#what did the virtual safety car do

[anonymous-rendezvous]

An Unconventional Relationship

💛 Luca Kaneshiro x GN!Reader

✦ — Written by Mod S 👿. Beta Read and Edited by Mod I ✨.

✧ — Contains: Humor, strangers to friends to ???, & open ended

✦ — Word count: 3.3k+ | Ao3

Based on these prompts - "You're lucky you're cute." "Wait, you think I'm cute?"

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

The sun is just beginning to dip below the horizon as you take your usual route home after work. “Hmm, maybe I should order something for dinner…I don’t feel like cooking, plus I’m pretty sure I still have to do the dishes. Ugh, curse you past me!” You trudged your way down the street, practically sulking as you walked. This was virtually routine for you at this point: getting off work, walking home, debating about dinner, sleeping, repeat. It was a pretty average life, and you accepted it wholeheartedly; the motions and all.

Well, it had been pretty average until a fairly strange encounter happened; the monotonous routine led you to make a very unusual… friend(?) roughly half a year ago. You can still recall the night vividly; the events playing through your mind are more similar to a show than an experience that had happened to you.

You had worked overtime resulting in you leaving work much later than you normally did. The moon was already high in the sky as you attempted to rush home. That was cut short when you were suddenly pulled into an alleyway; a knife pointed right at your neck. Like any sane person, you were about to give the person all your money, until – inches from your face – you see your attacker get punched straight in the jaw. The force sent him tumbling further into the alley. Hardly having the time to process anything, you didn’t notice that the nice stranger had proceeded to pull you away, two people dressed similarly to bodyguards rushing past you towards the mugger.

“Are you okay?” With the moment of calm, you took in your savior’s form. Broad, blonde, a very expensive-looking suit and matching hat that almost hid his lavender eyes from view, and from what few words he spoke; an Australian accent.

“U–um…” You quickly collected yourself, looking down to take a deep breath before thanking the stranger. “Yes, I’m fine. Uhh, thank you for that, by the way. You sure got a punch on you.” Before you can mentally smack yourself for being so awkward, he laughs, causing you ease.

“Well, thanks! I pride myself on my good punches! Oh, but do you need a ride home? Don’t want you to get mugged for a second time tonight. Lots of unsavory characters walking around during this time.”

“Really? Well, sure, a ride would be nice! Although, in exchange, I’d like to know the name of my savior.”

He takes off his hat, and brings it to his chest, letting you see his face without obstruction. “Heh, I can’t give you my full name, but you can just call me Luca, okay?”

You accepted his generous offer, and he did, in fact, drop you off safely. Ever since then, he’d occasionally pull next to you in his very expensive-looking car to check up on you. Hell, sometimes you’d run into him on your later shifts, and every time he’d offer to take you home. In his words, “To make sure you don’t get mugged again, you know?”. Honestly, you have no clue why he cares so much about you. He dresses so expensively, his car looks like it costs more than your entire life’s savings, and he has what you assume are bodyguards. He seemed like someone very important. So why is he constantly coming back to check on your safety?

This question loops back into your brain again as you walk, so much so you don’t even notice the car that pulls next to you. It’s not until the person rolls down their window and calls, “Hey!” that you snap back to reality, head-turning quickly as they stop. You notice there are two people in the car, and they look very similar to the same bodyguards who were with Luca the night he saved you. “Heya, you're the Boss’s friend, right? He wanted us to come pick you up.”

“Pick me up?” You blink in confusion, shuffling closer to the car and leaning toward the window in order to talk clearly. “For what? I don’t remember us making plans or anything…” You rack your forgetful brain for a moment, but nothing comes up. Hell, you’d have probably made a memo on your phone about something like this.

“He made dinner plans so he could talk to you. Said something about feeling bad that he hasn’t had the time to properly talk to you.” The bodyguard has to hold back a laugh at the face you make, waving their gloved hand in front of your face to get your attention again. “He also wanted to make sure we tell you that you don’t have to come if you have prior plans.”

Shaking your head, you respond, “He’s very lucky I don’t have any plans. I’m not gonna turn down a free meal. I’ll meet up with him.” Lowering your voice to a mumble, you speak aloud to yourself, “Lucky too that I had no clue what to eat today…” With your confirmation, you hear the car unlock and, with slight hesitation, you slide into the back seat. As soon as you're all buckled in, they take off.

It’s not long before you realize the car is heading toward an area of the city that you rarely go to. Looking out the window, you watch as the car moves through the richer part of town. Fancy hotels and lights everywhere, you even pass a fountain show going on outside. When the car suddenly stops, your eyes move to the two bodyguards in the front seat, who are already getting out. You scramble to reach for the door, but before you can grab the handle, one of them has already opened the door for you.

“Don’t worry, I got it. My partner here will show you to the Boss. I gotta park the car, then I’ll be in there as well.” You give them a nod as you get out, patting yourself down to look more presentable; and to shake off your embarrassment. Looking up at the restaurant, your jaw almost drops at just the exterior. Suddenly, you feel like you might need more than just a pat down.

Now listen, you've been to some pretty nice places before. However, this part of town is way too expensive for you to even think about coming here too often. So when you take in what you know to be the most expensive restaurant in the city, your nerves start to settle in. You're brought out of your thoughts by the car starting and taking off down the road as the other guard calls to you. “Please, this way. The Boss will be super happy to see you. And don’t worry about being underdressed. I’m sure the Boss doesn’t care.”

Pouting a bit, you begin to follow them. ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t mean the other people won’t think that…’ Preparing yourself for the telltale heat of judging stares, you keep your head down as you follow the guard inside. Eyes only watching the nice red carpet and the backs of the movement of the bodyguard's brown dress shoes – preoccupying your eyes with the stitches in the leather. It’s not long before you arrive in the section where Luca is waiting, only looking up when the guard announces so. “Here we are.” You look up and take in your surroundings, eyes widening at the amount of gold detailing in the room. The lights are warm and dim to give the space a sophisticated yet cozy atmosphere. Something you take in almost immediately is that there is no one else in this section of the restaurant, the only one being the person your gaze falls onto next. As soon as Luca hears his guard talk, he sets his menu down and gives you one of the most infectious smiles that you’ve ever seen. Your lips barely refrained from smiling just as widely, settling on a small polite smile and a wave.

The blonde opens his arms in welcome from his seat, energy radiating from his voice. “I’m so glad you could make it! I was so worried you’d have other plans since this was pretty sudden on my part. Next time, I promise I’ll get your opinion on future hangouts first.” Before he puts his arms down, he beckons you to sit, the chair across from him being pulled open by the bodyguard. “Come, sit. We can order and then finally have a proper conversation.”

You take the invitation, even if you are a bit nervous about what exactly is going on. After you sit and are pushed in, thanking the guard as they make their way to stand behind Luca’s seat. Picking up the menu, you immediately try your best not to physically cringe at the prices. Flipping through the pages, you go all the way back to the appetizers – probably the only thing you can afford on the menu. Luca seems to notice, and he tilts his head, voice laced with confusion.

“Oh, are you not hungry? Hm?”

Looking up at him, you give a nervous smile. “Uhh, well, everything here is pretty out of my usual price range. The only thing here that I can really afford is a soft drink and a small appetizer…” You’re about to wave it off as fine until he puts his hand up, stopping you from continuing.

“Oh! Don’t worry about that. I invited you so I’ll be paying. It’s the least I can do for springing this on you. So order anything, I got it.” He smiles, then looks back down at the menu.

Okay, now you're really suspicious. No one this loaded just… does this. Or if they do, they have a catch. Forcing your expression to remain neutral, you decide you’ll ask when dinner arrives. Even if this is immensely suspicious, he doesn’t seem to have anything malicious planned. Although you haven’t known him long, nothing has really set off immediate red flags in your mind. He’s been super kind and if this is a kidnapping or something, he wouldn’t go through all this trouble. He’d have just done it by now – he’s had more than enough opportunities. Taking a deep breath, you settle on a meal and let him talk you into sharing a bottle of some high-class wine with him. When the server arrives to take your orders, you notice the other guard has returned from parking the car, making their way to Luca standing behind him next to the other one. You're too busy giving your order and feeling nervous about the establishment, that you don’t notice how uneasy the server is; constantly looking to the side and shifting nervously. He scurries off pretty quickly after your orders have been filled, and before you can ponder it, you’re pulled into a conversation with the blonde. 

Luca lets you talk about your life first, and you're surprised at how intently he listens. It’s not like you lived anything remarkable as he must have, but when he listens to you speak, you see the genuine spark of interest in his eyes. The wine arrives in the middle of your story, and you're about to thank the person, but they leave so quickly that you barely have time to. Maybe they saw you talking and just didn’t wanna interrupt or that could just be how the service is here. Either way, you finish talking about yourself before turning the questions back to him.

When Luca starts telling you what he does, you make sure to give him the same level of attention he gave you. He tells you how he’s the owner of a casino; explaining that they have passed it down to him through the family. Well, that explains why he looks so expensive. The bodyguards are still a bit weird to you, but you’ve heard that children of rich families tend to get kidnapped so that could be explained away. After he talks about his family business, you are actually glad he starts to talk about his hobbies and interests. The longer you talk to him, the more you realize just how down-to-earth he is. Admittedly helping you calm down as the minutes roll by.

The food gets to you just as he finishes talking about how he used to surf, and you can’t help but express how talented he seems to be. “Wow, you have so much skill under your belt. If you didn’t own the casino, you’d still be set for life.”

Luca laughs shyly, sipping at his wine. “Well, most of it my parents had me take classes for. They wanted me and my sister to be prepared, you know?” He sets his glass down and gestures to your food; changing the subject. “I hope you enjoy the food, by the way! That looks really good. I might have to get that next time I come here.”

You chuckle, picking up your utensils. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you my premium review of it after I’m done.” He laughs and follows suit in your actions. You both dig into your food, and you have to hold yourself back from letting out a noise of delight. This food was unlike anything you’ve ever had, really tasting like the high price it was. Being so engrossed by the food, you almost forget what you wanted to ask Luca, your brain circling back to the suspicions you had earlier. You wait a little while, but when you think enough time has passed, you call the blonde’s name. “Luca?” He pauses in his sentence, looking at you with concern at the seriousness of your tone. 

“Y–Yes? Is something wrong?” His lavender eyes scan over you, trying to get any hint as to what might be bothering you. 

“No! It’s nothing wrong, per se." You immediately reassure, seeing how he physically deflated. Luca perks back up, a look of anticipation on his face, encouraging you to continue, "I have an important question to ask you." He gives you a firm nod. Seeing his silverware down to give you his full attention. “Okay, this is gonna be a very uh… interesting question, but I have to ask. Is this like some sort of, uhhh, fancy dinner to win me over for favors? Like… convincing me to be your sugar baby or something?” The blonde in front of you seems to choke on a breath, one guard coming up to pat his back. Glancing at the three people in front of you, you realize there's a look of shock written across each of their faces. When Luca gets over his coughing fit, he looks back up at you, starting to chuckle, believing you're joking. He stops, however, when he takes in your serious expression – worry in your eyes – and quickly explains himself.

“No no no! This is nothing like that!” He’s a bit frantic with his tone, waving his hands in exaggeration as he speaks. “I just wanted to have a genuine conversation with you. I…” He pauses for a moment, brows furrowed as he thinks over his next words. “I’ve felt bad that I’ve never gotten to talk to you properly all those times I would pass you and say ‘Hi’.” His gaze re-meets yours across the table. “This is just a normal dinner with a friend, I promise.” 

With a sigh, you cross your arms, “You realize how…” you struggle for the right word, “odd that is right? Like, you look like you own a private island and seem very comfy in places like this.” One of your hands gestures to the lavish restaurant around you. “I’m just a regular person you saved once from getting mugged. I'm nobody. What reason would a rich person like you have to constantly come to talk to me if not for some other motive?” Honestly, you almost feel bad about the way you're interrogating him. Though this is something to be questioned, and as nice and sweet as he is, it’s still good to have a sense of caution. Especially with the wealthy. 

Luca’s silent for a minute, seeming to think over what he wants to say; eyes downcast, staring at his half-finished food. It’s only a few silent moments until his lavender eyes look back up at you, their determination shocking you. “Because you didn’t treat me like that when I helped you.” You blink for a second, confused, tilting your head as he continues to speak. “Well… how do I put this… You just seemed like a nice person who wouldn’t judge someone no matter their status, so I wanted to get to know you? I–It’s honestly nothing like a ruse or a scheme. Trust me, being in this business, many people do try to deceive me. I’m an excellent judge of character because of that, and you just seemed very kind and down-to-earth. It gave me the push to try to befriend you.”

As he speaks, you can feel warmth start to pool in your cheeks, causing you to look away, not expecting that answer. After a moment, you let out a deep breath and then turned your gaze back to him. “Well, honestly, that’s pretty surprising." You say with a light laugh. Slouching back into your seat, you continue. "I’m sure all of this is normal for you, but maybe when we hang out in the future, these places–” your hands raise to gesture around the restaurant once more– “are not really casual for people like me.” 

His eyes seem to light up a bit, a small crooked smile on his face. “So… you still wanna try to be my friend?” 

You have to hold back a giggle at how closely he resembles a puppy at this moment. Uncrossing your arms and picking up your utensils as you return to your meal. “Mhm, you're not a bad person. I can tell that you really are interested in my life, and if you did have any bad intentions, you would’ve done something by now. Plus, you’re lucky you’re cute. Hard to say no to the puppy dog eyes you’ve been giving me.”

He hears his guards snicker behind him, but chooses to ignore it as his cheeks begin to flush. “You think I’m cute?” He watches as you laugh, smiling at him as you take a bite of your food.

“Mmn, this is really good. Do you wanna try some? I can give you a bite.” Luca pouts a bit as you change the subject, but nods nonetheless. He’s happy as you converse for the rest of your meal, talking about nothing and everything. It’s refreshing for you and him, as you act like equals. Feeling like friends.

The pair of you stay for a while, but eventually, you do tell him you have to work the next day. He, of course, offers to take you home, especially since you’d both had a bit of wine. With the moon smiling in the sky as the four of you leave the restaurant, and the surrounding street was lit up by dazzling lights. The bodyguards escort you to the car, giving them your address. The trip gives the two of you a chance to continue talking. Luca couldn’t help the smile on his face, content with just listening to you speak, and this time remembering to give you his number so you could make future plans together. It wasn’t long before the car pulled up to your home. Luca, ever the gentleman, helped you out and up to your door. When you finally say goodbye and wave them all off, you feel warm, and you’re sure he shares the same sentiment.

To Luca, this experience feels like a blessing to him. To have a normal conversation – a normal friend – in his unpredictable life. And to you, this was an exciting change to your routine; being able to make such an excitable and interesting new friend. You only saw good things ahead, and you hoped that it’d continue to get better from here.

It could only get better from here. Right?

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Likes are nice and we do appreciate them. However, comments/feedback is what really motivates us to continue writing. Even just a keyboard smash or emojis are a joy to see!

We do not allow our stories to be translated or reposted/shared anywhere. The only places our stories should be found are on Ao3 or Tumblr. Nowhere else.

#luca kaneshiro x reader #luxiem x reader #nijisanji x reader #luca kaneshiro #nijisanji luxiem #nijisanji luca #nijisanji en #nijisanji #luxiem #x reader #gn reader #gender neutral reader #Written by Mod S 👿

[silentreigns]

Random thoughts about this current F1 season that I have been meaning to write about but I keep forgetting so I am just gonna make this long post

Carlos has been the most consistent qualifier on the entire grid this season but this gets overshadowed by Ferrari finding creative ways to screw him and Charles over. I wish his consistency was praised more

Valterri has got to retire like there is not much else for him to do in this sport. He was in a top team for 5 years but Zhou has been out-performing him for a while now. I feel like it's time for someone else to start their F1 career. Like look at this graphic 😭😭😭

The lack of safety cars and all 20 cars finishing the races is simultaneously a good and bad thing. Good because it means the cars are more reliable, bad because race outcomes are way more predictable. Once Max builds a 20s+ gap it will be virtually impossible to close it.

I will be very surprised if Checo is still in F1 after 2024. He ain't doing so bad when it comes to points, but if your teammate has been in first place for more than half of the laps in this entire season and you can't come close to it, then you look even worse. He built a 50+ point gap to you , and at one stage y'all were just 1 point apart in the driver's standings. I would be shaking crying screaming throwing up

If they put Daniel in the RedBull seat after Checo's contract is up instead of Yuki I am going to be extremely salty. Yuki has been putting that car with no breaks in the points consistently like quit playing with him

Monza 2022 really tricked people because they thought Nyck de Vries would be more of a leader in Alpha Tauri. I ain't forger how he was shown in Drive to Survive. However, I don't agree with how people bully him like some people do too much

They should consider raising the cost cap because I know these teams know what the problem is with their cars, they just don't have the ~money~. And we all saw how useless the cost cap was last season

What is it going to take for Xavi to get fired like bro basically cost Charles a podium in Monaco. And he's just overall bad at communicating compared to the other race engineers.

Lando being stuck in McLaren and not even being able to fight for points consistently is heartbreaking. 😔. He is way too talented to be finishing like P17 all the time

Britcedes won't ever implode like Brocedes did but if George tries to suggest team orders for him and Lewis to swap places again I'm gonna cry. There's only so much I can take

Alex just might be the greatest driver of all time for being able to get the current Williams car a point and into Q3 in Austrailia. Out of straight line speed the car really doesn't have much going for it. I was gagged at how simple to floor is

I don't really have any huge observations about Aston Martin and Alpine but I do think it's cool to see how much their cars have developed and I hope they get to consistently fight for higher positions

#f1 #formula 1 #lewis hamilton #formula one #charles leclerc #max verstappen #george russell #checo perez #sergio perez #lando norris #nyck de vries #yuki tsunoda #valterri bottas #alex albon #carlos sainz #zhou guanyu #daniel ricciardo #this was just a stream of consciousness post i just needed to write my thoughts somewhere

[landinrris]

In your personal universe, how did the Norrix t Shanghai situation play out?

Just like the weekend in general? My personal universe (that I'm turning partly into a "little" blurb in response to a couple of prompts) basically goes like:

Lando flies out of Monaco Monday morning most likely following all of his friends leaving from the previous few days Sunday evening. Rather than flying straight to Shanghai, he flies into Tokyo to spend a few days with Martin (and Louis and Menno tbh). He shows up and kind of surprises Martin because he's early by a day or two and a city. They spend a couple of days then lowkey in Tokyo under the radar. They do some cool touristy things and eat some amazing food, and it's a perfect little hideaway where they don't really run into anyone.

Martin's got some plans for work in Tokyo before the weekend officially starts though, so Lando finishes making his way to Shanghai alone and starts in on the weekend with the team and his obligations. They share a very nice phonecall Friday evening following Lando's Sprint Pole, and they both lament how close and yet how far they are from each other right now. Come Saturday morning, Martin and Louis make their way to Shanghai and sneak into the back of McLaren's garage to be there for whatever happens (especially in case anything substantial happens). Lando probably didn't go to the gig that night (and maybe for the best) because he needed to get as much asleep as possible, but Martin crawled into bed later fuming and ready to pass out as well. Lando probably lets him rant fully in the morning when they wake up.

Fast forward to the race, Martin and Louis practically sneak into the paddock and start the race in Red Bull's garage. They say hello to and hang out with Max a bit in the build-up, taking some photos and documenting some things for sponsor-related purposes (I'm specifically thinking of Louis' few insta pics). A little before half race distance, when the first virtual-safety car gets tripped, Martin tugs Louis towards the exit and they make the short trip down to McLaren. They flash their McLaren-specific tags (that Lando snagged for them) to whoever is sitting out front and then blend in with the background. A tiny part of Martin's brain settles, and he feels less guilty cheering for the way Lando is able to jump Checo because of Red Bull's double stack. And then Lando stays quicker than Checo, and that's pretty cool that he gets to cheer for him as well for the real first time while at a race.

Following the race, Lando runs into Martin in McLaren's areas where they've stuck around until the last possible moment before he has to run to the post-race gig. It's one of the first races Martin's been at where Lando actually has something to celebrate, and the bear hug he gives Lando is certainly reflective of that. Lando, Martin, Louis, and Max end up back on Max's plane later that evening heading back to Europe for a week off wherein Lando and Max take their selfie, and Martin is in their comments within like five minutes. Because he can, because what is subtlety anymore, because they're happy.

#what is fact and what did i just make up? you be the judge #lando #martin #norrix #ask #shoving this into my writing tag as well because why not #writing tag

[anonduck07]

AUSGP

I'm back! What a chaotic race. Anyways doing it a little differently this week, here's how my predictions held up with the race:

Oscar Piastri placing P5 or above: Piastri started wonderfully in P6 before moving up to a podium spot! Unfortunately McLaren asked him to swap positions with Norris, who did have fresher tires. They also missed the opportunity to pit when Leclerc (who was in front) did, which probably cost him a few places. He did finish P4 though, making my prediction correct.

