#italian superstars

[viper-motorsports]

The 2009 Italian SuperStars Series at Monza IT with the N°23 Zakspeed Chrysler 300C SRT8 taking to this Italian circuit.

#chrysler 300c srt8 #italian superstars #zakspeed #autodromo nazionale di monza #sedan #touring car #chrysler 300c

[eleancrvances]

i feel the need to share that the current jesus christ superstar italian tour has judas start "superstar" outside the theatre with the cameraman then following him inside sunset boulevard revival style

#i was really like 'OH #somebody got their idea from... somewhere' #worked very well though it fits the song #jesus christ superstar #musical #gaia's life #by me #jcs italian tour

[2hoothoots]

Have you ever filled out a “get to know my ship in five minutes” templates for the fsaau trio? :) Cause if not here’s your chance to don’t hold back my guy here you go (template made by @/riessene)

YES...YES!!!!

extra hcs/thoughts i had when filling this out under the cut

i don't know if i could give accurate numbers for their heights, Psychonaut heights are all out of wack. Sasha and Milla are both 7'2". Loboto is nine feet tall. listen what do you want me to do

Raz and Lili have a whole litany of nicknames for each other. every single sappy pet name you can think of, it's in there. sometimes they goof around and call each other by their last names if they're feeling particularly silly

Raz and Dogen are both pretty good cooks, but Raz is also a big health nut and watches his macros and stuff so if he's making a meal there's like a 50% chance it's just some kind of nutrient slurry to help him hit his calorie count for the day (a tin of corned beef and a handful of salad leaves counts as a meal, right?). Dogen is a good cook but he can get a bit distracted in the kitchen so he benefits a lot from having a steady sous chef. Lili sucks at cooking (she never really had the opportunity to learn at home), she can make noodles and that's about it

Lili will talk your ear off about how bugs are super important to ecosystems and crucial pollinators and need to be protected now more than ever given the decline of wild habitats, and Raz is like, I appreciate that but you're not gonna make me feel guilty over this mosquito i just smushed. (along those notes, although she gardens she's very anti-pesticide! she uses other methods to control pests, like fostering wild/sacrificial plants that pests would rather eat to keep the slugs off her orchids)

Dogen is a pretty shy guy and he can get real embarrassed in public. just furiously blushing and nodding his head to try and signal that yes, he would love to hold hands, he just gets worked up easily about that kind of thing. Raz has no shame but he is very easy to fluster. Lili has no shame, period.

Lili and Raz both drive, but in their day-to-day Lili usually drives because Raz has the bad habit of thinking speed limits are suggestions for other people and don't apply to secret agents. Dogen can't drive, he never got his license and finds the prospect of sitting behind the wheel of a car way too nerve-wracking to learn.

Lili and Dogen are pretty similar in the amount of human interaction they like, they both have a fairly low social battery and so they really enjoy quality time spent at home together. their ideal dates are chill ones, like going to the aquarium or to a botanical garden - anywhere they can just quietly enjoy each others' company.

as a trio they get into so much trouble. Dogen tries to avoid the trouble as much as possible. trouble arrives regardless

#i've spent most of today playing splatoon 3 but i took a break to do this #because i love them #future superstar agents au #fsau raz #fsau lili #fsau dogen #fsau meta #raz is the kind of guy who will get picky about the precise type of italian hard cheese dogen is putting in a carbonara #and then make himself a peanut butter scrambled egg ketchup sandwich for lunch #i would highly encourage anyone who wants to fill these out to do so btw they're so much fun #ty rem <3 <3 <3 #i say 'headcanons'. it's my AU so i guess these are just full-fledged canons?

[shot-by-cupid]

Manager was joking about setting me up with one of my coworkers and it’s like.

If he doesn’t look like this I don’t want him

#‘is it cuz 25 is too old for you’ #he could be 45 and as long as he’s an Italian plumber with a red hat and a moustache I’ll take him amen #mario #selfship #f/o post #♡.love letters #⭐️🍄you’re my superstar

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Spotify Tag game

Thanks @artymys for tagging me here!

(Zitti e buoni slaps, and Maneskin deserves all the success they got. Hopefully they eventually do an orchestral album one day--the Sanremo version of this song goes above and beyond!)

(When I first installed Spotify, I would find different albums and like them so I would listen to them later. Unfortunately, I'm frequently scattershot in terms of music and hardly get to them. That said, I'm really liking We Never Change--it's ambient and contemplative, all at once)

(I liked the NBC performance of Jesus Christ Superstar, so much I looked into the different musical versions. This is not one of the songs in which I go back to (mostly Heaven in Our Minds and Gethsemane), but I still really enjoy the storytelling here!)

(I probably found this while listening to a playlist one day. That said, I really like the grungy guitars, Squirrel Flower's delicate vocals, and the overall production.)

(I've heard of Laurie Darmon because she worked with Alma on a few songs, and figured I go into her discography. It's good--including this song--but I hardly go back to it! I still think she could represent France at Eurovision, though.)

(Of course, I love the original Blinding Lights, but the bardcore version is so fantastic. I also recommend the Japanese version)

(When I listened to the song for the first time, I was quite disappointed, because I expected something disco-influenced. That said, I grew to love it quite a bit, and that piano motif always gets me!)

(The original Weeknd classic, though I didn't listen to any of his music before Earned It became popular. However, I love the dark ambiance of Wicked Games and the storytelling involved. I could write a scene to Iodine to this, with the main character thinking about what to do next while smoking)

(This is one of my more recent finds--I love the storytelling and how heartfelt Tamino sings it. The atmosphere is dim, but compelling, and I keep going in further and further. Definitely good for late-night listening)

(I'm not the biggest fan of Kesha, but I did enjoy her Rainbow album!)

What do you think these songs say about me? And @fragiledewdrop, @pinkmoonpoetry, @violetsinsummer, @pineconeontheforestsfloor, what songs do you have to share (or write poetry to)?

#tag game #tagged #about me #maneskin #damiano david #victoria de angelis #thomas raggi #ethan torchio #coldplay #jesus christ superstar #squirrel flower #laurie darmon #cornelius link #janie #the weeknd #abel tesfaye #tamino #kesha #how were there no chinese songs in this mix #nor any italian songs #this is maddening #Spotify

[whenthelightisrunninglow]

recently once again became keenly aware of luigi’s existence ❤️❤️

#so. i’m about to get extremely annoying extremely quickly #currently playing paper mario superstar saga AND super mario rpg at the same time. it’s hot girl summer #OR???!?!!?!? ITALIAN MANWHORE SUMMER???????? #sketches

[tina-aumont]

Oh Gina! what a loss!! I thought you would publish something about her. Do you know if the worked or was friends with Tina or her mum Maria? Thank you very much!

Hi Anon!!

Yes, it's really sad Gina Lollobrigida passed away, and it's even more sad when you see it was from a broken femur...

When I heard it I didn't know if I want to publish something related or not because as far as I know Gina and Tina, although they worked with same directors, they didn't film together, but maybe they were friends or new eachother from parties or events, and as you say, maybe Gina was friend of Tina's mum as well, but I really don't know.

