#prep the ball point pens

[queenofthewolves99]

One.

More.

WEEK.

#ididntwannabeahalfblood #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #stockpile all the blue food #get your happy meals #prep the ball point pens #AND DYE YOUR CHERRY COKE BLUE #GAME DAY IS FAST APPROACHING

[xwingsandohs]

‘Haunted Beauty’ | Spencer Reid

prompt: ‘Person A likes to sketch, and B catches them sketching, and asks what they are drawing. Person A had been drawing B, so they stutter out an excuse while slamming their sketchbook closed.’

word count: 2.3k

content warnings?: none. fluff

a/n: this is the beginning of a renaissance where i come back to tumblr. bare with me while i reformat stuff and checkout my recent posts if ya can

When you reach eleven days without being called out to the field for a case, there’s a lull in the BAU that leaves everyone bored and irritable.

Morgan sits at his corner desk twiddling his pen, spinning on his chair and occasionally ripping up small pieces of paper to aim at someone’s (usually Reid’s) head. His aim is terrible, only because the small, rolled-up balls weigh so little, so you can watch with suppressed giggles until Reid finally notices his game. A hit to the head leads to an irritated “Hey!” - While you and Morgan laugh openly.

Morgan walks over to ruffle the messy hair of your colleague and picks up the small mess he’s left on the floor around him- Spencer shuts the small notebook he’d been working in at the disruption.

You spin around on your chair to see Emily not-so-subtly looking for cheap flights on her laptop- one of her favourite ways to guarantee her time-off is approved is by booking the trip before she even puts in the request. There’s no need for the efforts really, Hotch has never denied a PTO request since your jobs are so demanding, though it doesn’t hurt to be sure.

JJ comes up behind Emily waving an empty mug, asking if she wants another coffee too. She nods, groans into a “God, yes please.” - before JJ begins to ask about her vacation plans and where she hopes to go, pointing at her computer.

Coffee sounds like a fantastic idea, so you stand from your chair and do a lazy spin towards Morgan - “Yes please, mama.” - and taking the empty cup from Spencer’s extended hand too before he even gets the chance to ask. You smile at him warmly- and before you even get a chance to lean over and see what he’s been working on, he’s slammed his notebook shut again and said “Actually, I could do with a break too, I’ll join you.”

You nod and shrug acceptingly, and Spencer jogs across to JJ when she shouts to make enough for everyone, and grabs the two mugs from her hand as well. “Thanks, Spence.”

It takes you only a minute to prep the coffee, replacing the filter and dumping in some grounds and Spencer has swooped in to fill up the water jug before you get the chance. You thank him, and watch as he turns to the sink in the small kitchenette, flicks the tap on and watches as the water fills its container.

He’s wearing a comfortable-looking navy cardigan, it’s well-fitting and you’re acutely aware of how he’s allowed his own sense of style to come through in his working wardrobe over his years in the BAU. You allow yourself an indulgent look at your co-worker while his back is to you, grinning slightly as you enjoy the view.

“How’s the case files?” He asks as he finishes loading the machine and presses the button to let the coffee drip. His hands glide in their motions after so long of using the machine most days.

“I finished all my consults, now it’s just an endless pile of cold cases to keep me busy.” You drag out a few vowels as you speak, teetering close to yawning in exasperation but the easy nights at home have kept you well-rested.

“Me too.” He shrugs, gently pushing the tub of sugar closer to the mugs to use when the coffee has finished.

“What are you making notes on?” You ask, and lean your body comfortably against the countertop.

“Notes?” He scrunches his face.

“You’ve been scribbling in your notebook for the past half hour.” “Oh!”

Realisation washes over his face, and you wonder if there’s a reason for his unusually cloudy brain. You laugh just once and raise an eyebrow in confusion at him.

“Nothing in particular, just some musings to keep me busy.” He shrugs.

There’s an old metal tin sitting on the side, some cookies that an agent had made and brought in for everyone to take from. You reach across and open it, looking closely for the biggest one before taking it. You snap it in half and present the biggest piece to the man beside you.

“Thanks.” He utters, before taking an indulgent bite.

“What kind of musings are keeping Dr Reid busy on this fine Thursday afternoon?” You ask with a glint in your eye.

He shrugs, and begins to mumble through his cookie-filled mouth before pausing to actually swallow before he speaks. His action makes you giggle. “I was asked if I’d like to do a guest lecture on profiling for the FBI Academy and I’m not really sure if I want to do it.”

“Why not?” You ask sincerely.

“I think a lot of my stories about the job might change their mind about working here.” He smiles, you both laugh, and then he shakes his head. He’s not wrong. “No, I’m kidding. I’m just not sure if I’m ready for doing something like that alone, I think there’s a lot of pressure for lecturers to be engaging and informative, and I tend to go off on a tangent.”

“I love your tangents.” You reply honestly and with a smile, which he returns appreciatively, and a little rosy in the cheeks. “But I know what you mean, I’m a profiler for a living but I don’t think I could get on a stage and give a good lecture on it.”

“I, um,” He smiles wistfully and nods his head as he speaks, something he frequently does. “I’d love to run my own classes at the Academy or maybe Georgetown one day, but I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility yet.”

He’d be a fantastic professor, you know this. And you’re sure he’d have a lecture full of hopeful psychology fanatics just like you both once were. “Maybe a guest lecture is a good trial run, even if it’s a little out of your comfort zone.”

“Yeah.” He smiles, then begins to pour out the coffees. Each mug is almost identical- white or navy with some variation of the FBI logo on, but somehow he knows who’s is who’s, and leaves enough room for cream in cups that need it. “Which case would you choose?”

“For a guest lecture?” He nods. “Um…”

It’s difficult, while every case is important you know that a balance needs to be found in a case chosen for an Academy lecture- it can’t be too standard, it wouldn’t show off why your jobs are so important or might even struggle to keep the audience interested. But you can’t choose one of your worst cases either, some of them can be particularly heavy even for you all to think back on.

“Maybe the zodiac imitator?” You suggest with a shrug. “You can go through how you deduced it wasn’t the real zodiac, looking for messages in online articles, Garcia going through MENSA records, you could even talk about navigating all the reporters and public attention.”

“Y’know, I was thinking about that one.” He agrees and you tap his arm playfully. “The trainees always enjoy the imitator cases.”

“As much as you can enjoy this kinda thing, right?” You laugh humorlessly. Spencer knows everyone’s coffee preference off by heart, you know that, but it still makes you feel a little hot when he perfects your drink and holds it out to you.

“Maybe ‘interested in’ would be a better way to put it.” He corrects himself with a similar chuckle. You nod in agreement.

You both take a small moment to enjoy a sip of your drinks before taking the rest of the mugs to the members of your team- Morgan grins at Reid as he passes his mug, and JJ and Emily thank you when you bring their drinks too.

“What do you think,” JJ calls you by name. “Where would you go for a beach holiday?”

“Beach?” You say and laugh lightly. “Wherever Morgan’s not going.”

They both grin and laugh, and you hear Emily begin to say “Y’know I’ve seen those pictures of Morgan’s Jamaican resort…”

You head back to your own desk, you have Reid right in front of you and Morgan at a table across from you both, it makes for easy conversation and sharing of the sweet treats you bring in when you try to hide them from the rest of the team- more for you that way. Every so often you stop on your way to work and fill up a pick ‘n’ mix, you know by now that Spencer’s favourites are the chocolate jazzles and Morgan loves anything sour.

Emily shouts for Morgan to help her find a holiday destination, so he shakes his head playfully and taps you on the shoulder as he walks past you.

The coffee is perfect as you sip it, just slightly hot, not too sweet and not too strong. You cradle it between two hands as you step past your desk and stop in front of Spencer’s, leaning gently against the table. He looks up at you, mid sip, and raises his eyebrows to ask what you need from him.

“Can I see what you’ve been writing?” You ask innocently, pointing at the small brown book that sits central on his desk. A pen sticks out of the top of it to hold the page he was using, and he seems unusually shocked by your question.

You’re profilers, though Spencer is a surprisingly good liar, you have a feeling he wasn’t pondering a guest lecture for the Academy.

“There’s nothing important in there.” He shakes his head and instinctively goes to pull it out of reach.

“C’mon, Reid!” You giggle, putting your coffee cup down in a space on his desk. “I just wanna know what’s been keeping you occupied. You’ve been scribbling in it all afternoon, so secretively too.”

“I-I’m not-” He pauses, stuttering and puts his own mug down and out of reach before pulling the pen from between the pages of his notebook. He leaves the brown pad where it is. “being secretive, why do you want to see?”

“I’m just curious.” You say, bowing your head in apology. “I didn’t mean to pry, I’ll just leave you to it.”

“N-no, wait,” He stops you, seeing your small change in demeanour and immediately washing with guilt. Your body language changes just slightly, not quite closed off but a little less open and maybe a smidge of your own guilt for possibly upsetting him. He’s not upset, and he certainly does want you to be. “I’m sorry. I-I’m just, um,”

You turn back to him, offering another apologetic look. It’s not necessary, and he holds the notebook tightly in his hand, looking at it while he thinks. “Would you like to see?”

“Only if you want me to.”

“Why not?” He hums, gently passing the small brown book to you. You take it, just as gently, curling a finger into the gap created by the pen to hold the open page.

The brown book is worn on the edges, creased from opening so many times and his recent page is over half way through. You’ve seen him scribble in it frequently, and you’ve seen the way he slips it into his satchel at the end of the day- it’s important to him, you know that.

You open the page and it’s a drawing, a sketch in black biro. You’ve seen some of Reid’s drawings before- wavy lines, shrunken eyes and wiry hair, it’s his own unique style of illustration and you love his hidden passion for it. His drawings have been of imaginary characters, animals, even halloween decorations; they have a haunted aspect to them and you admire his talent for capturing the way he sees the world. This one is adorned with small wavy lines bouncing off the central figure.

“It’s-” This one you recognise, an unhidden smile and the shape of the hair. “-me. You drew me?”

“Um… yeah.” He smiles, but it doesn’t hide his nerves as he shifts in his chair while you look over the lines he’s made.

It’s today, you know the top you’re wearing today and one wiggly line for the chair you’ve been perched on. Your hair is styled as it is today, but you haven’t smiled so brightly today, you haven’t had the reason. That part, you realise, is from his memory. You like that he thinks of you as a happy person- the lines show that too, they add a bright, liveliness to the illustration of you.

There’s small flowers on the page adjacent- lavender, daisies, chrysanthemums, with what you assume is the scientific name underneath. They dot across the page like a printed pattern, but with the handwriting you know of Spencer all around. Underneath the drawing of you, though you’re not sure if it’s meant to describe both pages, it says “Beautiful”.

“Wow, Spence- I mean- Spencer,” You stutter over your words, grinning and feeling flushed at the thought of him spending his afternoon drawing you so dearly. “It’s amazing, you’re really good at art, y’know.”

“Thanks.” He replies sweetly, face unabashedly pink and smiling from ear to ear. “It’s um, really tempting to draw you when you’re sitting right across from me. I wanted to try and capture your smile but my drawings have given you more of a… haunting beauty.”

You don’t know what to say, still smiling and stuttering over nothing at all as you look over to him, to the drawing, then him again. His pride in his work makes his face light up in a way you rarely see on the job. “A-and Spence is fine, if you like.”

“Thanks for letting me see, Spence.” You say, dancing lightly around the last word, an affectionate nickname you know is only reserved for the special few. It feels good to be special to him. “I’ve never been very good at drawing.”

“I don’t think skill matters when you’re passionate about what you’re trying to recreate on the page.” He says with a simple smile, then bites down on his bottom lip to stop it from being too bright.

“You think so?” “Yeah.”

—

a/n: and just for funsies…

#writing #catching the other doing something cute prompts #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid drabble #spencer reid prompts

[twsted-kinks]

[!!INCOMPLETE!!] Janitor!MC at NRC (a smut series)

Part 4: Floyd, Jade, and Azul

>Minors and ageless blogs DNI<

This series is discontinued but found this in my drafts and people wanna see it so here.

Series Content: Noncon/dubcon, forced stripping, unsafe sex, public sex, coercion, somnophilia, forced to wear skimpy clothing, bondage and other BDSM things, forced eye contact, biting/hickies, blood, weird dick shapes, watersports, forced prostitution, gangbang, spanking, forced exhibition, breaking in to steal your stuff and fuck you, noncon voyeurism, choking, blood, small and large object insertion, (may add more)

Series Masterlist

Floyd and Jade

Floyd and Jade are assholes. They do not care about your feelings and just want to laugh at you. Early on in your 'employment' the tweels would touch you. Jade would be a bit discreet and simply caress you under your skirt and caging you between him and a wall so he can touch your chest. Floyd was less discreet just pulling up your skirt and pulling down the hem of your top and touching you freely. Together they were even worse, cornering you and touching you. They both also love to degrade you, calling you a "slut," "cum dump," "whore," etc. They quickly grew bolder with you.

In the present day, you're just a fleshlight to them, a pretty little toy to use and abuse. Jade will make you bend over in the middle of the hallway (either threatening you with a smile or simply forcing you physically), showing every passerby with their phone out your asshole and cunt/dick. He spreads your cheeks and laughs at how your asshole twitches in front of him. He will put random objects in your asshole, pens, pencils, etc. And make you thank him for it by sucking his dick. He'll write degrading things on your body with arrows pointing to your mouth and hole(s) while he paints them with his cum. Jade spanks your ass and cunt/dick until you're crying. Jade also loves to choke you and watching you struggle to breathe. Some days though, Jade will just bend you over, spit on your asshole, and just shove his cock in you. No prep. He just fucks you deep and hard as you cry from the pain. Makes you stroke your cock/rub your click as he fucks your ass so he can feel you cum on his cock. By the time he's done with you, you're limp in his arms. After he fills you with his cum, he just drops you to the ground. What others do with you is none of his business.

Floyd is both less and more cruel in ways. He doesn't really try to humiliate you, but he doesn't give a fuck who's around. If you enter a classroom during a class and Floyd is there. He will just pull you over to his desk and just throw you over the table to either fuck your face or your hole(s). He also bites you a lot. Your shoulders are always scared and bloodied because of him. One of his favorite ways of using you is after basketball club. He'll drag you in the locker room and tie you to a bench with whatever fabric he can find, putting your body in painful positions, and just fucks you. He'll cum a couple of times, get bored, and then everyone else has free access to you. Floyd also doesn't prep you. He just lines up his cock and fucks any free hole you got.

Together though. The twins are hell. Jade likes to shoce things up your ass and Floyd likes to push your body so things never end well. So far things they've shoved up your ass includw a broom handle, plastic and metal water bottles, a lot of markers, shampoo bottles, a fist, baseballs and tennis balls, a baseball bat, a 2 liter bottle, etc. They always make you hold your asshole open once you finally push out whatever object they put in you so they can jerk off, point their cocks at you hole, and cum in your ass. They don't really care about recording you, but usually they gather an audience of either a couple people or an entire crowd as they destroy your asshole. When they get bored, they just leave you, and the audience steps in to have their fun.