Daniel Ricciardo in points: Not much to say here. The commentary didn't focus on him much, but he moved up from P18 to P12 which is impressive. Regrettably not enough to get him into the points though.

Ferrari on the podium: Not just one, but both! It's a Ferrari 1-2 in Melbourne, with Carlos getting DOTD and claiming the win behind a last lap virtual safety car to get his THIRD ever F1 win. Sainz's teammate Leclerc had a few issues, but managed to overtake Norris for second place. Ferrari, of course, sang the National Anthem for Sainz on the podium. Wonderful day for Ferrari fans, who have suffered through last year for this.

My tyre is gone front left (Leclerc)

Thank you Ricky, thank you Ferrari (Cue Sainz singing on the radio after the race)

No Red Bull 1-2: With Max Verstappen retiring on lap 3 due to an engine issue and Perez's 3 grid penalty, Red Bull anywhere near the podium was practically impossible. Perez finished P5 though, so one place up from where he started.

I just lost the car there really weird (Verstappen before he DNFd)

Of course the temperature kept increasing...felt like driving with a hand-break (Verstappen in an interview after his DNF)

Nico Hulkenberg in the points: Only 1% of people voted for this in my original poll, which is hilarious as it was one of the few predictions to come true. Of course, wonderful defending against Albon amongst other things let him hold onto P9, getting a few points for HAAS (as Magnussen joins him in the points, finishing P10)

Max Verstappen wins with a less than 5 second lead: ...okay so. Yeah we don't talk about this. 

Alex Albon in the points: William's call to give Sergeant's chassis to Albon did not, in fact, pay off. He finishes P11, just out of points, after being unable to overtake the HAAS. He did attempt to report Hulkenberg moving under breaking, but not penalties were applied.

That's so dangerous, moving under breaking (Albon about Hulkenberg)

I'll of course be making a summary on this race, but it'll take a while. Anyways, I'll see you all after I've had lunch :)

#f1 #aus gp 2024 #carlos sainz #daniel ricciardo #oscar piastri #max verstappen #checo perez #nico hulkenberg #alex albon #race recap

[little-pondhead]

Fenton Family on Vacation (part 3)

Original Post

Part One⬅️➡️Part Two

(This is kind of a filler cause I’m trying to get an AO3 account set up, but Elle fighting a rat just got stuck in my head and I couldn’t get it out.)

Lights come on in a studio. Two people sit behind a glass desk, expressions neutral. 

"Good evening, and welcome to C3TV. It's 6:45 p.m. central time on August 4th, 20XX. I'm Kimberly Anderson."

"And I'm Frank Meyers. For today's Fifteen Minutes of Heroes, we'll focus on one man in particular; The Flash."

A screen turns on behind the news anchors. 'Fifteen Minutes of Heroes' is written in bold letters. The screen cuts to a close-up picture of the Flash.

"That's right, Frank. Our city's protector is not often in the spotlight, so let's get down to business."

"Right you are, Kim. To start with, Captain Cold was spotted outside the Flash Museum earlier today. It is still unknown why he was there first, but Flash was quick on the scene and chased the rogue through the downtown shopping district."

A blurry photo of Captain Cold is shown.

"What stopped Flash from arresting him immediately?"

"Well, Kim, according to CCPD reports, a recent delivery of high-alloy austenitic stainless steel was stolen at a checkpoint before it could make its way to S.T.A.R. Labs. It's now known Captain Cold was the culprit and used the metal to produce new weapons. These new weapons gave both Flash and civilians alike a scare, as the rate at which they generate ice is astounding."

An image of S.T.A.R. Labs comes up. It switches to the silhouette of a crate with a question mark, and then a silent video appears. The video is of the recent destruction in the downtown area and captures crowds of people milling around. Some are cleaning up debris, and some are trying to evacuate their families and neighbors. Several emergency service trucks are lighting up the whole street. One man has a flamethrower and is trying to thaw out his car. 

"Yes, traffic was horrible on the way to work. This new ice has a particularly high melting point, so its removal is still ongoing. Flash was spotted chasing the captain but frequently had to sidetrack for quick evacuation. Captain Cold was shooting to hurt today. There was no regard for civilian safety or public property. It seemed like he wanted to cripple the city. A few neighboring counties will pitch in for relief efforts; more at eight."

Snippets of their fight all over the area are edited together. Pictures of the destruction show up.

"Reports say their path took them west through the district before making a sharp turn on Roanoke Parkway and doubling back to Central City Plaza. There, Flash cornered the rogue. You can see the two arguing through nearby store cameras, but no audio can be provided. Captain Cold is visibly angered and takes a hostage at one point. The hostage, one Lacey James, was under threat for less than a minute before the Flash stole her away and returned her to waiting police officers. Cold is upset by this and douses the whole plaza in a thick ice sheet."

A virtual map follows the path taken with a red line—the screen changes to an out-of-focus storefront video. Captain Cold has a blonde woman at gunpoint, but Flash disappears with the woman too fast for the cameras to follow. Flash returns a few seconds later. Captain Cold seems angered, and the cameras short out soon after. 

"Uh oh, we all know how hard it is to walk on ice. Captain Cold obviously wanted to slow down the Flash, but why?"

"We're still not sure, Kim. I mean, it's his thing. But does anyone know why villains do what they do?"

"You have a point, Frank. But that's not why we're here today."

"No, it is not. While the Flash did his best, bless his heart, a few civilians were stuck inside the plaza with the two supers. No deaths have been reported citywide, and only a single person has been admitted to the ICU due to a case of hypothermia. More about this young soul can be found on our website and the link to their family's GOFUNDME. But aside from that, one of the civilians managed to get an interesting part of the fight on video. None of the stores in the area had working cameras at this point, so let's look at the video now. Please be warned, viewers' discretion is advised."

The video opens showing the face of a young teen. The video is obviously from the point of view of their phone. The teen is swearing, and viewers at home can hear a long string of beeps. 

A voice from off-screen: "Yo! Are you getting this??"

The teen swears one last time, but the video's perspective is changed. The camera is peeking out into the plaza between a car tire and a chunk of ice. "[beep], it's so cold, man. It's [beep]ing August. I hope that kid is okay."

"It was nice of you to give that family your flannel."

"It was that or let that kid freeze, man. Now shut up. I'm tryin' to hear what they're saying!"

The two teens pipe down. The camera is adjusted a few times, but eventually, the audio is picked up. Flash can be heard arguing with Captain Cold, although the dialogue is spotty due to the range.

"-can't do that!"

"The-[beep]ing [beeeeeeep] upstairs--hospital-----"

"-new procedure-----s West--gone clean---"

"NEVER! THOSE---[beep] this, GG---home--too sick---"

"-can help! S.T.A.R. Labs---new meds--won't------"

Flash is cut off by a scream of frustration from Captain Cold. The rogue begins to point and shoot at Flash, who has to zoom out of the way. Viewers can tell there are many close calls, as Flash stumbles more than once due to the slick ice.

Suddenly, a swirling green portal appears and spits out a figure right into the Flash's path. A loud smack is heard when they hit the ground face-first. One teen behind the camera sucks in a sharp breath, and the other whispers, "Ouch, that had to hurt."  Flash has no room to stop and trips over the body.

"[BEEP]!" Flash face-plants and doesn't get back up. Captain Cold pauses, staring at the two on the ground. A loud groan is heard a second later, and the figure raises its head. The camera zooms in. 

The figure was a glowing little girl with white hair and unnaturally green eyes. Glowing green blobs circle her head like cartoon birds. Bits of asphalt are stuck to her face, drawing green blood, but her skin heals as viewers watch.

The girl seemed disoriented, staring blankly at Flash and then at Captain Cold. The teen holding the phone can be heard scooting closer. The video shakes violently for a few seconds, but now viewers can listen to the conversation more clearly. 

"Uh...hi?" Small animal noises are heard, and viewers realize it's coming from the blobs, whipping around faster than before. 

"Where the [BEEP] did you come from?"

Whispers of astonishment come from the teens as the girl pushes herself off the ground and into the air, visibly struggling to stay afloat. "Hey, watch your [beep]ing language, dude. Children are present."

Captain Cold spluttered. "Wha-??"

The girl ignored the villain and turned towards the Flash. She bends over him, placing two fingers on his neck, presumably to check his pulse. Viewers see the girl wearing a big, black backpack in the shape of a ghost. From the camera's distance, it was difficult to determine what else she was wearing, but one of the teens said, "That's a sick outfit. I love the boots. Big 'Prometheus' vibes."

A scoff. "Yeah, no. I'm thinking 'Star Wars,' for sure." 

An argument begins behind the camera, and the view tilts a bit since their attention is no longer on it. 

A thin whine draws back the attention of the teens and the audience. Captain Cold is pointing a gun at the girl, who has a bemused expression on her face. Over the sound of the weapon, their quiet conversation cannot be heard. 

(Later, a famous child psychologist would do a ten-minute interview for Beefood's new show, 'Cohabiting with Cryptids.' Analysis shows the child was actually terrified at Captain Cold's actions and more confused than she let on. Some comments point out that the girl attempted to put herself between the Flash and the rogue, proving that she hadn't meant the Flash any harm.)

Suddenly, the girl scoops up Flash into a fireman's carry and dodges an ice blast. The teen filming the event swears and drops their phone. Shuffling and more gunshots can be heard. 

"You gotta chill out, man!"

"Ah, [beep], the screen cracked-"

"What?!"

"I can't-"

"Maybe a little shock therapy will get your Christmas spirit going!"

The shooting pauses. "It's Aug-AAAAAUGH!"

A scream startles the teens. It's coming from Captain Cold, and viewers can tell he's in pain. 

The screen is still black. 

"What the [beep], what the [beep]-"

"Is that lightning??"

"She's electrocuting him. How-"

"It's pink!"

"That's not what you should be focusing on right now!"

"But it's PINK LIGHTNING."

"She is literally burning holes into his parka, what the [beep]."

"Do you think Flash can make pink lightning? Should I ask him?"

"I don't [beep]ing know! She's going to kill him!"

"No, she isn't; look!"

A quiet moment. Captain Cold has stopped screaming, but small groans can be heard instead. 

"She stopped, see?"

"How much electricity was that??"

"I dunno, but obviously not enough to kill him."

"You're very calm about this."

"Don't worry. I'll freak out later."

"Oh, Jesus-"

"Look!"

A clatter. "Sorry about that." The camera finally refocused, although it was shakier than before. The girl was hovering over the prone form of Captain Cold, still holding onto the Flash. Viewers could hear her voice tremble. "On the plus side, a few of your screws may have been knocked back into place from the electricity. Anyways, see you later, [beeeeep] Ice Prince!"

The camera swings around to face the second teen. Their eyes were lit up in fascination. "New life goal: Pull a Zarina from 'The Pirate Fairy' and figure out how to make pink lightning."

"Oh, my [beep], Lynne! Why-"

The video ends abruptly, and the news anchors fade back into view. 

"Well, that was...interesting." 

"I'd say so. We have seven minutes left; let's discuss the theories."

-----

Dani stared at the tv. A quick re-run of the video from Fifteen Minutes of Heroes was playing. It was well past ten now, but she'd managed to hole up in someone's party shack on top of some apartments. And while she refused to touch the poorly-hidden weed, Dani had no qualms about raiding the stash of (packaged) food and flipping on the old tube tv. She'd turned on the local news channel to learn more about this new world since wandering around for a few hours didn't tell her much. 

And she'd learned a lot. 

This was a world of superheroes. Dani didn't know how to feel about that. On the one hand, she thought it would be easier to care for herself. She wouldn't have to try as hard to hide her powers-hell, she was being featured on the news! And these people weren't discussing her imminent capture. No public warnings about reporting her, nothing about being a danger to society. These news reporters were doing their job, relaying the facts and throwing out theories about her identity and powers. Was she a super? A rookie? An alien? A meta? What was her name? The people on the screen flashed a phone number below and asked if anyone spotted her please call their hotline. Not to hunt her down but because she was a kid. A superpowered kid whom no one knew the identity of and seemed to be very much alone. And yeah, Dani knew there were people out there with malicious intentions. But the fact that she was on the news and not in a bad way was baffling. 

(On the other hand, Dani knew her dad. A world full of superheroes meant a world full of supervillains that normal humans couldn't fight back against. Dani hoped with all her core that he'd stay away from the fighting. His Obsession wasn't protecting people, thank the Ancients, or they might never find each other.) 

At the very least, Dani expected one or two comments about her 'horrible intentions' to hurt their city hero. Still, Flash himself came on in an interview earlier that night and said while he woke up in a really weird place, he did not have any injuries besides the ones he caused himself. Flash noted that "The kid even tried to make me comfortable. She made a cardboard nest for me to lay on and tried hiding me in a private location. Sure, that location was a dumpster, but it obviously worked because no one found me until I'd already woken up."

"In this picture, you're seen with a pair of-heh-handcuffs. Any idea why the girl might've attached you to that pipe?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, the kid is scared. I saw the footage. I know I got knocked out pretty quickly. But that girl did her best to defend me from my enemy and get me to safety. However, it's obvious that knocking out two men twice her size has her spooked. Those handcuffs were probably an attempt to restrain me so she could get a head start. Probably thought I was mad at her. She even left an apology note. But don't worry, Spooky. I'm not mad. Thank you for saving my hide, and I'm sorry I tripped over you."

Dani's eyes were glued to the screen. Those last words, Flash had addressed towards the camera. They were for her. But she told him her name, her human name. Why use Spooky? 

Fuck it. I'm too tired for this. 

-----

Whether she liked it or not, it was too easy for Elle to get used to life on the streets again. She'd done it before; stealing food, sleeping in alleys, squatting in abandoned buildings, always looking over her shoulder a second time.

She knew her family wasn't happy about her time on the streets-Danny especially. When they first separated, she could feel the pain from his core. He hated sending her away. But it was that or risk worse from the potential backlash. At least this time, she had an extra pair of eyes. Or five. 

Blob ghosts were a common thing, especially around Amity. The more ecto-contaminated you were, the more blob ghosts tended to hang around. They weren't the weakened souls of the dead but more like collections of intense emotions imprinted on ectoplasm. Elle usually got a whole hoard following her back home, but in this new universe, only five managed to find the strength to follow her. Elle thought it was only appropriate to claim them as Hers and give them names. 

So now, Noodle, Buffy, Preston, Shaniac, and Boogara were a part of her little fright. And as such, they became extremely handy in her city exploration. They were her scouts, her lookouts, her moral support. They could not, however, help out much when she was in a big fight, like yesterday. They just had to hide in her hair. 

But with the smaller enemies, they really came through. For example, she was having a nasty brawl with a particularly ugly rat over a breakfast sandwich at the moment, and her blob buddies were being a huge help. 

Yes, you heard right. 

Elle was hungry. She'd been hungry before, and it was nothing new. But the fight and panic attack yesterday took a lot out of her. She'd barely touched the food at that weed shack, too afraid it was laced with something. So after picking an alley and transforming back into a human, Elle started looking around for something to eat. Her search led her to a small café, where she used the last of her allowance to buy an egg and ham breakfast sandwich. Which she promptly dropped onto the ground after face-planting for the second time in the past twelve hours. She was close to another alley, and Elle could only watch with wide eyes as a giant rat darted out into the sunlight, snatched the corner of the wrapper, and dragged it away. Why'd she fall? Elle tripped over a chunk of ice from the café doorway. ICE. 

I should have kicked that man in the dick. Elle thought, scrambling up to chase after the rat. Her blob buddies led the way, harassing the rat as best they could to slow it down. They cornered it in a box. Buffy was chittering especially loud, leading the others. 

Elle knelt and reached in blindly, grasping for anything. One of her knees was bleeding, and bits of broken glass were getting into the cut. "Where are y-ouch! Motherfucker! Did you just bite me??" The rat screamed and bit her again. "Oh fuck no! Get your ass out here, you little-"

The rat ran out, still dragging the wrapped sandwich. Elle tried stomping on it but missed. Noodle was handing around the rat's neck like a rope, trying to restrain it. Shaniac and Boogara were tugging at the sandwich, and Elle managed to snatch it up a second before the rat escaped into a shoe. Without hesitating, Elle punted the shoe into the street like a football. 

She snorted in satisfaction when the shoe and its passenger were lost in the crowd. 

"I can't believe that just happened." Elle whirled around but didn't see anyone. "Up here!"

Above her head, watching the whole thing with an amused expression, was a woman sticking her head out of a window from the second floor. The woman had tight brown curls and an equally tight face that looked strained when she smiled. 

"You're that Spooky kid from the news, right?" The woman called. How did she-? Elle scrunched up her face. Right, blob ghosts. 

"No!" Yeah, that was believable. "Anyways, mind your own business!" She stalked out of the alley, hard-won sandwich in hand, and did her best to ignore the woman's stifled giggles she could still hear two blocks away. 

Okay, maybe staying as a ghost will be easier in this big new city.  

-----

@passivedecept @lehana37 @kobol1 @cat-in-a-fedora @starkcravingmad

#danny phantom #dp x dc #dani phantom #elle fenton #Elle fights a rat #her blob buddies will avenge her #Buffy the vampire slayer #and ghost files #are Elle’s favorite shows #noodle looks like a noodle #and Preston just likes the name Preston #flash #central city #Captain cold #golden glider shows up #towards the end #filler chapter #how do tag lists work #i just tag whoever asks #ffov #fenton family on vacation

[russell-63]

George: "We definitely had a bit more pace there. I quite enjoyed hearing Toto on the radio, but ultimately from my side, you're going absolutely flat out.

We're in this together as a team, and when you're sat in the car, sometimes you do feel a bit alone because we're in the car, we're doing everything we can and you don't know what the engineers are looking at, the engineers don't totally feel what we're feeling within the car, and sometimes having these exchanges brings it a little bit closer together."

Toto: Wolff says he felt the need to radio Russell directly as he could see he was "stuck in a loop" of anger at the situation.

"I felt that he was a little bit stuck in a loop of being upset about the situation. And obviously, as a driver you're in your little cockpit.And I felt that he had to face that he just needed to drop the 'upsetness' and concentrate whether he could beat him on track. And the end he was just clever. And there was confusion with the virtual safety car. He just did it."

Article

#dropping my agenda... for now #george russell #toto wolff #french gp 2022

[jpdoingwords]

The Hand You Hold

Just finished editing this short for my collection. Kinda like it so thought, why not share early?

