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totowlff · 2 years

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chapter one — punishment

➝ request: I would really like to read again a jealous Toto for the reader.

➝ word count: 7,2k

➝ warnings: smut

➝ author’s note: this one-shot took unnecessarily long time in my head as well as my drafts. unfortunately, i don't know how to write a porn without a plot, so let's just say i got too carried away. moreover, with a beautiful inspiration that was those two laps at spa-francorchamps, i couldn't leave this request aside.

You stared at the dark sky over Stavelot in silence as your fingers clenched the blue and red foam of the Sky Sports microphone in your hands.

The memory of one particular Sunday was vivid in your mind.

The wind.

The cold.

The rain.

— Y/N — you heard, behind you. Turning around, you found Jules, your producer, smiling.

— Yes? — you answered.

— They cleared the track for us. Shall we record the first segment?

You looked down the pitlane, where three cars were parked side by side. There was a crowd of onlookers, photographers, and cameras around them. On the left was the Mercedes-AMG ONE, with Lewis Hamilton leaning against the bodywork, talking to Bradley, Mercedes' communications director. In the middle was the GT3 EDITION 55”, which was currently being photographed by Steve, the team photographer. On the right was the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG, the famous Rote Sau. Behind the wheel, talking to George Russell, there he was.

Toto Wolff.

You knew of the team principal's reputation long before you even thought about the possibility of stepping into the paddock. When you were still working in the Sky Sports newsroom in London, you were always amused by the behind-the-scenes motorsport gossip from your colleagues who worked at the races. The words 'beautiful', 'charming' and 'charismatic' never failed to appear in their accounts of interactions with Toto. However, it never crossed your mind that you would someday witness his charm and good looks firsthand.

The first time you stepped into a race paddock was to replace Georgina, one of the producers who worked with Ted Kravitz, producing content for the channel's website, who had contracted Covid-19 at the British Grand Prix. After some exceptional work on the two weekends you covered for your colleague, you were sent more frequently to produce on-location, helping to create stories that had a resounding impact. It didn't take long for you to reach the higher echelons of sports reporting, crafting more interesting stories and producing more daring reports.

However, your big break came when you found out that Lewis Hamilton would not race at the Sakhir Grand Prix after testing positive for Covid-19. With Ted stuck in a meeting, there was no one who could break the news live during the F1 Report. So, using all your courage — and steely nerve — you stood in front of a camera for the first time and gave the world first-hand information about the medical status of the seven-time world champion.

The following year, you were promoted to the role of being an on-camera personality, occasionally doing pit lane walks and media pen interviews. It was during one of these interviews, after qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, that you had your first interview with a certain team principal.

— Hello, Toto, how are you?

— Fine — he replied, smiling. “They weren’t kidding, he does have a nice smile.”, you thought — And you?

— I’m fine as well. I would like to get your impressions of today’s qualifying session, especially considering the pace shown by Max Verstappen today.

— Well, we're very excited to have a real fight on our hands. Six teams in the top ten today and it's clear that simply being good won't be enough this year. But in this final year of the current set of regulations, we have to push the needle even further, not only to beat Red Bull, but also some of the other teams.

— Lewis and Valtteri were both unsatisfied with the reliability of the W12 during pre-season testing. Today, the car proved to be more reliable, but it still doesn't seem to be quite at the pace you’d like it to be.

— It’s true that conditions weren't favorable for us today, but we're definitely closer here than we were during the three days of pre-season testing. However, I can't say exactly what our position is in relation to Red Bull yet.

You smiled, satisfied with his answers.

— Right, Toto. Thank you very much for your insight.

He nodded, preparing to go to the next set of microphones. However, the team principal stopped, standing in front of you for a few seconds in the middle of the media pool before coming back to you.

— You're new around here, aren't you? — he asked, raising an eyebrow.

— I’m not new at Sky, no. I've been here since 2018.

— But, here, in the paddock, how long have you been here?

— Since last year.

— As a reporter?

— No. I was a producer. I started as an on-camera reporter this year.

Toto smiled.

— I understand now.

— Understand what?

— Why I don’t remember you.

— Well, with so many other media people around the paddock, it's pretty easy for us to blend in.

— Blend in? Not for someone as pretty as you are. — he replied with a mischievous smile before moving on to the next journalist who was waiting for him.

“And… He’s definitely charming”, you thought, trying to ignore the way your face was heating up, as well as the laughter from Daniel, your cameraman.

As the months passed, his compliments became more frequent. The looks you shared lingered more. His touches were no longer incidental. The tension between the two of you was palpable every time you crossed paths, whether in the paddock, the media pool, or the press conference room.

It was like a glass of water, filling drop by drop.

— We're going to do the introduction, and after they've done the laps, you're going to talk to the three of them, okay? — Jules said to you as you walked towards the three cars in the pitlane.

— Right — you confirmed. You stopped at a point just to the right of the track, so that Daniel could capture all three cars in the same frame in a diagonal shot.

— Do you think it's better to keep still or move for these introduction shots?

— Moving. It’s more dynamic.

— Okay — you smiled — Let's go.

You grabbed your cell phone and quickly reviewed the talking points for your segment. “Talk about where we are, the reason, the cars, and the drivers”, you thought, reading the email sent by the Mercedes’ press office.

— Ready? — Daniel asked.

You hesitated, taking a moment to fix your hair and smooth your hands over your skirt one last time.

— Yes — you smiled.

With a thumbs up, the cameraman signaled you to begin.

— We are here at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, celebrating the 55th anniversary of AMG. To celebrate in style, AMG has put together four great cars, as well as four… Or, rather, three, great drivers.

Behind the camera, Jules laughed at your phrasing.

— Now, Toto will be behind the wheel of this legendary 300 SEL 6.8 AMG, better known as the Red Pig. Lewis will be behind the wheel of this spectacular Mercedes-AMG ONE and George will drive the new GT3 EDITION 55, which you can see in the middle there. We also have Formula 1 Safety Car driver Bernd Mayländer who will be driving the AMG safety car, which is a modified AMG GT Black series. Let's take a look — you added, smiling.

A few seconds later, Daniel looked up at you

— Perfect, Y/N.

— Want to try a second time?

— Do we have time, Jules? — the cameraman asked.

You saw your producer wave to Bradley, who was still standing next to Lewis, pointing to his wrist, in a way of asking how much time they had there before the cars took to the track. The communications director held up two fingers, to which Jules simply responded with a raised thumb.

— No, we don't. Daniel, can you take some more filler footage?

— No problem — the cameraman replied, repositioning his device on his shoulder and heading toward the cars parked behind you. Meanwhile, Jules approached you, putting a hand on your shoulder.

— Shall we go to the pit lane?

You nodded, following your producer to the pit area. It was starting to become busy due to preparations for the next day, when the first free practice sessions would take place at the circuit. Leaning back against the wall, you were making a concentrated effort not to look for those familiar brown eyes in the midst of the crowd of people, so you looked up, staring at the dark clouds over the circuit.

— You think it will rain? — you asked quietly, placing the microphone on top of the concrete.

Jules looked up.

— I saw that there was a good chance of rain for this weekend.

You pursed your lips.

— That’s shit — you muttered.

— I hope you brought your raincoat this time — the producer said, nudging you with his elbow.

— I did — you said with a smirk, your memory taking you back to the year before.

It was a rainy Sunday on the same circuit, and it was the day that the metaphorical glass, filling drop by drop as you and Toto flirted and teased each other, spilled over.

You had always prided yourself on being a woman who was always prepared for any eventuality. However, on the wettest weekend of the season, on a trip to the racetrack in the Ardennes forest, an area famously prone to heavy rainstorms, you'd somehow managed the feat of forgetting your raincoat in London.

“Dumb bitch”, you thought, after you left the third official merchandise tent without finding a way to protect yourself from the storm that fell on Stavelot.

Accepting the consequences, you decided to keep working, ignoring the weather-related adversities. However, with you running up and down the paddock so much during the red flag period, with only your normal jacket to protect you from the elements, it wasn’t long before you ended up completely soaked.

At one point in the afternoon, after yet another aborted race start, you were walking back to the media center when you felt your cell phone vibrate in your coat pocket. You sought shelter to check your messages and hadn't even noticed which tent you’d stepped under until you heard a familiar male voice behind you.

