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belong-home · 1 year

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Things to do in Miami, FL

There's plenty to do in Miami, FL, whether you're a tourist or a local. From the art and culture scene to the nightlife and beaches, there's something for everyone.

Some of the top things to do in Miami include:

Vizcaya Museum & Gardens

Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is a beautiful place to visit in Miami, FL. The museum features European art and furniture, as well as a stunning garden with fountains and sculptures. Vizcaya is definitely worth a visit if you're in the area!

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is located in Coral Gables, Florida. The garden features a variety of tropical plants and trees, as well as a butterfly garden and an orchid conservatory. Visitors can also take part in guided tours, educational programs, and special events.

Things to do in Manhattan Beach, CA

If you're looking for things to do in Manhattan Beach, CA, you've come to the right place. This beach town is full of activities for all ages, from swimming and sunbathing to shopping and dining. There's something for everyone in Manhattan Beach!

Some of the most popular things to do in Manhattan Beach include visiting:

Manhattan Beach Pier

The Manhattan Beach Pier is a pier located in Manhattan Beach, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The pier is 928 feet (283 m) long and located at the end of Manhattan Beach Boulevard. An octagonal Mediterranean-style building sits at the end of the pier and houses the Roundhouse Aquarium. Surfers usually can be seen below the pier. The pier includes the Volleyball Walk of Fame, featuring plaques dedicated to past winners of the Manhattan Beach Open beach volleyball tournament. The pier is popular with locals, tourists, photographers, and artists and for fishing. It offers sunsets and vantage points from the shore and hillside.

Roundhouse Aquarium

This free aquarium sits at the end of Manhattan Beach Pier & is host to classes, parties & camps.

El Porto, Manhattan Beach

El Porto is a beach community that is part of northernmost Manhattan Beach, a city in the South Bay area of Greater Los Angeles in Southern California.

The boundary of El Porto is 45th Street on the north side, which is the border with El Segundo, and its Chevron oil refinery, to 38th Street, which was the old border with Manhattan; the east-west boundary is Crest Drive, next to the fence of El Segundo's oil refinery, to El Porto State Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

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1240 Rosecrans Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, United States

218 NW 24th St, Miami, FL 33127, United States

310-441-8075

786-628-0600

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theemporium · 2 months

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[3.6k] your life comes crumbling down when photos are leaked of your boyfriend making out with another girl. it doesn't help that your other boyfriend seems to be handling it worse than you are by ignoring the world, including you. well, the everyone except his rival.

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It felt like a nightmare.

A sick, twisted nightmare that you were waiting to wake up from any minute now. You could imagine it so clearly, shooting up in your bed with the sheets sticking to your sweaty skin and blood roaring in your ears before soft, comforting French words washed over you. You imagined a pair of arms wrapping around you, holding you tight and a pair of lips pressed against the top of your head until you found the courage to speak.

Every cell in your body craved for that to be your reality, but it wasn’t.

Instead, you were sitting on your bed in the comfort of your father’s home with the distant sound of music playing from the kitchen and the curtains pulled back to let the sunshine come through and—well, a series of photos on your screen that made you feel like you were about to vomit, if you even had anything in your stomach from last night’s dinner to bring up.

It wasn’t often you visited your father’s home in Switzerland. But sometimes you craved the normalcy and seclusion of the farmhouse. You craved a few days to just relax, to pretend you were a normal girl with a normal father with a normal life. You liked to play pretend for a few days, and Sebastian always entertained the whole concept because he liked having you around.

That was what this trip was supposed to be.

With the boys over in the states for the Miami Grand Prix, you had decided against flying out with them. It had been a few months since you had seen your father and, with no great urge to fuck up your body clock with jet lag, you had decided to fly up to Switzerland instead before the boys inevitably returned for Imola.

It had been nice. It had been exactly what you needed. It had been the few days you needed to ground yourself, to remember life beyond the constant work and travel. It had been the perfect getaway. Even as a young girl, your life revolved around the paddock with your father racing every other weekend, it was easy to forget a life outside of it all.

But right now? Yeah, you really fucking wish the outside world didn’t exist at all.

Your relationship with your boys was complicated and intertwined and unconventional, but it was yours. You loved each other, you cared for each other, you would do anything for each other. Or at least, that was what you assumed. The day Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly entered your life, you thought everything made sense.

Even if it took a few years of beating around the bush and your own feelings to reach that conclusion.

You thought your relationship with your boys was one of the key things that made your life so perfect, that made you happy to be the one living it.

Until you woke up this morning, rolling over and reaching for your phone to find a flurry of notification banners filling up your screen. It was a mix of messages and mixed calls and mentions from almost every social media app you owned. It was a mess, undistinguishable and baffling to your barely-awake brain. You honestly just expected it to be another fluke, another stupid scandal blossoming out of nothing. It made you want to roll over and fall back asleep before your PR manager inevitably called you.

God, you would have preferred a stupid scandal to this.

Instead, you found countless photos and videos of Pierre. He was in a club, most likely celebrating ending up in the points after the race. He was in that white linen shirt you loved on him, the one he always left a little too unbuttoned because he knew it drove you and Charles crazy. But instead of his friends or even Charles by his side, it was some random girl.

His hands were all over her. She was pressed up against his front, starry eyed and grinning up at him. His lips were on her lips, her neck, any inch of skin he could kiss. She was laughing and dragging him out of the club. He was smiling and happily following her.

And you felt fucking sick.

Not even in your worst nightmares had you imagined something like this, something as horrific and despicable and public as this. Never had you thought Pierre—one of the men you loved—could be capable of this. You never thought he could do this to you, to Charles.

Charles.

Charles who was nowhere to be seen in the videos. Charles who had messaged about having an early night sleep before he flew out to Maranello for Imola prep. Charles who was either asleep, on a plane or sitting in his hotel room in a similar state to you.

Fuck, you wished you were with him right now.

But you couldn’t stop reading the comments, reading the countless articles and tweets and posts about the whole situation. You couldn’t bring yourself to ignore the comments from strangers on the internet saying it was about time, that they were glad he got away from you. The ones showing sympathy were even worse because it made this real, it made the whole fucking thing so real.

You hadn’t even heard the music from the kitchen stop or the footsteps approaching your bedroom. You hadn’t heard the knock or the door slowly creaking open. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the screen until you felt a warm arm wrapping around your shoulders.

“Shhh, honigbienchen, it’s okay. Let it out, I’ve got you,” Sebastian murmured, his voice soft and sweet and comforting and the exact thing you needed to break down the last of your crumbling walls.

You pressed yourself into your father’s side as you sobbed, as you mourned the loss of what you believed was a loving and trusting relationship. You let yourself melt into his embrace as he held you close, as he held you together.

You didn’t fight as he pulled your phone from your grasp, locking it and throwing it somewhere on the bed behind him. You didn’t fight as he pulled you closer, your face nuzzled into the crook of his neck as you let the familiar smell of your father’s cologne—the same one he has used since you were a child—wash over you. You didn’t fight as he murmured comforting words in German because a part of you hoped he was right, wanted nothing more than your father to be right.

You just let yourself break because you knew your father would keep you together.

...

The apartment felt like a mockery of the life you once lived.

You remember the day the three of you signed the lease, it was one of the happiest days of your life. There were always concerns about moving too fast, about hitting a milestone as big as moving in together so early on in the relationship. But, in all honesty, you didn’t see the issues. Call it rose-tinted glasses or call it the truth, but it never felt too soon.

Not for you and your boys.

Because the relationship was still new when you moved in, just under a year old, but you had known these boys for years. Your life had been intertwined with racing from the day you were born because of your father, you had seen these boys grow up alongside you. You had been there to see them both enter Formula one. You had been there to see Charles as your father’s teammate.

You had been there for it all.

You had been friends long before you were a couple. You had grown close to Charles in the days your father wore the Ferrari emblem. You had found yourself attached to the boy, bonding with him in a way you never had in previous years. And where Charles was, Pierre was close behind. They were the package deal you thought you had lucked out on.

So, moving in together seemed like a baby step in the future the three of you had planned together, a simple necessity as you continued to grow and love and care for each other.

Now, it was a painful reminder that the place you called your home was tainted with the memories of a man you once loved. Maybe still loved. You hadn’t wanted to delve into those feelings too much yet.

It was empty.

You had expected as much, or maybe you didn’t. You weren’t sure anymore.

A small part of you assumed for this to be the moment you woke up from your nightmare. That you would wake up in your bed, slowly blinking your eyes open as you heard the boys laughing away in the kitchen at whatever they were attempting to cook before you woke.

Another part of you expected to find Charles here, looking like a mirror reflection of you as you finally fell into his arms, as you received the touch you had been craving from him and him only in the last forty-eight hours.

Another part of you expected to find Pierre standing in front of you, despite the reassurance you had received from a few friends at Alpine that the boy hadn’t left Miami. You thought maybe he would be here to beg for forgiveness or explain himself. You thought maybe he would at least have the decency to look half as worried as you were about Charles’ disappearance off the face of the Earth.

You didn’t know if you were disappointed or relieved that he wasn’t here.

With your messages and calls receiving no answer from Charles, you had packed your bags and hopped on the first flight out of Switzerland. Your father had his reservations of you leaving so soon, of you being alone. To be completely honest, you wished you could have stayed in his arms forever and ignore everything.

