#jessie.... have I just forgotten her last name

[skipper1331]

Love from afar // Jessie Fleming

a/n: based off this request. I hope you like it!

Studying in a foreign country was difficult, you had to leave your home, your comfort zone. You didn't know anyone, you didn't know your surroundings, everything was just so different. It scared you and the first few months were hell but when you met the football team it got better. You started to feel comfortable, even meeting up with them. They became your friends. And then there was Jessie. The sweet canadian whose face was covered in freckles. She was by far the person you felt most comfortable around. With her calm nature she broke down your walls and crept her way into your heart. She was more than a friend. When you were around her, your heart would race, every touch would make you weak and every smile would follow you in to your dreams. Each day became more bearable when she was there. She reminded you early on when you had to turn a paper in, she went through your checklist for away games and she would ask if you called your family.

She was your anchor in the sea.

You fell in love with, how couldn‘t you? She was more than perfect. Every goal you scored was dedicated to her, you even had a special celebration that was only dedicated to her (she didn't know that though). The two of you were inseparable, for other eyes you were just best friends, towards each other you were best friends but secretly you both wanted more.

At some point during your time at UCLA you wanted to tell her. You wanted to tell her that you‘re in love with her yet you never did so you loved from afar.

After you graduated, the canadian moved to London, having the opportunity to play for Chelsea while you transeferred to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Jess had already left the country before you even got the chance to say goodbye to her but she left you something. She couldn‘t just leave you.

It was at your last day at UCLA when a mutual friend of yours handed you a box. "What‘s that?" you asked, the box kind of heavy. "Open it when you‘re alone"

"Okay?" Confusion was written on your face.

Finally, finding some free time you opened the box. The first thing you saw was an envelope with your name on it. Jessies handwriting.

My dearest y/n,

First of all, I want to apologize for not saying goodbye to you in person but it would have been too difficult. My heart couldn't have taken it. When you're reading this, I'm probably in the plane or have landed in England already.

I want you to know that it was my greatest honor to play alongside you. You are a wonderful person and I wish nothing but the best for you. (Ha. Adele reference, I know she’s your favorite.)

Under this letter are 6 journals. They are all fully prepared, all you have to do is tick the boxes If you’ve done one of your tasks, write down the date and score. I know you don‘t like changes so I thought this might help you.

Go smash it in Germany! You can do it.

I‘ll love you from afar.

May we meet again. (the 100 reference, your favorite show. I know you too well)

Sincerely,

Jessie

Wow. Tears streamed down your face as you read the note over and over again. You looked through each journal, Jess hadn‘t forgotten one thing. In there where all the things she reminded you to do.

4 years later

You made a name for yourself in the German league. Top scorer, shot bangers (you still had the same goal celebration as it was at UCLA - you loved her from afar) against clubs like Bayern Munich or Wolfsburg and were even considered as one of the nicest players.

Despite the fact that you and Jess were no longer in contact, you still kept an eye on each others career. When Jessie had the time, she would watch your matches or at least the hightlights of it. The same as you did. She was so proud of you. She loved you from afar.

But your time at Frankfurt came to an end. You wanted something different so when the offer from Arsenal came you didn‘t say no. You wanted this. You left Frankfurt with a heavy heart, but promised to keep in touch with Laura Freigang and your other teammates. They made Germany a home for you and you‘ll be forever grateful for that.

At Arsenal you were greeted with open arms, knowing already a few people due international duty. Jess knew about the transfer, you were in the same city as her, of course she knew. Her fingers hovered over your contact so many times, just a click away from calling you. She had also typed a message several times but never sent it. She was too shy. You had loads of fans now and got the recognition you deserved, it didn‘t feel right to text you out of nowhere.

Again, she loved you from afar.

Media wasn‘t something you enjoyed fully but it wasn‘t that bad either. Arsenal fans should have the chance to get to know you. You did welcome videos for them to post on social media and had some photoshoots. To be honest, you couldn‘t keep track but you could remember one specific filmed video. It was a Q&A and there was this one question which made you think.

"You've played in several countries, right?"

"Yes. As a kid I played in my home country, then I played in the United States and after that in Germany."

"Different countries, different languages, what helped you to adapt?" You thought about the question for a minute.

"To be honest, the question is more a who question instead of a what question" you smiled, people always appreciated your honesty. "I hated change, it made me anxious and because of that I forgot a lot of things. So, coming back to your question: ​​an old friend of mine. She‘s a mastermind. She reminded me to do this and that or wether I had packed this and that. When we parted ways, she still made sure I didn't forget anything. She prepared some journals for me where I only had to tick the boxes."

After the interview you had to see Jess. It just reminded you how important she was to you, even if you hadn't seen each other for years. A part of her was always with you. You loved her from afar.

You

I need to see you.

Immediately her reply came.

Jess🧠

Where and when?

You

20min.

You texted her the location of a small café which you discovered at your first day in London. 8 minutes early, you sat down at a table in the corner, shielded from the other tables yet with a perfect view to the door. Perfect on time, your lost love entered the café, she looked breathtaking. As she felt some eyes on her which turned out to be yours she walked towards your table, neither of you breaking eye contact. "Jess" you breathed, almost inaudible while you stood up, only an arm length away from her. The urge to touch was her massiv. Was this real? Was she really in front of you. Instead of touching her, you touched your neck, nervously scratching it. "You look beautiful" you blurted out, not being able to think straight in her proximity. Scanning your face, she launched forward to hug you. She held you like her life depended on it, afraid the moment she would open your eyes, you wouldn‘t be there anymore. After what felt like eternity, you pulled apart "Take a seat?" you asked which she did. At first it was weird between you both. You had so much to say but didn‘t know how but as the barrier was broken you talked about everything that happened in life. Neither of you mentioned the journals or the way things ended, it was just the two of you in your own little world. The world you created years ago. You sat in the café until it closed yet the evening wasn‘t over yet. Walking through the streets of London, Jess showed you around. "And that‘s were I live" the brunette pointed to door where you stood in front of. "Can I see you again?" you questioned the slightly smaller woman as you placed a loose hair strand behind her ear. The last four years haven‘t been enough to get over her. She just had to look at you and you would have weak knees, a racing heart. Again. "Tomorrow?"

The canadian and you met up nearly every day. Both of you happier, having each other close but just like in the old days, nobody said anything about the feelings for one another.

It wasn‘t until derby day.

The game was pretty intense and the score was still nil-nil which made everyone more desperate to score. Your team was up for a corner kick as Ann-Kathrin Berger, the Chelsea keeper, kept her goal clean. As you stood near the back post Katie took her shot. You remember jumping and then something nasty hitting your face before you hit the ground. You groaned in pain, liquid running down your face. Your head was aching while you felt dizzy. "Y/n!" soft hands grabbed your face as the owners eyes examined the wound. "You look so beautiful" you admitted sheepishly. "Can I count your freckles?" The studs of Erin Cuthbert had hit you pretty bad as you babbled gibberish. When the medic team came they immediately took you of the field to bandage your head.

Steph laid you down on the couch after she drove you home. You didn‘t talk nonesense anymore but the medic team ordered you to rest for a few days. "Thank you Stephsteph" you waved as she left your apartment, meeting a specific canadian at your door. "How are you feeling?" the blue asked as she entered your living room. "My head hurts but i‘m fine, now" you smiled at her while she took a seat beside your resting figure "i‘m glad"

She stayed the night and the night after that just to be sure you‘re alright. "Jess, i‘m alright" you whined as started to cook again for you "I know but I love to cook for you" your arms looped around her waist as you turned her around. "Four years isn‘t enough time to get over you," you admitted, resting your forehead against yours "I love you. I‘ve loved you since we were at UCLA"

"What?"

The freckled girl pulled her head away, staring in your eyes. Your body tensed, arms loosening its grip around her waist. "I still have your letter and the journals, they helped me a lot." scratching your neck out of habit. You took steps back, leaving her some space since she didn‘t reply to your confession. Her voice full of shock while she asked, "You love me?"

"Yes"

Within the seconds Jessie recovered from her shocked state as she pulled you down by your collar, pushing her lips against yours. Out of reflex you grabbed her hips, pulling her body against yours.

Your kiss was full of passion; it told its own story about the hidden feelings, the missing and the loving from afar.

—————————

#jessie fleming #jessie fleming x reader #chelsea wfc #steph catley #arsenal wfc #woso #woso x reader #woso fanfics

[richincolor]

Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson Heartdrum

Summary: Over-achievement isn’t a bad word—for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her side?

Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart—but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl.

People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl—and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants.

When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt—and how much they need each other to hold it all together.

My Thoughts: It’s winter and everything is cold at the beginning of this gem of a story, but warmth slowly seeps in through people and their relationships even though winter remains. As is the case with many books, much is jumbled at first–particularly with three different perspectives. I was sometimes needing to reread bits and sort things out, but that didn’t last very long. Over time, the voices and personalities became more distinct and their backstories were filled in enough to answer a lot of questions.

The teens at Pink Mountain Pizza work for money, but they also go there to have another space to exist. Young people spend most of their time between home and school, but in this third place, Berlin, Cam, and Jessie have the opportunity to learn more about their abilities and challenges and have a space to be something other than simply a child or a student. They also have time to get to know each other.

While they are learning, they are also sharing themselves and finding ways to offer support to one another. They are each very definitely facing challenges, but have all really been trying to cope on their own without relying on others. The difficulties include depression, grief, economic issues, racism, a learning disability, anxiety, childhood health trauma, and probably some others I am forgetting right now. Berlin, Cam, and Jessie have much to learn readers will see them stumbling, but also growing.

An image that is carried throughout is that of a pipe by Magritte that Berlin had seen in French class previously. Until I looked it up today, I knew that image by the name This is Not a Pipe, but didn’t know it’s other name, The Treachery of Images. The main characters are trying to project a particular image for others to see and have been hiding a lot, but are also trying to navigate the people and spaces around them to see the realities and not just what they think is there.

Berlin and Cam have connections from childhood and through the shared experience of being Native in Canada. Even when they are at odds, mostly due to misunderstanding what they see and experience, those things bind them together.

Recommendation: Get it soon. As the author explains in a helpful note at the beginning (which you can find in this sample), there are hard topics in this story including anti-blackness along with missing and murdered Indigenous women. But, there are also wonderful things like friendships and love in the face of such things and somehow there is a warmth within the pages that is comforting.

Extras:

Teaching Guide

Author Interview

Pages: 352 Review copy: Digital ARC via publisher Availability: On shelves now

#young adult books #ya lit #book review

[babeczka415]

The Past Has Caught Up

It's been months since Hannah was Rescued and Richy was arrested. Jake stayed close to Duskwood for Hannah and Lilly while MC kept in contact with everyone. Jessy finally talked her into coming to visit and with Jake so close she decided she needed to see him. After a night together alone staying up all night in each others arms watching movies and kissing each other she finally had to leave in the morning. She knew it would be hard but it had to be done.

It had been a couple days since MC saw Jake as she was staying with Jessy. They both decided they needed a night out drinking so decided to go to the Aurora on a Friday night. As usually the place was busy and the girls were just wearing jeans, boots, and sweaters during the fall night.

"MC, are you planning on seeing you know who again?" asks Jessy.

"I told him we were coming here so I hope he shows up." MC says leaning against the bar to get them both a drink. She finally turns around and see's him in a back corner with his hood up but she can feel him watching her and her body shivers.

She leans into Jessy, "He's here." MC says, pulling out her phone and opening the chat with Jake.

MC: Can I bring Jessy over?

Jake: yeah, she should meet me too since we want to make this work

MC looks at Jake as Phil gives us the drinks and I'm not paying attention because through the crowd and smoke I see his eyes staring at me.

She grabs Jessy's arm "lets go over" Jessy says into MC's ear with both drink, and MC takes one heading over there.

They finally get up to the table and MC swears her heart stops seeing him. All of a sudden she see's a look of guilt and confusion on his face and she looks at Jessy who has the same look.

As he watches them walk up, paying complete attention to MC he doesn't realize who Jessy is. As he looks at Jessy his mind goes to the past. He was in Paris a couple years ago, keeping away from the tourist spots but staying with crowds to blend in. This woman caught his eyes. She had brown hair but those eyes he couldn't forget. During that trip they had gotten close and he told her his name. She mentioned her name but he forgotten it. So when he saw her through the camera's while video chatting with MC it hadn't even dawned on him that this was the same woman. He gets up and leaves the table without even saying anything to them and heads to the bar.

Jessy is standing there as he walks away and can't believe her eyes. There is no way this is the same Jake from Paris all those years ago. Her eyes have to be deceiving her. She's so caught up in what just happened she doesn't hear anything around her until she see's MC hand in front of her face.

"Jessy, what is going on?" MC asks as she gets ready to go after him.

"You're going to want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you" Jessy says, as she downs her drink and wishes her brother would make it stronger for once in her life.

MC sits down and looks at her best friend and her eyes go to the bar where he is still sitting as her heart breaks. "Jessy, you can tell me anything" she pleads.

"Remember how I told you about that guy in Paris?" Jessy asks her best friend as she sits down across from her.

"Yeah how can I forget, you just told me last night." MC says having an idea where this is going and her mouth drops open. "No, please don't tell me."

"That's the same Jake. I had no idea as I never saw him during the whole investigation and that is such a common name." Jessy says, reaching for her friend's hand.

MC downs her drink and stands up and heads outside for some fresh air. She stands there in the cold air unsure of what to even expect anymore. Jessy watches her best friend walk out the bar and stays there for a moment trying to collect her thoughts. She looks over at the bar and she's Jake watching MC walk out the door and knowing what she was just told as she didn't run to him.

Finally after giving MC a few moments by herself, Jessy heads outside. MC turns around hearing the door open and see's her friend and her heart breaks. "You really didn't know?" MC asks with tears in her eyes.

"No I really didn't know and I never thought to ask as we were so focused on finding Hannah and Richy. The thought never crossed my mind that it could be the same Jake." Jessy states, wanting to just hug MC.

"Did you love him?" MC looks down trying to stop the tears, unsure if she wants to hear the answer.

"I thought I had until I saw how you looked at him, and how he was looking at you. I thought back to all those conversations when you protected him against him and the Jake I thought I knew I wouldn't have done that. He probably didn't recognize me because I let my natural hair color come back." Jessy says with a smile.

"I just…." MC says as she stops mid sentence, watching him exit the bar and looking at her.

He see's them standing there talking and while he and Jessy grew close during that trip the love he has for MC is unlike any other he's ever felt. He pulls out his phone and types on it, knowing MC is watching him.