— You're soaking wet.

Turning around, you saw Toto's familiar smile. The team principal was seated at one of the hospitality tables. The hospitality area was otherwise completely empty.

— I didn't bring my raincoat.

— Bad weekend to leave it at home, huh?

You nodded, chuckling before looking back at your cell phone, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach. You were trying to type a reply to Billy, Sky’s Formula 1 director, but your fingers didn't seem to want to respond.

— Are you cold? — Toto questioned you.

The question made you notice the chill building up in your body that you’d been ignoring until just then.

— No.

— I can see from here that you’re shivering, Y/N.

— It's nothing — you replied, trying to mask the tremor in your voice.

Toto got up from the table and approached you. He took your hands in his, the iciness of your cold, wet hands a stark contrast to the warmth of his.

— You're freezing — the team principal stated, rubbing your hands lightly, trying to impart some of his warmth.

— Seriously, it's okay — you said softly, trying to ignore the sudden wave of heat that coursed through your body, pushing away the chill you were feeling.

— No, no, you're going to get sick like this — Toto said, a worried look in his brown eyes.

— Toto, I'm fine, it's just water. I’m not going to melt.

He shook his head. He didn’t let go of your hand and took you, without a word, into the Mercedes motorhome. He led you up the spiral stairs, through the hallways, and to a frosted glass door. He opened it to reveal a small, simple office with a neat desk made of pale wood and a black office chair.

— I'll go get you a towel, don’t go anywhere — Toto said, disappearing down the hall.

Alone inside the small office, you looked at the shelves on the wall, decorated with potted plants, awards and picture frames with images of Toto at team celebrations, accompanied by his drivers. However, the photo that caught your attention the most was a photo of him with Niki Lauda. You smiled looking at it.

— Here you are — you heard him behind you. Turning around, you found the team principal holding out a rolled-up black towel to you. Taking the terry cloth in your hands, you unfurled it, noticing a logo embroidered in white thread. The logo was a pair of stylized wings that formed a shape that looked like the face of a lion.

— Is this Lewis’ towel? — you asked.

— Yes. I took it from his room.

— You don’t think he’ll get upset?

— I’m sure he won’t — Toto replied, giving you a wink. You felt your face heat up.

— I really hope so — you muttered, as you opened your wet coat.

Smiling, the team principal stepped behind you, helping you peel the soaked jacket from your body. Underneath, you wore a thin blouse that was also wet. The fabric was transparent now, and clinging to your curves. You were embarrassed as you hurried to dry yourself off, running the towel down your arms.

However, the damage was already done.

Looking up, you noticed that Toto was watching you carefully, taking in every detail that the wet shirt showed, his lips pressed together. In his brown eyes, you could see only one thing.

Desire.

— Well — you said, wrapping the towel around your shoulders — I just have to thank you for your kindness.

He blinked, as if he'd come out of a trance.

— It was no problem, Y/N. Really.

— Yes, but I appreciate it anyway. You didn't have to.

— Yes, I did. One of the best journalists in the paddock can't walk around soaking wet and risk catching pneumonia.

You felt like you could melt on the spot.

— I don't know how to repay you — you stammered.

— But I do — Toto smiled, taking a step forward.

In your chest, your heart was pounding.

— Do you want a kiss? — you asked, without hesitation.

Toto's eyes widened.

— Well — he began to stutter, his face red — I had something else in mind… I don't know, maybe a feature story about the team… Or even about me.

— Toto, I've watched enough romantic comedies to know what happens when a man and a woman are alone in a room for the first time after months of flirting and staring at each other.

— What’s that?

— They kiss. And then they have sex.

— And what do you want?

— With you? Both.

You couldn’t say anything else before Toto advanced on you, his lips on yours, releasing the tension of nearly six months of the game the two of you were playing with each other. You knew you wouldn't be leaving that office until he was fully sated, which was almost an hour later, after you'd had three orgasms on top of his desk, your moans echoing off the office walls.

You’d had many more since that day.

The sound of engines brought your focus back to the cars in front of you. With the track cleared, the two Mercedes drivers and team principal were already seated inside the vehicles for their exhibition lap, waiting for authorization to accelerate through the circuit.

Soon enough, green lights lit up on the electronic panel, and the three of them shot down the main straight with the safety car behind, dozens of people in the stands and pit lane watching.

After two laps around the circuit, the four cars entered the pit area in a row, stopping in front of the Mercedes’ garage. It wasn't long before mechanics, photographers, cameramen and onlookers crowded around the vehicles, pointing and chatting about the cars.

— Shall we, Y/N? — Jules turned to you.

Picking up your mic again, you smiled.

— Yes, let’s go.

The two of you crossed the pit lane towards the point where the cars were gathered. The drivers were already outside the vehicles, their helmets abandoned on the seats, talking to each other about the laps, teasing and joking with each other. After hearing Toto's laugh after a comment from George, an involuntary smile appeared on your lips. It was your favorite sound.

— What are you smiling at? — Jules asked you, one eyebrow raised.

You blinked. The producer didn't know about your affair with Toto. Nobody did. It was a deal made by both of you, not just to protect each other’s privacy, but also to avoid any issues of you violating journalistic ethics. “You can’t sacrifice your career because of me”, you heard Toto say in your head.

— I was thinking of a question to ask Toto.

Jules looked around for the team principal.

— Then you'd better take advantage of the fact that he's free now and go ask him — he said, tilting his head in the Austrian's direction.

You saw Toto again and noticed that he was leaning against the red bodywork of the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG, his arms crossed and his gaze fixed to the ground. Before you even realized it, your feet were pulling you towards him, like a metal piece drawn to a magnet. Stopping beside him, you hesitated for a few seconds.

— Did you have fun? — you said.

— Who's asking? — he smiled, looking at the microphone in your hand.

— Toto…

— I need to know, so I know how to answer. Is it the journalist asking me, or the woman?

You leaned back against the red metal beside him.

— Both — you replied, the shadow of a smile on your lips.

— Well, to the journalist, I will say that I was looking forward to driving this car and that it was a lot of fun.

— And to the woman?

Toto brought his face close to your ear.

— I had more fun last night with you.

You looked at him, violent heat rising in your face. Noticing your flushed cheeks, Toto just smirked.

— I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that — you mumbled.

— Your face says otherwise, but that's okay.

You were silent, wondering what to say. “Didn't you have a question for him?”, you asked yourself, fiddling with the microphone awkwardly. When you were around him, it was as if your mind just went completely blank, leaving only room for the desire you felt for him.

— Do you want to record a segment with me? — Toto said, breaking the silence. Lifting your face to him, you smiled.

— Yes. We're doing a feature about AMG's anniversary and today's activities.

— What do you want me to talk about?

— I'll ask about the company and how it feels to be on the track. Nothing too difficult for you.

— Fine by me — he smiled, rising from the hood of the car. Signaling Daniel to come closer, you momentarily closed your eyes, mentally reviewing your questions for Toto. When you opened them again, you noticed he was watching you carefully, the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.

— Can we start? — you asked him.

— Anytime, Y/N — Toto replied. Smiling, you lifted the microphone and nodded for Daniel to start recording.

— Well, Toto, what does it mean to celebrate AMG's 55th anniversary?

— AMG is synonymous with racing and high performance. For 55 years they've been at the forefront of pushing what's possible on four wheels, both on the track and on the road. And celebrating this history here, driving a car as special as the Red Pig, an icon in motorsport history, is very special.

— And what was it like to take those two laps here in Spa?

— Race drivers simply have the best job in the world. I don't spend a lot of days on the track, but even with this car, doing two laps at Spa reminds me how amazing that is — he concluded, smiling.

— Okay, thank you, Toto — you said, signaling Daniel to stop recording. When the cameraman lowered the camera, the team principal smiled back at you, leaning in closely.

— At your service, moja maleńka — he whispered, making your face heat up again at his nickname for you.The first time Toto had referred to you with those two words, you had no idea that they were even words at first.

To you, it sounded like a sneeze.

— Bless you — you said, rolling over in bed to face him.

— What?

— Didn't you sneeze?

Toto laughed.

— No, I didn't sneeze.

You blinked, confused.

— So what was that?

— What was what?

— You whispered something.

He smiled.

— Yes — Toto said, running a hand through your hair, brushing strands out of your face — I said… Moja maleńka.

