squadron 3D. Fast Forward to Late 2007, I already mentioned about me playing Lego Star Wars 2, and seeing the OT. My cousin decides to show us all the movie on the visit. We saw the OT first, and then we saw Episode 2. We didn't go to Episode 1 yet. When I saw the movie again, I'm like, I remember the movie. I kinda had the same opinion as I has when I was younger, but I know much more about the movie, and I liked Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan and Count Dooku was well casted. I wouldn't want to fill my retrospective on Episode 2 more, so I'll move on to Episode 1 and 3. I saw Episode 1 last, so I'll move to Episode 3. My cousin played it. The first several minutes were pretty amazing. We get to see Anakin and Obi-Wan in more action. I thought General Grevious was just a villain. I knew he wasn't written as good as Count Dooku or Anakin, but his battle with Obi-Wan was satisfied enough to me back then. Even before all the memes, I quickly regonized the dialogues from the movie. The dialogues aren't as great as Original Trilogy, it was still better than the first two prequels. Seeing Anakin vs Dooku again made me feel like I really waited this long to see a sequel. I know it's random, but I used to remember enjoying their first duel. I find it interesting that we question ourselves during the movie about what happened. We do that a lot during our childhood. My favorite duel in the movie is Anakin vs Obi-Wan. In my first glance, we do see their acutal connections, and Anakin's perspective on the Jedis. We used to play with lightsabers to fight. I remembered the birth of Vader's suit, and even the Nooo. Back then, I thought it was fine, but I get that already it's not really good. I don't mind it, and I see it as a meme. I thought my first time seeing Episode 3 was exciting. I liked a lot of parts of the movie, and to an extent, I still do. It's funny how I think about the connections back then about the events from the prequels. I never felt there was any huge disconnections on continuity. Even to this day and during the backlash on the prequels, I never was against Episode 3. I thought it was tolerable and satisfying, but I'll discuss this later. Now let's go to The Phantom Menace and how I first saw it. My cousin's next visit brought Episode 1, and we saw it together. To be honest, we over-fun the visit because he brought his lightsaber and PSP with Lego Star Wars 2. I knew about the Pod race because of the video game. We played the movie, and we were having fun in our own terms. Wow, what a memory. We do see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan slicing off the droids and stuff, and it was a pretty good start for action. I never knew about force speed that they used to escape from droidekas until six years later. Seeing Jar-Jar the first time, I thought he was little funny back then, but I never see him as my favorite thing nor really smart. I notice the political discussions, but in this visit, we somehow just talk over it, saying how the astestics looks cool. Later, we realized Jake Lloyd was playing as Anakin, and it's because our favorite movies back then was Jingle All The Way. We thought it was cool when we first watched it. Pod Racing was pretty exciting. It reminds me a bit about the video game. Let's get to the part where Battle of Naboo started. The three of us decides to play Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul and take turns, so we saw Duels of the Fate four times! Second one is when we start reenacting the characters. On our second to fourth time, we fast forward whenever it cuts to Jar Jar, Padme, or Anakin. It was very fun! It was. It was our favorite thing from the movie. We thought Darth Maul was a cool character and so as Duels of the Fate soundtrack. Back then, we never thought about Anakin surviving the space battle nor how unhelpful Jar Jar was in the battle because of this. After we saw the movie, we thought it was pretty good. Granted, it was actually not the best film, and even back then, we found the Original Trilogy even better. While we enjoyed all the movies back then, it was pretty fun to enjoy Star Wars. I did play the first Lego Star Wars a month after I got the second game. Since I went all through the prequel trilogy retrospective, let's discuss about the flaws and backlash that it went before. I discovered the backlash of it in 2012. I did see the 3D version of the Phantom Menace, which was almost as pointless as Solo, and I started to realize how the movie has problems with pacing and stuff. It wasn't really 3D, so it wasn't worth seeing. At first, I thought it was okay or not great. A year later, I do find more backlashes of the prequel trilogy, and some of the things made sense. Episode 1 was pretty monotone and didn't handle the politics discussions correctly. It has fillers that they could've trimmed out. I do see Jake Lloyd become a joke, and I do think he wasn't well acted, I knew it was the problem with the directing and choices. Jar-Jar was pretty dumb, and at that time, I never thought he's the worst character that anyone would say outside the fandom. Mine was Iris from Pokemon anime, and I used to proof she was worse than Jar Jar. I never blamed Ahmed Best for playing him. There was medi-chlorians thing, but I never did analysis on it. Episode 2 has the CGI and bad romance. CGI was used in most of the film, but many parts didn't look too bad. I get the Dexter's Diner scene and Green Screen with Obi-Wan, Yoda with hover, and Mace Windu, but the rest didn't seem that bad to be honest. In the last couple of years, I think the written romance made connections between Anakin and Padme really awful. I know the lines and directing made Anakin a cringe of a character, but I never blamed Hayden Christiansen. I thought he was a good actor, but I knew the production handled him poorly. I feel sorry for him for getting the hate. He was never mean or anything. He's done decent or good on other movies. I think he does a bit better in Episode 3 though. Episode 3, I honestly never understand how people