I'm sure besides the public appearances, in private everyone knew eachother, so maybe they were friends, who knows.

But thank you for this sweet remind of a great actress.

RIP Gina Lollobrigida, you'll never be forgotten

#Gina Lollobrigida #RIP #Rest in Peace #Rest in Power #Gone but not forgotten #Italian actress #Italian cinema #Italian superstar #Lollo #Rest Easy #ask #ask me #ask me anything

[ladiesinrock]

Hardcore Superstar + Wednesday 13: 3 date in Italia a novembre

Scalpitate all’idea di passare una serata fra l’hard rock e l’horror punk? Magari con qualche rimando al glam? Hellfire Booking Agency annuncia Hardcore Superstar e Wednesday 13!Irrotti sui palchi di tutto il mondo a fine Anni ’90 con un sound che si riferisce a melodic thrash e all’hard rock tipico del pop-metal losangelino, gli Hardcore Superstar sono una conquista considerevole per il panorama…

View On WordPress

#Hardcore Superstar #italian tour #wednesday13

[gettheglambulance]

Mama Mia bowser you’re banging my brother

⭐️ superstar saga style inspired ⭐️

In case you want

#my art #bowuigi #bowser x luigi #luigi x bowser #Luigi #luigi nintendo #bowser #mario movie #superstar saga #koopa #the super mario bros movie #super mario bros

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Marlene Dietrich (Shanghai Express, Witness for the Prosecution, Morocco)—Bisexual icon, super hot when dressed both masculine and feminine, lived up her life in the queer Berlin scene of the 1920s, central to the 'sewing circle' of the secret sapphic actresses of Old Hollywood, refused lucrative offers by the Nazis and helped Jews and others under persecution to escape Nazi Germany, the love of my life

Sophia Loren (Marriage Italian Style, Houseboat)—Major Italian star, first actress to win an Oscar for a performance not in English (for Two Women (1960)) and later when Roberto Benigni won an Oscar in 1999 he jumped over the chairs towards the stage going "Sophia Sophia!!" because he was running towards Sophia Loren and said he cared more about her than the Oscar, that's the effect she had on people. She was big in the 60s already even though she gained a lot more notoriety after that. And I mean. Can we take a moment and just.

This is round 6 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Sophia Loren:

She has maxed out all her stats: beauty, elegance, sensuality, she's got it all. her mesmerizing eyes, her sensual mouth, her sharp face shape, her everything is so striking and unlike any other beauty in films. she was also voted the world most beautiful woman when she was freaking 65

im submitting her in honor of my dad bc she was the first celebrity crush of his he ever admitted to me and my sister :) and he was right. shes so pretty

OSCAR WINNER. Worked with some of the hottest leading men in Hollywood but remained faithful to her husband whom she had a loving marriage with till he died (even though Cary Grant almost tempted her once, it's complicated)

One of the most well-known sex symbols of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and unlike some unfortunate others, she seems to have been pretty well at peace with occupying that status. She made assertiveness and a tempestuous temper seem glamorous, and although she's famous for side-eying Jayne Manisfield's cleavage, honestly? She's one to talk.

Absolutely, drop-dead sexy, also a hard working, extraordinarily talented actress who didn't shy away from the less glamorous roles to gift us some gritty, memorable performances

Submitting this on behalf of my dad, who knows nothing of tumblr or this blog, but I remember being a kid watching Houseboat while my mom thirsted after Cary Grant, dad thirsted after Sophia Loren, and I was excited that they lived on a boat. Anyway, she's extremely beautiful and was an international star, doing a ton of movies in Italy before being recognized in the US.

JUST LOOK AT HER Y'ALL

Very smart and beautiful, the characters that she played (I mean those in the movies that I put in the previous question) are as strong and determined as her which I think adds to her hotness.

Global superstar and my late grandfather's long time movie star crush and for a man as quiet as he was, and as hopelessly devoted to his wife as he was, the fact that I know that means she was EXCEPTIONAL.

Big in the chest, snatched in the waist, pretty in the face 😳

Sexy, beautiful, deep. A real star.

Her performance in "Man of La Mancha" is just so very captivating. Dubbed as "the Italian Marilyn Monroe", she looks beautiful in any movie and at any age.

Forget the exotic sexpot of her Hollywood films and go back to her Italian career: sparking with Marcello Mastroianni as the woman who drives him mad and outwits all his fumbling attempts at macho posturing in their early films, and showing a tender side in their 1970s films. Sophia isn’t self-conscious about who she is or her beautiful body: she enjoys being herself and she wants us all to enjoy ourselves too.

She starred in films as a sexually emancipated persona and was one of the best known sex symbols of the time. She is a great cook and her filmography is immense.

On the misattributed quote that Sophia owed everything to spaghetti: 'Did you actually say the quote frequently attributed to you, "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti"?' "Non è vero! It's not true! It's such a silly thing. I owe it to spaghetti, no, no. Completely made up."

Marlene Dietrich:

ms dietrich....ms dietrich pls.....sit on my face

its marlene dietrich!!!! queer legend, easily the hottest person to ever wear a tuxedo, that hot hot voice, those glamorous glamorous movies…. most famously she starred in a string of movies directed by josef von sternberg throughout the 1930s, beginning with the blue angel which catapulted her to stardom in the role of the cabaret singer lola lola. known for his exquisite eye for lighting, texture, imagery, von sternberg devoted himself over the course of their collaborations to acquiring exceptional skill at photographing dietrich herself in particular, a worthy direction in which to expend effort im sure we can all agree. she collaborated with many other great directors of the era as well, including rouben mamoulian (song of songs), frank borzage (desire), ernst lubitsch (angel), fritz lang (rancho notorious), and billy wilder (witness for the prosecution). the encyclopedia britannica entry im looking at while compiling this propaganda describes her as having an “aura of sophistication and languid sexuality” which✔️💯. born marie magdalene dietrich, she combined her first and middle names to coin the moniker “marlene”. she was a trendsetter in her incorporation of trousers, suits, and menswear into her wardrobe and her androgynous allure was often remarked upon. critic kenneth tynan wrote, “She has sex, but no particular gender. She has the bearing of a man; the characters she plays love power and wear trousers. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men.” in the 1920s she enjoyed the vibrant queer nightlife of weimar berlin, visiting gay bars and drag balls, and in hollywood her love affairs with men and women were an open secret. she was an ardent opponent of nazi germany, refusing lucrative contacts offered her to make films there, raising money with billy wilder to help jews and dissidents escape, and undertaking extensive USO tours to entertain soldiers with an act that included her a playing musical saw and doing a mindreading routine she learned from orson welles. starting in the 50s and continuing into the mid-70s she worked largely as a cabaret artist touring the world to large audiences, employing burt bacharach as her musical arranger.