One day, Jade and Floyd bring you to the Monstro Lounge and you're stripped of your clothing, forced to drink a potion that lets you breathe underwater,, and thrown into the aquarium. The tweels join you soon after and you see their mer forms for the first time. They toy with you, chasing you around the pool and biting different parts of your body. They take turns squeezing you and running their long tongues along your body. A large suction cup dildo is stuck to the glass.

You're asshole was guided to the dildo while patrons watch with phones recording and cocks out. With your legs spread, the tweels shove you onto the dildo, pushing you down further and further until your ass is flush against the glass. You try to squirm away, but the tweels hold your arms and legs in place. Your mouth opens in a silent moan as the noticeable bulge in your stomach begins to move. The dildo inside of you begins to move. It's slow at first, but quickly speeds up and fucks your ass. This and the fact one of the tweels is playing with your cock/clit while the other plays with your chest leads to you cumming quickly.

... (People are free to add to this if they want. If you want to know the general plan I had: Jade and Floyd take turns using MC in front of the audience until closing time. After, Azul brings MC into his office and fucks them over his desk. He actually takes care if MC, making them cum, then offers clothes to them and lets them head back to their residence. You DO NOT have to follow this if you wanna add.)

#twst smut #twst writings #twst x reader #twst thots #dubcon #twst jade smut #twst floyd smut #twst azul smut

[steviewashere]

Happy Doing Taxes With You

Rating: General CW: None apply! Tags: Established Relationship, Married Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Domestic Fluff, Tooth-rotting Fluff, Dialogue Light, Doing Mundane Things With One Another

For the @steddielovemonth prompt: "Love is being able to exist together comfortably, sitting side by side and doing your own thing."

💕—————💕

Sundays were for work and complete and utter silence in their house. Now, it wasn’t for big errands like going to the bank or out grocery shopping or any of that nonsense. It was the small things. Things that could be completed over time, if necessary, but were still manageable enough that they could be done in a day or so. This was the day for house chores: laundry, mopping, vacuuming, meal prep. It was a day for: returning their DVD rentals, getting a quick tire pressure check, going through the car wash. It was another simple day of: sit in silence and bask in each other’s easy glow.

During tax season, though, Sundays were for paperwork. Checkbook balancing, getting their receipts in order, finalizing the songwriting (in Eddie’s case), editing that week’s lesson plan (in Steve’s).

This particular Sunday morning, the tax season of 2012, it was for genuine tax paperwork. Collecting W-2s and miscellaneous necessary purchases, the student loan payment on Steve’s part, a car loan for Eddie. It was a coffee and bagels kind of morning. It was a sit at the dining table and let Poncho snooze peacefully on the couch, curled up in a ball, purring away the rays of sunlight beaming on him. A morning in which Steve didn’t contemplate dying his hair to cover up the white streaks or notice how dirty his everyday glasses were, where instead he sat on Eddie’s right, eighth grade exams laid out in front of him, a red pen in hand to mark off errors. One where Eddie has the tax documents, the Casio calculator the size of a small paperback book, his hair tied up (the white dispersed and gentle), his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, his tongue tucked into his bottom lip, leaning back with his reading glasses perched low on his nose, and doing all the math for the both of them.

Steve enjoyed this kind of work. The warmth in it all. Their blinds half open. The dust of their space floating through the air in a gentle gust. Pens making soft taps against the dining table as it made strokes on their respective papers.

He loved sipping noisily on his coffee every once in a while, which earned a small snort from Eddie. Loved letting his eyes drift for a moment, basking in Eddie’s careful left hand marking beautifully all the big numbers that Steve fucking hated. Even loved looking at the same test questions for hours on end, if it all meant soaking up the soft heat of Eddie’s body next to his.

Eventually, though, they both hit a wall. Eddie, because he needs a moment to stand on their back porch and look out at the backyard, as the butterflies settled on the flower garden Steve started, taking in the crisp March breeze, maybe smoking a cigarette if he felt inclined to do so—just away from the numbers that began to bleed together. Steve, well all those years twirling bats and wringing things around with his hands finally caught up to him, a bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists—and also, for the same reason, the words bled together. (There’s so much English literature that he can consume. And he’s had to read fifteen summaries on The Outsiders.)

So, they take their warm, room temp coffees. A fresh onion bagel from the toaster, smothered in cream cheese and some slightly bitter beet jam (Steve’s own specialty, he’d raised the beets like children). And they go stand outside next to each other.

Elbows on the fencing of their wraparound porch. Faces pointed towards the calmly stirring grass. Slurping noisily, again Eddie snorts, and again, Steve can’t contain his smile. Their bagels go quick. Crumbs littering the porch’s wood. Cream cheese lightly stuck to the corners of their mouths, tongues darting out like party noisemakers.

Eddie takes Steve’s left hand and squeezes. The wedding band on Steve’s finger clinking against Eddie’s old, well loved mood ring that can only show one color:

Pink.

Steve squeezes back with passion. Knowing that, in about fifteen or twenty or forty minutes, they’ll go back inside and sit back down at the dining table, noses to their paperwork, ruminating on numbers and words. Steve’ll run out of papers to grade, he’ll rub a palm down Eddie’s back, stirring him gently. He’ll kiss Eddie’s cheek, his rough stubble itching at Steve’s chapstick softened lips. They’ll discuss: “Tilapia and couscous? Or should we celebrate being done with our work?” Steve knows he won’t be frying up fish. “Pizza and beer and Golden Girls?” Eddie will ask.

He won’t be able to say no, Steve knows that. He finds it easier to comply with Eddie. To go along with it. After all, doing taxes and house work and discussing dinners, four years wedded but married since 1995—being together since 1986—Steve knows his life is nothing but flat plains and lavender. No more monsters. No more bloodshed. Just simple things.

Like leaning into Eddie’s side, their hands still joined, coffee cups empty, breath mingling as cream cheese and onion bagels. Looking out on their backyard. Standing on the wraparound porch that Eddie promised. In the glow of midday sunlight and one another.

“Love you,” Steve whispers, voice hesitant to break the quiet.

“I love you, too,” Eddie promises just as soft.

💕—————💕 I realized the other day that like all of my steddielovemonth works can be read in such a way that you follow Steve and Eddie from before they got together to when they got married. So, I guess this kind of a married Steve and Eddie AU now, too.

#stranger things #steddie #fanfiction #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddielovemonth #day 14 #domestic fluff #married steve harrington/eddie munson

[solarlotus]

Prompt: Obikin but make it a modern gay bathhouse encounter

Enjoyed this one. Very NSFW, under the cut

Anakin had prepped, paid the entrance fee and was now arranging his towel in a private booth of the bath house. It was warm, steam billlowed from the steam room and jacuzzi area, he could hear the splash of water and the slap of flesh on flesh, the grunts of pleasure.

He was here for that, anonymous sex after a week of stress and deadlines. His business was successful, he was successful, but it came at a cost. There was no time for dating, for relationships, even friendships took a back seat. It was all about the business and his business partner, Obi Wan.

But tonight Anakin would forget the business, forget Obi Wan and his constant intrusion into Anakin's thoughts and dreams. Tonight Anakin was here to get fucked, to get dicked down hard and filled with as many loads of spunk as he could hold. He took the pen that hung by the whiteboard outside the booth and wrote the words 'fill me'. Simple and to the point, then he arranged himself on the soft towels, face down, ass up, hole lubed and fingered open.

His first visitor greeted him with a slap across the butt cheeks, squeezed and carressed him before lining up and filling him with a thick cock. Anakin groaned, his own prick hardening as he was fucked hard and fast, the man behind him was big, thick thighs, heavy balls and a hairy torso that pressed against Anakin's back as he came, filling Anakin with his first precious load of the night.

The next man was fair and leaner, his cock shorter, but thick enough to cause Anakin to cry out as it breached him. Anakin stole a glace as long blond hair tickled his back and tatooed arms gripped his hips, but he didn't care what they looked like, what he wanted was cock, lots of it in his greedy hole, until he was fucked beyond all reason.

There were 4 more before the last, Anakin came for the first time as the third man fucked him. By the time the last man came in he was dripping with come, wet all over with sweat, his hole a sloppy mess. Anakin buried his face in the towels, no longer capable of speech, just a moaning incoherent begging, asking for cock, more and more.

The hands that pulled his buttocks apart were firm yet gentle, tsked at the mess leaking from him and moved down to tug at his balls, earning a loud moan.

'Such a sensitive boy,' the man said. Anakin felt as if he was in a dream, it sounded like Obi Wan, the object of so many fantasies. He decided to keep his head buried in the towel, it was a nice illusion, to be fucked by Obi Wan, just once.

Fingers breached him next, probing, adding more lube to the tacky come that coated his entrace. 'So wet, so full of come,' the man said, still speaking in Obi Wan's posh English accent. 'You've been fucked by every cock here. Can you take another?'

Anakin moaned eagerly, beyond words, wiggling his ass in what he hoped was an inviting manner. He heard the man laugh, then his ass was slapped before he was filled again.

This one was the biggest, Anakin still felt the stretch despite being filled multiple times, he was careful too, still giving Anakin time to adjust before Anakin's mewling urged him to pick up the pace and fuck him hard.

Anakin couldn't hold himself up any longer, his knees went from under him, but the man caught his waist, eased him down and continued fucking him, lying over his back now, a beard tickling Anakin's neck and shoulders as he kissed him and whispered sweet nothings.

'You feel so perfect, so wet, you're just like him, just like my Ani. Fuck, you could be him, so beautiful, you even have a mole...' the man kissed the mole on the back of Anakin's neck and moaned. 'Anakin!'

Anakin came at that, his cock spurting onto the towel as the man fucked him through it. Anakin cried out as his oversensitive hole was fucked, just a few more ragged strokes as the man deposited his load noisily inside him.

'Fuck,' the man said, rolling off him. 'Are you ok? Here.' Anakin was being gently wiped off with a fresh towel, he felt the cool dampness of wet wipes between his legs and the crack of the seal on a drinks bottle being opened.

'Drink,' the man commanded, rolling him over. Then there was a gasp. 'Anakin!' Obi Wan cried.

'Obi,' Anakin mumbled. 'It was you.' His face broke into a grin, he was too fucked out to show restraint or hide his feelings. 'It was you,' Anakin smiled, dazed and fuzzy headed as Obi Wan took him in his arms.

#obikin #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #bath house #modern au #lots of fucking #prompt fill #answered asks

[jungle-angel]

12 Strong

Summary: Man’s best friend makes one hell of a team

Notes: Title taken from one of my favorite movies, plus I can’t pass up the thought of Bob and the rest of the team with a bunch of Siberian husky puppies!!! I may actually turn this into an AU but I’m not sure where that’s gonna go, so stay tuned my friends!!!

Pairings: Mentioned OCs, reader mentioned

Cheyenne Falls, OK

December 1st, 2022

“Ok so you guys have to be quick getting in and out because they’ll run,” Bob told the rest of the group. 

A messy but collective “you got it” rang out throughout the group as Bob unlocked the door to Joe’s workshed. The lights were still on with Joe inside as he prepped the coffee for the morning, the scratching of little nails on wood behind a gate and a series of high pitched barks and whines flying through the air. 

“Uh oh they heard you comin,” Joe chuckled. 

Rooster, Coyote, Payback, Phoenix and Fanboy could hardly believe what they were seeing. Twelve little husky puppies, each one different from the last, poked their little heads up from the pen where they slept with their mother and father, close enough to the pellet stove to keep warm. Their jaws all fell open at the sight, completely roped in by their adorable little faces. 

“Oh......my......God!!!” Phoenix exclaimed. “Oh my God, I want one!” 

“You want one?” Bob chuckled, picking the runt of the litter up into his arms and cradling him against his chest. “They all need homes.” 

“Ugh, Cole’s gonna kill me but I’ll talk him into it,” Phoenix said. 

“Bro like this one looks like he wants me,” Coyote remarked, pointing to a little black, white and grey one that was preoccupied with a ball. 

Bob rolled his eyes. Now he was really starting to question bringing everybody here. 

“Uh oh, here’s my mini me,” Hangman said, lifting a black and white one into the air. 

“They all got names?” Payback asked him. 

“Uh, let’s see......” Bob mused, trying to recall all of their names. “We’ve got four females and those are Maggie, Freya, Angel and Mouse. The seven other males in with them are Shorty, Mack, Koda, Togo, Socks, Diego and Shasta. This little guy here though......is Teeter.” 

“He’s kinda runty isn’t he?” Rooster remarked. “Why’d you guys name him Teeter?” 

“Well,” Joe said before Bob had a chance to answer. “Irene kinda got the idea from when we were all watching ‘Yellowstone’ the other night with Bob and (y/n).” 

“Plus he kinda teeters when he walks,” Bob chuckled. 

Bob set Teeter down on the floor, the little male puppy quite literally, teetering from one set of paws to the other as he walked. Nobody could resist the thought of playing with him, trying to get him to walk from one end of the group to the other as they circled around him. 

It wasn’t long before all the pups were scrambling to get out of the pen, some of them crawling across their laps and chewing on everyone’s bootlaces. Teeter chewed on the sleeves of Bob’s navy blue hoodie as the blizzard raged outside. 

“They’re gonna make one hell of a team someday,” Joe remarked. 

“You think?” Bob asked him. 

“I know it when I see it,” Joe told him. “Teeter will probably be leading them on too. You watch.”

Bob didn’t doubt it in the least. It was always the ones you least expected that made the best team leaders. 

#top gun maverick #robert bob floyd #bradley rooster bradshaw #natasha phoenix trace #reuben payback fitch #jake hangman seresin #mickey fanboy garcia #javy coyote machado #bob floyd x reader

[intergalacticwanderer]

I’m a couple months late at this point but - Critical Role campaign 2 Stranger Things AU.

The Mighty Nein come together as a rag tag group of mostly teens in Hawkins (including Caleb who escaped from a government project a couple years back and has pyrokinetic abilities, and Veth as his adoptive parent, though she’s actually only in her early 20s and mainly acts as a team mom) and they solve weird mysteries around town, including investigating the carnival that Yasha and Molly’s foster patent helped run, and helping to clear out a monster nest on the outskirts of town. Things turn tragic however when Fjord, Jester, and Yasha are taken and trapped in the upside down, and Molly seems to be killed when the rest of the Nein attempt a rescue. Eventually with the help of Nila (a parent in town who’s also missing a kid) and Caduceus (local odd ball who’s a recent high school graduate and is revealed to have minor healing abilities), they’re able to get the kidnapped members back, but they now have to deal with the fallout and grief of Molly’s apparent death.