see this movie as bad as the first two. I thought it did a lot better. I think it's not up there with the OT, but at least good enough for me to enjoy. I get the flaws of the movie, but I never understand it being really a terrible film. The flaws I can point out are the romance balcony scene, the pacing of Anakin becoming a sith, the Nooo Vader scene, or Padme's death explanation. I know people find General Grevious a weak villain, but I find him pretty okay. He's better in Clone Wars 2003 and 2008 one, but he's really best in the first one. The dialogues are somewhat monotone, but it wasn't as appearant, and many of them are memeable. Hello There. Your move. I got the High Ground! Not a happy landing. Ewan Mcgregor is my favorite protagonist actor of the trilogy. Obi-Wan seems pretty enjoyable. The CGIs in the film got better, but few places looks fake, but not really bad. Mustafar was a prop if you look at behind the scene stuff. Back to Hayden Christiansen, I thought he was pretty fine in this film and did better than episode 2, and I don't think the bad acting or directing are enough for him to win Worst Supporting Actor. Ian McDirmid was pretty good. The Yoda vs Emperor, I know many people find it pretty silly and I do understand, I don't really mind to be honest. I know Episode 3 is not as great as the Original Trilogy films, but I find it pretty satisfying. The things I found wrong in the backlash are few thing. First big one is George Lucas. Well, he got full control to make the trilogy, and did a lot on his own. While I do think some of his decisions are questionable, I never see him as a bad guy. Many people hate him for the prequels and Special Editions. I get it he doesn't do well on those. It goes out of hand on the hate. Many people hate on him so much that they made a song about him ruining their childhood. If you know the song and the lyrics, you know what I mean. I couldn't believe they made a song against him. That's where I found the backlash pretty brutal. The People vs George Lucas, I never seen it, but Mark Hamill did an interview in early 2017, saying how they were hating on him. Yeah, the backlash on George Lucas was pretty brutal especially since he's a creator who made the greatest franchise. I know not all creators are good people, but he had helped several people in the business. See Pixar and Lucasarts, and guys like Steven Spielberg. He had done decisions that isn't right, like special editions, but I don't think he really did anything harmful or insulting. My second thing that I find wrong with the backlash is taking it on actors. Jake Lloyd is a good example. I know you can critize the actors all you want, but don't see them as they purposely ruin the movies due to their acting or what they were told to act and say. Jake Lloyd got really bullied after Episode 1, and he ended up destroying his memorabilia and later committed DUI, and ends up in Mental Institution later on. Ahmed Best seems like a nice guy. I didn't know that even a voice actor can still get blamed even if not seen directly in the movie. He tweeted once about his suicide thoughts, but he decides not to. Thankfully, he attended Celebration 2019 in The Phantom Menace panel. Hayden Christiansen, I already mentioned him. Natalie Portman, I get that she's not really a good actress, but I don't think she's that bad of an actress. My third problem with the backlash is going against fans who enjoys the prequels. I met someone who likes Episode 1. He tells me why, and I never went against him for liking it. I never see those movies as really bad movies. I know this is a problem with the fandom since the hate on the prequels went strong in late 2000s (correct me). My former reviewer, Nostalgia critic, made 11 good things about the prequels. While his review was likable, he gives it a sense that people will go rage on him if he defends the prequels or say Hayden Christiansen is well casted. I don't watch his videos anymore, but that used to be accurate of how the hatedom was. The backlash declined somewhere in 2016 before Rogue One. I know they aren't perfect movies, but I can point out some things of what I liked about them. McGregor, McDirmaid, Christopher Lee, and Ray Park were pretty great playing their characters. My favorite protagonist is Obi-Wan. Soundtrack is amazing and it's really memorable. Lightsaber duels are really enjoyable. Some lines are memorable that they became memes. I know recently, people see this trilogy differently. I don't think the trilogy are generally a masterpiece, but it does vary by person who finds them enjoyable in any way. I'm just doing my retrospective and what I think about the criticism of the prequel trilogy. I do realize some of them are pretty fair. Episode 3 is enjoyable for me for its lore and story on multiple characters. I'm gonna include the fan edits. I recommend Hal 9000 fan edit of the prequel trilogy as a way to rewatch with several problems greatly reduced. I find his episode 2 fanedit pretty great. It did make it look like a substantial improvement that makes it watchable than the actual movie by cutting away fillers or bad scenes away as much as it can. Granted, with the cuts, few scenes that are cut can be questionable, like trimming away Qui-Gon's sense of Anakin or shortning Yoda vs Dooku to only using the force, but the fanedit is worth seeing. It add deleted scenes that made sense. I made a review of it last year, and it's pretty positive. I haven't seen his Episode 3 yet, but what I can say is that I would watch his fanedits to rewatch the prequels at the best way possible. Here's the question I'm gonna get asked since I post about the criticism. What about the sequel trilogy, especially The Last Jedi? I will cover the sequel trilogy once I see The Rise of Skywalker. It comes out this weekend, but I'm not sure when I could see it. I'll cover the history about those three movies. I am only covering the main films, not Rogue One or Solo. Once I'm done with the retrospective, I'll finally post my rank on all the movies made by Lucasfilm production. 