— Is that German? — you asked, raising an eyebrow.

— No. Polish.

— Do you speak Polish?

— Yes. My mother is Polish.

You were silent for a few seconds.

— Aren't you going to ask what it means?

— Should I?

— I think you would find it interesting.

— And what do words that sound like a sneeze mean?

— They mean… My little one.

Heat rose in your cheeks.

You've never been called that, not even by your parents.

“He's definitely charismatic”, you thought, a smile on your lips.

— Y/N, George is free now. Should we interview him? — you heard Daniel say in your ear. Taking one last look at Toto, you smiled at your cameraman, following him towards the point where the Brit was talking to your producer.

— Good afternoon, George, how are you?

— Good, and you?

— I’m fine as well — you replied — Shall we talk about your laps with the GT3 EDITION 55?

The Brit's blue eyes lit up.

— Let's do it! — he said, smiling.

Interviewing George was never difficult. The driver, in addition to being polite and intelligent, knew how to answer with confidence, without forgetting to put a pinch of British humor in his statements. Whenever you needed soundbytes, you knew you could count on him.

However, even his charm and good press presence didn't make George your favorite driver to interview

— Lewis is free now — Jules said, jerking his thumb at the man behind him.

Talking to Lewis Hamilton was a special thrill for you. If your passion for motorsport was born from watching Damon Hill lead Williams to glory, it was with the Stevenage driver that it came to full bloom. Watching him race as just a spectator was incredible, but watching him up close as a professional was a privilege that would never feel real to you.

— Good afternoon, Lewis — you approached him, greeting him with a hug — How are you?

— Much better now — he smiled — It's wonderful to drive a good car once in a while.

You chuckle, feeling awkward. That season was cruel. Not just to Mercedes, but to the British driver especially. After having his eighth title snatched from his hands at the last second, he went on to deal with a brand new and terribly temperamental car, the result of a new build regulations that Mercedes missed the mark on.

But with the new spending cap rules, there was nothing they could do to salvage the season other than discuss how incomprehensible and temperamental the W13 was. It was something Toto made a point of doing every race weekend that you spent with him, as he twirled a lock of your hair around his index finger or traced the features of your face with his finger.

— I can imagine how fun it was. Can we talk about it?

— Of course — Lewis replied, putting his hands on his hips.

Signaling Daniel to stand, you quickly fixed your hair, as well as running your hand quickly over your dress, trying to smooth any creases.

— You look great, Y/N — the Brit commented, a shy smile on his lips.

Looking up at him, you smiled.

— Thank you, Lewis.

Turning to face your cameraman, you waited for his signal to start, which came seconds later, with a nod.

— So, Lewis, tell us, what was it like driving the Mercedes-AMG ONE here in Spa?

— Celebrating the 55th anniversary of AMG here in Spa is something incredible, as we are talking about an iconic brand in the world of motorsport. But to do that while driving a car like this is very special to me. We work hard all year and we don't always have time to enjoy moments like this, so it's a really fantastic thing.

— We can see how excited you and George were, even competing at one point.

— Yeah, things got hot on the track — Lewis laughed.

— Toto was pushing you too, I don't know if you could see it, but we saw it here.

— Yes, I saw. He's a real racer, like me and George, and you can see his passion for it, even though he's cut some of the curves, from what I noticed in the rearview mirror.

You couldn't help but laugh. You knew that Toto had experience in rallying, endurance racing, and racing GT cars. However, you also knew that he wasn’t able to achieve success, which explained why he turned to business.

— I haven't seen the footage yet to say — you said, trying to catch your breath.

— I bet you'll enjoy the damage he did to the grass at Turn 11.

— I'm looking forward to seeing the track remodeling work — you smiled, waving your hand for Daniel to stop recording. After receiving confirmation that the cameraman had finished the job, you continued talking to Lewis for a few more minutes, listening to his impressions of the car he had just driven, as well as more harsh words about the W13. According to him, the team couldn’t nail down the tuning or set-up for a lot of tracks.

Distracted by Lewis' monologue about the car, you didn’t as someone approached behind you both. He touched your shoulder and you can't help but be a little startled by the sudden intrusion. Turning around, you found Toto with a serious expression.

— Y/N, can I talk to you?

You blinked.

— Yes, about what?

— Privately — Toto said in a low voice. His face was completely unreadable.

Those two words made a chill build up in your belly. Looking around, you noticed Jules talking to Daniel and Steve. “They won't even notice I'm gone”, you thought, before flashing a smile to the team principal.

— Okay, let's go — you replied — See you, Lewis.

The driver nodded at you with a smile. Looking back at Toto, you saw him gesturing for you to go ahead of him into the Mercedes pit area, a quick shortcut to access their hospitality, which was just behind the entrance to the team's garage. Heading towards the access to the paddock, you waved at an engineer before turning down the hall, past the wall where the headphones were kept. One of the hooks had a red hat hanging on it. How many stories have you heard about the owner of that red hat?

Walking silently down the hall, you had just passed the door of the Petronas fluid analysis lab when you felt a hand close around your arm, pulling you back. Guiding you with little delicacy, Toto moved you into the small lab that was inside Mercedes garage, releasing you only to slide the opaque glass door closed, locking the two of you inside.

— What are you doing? — you asked in a whisper.

Toto remained silent, staring at you with those chocolate-colored eyes, until he began to approach you, slowly. Almost instinctively, you started taking steps back, trying to keep the distance between the two of you. You were succeeding until you felt your back hit the wall.

“Fuck,” you thought, watching the team principal get closer and closer to you, the shadow of a smile on his lips as he stopped in front of you, his face inches from yours.

— Y/N — he whispered, placing his hands on your waist.

— Yes? — you replied softly, lifting your face to look him in the eyes.

Silence.

“What did I do?” you asked yourself.

Suddenly, in one swift movement, you found yourself with your back to Toto, your cheek against the wall. You felt his hot breath against your ear.

— What was going through your head out there?

You swallowed hard.

— What are you talking about?

His hands went down your side, caressing you.

— Your conversation with Lewis. What were you thinking?

— I… I was just… Doing… My job — you tried to sound confident, without any success.

— Your job is to interview drivers. Not to flirt with them — he said in a low voice.

— I… Wasn’t flirting… With anyone — you gasped, your apprehension turning into curiosity. You had never seen this rough, possessive side of him before, and you couldn’t deny that you were a little turned on.

— That's not what it looked like to me — Toto growled. His fingers were already on your hips, skimming the fabric of your dress in search of your panties. “If only I had put any on”, you thought, pursing your lips. Seconds later, you felt him press his body even more firmly against yours.

— Are you not wearing any panties, maleńka? — he asked in a low voice, his lips against your ear. His breath against your skin sent a shiver through your body, your pussy getting wet. Swallowing hard, you made an affirmative sound, the words stuck in your throat.

However, it wasn't enough for Toto.

With a not-so-gentle tug, he pulled your dress up, exposing your bare ass. Toto's hand roamed over your delicate skin, as if he was confirming what he'd already felt through the fabric. Suddenly, the sound of a slap filled the small lab space, accompanied by the gasp of surprise that escaped your lips. The sensation was not unfamiliar to you, as one of the first things Toto had done when he laid you on his desk that rainy Sunday was asking to slap your ass as punishment for months of teasing.

And you found, to your surprise, that you liked it.

— Can you answer me? — Toto whispered, his fingers ghosting over the spot where his hand had landed violently against your bottom.

— Yes — you stuttered, your voice shaky — I'm not wearing any panties.

— Why, maleńka?

You blinked. The reason you'd gone without underwear had been solely because of the unsightly panty lines that were visible in the dress you were wearing, which fit snugly against your body. However, seeing Toto's reaction, you couldn't help but wonder what he would have done if you’d gone without for any other reason. And with the opportunity to find out on the tip of your tongue, you decided not to waste it.

— Because I didn’t want to wear any — you replied, your voice firm and challenging.

Another slap, this time on the opposite side of the first.

This time, the sound that left your lips was nothing like a gasp. It was a moan of pleasure.

— Do you like it? — Toto's hand went back to massaging your butt, which was probably starting to turn red from the impact of his fingers against your buttock.