Over the next year the group has a bunch of different crazy things happen, including Fjord being courted by and eventually rejecting a cult, Caleb running back into the government program that he escaped from, Jester finding out that her long time childhood pen pal isn’t who she thought he was (but he still ends up being an ally and wanting to help), Yasha getting mind controlled by Obann (an entity from the upside down), Caduceus locating his missing family, Beau being mentored by school gym teacher Dairon (who actually turns out to be an undercover government agent investigating the program Caleb escaped from), Veth finding out the husband she thought was dead is actually alive and in the custody of the Russians (and she has a kid?!), and actually working with the Russians hidden in the US that kidnapped Veth’s husband, including another teenager named Essek who also has psychic abilities (and is secretly a traitor to the Russian program and has given information to the American program Caleb had been used by).

Eventually, the group is investigating Vess DeRogna, who has connections to Caleb’s past, only to discover that she’s been brutally murdered (body contorted and blood from the eyes). Digging further they discover that a few years ago Vess had been working with a teenage prodigy named Lucien, and that while it’d been an interesting initial project Lucien had eventually gotten fed up and left, only to come back one final time seeking help with something. The group thinks they’re at a dead end... and then Lucien himself shows up in Hawkins. The Mighty Nein learn very quickly that while he looks like their friend Molly (and it IS the same body and not just a twin with there being the same tattoos) it is NOT their friend, and they scramble to figure out what his deal is and if it might be another case of mind control/possession like Yasha and Obann.

Through research, encounters with Lucien, and both intentional and unintentional visits to the upside down it is revealed that at some point while Lucien was working with Vess the upside down had gotten its claws into him, both influencing him and granting him powers, and that the final visit to Vess was to try and get help to mentally project into the upside down. She provided the help but for whatever reason (whether bad blood or wanting the results for herself or something else) Vess sabotaged the process, so that when Lucien attempted it with his friends it trapped his mind in the upside down, leaving the body behind and his friends presumed him dead. The body got buried, and through whatever weird twist of fate it somehow woke up and crawled out of the grave to become Molly.

Lucien is now working to bring the upside down fully into the real world, and the Mighty Nein have to travel to the upside down in person in a last ditch effort to stop him, everyone doing all the prep they can (such as Caleb and Essek teaching each other new psychic abilities). Getting there he’s fused into this huge monstrosity in the upside down with fleshy, bony protrusions looking like wings and horns and his legs not even visible, and the fight gets extremely dicey with multiple close calls before they’re able to take him down. Caleb uses his abilities to extract the body from the upside down’s intrusions and restore it to its previous state, but no matter what he does even with a pulse it’s completely catatonic. Everyone’s devastated that they can’t seem to bring Molly back even with Lucien gone, before Caduceus quietly asks to try something. Pulling on some of the energy of the upside down and using his friends to stabilize things he pushes past the limit of his healing abilities (blowing them out in the process and turning part of his hair white) and is able to bring back consciousness to the body.

Their rescued friend isn’t ever able to completely go back to the way he was (just due to the massive trauma of what happened and Caduceus’ abilities only being able to do so much), but he does find his friends familiar and soon enough he’s able to recover and choose the new name Kingsley. The Nein are finally able to start figuring out what they actually want to do with their lives, with college and romantic entanglements and many other things fast approaching, and while it’s going to be a hell of a lot to figure out they’re at least able to do it together.

#Critical Role #The Mighty Nein #stranger things au #katieyouneedtocatchup #this pretty much originated from my brain linking Lucien and Stranger Things Vecna #Lucien Tavelle

[k00282830]

Prep for Fota

Aaron Blaise

Stuart Sumida

In preparation for heading to Fota tomorrow, @ysweeneylsad sent us a couple of videos to watch about studying and drawing live animals.

Aaron Blaise

The first one was by Aaron Blaise whos also known as "creature art teacher" online. In this video he explains how he prefers to draw animals in person out in the wild as you get to study them better than you would from photos and a better feel for how they're structured and proportioned. He seems to mostly draw gestures in pen, specifically ball point pens and brush pens. He talks about how sometimes (especially on that trip) he went to a farm/zoo to sketch and got chances to draw a variety of animals; from leopards to wolves and bears. He talks about how good it is to have as many rough sketches for future reference and ideas rather than focusing on a few high quality detailed works.

He really encourages everyone to go out and draw animals from their habitats in this video.

In this next video he talks about "essentials of animal drawing" which consists of stuff such as anatomy and how to draw animals from your head.

He mentions our "visual library" often, this is a term I've heard from people at college so its a familiar word. He talks about how its good to know what animals you will be drawing because that allows you to brush up on your animal anatomy. This is similar to something I have tried to do, especially knowing that I struggle with drawing animals.

You can see in one of my previous posts my attempt at practicing sketching animal shapes and seeing if I could figure out how their body is structured underneath. He talks about how rather than memorizing each animal specifically, he memorizes each of their heads, legs, bodies and such in terms of shapes as you can usually mix and match, for example all four legged animals seem to have similar shapes and I also noticed that I had spotted this in my past animal study.

In his study below he shows how legs on these animals work in similar ways; "scapula to shoulder into elbow to the wrist and rest of the feet."

He mentions how seeing these animals live and drawing them from a live reference, you often see these anatomies/bones in motion and working.

Tonight I plan to do some studies on big cats especially before my trip to Fota because I know I always enjoy watching those move around in any zoo. I might also see if I can work on looking at kangaroo anatomies and comparing those to the anatomy of a wallaby. Im curious if theres much of a difference as I have seen them roaming around fota.

In the next part of this video we see Aaron out at a farm and we see his drawing process of drawing a donkey but he talks us through his thought process no matter the animal.

He talks about how important it is to not start drawing immediately and to just observe the animal for a while, studying their form and how they move. He mentions how basic anatomy knowledge is very helpful for when the animal moves and you have started drawing an animal in a specific pose.

He tells us that observing is better than getting an amazing drawer as its important to get information. I feel like this will be something I will struggle to do as I often am a perfectionist when I can be so tomorrow I plan to try keeping to quick observational drawings rather than focusing on a perfect drawing. I might try to sketch mostly in pen as this has helped me keep a more observational study sketch going instead of constantly erasing and redrawing a particular part.

He talks about how handy it is to have animals that move around for study sketches and that being at a farm is interesting because you get to see a couple different animals come and go.

In one part of the video he completely leaves the sketch as the donkey gets close again and instead starts a detail sketch of the donkeys eye as this isnt something he gets to observe in detail all the time.

These are his finished donkey sketches before he moved onto drawing goats.

He talks about his supplies to help prevent any back pains and allow him to sketch for longer, such as a chair and the board for the sketchbook.

He again reinforces studying animal anatomies before going to draw them when you know what you will draw. This to me shows that he thinks this is a very important tip that has helped him draw and study animals. "its not about getting great drawings, its about gathering information" is something he also kept repeating.

Stuart Sumida

Stuart Sumida is an anatomy consultant and a professor of biology / a paleontologist. This talk was conducted through an online call, this talk was titled "why being a generalist is not a bad thing". He talks about how as a paleontologist he teaches human anatomy to doctors and animal anatomy to vets and so on. His talk is inspired by a book called "range: why generalists triumph in a specialized world" where he talks about how scientists have known this for a while.

I feel like this also stands for artists in a sense of needing to know how to draw a lot of different subjects and themes. This is confirmed by him telling students that they often hear that you often have to work your way up the ladder in the industry and you have to start anywhere you can and then work towards the position you want.

Below you can see 5 rules Stuart Sumida likes to follow in the industry.

He talks about how they broke down the animals in lion king into smaller groups to teach the staff in a more generalized way rather than focusing on each specific animal.

He talks about how animals differ based on what they eat / whether they are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores as seen in this example of a horse (herbivore) vs a cheetah (carnivore) running/galloping.

He talks about how skeletons and muscles are very important for drawing animals and followed it with these sketches of realistic dogs and a cartoon one.

A handy website he shares is DigiMorph.org which has 3d animal skulls and skeletons.

Overall

watching these videos helped me feel more prepared for tomorrows trip to Fota and it made me realize there is so much that I have yet to learn about drawing animals. I plan to use some of the mentioned techniques tomorrow if possible while drawing live animals.

#animation #art study #digital animation #animation and motion design #Youtube

[brightgnosis]

I had to cancel our DnD game for tomorrow; our first real game again as a group in the 2 years since I got sick (save the 1 game I did after I got my new rig and was semi-Human again).

I feel wretched about it. But I'm tired from the weather and tired from the Antiquing today. To top it off, I still need to prep for the game- which includes setting up my Husband's new Character Sheet on R20, since he's switching classes (again).

And that generally wouldn't be a big deal. We decided, coming back, that we'd be starting an hour later than the last time we played consistently, since I need longer to wake up in the mornings now with my fibro. So I could just prep then go to sleep, and drink some coffee. And I'd be ok, but I'd be tired. And since my players are literally out in the middle of nowhere with no idea where they are (because they were literally emergency teleported to the middle of nowhere their last session by a lvl 20 character), that'd've been ok for that session.

Then my Husband informed me ... Daylight Savings is, in fact, still a thing that exists- and my Google Calendar, which is usually amazing at telling me when it's coming up so that I can prepare for it, dropped the ball this year. So I had no idea. I legitimately thought we'd actually abolished it because of that. But as it turns out, no. We haven't. It goes into effect tonight, in fact.

Which means that on top of being tired from the weather, tired from antiquing, and underprepped (and potentially on the verge of a flair) ... I'll be missing an hour of sleep and have had the point of starting the game an hour late completely nullified on top of that.

I can't do a game like that. There's no way. But it doesn't stop me from feeling horrid about canceling when the next available slot to play isn't for another 6 weeks+ 😭 Everyone's being so kind about it, though, and reminding me of how important it is to listen to my body.

I don't know how I wound up with such wonderful friends / players, though. But I'm so grateful for them.

I'm going to run my Husband through a couple pen and paper oneshots of his choice, of his own, over his vacation as a consolation prize, for our anniversary. Especially since he was looking forward to it (and playing with his new class) the most since it was the kick-off to his vacation.

#Personal #Things Go Boom #2023 #NonTrad Housewife #NonTrad Homemaker #Pagan Homemaker #Pagan Housewife #Homemaker #Homemaking #Housewife #NonTrad Homemaking #Pagan Homemaking #Dungeons & Dragons

[racingliners]

Life In The Fast Lane Chapter 5 - 2023 Race 1: Australia (Part 1)

Rating: Teen & Up

Warnings: None apply

Pairings: Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s); OFCs & OMCs

Work Tags: Re-write of a previous work; Mentions of IRL current and past F1 figures; Eventual romance; friends to lovers; found family/work family; actual family; racing drivers and their various shenanigans; how to handle pressure (and how not to); with a sprinkling of the power of friendship; tags will be updated as work progresses

Chapter 5/57

Word count: 8.6k

Summary: Anticipation builds for the first race of the 2023 season

As this is an original work, I’ve made up an entire fictional grid of drivers which are listed below! (with the 2023 teams for the most part, Audi are there for eventual plot reasons)

2023 Teams & Drivers Red Bull - Benedikt Schmitz (SUI) & Alistair Mitchell (GBR) Ferrari - Giovanni Carotti (ITA) & Teo Martinez (ARG) McLaren - James Hewitt (GBR) & Sophie Knightsbridge (GBR) Mercedes - Nathan Watkins (CAN) & Marc Pavard (MON) Alpine - Cristóbal Vasquez (ESP) & Daniel Jakobsson (SWE) Aston Martin - Owen Nichols (NZL) & Aaron Jones (GBR) Alpha Tauri - Nico Dumont (FRA) & Antonio Lima (BRA) Audi - Erik Braun (GER) & Jan Martens (NED) Haas - Tadashi Sato (JPN) & Leon Bauer (AUT) Williams - Evan McKinley (AUS) & Aidan Glover (GBR)

Thursday 16th March – Melbourne

Much to Vanessa’s amusement, Sophie’s room was indeed a small suite. Though it was furnished in the exact same style as hers down to the soft grey curtains framing the windows. The living room area was compact, with a two-seater sofa opposite a flatscreen TV, and a glass coffee table with two armchairs next to a sleek black counter with a kettle, mugs, and baskets with complimentary biscuits and sachets of instant coffee and various kinds of tea.

“Charger, spare socks, notebook, ball point pens, marker pens, bottled water…” Sophie reeled off as she searched through her bag, triple checking to ensure she wasn’t leaving anything she needed behind. “Helmets are on the sofa” She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb and the two white Arai boxes. “Drinks bottle!” Sophie looked up with wide eyes and the smallest hint of panic in her voice.

“In my bag to be prepped when we get to the track”

“Okay…” Sophie sighed, first zipping up her bag, then double checking that her red paddock pass was still hanging around her neck. “Can you carry one of the boxes?”

“Sure” They took a box each from the grey sofa, and left once Sophie was happy she still had her phone, car keys and room key card in her pocket.

Richard was waiting for them in the lobby, dressed in his white collared team shirt, black shorts and trainers. As seemed to be the norm he was scrolling through his phone. Most likely checking emails or trying to juggle messages with various journalists.

“Morning Richard!” Sophie said brightly once they were a few metres away from him. He looked up, and greeted his colleagues with a smile as he pocketed his phone.

“Morning… ah you did get your nails done!” It was something that Vanessa and Sophie had been mulling over on the flight. And last night after dinner they had went over to the hotel’s spa, and had their nails painted papaya orange to celebrate Sophie’s first race weekend. “Are you both ready to go?”

Sophie and Vanessa briefly glanced at each other before nodding.

“Ready as we’ll ever be”

Richard led his colleagues out of the hotel lobby and towards the car park, where they stopped by a white Mercedes. One of the perks of McLaren using Mercedes engines was that their higher up personnel were granted the use of their road cars at some races. Sophie pulled the keys to the rental car out of her pocket and unlocked it, allowing the group to put their bags and boxes in the boot.

Sophie got in the driver’s seat, with Richard in the front in case there was any issues when they arrived at the circuit.

“I’m in!” Vanessa called from the back after being the last to fasten her seatbelt. Sophie started the car which hummed with the gentlest of purrs as she navigated her way through the car park and onto the road.

“Now you will want to follow the yellow arrows for F1 personnel, there should be signs once we’re over the bridge,” Richard explained. “I also put the car park stickers on the window last night when the car arrived, since you have more than enough to worry about this week”

Carefully, Sophie drove her way through the Thursday morning downtown Melbourne traffic, following the signs for Albert Park. After fifteen minutes the outer grandstands came into view, with marshals dressed in bright orange overalls topped with white and neon yellow bibs directing cars to the correct entrances. Sophie followed Richard’s instructions to head for Gate 1, where she stopped the car and rolled down the window as one marshal almost bounced over towards her.

“Good morning!” She looked to be in her late 30s or early 40s, with her hair hidden under a grey baseball cap. “How are we Richard?”

“Very well thanks Maggie!”