Jake: MC, I had no idea. I'm sorry. If I knew, I would have told you sooner.

He looks up and see's her pull out her phone and start typing. He knows her heart is unsure of what is going to happen but all he knows is he loves her and hopes she feels the same.

MC: I know she told me.

MC feels tears running down her face and she starts walking towards him. He runs to her and picks her up holding her into him.

"MC, I love you" Jake whispers into her ear.

She looks into his eyes and see's nothing but love like the last time he held her. "I love you too, Jake."

"See I never heard those words" says Jessy trying to lighten the mood a bit. MC laughs a little as Jake puts her down.

"Well I'm glad you didn't because I'm claiming him" MC smiles turning to her best friend for a hug.

#duskwood #duskwood fandom #duskwood jake #duskwoodlover #duskwood fanfiction #jake x mc #duskwood mc #mc x jake #fanfics #i love jake #duskwood jessy #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake x mc #everbyte duskwood #everbyte studios

[x3kristax3]

The Past Has Caught Up - One shot

A/N: this is my first time writing 3'rd person. What do you think of this one?

It’s been months since Hannah was Rescued and Richy was arrested. Jake stayed close to Duskwood for Hannah and Lilly while MC kept in contact with everyone. Jessy finally talked her into coming to visit and with Jake so close she decided she needed to see him. After a night together alone staying up all night in eachothers arms watching movies and kissing eachother she finally had to leave in the morning. She knew it would be hard but it had to be done.

It had been a couple days since MC saw Jake as she was staying with Jessy. They both decided they needed a night out drinking so decided to go to the Aurora on a Friday night. As usually the place was busy and the girls were just wearing jeans, boots, and sweaters during the fall night.

“MC, are you planning on seeing you know who again?” asks Jessy.

“I told him we were coming here so I hope he shows up.” MC says leaning against the bar to get them both a drink. She finally turns around and see’s him in a back corner with his hood up but she can feel him watching her and her body shivers.

She leans into Jessy, “He’s here.” MC says, pulling out her phone and opening the chat with Jake.

MC: Can I bring Jessy over?

Jake: yeah, she should meet me too since we want to make this work

MC looks at Jake as Phil gives us the drinks and I’m not paying attention because through the crowd and smoke I see his eyes staring at me.

She grabs Jessy’s arm “lets go over” Jessy says into MC’s ear with both drink, and MC takes one heading over there.

They finally get up to the table and MC swears her heart stops seeing him. All of a sudden she see’s a look of guilt and confusion on his face and she looks at Jessy who has the same look.

As he watches them walk up, paying complete attention to MC he doesn’t realize who Jessy is. As he looks at Jessy his mind goes to the past. He was in Paris a couple years ago, keeping away from the tourist spots but staying with crowds to blend in. This woman caught his eyes. She had brown hair but those eyes he couldn’t forget. During that trip they had gotten close and he told her his name. She mentioned her name but he forgotten it. So when he saw her through the camera’s while vidoe chatting with MC it hadn't even dawned on him that this was the same woman. He gets up and leaves the table without even saying anything to them and heads to the bar.

Jessy is standing there as he walks away and can’t believe her eyes. There is no way this is the same Jake from Paris all those years ago. Her eyes have to be deceiving her. She’s so caught up in what just happened she doesn’t hear anything around her until she see’s MC hand in front of her face.

“Jessy, what is going on?” MC asks as she gets ready to go after him.

“You’re going to want to sit down for what I’m about to tell you” Jessy says, as she downs her drink and wishes her brother would make it stronger for once in her life.

MC sits down and looks at her best friend and her eyes go to the bar where he is still sitting as her heart breaks.  “Jessy, you can tell me anything” she pleads.

“Remember how I told you about that guy in Paris?” Jessy asks her best friend as she sits down across from her.

“Yeah how can I forget, you just told me last night.” MC says having an idea where this is going and her mouth drops open. “No, please don’t tell me.”

“That's the same Jake. I had no idea as I never saw him during the whole investigation and that is such a common name.” Jessy says, reaching for her friend's hand.

MC downs her drink and stands up and heads outside for some fresh air. She stands there in the cold air unsure of what to even expect anymore. Jessy watches her best friend walk out the bar and stays there for a moment trying to collect her thoughts. She looks over at the bar and she’s Jake watching MC walk out the door and knowing what she was just told as she didn’t run to him.

Finally after giving MC a few moments by herself, Jessy heads outside. MC turns around hearing the door open and see’s her friend and her heart breaks. “You really didn’t know?”  MC asks with tears in her eyes.

“No I really didn’t know and I never thought to ask as we were so focused on finding Hannah and Richy. The thought never crossed my mind that it could be the same Jake.” Jessy states, wanting to just hug MC.

“Did you love him?” MC looks down trying to stop the tears, unsure if she wants to hear the answer.

“I thought I had until I saw how you looked at him, and how he was looking at you. I thought back to all those conversations when you protected him against him and the Jake I thought I knew I wouldn’t have done that. He probably didn’t recognize me because I let my natural hair color come back.” Jessy says with a smile.

“I just….” MC says as she stops mid sentence, watching him exit the bar and looking at her.

He see’s them standing there talking and while he and Jessy grew close during that trip the love he has for MC is unlike any other he’s ever felt. He pulls out his phone and types on it, knowing MC is watching him.

Jake: MC, I had no idea. I’m sorry. If I knew, I would have told you sooner.

He looks up and see’s her pull out her phone and start typing. He knows her heart is unsure of what is going to happen but all he knows is he loves her and hopes she feels the same.

MC: I know she told me.

MC feels tears running down her face and she starts walking towards him. He runs to her and picks her up holding her into him.

“MC, I love you” Jake whispers into her ear.

She looks into his eyes and see’s nothing but love like the last time he held her. “I love you too, Jake.”

“See I never heard those words” says Jessy trying to lighten the mood a bit. MC laughs a little as Jake puts her down.

“Well I'm glad you didn’t because I’m claiming him” MC smiles turning to her best friend for a hug.

#duskwood jake x mc #duskwood #duskwoodlover #duskwood fanfiction #writing #fanfic #mc x jake #everbyte duskwood #duskwood fandom #jake duskwood #duskwood everbyte #duskwood mc #duskwood jessy

[straykidsworldwild]

* Duskwood Episode 10 SPOILERS *

I finished playing episode 10... 😭 The ending was definitely not what I expected and I feel like there was some subjects that were forgotten... (Or maybe I forgot they mentioned it🤔)

Like :

- How did MWAF (not saying the name to not spoil too much for those who haven't finished the game 😉) got my phone number?

- Why picking up a "random stranger" to solve the mystery?

- Who was Hannah Donfort to us? Did we know her in the end?

- What happened to Phil? Was he released or not? (I think he was XD but it would have been nice to see or hear from him in this episode at least once.)

- Did Jake got out of the mine? How? And where did he go after that? (I think he got out XD Jake can't be captured by the FBI or his persuers or even die so easily. I refused to believe that XD And he probably went back to his hiding spot, "waiting" for us...🤔)

----------------------------------------------------------

I have to admit I am a bit disappointed with the last chapter because, even though it's an open ending, I thought it would end differently. I thought it would have been darker...

It's just my opinion, but I personally didn't like much who they've chosen to be the MWAF. I feel like it kind of broke the vibes we've been having since the beginning of the adventure.

It was good but not so good to me... I would have loved for an epilogue with us having an interrogation with Alan Bloomgate and then meeting Jake somewhere outside of town. Still in Duskwood, but outside of town. Even if we don't see his face. Like, it could have ended on Jake standing next to the river Jessy showed us with her phone when she wanted us to "visit" Duskwood. We could just see his back and then we could have called him. Jake would have slowly turned around, letting us only see his baby blue eyes (lol, yes, I like to think Jake has blue eyes, black hair, and is quite tall 🙈🤭) as he could be wearing a black mask with the nym-os eye on it in the corner.

We also could have seen just MC or Jake/MC meeting with all of the others, having a few drinks (even though it's probably, maybe even certainly not Jake's type 🤣) before Jake takes MC with him away from Duskwood.

#multifandom #duskwood #duskwood game #duskwood jake #duskwood jessy #iamjake #duskwood phil #phil duskwood #phil hawkins #duskwood dan #everbyte studios #duskwood hacker #jakexmc #jake duskwood #duskwood everbyte #duskwood thoughts #duskwood thomas #duskwood darkness #duskwood hannah #duskwood lilly #duskwood richy #duskwoodmc #duskwood mwaf #mwaf #manwithoutaface #duskwood episode 10 #duskwood ep10

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Pokemon Gen 1 Semi-Playthrough (Part 5)

Pokemon: Weepinbell.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Earlier in Arbok’s entry I said it was the last of Team Rocket’s Kanto Pokemon. When posting that entry on the blog I realised I’d made a mistake in saying that, Team Rocket did have two other Pokemon during the Indigo League, however they appeared so rarely initially that I almost forgot this was the case. When looking up about it to remind myself, I realised James Weepinbell or rather Victreebel had such a bizarre story I felt I had to go over it. It appeared after a flashback referencing James catching it off-screen and taking it to Butch and Cassidy (Team Rocket’s Rivals) who were pretending to run a daycare but actually planning on stealing all the Pokemon left with them for Team Rocket. They evolved Weepinbell into Victreebel to make it stronger and when James found it again it affectionately let out a high-pitched scream and bit onto the top half of his body. This became a running gag and Victreebel didn’t do too much for a bit before becoming more commonly used in the Orange Islands and Johto. Then Jessie and Meowth forced James to trade Victreebel for a Weepinbell that knew Sweet Scent for one of their schemes. At first James was heartbroken however he soon grew to love his new Weepinbell that actually did well against Ash for once. It did so well in fact that it evolved without a leaf stone (required to evolve Weepinbell into Victreebel) after it’s victory. After doing so however it made a huge mistake and bit Jessie, in her anger she outright kicked it off the team. At the same time the Magikarp Salesman (yes the one I mentioned in my Gyarados entry from the games) who James had traded his original Victreebel to similarly got angry at it keep biting him and kicked it away as well, the two smashed into each other in the sky, landed and fell in love leaving together. I guess I’m just recounting the anime here but still that was such a wild ride I’d forgotten about (or might have actually missed although I have vague memories of it) that I just felt the need to mention it, plus it’s more than anything else I could think to say about for Weepinbell overall. I think I might have used it on a team once but I don’t remember it being too great.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Bellsprout on Route 15 as well as Oddish. It is possible I came across a Weepinbell but Bellsprout is more the one I seem to remember catching.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Slowpoke.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Master Spirit.

Moves: Confusion.

My feelings on it: I’d be surprised if there were many people who disliked Slowpoke, I’m a fairly big fan of it. The anime helped with it’s depiction of Slowpoke but it’s also one of those Pokemon where even back in the Gen 1 games it was easy to ‘get’ what it’s like. Even better it was a psychic type back in Gen 1 which made it a very worthwhile Pokemon to add to your team. Slowpoke saw a slightly bigger role in Gen 2 with their appearance in Azalea Town, Slowpoke Well being a landmark of the town. This game also was the first time mention was made of Slowpoke tails being considered a delicacy and it underwent an interesting evolution in the series going from something seen as cruel and evil with Team Rocket doing it in Johto, yet it became something seemingly legally used as food in other regions such as Kalos, Alola and Smoke-Poke Tails (assumedly smoked Slowpoke Tails) are an ingredient that can be used in curries in the Galar region. Honestly I think this is a fairly cool bit of world-building for the series where some regions see this as a terrible practice whilst for others it’s common practice, it’s often mentioned that Slowpoke’s tails can fall off on their own and grow back very quickly. The worst thing about Slowpoke, which is obviously in the name is it’s speed where there are very few Pokemon I believe it will be faster than (barring level differences), but beyond this it's a Pokemon I’ve always liked and used a couple of times.

How I caught it: I believe I caught Slowpoke on the Seafoam Islands, it was fairly easy to encounter so didn’t take long, I caught it in a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Slowpoke has a unique role amongst all the other Pokemon in Smash as a Master Spirit. I’ve not really decided yet how I’m going to approach Master Spirits, most likely depending on their role such as shopkeeper spirits requiring me to reference their shops, explorer spirits referencing exploration in their original games etc. For Slowpoke its role is a Dojo spirit who can teach a spirit a ‘style’. Honestly… I’m not that up on the styles and things in World of Light, from what I gather they alter stats so in basic terms a ‘defensive style’ will boost defensive stats over offensive stats. Slowpoke seems somewhat unique as it grants ‘Forgetful style’ which in effect from what I’ve seen restores a spirits stats back to their original levels. I did initially plan to just say that was all there was to say on this, but I realised this actually does match something in the Pokemon games somewhat, the Move Deleter who in earlier games would allow your Pokemon to forget a move, handy for getting rid of HM moves they couldn’t forget otherwise. I don’t know if this was a reference to that or just simply Slowpoke being forgetful, but it’s the closest I can think of for a reference to the series. Beyond this I gave Slowpoke Confusion as a move which I believe is being referenced in it’s spirit battle as your controls will suddenly reverse during the battle.

Pokemon: Slowbro.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: So like Slowpoke I like Slowbro. Honestly, Slowbro’s always been an enigma to me, it’s a combination of two Pokemon as it has a Shellder on its tail, the two seemingly both evolve as the Shellder looks different both to it’s regular form as well as its own evolved form Cloyster. The second odd thing about this is it’s said often in Pokedex entries that Slowbro can devolve if the Shellder fell off of it’s tail, this is a mechanic however that has never been used in any of the games for any Pokemon. This whole idea is very interesting and cool to me however, I like Shellder biting into a Slowpoke’s tail and releasing venom into the Slowbro allows it to have more immunity to pain as well as stand on two feet and inspires it slightly beyond its usual temperament as a Slowpoke. I will also mention there’s another evolution for Slowpoke not mentioned in Smash that is fairly different known as Slowking, in this case the Shellder bites onto Slowpoke’s head instead of its tail and its venom releases actually make it far more intelligent to the point it supposedly attempts to solve the mysteries of the world. It’s said this vast intellect however will completely disappear along with all memory of it if the Shellder falls off of Slowking which is a somewhat scary thought honestly. I suppose as I’m going over other forms, I’ll briefly mention that Galarian Slowbro and Slowking are somewhat darker versions of them both with Galarian Slowbro having Shellder biting on its hand which can cause Slowbro a lot of irritation causing it to lash out at anything nearby, Galarian Slowking has Shellder covering most of its head with the Shellder being a lot more dominant and actually controlling the Slowpoke as well as apparently making various chants that are undecipherable.