#star wars #star wars prequels

[itsworn]

Think You’re Fast? This ’69 Dart Will Knock Your Lights Out!

The sport of drag racing and the world of hot rodding are in a constant state of movement and flux. What’s cool today may not be in a couple of years. Whatever the flavor of the week in terms of trendy body styles will likely be sold for pennies on the dollar down the road, but there are exceptions. Since the dawn of hot rodding, having the baddest car on your street made you the man. From the dawn of drag racing having the baddest car at the strip made you the man. When those two things converge and you can own both ends of the scene you go straight to hero level. In eastern Virginia, Ron Bookman is that guy and the 1969 Dart you see here is the reason. An absolutely brutal street car that evolved from humble beginnings to become one of the baddest grudge machines in the region, this 1,400hp street-driven monster bends people’s minds, plucks money from their wallets, and puts smiles on faces every time he cruises it down the street.

Ron Bookman was a motivated high school athlete who was playing ball for one of the best high schools in the state when he happened to accompany his brother to a night at the local hot rodding spot—an illicit street racing jump off point—more than 30 years ago. It was a night that changed his life forever. Ron laughed and told us, “I still see my old football coach around town and he always says, ‘Bookman, you could have been somebody!’” Football quickly disappeared from his life and an all-out obsession with cars and speed took over. “The way the noise from the cars was bouncing off the trees, the smell of the rubber and burning fuel, it was the coolest thing I had ever seen before.” The Dart came into his life in 1981 and Ron left it as a leaf-spring car, racing it with a warmed up iron-headed 383. At that time it went 11s and was both a bracket racer and a street cruiser. In the early 1990s the track Ron was racing at closed and with it went his passion for the Dart. He put the car away and went hunting and doing all manner of other stuff until his passion for speed and horsepower was rekindled by one of the most popular and iconic movements the automotive aftermarket has ever known.

“Around 1995 I started seeing all of these big-tire pro street cars and I just loved them,” Ron said. “They looked so cool and tough and the fat tire look was the in-thing at that point, so I took the car out, had an S&W back-half kit installed, bought my first set of aluminum heads, and had a Pro Street car that ran 10.20s and looked awesome.”

The car was very well known locally and actually appeared on the popular show PassTime where Ron ran 9.70s and had a very positive experience. “That was a nine-second car through the mufflers and on ET Streets,” Ron said. “Everything I have ever had or raced has been through the mufflers on a DOT-legal tire.” 2009 brought about an avalanche of changes that began with one simple request. “I asked my wife if I could build a motor exactly the way I wanted it, kind of go all-in,” Ron explained. “She said ‘yes’ and I was immediately looking at ProCharger setups, calling around to different engine builders and talking about combinations. A friend suggested I call Larry’s Engine and Marine in Tuscon, Arizona and it turns out that was the best decision I could have possibly made.” The settled-on combo was an Indy MAXX block-based 528ci wedge with the same 440-1 heads that Ron had owned forever, a ProCharger F-2 blower, and a C&S blow-through carb. “On the dyno at Larry’s shop with a set of small 2-inch primary headers the engine made more than 1,400 hp.”

It was around this very time that Ron’s wife became ill with cancer and caring for her took priority over messing with the car. “The engine stayed in the crate, basically,” Ron said. “I would go out there and roll it over to make sure things were still good, but my attention was on my wife.” In 2012 her health took a drastic turn for the worse and she told Ron that she wanted him to finish the car with the upgrades that he was hoping to do. Unfortunately she passed before the car was finished, but her blessing meant the world to Ron and he went after the car with gusto.

“When I originally brought the car to Don Williams at Virginia Rod Company I just wanted the cage to be updated and brought to 7.50 cert,” Ron said. “Before long, Don and I were talking about things like carbon fiber tubs and door panels, a tubular K-member up front, the Top Gun Pro Mod four-link, a parachute mount, a Fab 9 rear end housing, and more,” Ron said while laughing. “I finally said to Don that he needed to do it the way he wanted and I am glad I did that. The car works amazingly well because of the work he put into it.”