[I've changed the title of the collection too - it's now Becoming Something Else. Hopefully for the last time lol]

~~~

How to describe Melda?

I think I have to start with her mum. Everyone called her Mata, and she was a bonafide hippy, a painter and genuinely strange person. She had a habit of staring at herself in the mirror for long stretches of time – even when they had visitors. 

She said, when I first went to their place and saw her doing that, that she was an artist ‘searching for her deepest soul’. Melda had just rolled her eyes. Not surprisingly, Melda too was unconventional, and we had an unconventional friendship: we didn't make a lot of demands on each other. Even if I'd been keen to be in her pocket, I'd have had no chance. 

She was always busy. She loved sports, watched pretty much all of them, and played many. She took salsa lessons once a week, went swimming every day at the local pool, and did Tai Kwon Do as well; somehow, she squeezed all this around studying full time. I have no idea how she did it.

She was a total extrovert. She could, and did, talk to anyone and everyone. She could never just stand in line for the bus, or walk through the checkouts at Woolies; she had to have a conversation with anyone who made eye contact, whether they wanted to talk to her or not. A remarkable number of people would start off surly but end up chatting happily to her anyway; and everyone remembered her, even the checkout chicks, who saw a thousand faces a day. Back then, I never stopped being amazed by the things she remembered about these virtual strangers. If they had kids, she knew how old it or they were, their names and birthdays; ditto for their dogs; if they'd crashed their car, moved house, got married, engaged, had a birthday, changed jobs. Anything and everything.

In stark contrast, I rarely left my room, except to attend lectures and tutorials, and to eat in the central café. I often wondered why Melda bothered with me, after we met in class during our first semester. She’d just chosen me, and I went along with it.

It was a hot, summer afternoon at my study desk when I remembered that I was supposed to be meeting her at the campus Tavern. I wished I hadn't agreed to go, but it was too late to back out by then, so I reluctantly left my air-conditioned room and hurried across the burning tarmac towards the shade of the trees in the main quadrangle.

Aside from hating the heat, I was also keeping a low profile because one of the girls who lived in the same block as me, Amy, was on my case about donating to the 'campus social fund.' She liked to say that the proceeds were used to pay guest lecturers to speak and such; but I knew it mostly financed student parties. I'd never been to one of those parties and had no intention of ever going, so I saw no reason why I should feel obligated to donate. Amy fervently disagreed with my stance. As I made it to the relative safety of the trees, I saw Melda through the window of the Tavern. She waved, but even at that distance I could see that she was unhappy about something. I went in and took a seat across from her. She had a drink ready for me, which she slid across the table. She was already halfway through her own. 'What is it?' 'John.' That was her long-term boyfriend. 'What's happened?' 'He's been weird the last few days – kinda distant. I asked him what’s wrong, and he said that he feels like an accessory in my life. I told him that’s not true, but he says he feels like he never sees me, and when he does, I’m always distracted.' I understood his position to some extent. Though her unavailability had never bothered me, if I'd been a different kind of person, I could see how that might bother someone. I didn't say that though. 'But you guys go on date nights all the time?' 'Not enough, apparently. We were meant to be going to the cricket on Saturday, just to watch his old team play, but now he says he's not going. I suppose I have to give it a miss, too.' 'Why?' 'He’s made me feel like shit about it.' She sighed. ‘It’s annoying. I wanted to catch up with the girls while I was there.’ I felt bad for her. It wasn’t her fault that she was who she was, and I thought that John was an asshole for making her feel that way. She didn’t choose to be outgoing, that was just how she was made.

I didn’t say that either, though; instead, I suggested, 'I could go with you, if you like?' She stared at me. 'Really? You'll hate it.' 'I'll take a book.' 'You never know - you might get into it,' she said optimistically. That idea was ridiculous, but I'd committed to going, so I tried muster some enthusiasm. 'I have no idea how cricket works.' Melda smiled. 'I'll explain everything. Another drink?' 'Sure,' I said, just glad that she’d cheered up.

***

When Saturday arrived, I prised my eyes open at eleven. I was looking forward to spending the day in bed, and maybe doing a little work on an essay in the afternoon if I could be bothered, but of course – I was going to the cricket. I groaned.

I really didn't want to, but I knew better than to say so to Melda when she arrived. Even if I hadn't thought it was shitty to be a flake, she'd never have let me get away with it, anyway.

Melda had a dodgy old car which ran on prayers and the smell of an oily rag. It made a weird and probably dangerous thumping sound when it reached speeds above eighty. The car was as much a part of our friendship as if it was sedentary. 

That morning I wished it really was alive; then it could’ve escorted my overly upbeat friend to the cricket without me.

I was relieved when we reached the ground and I found an area of lawn beneath huge eucalypts where I could stretch out on the grass.

For the first couple of hours of the game, I paid very little attention to the cricket, but eventually, I put the book down and sat up, stretching my back.

I'd have laid back down again, but I was distracted by a situation near the clubhouse. A girl, who was perhaps eighteen but probably younger, very made-up and very confident, was flirting outrageously with a guy who at a glance I took to be at least a few years older than her. They were far enough away that I couldn’t hear what was being said, but he was looking away from her, scowling.

Behind her back, and facing me at an angle, there were three guys who were also watching what was going on. Two of them were laughing between themselves, while the third was slowly shaking his head, his face serious.  He must’ve sensed me looking, because he turned and caught my eye. I flushed in embarrassment and snapped my attention back to the field, mortified. When I looked back again, the whole tableaux had shifted, and the serious guy was gone. 

I sighed without realising I’d done it, and Melda, who’d been chatting with one of the women behind us, asked, ‘Are you bored?' 'No,’ I said reassuringly.

She gave me a suspicious look. 'I'm watching you.' I snorted. 'Well, that'll bore you.' I allowed my eyes to wander – I wasn’t looking for the guy, I swear, but I found him anyway. He was standing on the boundary line, so I had a chance to get a decent look at him then.

He was dressed in whites, with a bat in one hand and his helmet in the other – padded up, as Melda would say. He was tall, broad shouldered and slim, blonde with a bit of stubble on his face. Good-looking, in my opinion. A few minutes later, one of the batsmen already on the field was caught out, and he took to the field. I didn't do anything that I thought was obvious, besides actually watching the game for the five minutes he was playing, before he too got caught out. As he walked off the field and disappeared into the changerooms, I settled back and took up my book. I'd just opened it when Melda said knowingly, 'Ahh, I see.'  I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

'What?' 'You were checking out Maddox.' 'Mad Ox? Interesting nickname.' 'That's his surname,' she said, spelling it out, before adding, 'He's the team hottie. I was tempted myself, before John; but he has a long-term girlfriend.' She gave me a mock-evil smile. 'I'll introduce you, if you want?' I scoffed. 'Don't you dare.' Melda chuckled before turning back to the woman she'd been speaking to, leaving me to my book.

***

One afternoon a few weeks later, I set out for the city centre. I was in particular need of new music which, in the days before the push of a button delivered every conceivable song to your mobile devices, entailed an expedition. I had wide ranging taste, and I could never get what I was looking for at the local shopping centre. There was one particular store in the CBD where everyone went. They had almost any album you could imagine. I was standing on the platform at the traino, oblivious to everything beyond the book I was reading, when someone put their hands on my shoulders from behind. 

I spun around, prepared to use the self-defence moves I'd been taught in a one-day course back in high school, but thankfully it was just Melda. 'You're a prime target for a mugging.' 'I worry that you've thought about that,' I said lightly as I slipped my book into my bag. 'Well, if all goes to wrack and ruin, it's good to have a backup plan.' She grinned before adding, 'What are you doing anyway, other than reading Eliot?' 'Going into the city for new tunes.' 'Nice. I've got to buy a dress for a wedding I'm going to. I'll come with you, if you'll come and offer an opinion on the dress?' 'I don't know how useful I'll be, but sure. Why not?' She asked, 'What's on your wish list?' 'I've been searching for a CD copy of that Eartha Kitt record I have for ages without any luck; and I could always do with more Talking Heads… but maybe something completely different – techno, or hip hop. There’re a few options.' She smiled. 'It's good to keep it diverse.'

The store was in one of the pedestrian malls, and filled three storeys. We stepped off the escalator on the second floor, where I made a beeline towards easy listening and was soon up to my elbows in Frank Sinatra and Roy Orbison. I was reading the track listing of a CD when a voice caught my attention. 

Glancing up then swiftly down again, I saw Maddox was in the alternative section, with a girl who I assumed was his girlfriend. She was pretty, with one of those faces that I’ve always thought of as kind – gentle lines, an easy smile. A minute later, Melda came over to me.

'Have you found it?' 'Nah – but look who's here.' I nodded in their direction. She grinned and ducked around the racks, heading for where they were standing. 'Hey Maddox!' He looked over, and for a moment I saw him hesitate, before saying coolly, 'Melda. How's things?' ‘Aw yeah, all good,’ before adding, ‘Hi, Susie.' She said, ‘Hey,’ quietly.

Meanwhile, I was sidling off towards the dance section, further away, hoping Melda would forget I was there, but no such luck.  

'Hey Deanna - come here a minute.' I was tempted to pretend I couldn't hear her, but I resigned myself. She would just pursue me across the store if I did – it’d happened before. When I reached them, Melda said to Maddox, 'This is Deanna. She's my friend from uni.' Maddox smiled at me.

'Hey Deanna. We've met before, haven't we?' Up close, I saw that his eyes were very green. I had to remind myself to look respectfully. I shook my head, feeling shy. 'I was at the cricket a few weeks back, though.'

'That’s right. You witnessed Dan Michaels getting flirted at.' There was something about him that made me relax. I guess it was just that he was so casual, and it was contagious. I shook my head a little.

'He looked so awkward about it, I felt sorry for him. And those other two, just laughing about it.' I shook my head again. He replied seriously, ‘That girl’s only sixteen you know. Same age as my sister. I’ve tried to tell her it’s not a good look, but she keeps coming back regardless.’ He paused before saying, ‘This is Susie by the way - my girlfriend.’ He glanced at Melda as he said it.

‘Good to meet you,’ I said to Susie.

She smiled back. ‘You too.’

Maddox asked me, 'What did you think of the game, though?' 'I can’t lie - I’m not into sports. I had no clue what was going on.'

Melda had been remarkably quiet; I looked at her to back me up, and found she’d zoned out, staring into space. She snapped out of it when I looked at her though, and put on an easy smile.

‘She’s not lying. I explained the rules, but she didn’t take any of them in.’ That wasn’t entirely true, but I didn’t argue. 

Maddox chuckled as he looked back at me.

'You seriously never played cricket? Not even in school?' 'Hell, no. I'd rather be reading.'

Susie smiled. ‘I’m just the same. Only fools run around for “fun” in the middle of summer.’

‘Exactly,’ I agreed with a chuckle.

Susie turned to Maddox. ‘We should really get going. Mum’ll be waiting.’

‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He said cheerfully to me, ‘Good meeting you, Deanna.’ Almost as an afterthought, he added, ‘Seeya, Melda.’ We said goodbye, and I turned back to the racks of CDs. 

To my surprise, the copy of Eartha Kitt I’d been looking for was right there – in the wrong section and all. I picked it up, and held it up. 'My luck’s in!' That’s when I noticed she was looking at me with slightly narrowed eyes. 'What?' 'What the hell was that? Or should I say, who the hell was that?' Puzzled, I said, 'I don't know what you mean?' 'Yes, you do! I've known you for two years, and never - not once - have you spoken to a male, of any description.' ‘That’s not true,’ I said, offended. ‘I talk to people in my classes all the time.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘You know what I mean – one’s that you think are attractive.’

‘Even if that was true, which it’s not, it’s not like they start conversations with me, either.' Her tone irritated me, and I thought uncharitably that she only believed that because I couldn’t get a word in edge-ways when she was around.

I went to pay, setting the CD on the counter. Melda followed, saying, ‘'What happened at the cricket that you didn't tell me about?' The clerk serving me caught my eye as I gave her the cash, then looked at Melda and back again as she handed me the change with a sympathetic look. 

I rolled my eyes, then thanked her as she handed me the bag. Once we were outside, I said, 'I was just watching some guy getting hit on by a young girl, and in the background two of his mates were ripping the piss. You know I'm a people watcher. Maddox saw me looking.' I felt resentful having to explain this. Everything felt out of kilter suddenly. ‘It was nothing,’ I said, drawing a line under it.

She accepted that, and we talked about other stuff, but I could tell that something about all that annoyed her.

***

March arrived, and the days slowly became less offensively toasty. Melda had got over whatever it was that’d made her so sulky with me, though it'd taken far longer than I’d expected. I had asked her what it was that’d been bothering her, but she'd just brushed me off, saying she was just feeling moody. That was plausible, because sometimes she’d been like that in the past, but… it didn’t feel the same. 

The truth was, something had shifted between us, but neither of us wanted to admit it or try to figure out what it was, so we ignored it; but she was cooler towards me, and I wasn’t as trusting as I’d been. We saw each other less.

It was Thursday, and I'd just left a lecture. There'd been a rain shower while I’d been indoors, so I threw off my shoes and walked on the grass in the quadrangle, enjoying the rainy grass on my feet. Melda found me like that, enjoying the moment. 'What are you doing?' I looked up without hurry, smiling.

'What does it look like?' 'Well, I know what you're doing, but why are you doing it?' 'Your Mata told me it's called earthing. It’s good for the soul.' She just looked at me, one eyebrow raised. I smiled, just happy to be alive. There was no real reason - sometimes the universe is just like that; it grants me – and I’m sure, everyone else too – these moments of joy for no other reason than that I exist. I thought that the effort to explain that would probably destroy the feeling though, so I ignored her pointed look. She settled onto a bench nearby, pulled a sandwich out of her bag and began eating it, while I continued to walk and smile to myself.

When the sandwich was gone, and I'd had enough of getting my wet feet, she asked, 'Do you feel like going for a walk? I'm going to see John – my next class isn't for a couple of hours.' John worked at an office fifteen minutes' drive from the uni, and she knew I had no classes that afternoon. 'I’d never walk that far, even if I'd just won the lottery and I had to so I could claim the cash.' Melda chuckled.

'I was going to drive down to the park and walk from there. That way I'll get my workout in without going swimming this arvo. John says he wants to take me to the movies.' 'OK, I'll come. No canoodling in front of me, though.' She shook her head with a faint smile. 'I promise.'

We met John outside his office, and while they talked, I went across the street to a café – well, I say they talked, but from what I could see through the window, John ate, while Melda did all the talking. As I drank a coffee, I was thinking disconsolately about the essay I had waiting for me back in my room. It was grim: thirty thousand words on Joyce’s Ulysses - gods.

Eventually I zoned out, looking unseeingly at two men on scaffolding above. They were cleaning the windows of the multi-storey building which stood at right angles to the cafe. I couldn’t see their faces through the distortions of the glass, but one of them was older and bald, the other was younger and blonde; both of them seemed to be completely unconcerned about the height at which they were working. 

I couldn't even imagine climbing that high, never mind moving around while I was up there like it was nothing at all. The first gust of wind and I'd be clinging to the railing for dear life - crying, probably. Melda and John had stood up, presumably saying goodbye, so I went to wait for Melda on the sidewalk. 'Deanna?' The voice came from above, and looking up, I saw that the blonde window washer was Maddox. 'Are you stalking me?' The words were out before I thought them through, and I flushed. He just laughed though, and shimmied down the ladder.

I shook my head, and he raised an eyebrow at me. 'I don't like heights,' I explained while I pretended I wasn’t flushing. 'You get used to it,' he said. 'What are you doing here?' I pointed across the road, where John had already moved halfway into the building, while Melda went on talking. John’s arms were crossed firmly. He wasn’t smiling. 'Waiting on the lovebirds,' I said dryly. He looked, pondered them a moment, then said, ‘I think she said you go to the same uni?' 'That's right.' 'One of my mates goes there,' he said. 'He’s studying engineering.' 'Oh, he's one of those.’ He laughed. 'He really is. What are you doing?' 'Arts, English major.' I know I didn’t sound very enthusiastic - the spectre of that Joyce essay was looming over me. He didn’t notice though. Melda was preparing to cross the road and he began moving away.

'I better go. We do this building every Thursday, and the owners are tyrants about quick completion.' He smiled, gesturing up to where the older man was leaning against the railing looking down at them impatiently. 'He'll be on my case as it is. It was good seeing you.' I smiled back. ‘Good to...’

Melda had reached us, and talked over me. 'I didn't expect to see you here, Maddox.' He'd already begun climbing the ladder, and said over his shoulder without turning back, 'Gotta go where the work takes me.'

Melda and I went back in the direction of the park, and we hadn't got very far before she said with a certain brittleness in her voice, 'Must be your lucky day, bumping into Prince Charming again.'  I searched her face, wondering where the attitude was coming from. I put it down to the conversation she'd just had with her boyfriend.  'What's going on? John looked a bit sulky.'  She said dismissively, 'John's fine. He's just having a moment.'  ‘A moment?’

‘Reckons he heard some bullshit rumour about me. I put his mind at ease.’

‘What rumour?’

‘Oh,’ she waved a hand dismissively. ‘The usual thing where I talk to a guy, and onlookers just assume I’m hitting on them so they go tell John I’m cheating, or trying to. You know how it goes.’

It hadn’t happened since we’d been friends, but perhaps it had before we met.

‘Who are you supposed to be cheating with?’

She waved the hand again. ‘Oh, just some guy. You don’t know him.’ 

She began talking about something else then, and I let it go. She’d tell me if she wanted to. I wasn’t one to push for confidences.

***

I went back to the café the next Thursday, telling myself it had nothing to do with Maddox, but of course it did.

As I walked towards the café from the bus-stop, I anxiously asked myself what I was doing, and the honest answer was that I didn’t know. 

Yes, he was attractive, but from what I’d seen of him, he also seemed like a nice person – and at least half my interest was simple curiosity about who he was. 

Perhaps I was wrong to act as I did, but at the time, it seemed right.

When Maddox and the older guy had finished work, and the scaf was back on the truck, he came in to buy himself a coffee. He said hi then loitered casually near my table while he waited for his order to be prepared. 

He thankfully acted as though he didn't realise I'd come to see him, though of course, he must've known; and afterwards, I realised that he'd probably deliberately mentioned that he’d be there so I’d come back. 'This your new local?' I shrugged, and was about to reply when I saw the old guy drive away in the scaf truck. 'I hope you weren't expecting a ride?' He glanced where I pointed and smiled absently. 'Nah, one of the boys in picking me up to take me to training.’ He hesitated before saying, ‘We had a corker of a wind-up on Saturday. I expected to see you there.' He avoided looking at me as he said it. I could feel my neck and ears turning red, but I said as coolly as I could muster, 'I don't go to those kinds of things – not my cup of tea. I'm sure Melda was in fine form, though.'

'Yeah, you could say that.' He paused, hesitating. ‘She had quite a lot to say about you.' That surprised me. 'She did?' He nodded. The barista called his name then, and he went to collect his coffee before coming back. He pulled out the chair opposite mine, and perched on the edge, like he was ready to spring away at any moment. It must be quite a thing to be that athletic, I thought abstractly. 'What did she say?' I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, but I think I probably sounded anxious. I certainly felt anxious. 'I know she’s your friend, but I don't like back-stabbing, and the things she said about you...’ He grunted in annoyance, pressing the coffee type tabs in on his cup, one after the other. 'She’s a piece of work.’ I'd been watching him warily. I wondered whether I really wanted to hear whatever he was going to say. I had no way of knowing whether it would be true or not; but I decided that I should hear him out. 'What did she say?' I repeated, sounding more apprehensive than before. He took a deep breath.

'She said you're super weird – needy and a bit desperate. She warned me away from you, said I could do better.' He shook his head, muttering, ‘As if she knows anything about me.’ I felt the words like a punch to the chest. She'd called me weird to my face before, but always in a playful way, so I’d thought she was only joking. The desperate and needy really hurt though, because it simply wasn’t true; but it wasn’t a struggle to imagine her saying it – and who knew how much more there’d been, knowing what she was like when she’d been drinking. Into the weighted silence, I said, 'You said she was warning you away from me? Why?' He was still looking down at his cup. 'I asked.'

‘You… oh.’ My face was burning. 'But you have a girlfriend…?’

He interrupted, catching my eye a moment as he said, ‘Had.’ He looked at the cup again.

I couldn’t stop myself asking, ‘What happened?'

He shook his head slowly.

'Has Melda ever told you about me and her?' 'No, not really.' She'd only mentioned that she'd found him hot before she got with John, but I wasn't going to say that to his face. 'Why am I not surprised?' He took a drink before continuing. ‘Ever since she’s been around, she’s tried it on with me. At first, she was dating a friend of mine, Pete - that’s how she got involved with the club in the first place. She used to hit on me openly, in front of him, then when he’d get pissed off, she’d say she was only joking.’ He shook his head, looking out the window. ‘I’ve knocked her back at least a dozen times, I reckon. She really only backed off when Susie came into the picture.’ He looked at me then. ‘Last month, after I saw you guys in the city, that Saturday, she came to the club and had another crack.’ I frowned. 'Another crack?’ 'Got drunk and was all over me, even though Susie was there, and she lost it. Melda and her had a bit of a scuffle.' He sighed, and added, ‘Things between Susie and I were going badly anyway. This was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.’ Leaning back in my chair, I let out a long breath.

I wanted to believe he was lying, but I didn’t. It fit too well with what I did know. She usually told me when she’d been to the club - the fact that she hadn’t mentioned it at all was telling. Then there’d been that ‘rumour’ that’d upset John, which she’d brushed off; and other smaller hints, too… Her moodiness and coolness towards me in the previous months felt like the final seal on what was probably the truth. He was watching my face closely, and when I met his eye, he looked like he was about to say something; but the door opened then, and glancing up, he recognised the guy that'd come in. He stood, and pushed his chair in.

'Here's Pauly. I better go.' He hesitated a moment longer. 'Sorry to tell you all this.'

'It’s better that I know,' I said reassuringly, even though I felt sick. 'Even if it sucks.' He rested a warm hand on my shoulder, pausing a moment before asking tentatively, 'I'll see you around?'

Even with such a lot of difficult thoughts whirring in my brain, I had butterflies at the question, the slightly anxious smile. I smiled back.

‘Same time, same place?’

‘Alright.’

After he was gone, I sat for a long time staring at my fingers curled around the cup in front of me, trying to process everything. I felt devastatingly hurt. I’d been more open with Melda than I was with most people. She understood me, or I’d believed she did – but I’d clearly been wrong. That she’d tried to sabotage the potential relationship out of sheer jealousy was breathtaking in its cruelty. If she’d talked to me about her feelings towards Maddox, I’d have respected them; but the way she’d acted, the things she’d said… I simply couldn’t forgive it.

Still, a part of me insisted I seek out confirmation that what he’d said was true, beyond his words and my own thoughts.  So I waited, and left the café in time to intercept John as he left his work.

***

I was in my room working on the final draft of that wretched Joyce essay a couple of days later when there was a knock on my door. I recognised Melda’s knock. She'd tried to call twice, but I hadn’t answered. What was there to say? She said jokingly, 'I know you're in there. I can hear your music.' I didn't answer. 'I'm starting to think you're avoiding me. I know I've been a moody bitch lately, but you know how I am.' 'Do I really, Melda?' 'Are you having an existential crisis in there? Do we need to get you to the Tavern and out of your own head?' 'Nope. I’m perfectly fine,' I replied. It was only a half-lie. 'Are you going to open the door, or are you going to make me stand out here all afternoon?' 'If you want to stand out there all day, that's your business.' She finally twigged that I was serious. I could hear the frown in her voice. 'What's going on?' 'You tell me. Have you got something to say to me?' 'No.’ 'Yeah – it is easier to say things behind my back instead, isn’t it? Then you can just go on pretending we're friends to my face.' There was a pause before she asked, 'Who have you been talking to?’

I closed my eyes for a moment. It was an admission.

She continued, ‘I suppose it’s Maddox. So much for sisters before misters.’

‘How dare you say that to me when your knives are still in my back?’

I could hear the eyeroll in her voice.

‘Stop being so melodramatic. I never said anything about you.’

‘So when he asked you about me, you just said nothing? Righto. That sounds just like you.’

‘You know I meant I haven’t said anything negative. I only told him good things – he just hates me, so he’s twisted it around, hoping you’ll hate me, too.’

‘Interesting way to get with someone you like – break up one of her friendships first. Quite the opening salvo.’

That prodded at her jealousy, as I’d suspected it would. The brittleness was back in her voice.

‘Says a lot for the person he is, doesn’t it? That he’d just lie to get what he wants.’

I sighed. ‘It would – if he’d lied; but John confirmed what he told me. I suppose he hates you too, does he?’

There was a lengthy silence. She must’ve known the jig was up. When she spoke again, her voice was flat.

‘So – what. We aren’t friends anymore?’

‘No,’ I confirmed.

She said with derision, ‘I don’t need you anyway.’

At some point, when I made no reply, she walked away; though I didn’t hear her go.