But you needed to see Charles.

You had to see him with your own two eyes because he was the only person in the world who understood what you were going through.

To the world, it was just you and Pierre. And you were all okay with that for right now, you were okay with keeping the details and complications of your relationship private until the moment was right.

But right now, you fucking despised it. Because the world was so focused on you and on Pierre and on the random girl from the club, but nobody was looking at Charles. Nobody cared about Charles. And despite your relationship being an open secret to the paddock, it seemed not even the people closest to him—his own fucking team—knew where he was.

And it fucking terrified you.

Monaco had been your last hope. Your apartment had been a fucking last resort. You were grasping at straws and you were losing your mind and there were a million different things running through your head but you just wanted Charles.

There was still a voice in the back of your head reassuring you that he would show up, that he would walk through that door and fall into your arms until you both felt something other than pain right now.

You wanted nothing more than for him to come home, to come to you.

But forty-eight hours of emotions were wracking through you and you didn’t even realise you were falling asleep on the living room couch until your body was too tired to even try sitting up.

...

…

“Where did you find him?”

“Well, hello to you too.”

You flashed the Dutchman a sheepish smile as a wave of embarrassment washed over you. Your brain had been on a one-track mentality since you received his message, the bleary-eyed sleepiness long gone the second he mentioned Charles. You hadn’t even bothered to drive over, far too jittery and worked up to get behind the wheel. You needed the cold air to calm you down.

“Sorry, hello,” you greeted as you stepped into his apartment, trying to push down the urge to just grab Max’s shoulders and shake him until he told you where Charles was. “I just—”

“I know, you’re worried,” he said, his voice softer than you expected. “C’mon, I left him on the couch because he looked comfortable and I didn’t want to disturb him.”

You silently followed the boy through the long entrance corridor, your hands clenched into fists at your side to stop yourself from picking at the skin around your nail beds until they were raw and bleeding.

You tried to prepare yourself for the sight you were going to see, to prepare for the worst just in case.

You hadn’t expected him to look so…peaceful.

He was sprawled on Max’s couch like the boy had said, his clothes rumpled and his hair messy but—at first glance, at least—he looked okay. But you could see the signs that he was no better than you were. His cheeks were red, like he had been crying a lot, and so was the tip of his nose, like he had been wiping it excessively. He looked worn down, and heavier than usual. Like there was a weight on his shoulders beyond the usual season stress.

He looked like he was half as put together as you.

“I found him outside a bar,” Max’s voice startled you out of your thoughts as he stepped into the space beside you at the bottom of the couch. “I was on a late night run—you know, jet lag and stuff—and he was there. He was…”

You frowned a little, turning to look at the Dutchman. “He was what?”

“He wasn’t okay,” Max whispered with his own frown. “He could barely string a sentence together, let alone stand up. I think he had been kicked out of the bar, I don’t know. I promised him I would call you if he came back with me. I…I couldn’t just leave him there, you know?”

You swallowed the lump in the back of your throat. “Thank you, Max.”

“It’s no problem, really,” he assured you and the silence fell between you two once more. And Max watched as your attention shifted back to Charles. He waited a few moments, a mental debate playing in his head, back and forth like a tennis match before he spoke up again. “I’m sorry. About everything. It…uh, it really sucks.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. “Thanks.”

Max took the hint and quickly shifted the conversation. “It doesn’t look like he is waking up anytime soon,” he said. “You can stay the night. The spare room is free. Or I can bring some blankets out here if you don’t want to leave him.”

You turned to him, a strained smile on your face. “You don’t have to—”

“It’s okay,” he assured you, and something in you felt relieved that you wouldn’t have to return home to that bed, the bed you shared with him. “It’s late anyways. You look like you need some rest.”

You chose to omit the fact that you hadn’t slept more than a few hours in the last few days, and even that was after crying yourself to exhaustion.

“Thank you, Max. Really.”

The Dutchman smiled. “Like I said, it’s no problem.”

...

…

When Charles woke up the next morning, his head was killing him.

There was a bright light on his face, his mouth felt desert dry and he could have sworn there was a heavy weight on his chest. Not the metaphorical kind he had been lugging around for the last few days, but something actually weighing down on his chest and making it a little hard to breathe.

He gave himself a moment, tried to ground himself and hype himself up to open his eyes when he knew the light would only be more irritating than it was now. He tried to prepare himself for the killer hangover he was going to have to nurse all day, along with the countless calls to his team to apologise for not showing up to any of the meetings.

To eventually reply to you too.

However, when Charles finally gained the courage to open his eyes, the last thing he expected was to see a cat staring down at him.

“What the—” He startled as he quickly sat up.

The cat let out a noise of surprise before meowing, glaring at him before it padded off. Charles watched it for a few moments before blinking, taking in the unfamiliar setting around him. He knew he wasn’t in his apartment, or his mother’s, or either of his brothers’.

He had no fucking idea where he was.

But before the overwhelming fear took over his body and made him throw up everything he drank the previous night, you wandered into the room with a mug in hand.

“You’re awake,” you breathed out, stopping mid-walk like you couldn’t quite believe he was there.

Charles opened his mouth to say something but you reacted faster. The mug was abandoned on the coffee table he had failed to notice and you were throwing yourself in his arms, clinging onto him like you hadn’t seen him in years.

It had felt like it had been years.

Charles let himself wind his arms around you, to pull you onto his lap and nuzzle his face into the crook of your neck until the familiar scent of your shampoo completely engulfed him. He let himself enjoy the feeling of you in his arms after almost two weeks of not seeing you in person. He let himself enjoy the one person in this world that didn’t make him feel like questioning everything in his life.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I’m so sorry—”

“Shhh, it’s fine,” you whispered back, sniffling back your own tears. “It’s fine. You’re here now, that’s what matters.”

“But—”

“I just need you, Charles, no matter how long you take,” you murmured, your words slightly muffled but his arms tightened around you in understanding.

Neither of you said anything for a few minutes, just soaking in the presence after so long apart. And, if he was being honest, he was in no rush to speak about everything. It had been playing on his mind like a broken record since he saw the videos, he didn’t want to give it any more brain space. He knew it was inevitable, but right now he just wanted to enjoy you.

“Where are we?” He asked eventually when the curiosity and the cat glaring at him became too much.

“Max’s house,” you murmured, feeling the boy tense beneath you. You pulled back, keeping yourself close as you flashed the boy a sheepish expression. “He found you last night and brought you here before something happened to you.”

“Oh.” Charles blinked. “That was kind of him.”

“Very,” you nodded in agreement. You watched him for a few moments as he stared around the living room before you continued talking. “My team messaged me.”

Charles swallowed. “Yeah?”

“They want to know what our plan is,” you whispered. You didn’t need to say more than that, Charles understood.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“Val thinks it will backfire,” you murmured, looking down at your hands instead of his face. “If we are seen together too much.”

Charles tensed.

“The media might spin a story about me moving on from—” You paused, his name unable to pass your lips.

“Can we just…not talk about this right now?” Charles whispered, his voice uncharacteristically vulnerable. “I just…it’s too much.”

“Okay,” you whispered with a nod.

“We will handle it,” Charles assured you as he reached for your hand. Because he knew you, he knew the whole thing was eating you up and it didn’t help pushing the conversation away. But he needed to be in the right state for it—not half-drunk from the night before. “Together. I promise.”

You sniffled, squeezing his hand. “Together.”

“You two want pancakes for breakfast?”

Both of your heads snapped around to find Max by the door, a kind smile on his face. He paused when he took a look at the both of you, probably noticing the solemn faces and red eyes and instantly looking embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, did I just ruin a moment?”

You shook your head. “No—”

“We would love pancakes,” Charles finished for you, trying to focus on your hand in his rather than the fact he was sitting on the couch of the man he had been competing with for a majority of his life. “Coffee is on us. As a thank you.”

Max waved him off. “It’s fine—”

“We insist,” you said firmly.

Max glanced between you before nodding. “Okay,” he said. “But I’m only saying yes because you two seem very stubborn and I’m not awake enough to deal with that.”

And for the first time in over forty-eight hours, you had the oddest urge to laugh.

“Wanna order the coffee together?”

“Together.”

You weren’t sure what would happen next. You didn’t know what you were going to tell Val or the rest of your team. You didn’t know what Charles’ team would say. You didn’t know what the fuck you were going to do when you eventually saw Pierre again, when you had to sort out the fact you technically shared a flat with him.

But right now, your biggest issue was figuring out which coffee Max Verstappen liked and it was a kind distraction to your messy life.

Especially with the assurance that Charles was by your side.

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venus-haze · 12 days

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Power Play (Soldier Boy x Reader)

Summary: So, you lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship. It happens all the time. Maybe not quite like this.

Note: Female reader, but no other descriptors are used. Crazy ass 80s Vought debauchery. I might be a little rusty, but it was fun getting back into writing readerfics after two months🖤 Do not interact if you’re under 18, terf or radfem, or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: Power imbalance, cheating (Soldier Boy’s with Crimson Countess). Mentions of drug use. Soldier Boy is his own warning. Sexually explicit content involving elements of forced intox, semi-public sex, breeding kink.