How I caught it: Similarly to Slowpoke I believe I caught another Slowpoke in the Seafoam Islands and then evolved it later.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Drowzee.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Drowzee’s an odd Pokemon, it’s actually fairly accurate to what its based on being a tapir, also I didn’t know before but assumed it had some mythological reference which it turns out is the case with baku in Japanese myth being a creature (commonly depicted as a tapir) that eats bad dreams. What’s interesting is Drowzee’s often depicted as somewhat sinister (especially in the anime) in it’s ability to eat dreams, however it seems like in mythology it’s actually somewhat more friendly being something children call on to help take away bad dreams, there is a risk however in calling upon it too often as this can build its hunger to the point that it might also eat a person’s hopes and desires. In a way this has been the most interesting I’ve found Drowzee ever after learning this, it’s a shame this more pleasant side of Drowzee seems less emphasized however with it apparently preferring to eat nice dreams over bad dreams and it’s somewhat creepy aspects such as finding children’s dreams tastier as well as apparently your nose itching during the night meaning you’ve likely had a Drowzee eating your dreams through it. There is a nice aspect in that it apparently shares it’s favourite dreams with those it trusts but it’s definitely not as friendly sounding as the baku seems to be. I suppose I should briefly mention it’s more notorious evolved form, if Drowzee’s somewhat creepy Hypno is undoubtedly so, it’s said to hide away from humans and lie in wait for victims who it puts to sleep and steals their dreams. It’s also said that Hypnos have been known to kidnap people who’s dreams it likes and there apparently was even a case of one taking a child away with hypnosis. I mentioned in Cubone’s entry about it from what I’ve seen not being too involved in the creepypasta Lavender Town sorts of things, Hypno is front and centre in these sorts of stories however and honestly it’s not that far from how creepy stories about them in canon are. I realise here I’ve mentioned more about the mythology behind Drowzee and Hypnos whole… thing, but really this is the most interesting thing I have to say about Drowzee and way more than I was expecting to cover.

How I caught it: It’s funny, I had one route in mind when it came to Drowzee similar to a couple of other Pokemon I associate certain routes with, but then I realised after looking it up this route is the only one Drowzee is found in Gen 1 being Route 11. Naturally this means I caught Drowzee here with a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Krabby.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: This is a Pokemon that it’s only due to the anime I have affection for, but in this case it’s a lot of affection. Ash’s Krabby was his first Pokemon in the anime to be transferred as he already had 6 on him, this showed off the mechanic from the games as well as implying that Pokemon in the PC are, at least in the anime transferred somewhere else where they’re looked after rather than being stuck forevermore in a PC. Due to this Krabby didn’t look like it would have much to do but this changed with the Indigo League at the end of the Kanto season where Ash decided to use Krabby in battle. It did surprisingly well and fairly quickly evolved into Kingler. Ash’s Kingler was pretty cool managing to do well in a few battles and the voices for Krabby and Kingler I think stuck with a lot of people who grew up with those episodes with me hearing a few people imitate it even years later. It’s due to this I grew a fondness for Krabby and especially Kingler having one on my team in the past. There isn’t much more I have to add beyond this however.

How I caught it: I can’t remember for sure but I believe rather than fishing for one I found a Krabby on the Seafoam Islands. Since I decided on the Pokemon from the Melee intro later I think in this case I specifically went there for Krabby alongside others such as Slowpoke.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Rhydon.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Two things come to mind for me when it comes to Rhydon, firstly that it was apparently said by Ken Sugimori to have been one of the first Pokemon ever created, secondly an infamous moment in the anime where Pikachu managed to defeat Blaine’s Rhydon by hitting it’s horn with an electric attack, despite Rhydon even in Gen 1 being immune to electric attacks. It’s interesting on that second point that Rhydon later gained the ability Lightning Rod which attracts electric attacks towards it which it will be unaffected by, whether this was inspired by the infamous moment in the anime I don’t think has ever been mentioned. Honestly Rhydon’s never been a Pokemon I’ve had many thoughts on which is somewhat surprising really now I think about it as I quite like Rhinos, mostly related to my love of Donkey Kong Country and Rambi, it surprises me therefore that I didn’t try to get a Rhyhorn to name Rambi but I don’t remember ever doing so. It did make for a good Pokemon for Giovanni however, although along with others back then it’s quad weakness to water and grass definitely didn’t help it feel intimidating. It was one of those Pokemon that gained another evolution in Gen 4 which I think made it even more fearsome, but I admit I don’t have much knowledge of how good it made it, mostly as it was another trade evolution.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Rhydon in Cerulean Cave rather than catching a Rhyhorn and evolving it. I believe I would have caught it simply on the journey to find Mewtwo there rather than searching it out specifically as it wasn’t too uncommon I believe, it did require a little bit of tracking down however.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Electabuzz.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Electabuzz is one of those Pokemon I always think of as strong and would try out but I’ve usually gotten something else I prefer by the point they become available so I don’t bother. It doesn’t help that it was originally in Pokemon Red and therefore the version I didn’t have as a kid. My main exposure to it beyond toys was in the anime, it had some pretty odd appearances there. The episode I probably remember most with it in it was where there were two gangs fighting in this town over which would be appointed as an official Pokemon gym. One group had Scyther and the other group had Electabuzz. I remember this episode also introducing this thing that was ignored I think ever since of both Scyther and Electabuzz being sent into a rage when seeing the colour red. Other than this, probably the thing I remember most of Electabuzz is its voice in the anime, I’d advise looking it up if you’ve not heard it before, it’s really something. Electabuzz similar to Rhydon and also Magmar who’s the next entry gained a new evolution in Gen 4. Electivire will actually have an entry later down the line so I won’t comment much more on it, but it definitely is another reason I’ve always seen Electabuzz and Magmar as being more like rivals (with them both also gaining a pre-evolution in Gen 2) and why even back in the early days I was always surprised they went for Scyther rather than Magmar for that anime episode.

How I caught it: As you can see, similarly to Arbok Electabuzz was one of the few Pokemon entirely exclusive to Pokemon Red not appearing in Yellow or Blue. Due to this I realised the only option I really had was to catch Electabuzz in Pokemon Crystal. I caught it on Route 10 in Kanto which makes sense as in Pokemon Red it was found only in the Power Plant which was on Route 10, however as in Pokemon Crystal the building no longer has wild Pokemon it instead appears in the grass outside on Route 10.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Magmar.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Magmar is a Pokemon I always thought was meant to be some amazing uber powerful monster. The reason for this was the episode of the anime where it first appeared (I believe) as Blaine’s main Pokemon. I remember how instead of coming out of a Pokeball like most other Pokemon it rose up from the lava surrounding the battlefield and managed to defeat Ash’s Pikachu. Then in the following episode for the first time Ash’s Charizard actually decided to fight for him as it felt like Magmar was a worthy opponent with it being easily one of the best fights in the original series. Magmar was again another Pokemon I wanted to try but rarely had on my team because of how late it appeared. It always felt odd though that Blaine didn’t have a Magmar on his team until Gen 2 not even having one in Pokemon Yellow which changed a lot of gym leader’s teams to be closer to the anime. Apparently this was because the games development happened before Blaine appeared in the anime, however even so I still felt like in Gen 1 Magmar was an obvious choice to go for as part of the fire gym leader’s team that late in the game, especially when instead he has Ponyta and Growlithe along with their evolved forms. Given Magmar only appears in Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar Island where Blaine’s gym is it feels like an obvious choice. Beyond that Magmar as I said in the last couple of entries had a fair few similarities to Electabuzz only as a fire type, it gained a pre-evolution in Gen 2 with Magby and in Gen 4 an evolution with Magmortar. Unlike Electivire, Magmortar doesn’t appear in the Smash series so I guess I’ll just say it’s a design that’s grown on me, I used to find it too over the top and I felt it destroyed my image of Magmar being so cool etc, but now I realise how goofy Magmar looks really (although I definitely still like it a lot) especially with it’s weird butt forehead (I realised writing this sometime I have to have an Electabuzz and Magmar and call them Beavis and Butthead one day…) Magmortar does have the cool handcannon arms so that also helps.

How I caught it: As I decided to cover the Pokemon in the Melee opening movie later down the line I didn’t run into the problem I did with Weezing of having restarted my Virtual Console copy of Blue before getting the exclusive Pokemon I needed. Due to this I simply had to track down Magmar in Pokemon Mansion, however I do remember after looking it up realising I had the best chance of finding one on the third floor. As I wanted to get it fairly quickly however I ended up going to the very small room you can access easily, so therefore I spent a lot of time just going back and forward in this small room, still eventually I found Magmar and I remember catching it fairly easily in a Pokeball.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Seel.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Seel is often put forward as an example of one of the most unoriginal of early Pokemon, partially just because its name is outright Seal but with two es. Honestly, I can agree, there are other Pokemon that are just versions of animals like Rattata but even then I feel they have a bit more to their design than just being a rat. I still think Seel is fine however, it’s definitely not one of my favourites by a long stretch, but I don’t think every single Pokemon has to be weird or deviate a lot from a real life animal, it does have the horn and tusks afterall. Also, when it comes to seals, I’ve realised after watching videos of them and sea lions in the past how much they can remind me of dogs and Seel specifically has a very ‘doggish’ face, honestly it’s the type of Pokemon that if they were real I would probably like as a pet. Beyond this I really don’t have much to say about Seel.

How I caught it: From what I remember I encountered Seel fairly easily in the Seafoam Islands so there wasn’t much of note with regards to it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: This is the first of only two Pokemon in Gen 1 who appeared exclusively in the Pokefloats stage. I debated whether to cover them but given I have just so little else to say about Pokefloats to begin with (when it comes to it being based on anything from the games, not what it’s like as a stage) I felt it was worth it to just include the Pokemon that exclusively appear on it. Beyond this, as it’s just a floating platform there’s nothing more to add other than catching it in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Lickitung.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: Lick.

My feelings on it: I mentioned in Weepinbell’s entry how I forgot there were two other Pokemon in the Indigo League anime that belonged to Team Rocket, this is the second one which belonged to Jessie. I won’t go over it’s whole history like I did with Weepinbell as it’s not that interesting, but I did find it interesting that it’s the only Team Rocket Pokemon that seemingly got to have a happy ending with another trainer, being accidentally traded for a Wobuffet and the trainer seeming fairly happy with Licktung who seemed happy with him. I remember as a kid getting Lickitung and immediately thinking of Yoshi which I would have nicknamed it if it wasn’t for the fact that in Red and Blue it is a Pokemon only available through an in-game trade (similar to Farfetch’d) which means you can’t change its name. I like to look at descriptions of each Pokemon when writing these posts just to remind me of some lore facts relating to them, but honestly reading Lickitung’s is just disgusting with constant comments about how it’s tongue is not only sticky but stinks, this might be one of the rare times hearing more about a Pokemon has put me off it more than I was before.

How I caught it: Despite being an in-game trade Lickitung is available in Pokemon Yellow in Cerulean Cave. I believe I ran into one during my journey through there and caught it then rather than bothering to go back to Blue and do the trade for it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Initially I thought there would be nothing to add as this is another Pokefloats Pokemon, however I realised somewhat uniquely Lickitung will extend it’s tongue for fighters to fight on as the stage progresses. Due to this I figured the move Lick was worth noting which is already known by Lickitung anyway. I caught it in a Pokeball like everything else.

Credits.

For information on this game I used to research relating to attributes such as movesets etc for Pokemon I must give credit to Bulbapedia, Serebii and SmashWiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using the Photo Club feature in Pokemon Ultra Moon, screenshots using Nintendo Switch in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Trophy Images taken from SmashWiki. Spirit Images were taken from The Spriters Resource submitted by Random Talking Bush.

#pokemon #pokemon red and blue #pokemon ultra sun and moon #pokemon yellow #generation 1 #gen 1 #nintendo 3ds #3ds #super smash bros #my smash playthroughs #my smash playthrough

[rapifessor]

Pokéchronology, Volume I: Yellow

Day 2

Things are really hitting their stride already. I'm finding and catching new Pokémon left and right, evolving them, adding to my type coverage, and doing a lot of battles. I can get used to this.

Something I'm finding as I go on however is that fighting every battle I come across, especially in a dungeon, is very taxing on my team and my resources, especially since some Pokémon are surprisingly strong and I don't have good counters to them yet. Money is limited and Potions aren't necessarily cheap.

Spoilers for Pokémon Yellow (lol) ahead.

Route 3

Something I forgot to mention in the last post is that I caught a female Nidoran before fighting Brock. Named her Prinzessin. She didn't help in the fight against him, I just realized that I had forgotten to mention her.

Anyway, LOTS of trainers on Route 3, which means lots of opportunity to level up. I focused mainly on getting Butterboy and Prinzessin leveled up, and occasionally BIRD UP whenever I felt they were suited to the battle. Butterboy had evolved into Metapod a little earlier and shortly after evolved into Butterfree. I knew Bug Pokémon typically evolve early, but not that early. But it's great that it happened because Confusion is proving to be a very useful move right now.

Prinzessin also learned Double Kick during the trainer battles, which actually would have been very useful in the fight with Brock. But of course, I didn't know that at the time.

Having fought my way through all the trainers, I entered the Pokémon center by the entrance to Mt. Moon and bought the Magikarp, which I named Ominous. Don't know why, probably because I thought it was funny to name the OG meme Pokémon something really edgy.

Mt. Moon

The first real dungeon. Mt. Moon is quite a trek to get through as I'm constantly harassed by wild Pokémon and taking a beating, not to mention the numerous trainers wandering the area. I picked up the Moon Stone and TM12 and caught three more Pokémon: a Zubat, a Geodude, and a Paras, which I named Nighter, Dwayne, and Mycoboss (that Paras was kinda strong when I fought it okay). Eventually I made it to what I believe is Team Rocket's Hideout.

I didn't get very far though as all the battles up to that point had drained my resources and I soon ran out of potions. With most of my Pokémon on the brink of fainting I decided to withdraw with the Escape Rope I had picked up earlier.

Time to prepare for another run. I decided I would use TM12 on Prinzessin to teach her Water Gun, adding even more to my type coverage, and evolved her into Nidoqueen with the Moon Stone I picked up. She's now an absolute unit, rocking 30+ in all stats and 60 HP at level 16, and ready to completely fucking demolish any Geodude who dares stand... or uh, float, I guess, in my way.

I pushed through Team Rocket's Hideout much easier than before, using Butterboy to clown on Zubat and Prinzessin to clown on everything else. Fully evolved Pokémon it turns out are pretty strong and make the game a lot easier. Caught a Clefairy that I named Fairyberry on the way to the end.