It was Williams who suggested intercooling the car in order to make it more street friendly. When on the road, Ron runs 93-octane pump gas and a more conservative timing curve than he does when running C16 on the drag strip. The intercooler’s ability to keep a handle on inlet temperature really helps to keep the engine happy on the highways, and with a 3.54 rear gear, this car does see plenty of cruising.

With the engine fitted into the freshened car, the chassis all sorted out, a set of custom made stepped headers, and an awesome oval pipe exhaust directing all of the noise and gasses out of the back of the car, the plan was to have the car quickly shot with some matte black paint and then tested before pulling the whole thing back down and a Viper Blue paint job applied. “We brought it to the painter and he thought that the car would look mean with the flat black body and some glossy black elements like the tail stripe, the engine bay, and all the plumbing,” Ron said.

The car debuted in July of 2014 and it didn’t take long for the black paint to become a permanent part of the Dart’s character. “We were at a car show and a kid walked up with his dad,” Ron said. “The kid had a Star Wars shirt on and he asked his father what kind of car mine was. The dad knew it was a Dart and the kid just said, ‘Dart Vader.’ The name stuck and there was no possibly way to change the paint after that.”

So what about the drag strip? Oh there’s plenty to talk about there. This car was not put together to simply look the part, it was built to run, and run it does. Being that Ron grudge races the car, he can be tight-lipped about some performance elements of the machine. We understand that because the whole point of grudge racing is to keep your cards close to the vest. He did spill a couple of beans though, “While I am not going to tell you what the car runs flat out, I can tell you that it has gone 8.02/174 after kicking the blower belt off during an early run,” Ron said while laughing. “The car is an animal. The way it pulls down the track is crazy. You look at the g-meter on the RacePak and at the end of a run when the car is in high gear it is pulling at least as hard as it was coming off the starting line. You can try and describe this stuff to people but until you experience it you’ll never understand what it feels like.”

Ron enjoys the grudge scene because there’s an element of showmanship to it as well as some mystery involved. There’s also that certain satisfaction that comes from eating a guy’s lunch and them making him pay you for it. “I had a guy in an S10 with a nitrous small-block that had the words ‘Grudge King’ on the back window ask me for a race pretty soon after the car had come out,” Ron said. “He told me that he did not believe I actually drove the car on the street and that it didn’t make the power people said it did. I took the race and told him I would cover the money that he wanted. Long story short, I never saw the guy and beat him by a few car lengths. When the guy was paying me he told me that he still did not believe it was street driven and I told him to buy me the gas to get home and he could watch!”

Eventually this car will see time at the strip with the clocks on but Ron’s going to continue to enjoy the grudge scene for now. In fact, he’s got races lined up through the spring and summer to go work the Dart out at. No-time, grudge-style racing is an insanely popular trend at the strip these days and when you see cars like this Dart running in those races you can understand why.

Just like the big guy in the corner of the club who waits for the trouble to come to him, so does Ron and his Dart. Also like the big guy in the corner, when that trouble shows up, he knows how to handle his business. This ProCharged, 1,400hp Dart is one bad Jose and if you are showing up to challenge him, make sure you wallet is full because you’ll need it.

If you’re feeling salty at a drag strip in the Mid-Atlantic or Southeast and decide to challenge Ron Bookman and his 1969 Dart to a grudge race, you better have two things. First, the money you’ll be paying him, and second, your pride in a bucket because that’s where it’ll land.

The plan was to test the car a little and then pull it apart for a rotisserie paint job but the flat black that was applied as a stop gap remains.

If there’s a more menacing sight than the back of this car cruising down the road we don’t know what it is. Ron cranks off an amazing amount of street miles in this thing and with some timing pulled out of the engine, it’s more than happy on 93-octane pump gas. Mean!

While it isn’t exactly luxury digs, it is a very well appointed interior in the Dart. Ron wanted the inside of the car to protect him with the addition of the 7.50 NHRA-legal cage, but he also wanted the fit and finish of carpet, a hand-stitched head liner, and the custom trimmed Kirkey seats.

That’s what 1,410 hp of F-2 ProCharger-equipped, 528ci Indy MAXX block-based Chrysler wedge looks like. This engine has been in the car for several years and Ron reports that it still leaks down at about 1-1.5 percent when he checks it. That’s after lots of street miles and drag strip passes.

Want to get your stuff down a drag strip? Here’s a simple recipe for fun: Take big Mickey Thompson Radials, add a Top Gun Pro Mod four-link suspension, Stanhuff coilovers, and a Fab 9 rear end housing, then throw 1,400 hp at it!

The neat contrast on this car is the fact that the exterior is flat black but the piping and underhood area is glossy. Who are we kidding, no one is looking at the paint. They are listenting to the blower wail and that big 528 thump through the oval tube exhaust! Who says blow-through carbs don’t have good manners?!