You were dizzy. With Vought’s investor gala rapidly approaching, you spent the better part of your day camped out in your office, flipping back and forth through your rolodex to call and confirm catering, entertainment—you still couldn’t believe the board of directors actually approved Duran Duran’s booking fee—and transportation, off the top of your head. You already told Stan Edgar you were taking the following week off, which he had no qualms about—so long as the gala went off without a hitch.

You nearly jumped out of your skin when you were interrupted by a knock at your office door, which you’d left open in an effort to be available in the lead up to the event.

“Don’t tell me Edgar’s got you working tonight,” Soldier Boy said, walking in when he saw he had your attention.

“The most important night of the year is less than a week away and I still have a to-do list as long as your dick, so, yeah.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Must be pretty busy then.”

“How about you? Where’s Countess?” you asked.

Soldier Boy probably would have sought you out even if Crimson Countess were around, but from what you’d been hearing through Vought’s extensive grapevine, they were in yet another rough patch. Though, it seemed to you like their relationship was one long, extremely rough patch with some calm once in a blue moon. You weren’t afraid to admit to yourself that you ate up the gossip of their relationship like candy, especially when the other members of Payback—including Countess herself—would rant to Edgar about it. Since your office was right next to his, and most supes had little to no sense of subtlety, you could hear just about everything.

“She’s at one of those wildlife charity things, pandas or some bullshit.” He rolled his eyes. “Bitched at me because I wouldn’t go. She won’t be back until Friday.”

“Soldier Boy, I can’t just—“

“Sure you can. I mean, I’m technically your boss too, aren’t I?” he asked. “So, I say there’s no harm in taking a ten, fifteen minute break. Relieve some stress.”

You sighed. It had been a while since you actually got up from your desk. “Alright. Fifteen minutes, tops.”

He grinned. “Now we’re talking. You keep that minibar stocked?”

“Pick your poison.”

“Whiskey?”

“Sure.”

At least, you were pretty sure. The minibar in your office served as a nice gesture for the variety of people who’d come into your office for meetings related to all of the aspects of event planning you were in charge of. Over the past few weeks, though, you’d been reaching for bottles of whatever you could find to relieve the stress. Powdered your nose every so often, but tried not to make that a habit—not that you blamed your coworkers who did. Working at Vought was brutal and demanding, but hell, who else got to work with superheroes? Especially handsome, smarmy assholes who knew just how to fuck the lingering thoughts of any deadline or event planning out of your mind if you played your cards right.

He handed you a shot glass. “What should we toast to?”

“To taking next week off.”

“Yeah? What’ve you got planned?”

You threw back your shot. “Nothing.”

“That’s no fun. How does a few days in Miami sound?”

You nearly scoffed. Of course he could make something like that happen on such short notice. For forty years running he was America’s superhero and Vought’s cash cow. After a night of schmoozing at the investor gala, he could very well clear out his schedule and fuck off for a week of sun, sand, and sex, too.

“I might need some convincing.”

“Then make yourself comfortable,” he said, walking back to the minibar to pour another shot for each of you. Almost comical, he’d have to drink the whole bottle and then some to feel the same way you did after two shots.

You glanced at the open door. “Someone might see.”

“Are you gonna make me repeat myself?”

Sparing the door one more glance, you worked at unbuttoning your blouse, tossing it aside. You shimmied out of your skirt and let it fall to the floor.

“Heels stay on,” he said, his back to you. “Everything else off. Everything.”

With a hesitant huff, you unhooked your bra and pulled off your panties, throwing them in his direction when he turned around with the shot glasses. You made yourself comfortable on top of your desk, pushing some of your belongings aside to accommodate you.

He whistled lowly as you quickly finished off the second shot he gave you. “Look at you sitting pretty for me.” His green eyes burned a hole through you, though your gaze was fixed on the prominent bulge in his pants. He brought his shot glass to your lips. “Drink up, sweetheart.”

And you did, forcing the alcohol down as your vision blurred with tears at the unrelenting burning in the back of your throat. Felt some whiskey dripping from the corners of your mouth when you drained the shot glass. He collected the excess from your lips with his thumb, sucking it clean as he kept his eyes locked with yours.

“See how much fun we have together?” he asked, leaning over you until you laid back on top of your desk. “Could do that all next week.”

He kissed you, hard and mean like you needed him to. Perfect teeth that caught your bottom lip between them for a moment before releasing. Whiskey on his tongue that went to your head even though you knew he could hardly feel it. Rough hands feeling up your breasts, giving your nipples a harsh tug that made you moan in his mouth.

“You’re soaked,” he said, his voice husky as he rubbed his fingers between your slick folds with tantalizingly slow strokes. “If you wanted it, all you had to do was ask.”

“Fuck,” you whispered.

“What was that?”

You groaned in frustration. “Just fuck me already.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

His mouth was on yours again, nearly distracting you from the sound of a zipper, the your gut clenching in anticipation as he pulled his cock from his pants.

It’d been a while since you had to brace yourself to take him, but you were wet, and maybe a little more than tipsy, so your body gave little resistance when he slid his cock inside you. Though, if Soldier Boy were anything, it was a guy who took what he wanted anyway, giving you hardly a second to get used to the feeling of how his cock stretched your pussy before he was pounding into you with harsh, unforgiving thrusts that made you grip the edge of your desk.

Sometimes you forgot how strong he was. Hell, so did he, and there was little else you could do but lay there and take what he gave you. In all honesty, it was nice letting someone else take charge after having to hold it together all day. Let him fuck the stress out of you and replace it with all the aches and bruises that came with having sex with the strongest man on earth.

“Harder,” you forced out, pushing that damn rolodex onto the floor.

“I go any harder, I’m gonna break you in half, and I don’t wanna do that until I’ve got you locked away in a hotel room for a week.”

“What are you gonna do to me?”

“Whatever the fuck I want. Not like I don’t already.”

You moaned. “Soldier Boy—”

“I’m not pulling out, so you better be on the pill or say your damn prayers,” he growled, his hot breath kissing your skin. You were on the pill, but nevertheless your hips bucked at his words, pussy clenching around his cock. “Oh shit, you want that, don’t you?”

“Yes—oh my god!” you cried out, muscles cramping as your orgasm pulsed through you, pleasure stealing your breath, choking you gently enough to leave you dizzy. “Yesyesyes—fuck!” Your heart was beating so fast you thought it was going to explode in your chest, especially as he kept mercilessly pounding into you, chasing his own release.

He soon came with a groan, his cock twitching inside you as he bottomed out, practically knocking the wind out of you with a particularly hard thrust.

You felt empty and sticky when he pulled out, and you didn’t want to think about the poor soul who was gonna be cleaning the mess you and him left behind the following morning, because you sure as hell weren’t in any shape to clean up the cum that was leaking out of you and onto the floor.

You put your hands on your chest, trying to catch your breath as he stood over you. The guy hardly broke a sweat, and you felt like you just ran the New York City Marathon. Super stamina. God fucking bless America.

“Hey,” he said, waving his hand in front of your face. “You good?”

“Sure,” you managed to answer. “Except now I don’t know how I’m gonna walk out of here, let alone get home later.”

“The ride up to the 99th is quicker. And if you need more convincing about Miami—“

You pursed your lips, considering the work you still had left to do before you could reasonably call it a night. But you were tired, and admittedly drunk, and Soldier Boy was already hard again. “I might.”

#soldier boy x reader #soldier boy the boys #the boys x reader #the boys #the boys amazon #the boys tv #the boys soldier boy #the boys imagine #soldier boy imagine #soldier boy smut #im a feminist i promise #but do you ever think about how that man could literally break you in half if he wanted to?

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illicitlimerence-writes · 2 years

Text

you are in love | m. verstappen

pairing: max verstappen x singer!actress!reader

word count: 1.5k words

request: yes, by anon: “i have a request for max and singer and actress reader, them going on vacation together. hawaii or the bahamas or smth. ❤️”

prompt: skinny dipping + heart-shaped sunglasses + night swimming + spending the whole day at the beach from this prompt list.

warnings: this includes nudity!!! there’s brief mentions of it. skinny dipping, so pls only read this if you’re comfortable with that. language, soft!max.

a/n: they’re back<3 it’s not my favorite thing i’ve written, but it’s been some weird days for me.

my masterlist / summer of love masterlist / part one of the max x singer!actress reader / part two

(will i ever get over miami gp max? nope.)

“ah, fuck” max cursed as soon as they both sat on the cushioned chair the hotel provided them. it was big, almost the size of a double bed, and it was covered by a tent, white fabric protecting them from the sun.

hawaii was beautiful. the hotel was secluded from the rest of the island, and it felt like they were the only people on earth. like they had that perfect ocean view, the warm wind and the sun shining just for them.

"what is it?" she asked, turning to look at him as she placed her beach bag on the sand.

"forgot my sunglasses," he leaned back, closing his eyes.

"and you've noticed just now?" she chuckled, moving closer to him and placing her hand on his thigh.

"you did and didn't tell me?" he asked, turning to face her, a betrayed look on his face.

"i mean… it's not like you need them here," she pointed up to the tent. "you'll be fine. and," she bit her lip, reaching for her bag, she placed it on her lap, and fished something out. "lucky for you i have these,"

"heart-shaped?" he inspected the sunglasses she was holding, they were red, with black lenses.

“it’s this or nothing, quicksilver.” she shrugged, placing them between them. max stared at them, a conflicted look on his face. “put them on or i will grab them for myself,” she narrowed her eyes.