~~~

Contents page of the Collection

#jpdoingwords #BecomingSomethingElse #short story #original fiction #contemporary fiction #failing friendships #the title is from an Everclear quote #you were blind to the fact that the hand you hold #is the hand that holds you down #wip wednesday

[ilguna]

hellbent pt4 (Ellie Williams)

summary; they should’ve listened.

warnings; swearing, angst, death mention, fluff??? 

wc; 5.6k

notes; MAJOR SPOILERS for tlou2!!

part one, part two, part three, part five

–

When you were younger, you loved traveling with your parents. There was something about seeing a city that you never got to know, getting overtaken by the greenery. Nature taking back what belonged to her, and making it more beautiful than before. The flowers, the trees, the grass, the rivers that flow down the middle of the streets. It was mesmerizing. 

And you’d see them everyday, going from town to city to the quarantine zone, trying to find a place that you could call home. It never worked out the way it was supposed to, so you’d pick up your belongings and move again. There’d always be another place around the corner, it was a matter of finding it.

There were cities that had gone completely untouched by the disease, just one big ghost town. There were no infected, no fungus growing out of the walls of office buildings. It would be ransacked of supplies, but virtually the same as it should’ve been. Windows, signs, doors intact. Houses clean, besides the dust, beds neatly made for when the person would come home.

It was like they’d all disappeared overnight.

Sometimes your parents would make a game out of the abandoned buildings, how it would’ve operated if it were still working. The grocery stores, the coffee shops, the construction sites. You still have the library card that they managed to make for you, hidden back home in Jackson.

It was your favorite part about this world, being able to explore without interruptions. While it could be gruesome, deadly and uglier than anything, it could be the complete opposite. There were times they would find a fairly tall building, and the three of you would sit up on the roof, eat and watch the sunset. They’d tell you stories from their past life, and you wished that you’d get to tell stories like that one day.

It’s a shame that neither of them can see how you are now, still wandering the earth, drinking in every scenery possible, thinking about them every step of the way. Your dad died years ago, searching for that safe place with you and mom. It wasn’t too long after you came across Jackson, the two of you deciding to stay. A year later the two of you would get caught by a group passing through, not at all friendly. And she died trying to protect you from them.

They would be so happy to know that you’re exploring, even if it’s because you’re looking for revenge. Each state looks different from one another, Seattle didn’t look anything like California, which can’t be compared to Nevada. If you had a camera, you’d take pictures of each state and tape them into a book for them.

It would be easier to remember them that way.

Despite this, you hope that this will be the last big trip you take for a while, because you’re growing tired of looking over your shoulder. That’s a factor that you’ve been reminded of constantly since leaving Jackson, that you’re responsible for your own safety. You don’t have two parents to do that for you anymore. 

However, you do have Ellie.

She’s doing better now than she did when you two found Abby. That cut along her stomach healed pretty well in the span of a month, she’s able to walk without much pain. It’s not entirely done, though, the two of you have to watch where you go through and the moves you make. Anything too harsh can fuck up the process and force you two to wait out the pain she’s in.

Not that it matters, at the rate you’re heading, you’re going to crash and burn here within a week. You two crossed a group a week back, there were ten of them, friendly, a few kids. Ellie was looking for more bullets in this old, dusty town, and they were searching for food. It was the perfect trade, and didn't put either of you at a deficit.

The problem is that they weren’t looking so hot. A few of them were hanging back, near a broken down car, mouths covered with their shirts. You thought it was because of dirt they were inhaling, the wind had been pretty bad that day, kickin it up into your sinuses. It wasn’t until their leader—the guy you were trading with—started asking about medicine, explaining that they’d caught a nasty bug, did you realize that it was more than just dust.

They were obviously trying to keep their distance to be courteous, but it was already too late. For a few minutes, the twelve of you had stood in a big group talking to each other, close enough to breathe in their air. They had to be pushed away to be reminded of the fact that they weren’t exactly healthy at the moment.

The good news is that Ellie’s got a good immune system, the bad news is that you don’t.

“I’m thinking we should sneak into the Vegas quarantine zone to gamble for a little while.” You murmur, playing with your knife, “I’m feeling lucky.”

“Lucky enough to take out a few thousand infected?” Ellie asks, laughing, “I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t make it five feet before being spotted.”

“You’re not being very optimistic.” You smile, “I wish we could get on the wall and look inside, see what’s going on down there.”

She makes a face, thinking about it, “That might be possible.”

“Should we check it out?”

She looks at you, “Are you stupid?”

You laugh, shaking your head. Las Vegas will have to be one of those cities that you’ll never get to see. Only in postcards that you find in gas stations, and the occasional post office. It’s a shame, really. You’ve heard the stories about the lights, flashing and colorful, all over the strip.

The inside of casinos are supposed to be different from the outside. You’ve heard Tommy explain that it smells like cigarettes and booze, people wandering around with glasses, sitting at the machines. He never got to experience what it was like to win the jackpot, but the people around him did. Their smiles, the screams. Back then, it was a dream to be rich and successful. Now it’s about survival.

Well, since it is a quarantine zone, you’re sure that there are generators inside, maybe it wouldn’t be super hard to hook them up to a building’s fuse box. It’d take a lot of work to find the generator, transport it to the area, make sure it has gas, and connect it without electrocuting yourself. It would be worth it in the end, though. 

Ellie hums, “If you really want, we could try.” 

You don’t think you would make it halfway before having to give up. If you didn’t feel the way you do now—lightheaded, dizzy when you turn your head, hips aching with every step, shooting pain down your back—you’d go. You could probably make it in time to get on the wall and watch the sun go down, for old time’s sake. And when you’re done, you could leave in darkness, because it’d be safer.

It would slow you two down, though. Instead of being back in Jackson in just a few weeks, it could be a month. You’re pushing too hard enough as it is, if you do this, you’ll have to take a break. Which, in reality, isn’t so crazy to think about. You should be resting anyway, you’d move quicker if you did.

Maybe this isn’t a bad idea, just a little break before you take a breather?

You tilt your head, “Let’s go.”

“Really?” She raises her eyebrows.

“Yeah, why not? We can take care of ourselves.” You turn left, heading toward the city, “We’re on vacation.”

She lets out a laugh, following you, “Oh, so me and you are going to start taking vacation trips?”

“I hope.” You run a hand through your hair to get it out of your face, “This is fun. I might let you choose next time.”

The cement walls around the tall Vegas buildings are visible even from where you are, almost ten minutes away. It’s going to be a long walk there, but it gives you plenty of time to figure out how you’re going to scale the walls. In Jackson, Ellie had to use the scaffolding, which almost killed her. You’re not sure if you’re up to that.

There’s got to be a ladder.

While you brainstorm out loud to Ellie, she leads you onto the freeway because it’s still holding up, and it’ll lead you to Vegas faster. And because it’s a road into the city, it’s a straightforward path. There’s no need to weave around cars, they’ve all been pushed to the side for easy travel, back when the military was still traveling through here.

You can’t imagine what it must’ve been like in Vegas when one person woke up dead, and went on a spree of biting and killing. How impossible it would’ve been to contain an outbreak like that. Those infected could get lost in the city, and the military would never be able to find them. A hellish game of hide and seek, where you lose your life if you get found.

The quarantine zones you’d been to years ago were all run differently from one another. It was either the military, a group that had claimed it after abandonment, or hunters. Those were the worst to come across, having to run and hide, keep quiet in the shadows until they gave up. Occasionally you’ll have nightmares about not being quiet enough.

“What was it like growing up in a zone?” You ask.

Ellie makes a noise, “I went to a military prep school, what do you think?”

“It was safe.” You say, trying to put yourself in her shoes. You ignore the way she looks at you. “You slept soundly most nights, not having to worry over getting your face eaten off in the middle of the night. Or the paranoia that some runner had followed you into the house you were staying in that night. It was warm, far from perfect, but it was home, even temporarily.” Now you look at her, “How’d I do?”

She smiles, “Pretty good, you missed the part where I got in trouble a lot.”

“For what?”

Ellie lets out a breath, “I never told you about the time I snuck out?”

You shove her shoulder, “Shut up, that’s bullshit.”

“No, it’s not.” She says, “Listen.” 

She goes on to tell you about her time at the Boston military school, the fight that she’d gotten into when she first arrived. How she met another girl named Riley, and the two of them were by no means friends at the beginning. She got sent to the principal's office on her first day, being told that they won’t tolerate her behavior.

“Okay, details Ellie, come on.” You motion, “You can’t leave it at that.”

Ellie rolls her eyes, “I got into a couple fights, stole, ran away, the usual shit to get away from the people around me.”

She ended up finding out her Walkerman was stolen by Riley, and demanded to get it back at lunch. Later that night, she heard Riley trying to sneak out and decided to follow her. Together, they ran rooftops and ended up going to a mall, where Ellie got to ride a horse for the first time.

The story’s hard to believe, but the more she tells you, the distant look in her eyes grows, staring off ahead. She talked to the man that owned the horse for a few minutes, and when they’d returned to where Riley was waiting with a magazine, a bomb had gone off nearby. The man left, and Riley wanted to run straight into danger, while Ellie wanted to go back to the prep school to be safe.

Then the girl heard that the Fireflies were the ones to blame for the explosion.

“And that’s when I got tangled in that mess.” She says quietly.

Riley left, Ellie ended up going with her, not wanting to leave her alone.

They followed the directions on the walkie-talkie that the military were giving to other units, needing backup. They ended up on a roof, watching the battle below. The smoke, the fire, the noise. Riley had thrown in two smoke bombs to allow the Fireflies to get away before too much damage was done, at the cost that the military would turn their guns to them, instead.

To get away, they went back to ground, hiding behind a dumpster. Where a woman, infected, would find them and attack Riley. Neither of them were bitten, managing to kill it, only to be chased down the alley when two more appeared. The Fireflies saved them, Riley tried to explain what they’d done to help the Fireflies escape the military.

She was introducing Ellie and herself, when she was hit with the stun rod, bringing her down. Ellie had tried to take the man down with the stick she’d used to kill the infected, except it was a stick, and he had a stun rod. She was saved by a woman, coming forward, already knowing her by name.

Ellie wasn’t able to respond before being blindfolded and moved.

“Long story short,” Ellie’s returning to herself, “We’d been captured by Marlene, my mom’s friend. The one that’d promised to take care of me after she died. She was the leader of the Fireflies.” She digs out the knife, “She gave me this, and a letter, and then sent me back to the prep school with Riley because she didn’t want either of us to join the Fireflies, not that I’d really wanted to. It was Riley that was obsessed.

“And we stopped being friends for a while because she left, and I stayed. I got drafted, she became a Firefly at that time. In the summer, she came to see me again, and we left the prep school to go back to the mall together to talk. She told me about the Fireflies, and we walked around the mall.”

She goes quiet for a few minutes, slowly continuing, “She asked if I still had my Walkerman, and then hooked it up to the speakers. We thought the mall had been cleared, Winston had lived there for months. We didn’t think that they’d get in so easily, but there they were, chasing us.

“We went out a window onto scaffolding, trying to get away. I tipped one of the shelves, though, moving too quick. I fell, Riley came to save me. She ended up getting bit in the process.”

Ellie’s lips are turned downward, eyebrows drawn in, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, El’s.” You breathe.

“It is what it is.” She shrugs, “It’s your turn, tell me what you did when you were young.”

“You want the good or the bad?” You ask.

“Both.”

You take in a breath, starting to tell her what you can without getting caught up in side-stories that have little relevance but add detail. You tell her what it was like being inside a zoo, climbing an overgrown amusement park, stealing practically all the chocolate in a town you stayed in for a week. 

The friends you made, which got you into so much trouble. That was the best three months of your life, being told that you were going to go to school with teens a couple years older than you. Your parents encouraging you to hang out with them, only for you to get caught smoking weed less than an hour later. And then you were forced to make new, less interesting friends that wouldn’t get you in trouble again.

When your parents finally trusted you to shoot a gun, or when you’d been shot by a bunch of hunters that survived off of human meat. It was the first time, but it would be far from being the last. You can’t count them all on one hand, because your luck with getting shot is lower than the ground beneath your feet.

It was frigid in the winter, bundled up in as many coats and long sleeved shirts that your mom could find. The worst pair of winter boots alive, that left blisters so bad that you still have scars on the back of your heels. You explain to Ellie what it was like seeing the sun’s rays on the sparkling snow, watching it fall from the sky.

In spring, you’d be a big target for bees, something about the way you walk attracts them like you’re honey and not a person that could kill them if you flicked them. Regardless, you get stung too often, and try to avoid any flowers if you can help it. You don’t want to give them a reason to track you down.

The blazing heat of summertime, the baking feeling of the houses. It was a constant temperature that was inescapable. There were no generators that you could use to plug in a fan and lay in front of. Your complaining got so bad that your parents took you to a thrift store and told you to find a collapsible fan. You thought that they were fucking with you, until your mom found it for you.

“That’s why I have these muscles.” You flex, watching Ellie’s face contort, letting out a sudden laugh, “What? Don’t believe me?”

“No, I believe you.” She manages to say seriously, and then dissolves into a fit of giggles right after, “What’d you think of the fall?”

A cool breeze, that’s what you thought of fall. Trees shedding their warm-toned leaves, creating a palette on the ground. No matter where you went, they always dragged you to the same halloween store, explaining that it only popped up in autumn, and it was gone by November.

You’d spend every single year like this, traveling, pretending the world isn’t the way it is. It was hard to come out of Jackson after they’d both left. You knew you couldn’t hide away forever, no matter how hard you tried. You gave yourself a time limit before you came out, deciding to work with Jackson, become one of them.

You sigh, “I hope Vegas isn’t this depressing.”

“We’re about to see thousands of dead people, (Y/n).”

You press your lips together, “Well, at least I don’t know who they were. That makes it easier to swallow. Also, we’re not going to see them, we’re going to see the strip, picture what it was like when it was all lit up.”

Ellie hums, “I bet there’s a generator down there.”

“Now you’re the one being stupid.”

It takes an entire hour and a half of walking down the freeway before you’re close enough to the neighborhood that’s easiest to cut through. Neither of you speak, unsure of whether or not there’s infected roaming around. The houses here look nearly identical to the Mesa Bluffs in California. These ones are cream colored with red roofs, some of them are brown with black roofs. Either way, it’s not a gated area to keep people out, and there sure as hell isn’t a hidden private beach for you two to explore, maybe just a park.

Which you’re grateful for, by the way. It took two weeks to get the sand out of your shoes because they were embedded in the cracks. You’re not entirely convinced that you got it all out. Ellie thinks that you’re paranoid and need to get another pair of shoes if you’re really that concerned about it. 

That’s coming from the girl that’s had the same pair of sneakers for a couple of years now. How they haven’t fallen apart or lost traction is a mystery to you and the people of Jackson, Wyoming. You wouldn’t be surprised if Ellie’s secretly got glue holding them together.

“There’s cars blocking the road.” Ellie murmurs, you look up from the asphalt to see.

It’s more than just cars, but it definitely started that way. The trees and bushes took advantage of them to make themselves bigger. There’s too many branches to climb through it.

“To the houses we go.” You say.

Ellie inspects the houses that you’re passing, looking for a good one to pass through, a broken window, an open door, a beaten down fence. She finds the latter, turning to walk through the side gate. There’s a brick path that leads to the backyard, it’s covered in bright green grass. It’s fake, you don’t even have to touch it to know. 

The walls are made out of brick, some of them are weathered down, but not enough to pull them apart. You watch as Ellie pulls herself on top of the wall, and then turns to you, holding out her hand. With one hand on a tree branch, you use hers to swing yourself up.

This backyard has a pool, there’s a puddle of green-brown water at the deep end of it. You avoid walking next to it, hating the idea of accidentally falling inside. It’s not realistic, Ellie would never push you, and you’ve got a good sense of balance. It’s not that big of a fall too, you wouldn’t hurt yourself. Well, unless you slip on the water at the bottom.

You guys enter through the broken sliding glass door, being careful to avoid the shards on the dining room floor. Ellie unzips her backpack, heading toward the kitchen for supplies. 

“Where are you going to stay when we get back to Wyoming?” You ask, curious.

Ellie shrugs, “Dina made it pretty clear we were over when I left. I’ll probably go back to the garage.”

“Your stuff’s still in there?” You lean against a chair.

“Most of it, what I didn’t need when I moved.” She gives you a look, “Why’re you asking?”

You shrug, “I have an extra room at my place, if you want new scenery. It’s the one downstairs.”

Ellie smiles, “I’ll think about it.”

She leads you through the impossible neighborhood, roadblocks covering every street. By the time they’re gone, you’ve cleared the area completely. At one point, Ellie had gotten onto a roof to check out why, and she told you that there were infected inside, a whole infestation. They must’ve been corralled inside and trapped. You were boarding on getting caught in there, too.

All it takes is another hour before you’re finally at the cement walls. They tower over you, taller than the ones in Seattle. It’s like you’re standing in a hurricane of the infected, that’s how clearly you can hear them from this side. Unfortunately, you were wrong and there’s not a single ladder that you can take to the top.

However, there is an apartment building that you can climb, and it’s at the perfect height to the metal walkway that has a staircase to the top of the wall. Ellie shrugs, turning to one of the window panes that’ll lead into the lobby. The doors are locked, you already tried.

She swings the butt of her gun into the glass, turning her head away when it shatters and rains. She picks out a few of the big pieces, making it slightly safer, and then climbs through. You’re careful with where you place your hand, sliding through. She holds the door to the stairs open, letting you inside first.

Your footsteps echo off the walls.

“Perfect place to play your guitar.”

She nods, “Maybe I’ll sing for you on the way out.”

“I bet one of these apartments has a guitar.” You gnaw on your cheeks, thinking, “We could bring that back as a souvenir.”

“And risk breaking it on the way back?”

“I’m sure you could fix it.” 

The stairs lead you to the top floor, but the ladder to the roof is hidden behind a metal door. You watch as Ellie kicks at the drywall, puncturing a hole in it. She doesn’t stop there, gripping onto the piping while she breaks down the wooden paneling on the other side.

She breaks through, revealing the dark room with a single stream of light on the floor from the hatch. She kicks around the edges of the hole to make it big enough to crawl through. She ducks, waddling inside, and turns on her flashlight so that you’re able to see. You hold your breath, gritting your teeth at the sight of the spiderwebs.

You turn on your own flashlight, following her up the ladder. 

“There’s a lock.” She says, once she’s at the top.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” You sigh, lowering your head to look at the ground. Is there anything that can break it open? There’s got to be some lock cutters in case residents get locked out, right? That makes sense.

“I’m fucking with you.” She suddenly says, opening up the door, letting the light flood in. You squint, covering your eyes.

She climbs up the rest of the way, moving aside so that you can pull yourself up. The sun’s beginning to set. If there’s one thing you learned about the desert, it’s that it can have some of the most beautiful sunsets.

Ellie wanders over to the ledge, “Well, we’re gonna have to jump.”