“Lovely to finally meet you!” She turned her attention towards Sophie, and nervously stuck out a hand, which Sophie happily shook. “Can I see everyone’s accreditation please? It’s procedure I’m afraid” Maggie asked as Sophie, Richard and Vanessa all showed their red F1 passes. “Right, everything looks in order” Maggie gave the stickers on the window one last look before taking a few steps back from the car. “You’re free to head on through, Richard will tell you where to go!”

“Thank you” Sophie gave Maggie a small wave as she drove down the narrow access road that briefly went under the circuit, where more marshals and volunteers stood waiting to give people directions. They were waved into the F1 personnel car park, and Sophie parked the car with a small sigh.

“Thanks for not letting me get lost” She said as the trio got out the car and collected their things from the boot. Richard shook his head with a small laugh, saying that it was all part of his job.

He led the way towards the paddock, with a few stops along the way as various marshals and volunteers asked Sophie for autographs and pictures. Each one she gave with a bright, wide smile, whishing everyone a nice day as they wished her luck for the race.

When the trio finally reached the paddock turnstiles, they scanned their red passes and walked on through. Some accredited photographers wearing similar bibs to the marshals snapped away as they headed down the narrow tarmac road, walking past parasol covered tables that sat in front of the temporary hospitality buildings until they saw the sign that sat outside McLaren’s assigned building, and quickly dived inside.

Richard directed Sophie and Vanessa down a narrow corridor, where Sophie’s small driver room sat at the end. In it was a massage table, a couple of chairs with a tiny coffee table in between, a clothes rail that Sophie’s race suits and fireproofs hung from, and a small mini fridge.

“Honey we’re home” Vanessa said quietly. Sophie chuckled as she set down the helmet box by the clothes rail, before looking around the small room.

“They only use the motorhome for the European races” She explained.

“Well I wouldn’t want to be the person responsible for shipping all that freight halfway across the world” Vanessa huffed. “So, how ridiculous is your schedule today?” Right on cue, Richard knocked on the door three times before stepping into the room carrying a few sheets of paper.

“Your schedule for the weekend, fresh from the printer” Richard pinned one sheet on the wall, and handed another to Vanessa. “Only makes sense to keep you in the loop. You’ve got about twenty minutes before your track walk, there’s pesto eggs going if you’re quick!” Richard left the room as quickly as he entered, and Sophie and Vanessa quickly followed him at the prospect of food.

  Most circuits on the F1 calendar were either purpose built, or temporary street circuits. Albert Park was unique in that it was a combination of both. Though the pit buildings were the only permanent structure, every February the complex was transformed with the roads being painted and grandstands, the paddock, hospitality areas and fan zones all built in a matter of weeks.

It certainly made a beautiful sight as Sophie walked with Vanessa and Richard towards the pits, where she would be meeting her engineers for their track walk. They made a beeline for the entrance to the McLaren garage, with Richard trying to avoid as many rogue journalists as possible. Once in the safety of the garage, their walking pace slowed to a stroll as they meandered through the passage way that opened out into the McLaren team garage.

It was predominantly white, with the exception of Sophie and James’ names written on either side of the wall in orange, and an almost unbroken row of LED screens going from one side to the other. Most of them had the team’s name and logo on a papaya orange background, while others that would be tuned into the global TV feed come Friday showed coloured bars.

Sophie’s attention quickly turned to her mechanics, who she greeted in turn, thankfully having remembered all their names.

“All in one piece?” She asked Steve, gesturing to her car.

“Of course!” He replied with a broad smile. His dark skin almost seem to glow in the sun and his short braids were tied back into a ponytail. “A couple of us wanted to join you on the track walk”

“Oh” Her eyes widened. Stood a few metres away in the pitlane was Sophie’s Race Engineer Chris, the team’s Chief Strategist Amir, Junior Engineers Aaron and Gary, and McLaren Team Manager Leon Helmsley, all chatting away. “Is that allowed?” Sophie asked Steve, who chuckled and clapped Sophie’s shoulder with a firm hand.

“It is if you say so”

“Tommy even remembered to put deodorant on this morning” Luke jibed, throwing a greasy rag at his colleague who quietly swore at him. Sophie couldn’t help but smile. All though pre-season testing her mechanics had been nothing but normal around her, accepting her into the team almost immediately. Most mechanics were wary of working on a rookie’s car, but Sophie wasn’t exactly inexperienced, being the reigning Formula 2 champion.

“Well Tommy, if you went to all that effort…” Sophie teased, as Tommy and Luke made their way past their colleagues while Steve gave instructions to the remaining mechanics before the group went to join their colleagues.

“We’re not late are we?”

“No Rich you’re right on time” Leon replied, checking his watch. He stood a little shorter than Sophie’s press officer, with almost curly ginger hair and a very neatly trimmed beard. “Everyone ready to go?”

The track walk was scheduled to take just over an hour, given both the length of the circuit and that it was Sophie’s first time at Albert Park. With an okay from everyone, the group turned left and headed for the pitlane entrance to access the track. They walked across the small stretch of grass that separated the pitlane from the final corner and walked onto the circuit, and the sight of the start-finish straight bathing in the warm mid-Autumn sunshine was more than enough to take Sophie and Vanessa’s breath away.

“Yeah, it’s not a bad view” Chris remarked before looking at his notebook. “Now as I said at your last sim session, any questions, just ask. We want you up to speed as quickly as possible” The comment pulled Sophie out of her daze, and brought her attention to her own notebook. She already had a page set aside for her track walk notes that she started to scribble in as the group made their way down the main straight.

Sophie and her engineers spent almost the whole time chatting about breaking points, corner speeds, and the various points where Sophie wasn’t to breech track limits. Occasionally she would stop and crouch down, to get a closer idea of what her view would be when sat in the car. While she had run countless laps of the circuit in the team’s simulator, nothing was better than seeing the real thing. She was starting to feel comfortable with both her colleagues and the circuit even before they strolled down the long curve between turns 8 and 9 that straddled the Albert Park lake. When they reached the chicane at turns 9 and 10, Sophie tilted her head to the side and slightly narrowed her eyes.

“They still have sausage kerbs at the apex?” She asked aloud. All of Sophie’s engineers muttered in agreement, not sounding that pleased. It had been a talking point amongst the drivers as well for the last two Australian Grand Prix. Sophie wrote it down in her notebook with stars on either side, as a reminder to mention it in the Friday evening driver’s briefing.

“The FIA seem pretty stubborn about using them” Leon remarked, as Sophie pressed her foot against the kerb with a frown.

“Well, getting rid of those kerbs will be one way to make everyone like you” Tommy remarked. Sophie had been trying not to think about the drivers briefing too much. As much as she didn’t want to give a damn about what the drivers she hadn’t met thought about her, she couldn’t help but worry about what kind of response she was going to get from them. Would it be silent acceptance, or judgemental stares?

“You okay Soph?” Vanessa asked, having noticed Sophie’s more furrowed than usual brow.

“Yeah…” Sophie paused, looking across turn 11, and let out a small sigh. No matter what anyone thought, they would never be able to take this weekend away from her.

Sophie didn’t want to leave the circuit when they returned to the pitlane entry, but as she was due to be a participant in the driver’s press conference, she sadly didn’t have a choice.

“Thanks for letting us tag along Sophie” Steve said with a smile. “And don’t worry about the press, Richard will look after you”

“For my sake I hope so” Her mechanics all laughed, with Steve jokingly telling Richard to bring Sophie back to the team’s hospitality building in one piece. “You’re uh… welcome to join my other track walks, that goes for all of you” Sophie said to her mechanics once they had returned to the garage, before quickly handing her notebook and pen to Vanessa, swapping it for her drinks bottle. “See you all later” A chorus of byes rang out as Sophie left the garage with Richard, heading for the pit building’s main entrance.

They didn’t chat about much as they made their way inside and walked through various corridors until Richard stopped outside the correct room.

“Now as I said, this is going to be moderated, and everyone had to submit their questions beforehand. So you should have nothing to worry about,” Richard paused and opened the door to the press conference room. “This is where the driver’s briefing will be taking place as well” Richard said before lowering his voice, as Sophie was the first driver to arrive almost every eye was on her. “But we still have the signal we discussed, hopefully we won’t need it” Richard gave Sophie a reassuring smile as he handed over her team cap. “You also forgot this”

“Thanks” Sophie took the papaya orange cap off Richard’s hands and put it on her head as a tall man in an FIA shirt walked towards them.

“Morning Matteo”

“Good morning Richard, you must be Sophie” Matteo politely extended a tanned hand that Sophie happily accepted. “Nice to finally meet you”

“Lovely to meet you too”

“We just need to fit you with a microphone, then you can sit down. You’ll be in the middle”

Of course I’m front and centre. Sophie thought as she was fitted with a thin wire microphone that was fitted over her ears. Once the sound levels were checked, Sophie made her way to the long black table at the front of the room, emblazoned with the F1 logo in bright red.

As instructed Sophie sat down in the middle chair and looked over at Richard, who gave her a small thumbs up, mouthing ‘you’ll be fine!’ as someone approached the table from the rows of seated journalists.

“At least you can count two friendly faces in here” Sophie whipped her head round, and smiled at the sight of one of the few journalists she actually knew.

“Lee!”

“I’m the new host of the press conferences, and I’ll be doing some of the podium interviews. We both got promoted!” He joked with a wide smile. Lee Howard had been the official reporter for the Formula 3 and Formula 2 series for the past few years, and at every single one of Sophie’s podium finishes and wins, he never sneered or implied she got lucky. He treated her with the same respect as he showed every other driver. And over the past three years they had gotten to know each other fairly well. “No family this weekend?”

“No, um… we tried everything but Will’s swamped with uni assignments, and my parents both have a lot on so…”

“Ah… Edinburgh Airport would have fallen apart without your Mum I take it?”

“Something like that” Sophie said with a small laugh, suddenly feeling a pang in her chest. “They’re coming to other races though. Mum’s going to be at Monaco, everyone will be at Silverstone and Hungary, we’re still working out the second half of the season”

“Oh well that’s good, and I suppose you’ve got the team to rally around you?”

“Yeah…” Sophie trailed off “Everyone’s been… really great”

“Good, good” Lee nodded before looking down at his notebook. “I need to finish my notes, but don’t worry yeah? Me and Matteo will deal with anyone who steps out of line”

“Thanks Lee” Sophie took a quick glance around the room before taking a small sip from her drinks bottle as she heard the door to her right open. A bright laugh was followed by its owner as Benedikt Schmitz walked in with his press officer Annika, both dressed in Red Bull navy blue.

“Good morning” He smiled at Sophie, taking the seat immediately to her left once he had been fitted with a microphone.

“Morning Ben” She noted the strange irony that she felt more comfortable around a triple World Champion, and potentially one of her on-track rivals, as opposed to a room full of journalists.

“How was your track walk?” He asked, and saw the slightly confused look on Sophie’s face. “You must have started five or ten minutes before us, we ended up following you the whole way round!”

“Oh… it was fine, nice to see everything in person”

“It’s a nice track, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the first few laps” Ben paused to take a sip from his own drinks bottle that was styled like a Red Bull can. “Good luck by the way, for the season”

“Thanks…” Sophie paused, and gingerly extended her right hand towards him. “Same to you” Ben gladly shook Sophie’s hand firmly, and went to say something else when another driver joined them after being fitted with a microphone.

“Morning everyone” A North American accent said quietly, just loud enough for the two drivers to hear. Ben looked behind him and greeted the driver that Sophie recognised immediately. Canadian double World Champion, F1’s second ever Black driver, and her McLaren predecessor, Nathan Watkins. “Hi Sophie, so nice to finally meet you. I wanted to say hello at testing but I assumed you would be swamped” Nathan was stood above his seat, his dark curly hair hidden under his Mercedes team cap, and he also held out a hand for Sophie to shake.

“It’s great to meet you too” Once she’d happily shook his hand, he sat down in the chair to her right.

“The team looking after you?” Sophie nodded in reply, as Matteo crossed the room, frantically looking at his watch. “So it’s just us three then?” Nathan asked with a small laugh as he folded his arms across his chest.

“I’m pretty sure everyone only wants to speak to you anyway” Ben remarked in Sophie’s direction. She just leaned her head back and let out a quiet laugh.

“You’re probably right” Sophie huffed. After another couple of minutes, the two missing drivers arrived, and were very quickly shown to their seats. Almost immediately someone started counting down, and the camera man placed right behind where Lee was sat suddenly sprang into action.

“Good morning everyone, and welcome to the first FIA driver’s press conference of the 2023 season at the Australian Grand Prix…” Sophie found herself sitting up a little taller in her chair, suddenly realising that she was on live TV. She quickly adjusted her cap, her fingers brushing over the number 16 that had been embroidered into the peak in light blue thread, when Lee looked directly at Sophie.

“Starting off with you Sophie… we all know that for yourself and the sport this is going to be a massively historic weekend. But all of that aside briefly, what many people might not know about you is that that you do come from a racing background. Specifically your father Mark, worked as a mechanic for McLaren in the 90s. Does it feel almost full circle in a way, bringing the Knightsbridge name back to the team?” That was something Sophie had always liked about Lee, he took the time to think up genuinely interesting questions.

She drummed her fingers against the desk, and took in a deep breath before she answered.

“It’s certainly very surreal. Though the team has changed a lot since my Dad was there, there’s definitely a sense of familiarity in a way. Although I don’t think Martin and Andrew knew about my Dad until after I signed my contract,” She paused, after giving a slightly awkward laugh. “But yeah, to be making my F1 debut is one thing, but to be making it with the team that my father worked for is really, really special” Sophie tried her best to smile away the ache she felt in her chest. What she would have given to have at least one of them waiting for her in the team’s hospitality unit.

“You’re still a rookie finding their feet in the sport. How have you been finding your first few months as a Formula 1 driver?”

Sophie paused, pressing her lips together, and continued to look at Lee as she spoke. “I certainly can’t complain. McLaren have been incredibly welcoming, I actually had some of my mechanics join me on my track walk just now. I think the huge amount of travelling is something I’m going to have to get used to. We mainly race Formulas 2 and 3 in Europe as I’m sure everyone knows…”

“Lots of new circuits to race at this year”

“Yes! I’m so excited to race at all the new tracks this year… well new for me, starting off with Albert Park this week. So… yeah. Definitely lots to look forward to” Sophie added with a bright smile, feeling significantly less nervous than what she had done ten minutes ago. Each driver was asked an opening question by Lee, before the floor was opened up to the gathered journalists. Almost every single one of them raised their hand.

“Hi, Christopher West, BBC Sport. Question for Sophie,” As the journalist paused, Sophie took in a small breath, and turned slightly in her seat to look at him. “As I’m sure a lot of people have asked you already, of the almost 800 Grand Prix drivers, you’re going to be only the sixth woman to compete in a Formula 1 race, assuming you hopefully make it through qualifying. You’ve only recently turned 24 and had quite the rise through the feeder series… can you try and sum up how it all feels?”

Sophie nodded, and let out the breath she had been holding in, having absolutely no idea where to begin.