You muttered something that sounded like yes, nodding. It wasn't enough for Toto. In a split second, you felt his free hand go to your jaw, tilting your face back. Your gaze met his, his brown eyes tinged with a darkness you knew well.

— Words. I want to hear you.

The tone of his voice sent a wave of arousal through your body, your core pulsing. The hand that was on your face slid down, wrapping around your neck in a gentle grip, but enough so that the sensation went straight to your pussy, the wetness building more and more.

— Yes, I like it — your voice was barely audible.

— You're a bad girl, Y/N.

— Then… You should punish me — you replied, a teasing tone in your voice.

One more slap. One more groan.

You had never felt as aroused as you did at that moment.

— You talk too much for such a bad girl — he muttered, his hand caressing your aching skin.

— And you act too little for someone who wants to discipline me.

Another slap. Another moan.

However, this time, Toto didn't massage your ass as affectionately as you'd expected him to. You felt the team principal release your neck and bring both hands to your waist, turning your body so that you were facing him. There was nothing gentle about his movements now.

— So, you want to be punished? — Toto asked, leaning his forehead against yours.

— Yes, I do — you replied, whispering.

Smiling, he took your lips in a fierce kiss, his tongue unceremoniously invading your mouth. As one hand caressed the back of your head, guiding it subtly, the other moved down your spine, pulling your body against his, the fabric of his black race suit rubbing against your exposed skin.

You were so immersed in that kiss that you hardly noticed when Toto pushed you away from the wall, leading you through the cramped room to one of the lab benches, where Petronas engineers performed tests during the sessions. Pulling his face away from yours momentarily, the team principal's hands wrapped around your waist, boosting you up and placing you on the white countertop, your legs spread wide enough for him to position himself between them. With the bottom of your dress still rucked up around your hips, you were completely exposed to him. Something told you that was exactly how he wanted you.

Toto didn't need to say a word to tell you what the next step was. Bringing your fingers to the collar of the black and red jumpsuit, you opened it, revealing the zipper, pulling it down desperately, clumsily. Biting your bottom lip, with one quick movement, you peeled the overalls from his shoulders, allowing Toto to pull his arms through the sleeves, leaving only the white fireproof undershirt he was wearing. With his hands free, he lowered the overalls even lower, exposing his fireproof underwear, the outline of his erection evident beneath the thin fabric.

Looking up at you, Toto gave you a devilish grin before pulling the last layer down, exposing his cock. The sight sent a wave of arousal through your skin that felt like an electric shock. He knew the power he had over you and your body, and he was eager to use it.

— Do you like what you see? — the team principal whispered, while his fingers wrapped around his own dick, pumping slowly.

— Yes — you said, your voice shaky.

— Do you want this? — he asked you. The light glistened on the pre-cum spread along his length — Do you want my cock, maleńka?

— Yes — you replied, pleadingly. You could feel anticipation building up in your core to the point where it was almost painful. You needed it the same way you needed air to breathe. However, Toto wasn’t making any effort to approach you, to enter you, to make you moan his name with your nails digging into his shoulders.

Instead, he remained standing in front of you, one hand stroking his cock and the other squeezing one of your thighs, keeping your legs spread and still, your pussy completely exposed to him, wetness almost oozing out of you.

In the fog of your desire, you finally realized his intentions.

Denial. This was your punishment.

— Toto…

— What do you want, maleńka? — he asked softly, his thumb circling the head of his cock — Tell me what you want.

— You…

Toto looked at you with a devilish expression.

— But, you have me. I’m right here.

— I want you inside me, fucking me like the bad girl I am.

— After what you did today, do you think you deserve my dick?

— I was working, Toto — you whimpered, almost like a child who didn’t get any dessert — I just want you. I only think about you. There is only you.

— Do you only want me? — he moved toward you now.

— Yes, yes, yes — you gasped, your muscles tensing in anticipation.

With a smile on his lips, Toto moved even closer, positioning his cock at your entrance. His lips found your jaw, placing gentle kisses going up towards your ear. You felt a shiver of anticipation run through your body. “Finally, finally, finally,” you mentally repeated, your fingers finding the back of his neck, playing with his dark hair.

But instead of the pleasure you were desperate for, you felt his tip brush against your clit, your sensitivity making you nearly sob at his subtle movements. The sound made Toto smile against your skin.

— You look so pretty like this — he murmured, nibbling at a spot below your earlobe — Completely desperate for me.

His cock continued to brush through your folds, pressing lightly against your hole. You could feel the tears of agony building up in your eyes.

— Please, please, please — you moaned, squirming at the subtle touch.

— I'll give you what you want — Toto whispered — But you have to ask for it.

— Please, I want to feel you inside me — you gasped — I need to feel you. Please please. Let me feel you.

— Fine — he said.

Slowly, you felt Toto sliding inside you with no resistance. You were beyond soaked and ready for him. However, instead of penetrating you completely, he sank just the head of his cock in and retreated almost immediately. You searched his face and found a mischievous smile.

— Toto — you stammered.

He laughed.

— You asked me to feel my cock inside you. You felt it.

Something between an incredulous laugh and an agonized groan left your lips.

“Son of a bitch”, you thought.

— You're ridiculous, Wolff — you managed to say.

— And you're not being clear about what you want.

You rolled your eyes. However, instead of slapping you again for your insolence, Toto just leaned his forehead against yours, his brown eyes glued to yours.

— Tell me what you want — Toto whispered, brushing his nose against yours — And you'll have it.

You blinked, your breath caught in your throat.

— Fuck me. Just fuck me. Please.

He smiled. Not in a mischievous or provocative way, but sincerely.

Toto had finally heard what he wanted to hear.

Positioning yourself again at your entrance, you turned your head to the side, muscles tensing. However, holding your chin, he made you look at him again.

— I'm going to fuck you like you want. But… You will have to be quiet.

A nod of your head was the signal for Toto to penetrate you immediately. Stifling a cry at the sudden sensation of him inside of you, you felt pain and pleasure mingling in your belly.

It was everything you wanted.

It didn't take long for Toto to set a delicious rhythm, causing you to dig your nails into the muscles of his shoulders beneath the fireproof shirt. You strained to keep your mouth shut, trying not to make a sound, just as he had asked. However, when he found the right spot inside you, you couldn't resist emitting low grunts and moans.

— Yes, yes, yes — you muttered, as Toto attacked your neck, biting your skin with little delicacy. There would probably be marks. There would certainly be marks. But, you couldn't care less right now. This moment was worth every extra minute you'd have to spend hiding the evidence of your affair with him.

Focused on the sensation building in your abdomen, you received a new rush of pleasure as Toto's hand left your thigh and snaked between your legs. Finding your clit, his fingers began to draw quick, indelicate circles, making you expend a Herculean effort not to scream at the top of your lungs.

— You… Aren't… That bad… Maleńka — Toto gasped, quickening the movement of his hips against yours. With your heart racing, you didn't know what to say because of the fog of pleasure that clouded your mind, making you completely lose the power of language. You pulled him by the back of his neck towards your lips, in a deep kiss, backed by the wet sound of his cock against your pussy.

Your legs contracted, as did your abdomen.

You were close.

Very close.

Too close.

Until, suddenly, Toto stopped, causing a frustrated groan to escape your lips. Pulling his face slightly away from yours, he studied your face.

— Y/N, look at me — the team principal asked, his thumb stroking your cheek.

Your eyelids fluttered, the effort to open your eyes was almost unreal.

— Who makes you feel good?

— You — you gasped, the painful sensation of your aborted orgasm coursing through your body — Only you.

Toto smiled, bringing his hand to your neck. His fingers pressed lightly against your skin, just enough pressure to let you know he was there. “As if I needed a reminder,” you thought, your fingers moving up to his wrist, begging him not to let you go.

— Good girl.

Using your neck for support, he moved roughly inside you again, his cock touching the spot you needed most with each thrust. Parting your lips in a silent scream, you felt the pressure in your abdomen start to build again, making your legs shake and your spine arch.

— Yes, yes, yes, yes — you repeated, in a thin voice, almost desperately.

Somewhere, you heard Toto grunt, pulling one of your legs to his hip. The other followed, imprisoning him against you. The hand that was on your neck went down to your core, massaging your clit again.

— I… Ah… Yes… I will — you stuttered, your nails sinking deeper and deeper into Toto's shoulders.