First of all, there are those publicity photos of her in a tux. Second of all, I have never been the same since knowing that she sent copies of those photos to her Berlin lovers signed "Daddy Marlene." Not only is she hot in all circumstances, but she can do everything from earthy to ice queen. Also, she kept getting sexy romantic lead parts in Hollywood after the age of 40, which would be rare even now. She hated Nazis, loved her friends, and had a sapphic social circle in Hollywood. She also had cheekbones that could cut glass and a voice that could melt you.

Her GENDER her looks her voice her everything

“In her films and record-breaking cabaret performances, Miss Dietrich artfully projected cool sophistication, self-mockery and infinite experience. Her sexuality was audacious, her wit was insolent and her manner was ageless. With a world-weary charm and a diaphanous gown showing off her celebrated legs, she was the quintessential cabaret entertainer of Weimar-era Germany.”

The bar scene in Morocco awoke something in me and ultimately changed my gender

"Her manner, the critic Kenneth Tynan wrote, was that of ‘a serpentine lasso whereby her voice casually winds itself around our most vulnerable fantasies.’ Her friend Maurice Chevalier said: ‘Dietrich is something that never existed before and may never exist again.’”

"Songstress, photographer, fashion icon, out bisexual phenom (notoriously stole Lupe Velez and Joan Crawford's men, and Errol Flynn's wife, had a torrid affair with Greta Garbo that ended in a 60-year feud, other notable conquests including Erich Maria Remarque -yes, the guy who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front- Douglas Fairbanks Junior, Claudette Colbert, Mercedes de Acosta, Edith Piaf), anti-Nazi activist. Marlene was a bitch - she had an open marriage for decades and one of her favorite things was making catty commentary about her current lover with her husband, and her relationship with her daughter was painful- but she was also immensely talented, a hard worker, an opponent of fascism and the hottest ice queen in Hollywood for a long time."

"She can sing! She can act! She told the Nazis to fuck off and became a US citizen out of spite! She worked with other German exiles to create a fund to help Jews and German dissidents escape (she donated an entire movie salary, about $450k, to the cause). She looks REALLY GOOD in a suit. If you're not convinced, please listen to her sing "Lili Marlene". Absolutely gorgeous woman with a gorgeous voice."

Gifset link

"Bisexual icon and Nazi-hater. Looks absolutely stunning in the suits she liked to wear. 'I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men'."

"would you not let her walk on you?"

#sophia loren #marlene dietrich #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 6 #Youtube

[honeyshiddendesire]

Pet Name Headcannons Masterlist

Sexy and Everyday 

A lot are redundant but like oh well lol 😂 I only have so much brain power lol 😂 🙄🙄

WARNINGS: 18+

*This is from my old account so it's the un-updated version since I first wrote it on Google Docs then like a dumbass kept updating on Tumblr lol *

This will be a MASTERLIST of snippets/one shots of them using the pet names!!!

Luffy - mami, mamas, mama, Y/N (I can not stress enough how much he would repeat your name!!) 

Zoro- woman, brat, whore, little girl, princess (in a taunting way-polar opposite to Sanji)

Sanji- my love, princess, daddy’s girl, good girl, pretty girl, mommy

Usopp- mami, babe, baby girl, baby, honey

Franky- darlin, sweetheart, honey, sweetie, baby, pretty lady

Law- baby girl, princess, my love, babe, Y/N (with how hot his voice is he would love saying your name!) 

Eustass- baby girl, kitten, pipsqueak, cock slut, bug, little mamas, cumdump, cry baby 

Killer- darlin, princess, baby girl, little one, baby

Doflamingo- dove, whore, messy girl , love (very rarely would he use ‘love’ but it would mean a lot) 

Sir Crocodile - baby girl, princess, my little slut

Smoker- darlin, sweetheart, love, honey, baby doll

Marco- birdie, mate, baby bird, songbird, little bird (birds birds BIRDS!) 

Thatch- honey, pumpkin, puddin, Angel cakes, sweet pea (food names cause he gives dad vibes 🤤)

Izou- my little cherry blossom, love, dear

Whitebeard-  love, dear, sweetheart, tiny thing, little thing, little one (anything pointing out his size and you can’t tell me no on this 🤣) 

Ace- darling, baby girl, princess, hot stuff, babe (firmly believe he will babe the shit outta you)

Sabo- my love, my dear, cock whore, dumb slut, bitch (just feel like he would love the harsh degradation 🤷‍♀️sorry not sorry 😬) 

Monkey D Dragon- love, dear, sweetheart (him groaning out sweetheart 😮‍💨)

Garp- little one, sweetheart, princess, bratty girl, dirty/messy girl, sweetie, darlin

Akainu- brat, princess, little girl, whore, cumslut, crybaby

Kizaru- lightning bug, my shining star, mamas, baby girl, sunshine (names involving light) 

Aokiji- ice princess, mama, babe, baby, snowflake 

Fujitora- wisteria, darling, my flower, rose, little peony, tiger lily (FLOWERS ALL DAY EVERYDAY!!! Whatever flower you can think of he’s calling you 😍🫶🏼)

Shanks- darlin, baby, baby girl, doll, baby doll, princess 

Benn- doll, baby doll, darling, love, princess

Mihawk- my dear, my love, naughty girl, princess, bloody princess (idk why I picture him speaking Spanish/ Italian saying princessa 😮‍💨😭🤤 idk if he speaks it but shit lol 😂 ) 

Buggy- superstar, rockstar, beauty queen, my diva, doll, clown whore, sugar/sugar bear (what you call him)

X Drake- mate, babe, baby girl, little one

Kaku- lil lady, sweetheart, darling, Raffe (short for giraffe 🦒)

Rob Lucci- Pretty Kitty, kitten, brat, whore, slutty kitty (no way he doesn't have a pet play fetish! ya can’t change my mind on this!)

Paulie- sweetie, pretty girl, darling, baby doll, princess, pretty mamas, my little whore, slut, naughty/dirty/messy girl (secret freak idc! I think he shamed Nami cause he’s a hidden pervert and she was making him feel some kind of way lol 😂 !)

King- my queen, my love, dear, little one, naughty thing

Kaido- little one, whore, brat, bad girl

Vinsmoke Bros- cock whore/slut, brat, woman, slutty puppy/kitty, good girl, pathetic slut, my little whore, mommy (hidden mommy kink!!!)

Red Leg Zeff- princess, sweetheart, kid, honey, doll, darling (old school lol )

*banner*

#pet name headcannons #honeys works 🍯 #old work new blog #one piece x reader #one piece luffy #one piece sanji #one piece zoro #trafalgar one piece #one piece eustass kid #one piece killer #one piece vinsmoke brothers #one piece franky #one piece x you #one piece #one piece headcanons #one piece paulie #one piece sir crocodile #one piece doflamingo #one piece shanks #one piece smut #one piece fujitora #one piece whitebeard #one piece garp #one piece smoker #one piece usopp

[eleancrvances]

my man was struggling a bit with the english throughout the show, but he really poured his soul on stage when this moment arrived. i edited out some applause because we just would not let him finish

(had to lower the quality a bit for this to load sadly. also sooo many chatty people i was close to contemplating murder)

*please do not repost outside of tumblr.*

#jesus christ superstar #jcs italian tour #by me #jcs #musical #jesus #andrew lloyd webber #lorenzo licitra #gethsemane

[katanashipping]

Seriously though, the general canon of TMNT 2k3 must be such a wild ride for Robin O'Neill.