I chose the Helix Fossil after defeating the Super Nerd later in the dungeon, deciding that I liked Omanyte better than Kabuto. Shortly after, I'm challenged by that eternal dorky duo Jessie and James. Prinzessin swept away their entire team with little difficulty. Finally, I was able to exit the dungeon to Route 4, now on my way to Cerulean City.

Cerulean City

After wandering around checking the place out, I decided to head north to see what I could do before challenging the gym. Got spooked by Gary and his four Pokémon. I kicked his ass. Then I continued across Nugget Bridge, fought my way through the five trainers and got bamboozled by Team Rocket member #yes, but as usual Prinzessin cleaned him up pretty good.

I receive Charmander from the trainer with self-worth issues after the bridge, and catch an Oddish in the grass around the bend to the left. I named the Charmander Sicko and the Oddish Canteven. Then I proceeded to the east, challenging every trainer along the way to Bill's house. I realized I was REALLY soft to Psychic types while fighting one of the trainer's Slowpoke, which is a bit of a problem. Psychic is one of the strongest types in Generation I though, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I really need to get some good Bug type moves. Maybe Mycoboss can learn some, but I've been too busy leveling up Ominous to give them the attention they need.

Having beaten all the trainers in the area, I proceeded to rescue Bill and return to Cerulean City to deal with the Team Rocket member who stole the Dig TM, and once again, get destroyed because he has a fucking Drowzee on his team. But I manage to win the battle anyway and proceed to the south to see that the road is closed. I noticed there was some underground route to Vermilion City but dealing with that is for later.

It's time to challenge Misty. With my trusty BIG RAT by my side I felt I had little to fear, and while some of the Water types in the gym were surprisingly tough, I still dispatched them with ease.

Misty herself put up a bit more of a fight, as her Starmie is level 21 and has a considerable amount of health. BIG RAT could deal substantial damage but he also took a sizeable amount himself. I had to switch out to different Pokémon a couple of times to give him the chance to heal, and I have to say these 20 HP Potions are starting to feel a little inadequate. With Starmie having such high offensive and defensive power, I decided it was time for my trump card: Sleep Powder.

Sleep is kind of a stupid status. It can either be incredibly broken, completely disabling a Pokémon for five whole turns, or do basically nothing. Luckily for me, it was the former. I landed the move with Butterboy, took the opportunity to heal BIG RAT, and sent him in to finish off Starmie, defeating Misty. I'm surprised she only had two Pokémon. That combined with having effective types for the battle made her considerably easier to deal with than Brock, although I still had to use cheeky tactics to make victory achievable. But hey, all's fair in love and Pokémon battles, right?

Well, that's all for today. Another day, another gym. The game has continued to be pretty fun so far, I'm almost surprised how much I'm enjoying myself. I never used to think the core series games were something I'd be interested in, but I guess I was wrong.

Judging by the name of the next town, I'm guessing Lt. Surge is the next gym leader. I'll need to find some Pokémon that can deal with Electric types, and since I already know about Geodude and Sandshrew I think I'll go with them. Gonna have to train them up though, which could take a while.

Also, given my experience with Psychic types... I'm a little concerned with how that gym battle is going to go. But I'm sure I'll figure something out.

#rapifessor rambles #nerd shit #pokémon #pkmn #pokeblogging #long post #pokemon #pokechronology #pokechron #retro gaming #classic games

[coupcrew]

#COUPCREW - an indie sci-fi multimuse featuring characters based on an original concept. Written by Marty (he/him, 25+, white, UK). Rules are available here, character roster & important notes under the cut. Please read my rules before following / interacting. Any memes I reblog are always being accepted.

MUTINY ON THE PROSPERO!

Freighter traitors murder loyal Gibson captain on routine cargo run. -- Captain Leckie Francisco was butchered by his freighter crew on a regular transport job to Ivis V last week, his body discovered some days later by Gibson Company security workers. Gibson Company ship, the Prospero, was stolen in the wake of this horrific attack and has yet to be relocated. Authorities have released the names of the workers responsible for this heinous crime and are requesting that anybody with information comes forward. Any worker who aids the authorities in recovering Company property will be rewarded appropriately.

Welcome aboard the Starhopper, the newly renamed and newly stolen freight starship currently barrelling across the galaxy as its crew attempts to escape Company security. Everything is completely fine!

Character Roster

Aurora - An android, recently jailbroken by one Zoie St Just and exhibiting all the signs of being a real, living guy. That is to say, it's very anxious and has discovered a love for twelve-sugar cups of tea. Named itself after a natural phenomenon because of a conversation the crew were having, was almost called Jellyfish instead. It serves as the ship medic.

Jessamyn 'Jessy' Arizona - Starhopper's communications specialist and unofficial artist. Would rather die than go back to Company territory, and hasn't been happier since the Starhopper crew outlawed themselves. The same day that the crew decided they were never going back, she began planning a mural that now covers every wall in the crew quarters. The Company can only reprimand you for defacing their property if you get caught!

Lowry Vestergaard - A stowaway, eldest child of the most powerful family in Vestergaard Company space. A pawn in her parents' schemes and a target for any and every rival in the galaxy, she saw her opportunity to escape when the Starhopper was loading supplies on Felicity Rec and stowed away on the ship. Never mind that she went willingly, her family call the Starhopper crew kidnappers, and now the crew can add Vestergaard security onto their list of worries.

Matías 'Mat' Izarra - Starhopper's pilot, and one of the most talented going. He would rather turn around and head back to Company territory and go back to a normal life, but he wouldn't do that to the rest of the crew. He's always wanted to see the universe but he'll be the first to admit he didn't mean it like this. But, hey, he's always been one to make the best of a bad situation.

Important Others - Kit Leung, the security specialist; Zoie St Just, the ship mechanic; Arjun of Borealis Station, the youngest member of the crew & subsequent jack of all trades; Terra Toab, the oldest member of the crew & deeply respected engineer; Odell, just Odell, the navigator; Vernon Shum, the freightmaster. Their former captain, Leckie Francisco, was a loyal employee of the Gibson Company, and also a deeply cruel man to his crew. Starhopper's AI, known as Prospero, used to be linked directly to Aurora and has a barely-restrained vendetta against the crew.

General Note: I do have some memory issues & this does impact my ability to run this blog. I may sometimes forget about drafts or plotting/starter calls or anything along those lines, so please feel free to give me a nudge if you think I might have forgotten about something! I won't be irritated by it at all and actually appreciate the reminder if it's been more than a week or so.

#pin.

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Fri 11 June ‘21

LT band news! Guitarist Isaac posted a pic of himself with the other guitarist and bassist, plus LTHQ team member Jessie! Things are happening…idk what things, but THINGS! We know tour shows aren’t for a long while now so what might they be rehearsing or meeting for? Hopes are up that it could be to do promo for a single!! But really whatever it is would be exciting as hell. The shopping list for the recipe Louis will be following for his video is out and it does not look like it’ll be challenging- it’s a fish finger sandwich! I’m a little confused by the addition of waffles (not to mention sugar) in the ingredient list but overall how hard can it be right? I guess we’ll find out. And a fan who met Louis the other day says she had him write HOME for a tattoo and “told him that the song is extremely important for the whole lgbtq+ community” and that he “smiled and said thank you and bless you darling,” and we got more video from yesterday of him out by the studio; he was wearing the skull/ laurel/ rose/ triangle ‘new era’ cap again, nice, and how appropriate for the exciting LT2 era things he is cooking up (not the fish fingers, the other stuff.)

The much hyped Our Song behind the scenes video is finally here! We see the part where Niall pretends to be afraid of the dog that was hired to bark at him, but as we were told, the dog does not bark and was therefore fired; maybe the poor dog was just starstruck, leave her alone! Plus Niall and Anne are cute and look to be having fun, of course. And last night Niall was papped in Hollywood, looking good in all black with gucci loafers, oh lala.

Behind the scenes videos hype continues, with one for Lima’s NFT as well- it opens with a voiceover saying “stop being scared of who you are, you’re not negative you’re vulnerable” and other uplifting soundbites, then shows Liam drawing and walking in a beautiful forested glade, but mostly in his house he recently moved out of- Winston the dog has a sleeping-in-the-background cameo- and he and the other collaborators (musician Zedd and animator Gabe Damast) talk about how they worked out the concepts over zoom and tell us about Liam’s concept for the piece. They also talk about (and show one of) the physical objects and fancy packaging for it that they’ve made to sell along with the NFT, presumably because simply buying bragging rights of ownership of an intangible digital item isn’t actually terribly satisfying, so they need to provide some actual thing. Besides the dinner in Vegas that the buyers will be invited to join them at that is; we also learn more about that and oh my GOD wtf… uh I mean what they said is that it will take place in a literal glass box in the middle of the resort I honestly didn’t know they could make it sound MORE UNPLEASANT to me holy crap, not even to hug Liam would I do that. Liam also did a live where he tells us some stuff we already knew about Louis and Harry; about Louis he said that he’s working on music right now and “god he’s got long hair now doesn’t he”, I KNOW RIGHT, and about Harry that “he looks great in his policeman uniform,” Liam you WOULD like that, and “name a man who can pull off every look.”

Harry followed musician Pauli the PSM on insta. And as he’s often used his follows to tell us about people he is working with/ preparing something with one always wonders… For example as his scheduled shows for this year draw ever nearer with no rescheduling announcement yet, we’re all becoming impatient to know if he’s planning to play any of them this year. And if so, I know I wouldn’t be at all surprised if brand new mom Sarah Jones chose to sit a few out, so today’s follow of a British drummer… well, <eyeballs emoji>, right?! Honestly though it could be for any reason, that’s just wild speculation.

#louis tomlinson #liam payne #niall horan #harry styles #I know we all want the entertainment value of watching louis flail like hell on the cooking segment but the fact is #Louis doesn’t like publicly being bad at things. I’m guessing he wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he could pull it off so my hopes of that #happening are not high #I feel like Harry has been making a point of using his platform to hype up black performers specifically over the last year #and I for one appreciate that #11 jun 21 #isaac anderson #matt dinnage #michael blackwell #jessie.... have I just forgotten her last name? we must know it right? #jessie martin #GOT IT #pauli lovejoy

[sirensmojo]

"KINDRED",5 - Tommy Shelby x Reader (x Alfie Solomons).

Warnings: Alfie is a warning, mention of abduction, swearing, guns, fluff & slight angst at the end.

Summary: You're an ex war-nurse reconverted as the leader of a feminist organisation. You join forces with the leader of the backstreet Birmingham gang, Thomas Shelby, to cut the head of the Fascist serpent, Oswald Mosley.

Word Count: 5K+

AN: Gina's family is totally OC as we know nothing about her in the show / POV alternate between characters' and Y/N's.

*Masterlist*

❰ ​Previous Chapter

*Margate, Solomons’ residence*

“Alfie!” You exclaimed. You were wearing a white woollen coat with fur around your neck, the same coloured futrzane at the top of your head flattening your finger-waved hair on each part of your face.

Under the woollen coat, you wore a light brown satin dress covering your full body with white high heels. Your look wouldn’t be complete without your blue stones jewellery collection of necklace and earrings. Your golden rings complimented her fingers above one of your white lace gloves.

That was the sound of your heels that made the man turn his head, his mind was elsewhere and he didn’t hear your call.

“Eh, eh, eh. Who that might be, huh, none other than Y/L/N.” He muttered to himself, squinting his eyes looking towards you.

You got closer to him and met with a frowning maid that looked at you with envy at the back of her eyes. You offered her a genuinely warm smile that let your white teeth out, which confused the maid.

“Glad to see you’re still breathing, Captain.” You reached to him.

You were always seemed to be open and all heart with women whereas you were the opposite with men.

“And what you be doing here, love? Thought I left you back in the smoke, innit?”

“Well I’m here Alfie, that war’s done, but there’s another one coming.” Y/N said outright. You stopped in front of him, took off the glove free of rings and passed your fingers through his hair, down to his cheek. Alfie remained silent as Y/N's fingers sprinkled his skin with sparks.

You grabbed his chin between your index and thumb, moving his head to the side, you were examining the damage that has been done to his right eye. “I met him.” You solemnly let out.

He already knew who you were referring to.

“He a fucking bookmaker, what you have with him?” He innocently let out, which made you chuckle a bit as you sat down on the sofa in front of him.

You clicked your tongue before slowly putting back your glove. “I love you, Alfie. There’s no bad blood between us but you know me. So don’t fucking try me.” Your threat was covered with an implied mention of your intertwined past, so you would reason with him with both reason and sentiment.

He grabbed the binoculars laying down next to him and raised it vertically towards the sea. “Fucking birds making noise all day annoying my peace of mind... If our mate didn’t shoot me I’ll be shooting ‘em, you know.”

“He was here before me, so you know he entered politics, Alfred.”

He glanced at you hearing his full name on your lips. No one but you ever called him that, and he had forgotten that habit of yours.

“I mean, he would’ve shot me anyway, right. But aiming right is free, innit?” He looked away. “Even at night, they be fucking screaming, mate. Try sleeping in some fucking screaming box.”

“You have trouble sleeping?” You snapped back, interested, catching the man's attention. He knew exactly what you were referencing to, shared memories about sharing beds during war.

“Not like that.” He got back to looking in his binoculars, choosing not to go on to that path.

“Not like that, huh?” You raised your brows at him, he had opened the gates and shall have what he asked for.

You let your coat fall on your arms, showing your naked shoulders and tilted your head. “We could still work it, like good old times, eh?” You teased the man, your Y/E/C piercing eyes not leaving his face.

Alfie didn’t even look at you. “Where’s your gun, Y/N?” He asked, presenting his palm to you, waiting. “Care to give it here for a sec?”

And without even thinking twice you grabbed your little gun from your shoulder holster under your coat and placed it in Solomon’s hand. You were watching his movements as he cocked the gun and aimed something outside the house you surmised to be the birds he was talking about.

“Thought you’d hand me one of your rifles, mad deceived ‘am now” He followed the targets with the gun without daring to shoot.

“War’s over, Alfie.” You put back on your coat and lit a cig before leaning backwards on the sofa, making yourself comfortable.

“Came in here telling me some war coming, now telling me it’s done…Come on, pick a struggle, love” He grumbled to himself as shifting his position.

“I lied. Actually, the war’s already here, and I have both feet in.” You raised your brows, smoking your cig.

“Me none.”

“Not yet.” You snapped back, getting up. “Look, Alfred. Margate’s not doing you any justice. Get back in business, come back to London.” You encouraged him. “You didn’t welcome me when I set foot in town. Didn’t even kiss me ‘bonjour’ *talking french* (=hello). I need my Captain back.” Your voice lowered on the last part as if you were pouting.