“fine, fine,” he raised his hands in surrender, leaning to grab them. “how do i look?” he asked turning to her. she smiled, grabbing his face and connecting their lips.

“gorgeous.” she chuckled against his lips, feeling as he grabbed her wrist, the one with a golden number three decorating her skin. he leaned back a little, and raised her wrist up to his lips, kissing over the tattoo.

“it looks great on you,” he started, leaning against her side, “i look great on you,”

“then why aren’t you on me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

it took max half a second to climb on top of her, hiding her from everything with his body. she laughed, running her fingers through his hair as she stared at the sunglasses on his face.

“much better,” she said.

max rested his weight on his elbows, trying not to crush her, but she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down completely. max laughed as he hid his face in her neck.

“careful with the sunglasses,” he reminded her, he took them off and tossed them to the side, “they’re the only pair i have,”

“you look great in them,” she grinned.

“i know, fabulous,” he leaned his head back, pretending to do a hair flip. she laughed, throwing her head back, max took the opportunity to press his lips against the skin of her neck, causing her to let out a mix of a gasp and a chuckle.

it was their last day there, and in truth, they hadn’t done anything other than sleep and stare at the sea. they were both exhausted from crazy schedules, demanding hours at work, and time apart. so they didn’t really mind that the first leg of their three-week holiday was spent doing nothing, except being with each other.

“let’s go,” he leaned back after attacking her neck, leaving small bites and a hickey forming.

the day passed by quickly, they played around in the water, she buried him in the sand after losing a bet, max had an annoyed look on his face that was obvious even through the heart-shaped sunglasses he still wore. she took pictures to look back on. they ate, and went back to their spot to rest as they watched the sunset. max had his head on her shoulder, she buried her fingers in his hair.

“you taste like salt,” he said as he kissed her neck.

“must be the water,” she said, running a hand up and down his back. his body was perfect, it felt like it was made just for her. every curve, dip and rise of her body fit flawlessly against his. “you’ve got two more minutes,”

“for what?” he asked, lifting his head from its previous spot.

“it’s hot, you’re hot, and i don’t want to jump into the water again to freshen up,”

“well, clearly you don’t understand the concept of spending a whole day at the beach,” max pecked her cheek, kneeling next to her.

“that’s the only thing we’ve been doing this whole week! we wake up, eat, come down here, eat, do nothing, eat, and go back to the villa to sleep. look, it’s starting to get dark now!”

“well… we should do something fun today.” max suggested, crossing his legs, she looked up at him.

“like what?” she asked.

“i don’t know… let’s play a game,”

“what kind of game?”

“truth or dare?” he suggested.

“please, we’re not fifteen.”

“oh!” he said, reaching for her bag, “i packed these yesterday.” he said, finding a deck of cards.

“okay,” she agreed, sitting up and crossing her legs. “poker?” she suggested. max nodded, imitating her posture.

“with a twist,” he added, she frowned, “strip poker.” he raised his eyebrows as she let out a laugh.

“like i said, we’re not fifteen, max.” she shook her head, reaching for the cards. “i’ll shuffle first,”

max chuckled, biting his lip as he watched her.

they played until the only thing on their bodies were her two-piece swimsuit and his swimming trunks. both their shoes were off, the dress she wore on top of her swimsuit and his shirt as well.

“last round,” max said, shuffling the deck of cards. she nodded, leaning back against the soft cushions, and let out a deep sigh. “you okay?”

“i’m sleepy.” she smiled softly, lulling her head to the side.

“wanna sleep for a bit?” he moved to her side, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her close.

“yeah,” she said, a yawn interrupting her word. “we can continue the game later, i’ve still got to beat you,”

“of course. whatever you say, quicksilver.”

when she woke up, the sun was gone. instead, stars were shining. shimmering lights reflecting on the water. she looked to the side, finding max by her side, sleeping. she leaned closer to him, even with the sun gone it was feeling incredibly hot. but she couldn’t help but be as close to him as possible.

she placed a small kiss on his chest, throwing an arm around his stomach and hugging him one last time.

he woke up alone. she wasn’t by his side. he looked around, the beach, as expected, was empty. they had it all to themselves that whole week, but right then it was only max.

or so he thought.

he stood up, walking around as he looked for her. he halted his steps when he saw the top of her swimsuit sitting on the sand. he leaned down and grabbed it, and as he stood back up he saw her, in the water. she was staring up at the moon, and her fingers were playing with the water, cutting the moon’s reflection in half.

she yelped when she felt max’s arms around her waist, but chuckled as he apologized for scaring her, placing kisses on her neck, her cheek.

“i didn’t take you for an exhibitionist,” he whispered in her ear, turning her around so her breasts were pressed against his chest.

“well, i figured… i’m all alone on this island, it’s nighttime, with no one around to see.” she placed her hands on his neck, feeling his fingers on her waist. “and i’ve always wanted to go skinny dipping without having to worry if anyone’s watching,” she chuckled, sliding her hands down max’s sides, reaching the elastic band of his swimming trunks, “why don’t you join me?” she asked, leaning back.

“i’m already here,” he said, she shook her head as she bit her lip.

“that’s not what i mean,” she leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

“oh!” max said, looking down at the water, “okay. i’ll be back,” he said, letting go of her as he walked back to leave his shorts on the sand. when he turned back, she wasn’t there. “baby?” he called for her.

the feeling of the water against him was weird, he never knew how much difference a piece of fabric, or the lack of it, could make.

“catch me if you can, quicksilver!” he whipped his head to the side, seeing her head floating above the water. he grinned, swimming her way as she swam away. when he was close enough she started throwing water at his face hoping to distract him. their laughter filled the empty beach, her giggles as max grabbed her waist and pressed her back against his chest, the salty water on her skin as he kissed her all over.

words invaded her mind.

you can hear it in the silence. you can see it with the lights out. you are in love.

@idkiwantchocolatee @yeolsbubbles

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nkjemisin · 1 year

Text

"How easy/hard is it for cities to be born, and what cities do you think will be born next?"

Got this set of questions from a reader, but I can't post the actual ask due to spoilers. I've paraphrased the questions, and here are the answers, sans spoilers. This post is long, so first a cut:

Hi there! I'm afraid I have to answer this privately because of the spoilers in your ask. But since my reply contains info that might be interesting to other readers of my books, I'm going to publicly post a redacted version of my answer, paraphrasing your q without the spoilers. I'll leave your name out of it, unless you prefer otherwise.

Re cities being born -- it's not an "easy/hard" thing, it's a "critical mass" thing. Basically as more and more minds focus on that city and imbue it with their beliefs and imaginings, these become the metaphysical building blocks of city life, which build up and interact. Let's call them, uh, "citimino acids," lol. Many things can disrupt this buildup -- the city's character changing drastically and quickly, natural or societal disasters, a hit TV show a la "Miami Vice" from back in the day. These changes introduce fresh citimino acids, and some of the new ones are incompatible with some of the old ones, so the primordial soup stops churning for a while as the city develops a new character or reputation. But if the soup is allowed to churn up again, for a period that varies per city, then the acids eventually spark into life. At this point, the process changes to something more like human pregnancy, because humans are driving it. The physical city starts to "gestate" a metaphysical self: a mind, free will, whatever you want to call it. (I'll call it a soul.) At this point city avatars start being able to sense the developing meta-city; that's how the Summit knows to send someone when the "due date" draws close. Proto-avatars of that city can sense it, too, as Neek did in the short story/prologue of TCWB.

This process eventually happens in most new cities that develop any kind of distinctive culture. It also happens in old cities that have been through a period of upheaval, like a conquest or a major disaster. Complete destruction of a city (see: Pompeii) would obviously kill its soul. But for cities that only get partially destroyed, the city's soul (and avatar) survives on the sufferance of belief. If a city gets conquered or its population killed by a disaster or something equally horrific, every human being who hears about it is going to have a thought about that city. If enough of those people think, "Well, that's just life in [City], its citizens ought to be used to this kind of thing," then the city retains its character, stays alive, and the avatar lives. (See: Istanbul.) But if enough people think, "Oh no, the [City] that I knew is gone! It's never going to be the same, what a shame, we went there on our honeymoon," then the physical city might be rebuilt, but the city's soul (and avatar) wil die. A new soul might eventually be reborn, but it will be a different soul. Roman Empire-era Rome is very different from the Rome of today. That city has had several avatars down the ages.

Anyway, tl;dr, colonialism is why there's so much city birth happening in the Western Hemisphere. And all the technological and cultural revolutions the world has had in the past few centuries have created other clusters; consider all the new "planned cities" in Africa and Asia, for example. So because of all this global upheaval, the Summit is going to be very busy for a while.

(This is stuff I sketched out a few years back, when I was figuring out how "city magic" worked. I tried not to put too much of it in the books, however. Just because I suffer for my art doesn't mean everybody else has to.)

Off the top of my head, US cities that will definitely (eventually) get born include, in addition to the ones mentioned in the books: Los Angeles (per the original short story), New Orleans again, the Bay Area, and Boston. But feel free to imagine more, because I haven't exactly visited every city in America so my impressions of them are naturally going to be biased.