“You first.” You join her side, leaning over the cement. The two of you are far up, a fall from this height would kill you. And you’re not even at the top of the wall yet.

“I’m always first.” She says, tightening the straps on her bag. She backs up as far as the ledge will allow, before propelling herself toward the walkway.

She lands in a crouch, slamming into the wall because of the momentum. The walkway shudders at the impact, but holds tight. You get up on the wall, mimicking Ellie’s movements. You jump.

You’re airborne, stomach churning because any wrong move could mean certain death. Still, there’s not a single thing that can stop you from reaching the walkway. Even a bird couldn’t knock you off course. 

Your feet hit the metal, Ellie steadies you, “Okay?”

“I don’t know how we’re going to get back down.” You breathe, standing. You grab the railing for support.

“Let’s worry about that later.” Ellie laughs, moving out of the way, “Ladies first.”

You give her a look, yet you don’t argue. The steps up are steep, you watch where you place your foot, not wanting to accidentally slip and go tumbling down. Ellie’s right behind you, keeping a safe distance so you don’t kick her in the face. The higher you go, the more of the city you’re able to see, the neighborhood you’d just come out of.

At the top, you turn your back to the cement, knee out, cupping your hands for Ellie’s foot. You’re almost there. She steps up, hands reaching for the top. You dip, and then launch her up, turning around to watch her squirm to find a good place to lay to reach for you. She has her arm down.

You jump, gripping onto her hand tightly, walking up the wall until you can pull yourself the rest of the way up. She keeps a hand on your bag, guiding you. There’s a good three feet of cement for you to sit on, not having to worry about accidentally falling off.

The walls outside of Las Vegas stretch for miles, containing what might be the biggest horde in history. You get to your feet, wanting to get a better look at the clickers, the runners, the mushrooms growing out of street shops. Grass and bushes cover every inch of the street below, trees blossoming out dividers. 

You laugh, “Holy shit.”

Ellie has pulled out her journal, scooting to the edge, letting her feet dangle. She’s sketching out the buildings, the rollercoaster, the fountain. You muster up enough courage to sit on the edge, too. It won’t be too long before the sun’s gone. You’ll close your eyes, and picture every one of those lightbulbs lit up.

“Did you mean what you said earlier?” Ellie asks, pausing.

“About being roommates? Of course.” You nudge her with your elbow.

She doesn’t speak for a second, thinking, “Do you think Dina moved back to Jackson?”

“Probably.” You say, leaning back on your hands, “I don’t live anywhere close to where Jesse’s parents are, though. I’m sure she’ll be staying with them, because it is their grandbaby.”

“Where’d you move?”

“To the other side.” You shrug, “Maria wanted the four bedroom sorority house because a family came in, they needed it more. She gave me a two bedroom in exchange, but she was expecting me to get a roommate to make it worth it. I couldn’t do it, the house was so fucking quiet for once. I could sleep in.”

Ellie laughs, “I thought you got along with those girls?”

You scoff, “After we came back from Seattle I didn’t want to be friends with anybody, especially them. They kept prodding me about what happened. If we found them, who killed who, if they were still alive, why you were with Dina. I started screaming at them, and I didn’t stop. I was just so—” you make a motion, “Pissed! I wanted to be left alone. Jesse was dead, I couldn’t patrol because of my leg, Tommy was fucked up, you were gone. I was done.”

Ellie’s drawn you two in the middle of her sketch, back facing Vegas as if someone’s taking a picture of you on the wall. 

You tilt your head back, “I think about Seattle a lot, the trip back.”

“It’s okay.” She says, “You don’t have to apologize.”

“Except, I do. I was so mean to you, and I couldn’t see past the fact that this wasn’t a choice you were making. It was being forced on you. We were all hurt, Jesse was dead, and you were the only one that’d be able to go after her. And if you did, you’d run the risk of us dying.” You look at her again, “In California—that was a choice. That was you deciding enough is enough.”

She’s watching you carefully, “Ellie, I’m sorry.”

She smiles, “I forgive you, (Y/n). I did a long time ago.”

The two of you watch the sun go down, the colors take over the sky. The pink, purple and orange hues, blending in and out of each other. Ellie continues her sketch onto the next page, and beneath writes an entry. You skim over it, since she’s not making an effort to hide it from you. It’s about what the strip looks like, how you’re sitting on the wall.

The colors are gone thirty minutes later, slowly being replaced by the navy blue.

You’re about to close your eyes and lay down on the cement to imagine the strip when it was in full swing. The colors, the costumes, the vendors, the ladies in feathers. The way that everyone in Jackson describes it, exciting, fun and sinful.

That’s when it lights up by itself.

You jolt upright, “What?”

Ellie’s set her journal aside, “Maybe they’re automatic? Solar panels?”

“That wouldn’t make the whole area light up, Ellie.” You breathe. 

The lights are flickering, some of the bulbs have gone out completely. Yellow, blue, green, red, orange, purple, every color imaginable and the in betweens light up the streets of Las Vegas. It alerts every runner, their screams filling the air as they all begin to run to the middle, gathering together. 

It’s quiet between the two of you, unable to tear your eyes from the lights, afraid that they’ll go away if you blink. You can see the appeal, why they would come here to vacation. People used to sleep in those hotel rooms, watching the city below through the windows.

“Hey.” Ellie breathes. You turn to look at her, eyebrows raised. She presses her lips against yours in that second, fingers gently touching your cheek. She’s warm, soft, and familiar. When she pulls away, her eyes are already averting yours, “Sorry.”

“Do it again.” You whisper, “Please.”

Ellie doesn’t, instead she turns her body so that she faces you more, “Can I tell you something?”

Your face twists at the sudden change, “Of course.”

She’s rubbing the tattoo on her arm, like it’ll come off if she tries hard enough, “You know how I told you that my friend Riley was bitten in the mall?”

“Yeah.”

“I was too, right here.” She pushes her thumb into where her chemical burn is, “I was fourteen when it happened.”

You lean away from her, eyes searching her face. Sometimes when she’s lying to you, her lips will turn up at the corners, cheeks twitching to resist the urge to laugh out loud. She messes with you all the time, and recently she’s gotten the look under lock, to keep you on the edge of your seat.

There’s not a single hint of amusement in her eyes, though. She’s staring at you, head tilted down, lips pressed together, waiting. You genuinely can’t tell. This is something she’d say to get a reaction out of you, then again she’s so serious that it can’t be a lie, right?

“Ellie, I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not.” You say, prepared for her laugh.

“I’m not.” Ellie says, “I’m immune. The chemical burn was a coverup, and I got the tattoo just to be safe.”

You can see her arm, the area where the skin is uneven, bubbly but firm. You used to trace the tattoo that Cat gave her, because you liked the design. For a while, you joked about stealing it from her to get it for yourself. She’s couldn’t care, she liked the idea about matching tattoos with you.

“Who knows?” You ask.

“Joel did,” She nods, “Tommy and Maria are the only ones now.”

“Dina doesn’t?” Your eyebrows twitch.

“I was afraid of how she’d react.” She takes a deep breath, “I can’t get you infected, or make you immune.”

You shake your head, “When did this happen?”

“Four—five years ago.” She places her hand on top of yours, squeezing, “I trust you, (Y/n), that’s why I’m telling you. And you deserve to know this about me if we’re going to try again.”

You watch her for a second, slowly nodding, “It’ll die with me, Ellie.”

Her eyes are a little watery, letting out a shaky breath, “I love you.”

#ilguna #ellie williams #ellie williams imagine #ellie williams oneshot #ellie williams fanfic #ellie williams x reader #tlou #tlou2 #the last of us 2

[mcl38]

lando's written another column after montreal! and, as promised, i am providing the article in its entirety here on tumblr so you don't give ad money to the telegraph; article under the cut, enjoy

Why McLaren can bounce back from our weekend of hell - and my view on porpoising row

Montreal was a disaster but 2022 rules mean we can bounce back at Silverstone - and at least I got to play a round of golf with Ian Poulter

One of the wildest things about the 2022 season has been the way in which performance has fluctuated so dramatically from track to track. To an extent, that is to be expected, with the teams all getting used to these new technical regulations. But I have certainly never known anything like it in my career.

The good news is that it means things can change quickly. Montreal was, truth be told, a bit of a weekend from hell for us at McLaren. But there is no reason to believe we cannot turn things around and be a lot more competitive at our home race at Silverstone next week. After all, we went from 15th at the first race of this season at Bahrain, where we were miles off the pace, to fifth in Australia two races later, and then a podium finish at Imola.

Yes, we have been less competitive at the last two races in Azerbaijan and Canada. But we know the reasons why, and we are working hard to put things right.

It felt a bit like everything that could have gone wrong in Montreal did go wrong. In qualifying we had an issue with the power unit which ruled me out of Q2. That was a blow because those changeable conditions were just what we would have wanted, offering opportunities to make up places.

Given the lack of overtaking in the race the following day, every place on the grid was invaluable.

The race itself was frustrating, with the Virtual Safety Car coming out a few laps after we pitted and then getting double-stacked and having a few hiccoughs with the tyre change.

[pic of lando in his car with seb and a very menacing charles behind him]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. I think a points finish might just have been on the cards had everything gone perfectly in qualifying and on race day, but any number of drivers could say the same. The truth is we did not have enough pace in Canada. And I have to hold my hand up to mistakes.

It was a tough weekend for the team, with my team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also out of the points in 11th. But we will learn from it.

'I cannot wait to get out there at Silverstone'

We have a few things in the pipeline for Silverstone and I cannot wait to get out there, in front of our home fans. Just the drive into Silverstone is like nothing else, all that positive energy, from the marshals on the gates when you first arrive in the morning, to the fans waving union flags or wearing McLaren colours. You feed off the support. It makes a massive difference.

We will do our utmost to turn around our Canada form. We have a few bits and bobs in the pipeline, the track surface is completely different to Montreal and it will be interesting to see whether the new FIA technical directive regarding porpoising has come into effect by then. Obviously, that was the major talking point over the Canada weekend and I must admit to being a bit conflicted on it.

[lando in silverstone last year - pretty orange mcl35m and a bunch of british flags]

The truth is we are not massively affected by porpoising, so we were not pushing for change. But safety has to come first.

If there is a real danger that drivers could have long-term health consequences from the bouncing, or that they could lose focus and crash, then something has to be done. I can see both sides.

The front two teams have clearly done a much better job than anyone else of interpreting the rules, so I can see why they would be against change mid-season.

At the same time, without having experienced the severity of porpoising that others have, I do not want to criticise anyone. Safety has to come first, and while it might not be affecting me now, these regulations are long term.

'I would want my fellow drivers to have my back'

If I had a problem in a year or two which I felt was endangering my health, I know I would want my fellow drivers to have my back.

My main concern is that it is fair for everyone – ideally you would implement any changes post-season – but inevitably it is going to affect some more than others.

Obviously, we have designed our car one way, with a certain philosophy in mind, and it could move things more in our direction or away from it. We shall see. There are people far brainier than me tasked with working it out!

In the meantime, I am just looking forward to getting back to the UK and to our home race. I actually stopped en route for a round of golf with Ian Poulter just outside New York, so the weekend was not all bad. It is no secret I am a bit of a golf nut.

Watching Matt Fitzpatrick win the US Open on Sunday night – for once I was in the right time zone and did not have to stay up to the small hours to watch – was absolutely inspiring.

We will do our best to give the British fans something else to cheer next weekend.

(jsyk, if you want to see lando's monaco article or any of his future columns, i am tagging them all with '#lando's columns' so they are easy to find)

#lando norris #f1 #formula 1 #lando's columns #he's getting better at writing already! i liked this one way more than the first #u guys cant even fathom how happy i am that lando's picked up journalism as a hobby #and i like the way he approached the porpoising issue here - i think its deffo more calculated than the stupid stuff he said post-baku lmao #but then again back then he didnt know what was going on he just got out the car and was immediately asked abt it. anyways i digress #hope u guys enjoyed this read bc i sure did. but i also generally enjoy all things lando #lando #canada 2022

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Iron Man: Part Seven

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader (implicitly)

Word Count: ~1.7k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3

x

It takes another ten days for Tony to build the rest of the suit. He's been spending all his time in his lab working nonstop with you helping him. Granted, he's doing most of the work but you're here as moral support as well. Tony had to build the suit in stages instead of as one big project so he can assemble it and dismember it as he pleases.

For someone who has never done this before, he's doing white well for himself. Tony connected the two arms, both palm repulsors, and both boots together to work simultaneously without problems, and he's ready for another test.

"Day Eleven, test thirty-seven, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety. If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college." You chuckle in amusement. "Alright, I'm gonna start off with a one percent thrust capacity. Three, two one."

Tony fires up the suit and hovers a foot over the ground, making sure to keep steady in one place.

"It seems to be working," you say.

Tony sways from left to right as he tries to get used to moving about, and Dum-E follows him with the fire extinguisher hose just in case he erupts into flames mid-flight. Tony gently sets himself back on the ground with a smile on his face.

"Okay, don't follow me around with it because I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down! If something happens, then come in. Again, Jarvis. Bring it up to two and a half percent." Jarvis ups the thruster capabilities. "Three, two, one."

Instead of one foot above the ground, he goes at least ten feet. He has a harder time trying to stay in one place, so he's moving all across the room trying to gain control. He flies over to his precious cars, and he laughs nervously.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be! Not the car, not the car!"

"Turn right!"

"If I could turn right, don't you think I would have turned right?" he snaps out of frustration. He moves away from the cars and over to his workstation, and the power coming from his boots is enough to make papers go flying everywhere. "It could be worse! We're fine!" Tony flies over to the spot where he first started and finally gains control over where he wants to be. He lowers himself to the ground and loses balance but quickly regains it. Dum-E raises the fire extinguisher hose at Tony, but Tony is way ahead of him. "No! No!"

"You did amazing!" you gasp and bounce over to him.

"Yeah, I can fly."

"You're just like me now," you laugh.

"It's time for the real thing."

"Are you sure?"

"Never been more sure in my entire life. Help me, please."

"Jarvis, you heard the man. Get the rest of the suit ready."

"Yes, ma'am," the computer system says.

Many machines begin putting the suit together over Tony's body so there is nothing left of him that isn't sealed inside. The last thing to go is the mask, and you grab it and hand it to him. You grab one of the Bluetooth headphones and slide it into your ear so you can hear and speak to Jarvis without having to be in the suit with Tony. You won't be able to see what he sees, but all you need is to be able to hear.

"Engage Heads Up Display," Tony says.

"Check."

"Import all preferences from the home interface."

"Will do, sir. I have indeed been uploaded. We're online and ready."

"Can you start the virtual walk-around?"

"Importing preferences and calibrating a virtual environment."

"Do a check on control surfaces."

"As you wish."

Tony's suit starts to flex and move so Jarvis can make sure everything is in working order.

"Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control."

"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is—"

"Jarvis! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk," Tony grins.

"You're taking her out on a test run?" you ask.

"You want to come with me?"

"Jarvis, I'll make sure he's fine," you nod with a smile.

"Ready? In three, two, one."

Tony flies into the air and shoots toward the long tunnel that leads out of the garage. You quickly fly after him and keep up with his speed to make sure nothing goes wrong. Tony cheers from within the suit at the feeling this rush is giving him. There is a festival going on in town that has lots of kid rides and a Ferris Wheel, and you two fly by it to observe them at the height you're at.

"Are you doing okay?" you ask and fly beside him.

"This handles like a dream! Let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?" Tony asked Jarvis.

"The altitude record for fixed-wing flight is eight-five thousand feet, sir."

"Records are made to be broken! Come on!"

Tony changes directions and shoots straight into the sky. He wants to see how high he can go without shutting down. If anything were to go wrong, you'd be able to catch him and keep him safe, but you still worry about him. You'll be able to catch him if he shuts down, but you can't exactly heal his injuries if he gets hurt.

"Tony, please be careful," you warn.

The higher Tony flies, the more ice builds up on the surface of the suit.

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring," Jarvis stutters.

"Keep going! Higher!" Tony urges.

"Tony! There is a lot of ice!" you warn.

The higher he goes, the more the controls flicker on and off. It gets to the point where Tony's entire suit shortens out so he can no longer talk to you and Jarvis. Tony hovers in the air for half a second before free-falling back down to Earth's surface.

"Tony!" you gasp. The ice isn't going to come off on its own, so you use your hydrokinesis to melt the ice so it's no longer an issue for him. You fly in front of Tony and grab his arms to keep him steady. His eyes are the only things you see, and he looks worried. "Don't worry, Tony, I got you."

The closer he gets to the ground without coming back online, the more worried you get. You're about to use your aerokinesis to fly him to safety when his entire suit comes back online. His laughter fills the air as he's able to take control back. Right before he hits the ground, he zooms past the cars who swerve to avoid hitting him.

"You're insane!" you shout.

"Tell me something I don't know." You two make your way back to his house, and he hovers a foot above the rooftop. "Kill power."

Jarvis immediately cuts all power to the suit, and Tony expects to land gracefully onto his roof. Instead, he crashed through the ground into the room where his piano is and down to the basement where his cars and lab are.

"Tony!" you gasp and fly down using the same hole he created. He's landed on one of his precious cars, and Dum-E thinks he needs to jump in. He starts spraying Tony with the fire extinguisher. "Are you okay?"

"Ouch," he groans.

"There are two things you need to work on. Ice build-up and landing more gracefully."

"Help me up."

It takes Tony twice as long to get the suit off him than it did to put it on him. He's got some work cut out for him to make this a lot easier in the future. Tony has an ice pack on his head from when he crashed into his car that will easily heal if he takes some time to rest. You walk past one of his tables and notice the brown package that Pepper brought in more than a week ago. Tony hasn't had time to look at it mainly because he's been so busy working.

"This is for you," you say when you see a note 'From Pepper' on the top. "What do you think it is?"

Instead of answering you, he opens the package. Inside is a glass container with the old arc reactor that you replaced. It sits on a pedestal surrounded by the words "PROOF THAT TONY STARK HAS A HEART" all around it. You can't help but notice the small smile on his face. She has a crush on him and based on this reaction, he feels the same. They're good for each other. Who else would do this for him if they didn't have feelings for him?

"Man, she must really like you," you comment.

"Yeah," he whispers.

He sets the container down and goes about his business. You bite your lower lip to stop yourself from smiling too much and join his side at his computer. There are a total of six computers surrounding Tony with two in the front and flour behind him. You take the remote and turn the TV on to see what's happening in the news right now.

"Notes. The main transducer feels sluggish at plus forty altitudes. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor," Tony says to Jarvis.

"A very astute observation, sir. Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystem."

"Connect to the system and have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the Seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure fuselage integrity while maintaining the power-to-weight ratio. Got it?"

"Yes. Shall I render using the proposed specifications?"

"Thrill me," he mutters.

There is a benefit for the Firefighter Family's Fund at Disney's Concert Hall, and that's the station you stopped at.

"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society," the female announcer says.

"Jarvis, did we get an invite for that?" you wonder.

"I have no record of an invitation, ma'am."

"He and Y/N haven't been seen in public since their bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim Tony and Y/N are suffering from posttraumatic stress and have been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from them tonight."

"The render is complete," Jarvis announces and shows the finished product.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?"

"What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet," Jarvis says sarcastically.

"You know what would look good? A little red in there. I bet Pepper likes the color red."

"You heard the lady, Jarvis," Tony chuckles.

"Yes, that should help you keep a low profile." Jarvis paints the suit on the computer. "The render is complete."

"Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it."

"Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours."

"Would you like to go to a party?" Tony asks you.

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Don't wait up for me, honey," Tony says to Jarvis.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

#tony stark #tony stark fic #tony stark fanfiction #tony stark fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fan fic #bucky barnes fan fiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fiction #bucky barnes angst #marvel fanfiction #mcu #marvel fanfic #marvel fan fic #marvel fic #marvel fan fiction #marvel fluff #marvel #mcu fanfiction #marvel fiction

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 149/310

2015 Australian GP

OK FUCK IT WE’RE POSTING

SEASON 2015 HERE WE GO I’M SO DONE WITH YOU

Can't believe we're over halfway through as far as seasons go at the time I'm writing this. However we're still not halfway through as far as races go. Anyway, let's get started. 

As always we'll set the context for the season first so buckle up for the long list of changes. 

Team changes :

McLaren went back to a Honda engine after 20 years with a Mercedes engine at a time when the Mercedes engine is clearly immensely superior so that's a terrible decision as far as I'm concerned.

Lotus, however, went from a Renault engine to a Merc engine, after a 20-year partnership with Renault. 

If you remember from last seasons' reviews, both Caterham and Marussia went into administration during the last few races of 2014. Apparently Marussia was temporarily saved but they didn't race during all the 2015 season so sometimes they're there and sometimes they're not. But anyway, that's 10 teams now. 