— This, this, this — he muttered. And it was the last thing you heard before the pressure in your abdomen exploded.

Biting your bottom lip hard to keep from screaming, you felt a tsunami of pleasure relentlessly sweep through your body. Your legs were shaking uncontrollably, your chest rising and falling with your labored breathing. Not seeing, hearing or feeling anything around you, you were completely numb.

So numb that you didn't notice Toto continuing to move inside you, the contractions of your pussy pulling him along into his own climax. He released himself inside you, the sensation of his hot cum going unnoticed as you had still not yet returned to Earth. Then, he rested his palms on the countertop on either side of your thighs, resting his head on your shoulder, breathing heavily, completely exhausted.

For a few minutes, what you could hear inside the small laboratory was the sounds of both of you trying to catch your breath. It was definitely the craziest thing you had ever done in your life, but never had something so wrong felt so right.

— That was amazing — you mumbled, eyes half closed.

— Thanks, we're always working to provide the best experience — you heard Toto say, his voice muffled by your shoulder, making you giggle weakly.

Lifting his face to you, he brushed his nose lightly against yours. It was gentle and affectionate.

— Can I clean you up?

— Yes — you smiled.

Toto pulled out of you and the small sink that was in the corner of the lab room. Taking a handful of paper towels from the dispenser mounted on the wall, he walked over to you and began to gently wipe you down. Then he helped you down from the counter and helped you pull your dress down again, trying to smooth out the various wrinkles. Then it was his turn to clean up and get dressed again, pulling the pants and overalls back up again.

— Come here — you said, signaling him to turn around. Holding the rough fabric in your hands, you helped him put his arms through the sleeves of the racing suit, fitting it around his shoulders. Turning back to face you, Toto smiled.

— Can you help me with the zipper?

— Sure — you replied, finding the tab and zipping the jumpsuit again, finishing with the collar embroidered with the AMG logo.

— Dziękuję, moja maleńka.

You smiled, guessing what he had said to you.

— I don't know how to say 'you’re welcome' in Polish.

— Well, you could say… Nie mogę się doczekać, aż znowu mnie przelecisz.

You blinked, confused

— Something tells me that wasn’t just ‘you’re welcome’.

Toto pursed his lips, trying to contain a smile.

— It may be. Polish is complicated.

— Torger — you scolded him.

— Okay, Y/N, nie ma za co is fine.

You tried to reproduce the words, the phonemes unfamiliar on your tongue. Your pronunciation was heavily accented and unclear, and it made Toto laugh.

— Close enough — Toto said, kissing you on the forehead.

Once you both were cleaned up and put back together, you started thinking about how to leave the lab room and the Mercedes garage unnoticed. After a few minutes of discussing a plan, you concluded that the best thing would be for you to return to the pit lane, while Toto would go to the motorhome. Taking a deep breath and running your fingers through his hair one last time, you were about to open the door when you felt his fingers curl around your wrist, pulling you into a kiss.

— See you tonight?

— Yes — you smiled, giving him one last peck on the lips before opening the door and disappearing down the hall.

#toto wolff #toto wolff x you #toto wolff x reader #f1 fic #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 one shot #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 x you #formula 1 fic #formula 1 fanfic #formula 1 one shot #toto wolff smut #wlffog #conwlff

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 3 days

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By: Julian Adorney, Mark Johnson and Geoff Laughton

Published: Mar 23, 2024

In The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard tells the story of a jet fighter pilot who was practicing high-speed maneuvers. As Willard puts it, “She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent—and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.”

What if we were flying upside down? But let’s go further. What if an entire generation was flying upside down–flying through fog and danger, unable to see either ground or sky, and the well-intended adjustments pushed on them by “experts” were just bringing them closer to catastrophe?

That’s the lens through which we interpret Abigail Shrier’s New York Times bestseller Bad Therapy.

There’s no denying that the youngest generation is in crisis. As the Addiction Center notes, members of Generation Z “run a higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem than previous age groups.” A 2015 report found that 23.6 percent of 12th graders use illicit drugs. The American Psychological Association reports that just 45 percent of Gen Zers report that their mental health is “very good” or “excellent,” compared with 51 percent of Gen Xers and 70 percent of Boomers. A concerning 42 percent of Gen Zers have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, and an astounding 60 percent take medication to manage their mental health.

It gets worse. The rate of self-harm for girls age 10-14 increased over 300 percent from 2001 to 2019 (before the pandemic). According to a 2021 CDC survey, 1 in 3 teenage girls have seriously considered killing themselves.

Well-meaning therapists, teachers, and school counselors are trying to help the next generation to rise up. But what if everyone involved is upside down? What if, like the fighter pilot that Willard describes, what they think is rising up is actually bringing them into deeper danger? Shrier makes a strong case that that’s exactly what’s happening.

Lots of educators encourage kids to spend more time checking in with their feelings. In the 2021-2022 school year, 76 percent of principals said that their school had adopted a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum. Common SEL practices include: asking students how they’re feeling at the start of each day, teaching that students should be more aware of how they’re feeling in any given moment, and encouraging students to use activities like writing and art to express their feelings.

The problem is that all of this obsession with feelings can actually make students feel worse. As Yulia Chentsova Dutton, head of the the Culture and Emotions Lab at Georgetown University, says, “Emotions are highly reactive to our attention to them.” “Certain kinds of attention to emotions, focus on emotions,” she explains, “can increase emotional distress. And I’m worried that when we try to help our young adults, help our children, what we do is throw oil into the fire.” Or to put it another way: when we ask kids over and over again how they’re feeling, we’re subtly and accidentally encouraging them to feel bad.

The reason is that, as psychiatry professor Michael Linden explains, most of us don’t feel happy all the time. Dealing with life involves ignoring a certain amount of moment-by-moment discomfort: I’m tired, my feet hurt, I’m sore from sitting down all day, I’m a little worried about my mom. When we encourage kids to check in many times per day on how they’re feeling, we’re tacitly encouraging them to bring to the surface–and then dwell on–all the things going on in their minds that are not “happiness.” That’s why, as Linden puts it, “Asking somebody ‘how are you feeling?’ is inducing negative feelings. You shouldn’t do that.”

But it gets worse.

Obsessing over our emotions can actually prevent us from doing the things that might make us feel better. Anyone who’s spent too long wallowing after a bad break-up knows this; at a certain point, you have to shelve your unpleasant emotions so that you can get on with your life. Psychologists describe two mental states that we can occupy at any given time: “action orientation” and “state orientation.” “State orientation” is where you focus primarily on yourself (e.g., how you feel about doing the task at hand, whether your wrist hurts or you’re starting to get sick, etc.). “Action orientation” is where you primarily focus on the task at hand. As a study published by Cambridge University Press notes, only the latter is actually conducive to pursuing and accomplishing goals. “State orientation is a personality that has difficulty in taking action toward goal fulfillment,” the authors warn. By encouraging young people to focus so much on their feelings, we might be hurting their ability to adopt the mindset necessary to accomplish goals in life. If so, that would make them even more unhappy.

But the dangers posed by well-meaning “experts” telling students to fly in the wrong direction–towards the ground instead of towards the sky–go well beyond encouraging unhappiness and depression. Rates of suicide and self-harm for young people are skyrocketing. But in their attempts to cope with the spike, well-meaning administrators might be making the problem worse. Here are questions from the 2021 Florida High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey, administered to students age 14 and up:

During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing your usual activities? During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide? During the past 12 months, did you make a plan about how you would attempt suicide? During the past 12 months, how many times did you actually attempt suicide? If you attempted suicide during the past 12 months, did any attempt result in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse?

A survey authored by the CDC asked students “During the past year, did you do something to purposely hurt yourself without wanting to die, such as cutting or burning yourself on purpose?” Another survey offered this question to Delaware middle schoolers: “Sometimes people feel so depressed about the future that they may consider attempting suicide or killing themselves. Have you ever seriously thought about killing yourself?”

Administrators may be asking these questions with the best of intentions, but the end result is to normalize suicide in young peoples’ minds. If you were 12 years old and taking a survey like this along with all of your classmates, you might reasonably conclude that suicide, or at least suicidal ideation and/or self harm, were pretty common at your school. Otherwise, why would everyone your age have to take such an exhaustive assessment about it?