Like. Here is your big sister, brainiac maniac science superstar, the smart one, the one who has it all figured out and who probably has three PhDs by the time she's 23 and the story begins. April just landed her Dream Job with an actual Celebrity Scientist and she is going to create Big Science that will Help Lots of People and--

--and she's quit her job one month in and announces she is going to reopen your late parents' antiquities shop now. Take some time to Find Herself, whatever that means. OK, right, we can work with that, what bout--

--her shop burns to the ground, and April prompty goes completely AWOL for three months. Great! Amazing! You're not panicking at all! This is April you're talking about, after all - the smart one, the good one, who has it all together, and she is dating Casey Jones, neighborhood vigilante now.

HOW DID THEY EVEN MEET.

So you're like. OK. I should probably go to New York and look into that. Meanwhile April rebuilds the antique shop brick by brick and moves back in, things get serious with Casey Jones, she keeps offhandedly mentioning a bunch of Italian men that like, fix her boiler and stuff, she's fine. She's fine. You don't think she's fine.

Before you can do anything about it, she goes AWOL for a few months again.

You eventually find out she has been hanging out with her boyfriend's country mum at a derelict farm. Cleaning. Cooking, sort of thing. Maybe you're a bit concerned now. Just a bit. You decide you will definitely visit her soon. She excitedly mentions that she has started practising kendo using a real sword, and her teacher is this old guy who gives her lessons one on one. You move your visit forward.

So you go to New York. You enter her apartment, which is the one you grew up in, rebuilt eerily similarly to how you remember it. Your sister is happy to see you. She's just going to nip out for a minute to grab some milk. That's fine. You go through the list of things to talk to her about in your head one more time: how are you? how are you Really? let's do some girly things, without the boyfriend and the teacher and the Italian men. Just us girls. Won't that be nice?

April comes back upstairs. You'll never guess who she ran into on her way to the shops!

Behind her stands your beloved uncle Augie, who went missing fifteen years ago without a trace.

Like. Holy. Shit.

That same evening, as you're trying to work out the new sleeping arrangements now there's three of you in the flat for the night, you pull uncle Augie aside for a moment. You're worried about April, you say. Something has been going on with her, and it's weird.

Uncle Augie looks at you for a long moment. His clothing is ripped, his beard is a growth on his face. There are deep lines on his face that you don't remember, marked not by smiles and laughter, but by sadness and fear. His arms are tree trunks. He smells like he hasn't showered in a month.

Nah, he says. I think April's doing just fine.

#tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2k3 #robin o'neil #april o'neil #SHE'S FINE OKAY. #DONT WORRY ABOUT IT. #and then Robin just never shows up again. she doesn't even come to the wedding. #but it's FINE. I'm sure it's JUST FINE.

[wileys-russo]

idk if you’ve seen that tiktok trend where roommates have been making behavior charts (like the ones you might see in school. green for good, yellow for warning, red for bad and so on) but i can literally see in my mind you making one of those for your gfs leah and alessia, and i can see their pouts if you move their name from green to yellow.

this went in a slightly different direction but was so amusing

best behaviour II a.russo & l.williamson

"what's all this then babe?" leah asked as she and alessia returned home from training to you calling out you were in the kitchen, the blondes frowning as they eyed the armfuls of craft supplies discarded on the bench.

"please take a seat." you gestured for them to sit down which they both did hesitantly, sharing a concerned look as you cleared your throat, clearly holding something behind your back as you took a step closer.

"have we done something wrong?" alessia asked cautiously, folding her arms over chest and leaning back in her seat, eyebrows furrowed together in slight worry. "yeah you're being mysteriously serious." leah added on, narrowing her eyes as you rolled yours.

"if you let me speak, you will find out." you clipped as both blondes raised their eyebrows at your tone, sharing a look but staying silent. "much better, thank you."

"i have called this meeting today because as the two of you should have noticed, i've had it up to here with the pair of you lately." you held your hand above your head, indicating your level of tolerance, shooting leah a firm glare as she scoffed and went to speak, falling silent again.

"you-" you pointed sternly to the older of the two. "just the last couple of days alone you refused to do the dishes and instead flicked me or whipped me repeatedly with the tea towel when i was doing them, you drank the last of the milk from the carton and then put the empty carton back in the fridge, and you barked at the delivery man and scared him half to death!" you remanded leah who frowned at you grumpily.

"less dared me to bark at him babe thats not fair!" leah defended herself with a huff, sharply elbowing the blonde beside her who snickered at the memory.

"and you-" you now rounded onto the italian whose smile dropped. "you didn't listen when i warned you to separate the washing and turned everything white pink, you used the last of my body wash and gaslit me into thinking i knocked it over and it spilled down the drain, and you dared leah to bark at the delivery man who put in a complaint and now all of our packages have to be picked up directly from the post office!" you pointed to the striker with a stern stare who sunk down into her seat, biting her lip with a guilty smile.

"so i make my point again that you have both been doing my head in, and so we're gonna implement a little tool to help amend some of these...issues." you smiled calmly, though the look in your eyes had your girlfriends shifting uneasily.

"this!" you proudly held up what you had spent pretty much the entire afternoon on, waving it around before turning on your heel and pinning it onto the fridge.

"what is that?" leah sighed with a shake of her head, the craft supplies now making sense. "this is what i like to call the girlfriend behavior chart!" you clapped happily, grabbing a marker off the counter.

"you'll see we have five colours and five tiers-" you began to explain, using your marker as a pointer, smacking it assertively against each tier.

"tier one is green,and you'll see is titled the 'you can do whatever you want with me superstar' tier-" you gestured to the very top row, flashing a somewhat suggestive smile to the two very unimpressed blondes in front of you.

"-tier two is orange, and you'll see is titled the 'someone made a good choice today' tier-" you continued, tapping along with your marker. "-tier three is yellow, and you'll see is titled the 'skating on thin ice' tier-" leah strongly withheld the urge to groan as you kept going.

"-tier four is red, and you'll see is titled the 'you're taking the fucking piss' tier. thought of you when i made that one lee." you added on, making sure to read out the words in your best impression of her thick milton keynes accent, the older blonde scoffing in offence but you held up a hand signalling you weren't done.

"and finally we have tier five which you will notice looks a little different, this is the dog house tier!" you warned, tapping to the final tier which was indeed a well scribbled dog house.

"if you find yourself on this tier by the end of the day you will be expected to sleep in the spare room or on the couch, alone." you explained with a satisfied smile, both of your girlfriends instantly exploding into protests once you did.

"hey! let me finish." you yelled over the top of them with a scowl. "these are the two of you-" you grabbed something out of your hoodie pocket, magnets with pictures of either of their faces glued on top.