Driver changes :

So as we know Alonso left Ferrari for McLaren where he replaced Magnussen. 

Seb left RBR for Ferrari. 

Kvyat inherited his seat at RBR moving up from Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso changed their line up completely : JEV as we know went to FE, hence Kvyat and he were replaced by…. Yep. That's Max entrance. And alongside him no other than Carlos Sainz Jr. Here we go. That makes Max the youngest driver to ever start in F1, he's barely 17. Crazy, you gotta say. 

Gutierrez and Sutil were both out of their Sauber seats. They were replaced by Caterham's Ericsson and Felipe Nasr who did some FPs in 2014 if I'm not mistaken. Gutierrez and Sutil became reserve drivers for other teams. 

Marussia, now called Manor Marussia, got two new drivers : Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Chilton went to indy. 

And we'll have 19 rounds this season. 

Reg changes :

The number of available PUs for a year was changed from 5 to 4.

The 2014 noses were deemed ugly and apparently generated what Wikipedia calls backlash so they changed the rules. So now the noses are lower and in "a more gradual shape", whatever that means. The regs stated that the nose had to be symmetrical and consistent with the centreline of the car. Okay. 

The minimum weight was increased to 702kg (so +10kg) in answer to concerns for the taller drivers who were forced into unhealthy diets. We did talk about that in early 2014, remember? 

"The anti intrusion panels on both sides of the survival cell were extended upward the rim of the cockpit and alongside the driver's head in order to improve the drivers' safety in event of a side impact." No halo yet, though? 

Also mandatory titanium skid blocks under the car so the sparks are back ✨

Sporting regs :

Oh so… what? The replacement of a complete PU above the allocated number didn't result in a penalty anymore?! Oh. So if I understand correctly you actually do get a penalty but like for each component of the PU added up. 

If such a penalty was not possible to apply in full because of the driver's quali result, it was not carried over to the next race but rather applied as a time penalty during the race (Whaaaat. How. When. Why. How do you calculate how much time it represents? Absurd.) This was actually abandoned after the British GP, so... yeah. It was indeed a bad idea.

So they'd introduced the 5 second penalty to be served during the pit stop, now there's also a 10 second penalty. It was specifically created for unsafe releases. It could be made more severe if the stewards decided that the driver knew it was unsafe and still went ahead. 

Ah, and remember when Alonso's team stayed on the grid after the signal before the formation lap because he had an issue and he was still able to start where he qualified and received a very lenient penalty for that? Well now that would result in a pitlane start. 

Safety changes :

So following Bianchi's accident we now have the virtual safety car to reduce the drivers' speed in case of double waved yellows. 

Also now the lapped cars unlapping themselves don't have to catch up with the back of the pack for the safety car to come in. 

In case of red flags, the cars don't line up on the grid anymore but in the pit lane. 

Also in miscellaneous things : from the Belgian GP forward, the radio comms about race starts, like mentioning map settings for optimal acceleration and such things, aren't allowed anymore. There had already been some radio changes in the previous year, the engineers were not allowed I think to tell their drivers specific times or things like that because the driver is supposed to drive unaided according to the rules but like. He's very aided anyway so I don't really get it but whatever.

Also the drivers can't change helmet design during the season anymore which is shit. 

Pre season context :

Lewis said he wouldn't change his car number for 1 after winning the 2014 WDC. It was the first season since 1994 without a n°1 car. 

Alonso got into a pre-season testing accident and was hospitalised. So he missed this first race and was replaced by Magnussen, whose seat he had taken anyway. McLaren said the crash was due to the wind and Alonso said the crash was due to his steering wheel locking up. Great start of a partnership there. 

Alright that's all for the context, let's race!

I unfortunately don't have access to pre race and post race content right now but I'll come back to add it if I find it at some point.  Ultimately f1fullraces finally reuploaded the whole season so I had to go back and redo most of the reviews and gifs as you may know. If things seem out of order in this review that would be because I added content afterwards, sorry about it! I try to make it make sense but I don't want to have to rewrite the whole thing either.

I've found a snippet from the pre race press conference in which a journalist asks if the older drivers there have advice for Max. There's Valtteri, Magnussen, Seb, Lewis and Daniel.

Daniel says some stuff then Lewis says he's just realised he's the oldest driver there.

He turns around and asks Max : "You were born in 97?!" and he says "Yeah."

Lewis turns back around. "Jeez…" The journalists laugh. There's a pause. He chuckles. "I signed my first contract with McLaren in 97," he says. He doesn't really have any words of advice. "He'll learn on his way." Seb says he thinks despite the fact that he's still young he has a lot of experience (huh, does he? I know next to nothing about his career). "He's quick, otherwise he wouldn't be here so… huh… I don't think he needs much advice," he smiles and turns back to look at him.

I read on Wikipedia that Marussia was in Melbourne even though they were in administration during pre-season, with a car that had passed the car crash tests, but they didn't take part in any FPs and didn't set a quali time so they didn't take part in the race.

Also a week before the GP, Van der Garde launched a legal action against Sauber in Victoria over a contract he signed in June 2014 that was supposed to let him drive for them in 2015. On the Wednesday before the race weekend, the court ordered Sauber to let him drive in the GP but Sauber appealed on the same day and made a public statement that they would not "compromise the safety of the team or other drivers by putting Van der Garde in the car", since the chassis had been tailored to their drivers only. They also argued that Van der Garde's contract had been terminated in February with the FIA's approval and that he violated confidentiality clauses by discussing it with the media. Ericsson's and Nasr's lawyers added that he had not followed due process as he did not give their client notice that he was gonna take legal action. On Thursday, the appeal was heard and dismissed, and the order to let him race maintained. They adjourned the hearing to Friday to hear "arguments on contempt of the court proceedings launched by Van der Garde's legal team against Sauber's team principal, Monisha Kaltenborn." 

About 2 hours after the initial judgement, the FIA published its entry list for the GP including both Nasr and Ericsson. Neither of them took part in the first Friday FP, as Sauber's assets could have been seized if they didn't obey the court orders. They did take part in the afternoon session amongst rumours that Bernie intervened to avoid negative publicity on the sport.

On Saturday, the matter was resolved as Van der Garde announced he was giving up on racing in Melbourne, hoping for a more permanent solution in the future. 

Now let's talk about the pre-race broadcast then, now that I have it. It opens on the drivers taking the 2015 class photo on the grid. Simon points out that Valtteri is not there. He was seen in the garage earlier though. He suffered a back injury during quali, and we don't know yet if he can race or not.

The other big news is that McLaren is doing absolutely terrible 5 seconds off the pace with their Honda PU at the back of the grid.

In his interview, Lewis says the new car is pretty amazing. Last year's was already pretty special but this one is a refined version. He's glad the weather is good, they have great fans here, he hopes they can give them a good race. He anticipates a tough one, they don't get easier, they will have to look after the tyres.

Oh, we hear Valtteri has been deemed unfit to race. Also we hear more about Alonso's accident and it's really no joke. He hit a concrete wall, not tepco. Although the impact was "just under 20G", which is a lot but we've seen way worse, he had retrograde amnesia, which is scary af and indicates brain trauma from what I remember of my neuropsychology classes. Ted says when he woke up, he thought it was 1995 (so that's SERIOUS retrograde amnesia actually, I've not heard of that happening a lot). Oh they interviewed a neurologist about it. He says for them what's more important is amnesia AFTER the incident (aka not being able to form new memories, which is indeed more worrying and debilitating than forgetting memories that were there even though it's not great either). But a long period of retrograde amnesia such as this is definitely significant in their assessment of brain damage severity, he adds. Alonso's doctors wanted him to have a 4-week recovery period hence why he's not racing. On top of it, they were worried about "second impact syndrome" in case he had a second crash against Melbourne's concrete barriers. Such a thing can be fatal, explains the neurologist, because the brain loses auto-regulation due to the first injury, and cannot deploy the same control and recovery mechanisms it did in response to the second injury, causing an overreaction characterised by higher levels of inflammation inducing swelling, which can obviously cause severe damage. It makes me uncomfortable just to write about it lol. The McLaren TP says they don't know if he'll be back in Malaysia yet. Also despite what wikipedia says, at this point Ted tells us that Alonso doesn't remember what happened in the crash and thus cannot say whether it was the wind or something else. At the time, Seb was following him on track so the footage of his car's camera will be crucial to the investigation.

Brundle interviewed Lewis. He starts by saying he wears his heart on his sleeve, which fans love him for. "And hate me for," Lewis adds with a smile.

He asks him why he thinks people are more interested in his private life than the other drivers'. Why does he attract so much attention? He says he sticks out like a sore thumb at a GP because it's always been a white dominated sport. (I think it's the first time I hear him mention it actually.) As a family they've always stuck out at the race track. He doesn't think he's more outspoken... He has to assume it's because of the way he drives... What else? He smiles. Brundle says they've seen the rumours, the stories– Lewis cuts him off, it's probably because he had a very good-looking girlfriend at one stage.

It definitely brings a lot of attention. Brundle asks if that's something that's hold on and carries on into the new season. Lewis answers it's a new chapter in his life and he's quite excited about it. It looks like it's probably a Mercedes driver who's gonna win this year again, does he have the upper hand psychologically because he beat Nico in 2014? He says he doesn't know, he doesn't really think of the psychological side of things in that sense. "I'm gonna be driving as hard as I can. Nico knows what I'm capable of. I'm very much aware what he's capable of and what he can do, and I'm conscious that he will be trying to do everything under the sun to prove and better me this year... And I know he knows I'll be doing the same," he smiles. Brundle asks if he thinks it's harder to win two consecutive championships. He does but he's trying to look at it like when you win a race and go to the next one. You carry a boost of energy. He hopes it's the same, that he can carry that energy into this year. But it's like starting everything from scratch and he feels like he has a steeper hill to climb, so he'll need to bring more tools to climb it.

How are the contract negotiations going? It's going okay, it's in the final stages, he says it hasn't been nearly as difficult as people make it out to be. For some reason he tells Brundle even he (Brundle) could be out of a job soon.

I don't get the joke but they laugh.

He says he's enjoyed it even though it wasn't the easiest and at the end of the day what he does best is get in the car and drive, so it's awkward starting to talk business and numbers. But hopefully he's done himself proud. He's negotiating it himself. Brundle is impressed. Why did he keep 44 instead of taking n°1? He says the rule was they could choose any number and it would be their number for their career. 44 has been his race number since he started, it's his underlying true number. "Number one... you've seen Vettel have it for so many years..." and cue the most cringe thing I've ever heard him say where he compares it to a marriage.

Slightly prompted by Brundle, he adds that number 1, she's been around too much when number 44 she's only been with him and he likes that better. Yikes. Let's move on.

Back to the broadcast, the journalists compare him to Tiger Woods. Hill says he's been very candid raising that issue and calls him courageous because he hasn't allowed any "perception of prejudice, whether it's there or not" (rolling my eyes) to get in his way. He's done what he wanted, and the colour shouldn't be an issue although it has been, and he's knocked down these barriers and he's a hero for many people because of it. The most important thing being that he's a "bloody good racing driver". Simon asks what Nico's game plan should be. "If you don't think that you can beat him on talent, do you try and destabilise him?" (Jeez.) Hill says he hopes he doesn't because he doesn't think it's gonna work, and he thinks it'll backfire. He says it's a bit like with Schumacher's teammates, they have to face up to the fact that they're up against the best. Anthony points out that the difference with Michael, is that they let them race.

I'm skipping the grid walk because who cares anyway.

It's time to race ! (So now this is fully what I wrote before seeing the pre-race btw. The broadcast I could find at the time was not skysports and I'm not gonna rewatch just to see the skysports' one obvi so yeah.)

Huh what? So apparently neither Kvyat nor Magnussen are able to start the race. Also this is possibly an Australian broadcast. We see two cranes evacuating two cars from the track indeed. Did they manage to crash on their way to the grid somehow? We see a replay of Kvyat just going wide into the gravel and then being unable to drive the car back to the pits as it stops on the track. Then we see Magnussen making sparks and then he had an engine blow up, white smoke. (We actually saw this at the end of the pre-race build-up but of course I hadn't seen it when I wrote this.)

Lewis is on pole, sharing the front row with Nico, no surprise. Behind them, it's Massa for Williams, Seb and Raikkonen for Ferrari, then Daniel for RedBull, Carlos Sainz for Toro Rosso, Grosjean and Maldonado for Lotus, Felipe Nasr for Sauber, Max Verstappen for Toro Rosso is in P11, alongside him was supposed to be Kvyat but as we now know he won't be there, the Force Indias of Hulkenberg and Perez come next, then Ericsson for Sauber, Jenson for McLaren down in P16(!). The last car was supposed to be Magnussen in P17 but well. So it'll be 15 cars at the start. Remember when we had 24? But we're still missing a car right? Why is it an uneven number? I read later on Wikipedia that Valtteri injured his back during quali and had to spend the night at the hospital. He wasn't cleared to race by the FIA. 

Ugh the cars look weird. The noses are weirdly curvy. I'll get used to it. 

Formation lap 

They're racing! 

Ooof. It's a good start for Lewis but there's loads of tiny contacts at the back and ultimately a Lotus spins. Yellow flags. It's Maldonado. Several teams are ready for their drivers to pit? Safety car. Huh? Grosjean retires as well. 

Ugh idk if it's F1 or because it's not the usual broadcast but we have nothing. No standings, no timings, just the lap count. Ah here we go, finally, 4 laps in and they give us the graphics. Lewis is already 1.7 seconds ahead. Perez is told he overtook under the safety car and has to give his position back to Ericsson who's now two cars behind. Nothing much is happening for now. Perez went wide in the gravel but he's last anyway so whatever. 

Oh we get ad breaks in this broadcast. Great. (No.)

Anyway it's now lap 10. Lewis is 1.5 in the lead followed of course by Nico. Then it's Massa, Seb, Nasr, Daniel, Raikkonen, Sainz, VES? Who's VES? Oh, is it Max? Did they go with VES to not confuse him with Vergne even though he's not there anymore? Anyway. P10 is Hulkenberg.  We're literally watching people race for the penultimate position that's how little is happening. But then again the penultimate position is P12 right now so… It does somewhat matter. Oh there's also a three way battle for P5 between Nasr, Daniel and Raikkonen. Perez and Jenson who were racing for P12, then, made contact. No DNF but yellow flags. 

That's another ad break. There's pit stops happening. Raikkonen's wasn't good. 

It's lap 20. Lewis is 2.3 seconds ahead of Nico, then it's still Massa, Seb, Nasr, Daniel, and then Sainz, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, and Ericsson. Pit stops. It's a very boring race really. Sainz has a catastrophic stop. Lewis comes in. It's 3.3. Nico pits. 2.9. He's out in P2, and the gap is

Oh for fuck's sake another ad break. 

The gap is 3.4.

It's lap 30. P3 goes to Seb now, then it's Massa, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Nasr, Daniel, Hulkenberg and Ericsson. And a few laps later, Max's engine starts smoking and he stops on the grass. We see Jos taking off his headset and kind of throwing it aside before heading inside. Are you not gonna wait for your son? What a fucking asshole. Bono warns Lewis that there might be oil on the track. Another ad break. 

20 laps to go. That's gonna be a short race report at this rate. Oh. And that's a Ferrari slowing down now. It's Raikkonen. He's out. So we're one DNF away from everybody still on track being awarded points at the end of the race. We see a replay of his last pit stop, something didn't go well again with his rear left. That's why he stopped. Another fucking ad break. How do you even deal with that many ad breaks? In my country there's two (2) for the whole race. We see a replay of Ericsson going wide. 

10 laps to go. Lewis is still in the lead, and Nico is 1.8 behind. There's another ad break. Now Nico is 2.6 behind and there's 8 laps to go. Seb is P3, Massa P4, Nasr P5, Daniel P6, Hulkenberg P7, Sainz P8, Ericsson P9, Perez P10, and Jenson is last in P11. This is honestly one of the most boring races I've ever watched and we don't even have pre and post race content to make it better. Meh. 

Fun statistic : every time a team got a 1-2 in Melbourne they went on to win the WCC while the race winner went on to win the WDC. (😏)

5 laps to go. Absolutely nothing has happened so far. Nico is 1.6 behind again. 

And it's the end of an incredibly dull race. 

Lewis wins, Nico P2, Seb P3. That's Lewis' 34th win. 

"Nice work, Lewis! Beautifully managed, excellent job, real solid race there. Great stuff," says Bono. 

After his weigh-in, Seb shakes his hands and tells him "well done". Lewis and Nico don't really seem to interact. 

These two just can't not be touching each other. 

Oh and here you go, a little pat for Nico as well. 

Uh? Lewis is getting booed? Or was it the guy who was handing him his trophy? Because once he holds it above his head it's all cheering. 

Oh Lewis broke up with Nicole AGAIN. I hope it's the last time cause I can't with this anymore. For some reason the podium girls are wearing fedoras and it's Arnold Schwarzenegger interviewing them. He shakes Lewis' hands for several seconds (6) and congratulates him. Lewis is smiling wide. He says "Arnold Schwarzenegger, man!" 

After rambling for a while he asks him what it feels like having won the WDC and coming back to win the first race of the season. We get a classic Lewis chuckle. He says it's obviously a real pleasure and praises the crowd, kinda gets booed again? He says it's a great feeling to be able to continue on from last year "but also to be up here with you, man!" oh. Lewis. He says "I thought you were taller!" babe you're what, 1.74? Shhush. Arnold says he's not wearing his high heels. Lewis chuckles. They both laugh. Arnold asks how much training he has to do to be in shape for the races. Lewis says they all train a lot and sometimes people don't realise that they really are athletes. He says it's very physical driving these cars. He says he's very honoured being up there with these great drivers and also with his team doing an amazing job. 

Nico is asked about being second and can he beat Lewis this year. He says it's a good feeling because it's a great start for the team and they have an amazing car again. He says Lewis has done a fantastic job, "he drove like a world champion" so he couldn't beat him but he sure was trying, to the maximum, and will do all year. "I'll give him a good run for his money," he smiles, "and hopefully beat him this year." He thanks the organisers. He gets cheered on. 

While Arnold moves to Seb, Lewis and Nico get closer and exchange a few words. I'm watching them like milk on the stove as we say in French. 

Arnold gets back to Lewis. "Well I know what you're going to say now, when it comes to the next race…" and together they say "I'll be back!" Lewis starts laughing. Arnold says "okay so let's say it together!" and they go again, and Lewis chuckles. 

I read on Wikipedia actually the funniest thing. After the race, Daniel apologised to the fans for what he called a boring race. I mean I agree on that part. In the pre race testing it was obvious that Redbull was struggling with their Renault PUs and it probably wouldn't be a good season for them. After the race, they complained about Mercedes dominance and called for the FIA to "step in and apply rule changes to level the field". So they're the ones who pushed that dominance narrative huh? What a surprise (no). I mean 2014 was suspenseful and now you're only 1 race into 2015 already crying over them winning the first fucking race? Why should they be brought down instead of you stepping up? It's not on them if you suck tbh. Sorry I'm getting genuinely pissed off actually.

Oh lol. I'm not the only one. Wikipedia says Toto reacted "furiously" by telling them to "get your fucking head down and work to sort it out". I mean that's exactly what I was saying lol. Go Toto.

Nico said in the post race interview he hopes their rivals would get closer and that they would get a good fight. Seb was amused.

"Be honest : do you really hope so? Seriously? You finished 30 seconds ahead of us and you hope it's going to be closer?"

"So you hope you slow down, is that what you're saying?"

And then Lewis chimes in : "He hopes you speed up."

Nico : "I hope you can give us a challenge, because it's important for the sport and for the fans, and I do think about the show, you know? Half of me, or part of me, thinks about the show, because I wanna put on– I wanna give people a great time at home watching on TV or at the track." Seb is grinning. "So if you do come a bit closer, that will be awesome."

Seb : "Fine, I think first suggestion if you don't mind, could be that your garage becomes public for Malaysia, and everyone can have a look, no?" Lewis chuckles, the journalists laugh. Nico doesn't get it, he's deadpan. "Is that what you're suggesting?" Seb adds. Then seeing Nico doesn't react, he says : "No, I'm joking."

Nico : "You can come if you want, we can invite you." – "Ok," Seb answers. "Thank you for the invite, I'll come." – "Friday, Malaysia, ok?" Nico suggests. – "Engineer's room," Seb grins. "Debrief. I'll be there."

Later on in the press conference, Seb says it's a shame Raikkonen didn't finish and Nico says something about it that I don't fully hear.

Seb says "Yes. I have–" he kind of scoffs and laughs.