One reason this is so dangerous is that, as Shrier writes, “The virality of suicide and self-harm among adolescents is extremely well-established.” Following the release of Netflix’s TV show 13 Reasons Why, which some said valorized a fictional girl who killed herself, several studies found a spike in teen suicide rates. The CDC agrees. In a post warning about the dangers of “suicide contagion,” the CDC said that journalists should avoid things like:

“Engaging in repetitive, ongoing, or excessive reporting of suicide in the news.”

“Reporting ‘how-to’ descriptions of suicide.”

“Presenting suicide as a tool for accomplishing certain ends” (i.e., as a “means of coping with personal problems”).

But this is most of what the surveys described above are doing. They are deluging students with repetitive and excessive discussion of suicide. They are describing different methods for killing yourself (e.g., cutting or burning yourself). One survey, which asks students who have considered killing themselves why they did so (possible answers include “demands of schoolwork,” “problems with peers or friends,” and “being bullied”) is a textbook example of presenting suicide as a “means of coping with personal problems.”

The authors of these surveys seem to at least recognize the risk that students are flying upside down, and that these surveys might take them closer to the ground. One survey concludes by telling students, “If any survey questions or your responses have caused you to feel uncomfortable or concerned and you would like to talk to someone about your feelings, talk to your school’s counselor, to a teacher, or to another adult you trust.” The survey also includes links to different hotlines.

Communicating to kids that suicide is normal and a possible solution to their problems might be the worst way that some schools are failing kids, but it’s also far from the only way.

Schools are increasingly lax about standards, willing to let almost anyone get away with almost anything. Some accommodations do make sense: for example, it makes sense to give a kid with dyslexia more time to complete the verbal component of the SAT. But Shrier argues that standards are falling for perfectly healthy students too. “School counselors—students’ in-school ‘advocates,’” Shrier writes, now “lobby teachers to excuse lateness or absence, forgive missed classwork, allow a student to take walks around the school in the middle of class, ratchet grades upward, reduce or eliminate homework requirements, offer oral exams in place of written ones, and provide preferential seating to students who lack even an official diagnosis.”

Shrier documents stories of students who have been allowed to turn in work late because they were having a “tough Mental Health Day” or because “I was having a rough day and dealing with my gender identity.”

The problem with this is that one of the primary things that children and teenagers do is try to figure out the boundaries of the world. When a child throws a tantrum, it’s not malicious–they’re trying to understand this new world and figure out what they can get away with. As Jordan Peterson writes in Twelve Rules for Life, young children are “like blind people, searching for a wall.” “They have to push forward, and test,” he writes, “to see where the actual boundaries lie.” What’s true of young children is also true of older children and even (to a lesser extent) adults. All of us are trying to figure out the rules of life–that is, what we can get away with. If well-meaning teachers and counselors tell students that one of the rules is that you don’t have to do your homework on time if you say that you’re having a rough day, then we shouldn’t be surprised when more young people seem to manifest rough days.

But this is the opposite of what students need–especially the truly disadvantaged students who so many of these efforts seem to be aimed at helping. In his memoir Troubled, clinical psychologist Rob Henderson writes that, “People think that if a young guy comes from a disorderly or deprived environment, he should be held to low standards.” But, he warns, “this is misguided. He should be held to high standards. Otherwise, he will sink to the level of his environment.”

So kids are depressed, anxious, and poorly behaved. Educators are trying to help them by encouraging them to tap in more to their feelings, by asking them more questions about suicide, and by trying to accommodate their difficulties even more. But all of this is backwards. Educators are encouraging students to do what they think will take them higher–away from the ground and back to the safety of the sky. But both kids and educators are upside down. And every adjustment that the “experts” are telling kids to make just brings them closer to the ground–and a catastrophic collision.

Now’s a good time to emphasize that this isn’t all schools, all teachers, or all administrators–not by a long shot. There are heroic educators working every day to help students to rein in their problems, stop taking advantage of accommodations that they don’t need, and develop the emotional resilience to deal with the problems of adolescence. But the problems documented above do represent a trend. And while it’s not every school, the trend is too big to ignore.

What will happen if this trend continues–if an entire generation keeps going “up” until they crash into the ground? Most severe and most damaging is the harm to the generation itself. Shrier tells the story of Nora, a 16-year-old girl who helps put a human face on all of the brutal statistics described in the introduction to this piece. Nora describes her friends as going through a litany of serious mental health problems: “anxiety,” “depression”; “self-harm” (as Shrier notes, “lots of self-harm”) including “Scratching, cutting, anorexia,” “Trichotillomania” (pulling your hair out by the roots); and more. As Shrier writes, “Dissociative identity disorder, gender dysphoria, autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette’s belong on her list of once-rare disorders that are, among this rising generation, suddenly not so rare at all.”

But the dangers can also ripple out beyond just one generation. The full danger may be nothing less than an imperiling of our democracy.

As Shrier notes, many kids in school are almost constantly monitored. Her own kids have “recess monitors” at their school–“teachers who involve themselves in every disagreement at playtime and warn kids whenever the monkey bars might be slick with rain.” On the bus home, they have “bus monitors.” Better that kids know they’re being observed by an adult at all times than that one kid push another to give him his lunch money.

One of the most pervasive forms of monitoring is what are called “shadows”—ed techs or paraeducators whose job is to cling closely to one particular student so that they don’t have any issues. The original intention certainly made sense. If a child had autism, a shadow could help the kid to integrate into the main classroom rather than being sent to Special Ed. But, as Shrier notes, scope creep has been substantial. “Today,” she writes, “public schools assign shadows to follow kids with problems ranging from mild learning disabilities to violent tendencies.” Nor is the problem restricted to public schools: “private schools advise affluent parents to hire shadows to trail neurotypical kids for almost any reason.” Shadows monitor and guide almost every interaction with their chosen student, from when to raise her hand to how long to hug a fellow student.

As Peter Gray, professor of psychology at Boston College and an expert on child development, puts it, “Kids today are always under the situation of an observer. At home, the parents are watching them. At school, they’re being observed by teachers. Out of school, they’re in adult-directed activities. They have almost no privacy.”

But when kids spend their entire waking lives being monitored by an adult, they start to think that kind of monitoring is normal. Worse, they start to think that they need it. If a child gets constant guidance from an adult, what are the odds that she’s going to cultivate her own independence? If she expects authoritarian adults to monitor and run every aspect of her life already, what is she going to think of a liberal democracy that more-or-less leaves people free to handle their own affairs?

No wonder just 27 percent of Americans age 18-25 strongly agree with the statement that “Democracy may have problems, but it is the best system of government” (compared to 48 percent of Americans as a whole).

So what’s the solution? If our kids are upside down and getting lower to the ground, then the only thing that makes sense is to help them reverse course. Is there something that’s the opposite of always asking them about their feelings, telling them that life is too much for them or their peers to cope with, and constantly telling them that they’re too fragile to do their homework if they’re having a rough day? Yes. That something is called antifragility.

Antifragility is the idea that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Greg Lukianoff note in The Coddling of the American Mind, kids are naturally antifragile. That doesn’t just mean that they’re tough. It means that “they require stressors and challenges in order to learn, adapt, and grow.” Not letting a kid hand in homework late doesn’t just teach them to do their homework on time; it also teaches them that they can deal with a 0 in class and not die. They can pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and even earn an A in the class overall if they bust a sweat for the rest of the semester. Telling a kid who’s having a “tough mental health day” that you’re sorry to hear it but they still need to take today’s test doesn’t just teach the kid that low-level excuses don’t fly; it also teaches them that a hard day isn’t enough to stop them. It teaches them that they’re stronger than whatever negative emotions they’re currently experiencing.

It’s time to remind kids that they are strong–before it’s too late.

All quotes not otherwise attributed come from Abigail Shrier’s book Bad Therapy.

About the Authors

Julian Adorney is a Contributing Writer to FAIR’s Substack and the founder of Heal the West, a Substack movement dedicated to preserving and protecting Western civilization. You can find him on X at @Julian_Liberty.

Mark Johnson is a trusted advisor and executive coach at Pioneer Performance Partners and a facilitator and coach at The Undaunted Man. He has more than 25 years of experience optimizing people and companies. He blogs at The Undaunted Man’s Substack.