"right now, you are both here." you placed down both magnets in the yellow tier. "the better you behave; helping out around the house, being sweet and lovely, not fucking around and pissing me off, you will move up." you demonstrated by bumping them both up to the orange.

"but the worse you behave; throwing your dirty kits at me, playing fifa until three in the morning, burping in my face like disgusting teenage boys, moaning at me about asking you to do something, you move down." you dropped the magnets down to the red zone in demonstration before moving both girls back into the yellow.

"any questions?" you raised an eyebrow, both blondes standing to their feet, hands flying around as they voiced their obvious disdain for your new tool.

"none? wonderful! whose turn is it to make dinner?"

~

"leah! christ man leave me alone." you whined, curling more into alessia as the older of the two once again sucked on her finger and shoved it in your ear, having been in an annoying mood all afternoon which you attributed to the raging storm outside which had caused their game to be postponed.

"you're like a fucking hyperactive four year old, go away!" you scowled, kicking at leah as she tried to grab you, clinging on tightly to your other girlfriend who simply smiled in amusement, having not wound you up at all today she was in the orange tier.

"i know a way we could burn some energy pretty girl." leah grinned, grabbing at your ankles and yanking you down the couch, climbing on top of you as her blonde hair fell around the two of you like a curtain. "chart!" you warned, smacking at her chest and pointing over her shoulder.

"are you in the green?" you smiled sarcastically as leah glanced toward the fridge. "no? so get off!" you huffed, shoving her away and crawling back to alessia who had her arms open expectantly.

leah however was not quite ready to give up that easily as she grabbed your ankles again, pulling you back down the couch and sitting on your back. "less i think i'm a bit sick of this chart business, would you agree?" leah asked as you struggled underneath her.

"lessi don't answer her!" you warned as the other blonde hesitated, looking between the two of you with wide eyes. "less, go get the chart babe." leah ordered gently with a charming smile, and you gasped as the italian slowly stood to her feet.

"lessi look you're almost in the green! you know what that means." you finally managed to shove leah off, sending the blonde tumbling to the ground with a yell as you tried to clamber over the back of the sofa, alessia hesitating in the kitchen.

"ah!" you yelped as leah shot to her feet with a war cry, grabbing you in a headlock and dragging you back down onto the sofa with her, entrapping your body with her long limbs. "less grab the chart baby, bring it here." leah purred with another smile and a nod of encouragement.

"lessi baby don't let her drag you down with her, she's in the dog house and you're not!" you grunted, leahs hand coming to rest over your mouth as she continued to give your other girlfriend nods of encouragement.

"lee i don't know about-" the striker started, leah cutting her off with murmurs of reassurance as your yells were muffled against her hand. "love if you think i ever mind your tongue touching me anywhere you're wrong." leah smirked down at you as you tried to lick her hand so she would move it off.

using all of your strength you managed to break free from the body lock the taller blonde had you in, yanking her hand off your mouth. "lessi, leah said you were a dope this morning, thats why she got moved down in the first place!" you revealed, alessia's eyebrows knitting into a frown.

"i am not a dope!" the italian defended, crossing her arms over her chest. "i didn't say that! i just said sometimes you can be a little bit dopey...and i said it lovingly!" leah scrambled to try and defend herself, you grinning happily as the look of displeasure didn't drop from your girlfriends face.

leah distracted with trying to clear her name you again tried to make an escape. "oh no you don't!" the older girls arms wound around your waist, the two of you wrestling around on the lounge, both yelling instructions to alessia who stood hopelessly torn in the kitchen.

"if you bring me the chart i'll let you be in charge tonight." leah bargained, finally wrangling you into a gentle chokehold as she held your furiously bucking body down. "lessi you know thats a lie she's too bossy!" you yelled, out of sight from the blonde who'd grabbed the chart and was weighing up her options.

"i'm bossy? sorry who made a behavior chart for her girlfriends in the first place?" leah scoffed looking down at you. "tiktok made me do it!" you huffed, pouting up at the blonde in hopes she would let you up as alessia arrived to the couch, chart in hand.

"well, you're on a tiktok ban then." leah pinned your arms down beneath her knees, taking the chart off alessia and rewarding her with a kiss. "starting from now!" leah effortlessly ripped the chart in half as you gasped, looking up in disbelief toward alessia who winced and sent you an apologetic smile.

"you are both so in the dog house." you warned quietly as leah jumped off of you, not giving you a chance to move before she'd easily slung your body over her shoulder.

"i love you?" alessia smiled guiltily, following behind as leah marched away. "put me down williamson or so help me-" you warned, but they again fell on deaf ears. "where are we going!" you huffed in annoyance, smacking at leahs bum since you could reach, flipping off alessia who continued to look at you apologetically.

"we're gonna go study my chart. i think its time we taught you some things about behavioral obedience baby girl."

#woso x reader #woso #alessia russo #alessia russo x reader #leah williamson #leah williamson x reader #engwnt #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso blurbs #arsenal wfc #awfc

[batsplat]

Chad reed on always the entourages creating the drama. I cannot believe that is what caused rosquez downfall but also given the level of Vale's celebrity and the way he carried himself, I can totally believe that it was the entourage (iPad stand I'm looking at you) that brought the end

(about reed's 2020 quotes in this) yeahhh I mean the downfall was caused by a whole bunch of factors, not just any one thing... like all great tragic narratives, it feels inevitable from a global perspective and yet thoroughly preventable in its specifics, with loads of points where you think, 'oh, if things had just gone a little bit differently'... there's this tension in how, in the end, maybe it would've always gone wrong, but a lot had to come together for it to go wrong in quite such a spectacular fashion

reed's definitely correctly identified one of the factors - the entourages, and valentino's entourage specifically. though fwiw, I did cut off the article before reed predicted the marc/fabio rivalry was headed a similar way (this was from 2020, obviously before the arm injury):

for better or for worse, fabio has skipped the villain arc to head straight to the depressed frenchie arc

regardless of whether this rift would have happened or not, the idea that marc would have gotten a new appreciation for the situation valentino found himself in is at least an interesting one. though if anything, the rivalry with fabio would have more closely paralleled valentino's with the other aliens (new talent coming through, but with the previously dominant rider still a regular winner). now is the time marc's learning what it feels like to come back from a prolonged absence from being competitive at the highest level - and of course with a new superstar simultaneously making his debut

so yeah, anyway, tragedy, you can point to all sorts of strains and pressures and tension inherent to professional sport that were exacerbated by the personalities involved and the influence of the media and the passage of time etc etc. but never mind all that, let's get back to entourages! I know you mention everybody's favourite b-list shakespeare villain, but I'm going to basically mostly ignore him because it's well-trodden ground. yeah, it does help to have one guy who's whispering poison into your ear for a prolonged stretch of time before showing up at your motorhome doorstep with a bunch of telemetry and a dream. and yeah, there were people in valentino's entourage definitely encouraging this path to doom. but what I'm also interested in is the flip side - why nobody stopped him