"Maybe… (he smiles wide) I don't know how much you like each other but Kimi and myself we get along so I think it is a shame!" Lewis is in the middle smiling silently. They kind of go back and forth for a few seconds, during which Lewis at some point looks at Seb, points to Nico with his thumb and says "Not all of us think this way." and Nico makes fun of Seb being destabilised and looking for his words. Then Seb ends up saying he thinks right now the priority is to catch them so yes he thinks it's a shame he didn't finish. Nico says he's ready for it now. Earlier Seb caught him off-guard but now he's ready.

Alright let's watch the actual post-race thing now that it's available.

Toto says Nico was fuel limited and so he didn't really have the weapons to hunt Lewis down. He expects some close racing between them in the next races. At the end of his interview Simon jokes : if Valtteri isn't back in Malaysia, is his wife going to be in the car alongside Massa? Toto stays very serious. He says first of all he hopes Valtteri gets better soon, he's such a nice guy and he deserves to be in the car. "But rest assured, you know her, she will be pushing very hard to get in the car."

Later, Simon makes his way through a thick crowd to go interview Lewis in the garage. As they start, some weird old woman is very close to Lewis and makes him very uncomfortable while she forcefully gets her photo taken next to him, but not really with him.

The weekend couldn't have gotten better? He says no, although Friday was a bit difficult but they did great teamwork, his guys worked so hard to set up the car. He also says even though they were so far ahead of everyone it wasn't an easy race, it was good racing between him and Nico. Simon asks how confident qualifying .6 ahead of his teammate made him. He says he thinks it was good, it's not like he needed any more confidence but it reassures that his method of getting his head in the right space works. It's not been the easiest start of a year so to come here with a fresh mindset and execute it the way he did, he's happy with that. Simon asks him about that, fresh start : he's turned 30, it's a new chapter in his life, is he 100% focused, is it all about defending his title this year? "It's not about defending the title, it's about winning the title." The car is great, it's just about optimising the opportunities. He's happy because the previous year he didn't finish the first race and now he can work on what he can do better for the next one. So he's working as hard as ever behind the scenes? Yes, same work ethic with his engineers. As a matter of fact they have to work a little bit harder because he has a new engineer who's fantastic but does things differently. With all the data, when someone does it differently it completely throws you off. Finally, will he go out with the terminator to celebrate today? He says if he's around he will absolutely go out with him for a drink. He's honestly a big fan and he was really shocked when he came on. He says he's not starstrucked by a lot of people (LMAO BOY ARE YOU KIDDING ME) but he definitely was with him. He says he doesn't even know what he said and hopes he didn't insult him. He honestly thought he was taller. (I can't, he has no self control, it's so funny.) "Didn't say he was short but he has–" He looks wide-eyed at someone off screen.

"Johnny! He was our height, man!" Simon says he's still a big unit, and the camera view changes to Johnny making himself big with a tough expression.

I can hear Lewis chuckle in the background.

And that was the first 2015 GP :)

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2015 #2015 australian gp

[madaboutmunson]

Creep - Part 11 of 12 - Disorder

TW: Violence, death

Party....ripples....hooded figures...Connie's ring..the coldness of the floor...skull rock...lights.... sirens..... blanket

Moonlit water, an actual body of water, this time gently moving in the darkness, but oddly it feels misplaced in the upper part of your horizon, making craggy rocks and the speckled blanket of the night sky the bottom half. Your brain deduces you must be upside down.

The landscape bobs rhythmically, and you are jostled side to side. In the uncomfortableness of it all, you try to reorientate by lifting your head, but you have no power to do so. Some of the rocks are getting further away, so somehow, you are moving.

You feel pressure under your legs and back...you strain your eyes to look around. You catch a glimpse of red fabric. Could it be? The exact figures from the cold place?

Before you can glean anything else from these figures, the moon is nowhere to be seen, and footsteps begin to crunch and echo.

Lamp lights and darkness interchange as you are carried along until an abrupt stop, and you are dropped onto the cold hard ground. You expect a searing pain where your head should make contact with the ground, but there is nothing.

The nothingness spreads into darkness and darkness into void.

"Wakey, wakey", you hear someone say sinisterly before your eyes are forced open to face the voice, but as you hurriedly look around, there is no one there. You are alone in your bedroom. The safety of your blush striped wallpaper and softness of your bed cover embrace you to security.

You look at the clock and smile. Well, at least you weren't going to be late today.

The next part of the morning goes by in a flash. All you can possibly think of is seeing Eddie again. Everything between the present and being in his arms again is just a nuisance, and the quicker the tasks can be ticked off, the better.

You've got here so early, maybe too early for someone like Eddie. The parking lot is virtually empty. Unfortunately, lack of distraction means you are alone with your own thoughts.

You sit there for a few seconds and wonder what the correct thing to do in these situations is. Should you even be waiting here like this? Is this the definition of too much, too needy? Should you be playing it cooler after yesterday? Why did everything feel more complicated now?

You suddenly feel very uneasy, not now, not already. You roll your eyes at yourself. Surely it's just infatuation, right? It's not like it hadn't gone this far before physically with anyone else, but this was different. He seemed sweet and respectful and gave a damn about what you had to say. Your Dad's voice echoes in your head. He was right. It had only been a matter of days. Anything more than a deep crush was impossible. At least that's what you'd been lead to believe about things like love. This could just be that phase like with the jock, right? A bombardment of niceties before the inevitable cliff drop into cooling off.

You feel annoyed with your own brain. Why could it never let you just enjoy something, be stupid, or get things wrong? Everyone else seemed to be allowed.

You decide you need to busy yourself and get out of your car, and head into your locker.

You take a long look at your music heroes at the back of your locker and wonder if any of them felt so confused as this?

Was there even anything you needed to be confused about, or was this just an over-complication in your mind?

A haphazardly folded piece of paper is just tucked into the side of the locker. You grab at it quickly and unfold it. The disappointment is heavy and instant. It is just a time. You knew this was from the Jock. You feel disgusted, screw it up, and toss it into the nearest trash can.

Was it just this place that made you feel unsure about everything? If the world knew something made you happy, they try to take it from you. You wanted to keep all of this so precious and private they'd never be able to get to it, but to treat Eddie like a secret? You could never do that to him. Urgh, this was all so frustrating, yet nothing seemed more straightforward this past weekend.

You lean against the locker's cool steel and try composing yourself. Unfortunately, it's interrupted by a gentle tapping on the other side of the door. You don your social mask, pushing the door closed to reveal your peace assailant.

It was the ranger from the Hellfire club. You look a little confused, but inside, you feel relieved, "Hi there", you give them a small smile, "You ok?"

They look at you very seriously, "I think we need to talk about something. I didn't want to bring it up before, but I think I have to." They are talking pretty quickly. You are wondering how long they had been planning this discussion with you.

An icicle of panic slips down your spine, and your eyes widen, had something happened? Was Eddie ok?

He looks awkward at first but then steels himself and blurts out quickly, "We just don't think you should come to Hellfire anymore."

The We stings a little, but it still wasn't clear where this was coming from, "But, you all-", you start.

He cuts you off, "Look, Eddie does a lot for us. He's taken us under his wing when we could have been Jock fodder." He looks you in the eyes, "and I know you've felt that first hand."

"Well, I-" you try again.

"Eddie is set to graduate this year, the same as you, except he doesn't have the grades you do, ok? But he could just make it if he's not distracted" he puts heavy emphasis on that last part.

You look at the ground and nod, "I hear you. I don't want to ruin anything for Eddie" Oh, selfish you, so wrapped up in your own feelings and problems, you hadn't even thought about what all this might be doing to Eddie and what his own struggles were.

"And if it even crosses your mind that him flunking isn't enough, know that we are somehow all much higher up on some of the jocks' radar than before. I have no idea what you did to upset them, but they are pissed, one of them in particular." He doesn't have to say anymore. You know exactly who he's talking about.

"It's not like we want you to break up with Eddie. It's more like, give him some space, especially here, before you make the target on his back any bigger. Eddie is a very passionate guy. He gets so absorbed in things sometimes he can't see anything else. He looks tough, and for the most part, he is, but he's also quite fragile," He says earnestly. These guys really cared about Eddie, and you were potentially causing Eddie problems. You could see it in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realise. I'll speak to Eddie and give him some space."

"No! Do not talk to him about this. He will just try to talk you around. Trust me on this. Just don't turn up or say you've made other plans, ok?"

You nod sadly at him in agreement. Then, as he walks away, you feel the first crack in your heart spread from the surface to the centre, this is how it starts, and this was going to hurt.

Classes were challenging today. Your brain was in a whirlwind of scripts for potential conversations you needed to have with Eddie as you pretended to focus on the teacher.

The lunch bell comes, and you start towards the cafeteria on autopilot. You quickly turn on your heel, grab a few things from the vending machine and head to your car. There was no hiding in the cafeteria, and it could show Hellfire you were really genuine about wanting the best for Eddie.

As you look down to reach for your keys, you notice someone waiting on the other side of your car in your peripheral vision. You scan your eyes up, the white and green jacket, it's him. You intensely glare at him, the repulsion in your face unable to be disguised and the anger in you rises.

"You didn't get my note for meeting up earlier then?" he says in that cocky, self-assured way that says, you couldn't have possibly found it because otherwise, you would have been there, waiting obediently.

"Oh, I found it, alright", your voice dripping with venom, "Once I had found it, I thought immediately of you. Trash!" The sound of your own voice plunges you into instant regret, you had wanted to remain cordial and calm, but there were no resources to do so.

He does a quick scan around, but no one is in earshot. He eyes you slyly, leaning on the roof of your car, "Got a bit of fire in you today, have you? Where has this been hiding? Much more exciting than your usual sorry excuse for a corpse, I get to have my way with."

Your flame-filled eyes bore into his as you feel yourself grip your keys tightly in your fist, the metal pushing into your flesh painfully. You wanted to end this bastard.

"That might have been true once, but not anymore. It's over. It's been over since..."

"Since when? It's over when I say it is."

"It's over," you say through gritted teeth, "now leave me alone. Won't your cronies be wondering where you are? You don't want them to find you out here in conversation with me, do you? Whatever will Cap say?" You strike a nerve. They all did what they were told without arguments, but pointing it out was a little too much for them.

" You know what," he says aggressively, " if it wasn't for me, you probably be dead in that arcade parking lot right now."

You instinctively let out a laugh at the audacity of this guy. "Oh, you saved me, did you? Is that what that was?" You snarl, "not before getting in a few jabs yourself though first though right and standing at the side doing nothing. All you did was see a weak, vulnerable person at their lowest and took advantage of them, and what is worse, I know that, but I let you because dealing with your disgusting hands on my body was a step up from being beaten to a pulp."

He looks furious, but you don't back down an inch, "Well, now it's over. You don't have that luxury anymore, do you." he added sinisterly.

To your left, you hear the rapid crunching of gravel, "Hey, everything ok?" Fuck, it's Eddie. Your furious stance is squashed at the sound of his voice.

You turn to him. He is looking between you and the jock, a little nervous, a little angry. So you say softly, "It's fine, they were just leaving" as soon as the words leave your mouth, you realise your mistake. Your change in demeanour has given the game away.

"Oh my god! Are you serious right now? The Freak and The Creep?!" He starts laughing. "Is this why it's over?" He starts circling your car towards Eddie, "Because of this Freak?" He pokes Eddie in the shoulder.

"No, you know why. It's got nothing to do with Eddie. So why don't you just back off, ok?" You say with a simmering rage.

He grabs Eddie by the collar and is about to say something when you launch yourself at him, keys first. With the element of surprise, you manage to get the jump on him, and he falls to the floor under your weight.

The next part happens in slow motion. Eddie's calls fade into the background and are only replaced by the pounding of your heart. The first hit was to protect Eddie, but all the blows that follow were for every tear he'd made you shed, every time you'd let him violate you, every bit of violence you'd endured at their hands. You cannot stop hitting him. You see her face in your mind, poor Connie. If only you had, had the sense to not trust this guy. She's still be here. Keys still firmly in your grip, you hit him with all your might. You feel wetness on your hand. It's warm. Looking down, you can't tell if the blood is from your own knuckles or his face, but it's enough for you to take pause.

You feel a pull from behind as you sob into your blood-covered hands and scream out for Connie. An arm around your waist is pulling you backwards, a hand in yours desperately trying to get purchase on your keys, the school doors bursting open, a sea of white and green headed your way as you are forced into your car and driven away.

As soon as the scene is out of sight, the world rushes back into your present. Eddie's eyes are trained on the road, as he's probably going way faster than he should.

"Pull over," you say weakly.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? We can't stop now. I know someplace safe ok?"

"You can stop Eddie. This isn't your fault. I caused this whole mess, and now I've dragged you into it. I'm sorry, you should be concentrating on other things before..."

"Before fucking what?" He hits the steering wheel a few times. He is frustrated right now. Still, he's desperately trying not to raise his voice in anger.

"Before what? Before you get yourself killed? Before they lock you away? Before you disappear on me again? Before you break my heart into pieces? It's too late, it's too fucking late, man" you hear his voice break a little, "Don't disappear on me like that, alright? Just don't."

"I didn't disappear..." You protest, even though you know you absolutely tried to, so he would have some space.

"Yes, you fucking did! I swung past your house today. You were already gone. I get to that fucking hellscape of a school. Your car is there, but you are nowhere to be seen. You aren't at the doors, you aren't at your locker, you aren't in the halls, you aren't at lunch, and then you lied to someone saying you didn't want to come back to Hellfire?!" he scoffs.

It's only then your brain tunes into what he's actually saying. He wanted you to be waiting for him, but you weren't, and you weren't in any of the places he thought you might be. So, in his mind, you'd abandoned him. You felt so cruel right now, but your intentions had been good. You had been trying to do the right thing.

"I'm sorry, Eddie, I didn't mean..."

"Then what did you mean, ok? I was confused as fuck, man....and then I came out here, and you were with that guy...Jesus," he says, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve, "Oh, and then there was the matter of you, you know, knocking seven shades of shit out of a jock because he just poked me?! I called for you, but you were gone, man. So gone....so go on...go ahead....explain all of that....please...I'm all fucking ears" he punctuates the last bit with several hard taps on the steering wheel. You'd really pushed him to his limits.

"I'm sorry, Eddie," you say sincerely.

"No! No... ok? Not Sorry, Eddie. Tell me what is going on. All of it. I don't care how crazy it is. You tell me, right now." his hands tighten around the steering wheel like he's bracing himself for something, but he can't or won't even look at you.

You feel like the scum of the earth, maybe the town had been right about you all along, and you'd managed to trap poor Eddie in your evil web to bring him down with you.

You could at least give him the truth he asked for. You swallow your pride and proceed to spill your guts.

"I was up early because of a nightmare. Once I was awake, all I could think about this morning was you. Everything else was just in the way." You look over at him, but his stern expression is fixed on the road.

"I thought I'd get here early, so I could wait for you, and it scared me, alright. It scared me because it's been just days, and I feel like this. I felt like....well... I've never felt like this, not ever, and I'm so terrified of saying or doing the wrong thing. I thought it might be that I'd...." you shake your head and shut your eyes in frustration. You were just not brave enough to say it.

"Then I thought it best to not wait, in case that was wrong or it was too much. At my locker, I found a note to meet that guy, which I threw in the trash immediately" you emphasise that so hard, it might leave an imprint in space and time itself, " because I'm not interested in him. Then it occurred to me that the only way what we had could survive that place was for it to be a secret. They wouldn't let me have that happiness. But I'm not that cruel, to make you feel like a secret Eddie, to snatch my hand away from yours before someone notices, push you away when someone walks past, and make weird meetings in the woods. So I thought if I just gave you some breathing room, you wouldn't get targeted and could concentrate on school. I would have called you tonight. That was honestly my intention."

Your words hang in the air. You look over at Eddie. His posture has relaxed a little, his expression still unmoving. So you continue.

"So I told them I'd be skipping hellfire, I went to class, I tried to have lunch in my car, but that oaf was waiting there because I hadn't met him at the earlier time on the note." You look down at your stained hands, "And when he laid his finger on you...I lost it completely...it was all slow motion, and my heart was racing. I wanted him to hurt like I hurt, but I couldn't hit him enough... I couldn't hear you, Eddie. Now I've forced you on the run with me. That's everything."

The car is silent for a few minutes. You look nervously over to him once more, finding it unbearable. His stern expression had softened, as had his grip on the steering wheel, his fingers gently drummed against it.

You want to ask him to talk to you, but after your performance today, you do not get to make those demands on someone processing your absolute bullshit behaviour.

You try not to stare at him to force him into a reply, but it's difficult to not want your eyes to be there when or if he ever looks at you again. So you stare out at autumn. The mush of leaves on the ground, compared to the fiery display in the trees, mirrored your own feelings right now. You had really fucked up.

Eddie takes an audible breath, forcing your eyes to him. He looks thoughtfully out onto the road in front of him and utters gently, "You don't get to tell me what is best for me, ok. No one except for me gets to decide that."

Another lingering pause, just the noise of the engine and the outdoors rushing past you, "If you are unsure of anything to do with me or this", he moves his hand to indicate the both of you, "you ask me. Understood?"

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and clears his throat, "When anyone gets together with anyone, no one is given the time limit. It could end in hours or decades. They just don't know. We don't know, ok? So trying to predict when something will end or thinking about it ending is a waste of time and energy. You also don't get given a timeline. Sometimes things happen quickly, something's slowly, something's never." He shifts again, his leather jacket creaking against the seats.

"You were with that guy a year, you weren't in love with him, you didn't even really like him, but it crushed you all the same because you lost a safety net, part of your routine if you will. You liked him so very little you rearranged his face" you hear a slight smile.

He does a small cough again, adjusts his posture, and says quietly, "But you can...if you want to...you can love me... I'd.....I'd like that" his lips are tensed together again.

"It doesn't scare you?" You ask carefully.

"Of course it fucking does", he laughs nervously, but the words spill out anyway "handing over your heart to someone you've known a few days or any length of time is scary as fuuuuck, but even more horrifying is when they give you theirs to take care of too. That, my love, is the real terror. Now you're responsible, now you're invested, now it's serious, but if it's something you truly want, well, you strap on that helmet and shield, pick up your sword, flip the universe the bird, and dive in head first. Love is wonderful, but it's also a formidable bastard!" he chuckles.

You digest what he's just said and sit back comfortably, gazing at him for the rest of the journey, you really wanted to reach for his hand, but yours were a bit gross at the moment.

As the car comes to a stop, you lean over and plant a small kiss on his cheek and say, "I love you, Eddie Munson" he looks a little shy, genuinely, maybe for the first time that you've seen, he blushes, and smiles a little to himself.

He takes a deep breath, looks at you from the corner of his eyes, and says adorably, "And I love you".

You try not to make a huge deal out of anything, but your heart just rocketed straight through the atmosphere.

Eddie quietly approaches the door of the house, carefully checking around, and after fiddling with the handle for a bit, he beckons you over.

Inside the house, which, from the smell of it, you were pretty sure was just made of blocks of weed, you manage to get cleaned up and sit at the table opposite, a very deep in thought Eddie.

He grabs at both your hands with his, "This place is a good hiding spot for a while, but let's use it sparingly, so it stays that way." Then, he looks at you seriously, "They are gonna look for us, so we need to be one step ahead, and that's why...now stay with me on this one... I think we should call Hopper."

You try to pull your hands away, but he grips you tightly, "I get it, I do" he moves around to your side of the table so you can't avoid his eye line, "Please, think about this... I haven't actioned anything yet. We're talking about it first, ok? So if we call Hopper, he'll call your folks, and we can all meet up at the station as a safe space. The worst you are gonna get is a slap on the wrist. The jocks are not gonna want to make a big thing about this publicly. One of us, putting one of those orcs on their ass? Coach will be pissed." He nudges you trying to make you laugh, you smile a little, but the worry of the damage you've potentially done and talking to Hopper is too heavy, "What do you say?" You look into his hopeful eyes and nod reluctantly. Eddie kisses your cheek and runs off towards the phone. You knew he was right. It was just the thought of having to actually face it all was trying your stomach in knots.

Sitting in the interview room at the station was terrifying. It made you grateful that all the conversations you had about Connie previously had happened at your home.

Your right leg bounces up and down with nerves. Eddie puts his hand on your thigh and says gently, "I'm right here" you search for his hand under the table and grip it tightly, interlocking your fingers.

The door opens, and Hopper comes in with a file. Slamming the door behind him, you just about make out your mom and Dad's protests. He slams the file along with his hands against the table in front of you, "Speak!"

Eddie squeezes your hand. You take a deep breath and look up at Hopper. "The guy was hovering around my car, I felt afraid, and I attacked him. Eddie saw me, pulled me into my car, drove me away, and called here," it was imperative you made sure Eddie wasn't implicated in anything but trying to remove you from a bad situation.