FAST FACTS

1969 Dodge Dart | Ron Bookman | Hampton, Virginia

ENGINE Type: 528ci Chrysler wedge big-block Bore x stroke: 4.38(bore) x 4.15 (stroke), 528 ci Block: aluminum Indy Maxx Rotating assembly: Callies Dragon Slayer crankshaft, GRP I-beam rods, Ross thermal-coated pistons Compression ratio: 8.25:! Cylinder heads: Indy 440-1 with porting and modifications done by Muscle Motorsports Camshaft: Racer Brown camshaft with .625 lift at .050-inch lift Valvetrain: 2.19 x 1.81 valves, Jesel belt drive, T&D 1.6 ratio rockers, K Motion valve springs, Manley pushrods, COMP Cams retainers and locks Induction: intercooled ProCharger F2 centrifugal supercharger, C&S Specialties aerosol billet blow-through carb with dual needle and seat bowls, Indy 400-14-3 single-plane with provision for 4500-series carb Fuel system: MagnaFuel 750-series electric fuel pump Exhaust: custom step headers 2 1/8 to 2 ¼ by Don Williams at Virginia Rod Company, Spintech oval mufflers, 10-inch merge collectors that dump ahead of rear axle Ignition: MSD Power Grid controls ignition Data Logging: RacePak V300 data logger Oiling system: Melling oil pump, Milodon swinging pickup, 9-quart Hamburger oil pan Cooling: CVR 55gpm water pump on stock aluminum Mopar housing, BeCool triple-pass aluminum radiator, custom VRC built shroud and dual 12-inch electric fans Fuel: gasoline on street and C16 at the drag strip Output: 1,410 hp Engine built by: Larry Peto at Larry’s Engine and Marine Tucson, Arizona Best e.t.: 8.02/174 (that he’ll admit to! Grudge racing demands some secrecy) Weight: 3,020 lbs without driver

DRIVETRAIN Transmission: ATI T400 SuperCase automatic, 9-inch ProTorque converter (4,500 rpm stall), B&M super cooler with electric fan Driveshaft: 4-inch aluminum driveshaft by Inland Empire Driveline Rearend: Moser Fab 9 rear axle, Strange aluminum center section, 3.54 gears, spool

CHASSIS Front suspension: Riley Motorsports AlterKtion K-frame, Viking coilovers Rear suspension: Top Gun Pro Mod four-link, McAmis anti-roll bar, Stanhuff coilover shocks Steering: McAmis rack and pinion steering system Brakes: Strange race disc brakes on all four corners Chassis: NHRA 7.50 certified roll cage built by Don Williams and Bobby Starcher of VRC

PAINT & INTERIOR Color: Southern Polyurethane Satin Painter: Tim’s customs; York County, Virginia Interior: Kirkey race seats with custom trimming and cushioning, custom adjustable shifter, Grant 633 steering wheel, RacePak dash, custom carpet, hand-stitched headliner Interior work by Kirk’s Upholstry in Hampton, Virginia

WHEELS & TIRES Wheels: Billet Specialties 4.5×15 (front), Billet Specialties double bead lock 15×15 (rear) Tires: Mickey Thompson front runners 26×4.5×15; Mickey Thompson ET Street R 32×14.5×15 (rear)

Special thanks: Ron wants to thank Don Williams of Virginia Rod Company, Larry Peto of Larry’s engine and Marine, Tim Lucento of Tim’s Customs, and Gary Harris along with everyone else who contributed to this car’s build.

The post Think You’re Fast? This ’69 Dart Will Knock Your Lights Out! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/think-youre-fast-69-dart-will-knock-lights/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Hot Rod Network

[robot-unicorn-attack]

CHAPTER 02 – WIDOWMAKER

Taglist: @ayzrules​ @bebemoon​ @jay-swagsby​ @interluxetumbra​ @now-on-elissastillstands​ @shiftyprincess​  @kzombi3​ @filthysoulls​ (written by @now-on-elissastillstands​)

"Step away from the repair module."

The engineer--one of Lazer's new recruits, ruddy-cheeked, barely old enough for a FTL shuttle permit--startles at the sound of Len's voice. The soldering iron falls from his limp fingers and lands on the floor with a loud clatter, sending sparks ricocheting through the air. Void, her motion protocol on hold while she's hooked up to the module in the stables, doesn't react.

"I'm--I'm so s--sorry, ma'am, but--they told us we had to go through the r--the robots' tertiary matrix readings, and this one had abnormal--"

"Step," Len repeats, enunciating with care, "away."

The poor little engineer blanches, then rouses a fit of bravery from somewhere deep within and starts, "It's the agency protocol to check over all of the robots prior to--"

His words peter off to a squeak as Len keeps staring at him wordlessly. "Right. Of course, ma'am. Agency protocol doesn't have any bearing on this model. Because it's--"

"Because she's mine," Len says, nearly affably.