Outside the US, I honestly don't know enough about other countries to tell. I would guess most of the 10 largest cities in Central and South America, but it won't be in order of size, it'll be in order of culture/renown/public opinion.

Whew, long answer. Hope that answers your questions. And thanks!

#answered asks #the great cities

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suchamiracle-does-exist · 11 months

Text

Dear @faisonsunreve thanks for the tag. This was definitely a time taking task but so much fun to do. A true time travel to your watching history. To my surprise there are three French films and three Tom Hanks films included. 😄

A few comments about certain choices.

Favorite film of all time: The Thief of Bagdad (1940): The jewel of the film is Conrad Veidt’s insane Jaffar dressed up with the turban.

Best script: Some Like It Hot (1959): The story about two antihero musicians trying to make a living and avoiding gangsters by dressing as women and joining a female band and traveling to Miami is still unique to watch.

Favorite poster: The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Memories from the childhood. Darth Vader’s perhaps a little too epic posture promises you an emotional adventure and that promise will be fulfilled.

"I’ll watch it some day": Napoléon (1927): @missholson and I were introduced to this 6-hour biopic of Napoleon and we were stunned by the shots of the twenty-minute triptych sequence, where widescreen panorama is made by projecting multiple-image montages simultaneously on three screens. Blu-ray is waiting on the shelf.

Big personal impact: Elvis (2022): I wasn’t prepared for the narrative where female gaze and male vulnerability are allowed and validated.

You like, but everyone hates: Angels & Demons (2009): Don’t know today’s reception but when it was released the film was heavily criticized by the critics and the audience. I like both this and The Da Vinci Code (2006), but having more convincing characters, plot and hold for the entirety makes it better than the first one.

Underrated: The Ninth Gate (1999): Polanski is a very contradictory director for his sexual abuse charges, therefore it feels shameful to admit liking his films or considering his films to be valued. Many find Gate as a dull thriller. The film doesn’t rely on jump scares or gore but the mystery around the occult books and the things you can’t see.

"Why do I like this?": Bachelor Party (1984): This is my favourite question of them all. I discussed with @faisonsunreve about on what basis you should answer this and does it reveal your true movie taste. The 80’s crazy comedy is a silly and out-dated genre and that is why the films of this era fascinate me. Bachelor Party is full of lame humor and over-the-top characters. Yet the storyline is versatile and entertaining. Young Tom Hanks embodies the past.

Great soundtrack: La Cage aux Folles (1978): Ennio Morricone has said first he has to understand the film, the images, the story and the director’s intentions before starting to compose. I would like to know his study for Folles, because the soundtrack has such a humorous, characteristic and warm sound.

That cinematography: Furiant (2015): I was balancing between Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and La double vie de Véronique (1991), but this short film stands out with the way the rural landscapes, the dimly lit rooms and the unspoken moments are visualized (and edited) by the producer, director, writer, cinematographer and editor Ondřej Hudeček.

Criminally overlooked: Angélique film series (1964-68): Yes, you could put almost any Conrad Veidt film here, however I chose this. I have been fond of Angélique films since I was a child. These spectacles tell the story of Angélique in the time of King Louis XIV of France. Romance, adventure, scheming with breathtaking soundtrack and costume design, beautiful Michèle Mercier in the leading role and the flashy way of speaking French offer us an exquisite interpretation from the 60’s.

Favorite active director: Peter Strickland: I have seen only The Duke of Burgundy (2014) and Flux Gourmet (2022), nevertheless his style of using the aesthetics of Italian genre films and the intimacy he creates is just heartwarming.

Anyone who wants to make their own version, please do and let me know. 📼📀📦🔦

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imsobadatnicknames2 · 5 months

Note

Top 5 best videogame soundtracks

(Hey babu <3 )

Kind of a hard choice but I'll do my best lmao

Brütal Legend

Brütal Legend is probably the most blatantly, indulgently, unapologetically pandering game I've played in my life, which I'm not saying as a bad thing bc it happens to be pandering to people with my tastes and, most importantly, happens to do an extremely good job at it. Like it would've been extremely easy for a game like this fall flat on its face and feel all "how do you do fellow metalheads" but luckily it was made by people who have a genuine love for the genre and know their shit, and the soudntrack reflects that. The licensed soundtrack is a great sampler platter of a bunch of different metal subgenres and has a pretty decent mix of mainstream and slightly more obscure bands.

But the original soundtrack composed for the game by Peter McConell is also amazing like holy shit. Like. Way better than you'd expect from the funny haha Jack Black metal game.

youtube

Hotline Miami

Literally not much to say, it's the hotline Miami soundtrack. The music is a huge part of the experience and the track selection knocks it out of the park.

youtube

APE OUT

I was conflicted on including this because it's less of a soundtrack and more of a game-long procedural jazz drum jam, but it's like. The music makes the whole experience. The way the drums sync up with and respond to the action onscreen is extremely viscerally satisfying and the choice to have the title cards syn up to the music and to have the entire soundtrack be just drums and then have the rest of the instruments come on during the credits are extremely inspired.

youtube

Terraria

Idk what to say about this one it's just. An extremely solid soundtrack. Extremely varied, each track kicks ass and sets an extremely unique and distinctive atmosphere for each biome.

youtube

Doom (both classic and reboot)

See above about how Brütal Legend is extremely, blatantly, unapologetically indulgent and I love it because it does a good job at it? Yeah.

Fave track from classic Doom:

youtube

Fave track from Doom reboot:

youtube

Honorable mentions:

Katana Zero: It was a close call between this one and Hotline Miami but ultimately I went for Hotline Miami

Undertale/Deltarune: Objectively it's probably one of the best videogame soundtracks in recent memory, I just haven't spent enough time with the games for it to have a big effect on me

Earthbound/Mother series in general: Same as above. If I had played more of the game I'm sure it'd be on this list no doubt.

The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind: I legitimately think it's some of Jeremy Soule's best work, and Nerevar Rising is such an iconic melody that it went on to become the main theme of the entire series from that point on. However... It's just not enough music for a game as big as Morrowind, meaning you'll be hearing these tracks over and over and over again. By the time you're halfway through the game it will have lost a lot of magic through sheer repetition. Also the fact that the music system lacks any location detection and instead just plays the same exploration tracks regardless of if you're exploring a city, a peaceful field, or a creepy tomb means that often the soundtrack ends up taking away from the atmosphere of the game.

Any NES Megaman game: Legitimately some of the best music on the NES and one of the best examples of working within system limitations, but sadly I kinda don't like Megaman.

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umlewis · 1 year

Video

lewis hamilton is interviewed after fp2, miami, florida, u.s. - may 5, 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "Well, Lewis, second quickest this morning. Lots of soft running in that session. What have you learned this Friday?" Lewis: [long pause] “Same as every weekend. [laughs] Third of a second down. And it's a great weekend, it's a great place to be, there's lots of positives. It's just we're not partiularly quick and it's a struggle out there. We're just trying lots of different things. P1 looked quite good, and then to come into P2 and the true pace come out is just a kick in the gut. So it's a little bit difficult to take sometimes, but it's okay. We'll just keep working on it and we'll regroup tonight and see if we can try and make some setup changes and get the car in a sweet spot." Interviewer: "Can sense the frustration, for sure. How's the feeling in the car compared to Baku, and also to Melbourne?" Lewis: "Melbourne, obviously, was night and day difference. Much, much nicer to drive there. Baku felt better than here, also. I think maybe the heat, or maybe it's just the balance we have at the moment. So I'm gonna stay optimistic. I'm gonna stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place tomorrow and maybe be a couple steps up, but it feels like, apart from... Last year we had hardcore bouncing. It generally feels like we're racing pretty much the same car, and so that's the difficult thing." Interviewer: "What’s the biggest issue, do you think? What's the one thing that you'd hopefully fix?" Lewis: "There isn't just one thing." [laughs] Interviewer: "Okay. And in terms of the track, obviously resurfaced. As you say, no bouncing for you this year, but how's the grip? We saw a few offs for some people. Not yourself, but..." Lewis: "Yeah, the grip is really quite low on this new circuit, and yeah, I think it's interesting to see some of the offs. I mean, particularly for the rear end, it's very high track surface today, so there's a lot of sliding for a lot of people, including me. And so lots of overheating of the tires, and so we're just trying to find that balance that keeps the tires somehow in the right spot, but they're generally always over the peak of the temps. So, as I said, I'm trying to stay positive with it, and we're working as hard as we can. It's just we desperately need those upgrades, that's for sure, and so yeah, just gotta keep our head down for one more race and hopefully we'll start a new path next race." Interviewer: "Ups and downs today, to sum it up, then. What is the expectation for quali, finally?" Lewis: "Well, I don't have expectation. I just hope that I can get it into a better place tomorrow, as I said, so hope that we can be in Q3 and I hope that we can be mid-bunch of that top ten. That would be great."