“Happy Birthday by the way, for last week” Nathan said quietly. Maybe it was to buy Sophie some time to think up an answer, maybe he genuinely meant it. But Sophie said a quiet and polite thank you, before looking back towards the journalist.

“Well…” She started, scratching at a small spot on the side of her neck. “…the plan certainly is to qualify for the race” Sophie used the quiet laugh that rippled through the room as another moment to think. “I have so many feelings going into this weekend, excitement, nerves… but I think the one that I feel the most is gratitude. As you mentioned I’m female F1 driver number six, but the five that have come before me… and every single woman that has ever driven an F1 car, has helped lay the road that’s got me where I am today,” Sophie paused to quickly swallow a small lump in her throat.

“You know, I’m used to being the only female driver in the room most days, but I do so knowing that I’m not the first woman to walk in the room. So… when I take to the track tomorrow, and hopefully the race on Sunday, yes I’ll be driving for myself, and driving for McLaren… but I’m also going to be driving for them”

“Considering the fact that you’re driving for one of the big teams, you could match or even beat Lella Lombardi’s points record this weekend. In once race. How does that feel?”

“I could… but,” Sophie paused, suddenly feeling overwhelmed at the thought. “I don’t want to think about that too much you know? I want to get settled in the team, and with driving the track first before I start thinking about any potential race result. Who knows what order the grid will be in come Sunday”

  The press conference concluded after just over forty minutes, with Sophie answering the bulk of the journalist’s questions. So she took a long sip from her drinks bottle as she left the press conference room with Richard, feeling very grateful for the added minerals and electrolytes.

“You, handled yourself really well Sophie” He clapped her on the shoulder with a smile. Sophie didn’t know what to say, as well as a dry throat, her brain felt quite well fried.

“How far through the schedule are we?” She asked.

“Sadly, not very. Though you do have a twenty minute break before your first batch of group interviews,” Richard paused, and even briefly stopped walking as he scrolled through his phone. A small smile made its way onto his face. “But first we need to make a quick stop at the garage”

“We do? What for?”

“Uh… Leon just wants have a quick chat”

“Oh, okay” Sophie gladly followed her press officer as they exited the pit building, and headed back over towards the McLaren garage. The paddock seemed much busier than what it had done earlier on in the morning. Some TV crews were filming pieces to camera, more photographers were snapping away at anyone they deemed important, and there were a few individuals wearing VIP passes milling around.

“We shouldn’t be too long, I know you’ll want to have a small rest after the presser” For some reason, Richard appeared to be doing a terrible job at hiding a grin. Sophie went to ask what he was so happy for, when they arrived in the garage.

Leon wasn’t alone, he was showing Sophie’s car to a man in his late 50s. He wore glasses over his peridot green eyes and had small streaks of silver running through his dark brown hair, and a very familiar furrowed brow.

“Dad!” Sophie exclaimed, not caring who heard, and lunged towards her father as he turned round, embracing him in a bone-crushing hug. For a second, Sophie almost felt like bursting into tears.

“Hello love” Mark replied, sounding on the verge of crying himself, as he placed a gentle hand on the back of his daughter’s head. Eventually Mark let go of his daughter, and they both wiped their eyes, with Richard and Leon both looking quite pleased with themselves.

“I don’t… I thought you said the garage was going to be too busy?” After Mark had retired from being a Formula 1 mechanic, he worked at various repair garages before finally becoming co-owner of a local garage when the rest of the Knightsbridge family moved to Edinburgh a few years ago.

“Well… the lads said that I would regret it if I wasn’t here, so I got in touch with the team and they arranged everything”

“We weren’t going to let you be without some of your family for your first race, think of it as a belated birthday present” Leon added.

“Yeah, I’m here too you know…” A lanky dark haired figure walked into the garage from the pitlane, putting his phone in his pocket.

“Julian!” Sophie greeted her younger cousin with an equally strong hug. Julian was also a racing driver, and had taken her vacated Formula 2 seat. Sophie’s manager Becks was also going to start managing Julian too when the F2 season started in May. “I’m… so happy you’re both here” Sophie sniffled. “I’m glad I don’t have to do this without you”

“Us too” Sophie’s Dad beamed.

“We… should be getting back to the hospitality suite, I did promise Sophie a break before the rest of her interviews” Richard cautiously interjected from the back of the garage.

After checking his watch Leon politely shuffled the Knightsbridges out of the garage and back through the paddock. They caught more attention from journalists this time, noticing the extra members of Sophie’s entourage.

“Now, neither of you have to speak to any media if you don’t want to” Richard explained once they were back inside the McLaren building. “I’ll make sure you get properly shown around later, I know you’ll want to catch up, I’ll grab everyone some drinks” Richard headed over to the bar once he had everyone’s orders as Sophie, Mark and Julian sat down at a table Vanessa had claimed earlier.

“Oh good you made it!” Vanessa said with a relieved smile.

“Wait… you knew this whole time?!” Sophie gawked at her personal trainer.

“Yes of course, I helped arrange it” Vanessa replied, smugly. “Don’t say you’re mad at me, because I know you aren’t”

She certainly wasn’t wrong, as Sophie rested her chin on one of her hands, smiling at the sight of her family.

“Here we are…” Richard returned a few minutes later with a small tray of teas and coffees. “I’ll give you all some space, I’ll see if I can re-arrange things to give you a few extra minutes” He jogged off with his phone pressed to his ear as Vanessa passed around everyone’s drinks.

“So, here’s to Sophie’s first Grand Prix weekend” Vanessa raised her espresso cup with a grin.

“Well done sweetheart, you made it” Mark held out his mug to Sophie, who gently clinked it with hers. She had absolutely no idea what the rest of the weekend would entail, but at least she had her family.

  James cut a cool figure as he walked through the paddock towards the media pen. He was dressed in his usual choice of white collared team shirt with black straight cut jeans and plimsole style trainers (purely for comfort, as Thursdays were the busiest in terms of footfall). He wore his orange team cap, the number 12 embroidered on the peak, and dark aviator sunglasses over his eyes. His press officer Katie briefly talked him though the journalists they were going to talk to before they entered the small media pen.

As they made their way round they had to jostle for position with other drivers and their press officers for about twenty minutes or so, before James was finally stood in front of the last journalist, who unfortunately worked for one of the UK tabloids.

“Do you think you can get your third win in a row at Albert Park this weekend”

“Uh… It’s hard to say. It’s always tricky trying to figure out the pecking order after pre-season testing, we’ll have a better idea tomorrow of where we sit in the field, but I’m always hopeful” James replied with a small smile.

“I know there’s been so much talk about your new team mate over the Winter. Are you particularly phased by all of the hype around her, as opposed to the focus being away from the team’s chances for the season?”

James was grateful that his dark sunglasses allowed him to briefly scowl at the journalist, as he contemplated his answer. He didn’t mind being asked about Sophie as much, he’d certainly been expecting it. Only one or two drivers on the grid had been born when Giovanna Amati competed in her last race.

“Sophie has every right to be here, as much as myself or anyone else on the grid. She’s the reigning F2 champion, she won in F3 a few of years ago… on paper she has the making of a really good racing driver. And you know, I’ve worked alongside women in almost every aspect for my Formula 1 career… so why should having a female team mate be any different?”

The journalist let out a sheepish thank you and Katie led James out of the media pen.

“The fuck was that about?” James asked under his breath.

“Oh we all know exactly what that was about…” Katie frowned, checking her phone. “Still, it’s going to mean a lot for people to hear you say what you did” James hummed, this was set to be his thirteenth season in Formula 1, and he’d seen the sport change an awful lot since his debut in 2011. But when it came to Sophie, he wondered if it had changed enough.

  Friday 17th March – Albert Park Circuit

The atmosphere at the circuit was somewhat relaxed come Friday morning. Members of different teams smiled and said hello to each other in the paddock, photographers and camera crews milled around looking for good shots in what was another bright sunny day in Melbourne. All of the drivers had arrived early for meetings with their teams, and for Sophie it was a much needed sense of normality as opposed bouncing between interviews like a pinball.

The engineers briefing lasted just under an hour, as they had to plan for both first and second practice. Sophie had scribbled as much as she could into her notebook while listening to all of the engineers and James’ comments, and once the meeting was over she went to her room for a few minutes of peace and quiet before she got changed out of her team gear and into her fireproofs. Once changed, Sophie went through her pre-session stretches with Vanessa, before finally pulling one her race suit and boots. And with a final tug of her ponytail, they left for the garage.

Mark and Julian had decided to stay in the team hospitality suite for first practice, claiming that they didn’t want Sophie to be too distracted. She suspected the reality was that her Dad was simply too nervous to be in the garage. Sophie hugged her relatives as tightly as she could, saying she loved them both before walking with Vanessa towards the garage. Both women wore dark sunglasses over their eyes as they briskly walked through the paddock.

“It’s a normal day” Vanessa said, handing Sophie her drinks bottle as she carried Sophie’s helmet with her other hand. “Just a normal day…” Sophie wasn’t sure who Vanessa was trying to reassure as they entered the garage.

As she handed the bottle back to her personal trainer, mechanics on both sides of the garage were running final checks on the cars. Sophie did her best to squeeze by them as she approached Chris, who was stood by the end monitor on the island that separated the two sides of the McLaren garage.

“Hey” She smiled a little breathlessly. “I’d like to do that additional lap on my outrun, just to be sure” The agreed plan for first practice was to ensure Sophie got acclimatised to the circuit as quickly as possible, so they could turn their focus to fine tuning the car’s setup.

“Not a problem” Like almost everyone in the garage, he had his own orange headset that in this case was hanging around his neck as he wrote into his own notebook. “We also want you to be the first car on track, Martin’s call”

“Oh… really?” Sophie asked with genuine surprise. Chris just gave a small nod and a knowing smile, it didn’t sound like she had much of a choice on the matter. “Okay then”

“Great, session starts in five so you’ll want to get ready,” Chris looked at the back to the garage to give a signal to Vanessa to prep Sophie’s helmet, when a small smile crept onto his face. “Looks like there’s someone here to see you”

Sophie looked towards the back of the garage where her small assigned seating area was, and saw her Dad and Julian next to Vanessa. She smiled as she walked towards them, and held out a hand towards her still anxious looking father.

“It’s just first practice Dad”

“I know, I know… Julian was right, I would regret it if I didn’t see you drive out for the first time in person” Sophie said nothing, and enveloped her father in another tight hug. “I love you” His voice cracked slightly, as he kissed the top of Sophie’s head.

“Love you too Dad”

“Don’t crash” Sophie looked at Julian in mock disapproval as she brushed past him to collect her things.

“Thank you, dearest cousin” She quipped, putting in her radio in-ears. Next was her balaclava, then Sophie completely zipped up her race suit, making sure the radio cable didn’t get caught in the zip, before lastly, putting on her helmet and HANS device.

As she was making her F1 debut, Sophie had decided an upgrade of her helmet colours was in order. The British Racing Green base now had a soft metallic sheen to it, and the three alternating horizontal stripes had been changed to a matte white and chrome silver, the only new addition was the number 16 on the very top of her helmet, also in matte white, as well as the team’s sponsor logos.

Once the helmet was on her head, Sophie tightly fastened the chin strap, and took in one last look at her family before walking over towards the car. She stepped into the cockpit from the left hand side, and held onto the underside of the protective halo as she lowered herself down into her seat. Once comfortable, one of her mechanics fastened the harness as she plugged in the radio cable, and lastly, put on her gloves.

“And radio check Sophie, radio check” Chris’ voice drifted into her ears, as he must have taken his seat on the pitwall.

Sophie paused to let out a quick exhale.

“Radio loud and clear” She gave her steering wheel one final look over, mentally going over what every button and dial did, as well as checking the small screen in the middle. Thanks to the sheer number of laps she’d done in pre-season testing, it was all thankfully drummed into her memory.

“Session starts in two minutes”

“Copy” Sophie wriggled her shoulders as she looked at the two TV screens that was placed in front of the cockpit, almost entirely blocking her view in front. One screen showed a map of the circuit with a timing screen, the other was tuned into the global TV feed that switched from a panning shot of the circuit to a close up of one of the Aston Martin garages.

“Car 16 is ready to go” Steve’s voice came over the radio, as number one mechanic it was his job to give the all clear to the pit wall. And his confirmation brought a flurry of life to Sophie’s side of the garage. Vanessa moved the screens away with one hand, as the rest of Sophie’s mechanics whipped the heating blankets off the tyres, laying them back on top once the car had been lowered off its jacks to the ground. As Sophie flicked down her visor, Steve walked backwards into the pitlane. Looking once, then twice over each shoulder, before giving the okay signal to Sophie with one hand, and pointed down the pitlane with the other.

Sophie eased her car out of the garage, immediately pressing the pit limiter button as she turned right, and trundled to a stop at the end of the pitlane. As the team had wanted, she was the first car in front of the red stop light.

“Session starts in thirty seconds. We will be doing out lap plus one, then in lap. Try not to have too much fun out there”

“I’ll try” Sophie chuckled back to her race engineer, and slowly exhaled. After all the buzz and frenzied attention from the world’s media, this was where she wanted to be. In the quiet of her own F1 car, waiting to go out on track.

And when the pit exit light finally turned green, she pressed her foot down on the accelerator pedal, and drove onto the circuit.

Sophie meandered carefully through her out lap, not wanting to do the unthinkable and bin the car in the gravel, knowing full well the global TV feed cameras would be following her at every turn. So she took it easy as she accelerated out of the final corner and onto her timed lap. As it was purely for Sophie to have more time to get familiar with her breaking and turn in points, she deliberately wasn’t going terribly quick, but she wasn’t driving at a snail’s pace either.

She broke hard for turn 1. Turning sharply right, before gently veering left for turn 2. Then went down the second DRS straight before braking hard again for turn 3, and weaved through turns 4 to 8, as the track opened out to the long curve before the chicane at turns 9 and 10. Taking it easy around the kerbs, Sophie went through the final short straight that led to turn 11, and eased through the two right handed corners before the pitlane entry came into view. She ignored it, turning sharply for turn 13, and finally easing onto the accelerator as she went through turn 14, and down the main straight to finish the lap.

“Very nice Sophie, that is a 1:22.674, we are the only car out but that’s still P1. And box this lap”

“Copy” Sophie smiled as she replied to Chris’ message, she knew that being the fastest of one wasn’t a huge achievement, but she realised now why the team wanted her to be first out onto the track. It was McLaren’s way of making a statement not just to the entire sport, but to the rest of the world too.

  The first and second practice sessions passed by in a fairly structured pattern. Out lap, return to the pits, look over data, drive more laps, quick debrief with the engineers, post-driving stretches, have lunch, get back in the car, repeat.

It had been a fairly smooth day. Sophie thankfully hadn’t crashed, but she hadn’t been blisteringly quick either. And neither had James. As everyone sat down for the post-session debrief, some of the engineers were visibly scratching their heads as they looked at the data screens. It seemed like McLaren were off the pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari. Everyone had assumed that their days in the midfield were a very, very long way behind them. But maybe the shine was starting to wear off.