With a final stammered apology, the engineer flees. Len settles down at the vacated module and glances over the readings on the diagnostic screen. 

"What's gotten into you lately?" she murmurs under her breath. "Biometric oscillation in your tertiary? They haven't been treating you well at all, have they?"

There used to be long days when the only person she could bear to talk to was herself. She started talking to Void during her first attempted repairs and mods, cursing and screaming at the beast to do something right, for once, because she had to rage and cry somewhere and she'll be damned if another human hears her do it. Void was her confessional before Sol, and Len poured out her secrets to the horse during the hours she spent tinkering to make Void swift and agile and silent.

Void understood her. Somehow, she always did. Or maybe that's just sentimentality, a delusional conviction--but if it is a delusional conviction, it's one that saved her life. 

All of the racers are close to their horses, despite their agencies' commandments. Some of them even treat their animals like organic creatures, pets and companions. Len's never had the luxury of thinking Void could live and breathe on her own--she has changed out her fluid circulators too many times for that--but her AI systems had enough faith in Len to let her root around in her innards, and that's close enough to life for her. It takes a certain amount of trust, to let someone stick their hands into your lungs.

Len powers down the repair module with a tap, reaching over and yanking all the tubes and wires out of Void. She hates the modules, their impersonal readouts and cold, mechanical adjustments. Her hands have always been her best tools to repair her oldest friend. She strokes Void's mane for a moment, burying her fingers into the soft woven durasteel mesh, before hitting the combination of hidden switches that put her into repair mode.

"Let's see if we can fix it, old girl," Len hums, disengaging Void's side carapace to access her core panels.

It is soothing and bitter at once, fixing her Void with her hands. It reminds her of simpler times, when she stole oxygen units from government warehouses by day and raced with Sol at night, galloping to the edge of the city, where the smog was the thinnest and they could almost see the stars, and she could almost think that she was happy. On some nights, Len would manage to convince Sol to leave her noisy bar to stay out in the abandoned warehouse district. They clambered over heavy steel rooftops which rattled beneath their horses' hooves and sat shoulder-to-shoulder, watching the stars. Sol complained about how boring it was, and Len stared up at the empty place where her home used to be before Sol burrowed into her neck and ordered her to entertain her, and Len laughingly obeyed.

She's fighting for that, she reminds herself. For the right of Lava children to look up and see the stars, without the smog from the metal mines. They can't let any more living moons to fall into the void. And if they have to kill Abraxas and the scores of men like him, cut through all of Estrella's most powerful like crooks in the night to do it--

--so be it. 

-----

Ardua is waiting for her outside of the dev rooms, a box of cleaning wipes in one hand and Len's abandoned jacket in the other. The handler thrusts the wipes into Len's hands.

Len stares at the box. "What do you want me to do with this shit?"

"Widow can't go into a race with engine grease on her hands," Ardua hisses. She gestures impatiently for Len to hurry up with cleaning her fingers. "You've got a photocall. Press questions." Ardua takes the box from her after she finishes and hands her the jacket, heavy with metal, and the old-fashioned motorcycle helmet she wears during races. "The paps are itching to get a couple snaps of you, especially after your spat with Nyx, and if we get the pictures now, we'll be able to control your image. Oh, and a Lazer team meeting. They want to brief you on the course. We're already late for that, because you refused arrive in the aircars with the others, I spent half an hour trying to figure out which dev room you were in--"

"They were tinkering with Void."

Ardua sighs half-heartedly. "You know, that's one of the only things that reassures me that you're human--how much you pig-headedly love that goddamn robot horse."

Len can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult. She wonders how much the other woman actually knows about her past--if she thinks that Len's backstory has been carefully prepared for a Lazer recruit who has been training for all her life, if she wonders why Len stays on despite her disdain for the industry, if she has the slightest inkling of the truth. If she knows that Len has the same concerns of unreality--that she sometimes presses her nails into her palms to reassure herself that she is as flesh and blood as anyone else, and that she is not simply floating away.

"I was making sure all her systems are up to date," Len says flatly.

"Good. Though I can't understand why you insist on doing it yourself." Ardua's eyes soften. "You're the talent, Widow, there are other people who can do the nitty gritty."

Len averts her gaze, crossing her arms and staring at a point in the middle distance in silence. She can easily understand the backstory Ardua is undoubtedly making up for her in the recesses of her mind--Lazer charity case. Poor mining girl. Too used to the dust to understand that she has the privilege of clean hands now. What a sweetheart. What a hero.

If only Ardua knew how close she was.

"I needed to make sure I win this race," Len says, after long seconds of silence. "Of course you'll win," Ardua replies immediately.