I would like to submit into evidence this passage detailing the thoughts of vale's mechanic alex briggs. now briggs in this excerpt blames two groups for how things went down in 2015:

the yamaha side (specifically the press group) for not talking him down from the ledge before the presser

the crew chief and other assorted italians on the team for being too "yessy" and not standing up to him

let's briefly (for a given value of the word) focus on the first one. if you're a random yamaha pr person and you see the valentino rossi run to a press conference (given he was late) with a bunch of papers in his hands (well, he's not actually holding the papers in those gifs, but presumably somebody's got them), it's probably a tough ask to expect you to hold up the valentino rossi and ask him what exactly he's intending to do with those papers. also, is he really going to back off because you, random yamaha pr person, have asked him to please not accuse the competition of sabotage? added context is that some at yamaha were aware of what valentino thought about the race at phillip island (which we'll get to in a sec), but god knows if the pr people did. unless he confided in anyone on the yamaha side what the plan was, a lot of them would have been blindsided too - which does come back to the problem of how big a deal valentino is and how maybe you're a little more cautious about questioning what he's about to do with those papers than you would be with somebody else. it does feel like perhaps a bit too much to expect for them to have launched some last-minute intervention, or to even know what kind of intervention they could have gone for beyond low-level comedy hijinks to stop him from even getting to that room. why did nobody from yamaha place a banana skin in his path

but we do know that at least some in yamaha were aware of valentino's great big phillip island sabotage theory, because lin jarvis has very helpfully told us as much (from the post-sepang media scrum):

Q: Do you think it was a mistake for Valentino to [provoke?] Marc so much on Thursday with a very personal and hard attack? Jarvis: There are always many different ways of addressing different problems - Valentino chose to do it in that way. Perhaps that is what provoked Marc into being quite aggressive on the track. I really don't know, you need to ask Marc not me about that. Every action has a consequence. That's life. Q: And did you know before that Valentino was going to be so aggressive with Marc in the press conference? Did you know before? Did you discuss with Valentino about this decision or you didn't know until it happened? Jarvis: Personally, I was not aware of that. I was aware of Valentino's opinion of the race in Australia, but I was not aware... but I was not aware that he would - Q: Don't you think because Valentino at the end of the day is an employee of Yamaha he should discuss before with you about such an important decision, to attack a rider of another factory in such a heavy way [...]? Jarvis: You can't control every incident, everything that happens and you know, generally we have a very good [...] relation, connection with our riders, we talk to them before about things before, but anyway I think this is something Valentino felt strongly about and it was his decision and that's it.

note the use of the word "personally", which does leave the door open to others within yamaha (outside of valentino's inner circle) knowing what was going to happen. jarvis, unsurprisingly, comes down pretty firmly on the side of 'well what were we supposed to do'. given that jarvis admits he knew valentino's theory and is hardly a stranger to valentino's modus operandi - after all, he was already team boss at the time of another tense press conference in sepang eleven years prior that took place in the wake of valentino accusing a competitor of messing with him - you do have to wonder whether yamaha could not have tried a little harder to stop valentino. but again, accounting for the power of valentino's status and the power of his character, I'm personally unconvinced yamaha could've done much to convince valentino to change his mind

so then: the italians. a little bit of context - briggs started working with crew chief jerry burgess in 1994 and both of them were on mick doohan's team for all of his five 500cc titles. when doohan's injuries forced his retirement, valentino inherited his championship-winning team upon moving up to 500cc. jb was vale's very first crew chief in the premier class, and him as well as briggs have been working with vale since december 1999. understandably, this is a very tightly-knit group. it is one that made the jump to yamaha with valentino - here's just a quick excerpt (also from oxley's valentino rossi: all his races) about briggs' thoughts on that move:

When Valentino decided to defect to Yamaha, he was determined to have his crew go with him. Only one stayed at HRC. "We first got to know about the Yamaha deal in Portugal, I think [September 2003]," Briggs continues. "I wanted to stay with JB, because I hadn't finished learning what I wanted to learn. "I remember a clandestine meeting in the car park at Phillip Island, about salaries and how everything was going to work. It was really exciting. When I very first started working with Honda the whole group was very much a team. Towards the end we felt like it started to become a bit us and them: the engineers and management, then the mechanics and the riders. They'd sort of got too big for their boots - they'd designed this wonderful bike, so it was like it had nothing to do with us. That made it easier to leave.

and also about the move to yamaha, from the 2020 barker biography of valentino:

But with his trusted crew chief Jerry Burgess and most of his other team members from the Honda garage agreeing to defect with him, Rossi had the crew he needed, not only to win but also to enjoy his racing. It was a heartening display of loyalty and something of a risk for all involved. ‘When I announced to the mechanics that I was going with Valentino they said, “I’m coming too,”’ Burgess later explained. ‘Some of those guys were leaving very secure jobs and taking a big gamble.’

the group also survived the move to ducati (obviously a deeply frustrating two years not just for the guy riding the bike) and the move back to yamaha. but then, valencia 2013, valentino announced his decision to fire jb in a press conference organised for the pair of them. his 2013 season had been deeply frustrating - yes, he had gotten a podium in his first race beating both marc and dani, but after that generally speaking he couldn't come close to matching the other aliens when healthy. he was comfortably the fourth best rider that year, scrapping and clawing his way through midfield battles and having to rely on misfortunes befalling the three title contenders to achieve his podiums and his sole victory at assen. he was considering retiring at the end of the 2014 season once his current contract expired, but wanted to try everything he could to see whether he could be competitive again against the world's very best. and so, he made the decision to roll the dice and get himself a new crew chief, the italian silvano galbusera

now I have to say, personally I have a lot of time for this decision (even if it was maybe not... uh, enacted in the most graceful of manners, given how sudden it was). I come from a sports background where a certain ruthlessness in personnel decisions is encouraged and generally praised - if something isn't working, you should have the courage to make a change, even if it's deeply uncomfortable (including on an interpersonal level). also, while it was a sudden departure, it's not like burgess was that keen on sticking around much longer (again from the same oxley book):

Valentino ended his collaboration very suddenly at the end of 2013. Burgess was shocked but not too much, because he already knew that he was coming to the end of his own career. "When it ended for me I'd already been doing it 30-odd years and I'd told Valentino a few weeks earlier that I wasn't going to sign any more multi-year contracts. I was 60 by then, so I'd go year by year. I'd already signed a contract for 2014, but I would've thought if we hadn't had any more success by then that there wasn't much point in continuing. I felt we would win more races but I was more doubtful about championships. "I'd read enough sporting biographies to know that sportsmen change their coaches towards the end of their careers. It can give them a spike in results but it doesn't change the overall story. Looking back, Valentino's career went on longer than I expected. He enjoyed some success but no more championships and that's what you race for. Of course he was in the unique position of being able to get a factory bike until he retired. He was very special and deserved everything he got."