“Did you ever put your palm on one eye, eh? When child, you do that to see if life is any different seen by one eye or the other. You cover one eye with your palm and look fucking far away, yea. I used to do that often, you?” He stops what he was doing to glance at you, that was standing near him.

“No.”

“Well, life’s fucking different. Yeah” He nodded to himself confirming his story. “It really is, one eye doesn't show what you see with the other. I’m fucking blind, now. Can only see one side of life, can’t I?” He turned to you, staring. Under his confusing metaphor, he was talking common sense, and it wasn’t difficult for you to decrypt his code as you knew the character.

What he was saying was simple, the experience with Tommy & the Italians made him insensible to the things that used to interest him before. Business and power weren’t things he cared about now.

You silently nodded before sitting right next to him. You put a palm onto one of your eyes and looked to the sea, searching for the screaming birds. Once you found one, you rushed your hand under your dress, to the inside of your thighs, your hand came out with another gun that you pointed straight forward before shooting.

A bird’s helpless scream was heard before Alfie’s mouth opened. “Damn, woman. You still got this.”

“You just gotta picture what’s behind the black spot, Alfred. You fucking draw the lines in your head, because you’ve seen them. They’re here, somewhere in your mind, you just gotta draw them.” You muttered to his ear and he let out an “Um.” before trying to also shoot a bird.

(...)

When Y/L/N's foot touched the gravels of Small Heath’s ground, each women’s head turned to her as a disturbing silence spread over the crowd. She got out of the car when Lizzie opened her mouth, catching the attention of Polly, “He’s fucking her.” She spat with disgust, her eyes filled with jealousy and fear of losing Thomas once again.

Once a month, the peaky girls joined the reunion of women in Small Heath’s streets. This meeting's purposes were to one, show men that women, too, could gather, and second, to scare the institutions and politics about the numbers of women ready to fight for their rights. It was originally organized by Jessie Eden, a communist & feminist leader, but quickly was taken over by Y/F/N and her organisation.

Deleting the "communist" part of this meeting surely helped women gathered even more as they knew they weren’t directly taking sides in political matters, so the risk of getting arrested was low.

Polly’s eyes went from Lizzie to Y/N, who was shaking hands with some women wearing a soft smile along with a determined gaze. “Saw her once, going out of Tommy's office.”

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Every woman he be fucking went to his office.” She seemed fed-up, one of her feet angrily taping the ground back and forth.

“What business does Tommy have with a feminist?” Pol’ utterly murmured to herself, frowning. What was her surprise when she recognized the other woman coming out of the car, being none other than Ada.

The Thorne, initially Shelby woman, stood right next to Y/N, her brown hat set down on her finger waved hair. She wore her cream woollen coat with fur on her neck and ends of sleeves with pale rose heels. Her nails were bordeau-painted and complimented the red of her lips.

Polly never thought of Ada being interested in anything but communism, but here her niece was, and the thing that hit the Gray woman the most was that Ada seemed to belong there, talking to women and shamelessly shaking their hands. She wasn’t as reserved and distant as she usually was when around people.

“Let’s get out of here.” Polly started to walk away.

Lizzie frowned, “No reunion today?” She seemed relieved, she will not have to face the blonde woman that troubled her most lately.

“No reunion today.” Pol responded. She didn’t want to learn anything from Ada’s activities by spying, but she’ll surely try to draw it out of her later.

(...)

“You what?”

“Ada, sit.” You motioned to the nearest chair.

After the reunion, they both went to the house you bought for the organisation. It wasn’t big, nor elegant. It was a simple Small Heath’s house reconverted in an office.

If you wanted to stand a chance in changing the traditional standards toward women’s place in society, you needed to expand your organisation. You would put cabinets at each corner of the streets if needed. Women needed to know they stood a chance, they needed to know they weren’t alone in their battle and they needed to know they are protected, and that part, you made sure to honour.

“No, I’m not going to fucking sit. You didn’t talk about abducting somebody’s daughter, Y/N!”

Even if you didn’t have the police in your pocket, Tommy did, and their deal gave you the assurance you'll be able to run your business the way you wanted to. It was always better to have someone else command people to leave you alone than you using your high social status to get what you wanted. This way, if things went bad, it wouldn’t be you that’ll take the blame.

You sighed while raising your brows at Ada’s reaction. You pulled out your cigarette case and lit one that you handed her. Thorne took it and went to sit on the sofa, leaning her back to get comfortable.

“Damn, you’re just like him.” Ada let out, glancing at you who let out a “Huh?” of confusion.

You were intently looking at her as she also seated on the couch in front of you. You ignited yourself a cig and puffed on it, waiting for the other woman to process the information of you abducting Gina Gray.

“It’s like I’m in a meeting with Tommy.” She sighed. “It’s always about business and I can’t read him.”

In other words, you didn’t need Tommy to keep the police away from your activities, you could do it yourself if you wanted to. But taking care of this yourself meant to jeopardize each person in your organisation, and you couldn’t afford to risk it all.

“I saw you leaving the library with one of my women.” You blatantly let out, smoking your cig.

Ada frowned and shifted her position, she was uncomfortable. “She’s interested in communism.” She tried to defend herself as her cheeks reddened.

“I’m not judging you, I’m showing you it’s not always about business.”

“I was talking about you, not me.”

“This organisation is me, Ada, and you’re in it now. I know everything I need to know about it and I do everything I need to do for it.” You leaned towards the brown-haired woman.

In fact, it wasn’t at all about the expensive jewellery, nor the luxurious heels. It was about you having a family you cared about even if your kin weren’t blood-related.

Even if Ada understood what the woman in front of her meant, she couldn’t help but to roll her eyes, she heard this speech many times before, upon her brother’s lips. “Yeah, totally Tommy.” She tilted her head to the side. “You’re always avoiding the subject when I talk about him.”

“He’s not my business.”

“Lizzie would argue otherwise.” Ada raised a brow at you, meaning she knew what happened when you and Lizzie first met in Tommy’s office.

You chuckled, crossing your legs.

“What is it between my brother and you?” She asked.

“You’re bored, Ada. That’s why you want the details. Get back with that woman you found and spend time together, huh?” You dismissed the Shelby woman. And this time, Ada scoffed because Tommy once told her the exact same thing about her being bored.

You gained composure again and straightened back up, “You with me on that or what?” Your tone suddenly went serious again, and Ada’s expression changed.

“Why do you ask about my opinion, don’t you like giving orders all the time?” Ada teased the Y/E/C eyed woman. Y/L/N liked that about the Shelby sister, she was always pushy without being aware.

“Stop being petty, Ada. You’re more of a thinker rather than a doer.” She dismissed the remarks.

“So why do you want my help in the first place?” Ada pondered, confusion in her eyes. The things Y/N struggled to understand was how Ada didn’t see the potential that resided in her. She would always diminish herself and her power for some reason when Y/L/N thought of her as a force of nature that begged to shine.

“I just need that pettiness and fearlessness of yours. Like a kind of representative.”

“Of you?”

You shook your head. “Representative of the organisation.”

“It’s Michael’s wife and I’m a Shelby, meaning she’s family.”

“You’re a Thorne, Ada. And these fucking people out here don’t give a fuck whose side you’re on. They’ll kill you whenever they get the occasion to. I know you don’t like this, but it’s a Shelby I need on this field.” You were pointing your index at the windows, leaning toward Ada.

“You know Gina's people?” Ada exclaimed, raising her hands in exasperation.

You tilted your head to the side to confirm, your eyes deeply in Shelby’s.

“Am a Thorne or a Shelby on the field?” Ada raised a brow to you.

“Both are strengths.”

(...)

You were sitting at the counter of the Garrison, sharing a drink with Arthur when the doors opened on Tommy. You didn’t see him come your way, but Arthur did. He glanced at his brother and grabbed his own drink before joining people elsewhere ignoring your presence.

You looked at him, frowning, and that’s when you turned around you noticed Tommy’s presence. You rolled your eyes at him. “You like to scare off my dates?” You sat back down, sipping on your drink.

“I like the dress,” Tommy said, ordering a whiskey. He wasn’t looking at you anymore, but God knows it was because of the look he gave you while entering the pub that Arthur went away.

“Yeah?” You questioned quite surprised Tommy noticed you weren’t dressed as usual. “It’s different from the suits.” You added, seeing he wasn’t going to pursue the conversation.

The blue-eyed man glanced at Y/N's drink. “You drink rum now?” He grabbed his cigarette case and ignited one before handing it to the woman that gladly took it, a smile on her lips. He lit another one for himself.

“You’re alcoholic enough to tell the difference between whiskey and rum without tasting it?” Your suave voice made him look at you as clenching his jaw at your remark, this was all you would get from him.

“I’ve met with Mr Solomons, I thought it was the least I could do to buy some bottles of his.” Tommy’s eyes that were staring at Y/N's lips went up in a hurry when hearing her confession.

“You did what?” Thomas turned so his body faced the woman, his eyes anchored deeply in hers.

He was never so sure about your intentions, nothing was ever sure with you, whereas it was your feelings or what was in your head. And your unreadable face didn’t help a bit.

“I’m drinking rum, now.” You raised your brows at him, cheerfully.

The warmth your smile ignited in him wasn’t enough to make him forget about what you just said. Tommy’s lids fluttered as he remained silent, blankly looking at you. He was aware you thought of Alfie to run the south, as well as himself, but he didn’t expect you to be so direct and visit Alfie Solomons that fast.

“Stop looking at me like that, Tommy. You knew about Alfred and me.”

A wave of questions flowed through his mind, from the tender tone you worded Solomon’s name to the hidden message behind your words. What did you mean by he and you? Something was screaming at him that your relationship went beyond business at a certain point.

His brows raised. “Alfred, eh?” He scoffed, turning back to the counter, puffing on his cig.

He suddenly remembered the war records, informations hitting him like thunderbolts. You were in the same section. Alfie was the Captain of a battery in the artillery where you were sent. You knew each other.

“I also made him talk about the little arrangement you didn’t tell me about.” You let out dismissively. You weren’t blaming him for not telling you he asked Solomons to send his men to create a riot when Mosley will do his speech, you simply voiced your surprise. You thought he trusted you and were deceived to discover that he, in fact, did not.

A minute that seemed to last centuries passed, and you glanced at him. You were silently smoking as he was deep in his thoughts, not even looking at you.

“Well, it seems I’m not aware, no.” His voice was deep and he coughed before drinking his whiskey, his icy eyes looking straight forward to him.

You squinted your eyes in confusion before realizing he didn’t listen to you, he was still on that Alfred thing.

“You don’t listen to me.” You got up, blankly looking at him.

Tommy feigned not to see you, but when you raised a hand to his that was leading his cup to his mouth, a shiver ran down his spine in anticipation.

Even if he wanted to ignore you or how you made him feel, his body betrayed him.

You tenderly grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm towards you. Your piercing eyes met with his cold ones, as you dangerously neared your face.

Y/N ended up connecting the tip of their nose before slowly teasing his lips with hers. He was looking into your soul hidden in your iris and you were doing the same, you were the same.

You might be using flirt along with charm to get what you wanted from men, but with Thomas, it wasn’t the same. He had the exact same hold on you that you had on him, and both could feel it when in an intimate moment.

Their intimacy wasn’t simply about sex, a hunger due to an innate desire or need, no. It began the minute they would shamelessly dive into the being of the other. When he was undressing your soul with the most usual look.

You ultimately sealed your pleading lips together, considering they stayed apart for too long. Their warm breaths intertwined as both of you forgot everything around you, this moment belonged to no other than you, this instant was yours.

You could pretend you weren’t emotionally involved as long as you wanted when alone. But you couldn’t lie when in front of him. You didn’t feel the need to. You could just be yourself, it was more than enough there, at the mercy of his fingers.

Out of breath you pulled away, you opened your eyes to Tommy’s one looking straight at you again, and that made you laugh. He couldn’t help but smile at the sound of your rare giggles.

Nothing needed to be said when your eyes were connected, as well as nothing needed explanation when your lips were sealed, you were him and he was you. The urge of feeling your inner worlds collide again, Y/N came kissing him some more, to Tommy’s greatest pleasure.

“I know about using Alfie's men.” You murmured without leaving his lips, and he nodded slightly.

“I knew you would find it one way or another.” He answered. One of his hands went to your back as he was fondling you with his thumb above the fabric, he pulled you closer to him as your fingers were passing over his lips in a tender way.

You hit his chest with your other hand, realizing he wittingly kept his deal with Alfie from you just so you would get a little mad. It was his way of teasing you about the fact you cared.

He was purring under your touch when the doors opened. Polly’s eyes directly dropped on Tommy and the librarian before quickly glancing around the pub, meeting with Arthur’s. They both marked a pause and looked back to the two bill & cooing birds...

It wasn’t Tommy’s type to be that open about his relationship with a woman, but Polly already knew what was in his mind. He was convincing himself it was solemnly business, as with the other women he works with, but she knew he was starting to fall in love without even noticing it.

You both got back to reality and pulled away when Pol walked to you, going back to your respective drinks as if nothing happened. She placed herself in between you two, forcing you to take a step aside.

Tommy coughed, looking into his drink as if there was the most interesting thing in there as Y/N grabbed her things, she then started to walk away. And without even looking back, she passed the Garrison’s door.

Polly was staring at Thomas, her words useless in this situation. He glanced towards her and quickly went back to drinking, he wasn’t going to have that conversation with her.

It was Arthur, coming back to the counter that brought up the previous display between his brother and the librarian, “See Polly, my brother got another singing bird.” He was smiling before encountering Tommy’s eyes telling him to shut up, making his smile fade.

“And what you think it is, Thomas? Business?” Her deep trembling voice made him close his eyes a long time as he sighed. “It is love, Arthur.” She glanced at the man behind the counter. “You’re brother’s in love.” She continued, leaning to Tom, dramatically making him know in what he trapped himself.

He opened back his eyes and firmly dropped his fist on the wooden board in a thud, coughing away her words.

The Peaky Blinders head drank from his drink before quickly glancing to the doors you passed minutes ago, lost in thoughts. And as he was sure to think with his head, Polly knew he was thinking with his heart.

(...)

The man was walking slowly, each of his steps was heavy as the whistling escaping from his lips echoed on the concrete walls.

Ada that was on the other side of the wooden door looked through the window, trying not to overthink this situation. Since her first day as a book counsellor under the management of Y/N's organisation, she was never given major tasks. Rather kept at the very back of everything illegal.