You see Hopper inhale sharply and poke his tongue around the inside of his cheek, "You're lucky that matches up with the majority of eyewitnesses at the school, for the most part, and if I'm being really honest...you are really fucking lucky he's a bench warmer. They aren't pressing charges. It makes them look weak or some high school bullshit, like that. That doesn't mean you're off the hook with them. Just legally speaking, you're clear," he didn't care for you. Some part of you felt that whenever you had taken a hit from anyone in the past, he'd thought you'd deserved it.

Hopper sits down and glares at you coldly, "You missed out a bit though. You called for her again" he flicks through the file, "screamed it apparently. Have anything to say about that."

You and Hopper lock eyes with one another intensely. Eddie puts his other hand on top of the hand he's already holding and says calmly, "Just try to relax. Tell him everything."

You haven't taken your eyes from Hopper's, "I shouted her name because, as you know, he was the one that invited me to the party I shouldn't have gone to. So when I'd hit him for scaring me, and hit him for violating me, and hit him for harassing me daily, I hit him a few times for Connie, too."

You clench your fists under the table and accidentally squeeze Eddie's hand a little harder than you meant to and stop immediately.

"Hey, hey, it's over now, ok", Eddie soothes.

Hopper looks over at Eddie and back at you, "You know Munson, you're getting involved with some deep shit here. I'd be careful if I were you."

"Are you threatening him?" You feel yourself rise out of your seat a little. Eddie grabs on to you before you can.

"Ooof, that bad, huh?" Hopper smirks at you.

You couldn't decide if being infuriated was better than being a stuttering, terrified mess, but it's not like you could do anything about either.

"Just tell him about the things we found out," Eddie says to you, ignoring Hopper.

You compose yourself and try to get back to a level of civility, detailing all the new information you have discovered. Hopper didn't seem convinced until you told him about what happened at Skull Rock, "So you conveniently remember that now, huh?"

Eddie interjects, "Look, I know it sounds weird, alright, but I was there for some of it. It was pretty fucking scary."

"Oh, did they put on one of their Oscar-winning performances for you?" He mocks Eddie, "They've been giving those out for a few years now."

"Hopper, please, I know you don't like or trust me, but please understand I want to find Connie too." You insist as Eddie puts his arm around you

"Oh yeah, so why is this new information just magically appearing after you assault someone."

"Because I wanted to try and get more details so you'd believe me, but then this happened, and I fucked everything up!!" You yell, bursting into tears.

"Come on, man", Eddie pleads with Hopper, who is seemingly still dissatisfied, "We didn't offer the extra information before we found out there were no charges. We can try it again, and you can see for yourself."

"Yes, genius, I sort of worked that one out for myself", he barks sarcastically at Eddie, "let's start with something tangible, shall we? This watch you saw, can you describe it for me?" He begrudgingly starts to take some notes of your description.

"Sparkly? Do you mean like the shine from the metal?" He says, losing his patience.

"No, it was a small single sparkle."

"A small single...." He starts in an annoyed tone, but then you see a glimmer of something. He eyes you suspiciously for a few moments and then abruptly gets up from his desk and runs out of the room.

As the door swings open for Hopper's exit, your mom and Dad quickly rush in, checking you over, asking if you are ok, and hugging you tightly.

"You should see the other guy", Eddie tries to joke.

Mom doesn't laugh, so by proxy Dad doesn't either, but when she's not looking mouths "Really?" at Eddie.

Eddie mouths, "Oh yeah", back to him and nods heavily.

You catch your mom and Dad up with the fight you had at school, excluding any details regarding intimacy with the Jock. You Mom looks a little concerned, "I'm sure Eddie would agree he doesn't need you to start a fight because someone poked him."

"Yeah, it was pretty dumb of me in hindsight, but I was just tired of him wearing me down every day. It wasn't just about Eddie. I just got to my breaking point."

"But honey, you can't-" your Dad starts only to be interrupted by Hopper rushing back in with some paper copies of photographs of watches and spreading them over the table.

"Is it any of these?" He asks, a little out of breath.

You check over each picture carefully, and one keeps drawing your eyes back to it. Your vision seems to liquefy, and it's like your brain is blending the black and white photocopy reality with your technicolour memories.

Something grabs your back, and you plummet to the cold hard ground. The watch glints under a sleeve and the laughter and footsteps fade away. You try to lift your hand, and for the first time, It moves, it's heavy, but it's moving. The pale thing above you comes into focus. You try not to scream, an arm, the hand of which is wearing Connie's ring.

You pull yourself up, feel dizzy from the head rush, and try to focus. Your eyes try to adjust in the darkness, and the moonlight finally helps you focus on the figure on the table.....Connie. You try to pick her up but can't quite grip her, and she is too heavy right now.

It's only when you try to lift her again you realise she is.... wrong...no expression, pale, she's cold, so very cold. You put your fingers against her neck and then her wrist, but nothing. You see a flicker of light, grab the blanket from her body and run into the night.

A cold sweat breaks down your spine, and you feel yourself shaking violently side to side, with pressure on your upper arms, "Hey!!! Hey!! That's enough." It's Eddie. You can hear your mom crying. You push yourself towards the sounds and find yourself sitting on the floor, bolt upright gasping for air. The chair you had been on was thrown to the floor behind you. You immediately scramble to your feet, pushing past them all and grab at the picture that started it, "This....one....".

"Are you sure?" Hopper asks seriously

You force the crumpled piece of paper into his hand, "I've never been more sure of something." He moves away, but you grab his arm, "We're gonna get them, right?" Your voice and lip trembling, "right, Hopper?" You grab hold of his other arm, "right?!"

In that moment, Hopper sees something he recognises in your eyes, a pain, an insurmountable pain. He's still looking at you but speaks to the others. "Connie isn't coming back. She's gone"

#eddie munson #eddie stranger things #eddiemunson #stranger things #eddie the freak munson #eddie x reader #stranger things fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #mystery #romance #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #stranger things imagine

[i-know-geography]

Yandere infinity train protagonists general headcanons

(I won't do Hazel ones for obvious reasons)

Tw:Yandere,stalking mention,killing mention,obssesive stuff in general,and some spoilers.

Tulip

She's a stalker and kinda obsessive yandere.

When she first met her S/O,she just found them cute,after a time of friendship with them,she noticed that it was more intense that she thought.

She knows how to progam,so she probaly knows how to hack someone and virtually stalk them,and that's what happens.

She don't get why she's curious about you,and why she wants to know everything about you ,she just follow her impulse.

She won't do any harm to you besides stalking,but still kinda bad,she won't stop until she knows every single thing about her S/O.

She can blackmail people that did some harm to you until they leave you alone.

Lake

She's a selfless and protective yandere.

When Lake's S/O joined her in her journey,she was very happy.

She takes your life way too seriously,she's gonna to protect you no matter what it takes.

She can hurt(or even kill) anyone who causes her S/O harm.

She likes you in the way you are,no matter how many defects you have.

She doesn't really care about the train rules; She's gonna get out,and take you with her no matter what!

If her S/O loves somebody else,she's gonna be disapointed,but she knows that this is good for you,since you're happy,she's happy.

She's actually one of the best yanderes,let's agree.

Jesse

He's a very gentle and manipulable yandere.

He got so excited when he met his S/O,immediately wanting to be their friend.

He's very loving and touch starved,he really likes hugs.

He's very manipulable and do everything the other people want without very much effort,so if you ask for anything,he's gonna give it,or do it.

^In some cases,this can be pretty bad...it's better if you never wish someone's death close to this boy. Even though he's so gentle to kill someone,acidents can happen sometimes..

If you have a very specific type or have a crush on someone that is very different from him, he's gonna try to become what you like,no matter what.

He's not gonna let anyone hurt you. He really get defensive when it's about you.

His plan is getting out of the train with you and Lake,so you all can live happy being a best friend trio(or a couple and their best friend trio).

He never really thought that you also have a home and a family to return,but that's okay! He's gonna find a way to always be with you,no matter the place you live.

Just like Lake,he's one of the best yanderes.

Grace

She's a semi-delusional and protective yandere.

Grace believes that her S/O likes her too,so she's very delusional about the truth,but sometimes,she's a little more lucid.

You would have at least one Apex member at their side everytime,she usually trusts Simon to guard you.

If you are part of Apex,Grace would not let you go in any missions,she thinks you're very much fragile and kind to this.

If you got hurt because of someone else,well,whoever did it is dead.

During the book 3 events,she would get a little "better".

She became more lucid,but also more protector.

Now that you're outside the mall car,she's very worried about your safety.

After all those events and Simon's death,she would be just protective with you,and would offer herself to follow you on your journey now that there's no longer Apex.

Simon

(Why is this mf so pretty?)

He's a possesive,protective,delusional and selfish yandere.

Because of his abandonment issues,he's very scared that his S/O might leave him like everybody else,so he'll guarantee that you're going to stay with him.

Everytime he can,he's always by your side,with a excuse that he's just "ensuring you're safe".

He likes a real lot if his S/O is interested in his art,he's happy that you like the books he made.

Simon doesn't mind the consequences,he's going to kill anyone that is in his "way" to get your heart,or that hurts you.

He really believes that everthing he do is for his S/O good,and that you love him so much as he loves you.

During the book 3 events,Simon would get more and more possesive and protector about his S/O.

Now that you aren't safe in the mall car,he's worried that anything can be a threat for you.

After everything gets more tense between Simon and Grace. Simon just get on his limit,after he see Grace's memories and discover that she was hiding about Hazel real form,he just take you back to the mall car,he didn't need Grace,he didn't need anyone if he have you.

Let's say that Grace actually dies and Simon is alive after that fight,well,there's no escape for you now.

So there's no way he's gonna let you go.

This mf is the worst yandere from this list,believe me.

Amelia

(she doesn't have her own book,but she deserves being here anyway)

She's a protective,lucid and selfish yandere

She never thought she could fall in love again after Alrick's death,but when she met her S/O,she noticed she was wrong.

At first she's distant,trying to avoid you because she don't want to lose another person that she became attached again.

After some time,she won't take it anymore and will aprooach you.

She's afraid of losing you,so she's gonna be extremely protector.

She knows how to manipulate her S/O emotions,since you like her company,she'll get distant if you do something she doesn't like/allowed you to.

She knows that her number is getting higher because of that,she knows that this isn't healty,she's completely lucid of her actions,but she doesn't care.

Alrick's death left a hole in her heart,and you fixed this hole,so if she have to trap you in the train forever to stay with you,she will do it without hesitantion.

Ryan

(a.k.a best boy)

He's a possesive and semi-delusional yandere.

After high school ends,you and Ryan started to distance yourselves and live your own lives.

But after you two and Min-gi met each other at the restaurant...the things started go crazy.

Since you three got on the train,Ryan began to act very weird around you.

He's very possesive,not allowing you to talk with the denizen of the train,not even Kez for some period of time.

If he's busy,he trusts Min-gi to take care of you,and he makes sure that is not for much time.

Talking about Min-gi,he would notice this change of behavior in his friend and just ask whats going on,and they just ended up having an intense fight.

He also just worship you a real lot,and likes when you compliment him or when you're both alone.

He LOVES your attetion,he believes that he's the only one who deserves it.

When you three got trapped in Morgan,Ryan finally noticed that he likes you.

And then he just past his time fantasizing your life togheter,before he notices that when you all get out of the train,you're probaly live your own lives again.

That becomes an internal conflit,he knows deep inside that what he's thinking to do is bad and selfish,but he just can't handle a life without the only person that actually cares about him.

So,you got surprised when Ryan just said that he wants to stay in the train with you forever,and principally that this wasn't a joke.

Min-gi

(Golden boy,just so precious)

He's an obssesive,lucid and protective yandere.

He don't actually know why he likes you.

He just became..."too much interested"

Before the train,you used to go in the restaurant where he worked.

Everytime he would talk to you,and soon you became friends

When you two(and Ryan) got on the train,he became a little paranoid about you.

Always afraid that you might get hurt,he didn't let his eye out of you for a single second.

You just start notice that he knows more that you ever told him about you.

"Wait,i haven't told you about this!"

He knows that this is a little bit sick and horrifying,but he just can't help it.

Why you have to be so perfect? Why does he want to know every single thing about you? He just don't get it.

He just knows something:He loves you just a little too much.

(Hiiii! Welcome to my first post! I'm Raphaela and am actually Brazilian,but i have a certain english level,but i'm still learning,so sorry if i write something wrong)

(I won't tell my age,only that i'm a minor,so i won't do any NSFW! I accept requests,i'll do a masterlist soon)

(you can also ask me anything,that's it,byee)

#infinity train #headcanons #yandere headcanons #obsession #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere infinity train

[moldgonee]

Ways To Travel Off The Beaten Path

Traveling is a great way to expand ones horizons. It introduces one to new cultures and ideas, expands ones understanding of the world, and can be extremely fun to boot. However, proper precautions should be taken Taxi Airport To Nerja traveling. Prior planning and research are important, to minimize sticky situations and unexpected snafu's. This article will cover some of the required information you should gather before embarking on your journey.

Travel can be a good way to get away from it all, but sometimes it is necessary to get in touch with the rest of the world. For this purpose, make sure your cell phone works wherever you are going or purchase a prepaid phone in your destination country. You will be glad you did if you lose your credit cards or passport and need to contact your bank - or embassy! - right away.

When taking a road trip to an unfamiliar area, be sure that your car is serviced and you have a full tank of gas. The last thing you need is to break down, unaware of where the nearest gas station is. Keep an empty gas can in the trunk of your car in the event that you run out of gas. You will be able to make your way to the nearest service station and fill up the can, rather than calling someone out to do that for you.

Savvy air travelers know not to let delays get to them personally. In modern air travel delays are virtually inevitable. Every frequent flyer will encounter flights that run late, get overbooked, or even get canceled. Passengers can do nothing about these things. What they can do is remember that the airline personnel taking care of them are doing there best to get them to their destinations.

Make sure to research what the weather is going to be like in your destination. This will allow you to pack more appropriately. If it will be cold, you will need to take lots of layers. If it will be warm, then you know you can pack a lot of light weight clothing and sandals.

One simple tip for hotel safety is to carry a small rubber door stop with you. It can pack easily inside a shoe or even be carried in a jacket pocket if you're short on space. This door stop can be wedged under the door at night, to prevent midnight visitors.

Use vacuum bags to pack more into your carry-on luggage. Trying to fit everything you'll need for your trip into a carry-on-sized bag can be challenging. To maximize the space, try using travel vacuum bags for your clothes. You insert your clothes, zip the bag, and roll it to remove the air. Just be sure to unpack as soon as you arrive at your destination so that your clothes have time to return to their normal shape.

Because security does not allow you to lock your luggage, you run the risk of the zippers coming undone and your belongings leaving a trail across the country and around the baggage claim. To help prevent this, use zip ties, which hold the zipper together, but can easily be cut off (with little cost to you) by security, if necessary.

When going on a cruise, wear your room key around your neck, on a lanyard or similar item. Losing your room key on a cruise ship can cost you greatly, not only in money, but in lost time. Keeping your key with you wherever you go can insure that you, and your belongings, will be safe.

Traveling is one of the greatest experiences one can have in life. The ability to meet new people, explore new places, and learn about new cultures is unprecedented. The tips in this article should serve you well on your exciting adventures.

[justaredheadf1fan]

The Monza curse

After the whole ass weekend like a zombie today I rise to watch the race 24 hours late. Anyway 😂

I did watch the start of the race yesterday, but I was so damn tired last night that I couldn't keep watching it.

So here I am having breakfast while watching this. Lewis still P18 after so many laps, Checo's brake burning, Verstappen just went in there and passed everyone, same as Carlos... Only Charles' and George's start was worthy of positive words.

And now Seb loses the engine... My darling how can he be so unlucky in his last races.... 🥲 there'll be a Safety of some kind, bad stuff. And there it is, the Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc stops and... of course the VSC ending while Charles was on the pit stop? Jesus Christ...

Carlos the king of recoveries along Max? And what about Leclerc's and Lewis' recoveries in several races? Are you fucking kidding me 😂

Meanwhile, we have Nyck fighting with a Williams in the DRS train in his debut race. That's actually very, very cool. What a guy.

Lewis eating up Stroll was a very sexy thing to see, finally seeing him race today since until now he wasn't even shown. I hope during the race they show him far more.

Alonso having trouble with the car, Russell stopping, Daniel dropping to P12... What is going on in this race? It all started so well and what now? 😭

Mick P9 at the moment makes me truly happy, I know he doesn't end up in the points but I need to savor this little moments too. Lewis passing Fernando was a nice thing to see too.

Alonso retired (the car), which I wasn't really expecting. Let's see what that brings. Very nice overtake from Carlos to Checo, honestly. It looked really smooth.

Leclerc stops for the second time... Not bad. Lewis stops as well, also a good stop. They weren't brilliant, but they were good today. Now Pierre passes Norris being quite aggressive, what I've really liked about him, AND THROUGH GOES HAMILTON!!!! WHAT AN OVERTAKE!!!!!

Lance retires too, is 3 DNFs at the moment. Mick chasing Latifi, I hope he gets to pass him fast AND HE DOES!! HE JUST THREW HIS CAR AT HIM AND WENT FOR IT!! My baby boy 🥲 I know it's Latifi, but that overtake was on point!

What's it to these commentators that De Vries is debuting at 27? He's older than most debutants, so? It's not like he's being doing nothing during the last few years. Idiots.

Daniel stops on track, he lost the engine. We got ourselves a SC. Terrified. I know what's coming and I'm so angry. Lobato saying that Lewis is always left out whenever a SC gets deployed at the end of a race. And he's right.

Daniel's car still on track, the Marshals looking at it like "what the fuck are we doing with this shit?" John Elkann is dying inside watching this crap.

So let me get this straight. Last year in AD, the last and most deciding race of the season, the race could not finish under the SC, giving a clear advantage to Verstappen and a secured win. Now almost a year later in Monza, the home race for Ferrari, the race did end with the SC, also favoring Verstappen. Isn't that nice?

Poor Charles, missing his chance (which was out of his hands) to win again here, it's so sad. At least today things went okay with Ferrari, which is nice.

Good thing to take out of this is Lewis' crazy recovery up to P5 and Nyck being chosen Driver Of The Day. Such good work, we should've been able to see more footage of them both but...

So that concludes the triple header, I'm just posting this on a break from work because I was almost late before 😂

No time to proofread so there it goes, I need a break from this crazy schedules between race weeks, work and my life, but still looking forward to Singapore.

Peace out buddies!

#f1 #formula 1 #mercedes amg f1 #scuderia ferrari #aston martin racing #haas f1 team #mclaren f1 racing #alfa romeo racing #alpine f1 team #scuderia alpha tauri #williams racing #sir lewis hamilton #george russell #charles leclerc #Carlos saint jr #sebastian vettel #lance stroll #mick schumacher #kevin Magnussen #daniel ricciardo #lando norris #zhou guanyu #valtteri bottas #esteban ocon #fernando Alonso #pierre gasly #yuki tsunoda #alex albon #nicholas latifi #italian gp 2022

[driftwork]

the long farewell

There are many types of goodbyes, from the casual to the serious and professional. The waving goodbye to our daughter and her children as she drives away is best not to drawn out. Almost as soon as they drive past towards the west,  we become self-conscious as we stand on the pavement watching them leave. We become virtual just as they become virtual on leaving us, how idiotic we look posing for a photograph that nobody will ever take, which will never be uploaded anywhere… Sometimes it is friends who leave us standing by the road, or on the railway station platform,  waving across the tracks as they board the southbound train. At other times we accompany a friend who is flying back to Australia for the last time,  unaware as we drink poor quality coffee on the concourse, that this is the last time we will ever see one another.  Would we have spoken differently, perhaps hugged each other farewell ? Finally they go through the gates, following their luggage, including a suitcase of books they bought in London.  As we say goodbye, laughing, waving, as we are no longer with them. They vanish into the terminal and we go back to our car and drive away talking about them, "perhaps we should visit them in Australia?" knowing that we can never do this.. He will wander the inner concourse, in the secure zone, looking at clothes, books, electronic gadgets,  perhaps they will buy some noise cancelling headphones, black eyeshades... He will be carried away by complex technologies, assemblages that are lovely and yet always oppressive,  the pressure of the consumptive assemblages always leads to irrationality - For him, living like this it is still clear that secret agents become revolutionaries, and that revolutionaries become secret agents.  How did this anarchist become a man of the state? Eventually we will hear of him dying in a small town on the coast,  his body has already been reduced to ashes. He never made it to the steppe which begins with innocent plains, with the purity of plains, the fertility , the immensity of plains. There was no time for farewell, just the memory of uncompleted promise to meet next time he was in London. I was seized with a sudden panic (and this showed foresight: what I dreaded was precisely this sort of madness, this darkening of consciousness) when i heard of his death. The incoherent wave, the gestures with which we part, the leave-taking from this place of safety sometimes,  attacks the virtual future,  and causes our many farewells to become a possible moment documented in the 1000 word anti-novel that you are writing..

#everyday practices #fiction #series 2