which, look. again, personal bias, but to me it's reasonable to part ways with somebody who doesn't think any more titles are plausible, because at that point it's just somebody who has a very different view on your career than you do and may well not stick around for much longer anyway. also, at the end of the day, jb was wrong! valentino came extremely close to winning another title, and just because he didn't, doesn't change the fact he could have. if it had rained on the 8th of november 2015 in valencia, we might be having a very different conversation. (or if they hadn't changed the bloody qualifying format post-2012.) honestly, if the 2016 and to a lesser extent the 2017 season had gone just a little differently - a working bike in mugello here and an unbroken leg there - he could have been a genuine title threat in two more seasons. in any case, what it does show is that valentino even at the end of 2013 was still as determined as ever, was ready to engage in what was a huge gamble (given how almost all his success had come with the highly decorated jb) on the off chance he might find what it took to win again. this will not have been an easy decision for valentino. here's a write-up of the presser at valencia, that stresses how uncomfortable the occasion was, how surprising a decision it was to jb, but how publicly at least there was a lack of recriminations (which, to be fair, wouldn't be much fun to do in a shared presser):

(you'll note that the phrasing in the presser about athletes attempting to extend their carrers by changing things up is echoed in what he says in that book interview where he adds that it doesn't change the overall story, again suggesting he didn't really believe valentino would be competitive. he also uses the same phrasing in ANOTHER interview that confirms as much, but I think you get the point.) valentino said at the time, "it was a very difficult decision for me because I have a great history with jeremy. he is not just my chief mechanic. he is like part of my family. my father in racing". this is somebody he'd been working with since age 21, somebody who is not only revered within the paddock for his work with several of the sport's greats but is also a man who valentino obviously has a close personal connection to. meeting for the first time when vale snuck into the honda pit to check out the bike he might ride next season, hitting it off immediately, countless rowdy dinners together, parties, jb and another older colleague sitting back when food fights started, watching valentino grow up, working with him throughout all his big manufacturer switches, all his successes and all his failures... as much as anything else, it's evidence of how strong vale's desire to win was, how determined he continued to be, to make this choice at this stage of his career. and jb was open to the idea (at least publicly) that it might end up being a smart call:

the 'dirtiest' part of the whole affair is how it was actually carried out - it's not great form to tell your crew chief the day before you end up doing a press conference together to announce your choice. for whatever it's worth, this is how valentino justified the timeline:

and lastly, which I think is the most key part, is valentino's belief. because at the end of the day, the only reason why he's doing any of this, and the only reason why what was to come was possible at all, is that he himself still thought that he could challenge for another title - as much as that belief had come under strain:

now what this piece also goes on to say is that nobody believes this will work. nobody believes that firing jb will lead to better results. people expect that this is going to lead to his retirement, quite possibly at the end of 2014. it's worth just remembering sometimes how extraordinary valentino's return to the top of the game post-2013 really was, how it went against how we expect a rider's competitive lifecycle to work, went far beyond the longevity exhibited by any top rider before or since - all while going up against riders who are widely believed to be some of the best to ever do it. valentino beat jorge in both 2014 and 2016, and remains one of two people to outscore prime marc marquez over the course of a season. not to engage in too much rossi prop here, but sepang 2015 can't really be understood without all the frustration that led up to it, to this one golden chance, this miracle that everybody had believed to be impossible (sometimes even valentino). this wasn't supposed to be happening. it was happening. and then, so so close to the finish line, valentino could feel it slipping, slipping, slipping away

but of course, we still don't know whether changing crew chiefs is the key factor that made him competitive again. maybe he just needed a bit longer to get back into the swing of things post-ducati disaster. maybe the bikes just started to suit him better. hey, maybe it was that nifty exercise regime he'd engaged in a wee spot of espionage for so that he could pinch it off his teammate. what we can say, however, is that valentino's choice both tells us a lot about his mindset, as well as (to finally bring us back to the actual point of this post) representing a massive shift in his 'entourage'. this is what briggs is referring to in his quote - the italians. the new crew chief. the people who couldn't stand up to valentino. now obviously, as mentioned above briggs had worked with jb for the better part of twenty years and can hardly be considered a neutral party. here were briggs' feelings on the matter (yeah it's from the same oxley book again, I got it new for eighteen quid which is a very generous price, would recommend):

When JB was out at the end of 2013 it was like losing my mechanic dad. I remember being in the garage when we found out about it. Then they arranged a kind of farewell, a kind of hodgepodge farewell. It was terrible, I didn't like any of it. I was just hiding behind one of the bikes in the garage, crying, going, what's going on here? It didn't seem right to me. I think maybe Valentino thought he would get faster again sooner, but I think it took at least a year to get the taste of the Ducati out of his mouth. I think if he'd stayed with JB we would've won the championship in 2015.

which. look. we don't have time to unpack all that. but. the point is that obviously briggs wasn't exactly a massive fan of the change within valentino's team, and his comments about the 2015 season do have to be read with that in mind. as to whether vale really would have done better in 2015 with jb at his side, your guess is as good as mine. all that being said, a part of me wonders how much losing that grounding presence enabled valentino's late-2015 spiral. maybe not in terms of talking valentino out of the great big fluctuating lap times treachery theory - to state the obvious, valentino got himself involved in plenty of drama during jb's time as a crew chief. jb himself occasionally helped add fuel to the fire in those feuds, like his infamous comment about how he would be able to fix the ducati's issues in 80 seconds that casey still brings up every three business days (the comments were poorly phrased but also somewhat taken out of context, in that jb was talking about a specific set-up problem). he's generally been pretty happy to be forthright about valentino's rivals, for instance this about casey:

My feeling at the time was that Casey probably only had one game plan, and having watched Casey over the years, he doesn't have a plan B. If it doesn't go his way from the outset, it's probably one of the weaknesses that he had through the youth that he had, through the lack of experience that he had. That's not a criticism of him per se, he was still only 22 at the time.

(this is about laguna seca 2008 and how he helped valentino win that race, including in plotting out vale's rather ruthless tactics - which casey was of course not exactly a fan of.) or these. uh. harsh comments about dani from spring 2010:

Q: Is that atmosphere or track knowledge? Is it like the Spanish finding something extra at the racetracks in Spain? JB: Well, therein we show the weakness, don't we? If you can get up on that weekend, on the technical racetracks of Spain, why can't you get up on the technical racetracks like Australia, where the Italians do? Lorenzo is a guy who will and does. Stoner has been able to get up on tracks all over the world. Unfortunately, Dani Pedrosa's into his 6th year in MotoGP, and he's won 8 races, Jorge Lorenzo's two months into his 3rd and he's won 6. It's night and day between those two, is the way I see it. Dani's an extremely fast rider, but a shockingly poor racer. Q: Were you surprised at Jerez [2010] when Pedrosa fought back when Lorenzo passed him? JB: When did Dani fight back? With two laps to go, and he didn't even get close enough to try to come back. Dani has never been a fighter in races, he's a lovely kid, don't get me wrong, but you can see that Lorenzo, having Pedrosa in front of him, it was never going to be the way he was going to finish that race. He was going to finish on the ground or he was going to finish in front of Pedrosa. That's the sort of race that we want, we had that with Biaggi and Valentino, and from history with Schwantz and Rainey. All the good riders have always had somebody they have had to put the target on the back of. It was Doohan and Gardner, and Doohan won that battle hands down, and I think Jorge Lorenzo's going to win this battle [with Pedrosa] hands down.