Despite picking up on his team’s flash of anxiety, Martin kept a cool head in the debrief. As well as the race team in Melbourne, there were more engineers back at the factory in Woking analysing the data from both practice sessions, trying to extract every tenth of a second from the car they could find.

“Good work today everyone, hopefully today was just a blip and we’ll be faster tomorrow. That’ll be all”

Sophie let out a small sigh as she slid her headset off her ears and down onto the desk. She collected her notebook as she stood up from her chair, and got in the queue to leave the room. Herself, James and Team Manager Leon were the last to leave, as they were headed for the Driver’s Briefing that was due to start in around twenty minutes. It was one of the last items on the day’s itinerary before Sophie was free to go back to the hotel.

“I wouldn’t worry about this too much” Leon sighed with a frown. “Everyone spends most of their time trying to drag each other under the bus”

“Ah, the same as Formula 2 then” Sophie chuckled. Racing drivers were competitive by nature, especially when it came to calling out the inconsistency of who did and didn’t get penalties for the same offence. “I’m going to ask about the kerbs at 9 and 10” James and Leon looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Good luck, we’ve been asking for the past two years for the FIA to remove them” James sighed.

“Well…” Sophie paused as they reached the door to the pit building. “There’s no harm in trying a third time” She huffed, following her colleagues inside. They made their way to the press conference room, which had been converted for the drivers briefing by adding two extra rows of chairs, and removing the TV camera that had been sat in the middle. About half of the drivers and their respective team managers had arrived already. And the volume of conversation in the room quietened somewhat when Sophie, James and Leon walked in.

Sophie followed her colleagues to seats in the second row as FIA race director Pat Robertson was sat at the long black table with two of his colleagues, closely reading various sheets of paper.

“Bonsoir ma amie!” A hand clapped Sophie’s shoulder as she sat down. She carefully turned round in her seat as she was rather snuggly sat in-between her McLaren colleagues, and saw Nico grinning at her. “How was your day?” He asked brightly.

“Fine, yours?”

“Not bad” He shrugged.

More drivers and team managers slowly filed in, and the briefing finally got underway five minutes late, with Pat giving a small reminder to all ten present team managers about punctuality. Once going over the lap count for the race, the tyre compounds that were to be used, and the various small tweaks to the sporting regulations for the year, Pat opened the floor to questions from the drivers. Sophie was the first to half raise her hand.

“Yes, Sophie” Pat and both his FIA colleagues all looked squarely at the McLaren driver.

“I’d like to ask about turns 9 and 10,” Sophie quickly flicked through the pages of her notebook until she found her track walk notes. “I just wanted some clarification about why the FIA is still choosing to use sausage kerbs at those corners, when you don’t use them anywhere else on the track. I know just about everyone com-”

“Hey, shut up. She’s speaking, let her finish” Sophie, and just about everyone else in the room heard Nico hiss at someone behind her. She tried her best to carry on, unphased.

“Just about every driver on the grid complained about them last year. For exam-” Sophie heard someone talking not so quietly behind her, and blocked it out as best as she could, only for James to turn round in his seat.

“It’s common curtesy to let every driver say what they have to Erik. I know you’d give everyone else in this room that same privilege. Do the same for Sophie would you?” He said extremely coolly.

Sophie bit down on her bottom lip as James turned back round. This wasn’t the first drivers briefing where she’d been disturbed or interrupted by someone trying to start up a conversation, but she’d certainly hoped that her new F1 colleagues would be as gracious as Nico, James or Benedikt had been.

She quickly cleared her throat, and swallowed the urge to summarise what she had planned on saying. Sophie was going to finish her sentence, and then some.

“As I was saying, when Nathan Watkins had his crash with one of the Ferrari’s last year, it wasn’t any fault of his own. He simply hit the kerb at turn 9 at the slightest wrong angle, and half his car flew up into the air meaning he couldn’t control where he was going when he landed. So he couldn’t stop himself from driving into the Ferrari. It’s dangerous. I get that it’s to help with policing track limits, but we all know you won’t hesitate to give us a penalty if you feel we’re too far out of line… surely it’s our fault as drivers if we don’t listen to our engineers”

Unlike some of Sophie’s fellow drivers, Pat listened to everything Sophie had to say.

“We’ll take that on-board, thank you Sophie”

Ben Schmitz, Cristóbal Vasquez from Alpine, Nico and James, all expressed their agreements with Sophie’s complaint, with Pat repeating that himself and the stewards would discuss it after the briefing.

Nothing much else was said, as it was only the start of the season, and the briefing was concluded after fifteen minutes. As Sophie stood up from her chair, she felt two hands on her shoulder, and nearly jumped out of her skin. James looked at her with an apologetic smile, while Nico looked almost seething with rage.

“I’ll deal with him” He squeezed Sophie’s shoulder before marching out of the room, following the Audi driver in question. Sophie felt rooted to the spot as half the drivers glanced at her as they walked past. It was hard to tell if they were staring out of curiosity, or glancing out of pity.

“Come on” James whispered into Sophie’s ear as he moved his hand to between her shoulder blades. “Best foot forward”

Half of Sophie wanted to run after Erik Braun and ask what the hell his problem was, but she feared that causing a scene and shouting at him wouldn’t give her the best public image. So she followed James’ advice, and walked in step with him and Leon all the way back to the team hospitality suite.

“What happened?” Mark asked when they were barely in the door. He was sat at a table with Julian, Vanessa and Richard, and they were the only ones in the room that could tell Sophie was trying to hide how stunned she was. “Soph?”

“It was nothing Dad” She said quickly, and took a step in the direction of her driver room, when Leon put a hand on her shoulder.

“One of the Audi drivers tried to start up a conversation with someone else while Sophie was talking in the drivers briefing, myself and Martin will handle it” Mark’s face almost turned red as he let out a restrained breath. “I’m going to find Martin, and we’re going over to Audi to deal with it. You do not have to put up with that kind of behaviour, okay?” Leon said firmly, turning his attention to Sophie.

As if on command, Martin emerged from his office, and headed straight for the group. Once the incident had been explained to him by Leon and James, the Team Principle and Team Manager left, making a beeline for the Audi building. Leaving their two drivers and Sophie’s entourage alone.

“Don’t Dad, you’ll say something you regret” Sophie looked her father square in the eyes, she could tell he was seconds away from jumping out of his seat and marching over to Audi. “Nico and James stood up for me, and the team are handling it” She hated how quiet her voice sounded as she spoke.

“I know Martin and Leon, Mr Knightsbridge, and some of the people at Audi. I can assure you it’ll get dealt with… not just because Sophie’s our driver, but because of your history with the team as well” James butted in. After a few moments Mark let out a sigh, and slowly sat back down. “Speaking of the team… we’ve got one more engineers meeting”

“It’ll be fine Dad… we don’t have to fight these things alone anymore, okay?” Sophie went over to the table, and squeezed her father’s hand tightly, remembering every single karting race where Mark had defended Sophie’s mere presence as well as her victories. Mark didn’t say anything, and just squeezed Sophie’s hand back, before letting her go with James to the engineers office.

#my writing #Life In The Fast Lane #LITFL Chapters

[worldrandom]

National holiday catch up

6-9

day of la rioja day of murica filipino chinese friendship day national donald duck day natioan national meal prep day natioanl sex day national strawberry rhubarb pie day 

6-10

belmount stakes doll day national bae day national ball point pen day natioal bed bug prevention day national black cow day natioanl egg roll day national ice tea day world gin day superman week 

6-11

king kamnehameha day natioanl cancer thriver day natioanl childerns day natioanl corn on the cob day natioanl german chocalate cake day race unity day say it day yarn bombin day national flag week 

6-12

brazilain valentines day child labor day national jerky day national loving day national peanut butter cookie day national red rose day peace day philippines independence day superman day world againast child labour diabetes week meet a mate week natioanl email week natioanl little league baseball week national pet wedding week 

6-13

fest of st anthony international albinism awareness day international axe throwing day national call your doctor day national forklift safety day national sewing machine day natioanl weed your garden day random acts of light day world softball day national clay week national hermit week natioanl school grounds week 

6-14

flag day inernational bath day monkey around day national bourdon day national new mexico day national pop goes the weasel day national strawberry shortcake day world blood donor day 

6-15

beer day britian global wind day magna carta day national bug busting day nationla career nurse assistants day national megalondon day national prure day national smile power day sneak a kiss world elder abuse awareness dayday 

6-16

bloomsday frsh weggies day international day of femiy remittance international day of african child international water fall day national fudge day national take back the lumch break day world sea turtle day youth day us open golf championship 

6-17

bunker hill day global garbge man day iceland independence day national apple struderl day national dad dog day nationla dump the pump day national mascot day national stewarts roat beer day worl juggling day 

[putseraphinaonthaphone]

High Sex HCs

Bakugou

God help you if this man smokes sativa before y'all fuck

"Stop fucking running and take this fucking dick" is a common theme

Any self respecting pussy having person would try to take a break after the fourth round!

And the fifth, and the sixth

You started on your hands and knees

Then it was just your knees while he fucked you hard enough to make his hips slap against your ass while he pummeled your cervix like the bully many accused him of being

Then you couldn't keep yourself up anymore and he started getting creative in finding ways to make sure you took his deep as possible

"Where do you think you're going? This pussy is mine to fuck full. Again. And Again. Until you're round with my babies, baby. Understood?"

Even when the weed wears off

just seeing you crying and leaking his cum and begging him to let you rest cause it's too much

will have him rolling up another blunt while y'all "rest"

Shinsou

He grows his own strains of indica because most strains for sale in town aren't enough to help him sleep

So when you go over to smoke with him you're knocked out by the first blunt, even though you'd been so sure you could handle his weed

Since he won the bet, he was happy to collect on his prize. The one you two agreed on while you blushed and flirted your heart out; letting him fuck you in you sleep

You're already soaked by the time you fall asleep against his chest, both of you having been cuddling while soft music played and exchanging secrets about your darkest fantasies (because it was the good indica, the kind that made you horribly horny even as you struggled to keep your eyes open)

He fingered you with ease and even though you were probably going to sleep well into the night you were still so responsive, moaning softly and making cute little whining sounds every time he added another finger to stretch you out

Fucking you while you slept and sighed and moaned for him was turning him on a lot more than expected

The weed and the sight of you stuffed full of cock while you dreamed completely unaware combined into a dark pleasure that grabbed him by the balls until he was make a cummy mess of your pussy

Tamaki

You bought the weed from Shinsou, and now Tamaki was relaxed and horny enough to fuck you stupid

"This is what you wanted isn't it?" He pinched your nipples as he fucked you harder and deeper than he usually let himself, finding it was cute the way the weed and his dick had a similar effect on you:

heavy lidded eyes, heavier breathing, and you stopped being able to speak coherently

"Big Tama, so fucking big I'm going to break-"

"That's not what I asked silly," he taunted and from the way you clenched around him you could focus enough to realize how fucked out you sounded and be embarrassed by it, which was good because if he couldn't make your pussy milk him tighter by being mean to you what was the point of degradation?

You could feel him rearranging your guts and you were selfishly pleased no one snapped him up before you two got together, it meant your shy lover and his long girthy cock were all yours- even when he stopped being so shy

Denki

It was ironically perfect, that he could charge every dab pen y'all had (which was quite a few because both of y'all were dedicated stoners) right before a night of cross faded party hopping

By the last party he's too hot from the way you've been dancing on him all night to wait, so you're gasping and trying to keep quiet while he fucked you against the wall of the upstairs hallway

The music downstairs is spilling up the stairs and giving you guys a bit of cover but the way he just pushed you against the wall and pulled your panties aside already has you being too loud

"I don't need to be prepped just fuck me fuck me fuck me-"

"Shut up!" He stuffed his fingers in your mouth and stuffed his cock in your pussy hard and deep and fast, making you moan- once again, too loud even with him muffling you

"If you're this loud when I'm just fucking your pussy then maybe I shouldn't take your ass.."

You whined like he would be robbing you if he didn't take your ass against a wall where anyone could catch you, and that's what made him forgive you for screaming when he blew his load in your tightness while circling your clit with his thumb

Tokoyami

Sativa made Tokoyami hungrier to fuck you again and again until you were twitching and leaking his cum and so overstimmed you could barely speak

"F-fumi--" You were certain you'd passed out at some point, but once again you woke to feeling him fucking you

The combined mess of bodily fluids between your thighs made the most embarrassing squelching sounds as he ground his cock into you, deeper- always deeper

It was after that particularly memorable night of discovering his breeding kink that you had a serious talk with him about why you were on birth control in the first place and that you had to limit the amount of times he came inside you

But every time y'all got high together you ended up getting filled

Indica made Dark Shadow strong enough to convince Tokoyami to double penetrate you with him

You weren't sure how it was possible (Tokoyami refused to go into detail and got incredibly flustered when you tried to question him) but Dark Shadow was able to cum inside you

So it didn't matter who took which hole, you were leaking cum from both your ass and your pussy by the time they were done fucking you senseless

Hybrid strains makes them both in the mood to stuff your pussy together and fill your womb, regardless of the fact that you're not on birth control for once (one of the small windows where you were talking the placebo pills)

You were sure you wouldn't have even considered this if you hadn't smoked just as much as your partner

You were seriously reconsidering as you felt Dark Shadow manifest a shaft just large enough to be painful when pushed inside you alongside Tokoyami's shaft

They were going to just feed off each other as they got more excited and you knew they already hated your reasoning for why you couldn't get pregnant

"G-guys you can't.. cum inside okay?"

They both groaned and pushed into you deeper at your words

"Seriously.. guys!"

Deku

High Deku is a fuckboy don't at me

All of a sudden it's "say less, ma" and his hands are wandering shamelessly

Because not only does weed make him horny, but it makes it easier to hold back so basically-

marathon sex

you're not walking after fam, just accept this

He's just as caring and thoughtful about your pleasure as always, making you fall apart on his fingers and cock again and again, he's just a little more cocky like his Kacchan usually is about it when he's high

"Now just three more on my tongue and then we'll see if I'm ready to cum.. but if you look too cute while I'm eating you out I might need to just keep fucking you after that"

He cums twice in your pussy and when you beg him to let you rest and he keeps trying to fuck one more load into you, you throw out mindlessly "Just fuck my ass instead please! I'm so sore, 'Zuku, please.."

He runs with it

Now you're begging him to cum because your ass can't take as much as your pussy, and even though he's masterfully touching your clit and helping you cum- he feels so much thicker in your ass when you're shivering and shaking from his mouth on your throat and his thumb grinding into your sensitive clit

When he finally fills your ass he gets a little too excited and all you remember is green lightning filling your room before he fucked you unconscious

Shoto

Likes to use his quirk on you when he's high, spanking you with painfully hot palms and fucking you with ice fingers at the same time

His tongue and dick are always addictingly hot though

Cold fingers pinch your nipples once he's inside you, and his hot hand on your hip while he's fucking you makes you feel branded- owned

You weren't sure if you hated it or loved it but weed also got your usually clammed up boyfriend to finally start talking

"I always wonder, are you always a slut like this during sex or is it just with me? Either way I don't think I can let anyone else ever see you like this. You're mine forever now darling."