But these past few days, she noticed Y/N was taking her to the important reunions, and Y/N's right hand, Ana, had been ordered to introduce Ada to “the work” as Y/L/N called it.

She didn’t know why it was her that had to meet with Gina’s father as Y/N was the one knowing what she needed from him, but Thorne kept away any negative thoughts, focusing on what needed to be done.

The door opened and a tall man entered. He was wearing a creamy long jacket, beige pants. Under the jacket, Ada glimpsed a shirt topped by a Roman collar similar to the priests’. His arms were crossed in his back.

He was pretty imposing, with large shoulders. Even under the fabrics, his browny chest and body could be seen.

Her gaze went up to his face, encountering his deep hazel coloured eyes staring straight at her. He got little eyes, their corner dropping as if he was sad. But she knew this type of man didn’t feel that emotion. Even if his iris were warm coloured, his gaze was cold, almost as if he wasn’t alive anymore, his eyes didn’t shine, they were glassy.

All those informations made Ada nervously gulp, continuing to examine the man’s face.

He had thick straight brows and he wore his brown curly hair slick on the side, one curl falling down his forehead.

He didn’t close the door behind him and walked to her until he was inches away. “You’re not Y/N.” His deep hoarse voice worded. And his remark made her instantly roll her eyes at him.

“Just sat, already. Can I offer you a drink?” Of course, she wasn’t Y/N, if he knew her, he would know it wasn’t as simple as that to meet with her.

“I don’t drink.” He squinted his eyes.

“Well, I do.” She turned to the counter to pour herself some whiskey and gladly started to sip on it as going to sit down. On his side, the man was walking in the room, stopping himself from time to time to examine the objects and frames he was surrounded by. “Is this your house?” He was fidgeting with a woman’s body paperweight.

“Your daughter doesn’t seem to be delighted by the fact you’re here.” She let facing him head-on.

He turned to her as she was staring at his face fearlessly. He delicately dropped the paperweight and went sitting down in the armchair in front of the brown-haired woman that followed his every move with her gaze.

“How’s your son? Mrs--” He feigned to search for her last name, but Ada knew he wanted her to understand that whoever she might be, he could get to her and her family if he decided to.

Of course, it wasn’t Ada’s house, but everything was made to make him believe so. They put some of her personal photographs with her son along with other personal effects.

“Thorne. Ada Thorne. And my son’s alright.”

This way, he will think he has the advantage over her, and if he wants to try anything, this is this house that will be targeted. But in fact, this house was one of the many business properties Y/L/N owned in the neighbourhood.

“Oh my.” He chuckled, raising his brows. “She got political alliances.” He crossed his legs and leant backwards in the chair, his arms laying on each of the armrests.

“You’re interested in politics Mr Rice?”

The man gave a faint smile hearing she knew about him more than he knew about her.

“Everything’s politics, Mrs Thorne.” He raised his gaze to her. He wasn’t being pushy or aggressive, but the atmosphere around him was heavy. His presence made her uncomfortable, and if she wasn’t a Shelby, she’d be unable to face him and stand the stare.

She nodded to him, thinking he answered right.

“I’m no longer in business, Y/L/N knows that very well. I left my brother in charge, it is him you need to see.” He was choosing his words meticulously, and each sentence he spoke was filled with unsaid things.

Not only was he implying that Y/N might be incompetent cause she picked the wrong guy, but he underlined the fact it was a family business, meaning abducting his daughter, wasn’t the best idea.

For a second, she thought her boss may have committed an error by forcing this Mr Rice to come to England, but she was quick to understand he was trying to destabilize her.

“Did you come all the way from Chicago to tell me I need to address another man? Wouldn't it be more intelligent to tell that in a call? ” She raised a brow, and now she was the best match for this meeting.

The man remained silent as he was smiling again, understanding his strategy will not work with her.

“It’s not about a man, not your brother, not you. It’s about Gina, your daughter, using your own methods to manipulate her husband to take control of something bigger than her, something she couldn’t even manage to take care of if she succeeds at having it. But we both already know, in reality, it’s your brother using her.” She returned him his evil smile before tilting her head. Her words sounded like bombs in the man’s ears. Acknowledging the fact his brother might use Gina for his own needs made Mr Rice gritted his teeth as one of his hands clenched into a fist.

He had been trying to get into her head, manipulating her into believing their actions were useless and that nothing could be done about the plan his daughter and Michael had. But being a Shelby as well as a Thorne, Ada knew how to handle those types of people.

“Well, you saw right through me. I see now why Y/N chose you.” He raised both his hands in admittance of his defeat.

Even if the man in front of her seemed harmless, she didn’t want to stay alone with him any longer. He was peculiar, from the way he was standing to his aura, she knew Gina's father was a weasel. She could read in his eyes he was lurking for the moment she'd let down her guard to get to her.

“Now you will meet with her.” Ada decided it was the end of this interview, surprising herself into taking such a decision. Maybe Y/N wanted her to do something more?

She gasped when getting up, which helped her get her mind clear. She understood her role was to make him realize he wouldn’t escape until they have what they wanted from him.

She went to the table, writing an address, a day and an hour on a piece of tissue paper. She then walked to the bearded man and handed him the fabric.

“Now business can begin…” She paused, keeping him from taking the paper. He glanced at her, sighing. “And leave your shenanigans at the door for this meeting, bring your will to cooperate instead... She way worse than me.”

(...)

*Shelby Company Limited*

Tommy opened the door to his office, he intended to walk towards his desk when hearing a low voice. “Arthur asked whose side I’m on.”

He turned around to a curled up Polly in the chair at the corner of his dark office. She wasn’t facing him, her body was halfway turned, as well as her face, leading her to look at him with side-eyes.

He didn't need to ask her what she was talking about. Since the meeting where Michael offered to run the business family, taking Tommy's place, she was distant, as if thinking about her son's proposal.

Tom surmised tonight was the time she'll give her final answer.

It was raining, the wind violently slapped the windows as well as the raindrops, the outside storm perfectly reflecting the conflictual atmosphere settled between the two. The climate deprived the office of any light, but a shy desk lamp faintly illuminated the place.

He took off his black gloves, throwing them on the table separating them. He then sighed and went sitting on the chair, raising his gaze to her, waiting for her to continue to speak.

“There will be a war, and one of you will die.” Her deep trembling voice along with the lapping of the rain on the windows added to the dramatic atmosphere.

Tommy sighed, he knew she was right. He was, indeed, waiting for a war. “But which one I cannot tell.” Her black eyes were staring straight into Tommy’s blue one.

He let out a “Hum.” surmising she’ll not add anything else. He nodded to himself, “he’s gonna do it anyway.” he continued. It wasn’t a question, this would explain her presence in his office that late in the night.

“Yeah.” She responded.

“You should know, if Aberama takes his side I will kill him.” Tommy said upfront.

She looked down before raising her gaze to him again, “And what about me?” She wasn’t blinking, patiently waiting for the confirmation of Tom’s determination to stop her son.

Tom paused, he was aware she was trying to know his intention and he was debating within himself if he could afford to let her know.

“I’ll do what I have to do, Pol” He dropped his definite sentence, he didn’t move his stare or body a bit. He didn’t need to let her know how determined he was, it was already showing.

“Kill… And kill.” She sang with a low voice, slowly blinking. She seemed tired of this situation, as well as tired of it all.

“It’s the only way to make people listen” He nodded his head to the side as murmuring his words.

Since her near-death experience with the noose, she wasn’t the same Polly that he knew. She was only a mere shadow to the person she once was. But this time she seemed truly fed-up.

The thunder was rumbling outside when she got up with slow movements. The sound of her high heels nearing him mixed with the sound of the rain racing down the windows.

She grabbed an envelope as well as her drink. “Soon, you will have a stage to stand on. Millions of people will listen to you. And you will run the country like you run this family.” Her head was held high.

She was looking down on Tommy.

He knitted his brows, holding the stare even if he had to raise his head to meet her. “It appears to be what people want.” He nodded to himself, trying to convince him, or her of what he was saying.

“But not me.”

He blinked.

“Not anymore.”

He blinked again.

“My resignation.” She concluded while dropping the envelope on the table before him. She also put down the empty cup and looked at him some more before turning her back at him and walk toward the exit.

He stared at the empty space in front of him where the woman used to stand prior as he heard her steps receding. Tommy inhales deeply before sighing, dropping his head forward. Her words hit him as bullets would’ve. She was the only thing that kept him from losing his mind. Polly had always been more to him than what he ever showed, and the fact she let him down now did hurt him.

Tommy grabbed his gun from his shoulder holster under his suit jacket and looked at it while exhaling. He moved his hand, turning the gun on both sides, looking at it as looking at a let-out.

Nothing would stop him from founder now. He could embrace his demons and play how he wanted.

Following Chapter ❱

#tommy shelby x reader #alfie solomons x reader #peaky blinders #thomas shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x y/n #peaky blinders fanfic #thomas shelby x y/n

[13uswntimagines]

Better Luck Next Time (USWNT x Baby!Reader)

Request: Reader is really bad at expressing her feelings and talking about things she loves, so the team helps her as best as they can. And one evening she calls them all into a room and tells them how much they all mean to her and how happy she is to have them

Author’s note: Special thanks to @literaryhedgehog​ because without her this imagine would not have been nearly as cute or cohesive. It’s set up kind of like a three times she didn’t and the one she did format. I also couldn’t help the little hint of Mal x reader that i stuck in here. Let me know what you think! i freaking live for feedback. Hit me up with questions, requests or if you just wanna say hi. My inbox is always open!

3 days on the team

Fuck the beep test. 

You fell to your knees panting heavily, sweat pouring off your forehead as you stared in disbelief at Kelley. How the fuck was she still going? The rest of your team had already been eliminated, everyone except for the flying squirrel. 

You had barely made it to the line on time, and there she was, running off to the next one in time to hear the next one like you hadn’t just done 70 reps. You had to up your game if you wanted to keep your spot. Your plan was simple- beat the best players and show them why you belonged. 

A bottle of water appeared in your peripheral vision. You flinched waiting for the icy spray to hit your face, but it never did. 

“You did good kid. Don’t beat yourself up about getting out earlier than Kelley. I don’t think anyone could actually beat her.” She said, pushing the water bottle into your hands and making you take a sip. 

You opened your mouth to respond, but no words would come out. You weren’t sure if that was because The Alex Morgan was talking to you, or if it was because your lungs were no longer in your chest. 

“I swear, the rest of us could tag-team this thing and she would still probably outlast us,” Alex said, shaking her head as she walked away, already used to your non-responses (though she was sure she saw your lips twitch up) “I’ve stopped trying, it’s so not worth the knee pain tomorrow.”

You opened and closed your mouth several times as if you were going to call some sarcastic response after her, but the words just wouldn’t come out. You just sighed, resting your head on your knees, your chin hitting your chest-- better luck next time.

*****

6 months on the team

The bus was a tricky situation. On most days the team didn’t care where you sat, but you knew that would change drastically during important tournaments, like Olympic qualifiers big. You had already been warned that where you sat- where everyone sat really- mattered. 

Screwing it up could bring the team bad luck, and you really didn’t want to be the reason why your team wasn’t going to the Olympics for the first time. 

For that reason you tried to be the last person on the bus, so you could tell where to sit based on what seats were open, but Emily had forgotten something and so she and Lindsey had run off to grab them, and now you were staring down the aisle of a partially filled bus wondering whether you were about to cast an omen of doom if you set your bag down. 

“Third row on the left is open, or 8th on the right,” you hear a voice pipe up from behind you. One of Christen’s warm hands settled on your shoulders, the other held her duffel bag partially over her shoulder. 

You felt yourself relax at the directions, incredibly grateful for the woman who had become one of your many team moms. You hadn’t ever spoken a full sentence to the woman, but she embraced your shy nature without blinking. 

“You could also crash with Mal, she doesn’t have a bus buddy,” Tobin’s bead popped up on your other side, wiggling her eyebrows. It was funny to most of the girls that their two team babies had things for each other. 

A light blush spread across your cheeks as you nodded. “Thanks” You mumbled, throwing your bag into an empty row, unwilling to sit with your crush. Tobin snorted as she settled back down, propping her feet up on the seat in front of her, her head on Alex’s shoulder as she slumped halfway down in her seat. 

“Better luck next time kid,” Christen winked at Mal and tossed her a small package of Oreos when she pouted. 

*****

9 months on the team

Going against Japan was never fun. They were a technically sound team with none of the friendly players like Leah or Jessie. That and they still held a massive grudge from the 2015 World Cup. 

As the second half had progressed, the Japanese team had become increasingly desperate. In their attempts to get the ball out of their defending half and into the US box, they had left giant gaps in their defense that Linsey and Sam were exploiting. As forwards, you and Alex were getting sent through balls and crosses. 

You collected a particularly nice ball threaded by Lindsey and broke towards goal, beating the two defenders that were marking you and looking for Alex. You were so focused on tracking her position that you didn’t see the center back coming in for a tackle until it was too late and you were staring up at the clouds, tweety birds fluttering around your head. 

You could feel the headache forming, like a growing stress ball where the base of your head met your neck. That was going to hurt once the adrenaline rush was over. 

“Hey Beaker, you alright?” Emily’s head appeared in your immediate vision, her worried form slightly fuzzy around the edges. 

“Meep meep” You huffed, sending the woman a little smile. It was weird to see Sonnett so serious. She put down a hand to pull you up and began brushing the grass off your jersey.

“How the fuck is that not a yellow or a PK, her studs were up and she wasn’t even going after the ball,” Lindsey yelled towards the ref, jogging past you to get right in the woman’s face. 

“Go help your girlfriend, mm fine” You mumbled, embarrassed by the attention you were getting. Emily’s presence was comforting, but couldn’t block the feeling of thousands of eyes throughout the stadium, watching you to see if you were going to be pulled from the field. You wondered if many of them were almost hoping for it. 

Emily sent you a worried look before patting your shoulder. “That was almost a goal too! And hey, they wouldn’t have fouled you if you weren’t killing it out here!”  She nudged your shoulder lightly with hers and released you to the medics, walking over to Lindsey and pulling her away from the ref before she got a red. 

You watched them for a bit before someone shined a flashlight in your eyes. Maybe next time you would find the words to thank them, someday when you weren’t feeling so dizzy. You’d have better luck next time. 

*******

1 year on the team

Oreos were the quintessential after practice snack. It appeased the vegans and catered to the sweet tooth of the younger side of the team, and really, anyone who didn’t like Oreos was surely messed up. 