kind of a dick! so his attitude to valentino being valentino has generally been a) well having enemies is good, actually, with an added slice of b) good luck to his enemies :) - see also this quote (from the barker biography) in the context of the gibernau rivalry:

And that made Rossi even more dangerous, as Jerry Burgess pointed out: ‘Valentino is the sort of rider I wouldn’t want to get angry. He can take you apart on the track.’

so yes, jb is also perfectly brutal in his own right, as you presumably have to be to work alongside valentino so closely for so long. he is, however, also somebody valentino has a massive amount of respect for, somebody who helped turn him into a legend and is responsible for a lot of vale's success - not least, of course, in the pivotal move to yamaha. he was replaced by a man of a far far lesser stature in the sport, one who presumably would have been grateful to valentino for the biggest job he was ever going to get. if briggs is right and there was a shift in valentino in 2015, surrounded as he was by italians (derogatory) who could not stand up to him, who allowed valentino to insist on war and peace on the pit boards, to focus more and more on things that had nothing to do with riding... it would be going a little too far to say that valentino was missing an adult in the room given he was, in fact, in his thirties and should have been capable of being that adult. and who knows what jb would have said or thought or done about the great big childhood hero deception theory. but sepang 2015 was the culmination of a lot of things, including a pressure cooker of a season that grew more and more tense and put more and more stress on everyone involved - perhaps for none more so than valentino. maybe, just maybe, if he'd had somebody around him with fifteen years of experience in handling him, who could have just occasionally told him to knock it off, to concentrate on the racing, to keep things simple (always jb's defining philosophy), to maybe not get so wrapped up in the great big spanish collusion theory...

or maybe it wouldn't have mattered! maybe we're getting cause and effect all wrong here; maybe valentino was deliberately fashioning his entourage into one that was only going to give him positive feedback. maybe he would have just stopped listening to jb, maybe the very decision to fire jb makes it clear he was no longer interested in what jb had to say. it's a tragedy, after all! maybe it was always going to go like this. maybe it was always going to end like this

speaking of entourages, marc's manager played a bit of a cameo role in fanning the flames just a little further (article from marca, 26/10/2015):

alzamora obviously will be somebody valentino is familiar with, having raced him in 125cc and also having just coexisted in the paddock over the years. valentino could of course be lying, but idk, why would he? he's already made his case by this point, and what if alzamora were to contradict him? if it's true and this conversation did happen, you do have to say it's a spectacularly unhelpful intervention from alzamora. even if marc was mad at valentino, why the hell are you telling valentino this AFTER sepang 2015? what's the plan here buddy

^ 1999 world champions: alzamora in 125cc, vale in 250cc and alex criville in 500cc. people think motogp lore is complicated but if you know like, five guys, you're set for about twenty years of drama

which does get to the heart of the matter - a lot of these people have big egos and their own agendas and they love to run their mouths. they like talking a big game and getting involved in things they really shouldn't be getting involved in. is reed right that these people in the riders' entourages 'created the drama'? well, no, I think the two men at the centre of this particular tragedy were plenty capable of doing that themselves. nevertheless, you can point to how professional sports (and motogp in particular) forces you to rely heavily on a small group of people to keep you sane at the centre of the storm, and the risks that can emerge when that small group collectively unmoors itself from reality. you can point to the perils of fame, both in making your reliance on your inner circle so unnegotiable as well as in providing you with the status and power and ego to ignore anyone who might wish to change your mind. you can point to specific figures in this story who managed to incite the conflict between the two of them, as well as how the pressure cooker competitive environment they were operating within helped set up the ultimate catastrophe. you can point to how valentino lacked anyone with the power to stop him - both in the direct sense of forcing him to reconsider and the indirect sense of commanding his respect enough to make him see sense. maybe, just like in 2004, valentino had simply been "looking for an excuse" and he was always headed down this path. or maybe if somebody had just held him back a little that year, kept him focused on his riding, maybe if the right person had intervened at the right time...

maybe, maybe, maybe. that's why it's a tragedy

#valentino rossi #rosquez #// #4693 #i get the sense he's unpopular on here but EYE will miss lin jarvis. i think he's funny sorry. him and his certifiably insane employees #i loveeee that media scrum love his very dry lil summary of events acting like we're not so so far down the rabbit hole #anon: man fuck that ipad stand #me: lemme tell you a tale about a man called jerry burgess and the daddy issues he inspired in multiple grown men #and yes the fact that valentino unceremoniously dumped his 'paddock father' is. interesting :) i get him ughhh #also on the flip side i am curious what kind of conversations were going on in the marc camp during that sepang weekend #alzamora's two big contributions to the rosquez saga: 1) trying to stop marc from going to the ranch #and 2) telling vale that marc was mad at him for argentina and assen and in doing so helping back up vale's theory #what was he cooking

[cemeteryspider]

Imagine Dating Mark Grayson With Dazzler's Powers

Invincible! Mark Grayson x Dazzler! Reader

Summary: Going on a date to Italy with Mark Grayson

Word Count: 327

Mark carried you through the sky and pointed at different countries as they came and went. Something you and Eve had been helping him with these past few weeks to ensure he actually graduates from high school.

"There's Spain and There's France! Oh and there is our destination" He sped up and your ears and eyes adjusted accordingly thanks to your immunity to sound, aka Mark breaking the sound barrier.

As he landed in an Italian alley, the streets unfolded with charm. Cobblestone paths, vibrant shops, and the aroma of local cuisine captivated your senses. Mark swiftly changed into civilian attire, and you reveled in the picturesque surroundings.

Hand in hand, you strolled, Mark grinning. "Well? What do you think"

"I think, this is the best date anyone has ever taken me on", You smiled at him and allowed your feet to carry you in any direction you saw fit.

After purchasing a few things that would arrive at your house by mail in a day or two, thank you superstar status, you were stopped by some young girls who insisted on a picture with you.

You looked over at Mark who shrugged his shoulders and took the phone from the girl. With a quick snap the girls giggled and ran to the nearest bench, probably to text all of their friends.

"Sorry about that, sometimes I forget that people know who I am outside of the costume too", Many people recognized you as Dazzler the superhero, while you were in costume, however, many more recognized you as a hit pop singer, who had topped the charts since your sophomore year in high school.

"Hey, no need to apologize, I think it's great that people know how amazing you are, costumes, suits, or plain you"

"Hey, now you think I'm plain?" You teased.

"Sorry, that's... I meant..." You pressed a soft kiss to his lips and let out a small chuckle.

"I'm just kidding, now I'm starving"

~~~

Author's Note: Sorry this short, but I just wanted to write something for Invincible and after two five part series I think this was a good way to ease back into writing.

#mark grayson x reader #invincible x reader #mark grayson imagine #invincible imagine #invincible #mark grayson #invincible show #superhero reader