#lewis hamilton #f1 #formula 1 #miami gp 2023 #fic ref #fic ref 2023 #miami #miami 2023 #miami 2023 friday

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soeuntv · 14 days

Text

hi guys!! i'm liv and this is my cocky, shittalking tennis queen, cha soeun! ‪v v v excited to write with everyone (but also am an absolute noob at tennis. i literally know nothing about it. i had to chatgpt so many things so i apologize if anything is not the most accurate!!!) but anyways, u can find her condensed intro below - apologies if her characterization is still a little bit of a WIP because i tend to build my character as i plot & write, but anyways, please hit like if you'd like to plot!! i'm also good with dc or ims!

key info

cha soeun, twenty four (jan 11 2000) national team tennis player capricorn sun, capricorn moon, aries rising entj

personality

label: the spitfire, the heel alignment: lawful evil positive: ambitious, undeviating, tactical, confident, resilient, ebullient negative: cocky, irreverent, brash, volatile, impatient, fiery neutral: unapologetic inspirations: heavily inspired by novak djokovic. other inspirations include succession’s shiv roy, gossip girl’s blair waldorf, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo’s evelyn hugo

career

turned professional at 15

rose to prominence at 16 after defeating the world ranked 50 and made it to the finals of the miami open where she ultimately lost (and threw somewhat of a fit. she broke her racquet and smashed a ball into the crowd. you can watch it on youtube. probably included in one of her many ‘cha soeun's worst behaviours’ videos) - earned praise for her resilience, but also got shit on a lot for how “unprofessional” she acted

played tournaments regularly following that but failed to win any major titles, although she did walk away with a few runner-up medals & won some smaller competitons

was still enough to get her called up to the national team at 18 (though not without a warning to get her shit together. she behaved for like three matches)

won her first major tournament, australia open at 21

hit her career best at 23, winning 3 grand slams in a year

off the court, she has been scrutinzed a lot for her lack of sportsmanship and irreverent attitude to most things. very polarizing to the public; some of the criticism is valid, but others not so much

the kind to chat shit before a game to mess with her opponent’s head. the kind to play with a demoralizing style, forcing opponents to play more impatiently, hit harder and take more risks. will pull out of a tournament if she thinks she will lose (her most infamous excuse was having a sore throat. was spotted at a karaoke bar the next day - she was very heavily criticized for this, and even soeun admits it was shitty of her to do that)

undeniable that she’s very talented and very hardworking, considered one of asia’s top tennis players but she just has a horrible attitude that makes it hard for some people to support her

background

wont add much but crazy, uber competitive family. father is ceo of a fintech company, mother is a healthcare cfo (i’m thinking her dad is some cocky tech bro who you love to hate. el*n musk dupe??)

basically raised their kids on steroids - find something you’re good at and stick with it. be the best at it. anything less than #1 is not accepted

soeun got lucky at five and realized that she liked tennis! and she was pretty fucking good at it.

her younger sibling was not as fortunate and spent their whole lives trying to find something they were good at and ultimately failing. soeun holds them as a reminder of why she needs to always keep trying and always be the best because there's no way she'll let herself end up like her younger sibling.

anyways yeah she just kept training and playing tennis. signed away her childhood but the fame and glory and attention was always more fun anyways

trivia

shes messy but it’s not like she actively tries to be? when you’re raised in a crazy competitive family where shit talk is the normal way of life.. it’s just how you live life

she’s very much an entertainer. invited to a few variety shows, which she excels at because she’s just loud and bright and funny (but she’s not allowed to go on anything live. she’s a tad too unpredictable for that)

genuinely believes in herself. the cockiness isn’t an act, she is genuinely and truly believes that she is the greatest and she can do anything. she doesn’t think that she deserves all the gold just because she's cha soeun - but because she knows that she’s talented and she works her ass off.

on that note, she is very, very, very dedicated to her sport. incredibly hard worker. will stay till dawn. will practice till her fingers are calloused and bloody!!

potential plots

first love! shes bi so i would love something where your muse has trained with her all their lives and you broke up but now you’re friends and she’s forcing herself to laugh around you and everything thinks it’s SO cool that exes can be friends but truth is it hurts!!! alot!!!

enemies!! someone who thinks soeun should shut the fuck up or that she’s ruining the beautiful sport of tennis or the olympics in general

besties <3 or unlikely friends!!! a soft spoken sweet person to match soeun’s fiery nastiness

enemies to fwbs… on the contrary, two very similar hot-heads! always at each other’s throat, sexual tension, you know the likes

pr friendship. she’s lowkey a pr mess and her team wants to “clean her image up” before the olympics so they pair you two together! idk they can end up being friends or beefing whatever works

the only other person who stays as late as she does. doesn’t have to be a fellow tennis player but someone who understands the #grind. sharing late night protein shakes after practicing till 3am vibes??

other tennis players!!

we can brainstorm!! i’m just vomiting cause as everything with life, i have procrastinated writing this intro until the very last minute! hehe

#gtvintro #.　　. 　 ˚　. ⌗ ooc.

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umgeorge · 1 year

Video

george russell is interviewed after fp2, miami, florida, u.s. - may 5, 2023 (transcription under the cut)

Interviewer: "Great start to the day, P1 in FP1. Perhaps less so in FP2. Just try and sum it up for us." George: "Yeah, it seems... It was a similar thing last year. We were quickest on Friday, and then was knocked out in Q2 on Saturday, and the car just changed a little bit. Even from the medium run in FP2, I felt strong. I was on a lap that was a good couple of tenths up, which would have put me in the top four, and then put the soft tires on and the car just wasn't working for me. So I think we understand a little bit why that is and fortunately we've got the time to make improvements overnight, but yeah, it's fine margins." Interviewer: "Did the time of day of this session effect or alter the running plans at all? It seems there was a lot more soft running, a lot more quali-focused perhaps, than race pace running, and that may be a focus for FP3 tomorrow. Is that fair?" George: "Yeah, potentially. I think FP1 was a bit of a messy session. Perhaps more people put the emphasis on the quali runs now, but I think we'll go into Sunday a bit of an unknown. But the track's been resurfaced. It's still not performing like any other circuit, so it's a true outlier here, which is cool in some regards. I think it'll be really difficult to race because you can't drive offline, and I think you've seen with a few people now, myself included, you put one wheel off and there's no grip whatsoever. So don't really know what's going on in this Miami heat, because that's the theme, but yeah, let's see tomorrow." Interviewer: "And what are your expectations for qualifying? Where do you think you'll be?" George: "I think if we get things right there's no reason we can't be ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin. That's the aim, and I think we've seen in these first four races now, it's really tight between those three teams. So if only that was for the win and pole position, it would be incredibly exciting, but it's good because it shows that if we get things right we can be rewarded and jump ahead of them. But I think we need to make some improvements overnight. We know we've got the potential, because we saw it in FP1 and we saw it at the start of FP2, but for sure we just need to get things aligned." Interviewer: "Lewis seemed quite frustrated. He tried to stay optimistic about how the car is feeling and performing here. What's your feeling in the car and how does it compare to first Baku, but also, of course, Melbourne, where we saw you guys really come alive." George: "I mean, this is a team of winners. Everybody here wants to win and anything less is frustrating, week after week. We know the journey we're on at the moment and still trying to understand, still trying to grasp how to find a lot more performance, to at least get us the best of the rest, and when we have sessions when we're not in that position, of course it's frustrating. We always want more, but that's the same for 19 out of 20 drivers on the grid. There's only one person happy on a Saturday and one person happy on a Sunday, and that's the one who finishes first."

#george russell #f1 #formula 1 #miami gp 2023 #fic ref #fic ref 2023 #miami #miami 2023 #miami 2023 friday #with lewis

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jeffhirsch · 29 days

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Rally Respite After Big Best Six Months Gains

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f1 · 1 year

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Gasly keen to move on from very bad weekend as Alpine fail to score in Baku

Neither Alpine driver managed to finish in the top 10 in Azerbaijan, making it two races in a row that they have had to leave without adding any points to their tally. But getting both cars to the finish line was at least progress on a weekend marred with incidents and reliability woes – with both drivers understandably keen to move on and focus on Miami. The team did have a small package of upgrades to test in Baku, but with Esteban Ocon starting from the pit lane after making changes to his suspension under parc ferme regulations and Pierre Gasly at the back of the field thanks to a crash in qualifying, they were always going to be limited by traffic as they sought to fully understand the potential of their new parts. Ocon, at least, spent much of the race in the top 10 after trying an opportunistic one-stop strategy, the Frenchman pitting on the very last lap after extending his first stint in the hopes of a Safety Car. When that didn’t materialise, his late stop dropped him to 15th, one place lower than his team mate. READ MORE: Hamilton rues Safety Car that ‘kicked me in the teeth’ as Russell vows to ‘come back stronger’ in Miami “It was working well until that last lap where we had to box,” said Ocon. “Difficult weekend I think for all of us, but we had a great battle the whole race, keeping the cars on fresher tyres behind and we just tried a strategy, tried to make it work, but unfortunately nothing happened in the end, so it didn’t really work out for us. "But the good thing is we have next week to turn things around and to forget about this week quickly, this race quickly and hopefully we can do something.” As for Gasly, his weekend was even more torrid than his team mate’s and included the rear of his car being engulfed by flames, an exhaust issue, a crash in qualifying and a less than ideal two-stop strategy in the race that proved to be slower than the one-stop favoured by the leaders. He didn��t mince his words on how the weekend went. “We’ve got to move on very quickly from this race weekend because it’s been very bad, and very far from what we have showed so far this year," he said. "So we’ve got to understand to make sure it never happens again. We clearly are not where we want to fight, and where we should be fighting, so we’ve got to understand and make sure we don’t underperform that way in the future.” READ MORE: 'Ferrari were quite lucky' declares Alonso as he narrowly misses out on podium finish at Azerbaijan GP Gasly at least doesn’t have long to wait until he can race again, with the Miami Grand Prix just a few days away. That race offers another chance to test out Alpine’s upgrades, with the format reverting back to the traditional three hours’ worth of practice. “We can test more and understand a bit more about the package and figure out a bit more what didn’t work this weekend. We showed some good performance in Melbourne - Jeddah and Bahrain were also definitely better than this weekend. I’m sure we will test a lot and I’m happy [Azerbaijan] is done because it was pretty frustrating, and we’ve got to focus on next weekend now.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #Gasly keen to move on from ‘very bad’ weekend as Alpine fail to score in Baku #Formula 1

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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MIAMI — When Bárbara Viltres regained consciousness, she was told that she was in Miami, that she had achieved her goal of escaping from Cuba and that she could consider herself lucky.