Your pussy clenched around him in agreement and he groaned, his voice turning accusatory as he fucked you harder making the wet squelching more evident "Your pussy is more honest than you are. She know's who her master is doesn't she?"

"Shoto!"

"Quiet now. I'm trying to ask if she wants me to give her a baby."

You screamed when you came then, and when you could finally focus again Shoto was pressing your thighs to your chest and fucking you in a deep mating press telling you heatedly

"You fucking -hng, squirted all over me baby. That means you want it too right? You want me to fuck a baby into your womb?"

You knew you were on birth control even if his high ass forgot but you couldn't even get that out, arousal took over your brain and all you could do was beg him "Yes, please Sho, give me a baby-"

You were high as fuck too, and it felt too good to pretend he could get you pregnant like you asked

#shoto x reader #deku x reader #izuku x reader #bakugou x reader #tamaki x reader #tokoyami x reader #denki x reader #kaminari x reader #tw dubcon #tw dark content #tw: dubcon #tw: pseudoincest #tw: recreational drug use #tw: degradation #tw: kink

[reggiejworkshop]

"A Sleepy Surprise"

Dr. Scratchensniff was not prepared for what he would come across in the studio lot's entry booth. Last time he personally saw this unfold was several years ago, back when  Animaniacs popularity was still at an all time high. Now he was seeing it once more during the shows reboot.

It was a rare occurrence that happened once in a blue moon. Ralph and the Warners always had to balance their energy between their daily chases and working on an ongoing show. Running around the lot, off the lot, getting into various  zany hijinks, it was a regular thing for them. But, as Scratchy knew from personal experience, it was physically exhausting task to do every day. 

Sooner or later, one of the parties would eventually have to crash for a while. Or In this case, both of them.

My first Animaniacs finished piece I've posted in a while.  Also probably  the fluffiest  I've done in a while as well. This was originally a sketch I did using  red and black ball point pens.  Realizing I had something  good here, I decided to fine tune it some more in order to prep it for coloring. 

My goal for this one was to keep the traditional  look of the original sketch. I wanted to go for  a painted look with this one rather than the smoother shading I've done in the past. Overall, I like how it turned out. This is one of few instances I used little references  for drawing this out. BTW there is nothing wrong  with using references. They're  tools just like anything else.

#animaniacs #animaniacs reboot #yakko wakko and dot #ralph the security guard #dr scratchansniff #mixed media #digital painting #carrtoons #fanart #warner bros #sleeping #animaniacs fanfiction #animaniacs 2020 #cartoon #group shot

[oogaboogasphincter]

Kinktober Day 10

💜my kinktober masterlist

pairing: ezra x f!reader

prompt: praise kink🧡gagging🧡hickey/biting marks (prompt list by @the-purity-pen)

rating: E (explicit) 18+ only!

word count: 600+

warnings: gagging obvi, sub!reader+dom!ezra, some weird metaphors about doctors and art?? (idrk where that came from💀), a teensy bit of degradation, allusion to a blowjob at the end, if y’all don’t like spit don’t read this💀, reader is afab and uses she/her pronouns

author’s note: so gagging can be interpreted as a few different things. instead of writing about wearing a gag (ex. ball gag) i wrote it about the bodily function of gagging. but yeah i hope i’m not disappointing anyone by going this route, and i hope you enjoy! :)

gif by @din-djarn​

Ezra’s mechanical hand cradles the back of your head, his cool, metal fingers quelling the fire of eroticism that licks the length of your spine. He rubs his thumb back and forth in your hair: not enough to create a tangle, but to the point where his inflicted relaxation seduces you. He’s doing this on purpose (trying to relax your desperate, horny nerves), because you both know that tense muscles don’t allow for the experience of arousal to be felt wholly, or therefore properly. 

You stand face to face, your eyes gazing up at him expectantly while he peers down at you with ravenous lust and desire. A gentle, yet uncompromising command leaves his lips, “Open.”

You obey, the tip of your tongue pressing against your bottom lip. At first, he just rests his thick fingers on the flat of your tongue, akin to how a doctor checks your throat for anything out of the ordinary. Ezra displays the same fixation as doctors do, almost as if he’s inspecting your mouth to try to find some concrete proof, irrefutable evidence as to why this part of your body is so perfect. 

Searching deeper for an explanation, he pushes his fingers back farther, within millimeters of touching the back of your throat. You don't gag yet, weeks of strengthening your reflex paying off, however there’s no stopping your salivary glands from reacting to his intrusion and drowning his fingers with wetness. 

Ezra’s patience runs out quickly and he starts fucking your throat with his fingers. You hold onto his forearm, encouraging him to continue and grounding yourself from arousal that’s so heavenly it makes you feel dizzy. His other hand on the back of your head remains in place and holds you still so he can increase his pace. Your first gag comes, accompanied by your back arching convexly and a delightfully lewd cough around his hand. 

He removes his now-slippery fingers and spreads your spit all over your lips, priming one of his canvases for the sexual art that is yet to come tonight. Before you know it, he’s diving back in and extracting more saliva from deep inside you. His lips are parted in awe, utterly mesmerized by the way you take his prodding so well. Meeting your tearing eyes, he praises you, “You’re such a good girl, sweetheart. A good, filthy, fucking girl.” 

Every adjective in his last sentence was punctuated by a shove of three fingers. It practically feels like he’s hitting your esophagus, making the amount of slick in your panties equate to the volume of spit that is dripping down your chin, after sneaking its way out of the tight space between Ezra’s fingers and your lips. 

He finally decides you deserve a break from minutes of relentless throat fucking and takes his hand away. A trail of thick spit clings to his fingertips, the excess either trickling down your neck or falling onto your chest. Between gasps for air, you cough wetly and Ezra requests, “Don’t swallow yet.”

You obey him, like always, and keep all of the spit that has stayed in your mouth that he has fucked out of your glands behind closed lips. You are all too familiar with why he has asked you to do this.

“Have I prepped my angel well enough to take my cock down that narrow column of soaked retreat?”

You nod fervently. A smirk plays with his cheeks, “Then sink to your knees and use all that I’ve fucked out of you already to aid you, sweet girl.”

💘taglist: @pascalpanic

#tppkinktober2021 #kinktober 2021 #ezra x reader #ezra prospect x reader #ezra x f!reader #ezra x fem!reader #ezra prospect #ezra prospect x f!reader #ezra prospect x fem!reader #pedro pascal characters #kinktober

[hanniiesuckle17]

Getting to First Base

A/n: just a little something. i need more seungmin on my masterlist anyway and i would do anything for my babies so! (not thoroughly edited)

Requested by: @pixielix 

Tag List: @distrikt9 @mini-meanhoe @poeticallyspaghetti @hanstagrams​ @desertofdessert @hoes4hoseok @yangomangos @jeonqqin​ @geminirules​ @crscendoforsung​ @mrsunshine999​  @multi-net​

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: cheeky seungmin that's about it i think

Summary: Kim Seungmin is the star of Cheongdam High. His grades are top-notch and he is the star pitcher of the school’s baseball team. Every girl wants date him and every guy wants to be friends with him. But, little does Y/n know he only has eyes for her. All it takes is one night and one extra private practice for things to change for both of them.

Genre: romance, fluff, non-idol!au, baseball player!seungmin, softball player!reader, highschool!au, popular kid!seungmin

◈

An ominous buzz filled the lunchroom. Not the kind attached to any flying pest. This was the sound of gossip seeping from every table in the cafeteria. Despite the conformity inspired by our school uniforms, clear, distinct borders were made in the large room. 

 Near the window, were the candidates for valedictorian and their study groups. Their trays always lay untouched and books took their focus. In the right corner were the Netizens and resident fan-girls and boys alike. They were mostly harmless unless it was comeback season. Across the way in the left corner was the ‘cool’ kids. Cool meaning the guys smoked behind the schools and the girls cut their skirts to short and glared at anyone who looked their way. Towards the back were your general outcasts and weirdos. They usually kept to themselves, but if you were caught sitting with them it was the social equivalent of suicide. 

The center. The center was where everyone wanted to be. The focal point of the cafeteria was the two circular tables that housed the school’s pride and joy. The baseball and softball teams. And at the heart of it all, seemingly lit by a ray of sunshine, was Kim Seungmin. Star pitcher of Cheongdam’s baseball team. 

Seungmin sat atop the lunch table, his shaggy brown hair falling across his forehead. His tie was loose and hanging lower than it should be and the silver bracelet he always wore dangled over his tan wrist as he waved over another member of his team. 

It was no secret I liked Seungmin. Almost every girl in our school had a crush on Seungmin. Girls flocked to give him gifts before games and they waited for him before and after practice. I watched from the girls’ field as they lined up at the fence and cheered for him as he pitched inning after inning. 

My less than white sneakers squeaked over the white tiles as I carried my lunch tray to the softball table. “Y/n!” My friend Jia waved me over, a bright smile illuminating her face. At the sound of my name, Seungmin’s head popped up like a meerkat and searched the cafeteria. His eyes met mine and I gave him a smile before sliding into my seat. 

The cold metal of the cheap tables chilled the bare skin on my legs. “Did you hear about Miyoung?” Jia said twirling the aluminum chopsticks in her hand before stabbing them into a sausage. I nervously laughed at her exhibition of violence towards the innocent piece of meat. 

“No. What about her?”

“Apparently she’s failing a class. Her mom is pulling her from the team.” 

My jaw dropped, halfway full of food. Without looking she pushed it up, prompting me to finish chewing. “But we have Sectionals-” Jia nodded stabbed yet another sausage. “She’s our star pitcher-” I could hear the meat squealing in pain at her unhindered violence. I noticed some of the boys at the next table staring at her with terrified eyes. When she turned they looked away, hands hiding her next possible sausage target.

“I’m going to take these away from you.” My hands reached for her saucer but an animal like growl escaped her throat so I left her be. 

Jia sighed looking at our team around the table. “I just really wanted to win Sectionals this year.” We ate the rest of our meal in silence, waiting for the bell to ring. The hall was flooded with students. The sea of blue jackets made it hard to weave my way into Room B23. 

Class droned on for the next hour. Just as my eyes started to droop, I was hit in the back of the head by a paper projectile. The ball of notebook paper landed on the floor at my feet. My eyes fell on a familiar shaggy head of brown hair. With happy puppy eyes, he pointed towards the paper, eyeing the teacher warily. 

Why Seungmin felt the need to throw the paper at me I had no clue. He sat right beside me. The teacher seemed preoccupied with scolding a student about using their phone so I reached down and picked up the note. I smiled seeing Seungmin’s handwriting. 

Do you have practice today? 

He was asking if I had practice? Did he suddenly drop every brain cell in that big head of his? It was a known fact that the baseball and softball schedule was practically identical. Every day he had practice and every day I had mine. That’s why the school invested in a second field for the softball team.

Of course. Same as you. Why?

My hand moved across the paper, making every letter neat and in beautiful handwriting. Quitely folding the note, I slipped it between two fingers and held it down by my side, staring at the board. I desperately tried not to withdraw feeling Seungmin’s fingers brushed mine as he took the parchment.

Quietly he unfolded the paper and I listened to his pen scrawl across it more than I did read the lessons from my textbook. My hand stayed ready to receive his message but it was once again tossed onto my desk. Rolling my eyes I opened his message.

I like knowing things. 

Not bothering to write anything back I crumpled the sheet and tossed it at his head. Seungmin laughed, our teacher’s head shooting up and sending us a stern glare. 

That was such a Seungmin answer. He always loved being the smartest person in the room. Putting the weird interaction in the back of my mind, I focused back on my work and waited for the school day to be over.

◈

I stood in line with the rest of the now twelve girls of Cheongdam’s softball team. The sound of the boys’ practice was carrying over the chainlink fence onto our field. Our coach walked the line, clipboard in hand.

“I’m sure you all are aware Miyoung has dropped from the team.” Most of the girls nodded, several gasped and turned to the others looking for confirmation. “With Sectionals coming up we need an immediate replacement for our pitcher.” His eyes scanned down the line, holding a stare with every single girl. “L/n. Congratulations, you are our new pitcher.”

“But- I’m just a shortstop?”

“Not anymore.” He tossed me a mitt and called for everyone to take their positions. A heavy weight landed on my shoulders as I stood atop the pitcher’s mound. I felt all eyes on me as the first girl stepped up to the plate. 

The ball was familiar in my hands. I stared at the girl waiting to bat. With as much aim and accuracy as I could muster I threw the ball. It sailed over the plate before connecting with the wooden bat with a loud crack. 

The rest of our practice seemed to last an eternity. The coach yelled at me more than anyone else on the team. By now everyone had left. The floodlights had been shut off and I stood in the dark on the pitcher's mound. The ball felt heavy in my hand.

Staring down the makeshift target I created at home plate, I wiped the sweat off my brow. The ball flew from my hand missing the target by just an inch. Sighing, I collapsed onto the ground head in my hands. Cold sweat lay on the back of my neck, becoming freezing as the night breeze blew over it.

“Shouldn’t you have left already?”

Looking up I saw Seungmin walking towards me with a long stride. A duffle bag hung loosely over his right shoulder and he smiled at me from the gate entrance. His hair was messy and I could see the sleeve of his uniform hanging out of the bag.

“I heard you’re the new pitcher. How is that going?”

“As you can tell, not so great.” Setting down his bag Seungmin grabbed onto a basket full of softballs and dragged it over to the mound. He placed on in my hand before standing back and watching expectantly. “What are you doing?”

He shrugged, scuffing his shoe in the tan dirt. “Helping you. Obviously.” Nudging my shoulder he pointed to the target. “Let me see what you’ve got.” Pitching in front of Cheongdam High’s star player. This was certainly not how I imagined this night to go.

Taking a deep breath, I aimed my stare towards the target. Seungmin watched me with an analytic gaze as the ball left my hand. The round projectile grazed the second most outer ring of the target. He shrugged as I turned back to him.

“It’s not bad. I’ve seen worse.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence.” Seungmin shrugged once more and watched me pick up another softball. “Here. Why don’t you show me how it’s done then. A smirk played at his lips as I tossed him the ball.

He listed his head, playing with the spherical object. “You do realize, pitching a baseball and pitching a softball are technically different.”

Seungmin rolled his eyes as I stepped back from the top of the mound and motioned for him to step up.  With perfect form, he let loose the ball, long fingers seeming to extend as it flew towards the target. A large thunk could be heard and all that was left was a dent smack dab in the center of the target.

“Want me to teach you?” Slowly I nodded and walked over to him. His fingers brushed mine as he handed me another ball from the basket. “Try inhaling when you prep and exhaling as you let loose the ball.” 