Geoff Laughton is a Relationship Architect/Coach, multiple-International Best-Selling Author, Speaker, and Workshop Leader. He is the founder of The Undaunted Man. He has spent the last twenty-six years coaching people world-wide, with a particular passion for supporting those in relationship, and helping men from all walks of life step up to their true potential.

#Julian Adorney #Mark Johnson #Geoff Laughton #Abigail Shrier #Bad Therapy #human psychology #psychology #emotions #emotional distress #feelings #antifragility #coddling #emotional fragility #religion is a mental illness

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italiancarssince1946 · 2 months

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1969 Pininfarina Mercedes 300 SEL

My tumblr-blogs:

www.tumblr.com/germancarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/frenchcarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/englishcarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/italiancarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/japanesecarssince1947 & www.tumblr.com/uscarssince1935

#1969 #pininfarina #mercedes 300sel

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en-wheelz-me · 9 months

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#cars #car #supercar #supercars #classic #fast car #mercedes #luxury #luxurycars #mercedes benz #amg #amg 300 sel #amg 300 sel 6.8 #racing car #classic car #classic cars #icon #history #history maker

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carsthatnevermadeitetc · 8 months

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Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 Coupé, 1969, by Pininfarina. A one-off designed by Paolo Martin based on a W109 series that was built for a wealthy Dutch customer and was displayed at the 1970 Paris Motor Show. Pininfarina "recycled" the design for the Rolls Royce Camarge. The Mercedes was sold recently for $1.2-million

#Mercedes-Benz #Pininfarina #one-off #Paolo Martin #1969 #luxury car #coupé #Mercedes W109

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seoafin · 4 months

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morgan!!! i am dropping by with some good music and new year wishes! 🎶🎉 thank you so much for being part of my 2023 🥹 i adore how real you are!! and how kind you are 🥺 you are so so so talented!!!

as a year end pick, my favourite read from you is: i could fall asleep or stare in your eyes (you’re right by my side) ahsjsj the dialogue in that one just hits me !! the unspoken in it too !!! (also ripverse but i have a lot to catch up on!!! 🥹)

if i may ask!! 🥺 (pls feel free not to answer if uncomfy!!) how was 2023 for you? what’s a favourite thing (anything) you discovered this year? do you have any reflections from the past year? any resolutions for the next? 🥹

hello sel lovely <33333 early new years wishes to you also!!! i wish nothing but the best to your sweet self!!!!! oh im super duper flattered you liked my vash fic what!!!!! it's always really heartening to know ppl enjoyed my vash fic since i adore that twink.

this year felt so fast for some reason. looking back on everything last year i hadn't graduated uni yet and i had no idea i was going to go to japan for ~2 months and have the best time there. im super appreciative of everyone i met (online and irl) and everything i was privileged enough to be able to experience. also funnily enough something i did discover this year is that i don't actually hate avocado. it's actually pretty good. i have a ton of resolutions actually (will try my best to achieve 😭😭😭😭) but these r just a few

try to learn a polyphia song on the electric guitar

go to more broadway shows

read more books. i want to finish at least 50 this year (this includes fics)

attend more protests and volunteer more with my local community relief/outreach programs

spend less money on clothes (laughing as if i haven't been trying to convince myself not to buy a beautiful 300 coat)

#don't get me wrong im very appreciative of any comment anyone has left me it's just i don't like gojo like i do vash #so when ppl like my vash fic it makes me very very happy hehe #aneoway i rlly do u have a great year sel!!!! thanks for asking!!!!

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lorysims · 1 year

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1972 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 by LorySims

CAR POLYCOUNT: 43402 (midpoly, it should run smoothly on all PCs) DIRECT DOWNLOAD For more Mercedes-Benz models, or if the direct download link above does not work, CLICK HERE If you like my mods, please follow me on Tumblr, and share them! If you want to help me managing my website, JOIN MY PATREON! Follow me on Instagram: @lorysims.official

#the sims #the sims 4 #the sims 4 custom contents #the sims 4 custom content #ts4 #ts4cc #ts4ccfinds #ts4customcontent #sims #sims 4 #mercedes-benz

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tgammsideblog · 7 months

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Tgamm S1 Ep 18 ¨Out of House and Home/Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨ episode analysis

After a trip the hospital, the Mcgees find themselves in a very difficult spot when they realize that they could lose their ¨forever¨ home...

When you ask any person from the Tgamm fandom which is the best episode from the series, one of the most likely answers you are going to get is the double part episode 18 ¨Out of House and Home/Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨. And it isn't hard to see why this is the case.

Back when the episode synopses for the last batch of episodes from Season 1 dropped back on May 2022 (last year), a lot of people were surprised by how the show was going to have an episode tackling the cost of the health care american system by the synopsis describing how the Mcgees found themselves in a difficult economic spot after Pete had to be taken to the hospital.

Not that the show wasn't new for these kind of topics. The show was already dealing with characters imitating toxic behaviours from their social environment with Scratch in ¨First Day Frights¨, complicated parent-child relationships (The Best of Nin-tentions) and history and culture in ¨Festival of Lights¨. Still, seeing an animated show aimed for family/general audiences tackling health care and homelessness was very rare to see and still is. Many fans were intrigued about what was going to happen in this episode because of that.

¨Out of House and Home/Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨ could be described as a ¨season finale¨ to almost everything that has happened until Season 1 so far with exception of the Ghost Council Ghost World arc, which is explored in ¨The Jig is Up/ Molly vs The Ghost World¨. Episode 18 acts more as a conclusion to the Brighton arc, and to some extent, Molly and Scratch's relationship from this part of the series.

The story starts with the Mcgees hanging out playing cards. Sharon finds the last box they forgot to unpack when the Mcgee family first moved to Brighton. While they are doing that, Pete listens that someone is on the door and goes to check. It turns out that it is Irving, the street magician, who is offering his services to clean the gutters house for the price of 300 dollars. Pete declines the offer saying that they don't have that ammount of cash and decides to clean the gutters himself. (which are pretty dirty). This is what sets the conflict of the episode both bringing up the Mcgee's economic situation and what later leads to Pete to have an accident.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mcgees are unpacking the box inside the house. There is a funny moment of Molly asking Scratch to do a drumroll and Scratch hitting his belly like it was a drum. The last thing inside the box is a gift from Grandma Nin from the last time she went to Thailand. Sharon, Molly and Darryl celebrated for ¨officially¨ moving to their forever home, to which Scratch protests that it is ¨his¨ house too. They make Scratch join the group hug as a sign of gratitude, something that he clearly enjoys by saying it is nice. It is a sweet moment that shows how Scratch has become part of the family and returns that affection when it is given to him, feeling more open to be express himself in contrast to the start of the season.

However, this heartwarming moment gets interrupted when they hear Pete scream and falling to the ground from the roof. They notice how he is clearly injured, including having a broken arm. Sharon decides to call for an ambulance to take Pete to the hospital.

One trip to the hospital later, the Mcgees return home with Pete, who has a casted arm and bandaged head. Sharon checks the hospital bill and sees how huge the numbers are. It's too much for what the Mcgee family usually has saved and Sharon panicks over not knowing how to pay the bill.

In that moment Molly proposes to find a way for them to collect all the money: Sharon is going to work triple time on her gigpig job, Darryl is going to sell his plant collection and Molly is going to hold a cupcakes sell at her school. With Sharon being more busy with her job, Scratch offers himself to take care of the house. The rest are surprised by this but notice that the ghost is being serious about it.

This shows that Scratch has grown quite a lot from ¨Game Night¨ episode. In fact, he really shines in this episode: He becomes the ¨mom¨ of the family, preparing the meals for the rest of the Mcgees, cleaning the house and keeping an eye on Pete, who is spend his time resting for his injuries.

There is even a moment Sharon returns late from work, Scratch asks her why she is so late and Sharon accidentally calls him ¨mom¨. What's more, he is sad when Molly and Darryl don't take the time to appreciate the meals he prepared for them and quickly move on to look for more things to sell. It's kind of adorable how he takes of Pete as well, like he was his own baby. There is a scene Pete wakes up and Scratch coos him in his arms to get him to sleep again.

While there are a lot of funny moments in the episode to not make the situation so grim, under all that comedy one can feel how much the Mcgees are struggling with their situation. Such as Sharon having to work all day and Darryl having to sell his plant collection to gain money. They can barely spend time together because they are too busy trying to collect all the money then need to pay the bill.