"Don't give me that bullshit," Len says, not bothering to raise her voice.

"What? It's not bullshit. Torrid Gorges is meant to test agility and speed, and you have those in spades. Plus, you have homeworld advantage--"

"I am not one of your children, Ardua," Len says tightly. "Do not patronize me."

The words "homeworld advantage" ricochet around her mind like debris from a shuttle accident. She needs to win this race. She has to win this race. Her people are counting on her to win, to give them the cover they need to take one step closer to justice. She might not have a world left, but she has them, and their pride in the dirt and grit of Lava, and their conviction.

She'll never have clean hands, as long as she lives. She promised that to herself a long time ago.

"I wasn't patronizing you, I was telling you the truth." Ardua sounds earnest, shockingly so. "Widow--Eleni--you're such a bright woman, and such a good racer, the boss says they haven't seen a racer like you since Chaos retired, you have so damn far to go--"

Ardua, with her three children and miner wife, who saw something of her oldest daughter in Len's hollow eyes. Who is as good as Lazer watchdogs come. If Len doesn't win--or if she does, and she's still not enough of a distraction from Abraxas, and they find out her involvement--Ardua will be the first person they accuse of co-conspiracy. Because dirty mining brats couldn't have possibly come up with such a scheme on their own.

"You talk too much," Len tells Ardua, in her most bored voice.

The other woman's face closes off before she sharply turns on her heel. 

"The press conference, Widow," she announces, and then she starts walking.

Len trails after Ardua, arms tightly crossed over her chest. 

-----

Sol is in the stables when Len comes back there, dancing to some glaringly loud song blasting through her speakers. She glances up when Len steps in and grins widely, shimmying as she fusses with U-800. Her hands move, quick and elegant, as she mouths along enthusiastically to the words. 

Something in Len's chest loosens. 

She makes her way over to Void, lighter than she has been since the Neon Demon. Her horse whinnies silently, tossing her dark mane. Len strokes Void's side absently, reading off the diagnostic monitor mounted in the wall of the stall. All systems are back to normal. She's done the pre-race checks so many times that her fingers know the motions by instinct. No matter how preoccupied she is--by the race, by the necessity of winning, which she never had to care about before; by Sol's presence so nearby--her hands never falter.

Sol swings by as she finishes her final check on Void, bumping against her hip and laughing when Len jolts a little.

"Loosen up, Leni," she coos in a sing-song voice, dancing around Len on light feet. "You look like you're going to a funeral."

Len can't help the upward twitch at the corner of her mouth. Neither of them is the type to apologize, but she can hear Sol's meaning perfectly clearly.

"There is a significant chance it might be," Len says, cocking her head to one side. She disconnects the final charge wire from one of Void's hooves. "The ravines here aren't easy."

Sol cackles, and Len stares. The light slanting through the stalls makes the gold painted on her temples shimmer, setting her eyes ablaze. She's in a mesh shirt that shifts with her every movement and tight leather pants and boots that give her a good four inches on Len, and Len thinks at herself with a certain happy desperation--fool. Masochist. Idiot. 

The music is still thrumming loud in Len's ears, and she finds herself singing along under her breath as she turns back to Void's stall.

"You know the words."

Sol's delighted voice makes her turn back. "I've certainly heard you play the song enough," Len responds with a quirk of her brow. "How is your hearing still that sharp, anyways? With how loud you play your music, I thought you would've blown out your eardrums by now."

"You filthy liar," Sol says happily, clapping her hands. "You've always gone on and on about how much you hate this song." She laughs again, hugging U-800's neck tightly. "I thought I would never see the day."

Len is helpless to keep herself from smiling at the sight. Maybe they've both gotten better at apologies.

----

The three Lazer racers step out to the starting line as one, and the sound of cheering hits Len like a shockwave. She is faintly aware of all the other racers--the Rise upstart in what seems like miles of flowing pink, one of Twilight's main racers in black with glittering heels. The commentator introduces them with the usual ecstatic hyperbole--the brilliant Flame, with an Iron Pegasus ready to battle against the gods; the villainess Nyx in all her glory, with U-800 ready to strike--

"--and, our favorite enigma, finally returning to Torrid Gorges after earning her first victory on these treacherous slopes, Widowmaker on Voidmaker!"

Len stares straight ahead, not acknowledging the flash of the cameras in front of her, or the screaming in her ears where can hear. She takes out her helmet and settles it on her head, fastening it with a click.

After the development of the small-scale holoprojectors which effectively rendered helmets invisible, all the agencies pushed their readers to use them so they could be more easily photographed. Len is one of the few left who still uses a traditional helmet. Sol helped her design the helmet one night, as a joke. Little horns because she was the Federation's demon, ready to punish it for its sins. A skull for all the death she's seen. Melodramatic, megalomaniac bullshit. Len put it on for the first time and had never felt safer.