Normally the team took turns bringing the packets of double-stuff, hiding them in duffel bags so coaches wouldn’t see and remind them about the diets they were all supposed to be on during season (and Dawn was like a bloodhound when it came to contraband). 

But to celebrate something the team would forego the normal packs set out by the coaching staff in favor of double, triple, or mega stuffed ones and some funky flavors. And right now was a celebration if you ever saw one. The team was jubilant after their extremely entertaining scrimmage. Your team, Cool Beans (named by Tobin), had beaten team Hot Stuff (Alex’s team) 6 to 5, you scoring 3 of said goals. 

You smiled lightly from your place on the locker room bench, munching happily on your mint Oreo and listening to several of the conversations happening around you. You felt so comfortable tucked between Mal and Christen, so safe and welcome. 

“You know, I really love you guys,” you said. There was a lull in the conversation, and several girls turned toward you in shock. 

“Holy shit, Meep Meep just talked!” Emily exclaimed, all eyes turning to you and your very red cheeks. Perhaps you hadn’t meant to say that out loud...

“We all knew she could talk,” Mal protested, throwing a balled-up cookie packet at her. Emily only smirked as the piece of plastic drifted through the air, falling about a foot short of its intended target. 

“Yeah but she said more than 3 words,” Lindsey rolled her eyes at the 2nd youngest forward, wiggling her eyebrows at Mal who had wrapped her spare arm around your waist. 

“I just-... you guys make me feel safe and I’ve never had my friends become like family before, and I love you guys,” You said, smiling at the ground. 

“We love you too Kiddo,” Christen said, from behind your left ear. 

“Group hug!!!!!” Kelley yelled before anyone could stop her, the women sharing a conspirator look before rushing you. 

You tried to protest, but in the end, there was no stopping them. A bundle of arms wrapped around you, dragging you to the floor in a dog pile. 

“Isn’t this nice!” Emily said from somewhere above you.

“Would be nicer if your elbow wasn’t embedded in my spleen…” You grumbled, hushing when Mal leaned up to kiss your cheek. Yes, these women were crazy, but right now you felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

#uswnt x reader #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines #literalhedgehog

[x3kristax3]

Is This The End?

Will MC ever fully trust him again?

Chapter 12

I wake up to my alarm going off the next morning for work. I get up to an empty bed and go to shower. The thoughts of last night come running back to me and I smile. I throw on a button down blouse and a pair of comfy shorts and a touch a makeup. Thankfully with working from home I don't have to wear the suits anymore and I have no video meetings today. I head out to the kitchen and see Jessy making coffee.

"Mmm coffee is needed" I say as I pour myself a cup.

"You need to tell me everything!" She states "I told you love hard but slow" she says glaring at me.

"You told me you didn't want to hear about the roof deck though" I say with a smile to her.

"Yeah but you guys couldn't stay away from each other last night I thought he was never going to leave" Jessy states leaning on the counter.

"We said what our hearts and minds needed and god did we kiss" I say while taking a sip of coffee.

"Like at the bar?"

"No this was different. This was like old times with him. Our bodies hadn't forgotten eachother one bit. It was almost like it's fate" as I have the biggest smile on my face.

"I just hope he's falling just as hard because I swear he breaks your heart like that again and there is no coming back" she states sterned.

"He's working on those demons, Jessy. But I'll be in the office. I have to work today," I say, grabbing a bowl of fruit and my coffee as I head in there.

I sit at my desk and turn on my computer. As I get everything ready a text comes through.

Jake: I can't get last night ouf of my head. Want to grab coffee?  ;)

MC: I know I can't either. Sadly I have to turn you down on the coffee as I'm in my office already about to start work.

Jake: Well then can I bring you the coffee?

I smile at my phone as i3 hear my computer go off.

MC: sure if I don't answer real fast I'll be there in a moment

Jessy comes walking by "I swear have you stopped smiling?" She leans in the door frame.

"Yeah but how can I not want to smile when he's bringing me coffee" I say. 

She looks unamused and walks away "U said love slow!" She yells

I laugh as I start working on my project. After 15 mins working I finish my coffee and I look up and see Jake in the doorway.

"Shit how long have you been standing there?" I laugh.

"Not long, your coffee is still hot" he says walking towards me and handing it to me. I hear another alarm go off.

"Ugh they just never stop!" I grunt.

"You never told me what your doing now" he asks as he sits in a chair I have in there.

"I got a job with cyber security" I laugh at the irony. "What have you been doing these last three years?" I ask glancing at him from my computer while working.

"Freelancing for different cyber security companies when they need some extra help" he smiles because we both work in the same field.

"Ah that's why you're not working" I laugh "but I wonder if we worked together without realizing it. I never asked the freelancers that have worked with me their names" I say as a notification pops up for a hack coming through but I keep fighting it.

"Mind?" He asks.

"Go ahead I've keep getting this same one this morning" I say frustrated as I'm not stopping.

Jake notices I'm struggling and leans over my shoulders as he's behind me and does some code work and it all stops.

"There you go they shouldn't get backed in" he says as he smells my hair.

"You need to teach me that" I say, smelling his cologne and I'm trying to keep my calm as I'm working.

He grabs my hand and pulls me up and sits down and pulls me back on his lap. My mind runs back to all those years ago before he got free.

He'd have me sit on his lap while he worked and we would never last long before the kisses would start.

I feel him squeeze my waist "you paying attention" his voice in my ear brings me back.

"Yeah" I say blushing.

He whispers in my ear "my mind went back there as well."

I watch him typing and he explains everything. He leaves it open and opens another thing for me. I follow what he did without looking at his. He looks at mine and squeezes me tight again. 

"Good Job, MC" he says into my neck and my body melts against him.

"Shit no" I say as I come to my senses and stand up away from him.

He stands up and comes in front of me. "Too soon?" He asks looking down at me.

"Yes, all of this is just bringing back so many memories Jake and I can't focus" I says looking away.

He kisses my cheek gently "okay I'll leave you alone." He says as he starts walking away.

I grab his hand and he pulls me towards him. "Don't get me wrong I want this but I'm working" I say as I bite my lip.

"I'll come pick you up later and we'll go back to my place" he says as he kisses my lips doing that thing I love and then he pulls away and leaves the apartment.

I lean against the door frame as I hear my computer go off again.

"God damn it!" I yell as I go back and look at the screen and deal with the issue.

It's been eight hours since Jake left and Jessy shows up just as I'm getting done with my day.

"What we want to do for dinner?" She asks leaning against the door frame to the office.

"Don't get mad at me but Jake is going to pick me up" I say, trying to soften the blow.

"I had a feeling so I grabbed myself some food" she sighs.

"I'm sorry Jessy. When he stopped by earlier with coffee I had to kick him out so I could focus. We definitely need time completely alone to deal with some emotions" I say as I shut off the computer.

"No I get it. I'm still not 100% team Jake like I was all those years ago. However, the way he looked at you last night while we ate Chinese food and the four of us just talked made me realize he is trying to be the bigger person then he was when he hurt you." She says with a sigh.

"He really is, things with him just fit perfect. You know first hand the guys I brought around these last three years were not a good fit for me. I mean shit look he dealt with everyone giving him shit yesterday" I say with a laugh as the doorbell rings.

"Is that him?" She asks.

I look at the camera outside and see he even has sunflowers in his hands and smile "yeah and he got me flowers."

Jessy looks at my screen "okay that gives him points. Coffee and flowers in one day" she jokes.

I hit her arm gently "he's trying" as I ran to the door and open it.

"Hey" he says with a smile. 

I kiss him gently and he pulls me close. "Um hi" says Jessy standing behind me.

"I got these for you MC" handing me the sunflowers. "And this for you Jessica since I'm taking her away tonight" he says handing her a gift card to the new restaurant door the street.

"Thanks" she says taking it and walking away.

"You're gonna have to win her back after all these years" I say, taking the flowers into the kitchen.

"I understand. I know I have to with the whole group to really get your heart back fully." He watches me find a vase and put the flowers in them.

"Yeah right like you actually lost her heart" Jessy snickers getting herself a drink.

"Jake do you mind waiting outside for a moment?" I say glaring at her.

He kisses my cheek "sure."

As he walks out of the apartment and closes the door.

"Jessy what the hell?" 

"What?" She states

"I thought you'd be happy that I'm happy" I cross my arms annoyed.

"You let him back in too easy" she says walking away.

"No your not walking away from this fight. I let you and everyone else put their thoughts into every other guy I brought around these last 3 years. Shit your even the one that said to that stupid hacker I brought home 'he's nothing like Jake. Doesn't even treat you the same' but here we are. Jake comes back into my life and you all try to fight him and me. Only ones that didn't are Hannah and Lilly."

"You want to know why?" She yells as she spins around.

I stand there waiting for her to tell me.

"Because he's their brother! They want them around for the kids! They don't care that he hurt you. Shit Phil cares more than they do about that. But no you had to screw up that chance. " she yells at me.

"First off I didn't screw up anything with him! We realized we were better as friends! Plus you're the one that told me you'd rather see me give Jake another chance then date him. Plus look how much he's in love with Cleo, thats what was meant to be!" I say turning around to get my purse and a pair of shoes.

"You don't see it with him do you?" She tries to say calmly.

"With who?" I ask.

"Jake…. He's playing Mr. Nice guy again because he knows he will fall right back into his arms. " she says with tears in her eyes.

"What are you talking about Jessy? This is the same Jake I fell madly in love with. This isn't the same Jake I started falling in love with through text but the one I fell head over heels once we were together." 

She pulls out her phone and shows a bunch of pictures from the last six hours of Jake with other girls, and videos of him smooth talking. "He's playing all of you, I don't want to go through that again."

I take her phone and swing open the door and stare at him. "You have five minutes to explain these" I say showing him what Jessy showed me.

#duskwood #duskwoodlover #duskwood fanfiction #writing #fanfic #mc x jake #everbyte duskwood #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood fandom #jake duskwood #i love you #iamjake

[mdotmaro]

Winging It

Author's Note: This story is set right after Vacation with Derek. Casey is going off to New York to like her dream as a dancer in a musical. But what if things are not what she expected? What if her dream was wrong? What if the most irritating person in your life is the only one that can talk some sense into you

And so the summer of 05 was coming to an end. The Blue Heron Lodge wasn't going anywhere, and Broadway was calling Casey's name. She sat at the dock, letting her toes dance across the surface, careful to avoid her heels getting wet. There were slight thumps on the floorboards of the dock.

"You know it's not much of a party if you go to brood off all alone. Maybe save the dramatics when you get on stage." Derek commented while he took a seat next to Casey. She chuckled quietly.

"You heard, huh?" She asked with a wistful smile on her face as she stared up at the stars.

"Hard not to when Nora and her hormones keep crying about it every five minutes; Casey laughed at that and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. Derek eyed her and then recoiled at the sight of tears.

"Oh, come on, not you too. Jeez, I can't wait to be in University without all the estrogen seeping through the walls." He said and nudged her lightly.

"I am fine, really just taking it all in. My dream is really coming true, and I just have this light feeling in my chest that makes me want to laugh and cry all at once." She explained; he smirked at her.

"Well, if that feeling spreads to your right arm, let someone know because you might be having a heart attack," Derek said, and Casey shoved him.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too, Der, " She said, and Derek scoffed at the insinuation.

"Whatever, all I am saying is that New York is far enough away that it would be too much of a pain to Dad and Nora to go fly over and save you from whatever crisis you have; so" He cleared his throat and looked up at the sky and pointedly not at Casey. His ears were a tad pink.

"So, call me instead. But you're paying for the plane ticket." He added abruptly, but it was too late. Casey began to pout her lip and stare at Derek with tears in her light blue eyes.

"Aww, Der. You do care. Come here," She said and went to hug the young man that back peddled away from her.

"I take it back, don't call me. Don't touch me. Casey, I mean it," He said in a mock deep tone that made her glossy eyes glitter with amusement. It was a two-second pause between them before Derek sprinted up the dock with Casey close at his heels.

"Oh, come on, Derek, you love me, just admit it," Casey shouted and laughed after him. He blitzed away from her just as she was about to catch him by shirttail. Her fingers barely brushed the fabric. Derek thought he could lose her at the dock because there was no way she would risk falling off, Right? Wrong, one rolled ankle, and down she splashed into the dark water. Derek burst out laughing and continued until he realized Casey didn't resurface.

"Casey?" Derek called out and scanned the surface for any bubbles. A twinge of panic left his voice when he called out again. "Casey!" Still nothing. "Oh for the love of Peter" He grumbled before taking off his fancy shoes and jumping in and searched the water for any sign of her. He saw a dim image of a figure struggling against something. Derek swam over and saw it was her heavy wedge heel stuck between two pieces of driftwood. Casey was trying to yank her foot out; Derek broke the buckle and dragged her up. They both gasped, and then Casey hit Derek in the chest.

"Der-rek, those were my favorite shoes!" She panted and supported herself up by his arms until she could regain her breath. Derek stared open-mouthed at her.

"Fine. I'll just let you drown next time," He said and then smirked, and Casey's eyes widened before Derek dunked her head underwater. She swatted at him until he let her go, and then there was a splashing war. At one point, Casey was able to wrap her legs around Derek's waist and pushed down on his shoulders to dip him under.

"Casey, you are not allowed to drown Derek," Nora said passively as she waddled with her large belly to the bunkhouse with George. Derek picked Casey up and flung her back into the water.

"You heard her." Derek laughed at the haphazard hair plastered to her forehead. Casey dipped her head back to smooth out her hair.

"Let's get out of here; the water is freezing," Casey said and wrapped her arms tightly around herself; the dress she was wearing had stuck to her skin in a less than modest way than Casey was comfortable with. Derek unbuttoned his vest and handed it to her. She smiled and accepted the vest, and quickly buttoned up the middle. Jessie saw Casey from across the lawn and jogged over.

"Hey, Casey, a great night for a swim, eh?" He said while grinning at the waterlogged step-siblings. Derek nudged Casey's arm before heading out to the brunette waiting by the jet ski. Casey watched him go before turning back to Jessie. I guess you could say that. Want to go for a walk?" She asked while looping her arm through Jessie's.

"What happened to your shoes?" Jessie asked, indicating to her bare feet. Casey laughed

"It's a long story."

Six months later

The blaring car horns were surprisingly easy to adapt to. Casey particularly loved the little shops and cafes that seemed to flower at every corner. The organic wheatgrass and lemon zest smoothie was a favorite routine of hers before taking a run in central park. Rehearsal wasn't until 10 am, and Casey had to make sure to keep up her stamina for the demanding routine involved in the Jazztap Tango on Mango Street.