It goes to a point Scratch is trying to do multiple things at once in the kitchen and breaks down, both mentally and physically (his form breaks down in multiple pieces while moving from one place to the other) and cries.

It's worth of pointing out that this half of the episode doesn't have a clear linear story as it is more to show how the Mcgee family struggles dealing with paying the medical bill and their situation. It shows different moments like them eating together or Molly selling cupcakes at school.

The thing is that this is something a lot of American families struggle with. Medical healthcare is very expensive in United States and not all families are able to afford it because of that. Even things like a trip to the hospital or not that serious injuries can cost a lot of money, which puts people at risk since some may try to avoid going to a doctor because they lack the money to pay just getting seeing a professional.

Near the end of the segment ¨Out of House and Home¨ the Mcgees are able to get all the money to pay the medical bill. They celebrate having reached their goal and the end episode drops... until it gets interrupted by the sound of hammer hitting down a sign, which says that the Mcgees' house is on sale.

Cadance Green, the realtor, explains to the family that they forgot to pay the mortage, and as result, they can't stay in the house. The Mcgees realize that they have to leave their ¨forever home¨.

One thing i want to highlight is how clever the use of the end title drop is, because it first gives you the impression that the problem is solved, and then it subverts your expectations by telling you that, no, the problem wasn't solved and the Mcgees have to leave their home.

The next scene has all the Mcgees with exception of Scratch packing all their things and are about to leave. It's propably the most heartbreaking scene from this season since Molly can't find a way to find a positive side to this and she is crying. Scratch tries to cheer her up, failing at doing so, and promises to her and the rest that he is going to keep buyers away from the house in meantime.

Suddenly Molly hugs Scratch, telling him ¨I love you Scratch¨, making the ghost get all teared up and answer to that with ¨I love you too, Moll¨. It's such a great moment because it is the first time Scratch is shown to be telling this to Molly on screen. Sure, he usually shows it in many other ways but he never said that before.

The Mcgees leave the house while Scratch sees the car move away. He returns to the house attic, now-empty- without Molly's colorful decorations and lights, all empty and dark, just like it was before the Mcgees moved in. Scratch looks how lonely and dark the room is with what is one of the saddest expressions he has had so far, makes himself a bed out of spider web and rests in there, hugging himself, feeling all alone again.

¨Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨ is the segment that follows. It has some plenty of crucial character moments. So i'm going to discuss them by points.

To start with, there is Molly struggling with her new reality of having lost her home and having to camp in the woods. At the start of the episode there is an scene of Pete and Sharon discussing breaking the news to the kids. While Sharon wants to be honest and explain to them what is happening, Pete decides to lie to them and makes up how they still have a month to get the house back.

And you can see that Molly takes quite a lot from her father ¨pretending that everything is fine when it is not¨ type of mentality. She spends most of the episode pretending that everything is fine to Libby and other classmates. In fact, the song sequence involving this struggle is called ¨Everything's Totally Normal¨, and, as the title says, it is about Molly joining to different school clubs to distract herself and Libby from her current situation. In contrast to the song from ¨Ready, Set, Snow!¨, this song sequence sends an uncomfortable feeling since it is Molly trying to hide what is happening to her family and having what mental breakdown that 13 years old would have in this type of situation.

What really hits of Molly avoiding telling others of her situation is that it isn't rare for people and families who are homeless to keep going to work or school while pretending that is nothing is happening to them. They continue with their daily routines without other people ever noticing that they are homeless.

While all this is happening, Scratch tries to keep people away from buying the house. He has some funny interactions with Candace Green. Some of the tricks he pulls are visually entertaining to watch, like when he posesses an entire wall to scare a person off. However, there is one family-who is clearly inspired by the Addams family-that doesn't get scared of Scratch and thinks that their baby is going to enjoy hanging out with him. This leads to one of creepiest and darkest jokes in the show with the baby pressing against their mother's womb, making Scratch back away terrified of them.

Despite some funny moments in between, ¨Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨ segment is a more serious in tone in contrast to ¨Out of House and Home¨. It really drives home how bad the issue the Mcgees are facing is. It's probably the most emotional episode from Season 1, are for a good reason.

The scene that follows has Andrea hanging out with her father in woods talking about how he is going to do an investment in the place. When walking around the place for a bit, Andrea finds out that Molly and her family are camping in the woods, she is very shocked by the Mcgees's current state but decides to avoid bringing it up much and instead walks away, telling Molly that she looking forward to see her in the geode club next week. Molly tries to go after Andrea but she is interrupted by Scratch, who tells the Mcgees that the house is about to get sold to another family. Molly doesn't know what to do, so Scratch tells them that he has a last trick on his sleeve while laughing evilly-cutting to him ugly crying in front of Candace Green begging her to not sell the house.

Leaving the comedy timing aside, this is a very important moment for Scratch. He talks about how before meeting the Mcgees, the house was ¨dark, lonely and full of spiders¨ and how he was completely alone but once the Mcgees moved in, they made the house a home for him. This feeling of not having friends nor somewhere to belong to is something that was left very clear about Scratch without him having to say it. However, this is the first time he is very open about how the Mcgees have become his family and how much he misses them with them living in the woods.

Candace feels sorry for Scratch and decides to give the family a last change to ¨say goodbye¨ to their home.

While Mcgees are seeing their house one last time, a montage of different scenes from the season plays, all involving important moments taking place in the building.

Suddenly there is a knock in the front door, Sharon opens it thinking it is the realtor, only to find out many Brightonians that they have helped in previous episodes are here. Libby explains to Molly that her family has done so much to help Brighton all this time, that they came to help the Mcgees the moment they learned about the their' problem.

This is a fantastic way of showing the impact Molly and her family has had on Brighton and all those episodes about them helping and getting to know these people coming back in this episode. It goes to show that the Brightonians and their lives are as important as the Mcgees are to the series. In addition to this, it really fits with the whole theme of helping and connecting with your own community and how people can come together to fix a problem, with all what the Mcgees have been doing coming back to help them.

Molly wonders how they all learned about their problem with the house. That's when Andrea approches Molly and tells her that she used her social media to make a campain and raise enough money to help them get their house back. She did this because she considers Molly her ¨best friend¨ for the time they made a movie together (Hooray for Mollywood!) and Molly saved her from the campain selling fraud (The Don't Gooder). It isn't hard to tell that Andrea doesn't have the best idea of what a normal friendship is and Molly is likely the real first friend she has had in a while. In spite of this, she appreciated Molly being nice to her in (The Don't Gooder) and decided to return her the favor when she noticed her living in the woods earlier in the episode. Overall, is great moment of character evolution for Andrea and it changes her dynamic with Molly, now being in friendlier terms with her.

In the last scene the Mcgees move back to their home, not having to worry about having to camp in the woods anymore. Scratch says that ¨now it feels like home again¨. Then Molly thinks for a moment and brings up to Scratch how the curse has been broken (since they had to leave the house for a while) and wonders what he is going to do now that they aren't longer bonded together. Scratch looks nervous for a moment and then lies about how the curse is still there. He asks Molly to summon him, to which she does and Scratch pretends to be summoned (something that Molly can see it is a lie) and tells Molly that he ¨isn't going anywhere¨. The episode ends with the two hugging each other, leaving clear that the Mcgees have become Scratch's home and he finally has a place to belong.

In conclusion: ¨Out of House and Home/Home Is Where The Haunt Is¨ is a special episode that deals with some difficult topics, like medical healthcare and homelessness. It lets all the main and recurrent characters have a moment to shine, resulting in one of the most emotional moments in the show. It has an excellent payoff for the ¨Molly/Brighton arc¨ of this season, with all coming back in a full circle for the Mcgees. Another important aspect is that it shows how much Molly and Scratch's dynamic has grown during the season and how fond Scratch has grown of the Mcgees. Really leaving this clear by one of the most emotional endings for an episode. In all, it is a beautifully written story and the best from this season.

#the ghost and molly mcgee #tgamm #Tgamm episode analysis #Out of house and Home Tgamm #Home is Where the Haunt Is Tgamm #tgamm season 1 #molly mcgee #scratch mcgee #sharon mcgee #pete mcgee #darryl mcgee #andrea davenport #libby stein torres

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