Unlike some of her fellow travelers, the sea had not swallowed her in the shipwreck off the coast of Florida.

After two weeks in a coma —and against the prognosis of some doctors— the 25-year-old Cuban opened her eyes in a room at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital. But it took her a few seconds to realize that she had paid a high price to reach her destination.

“The wounds I have are very deep. I had holes in my hips. I have had six operations to remove skin from my back and put it on other places,” said Viltres, who survived a three-day journey in the sun, without eating or drinking water, before being rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard off Key West a few weeks ago.

Viltres, who cannot swim, left Havana in early August on a rustic boat bound for Florida, at a time when the economic crisis and reports of political repression in Cuba have reached their highest levels in decades.

Another 14 passengers were part of the illegal trip, including her partner, 21, and her cousin, 38, who arrived safely. Five migrants remain missing and Viltres says she saw several of them drown, including the boat maker and his pregnant wife.

Alicia Perez, who is also Cuban and lives in Miami, volunteered to help Viltres during her recovery. Viltres has no family or friends in the United States.

“She woke up from the coma lost. The first thing she asked the doctor was, 'Where are my nipples?' because so much of her skin had been lost," Perez said about Viltres.

It’s unclear what will happen to the migrants who were rescued, but most of the Cuban rafters intercepted at sea are deported back to Cuba, from where the makeshift boats are setting sail for the U.S. in increasing numbers, according to Coast Guard data.

Cuba is experiencing its largest exodus in recent history, the largest since the 1980s. More than 4,600 Cubans have been intercepted at sea from October to August. On the U.S.-Mexico border from last January to July, border authorities stopped Cuban migrants entering from Mexico nearly 155,000 times, over six times as many as the year before.

In Cuba, medicine and basic foods are scarce and some towns suffer power cuts of up to 20 hours a day due to fuel shortages and an aging power infrastructure, recently damaged by a massive fire.

Viltres is hoping that U.S. authorities grant her mother a humanitarian visa so she can come and help her during her recovery in Miami.

“I don’t have anyone here,” she told Noticias Telemundo. “One always needs the mother next to them.”

Speaking from her hospital bed on Aug. 30, Viltres spoke to Noticias Telemundo about her journey. What follows is a first-person account of her journey, which has been condensed and edited for clarity.

'We were adrift and nobody saw us'

“I paid my ticket of 40,000 pesos (just over $300) without having seen the boat. You couldn’t see it. They were making it in a house in Havana.

I don’t remember when we left, I know it was a Tuesday morning, the first week of August. We put the boat on a cativana (horse-drawn cart) and the men carried it to the sea.

We were 15 people, three women and 12 men. We spent weeks preparing the trip, and we brought crackers and sardines to eat.

I remember that we were all doing well, until half past 10 at night when [the boat] broke down. The waves were strong and water began to enter. We took water but it was a lot. The motor did keep running.

We had a tank of water to drink, but we had to throw it away and use the tank to remove the water that entered from above, below, from wherever — until we decided to turn the boat upside down to get on top and not drown.

We were drifting until dawn and no one saw us, and it got dark and no one saw us, it was dawn again and no one saw us. We had three nights without sleep. We couldn't. If you fall asleep, you sink and drown.”

'The worst'

“[Seeing people drown] was the worst, because we were all together, we all got along.

The mechanic [of the boat] and his three-month-pregnant wife drowned. She saw him drown. My boyfriend asked her where her husband was, and she said: ‘He drowned.' She had no more strength either.

Joseíto, my cousin’s husband, the one who assembled the boat, did not make it either. That's painful. They all had to arrive, but he had to arrive, he was the one who made it, who looked for everything.

My cousin couldn’t help him because she doesn’t know how to swim. I saw him sink and come out again. The night we left he was very tired, because they spent many days preparing the boat, without sleeping.

There weren’t that many left: Inaudy, my cousin, my husband, me, Julio, Osmany.

Since then I don’t know anything else. What they tell me: that a small plane appeared, that someone signaled to it and that one of those Coast Guard speedboats arrived.”

'I didn’t want to be in Cuba anymore'

“When they rescued me, I was unconscious. I hadn’t eaten or drank water since the day we left. They tried to revive me, to get water out of my chest, but what I released was foam.

I arrived badly. My kidneys weren’t working, my lungs stopped. I was rotting from the wounds I had, until the doctors saved me.

When I woke up from the coma, I asked for my husband, because he was falling asleep when we were on the boat. When he fell asleep, I grabbed him by the sweater.

My whole body hurts, but it was worth it. Just as I am, it was worth it. This heals. I never regret what I do. Never.

In Cuba, there is a lot of need, I didn’t want to be there anymore, I didn't want to. People are desperate to leave. The situation in the country is very bad. It's difficult to get anything.

My mother is in Cuba and I would like her to come. I have spoken with her on the phone and she is crying. But I tell her I’m fine, not to worry. She knows I’m in a hospital and she sees my face, but she doesn’t know how I am or everything I have.

The first thing is to recover from all the wounds, which are deep. And then I’ll start working on whatever. The doctors tell me that the recovery is super slow.

I am crazy to go out and see things, I haven't seen anything. I went straight to a hospital. They told me that Miami was like Havana. I imagine it as Havana.”

#nunyas news #bernie shows up to scold her for leaving all that #glorious socialism

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makiiato · 2 years

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Top 5 Voltage being dumb as a brick moments? (I love her btw, she seems very fun ^^)

@skullchicken Hi I'm a dumbass and completely forgot about this ask while it sat in my inbox untouched for, like, multiple months.

ANYWAY. Everyone should love Voltage, she's very fun. Stories under the cut!

A majority of her backstory is essentially "you fucking dumbass." Voltage is from Miami, which was Caribbean League territory until it was taken over by the CAS in a war that's never actually described or explained. (To everyone reading this who doesn't know Shadowrun geopolitical lore, I'm sorry. I can try to give you a condensed explanation in PMs if you'd like.) I ran a campaign in Miami in the past and basically had to construct the setting from the ground up because there's nearly nothing about it in official sourcebooks, and was salty about the lazy writing decision, so I decided to make Voltage a character who was very directly affected by the aftermath of a war that basically got covered up. I digress. Here's the actual relevant part: It's Miami, so a ton of rich assholes from the CAS are obviously going to want to snatch up some beautiful beachfront property without regard to who lived there first. Among them is a shitty metaracist politician who's rolling in corporate money and doesn't hold back when it comes to his opinions on elves, so Voltage, like any reasonable thrill-seeking go-ganger, decides: "Fuck it, I'm gonna blow up this guy's fancy beach house with him in it." And she does: but he's out on the campaign trail, and not at home. To further complicate things, there are security cameras everywhere in ultra-rich neighborhoods like this one, and they get a very clear view of her while she gloats about pulling the deed off. Luckily, her bike is fast enough for her to evade the cops, and her lieutenant in the Ancients cares enough about her to quickly get her onto a smuggler's truck bound for Seattle. But they know her face and identity in the CAS, and there's a warrant out for her arrest for arson and terrorism that comes with a hefty ¥200k bounty. Whoops. (The others are a little shorter from here, but I had to tell that one first to set the tone.)

She fought a kraken with a flamethrower, just for fun. Her squad was on a smuggling mission from Seattle to San Francisco, and part of their trip was spent on an Aztechnology cruise ship (passage secured by a teammate's contact, don't worry about it). The GM did not plan for us to be on the ship, and in an attempt to hastily figure out how to get us off of said ship, they decided to have it be attacked by a kraken. Now, that's reasonable, but I'm honestly a little surprised that the GM didn't plan for Voltage being Voltage. She runs to get her flamethrower, which she's taken with her on this trip for some reason, and starts blasting the absolute hell out of it until a mage on board the ship manages to summon enough guardian spirits to chase it off.

Accidentally flung her best friend out of a flying car. In her defense, she was able to pilot it shockingly well considering her entire flight experience at the time consisted of casually playing a few flight sims, and the seat belts didn't work. Again, in a classic case of Voltage being Voltage, she gets overambitious and decides to do a fuckin' barrel roll with it, sending Zero (played by @nightingales-thighs ) flying out of the car. Fortunately, Zero is a spellslinger and had Levitate ready to go in just such an instance, but since she doesn't return immediately, Voltage is incredibly distraught and fully convinced she's sent her friend plummeting to her death. (It's okay. Zero landed dramatically on the hood of the car a minute later, and Voltage was overjoyed to see that she was alive.) Unfortunately I can only come up with those three at the moment, but if/when I think of others I'll include them in a reblog.