Following his instructions, I took a deep breath and let go as the ball flew past my fingertips. Seungmin burst out laughing when the softball bounced off of the target’s corner. “You’re supposed to be teaching, not laughing dumbass!” 

“I can’t help it,” Seungmin gasped, doubling over in laughter. “That was too cute!” My body froze involuntarily and I prayed that he assumed the blush on my cheeks was from the cold. His eyes raked over my face clearly noticing the heat flooding over my skin. “Try again?” Seungmin proposed picking up another ball. 

Knowing my only chance of a scream-free practice tomorrow was standing next to me I turned back towards the plate, the ball passing between my hand and the mitt. Hearing Seungmin’s sharp intake of breath had me turning to wait for criticism. To my surprise, I felt his hands on my waist and his chest brushed against my back. Again I froze, choosing to look anywhere but the boy behind me. 

“Is something wrong?”

He shook his head, breath fanning over the back of my neck. With a gentle touch, his hands turned my hips parallel to his. “Try angling your hips this way. IT might help-” Seungmin stopped and stared seeing my eyes dragging over his lips. Ghosting over the corner of his mouth was a smirk that would make the Chesire cat proud. “Your staring.”

“Well...you were talking.”

“Please, you were practically undressing me with your eyes.”

“When did I-”

He laughed, keeping his hands on my waist. “I’m just kidding, Y/n.” Embarrassed, I stared down at my shoes. “Though...if you did want to kiss me, you should just do it. I’m very tired of waiting.”

“You’re tired of waiting? What about me?” I asked turning around, crossing my arms. The rough leather of the mitt was tucked under my arm in an awkward way, but I ignored it. “Why do you think I always buy an extra banana milk on Fridays? I know you’re going to ask for one at study group.” 

Seungmin laughed as I lightly swatted his shoulder, dropping the softball on the field and letting it roll away from the pitcher's mound. “Why do you think I go to study group? My grades are fine.” 

“Well...I-”

Before I could come up with an answer, Seungmin leaned down and pressed his lips against mine before pulling away hands behind his back. “You what?”

“I-.....uh...well-”

Again, Seungmin leaned down and pecked my lips. “Yes?”

“Kim Seungmin would you stop for one second!”

“So, you don’t want me to kiss you?”

“Yes. Wait- no. Wait.....what?”

His eyes crinkled and he pulled me towards his chest, kissing me deeply this time. It was a kiss that made me weak in the knees. Still not entirely processing that Seungmin was in fact kissing me, my hands hung by my side. “I’m doing all the work here. Are you going to kiss back or what?” Seungmin said with a laugh. Shaking myself out of the confused trance I grabbed his cheeks and pulled him back down to my lips. 

Wrapping my arms around his neck I kissed Seungmin with every part of my being. He smiled, holding me as close as possible. Suddenly a blinding light flashed over us. “Hey! What are you kids still doing here?” The voice of one of the security guards yelled. 

Seungmin and I shared a look before dropping the mitts and running towards the gate hand in hand. Grabbing our bags, Seungmin pushed me through the gate as we ran from the school guards. “Run!” I screamed dragging him through the looming iron gates that bordered the school grounds. 

The two of us laughed as we ran down the dimly lit street. “So, can I tell people you are actually my girlfriend now? We can officially be the best team in the sports department.” Leaning up I kissed his cheek before pulling him around a corner towards my house. 

“Yes. Why would I turn down a boyfriend when he comes with free pitching lessons?” I joked making him roll his eyes and ruffle my hair.

◈

Requests are Temporarily Closed!

Masterlist

#stray kids imagines #skzwriternet #stray kids masterlist #stray kids angst #stray kids au imagines #stray kids au imagine #kim seungmin imagine #kim seungmin imagines #kim seungmin #kim seungmin au imagines #kim seungmin au imagine #seungmin oneshot #seungmin imagines #seungmin imagine #seungmin au imagines #seungmin baseball #seungmin baseball au #seungmin fluff #rubber ducky you're the one #stray kids scenarios #stray kids incorrect quotes #stray kids reactions #stray kids soulmate au #stray kids fake texts #stray kids college au #stray kids high school au #kim seungmin fluff #stray kids fluff #stray kids smut

[larphacks]

Process Hack: Welfare

Hi all! After a long hiatus, ya boy is back with more unsolicited advice!

What are we talking about this week? It’s LARP welfare!

Common at medium and large games, the role of welfare officer, sometimes called “site parent”, and sometimes divided into crew welfare and player welfare, is very important. It’s also something which can go really smoothly if you do some decent prep before the event. I’ve been discussing the role with some LARPer friends recently, and I’ve put together some advice for good ways to tackle this role.

Some of the below advice falls into the category of sensible prep that everyone can do before a game too, so feel free to read even if you don’t hold (or want to hold) a position like this!

Some of the jobs I outline below might not fall into every welfare officer’s purview - mix and match as you choose. (If you’ve been asked to look after player or crew welfare and don’t know which of the below are your responsibilities, that means you need to have a chat with the chief organisers and find out!)

1. Positive Energy

This can be a surprisingly high-energy role. Particularly in the crew room, one of the most important things a welfare officer can do is be positive and energetic when everyone is feeling a bit tired and down. This is hard! But a bit of jollying-along goes a huge way to changing the dynamic. This is even harder when YOU'RE the one feeling tired and cold and sad. But if you are visibly struggling, nobody will approach you when they need help! A "brave face" is your best weapon.

2. Shut Up!

Sometimes you need to be the "voice of reason" - getting people to concentrate, or quiet down, when it's important that something needs to be done quickly. One good way to do this is to be cheerful enough most of the time that people LISTEN on the rare occasions that you raise your voice and ask them to please shut up for a minute.

3. Early Start, Late Finish

The two above points are ESPECIALLY important during set-up and take-down. You need to be "on the ball"/on duty during periods where other people are transiting into and out of the game. During set-up, your keen crew and players will all be busy frothing and sniffing each other's butts because they haven't seen each other for a year, they want to show off their new kit, and their adrenaline is through the roof. But - it's 30 minutes to time-in and nobody's in kit and the IC areas aren't set-dressed. You need to get them moving!

During take-down, everyone is exhausted, a bit overwhelmed, and wants to sleep (including the refs). But the site needs to be taken down, cleaned and tidied up, lost property needs to be organised, and there are always last-minute disasters involved in the logistics of getting people off site. You can't collapse now - your job isn't done. You might not be in charge of take-down, but you ARE the right person to gently corral and rally tired people towards the plan.

4. Who does what?

If you're the first point of call for someone who's having an issue, being able to confidently signpost to other crew is really important. So firstly, you should know exactly what the other other staff members do and where they're likely to be (in both time and space). If a player comes to you and says "I'm really struggling with the Sorcery rules and I feel very stupid", then sure, you can (and should!) offer them some immediate comfort and consolation. But in order to help them with the root of the problem, you need to know several bits of information:

a) What are the different staff members' responsibilities/expertises? Who does what? (Mike is the person who handles Sorcery rules.) b) Where in space are the other staff located? (Mike is currently refereeing the Clawed Fiend encounter on top of the hill.) c) When in time are the other staff available? (The Clawed Fiend encounter can't be interrupted. It is scheduled to end at 2100hrs. Mike should come back to the crew room after that.)

I'd also recommend you have a good "ticket-tracking" system to make sure your incoming queries are handled and nobody falls through the cracks. You could devolve this onto players ("Come back at 2110hrs and ask to speak to Mike") but it will help things flow smoothly if you are also logging things yourself. I'd recommend carrying a small notebook and pen so you can note things down and tick things off. You can also help things along by being an active communicator and setting the emotional context for solutions. If Mike comes back at 2100 and immediately gets jumped by an emotional player, he might be tired and confused and not give the best answer. But if he comes back and you tell him "There's a player who is having a bad time with the Sorcery rules, they seem quite distressed, I think you can help, they'll be around in 10 minutes" then he won't be surprised and will have the right bit of his brain switched on.

5. It’s all in the Filofax

There is admin information about players/crew which will really help you if something goes wrong too. I'd suggest having the following on-hand, glued into your notebook, on a tablet, or otherwise kept secure on your person (since some of it's sensitive personal data):

a) A list of everyone's allergies and medical conditions. b) A list of qualified first-aiders, and the locations of first-aid kits. c) A list of every vehicle on site, registration number against player/crew name, in case you need a car moved in a hurry. d) A rough understanding of who arrived from where, with whom. It doesn't need to be exhaustive, but if the vehicle which brought 6 people from London breaks down irrecoverably, then being able to help sketch out solutions to get those people and their kit home will be massively easier if you know roughly where people came from.

6. The Outside World

You are likely to also need to be able to signpost to help *outside* the game. If a player comes to you with a problem that can't be fixed with on-site resources, what are you going to do about it? You can't predict every scenario, but at a minimum I'd suggest having the following prepared:

a) A breakdown service for the vehicle that won't start (in the UK the most common is the AA). b) A mental health or emotional support helpline, like the Samaritans (116123). c) The emergency number for injured wildlife - in the UK, the RSPCA (0300 1234 999). d) The emergency and non-emergency medical numbers (in the UK: 999 emergency, 111 non-emergency) and police numbers (UK: 999 emergency, 101 non-emergency). e) A clear understanding of where on site you can get mobile phone signal. f) A plan for how you would get an ambulance onto site if you needed one: run through the whole thing (where on site can I get enough signal to call the ambulance? What is the postcode of the site, and do I have a set of clear directions to give the dispatcher in my notebook? Who am I sending to the site entrance to walk the ambulance on? Is their most likely route of approach clear for a large vehicle?). If you've never called an ambulance in this country, then ask someone who *has* to practice with you, so you understand what questions they'll ask and in what order.

7. Kit & kaboodle

The following are things which LARPers reliably fail to provide for themselves, and which you will benefit greatly if you have on hand. Find out from the organisers what your budget is, and buy accordingly:

a) Salty snacks (crisps/nuts) and quick energy (sweets/fruit). Keep a small separate store aside from the usual 'crew food' to help someone who is struggling. b) The ability to make a hot sweet drink in a hurry. c) Hydration solution (Dioralyte, Powerade, or the cheap alternative, which is six teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt per litre of clean water). d) Paper and pens. e) High-powered torch (for searching for lost objects). f) Your own phone on an in-country network, plus at least one charged mobile phone powerbank with multiple charger ends. g) Ice packs - ideally the "squeeze to activate" sort so you aren't relying on the site freezer. (Most common item left out of first aid kids - and immediate relief/comfort for the most common LARP injuries.) h) Warm blankets. i) An idea of how you'd provide a simple hot meal in a hurry. (This could be a packet of rice you can chuck in the microwave, a cup-soup and kettle, a ration pack and a Jetboil, or a good understanding of what the caterers' plan is for an emergency meal.)

If someone is in a lot of distress, going through the process of dealing with their physical needs (food/water/temperature/etc.) can often help them become better able to communicate their psychological/emotional needs. Often a LARPer who is dehydrated or low on blood sugar doesn't KNOW that's the problem, they just know they feel awful and are crashing hard.

8. Know the Ground

KNOW YOUR SITE - I can't stress this enough. If someone has a costume disaster and needs somewhere private to change, where can they do that? If someone is overwhelmed and needs a quiet, safe, cool (or warm) room or tent to lie down in for an hour, where can they do that? If a shy new player shows up and asks "Where do I put my kit?", then being able to answer them quickly and competently with a smile on your face will immediately endear you (and mean that they WILL come to you later, when they're suffering, instead of sitting alone on their bed being sad about it).

9. Late Bloomers

What is the late arrivals plan? If you went IC at 1900 and the traffic means some of your players don't arrive till 2200, then most of your key refs/crew will be busy running the game. You're the most likely person to escort the late arrivals onto site, get them set up, and get them integrated into the game. You'll need to reassure, but you'll also need to understand a lot of admin details to make sure they don't feel any more overwhelmed and embarrassed than they already do. This might involve giving a second safety briefing, pointing out any last-minute changes that weren't included in the game pack, and pointing them to the right ref to get their characters timed in. You can be as nice and friendly as you like - but some people will be even more reassured by practical, reliable and clear directions when they’re feeling rushed and panicky.

10. Herd those Cats

What is the crew plan? Depending on role, you may or may not be involved in "crew wrangling" - this is often a separate role, and deserves its own post. But even if you aren't "crew boss", you need to understand and be able to help balance crew energy and engagement. If there are long periods where crew are likely to be sitting around bored, where are the "pick-up-and-play" roles they can briefly read, digest, and go out to engage in? If crew are doing three hours of back-to-back combat roles, where is the plan for ensuring that they're all fed, watered, rested and properly kitted before their next high-energy role? The best refs will have considered this and have a clear plan for managing crew in small teams to maintain their energy levels - but as a welfare officer you are likely to be the advocate/interface if it doesn't seem to be working well, so make sure you understand where the weak spots and frictions in the plan might be so you can deal with them in advance.

What happens if a crew member comes to you and says they're really struggling with their NPC role and aren't enjoying it? (If you're the approachable face, they'll likely come to you first before a busier ref!) Do you understand the crew matrix well enough to think about solutions, alternative roles they could do, or how the timetable could be re-worked to end their role early? Wherever possible, you should strive to go to the refs with a solution rather than a problem: "Harry is struggling and I think if we brought the poisoning forward an hour, then let him play a gremlin for the rest of the night, that would fix it" is better than "Harry is struggling". They may not accept your solution, but the conversation is already moving onto alternative ways to fix the problem.

11. Easy In, Easy Out

How do players enter/leave the game if they're fatigued or unwell? Your game may not have a clear system for this, and it may be players' own responsibility to manage their fatigue. However, some will struggle to cross the IC/OC divide here: if the character is fighting for their life, how do they resolve that with the player needing to have a lie-down for an hour so they're safe to drive the next day? One of the best games I've run had a clear, signposted system where players who needed a break could "vanish" IC (with a clear IC logic for their disappearance) and take as much time as they wanted. When they were rested, they could go see a ref for a special briefing which told them what had happened while they were away (and explained how they reappeared). You won't find this in every game, but think about ways to make taking an OC break feel like a positive and productive experience, which leaves the character with plenty to talk about when they return, rather than a potentially embarrassing one which leaves the player out-of-the-loop and feeling like they've missed out on the fun.

12. Look After Number One!

Practice active self-care, both to facilitate all of the above and as a good example to others. Going back to the first point, most people can't project positive energy if they're sad, wet, cold, tired and hungry. Have a routine worked out to look after yourself. Understand what you can and can't do and work to your limitations. If you have lots of physical energy but are struggling to deal with six emotional crises in a row, get up and walk around site. If moving exhausts you, pick a central location to base yourself and make sure all the things you need to do your job are in easy reach.

Feel free to reblog with your own additions, checklist items or hacks for looking after your fellow LARPers’ welfare. Suggestions gratefully accepted!

#process hack #LARP #accessibility #larp accessibility #larphacks