The crowd cheers even louder once her helmet is on. Wearing one only made her more recognizable--a symbol of Lava World pride and practicality, a girl in a black helmet riding a horse as black as the void.

Is TJ in the crowd, watching her race for them? Are her friends already trailing Abraxas, waiting for a good moment to strike?

Her heart pounds  She glances to her right, looking for something to steady herself. Sol stares back at her, eyes fierce and eager in the light. She winks at Len and mouths, fuck them up. Len nods shortly. 

She half-wishes she could go back to the way it was, before everything happened. No helmets. No protective gear. No threats of jail and conspiracy and sedition. Just two angry girls on their patchwork horses, reckless and stupid and invincible.

The starting horn sounds, and then she has no more time for wishes.

-----

"--I'm gonna blow up the judges' cars."

"No, Sol."

"Why not?" Sol throws her arms out wide, nearly knocking her elbow against Len's face. "What kind of fucking judgement was that? That was bullshit! We had the fastest times, and they put some Rise bitch and the fucking hoity toity Snow Queen at the top? I'm gonna fucking do it. I'm gonna--"

Len yanks Sol by the back of her shirt and tugs her into an empty room. "You are not going to blow up the judges' aircars."

"But--"

"Not their shuttles, either."

Sol flops on down on the floor, pouting. "Leni, that was so--fucking--unfair--" she groans, slapping at the floor to emphasize her words. "They were so clearly biased! They fucking cheated us! We should've been the winners--"

--but they weren't.

Sol goes on about her plans to inflict mass property damage. Len crosses her arms tightly across her chest and starts to pace around her friend. She digs her fingers into the creases of her jacket until the leather creaks.

She didn't win the race.

Len had one of the fastest times on the track--if not the fastest, before deductions--with no injuries. She should've won.

She didn't.

None of the Lava Worlders did. Len had scored highest, at third. And there was booing and jeering from the stands when the results were announced, and the bodyguards standing behind the spectating politicians and the security teams at the perimeter of the course all looked uneasy. The racers are symbols, and symbols mean more than the sum of their parts. Symbols are dangerous. The politicians had gotten escorted back to their aircars and whisked away, Abraxas among them.

"We should have won," Len agrees tightly, and Sol looks startled for a moment before she looks vindicated.

Without some sort of positive distraction, Abraxas' death would be at the forefront of the news. They would press for an investigation of the councilor's passing. There is a possibility they will discover that it was not an accident. And when they do--

--Sol shouldn't be so close to her. Not anymore.

"There has to be something we can do," Len mutters. "Spin this somehow. Our total agency scores aren't bad, they're among the best they've ever been, so if we emphasize that--"

"Slow down, Leni, fucking stars," Sol huffs. "Fucking spin? Who are you, Allryn? Since when did you care so much about winning a race? Miss me with that bullshit." She crosses her arms on her knees. "I'm gonna think about the important stuff. Like cutting a bitch."

Sol keeps on ranting. Thank the stars for how constant she is--vicious and cunning and somehow genuinely guileless when it came to the two of them. She doesn't deserve to get caught in this. Len paces in circles. Her hands shake ever so slightly. They had been counting on her to do one thing--one simple thing, winning a course she won when she was young and inexperienced--while they risked imprisonment and death, and she failed them.

"--and I'm saying, I could do it, personal security systems are jack shit on those aircar models, so--Len? Leni? Are you even listening to me?"

Len wrenches herself out of her thoughts. "Don't," she responds preemptively, before she even catches up to what Sol is saying. "You can't do that."

"I absolutely can--but--" Sol breaks off, looking unsure. "What the hell is wrong, Leni? What was so important about this race? You look all scared and--"

The door opens with a clatter, and Len starts at the sound. Two Lazer handlers stand in the doorway--Ardua, and a man Len remembers from Sol's entourage. 

Sol scowls at them and snarls, "Out!"

The man stares at them, amused. Ardua clears her throat and says, "You two have your post-race interviews in three."

Sol levers herself off of the ground. Len knows better than to offer her a hand, but she leans in and presses her lips to Sol's cheek. One last time for the road. Len whispers into Sol's ear, with all the reassurance she can muster, "I'm fine."

Before she can step away, Sol's arms wrap around her for a brief second before letting her go. The warmth of her touch buoys Len enough to walk to the interview room even as she tells herself that it will be the last time. Sol is called to interview ahead of her, and she goes in with her head held high and proud.

As Len waits to be called, she glances down at the slip of paper Sol pressed into her hand during their embrace.

I'm sorry. We should hang out more. The Demon wasn't enough.

Len's chest aches as she reads the final words.

I really miss you.

#eleni #widowmaker #writing #ch2 #written by elissaaaaaaaaaaaaa