#oc: voltage #shadowrun #asks

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randomvarious · 1 year

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Today’s compilation:

The Best of the Sound of Sunshine 1991 Disco / Disco-Funk / Funk / Soul

Today I took a look at T.K. Records, an independent label from Miami that played a foundational role in helping to grow and spread disco music worldwide while the genre was still in its mid-70s infancy and then continued on as a Billboard Dance chart staple until its untimely demise in 1981. Had it not been for T.K., it's actually entirely possible that the disco era as we know it may have never even occurred 😮.

And it all starts with this album's opener, the blissfully dreamy and unexpected #1 single that's now managed to sell over *11 million records worldwide,* George McCrae's 1974 debut, "Rock Your Baby." It was written by two members of KC & the Sunshine Band, Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, shortly before that group would become their own force to be reckoned with. And the funny thing about this particular song is that it sort of happened on a bit of a whim: McCrae was only called in because KC & the Sunshine Band couldn't sing the high notes themselves. And they'd also intended for George's wife, Gwen, whose career he also managed, to record it, but she didn't make it to the session in time. George didn't even have any solo career to speak of at that point and was actually planning on going back to college, but that recording invitation ended up changing everything for not only him, but also KC & the Sunshine Band, T.K. Records itself, and even the trajectory of disco music as a whole since the tune became one of the genre's first ever feats. And it's also one of the first songs to *ever use a drum machine* too. So, it's literally a world-changing record. And I also happen to think that it's one of the greatest songs that's ever been made, period; like, top-ten-status. Seriously, it’s *that* good.

And the unprecedented success of "Rock Your Baby" then paved the way for KC & the Sunshine Band to keep the still nascent disco wave going on their own, with two of their first *five #1 hits in a five-year span* being released within just four months of each other in 1975: "Get Down Tonight" and "That's the Way (I Like It)," both of which have become genre-defining disco playlist staples and are also featured on this album.

KC & the Sunshine Band would then anchor T.K.'s roster throughout most of its remaining existence, but Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch would also co-write more songs for other acts on the label too, including a terrific piece of uptempo funky soul by the one and only Betty Wright, whose "Where Is the Love," released by T.K. sublabel Alston, barely managed to scrape the Hot 100 in 1975, but ended up peaking at #2 on the Dance Club chart.

And T.K. had other successes that didn't involve KC & the Sunshine Band too. One example is another global chart-topper in 1979 from one-hit wonder Anita Bell, who recorded "Ring My Bell" for T.K. subsidiary Juana. The rest of the label's songs that didn't involve KC & the Sunshine Band didn't fare nearly as well as that one, but The Bahamas' T-Connection managed to top the Dance chart for a full seven weeks in 1977 with "Do What You Wanna Do," which appears on this album alongside another excellent track of theirs from the following year called "At Midnight," which peaked at #3 on the Dance chart.

And closing out this album, much like it began, is another chill disco bop that features a great lead male falsetto on it in Foxy’s “Party Boys.” Released in 1980 as the band’s final single, it’s equipped with a fat bassline and some nice, soft touches of organ. It never made the Hot 100, but it peaked at #24 on the Dance chart. and it's proven itself to have been a pretty damn fine swan song for the group.

Now, I wouldn't say that this album fully entails what the best of T.K. Records and its many subsidiaries was, because, for that to happen, at least five of these songs would've had to have been by KC & the Sunshine Band. But still, only with just two of their #1s, "Rock Your Baby," and "Ring My Bell," you can see just how integral this label was to disco's success. And beyond that list of all-time disco bangers, T.K. was also able to keep the Dance chart humming with more terrific offerings that have become much more underappreciated over the years. There's a very important slice of disco history that's packed into this album, even if it doesn't present *all* of T.K.'s greatest hits.

Highlights:

George McCrae - "Rock Your Baby" KC & the Sunshine Band - "Get Down Tonight" KC & the Sunshine Band - "That's the Way (I Like It)" Peter Brown - "Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me" Anita Ward - "Ring My Bell" T-Connection - "At Midnight" T-Connection - "Do What You Wanna Do" Jimmy "Bo" Horne - "Spank" Betty Wright - "Where Is the Love" Foxy - "Party Boys"

#disco #disco funk #funk #dance #dance music #music #70s #70s music #70's #70's music #soul #soul music

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janaeofficiall · 2 years

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Fieldwork: Making New Era Fitted Hats Unfamiliar

History of Fitted Hats:

Ehrhardt Koch was a German Immigrant who founded the company, E. Koch Cap Co. in 1920. The company had a total of 14 employees when it first began. Two years later, the company’s name was changed to New Era Cap Company. In 1932, Harold Koch joined his father in the business of selling caps. Harold noticed the demand for the caps starting to decline. New Era then began to design the baseball cap as baseball started to gain even more popularity. In 1934, the first New Era professional baseball cap was released for the uniforms of the Cleveland Indians. Even though New Era was still producing baseball caps for the majority of baseball teams, times hit hard in the 1940s. World War II made fabric limited. The fabrics used during this time were dyed in the washing machine at home.

In the later 1940s, New Era released their adjustable hat as well. In the 1950s, the company was supplying caps to big league teams. The hat was redesigned in 1954 and was named "59Fifty". In the 60s, Harold opened a manufacturing facility in Derby, New York which was closer to the family's home. In 1972, Harold's son David became the company's president. A few years after that, David's son began working in the Derby manufacturing plant. In the 1980s the company began to sell the caps to the general public and produced them for college sports and International Baseball leagues. After the 1993 MLB season, New Era beat out their final competitor and was granted exclusive licensing. Every baseball team in the MLB was then supplied with New Era caps for their uniforms.

During the 1990s, New Era was not only a hit on the field, but it also was a hit in the fashion streets. Wearing the cap became a fashion statement. In the 2000s, New Era expanded by opening up offices in Europe, Japan, and Australia within two years. New Era then decided to take things a step further and expand their brand to produce caps of the three largest leagues in the nation. New Era produced the official hats of the NFL in 2012 and the official hats of the NBA in 2016. To this day, New Era is still one of the largest fitted hat-producing companies. Even expanding its services to create custom hats. The hats are still a high fashion staple and continue to remain relevant to this day.

Manufacturing of the New Era Fitted Hat

New Era originally manufactured its caps in Derby, New York. In 2019, after New Era shut down its manufacturing facility in Derby, New York, the company switched to a third-party manufacturer overseas. The caps worn by Major League players are made at New Era’s plant located in Miami. Most of the New Era caps are manufactured in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Haiti, and China. Until the 1990s, the cap was made out of 100% wool. Since then, the cap is made out of polyester that includes UV sun protection, a comfortable fit, and sweat-wicking. The change in material and performance did not change the iconic look of the hat though. The inside of the hat contains a white stiff haircloth. The haircloth is made out of horsehair which helps the cap maintain its shape. When the hats were manufactured in Derby, it was made through a 22-step process. The process starts off with cutting, assembling, and sewing the fabric panels together that forms the cap. Then is a raised embroidery process with precise stitch counts. It finishes off with the addition of the button that goes on top of the hat. The button is applied by a hand-operated machine. After this process is the steaming and cooling process that gives the cap its shape. Before packaging is sold to customers, a black and gold sticker is added with the sizes on them in order to guide customers to try on their respective-sized hats. The hats do not come with a black and gold sticker when they are for MLB players as they come in boxes with a specific size.

Impact New Era Fitted Hats have on me

Growing up, I always had to have some form of hair accessory on. As I got older, I began to outgrow the certain hair accessories that I was consistently put in as a child. So, I began to gravitate towards what my true style was. I was always a tomboy growing up. When I hung out with friends, I’d sneakily switch the pink bows and headbands that I was in for the baseball caps that my brother had. During my first year of high school, I felt like I needed a hat for everything. It made my mother upset which is why I tried to hide it so much. But as time went on, I began to embrace who I really was and began to find my own style. I gained this desire to have fitted hats. I loved how they looked on me or how they went with a particular outfit of mine. Wearing a hat made me lessen my physical insecurities and forced me to be more comfortable with myself.

Who manufactures New Era Fitted Hats?

When New Era announced that it would be shutting down its Derby plant, it would be eliminating the 219 jobs that it carries and moving them to a non-union contracted facility located in Miami. New Era then announced an agreement after the company was called out for the closure of the facility. New Era had reached a "plant closing agreement" with the CWA. This agreement included severance benefits for the former Derby employees. Former employees of the Miami location have said that the work environment could be toxic at times but it did have great benefits. It has also been said that the management is bad in the Miami manufacturing facility. Some cons of working there have been stated as "occasional layoffs" and lack of leadership.

Sources:

https://buffalonews.com/sports/baseball/professional/how-new-era-caps-made-in-derby-make-it-to-the-big-leagues/article_aa82ae20-ad8b-59b6-801c-d419d3cda995.amp.html

https://www.fittedhats.com/pages/new-era-59fifty-fitted-hat-history

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/New-Era-Cap-Co.,-Inc./reviews

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/the-historic-reach-of-new-era-s-authentic-collection-cap/?amphtml

https://www.neweracap.com/pages/our-story

https://fitteds.weebly.com/history.html

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