Casey was the roommate and unrequited love interest, Mindy. Jessie was the lead Georgio. He was taking his role as the Mainstreet casanova to heart. Whatever began at the Blue Heron Lodge was soon forgotten after there was so much research to do with so many women.

"I just need to get a better feel of the character. You understand, don't you?" Jessie explained at Casey's studio apartment. She stared at him and tried her best to stay civil. It was an act she had seen many times with Truman and certainly with Jessie. He wasn't exactly nonchalant about his veracious flirting as a waiter, and it only increased in New York when his charming shyness faded away.

"Of course, see you on set. K?" She said before gently closing the door. The apartment was basically a shoebox; she could barely practice her routine, and Casey was starting to get restless. There were a few framed pictures across the headboard of her twin bed. She picked up the last picture the entire family had taken together. Simon was just born, and they were all huddled together at the hospital. She smiled at the image that had been taken four months earlier. Simon must have at least doubled in size by now. Casey sighed at the knot in her chest and stared at the phone on her bed for a long moment before giving in and dialing.

"Yo, You've reached Derek Venturi. Leave a message, and I may or may not get back to you. Later" Casey rolled her eyes at the voicemail, but she still waited for the beep.

"Hey, It's Casey. No, I am not having a crisis. I just wanted to call and see how you were doing and to see if you had flunked any of your classes yet. Call me back when you can," She said, and that was two days ago, and she had not heard back from him since. The musical was supposed to air at the Radio City Music Hall for the first time that night at 8 pm. It was too short notice for any family or friends to be able to see it live, but they promised to come to the next showing in two months in Buffalo.

Casey quickly dressed and went up to the stage. "Alright, Casey, go up to the balcony and start from 'Carry On, '" The director Bernard Blue instructed from the front row. The prop balcony was just reinforced after a near spill last week that had Casey hanging on for dear life by the railing. Margret, the leading lady, had teased that Casey shouldn't have had that extra slice of pizza at rehearsal wrap-up. Derek said that she was being "Black Swanned" when she had called that night to vent her frustrations.

"You've seen The Black Swan?" Casey scoffed.

"Uh Yeah, Natalie Portman 'finding her sexual nature' on screen. How could I not?" He said.

"You're disgusting," She said, but they ended up laughing anyway.

Casey stared into the spotlight and let out a deep breath.

"Carry on, sweet dear. My mother always told me.

Carry on through these tears. Let them water your garden.

Soon the flowers will bloom and shade your views of the unkindness of this world." Casey's voice carried sweetly through the theater as she watered the small prop flowers on the balcony. Below Jessie danced and caressed Margret while Casey was made to gaze forlorn at them from above.

"But sometimes the flowers bloom is not enough.

Never enough." Casey sang with more force, and she flew down the stairs to meet the lovers, but before she descended, they were gone.

"Just living and watching you fade from me.

Even if you're happy, it will never be enough for me-" She ended with the saddest halt of her voice. The lights faded, and then she was shuffled backstage for the next scene. It had become just a monotonous cycle in her life. When did her dream become the very thing she dreaded each and every day. Maybe when it was when her dream became a job, and the freeing feeling she had when she danced was now controlled by someone else. She looked at the glittering face in the mirror. Casey had the opportunity to give into a secret desire to be a blonde for the role, but there was something different in her eyes. They seemed dull.

The play was a moderate success. There were no screaming crowds or cries for an encore like the director had predicted. Casey was honestly just glad it was over. When she went to the dressing room, she found someone in her chair. With a well-timed spin, Derek grinned at her, appearing quite at home.

"The real star is here," He announced, lounging in the makeup chair like a throne. Casey laughed and all but launched at him. She squeezed him in a hug.

"Chillz, Case. Can't breathe." Derek said but still gave her a gentle squeeze back. Some of the other girls began to mill into the dressing room and took in the scene of the two step-siblings.

"Aww, Casey, I didn't know you had enough time for a boyfriend." Eloise sneered. Casey gave the petite redhead a withering look.

"This is my step-brother, Derek. Derek, this is Eloise, Jasmine, Cossette, and Jamie." Casey said, milling off as the women eyed Derek with a predatory look. Casey wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Oh, and is Derek single?" Eloise asked while batting her massive costume lashes at the man. Derek chuckled and got out of the chair, but before he could say anything.

"Oh, he is, but sorry to tell you, girls, he is gay. Come on, let me show you the city." Casey said before half dragging Derek out of the dressing room. Derek protested the entire time he was very much straight. Once they were on the street, Derek shook her off his arm.

"Jeez, Casey. Possessive much?" Derek complained. Casey shook her head.

"Please, Derek. Those theater girls would have eaten you alive." She teased. "Anyway, what made you come all the way over? How did you like the play? How is the family?" Casey rattled off as they walked down the street, the park was coming up, and they had a night market to celebrate the change into spring.

"Take a breath, Casey." Derek teased and shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. Casey closed her mouth and made a locking motion while throwing away a figurative key. Derek rolled his eyes.

"You are such a dork," He mumbled, and she put her hands on her hips. "Well, I heard your voicemail, and you are still a terrible liar; you are obviously having a crisis." And he held a hand to stall her protest. "Yes, you are, but I have to go down the list before you go on this verge of denial." He smirked

"The play was sappy but good, I guess. And the Fam is fine, I guess, you can reach out to them too, you know." He said and then lingered over to a hotdog vendor and ordered a dog with all the fixings, even relish. Derek took a huge, messy bite and then offered some to Casey, who gave a quick shake of her head.

"I know, and I try too, but these hours are so long with the play and rehearsals and the gym to stay in shape." She sighed. Derek sized her up.

"What's wrong with the shape you're in now?" Derek said through a mouth full of meat. Casey grimaced and offered him a napkin.

"Chew, swallow, then speak, you, Neanderthal," Casey said and then looked down at her thin, toned arms. "The costume designer has been complaining about having to use extra material for my costume because I am not a size two like the other girls," Casey said and crossed her arms in frustration.

"You'd look weirder than usual if you were super thin like them," Derek said after finishing his hot dog and wiping his mouth. They passed a beadwork station where Derek tossed his trash in the nearby bin, and Casey looked intently at the necklaces.

"I agree, but that's showbusiness. I don't have enough curves to be plus-sized and not thin enough to be seen as a regular dancer. It's exhausting," She admitted while touching a deep jade necklace like one her mother would wear.

"So, quit," Derek said simply. Casey turned away from the necklace and stared at him incredulously.

"I can't just quit on my dream, Derek. I have sacrificed too much for it not to work out." She said hotly. Derek gave her a bland look.

"I saw you up there; there is no passion in you." Derek accused. Casey scoffed.

"Please. What do you know about passion?" Casey asked, and he shrugged.

"I have been playing hockey since I was twelve, and I have never felt like getting up to play was ever work. You have been complaining for weeks about this, and it is just not what you expected. And that scares you." He accused. Casey shoved him.

"I am not scared!" She hissed, but it wasn't convincing. She gave into his penetrating look and slumped her shoulders. "Okay, fine. I thought it would be amazing to dance on a stage in front of hundreds of people every night, but it's not the same when the choreography is the exact same, and I don't have the creative liberties I would If I did my own choreography." She admitted—Derek tutt at her before lazily throwing his arm across her shoulders.

"Well, you can always modify your dream to fit your life." He said and then eyed a street band performing under a massive tree filled with string lights. Casey gave him a confused look, and then her eyes widened at him when he dragged her towards the band, and he twirled her around. "Like dancing in the park without any stuffed shirts of catty girls criticizing you." He said before joining her in a faced paced swing dance. Casey's face lit up with the biggest and most beautiful smile. She laughed and tilted her head back when Derek picked her up and spun her.

A small crowd of dancers joined in, and the band picked up its pace, and Derek let Casey down so she could take the reigns. This was her, Casey free and alive.

The two left the park with a little more pep in their step and laughing. Derek dragged them to the closest bar and ordered them whiskey shots. Derek started to sweet talk to the bartender and didn't even get carded. They were legal in Canada, but at nineteen, were not yet legal in the states. It helped that Derek had a bit of a blonde stubble beard going on. Casey just shook her head in amazement.

"I am the one supposed to be showing you around the city. I am the one who lives here," Casey said before clinking her shot glass with Derek's and downing it in one go. Derek laughed at her grimace as the whiskey burned down her throat.

"It's called confidence Casey, maybe you'll know all about it after a few more of these." He said and waved at the bartender for another round. He handed Casey another cool shot glass, and she met his determined gaze with one of her own. He leaned close to her ear and said over the loud music.

"Oh, and you're paying, by the way." He said, and before she could yell at him, he downed his shot and pulled on her hand to the dance floor. Casey refrained from his pulling to shakily downed her whiskey shot. Derek released her to the thumping music while he made eye contact with a blonde in a tight purple dress. Casey felt her limbs become loose and cool and began to sway to the beat. The writhing bodies pressed against another was not the type of music she was usually used to, but there was something hypnotic about it. A pair of arms snaked around her waist, and Casey flinched to see a handsome stranger with mint green eyes that shone against dark skin. He leaned close to her ear.

"Want to dance?" He asked, and she nodded nervously. He led her in a slow sway, lightly pressing his hips into hers. Casey bit back a gasp and ran her arms up and through her own loose waves. This was heaven. She followed the handsome stranger step for step and rolled her hips in a way that made him hiss. His hands began to drift from her hips to the back pockets of her low-ride jeans. It was only when he squeezed her bottom that she squealed and jumped away. The handsome stranger raised his hands up in surrender. He mouthed "sorry" to her, and she shook her head and smiled at him before moving more towards the center and dancing by herself. At least she was until Derek came over with another two shots, and she gladly accepted, now getting more used to the burn.

"You okay?" Derek shouted over the music. Casey nodded.

"Better than ever." She said and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a more lively song. Derek put both their glasses on the nearby counter and began to sway along with Casey. This was much closer than they had ever danced before, and Casey was giggling and biting her bottom lip as she spun and gyrated onto Derek. Oh no, Derek thought. He had created a monster. He would have always thought Casey would be a lame weepy drunk, but it turns out she is a flirty drunk. Derek wasn't exactly sober either, and the night was still swinging along. He held for the ride with his hands firmly on Casey's hips. She spun and then wrapped her arms around his neck. She swayed back and forth with her eyes half-closed.

It's hard to say who moved; first, one moment, they were forehead to forehead, and then Casey whispering huskily, "Thank you for saving me, Derek" Derek chuckled and asked, "From what?". Casey's fingers ran through his smooth hair before leaning to his ear and whispering, "From myself" Maybe he was going to give her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. Maybe she only turned to put her head on his shoulder. Whatever their possible intentions, what happened was that their lips met for the briefest moment. They had enough sobriety to freeze and look into each other's eyes. Derek searched her baby blue eyes for any fear or concern but only found her doing the same, and a flicker of want glazed over her eyes. That was all each other needed for permission.

While the first kiss was sweet and innocent, this kiss was desperate and sensual. Derek pressed Casey closer and cupped the back of her head to deepen the kiss, and Casey let her hands trail down his chest to the hem of his shirt. In the course of their kissing, the song had changed to something slower; Casey and Derek took the opportunity to come up for air. Casey nuzzled into Derek's neck, and he held her close.

"What are we doing?" Casey asked and pulled back to look at Derek. She half expected a sarcastic remark like, What does it look like? We were making out, and now we're not. Not that big a deal, Case. But Casey had never seen Derek like this before. His face was open and vulnerable.

"I don't know," He said and shook his head. He smoothed some hair out of her face and smiled down at her. Casey smiled back and leaned up to kiss him lightly. She rubbed her hands over his arms.

"Well, whatever this is, let's wing it," Casey announced confidently. Derek laughed at that and shook her lightly.

"What?" Casey pouted. Derek shook his head and slung an arm over her shoulder, leading her out of the dance floor towards the bar to pay their tab.

"'Let's wing it,'" He imitated her in an absurdly high pitch tone. "You are still such a Keener," He said. She elbowed his side.

"Der-rek," She whined as he pat her head in a condescending way.

"It's okay; you're a cute kenner." He said with a wink. She forked up the cash for their tab and joined him out in the New York nightlife.

They stared out at the buildings from Casey's fire escape. Neither said anything for several minutes until Casey broke the silence.

"I have to drop out of the play," Casey announced, and Derek smoothed her hair in response. "Yeah, you got me thinking."

"Oh no," Derek said and snickered when she lightly slapped his knee. Casey was sitting between his legs and leaning back into his chest.

"I want to go back to school, but not for Law. I want to own my own dance studio." She said, and Derek put his chin on top of her head.

"So, Casey Macdonald found a way to make a career where she is in complete control. Shocker." He whispered the last part into her ear; she smiled and then turned around so she was facing him.

"Plus, going to university will give us time to figure out whatever this is." She said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. He smirked at her.

"Yeah, sure, let's 'wing it,'" He said, and Casey slid her hands up to his neck and kissed him until the sun began to rise, and they both finally succumbed to exhaustion.

#life with derek #casey and derek #derek and casey #desey #fanfic #romance #slow burn #dasey

[starrysupercell]

Okay. So I had the file on my phone previously. But I had forgotten I did a phone wipe and transferred my stuff to my laptop. Currently, I can't find the old complete list. 🙄 So I had to start from scratch throughout the day when I had time.

Luckily, I remember most of them, and for others I came up with entirely new ones, because you know. More fandom knowledge and stuff. Also, I had fun coming up with newer Brawlers.

I was worried about spoilers for my fanfiction series, but whatever! Theories are theories. I'll still write anyway. Keep in mind that my fanfictions that isn't Take Your Shots will have different interpretations of the characters. [Afternote: I skirted around some topics, lol.]

Oh, yeah. For context, this post is based on my theory (but I'm sure it's common) that the Brawlers had different names before Starr Park hired/kidnapped them. I take it too seriously and most of the names have research done behind them.

That said, @aroacenita and @enderbot-magic tagging you two because you said you were interested in my name list. :3c

☆☆☆☆

Shelly- Stephanie. The first name that came to mind, and I like it.

Colt- Cameron. Same reasoning as ^

Bull- Bruce. One of the original names too. Tough sounding. Maybe too obvious?

Crow- One of the names I can't recall. But I do imagine he used to be human. The bird-man thing is Starr Park induced.

Bibi- Bindy is perfect omg. (VA.)

Piper- Elise or Eliza. (VA + variation. Maybe a Hamilton reference because I'm weak.)

Pam- Tiff/Tiffany. It was her concept name + really fits her. Was previously different.

Nani- one of the few I can't remember, but I had one. Headcanon: also used to be human. Which is why she's the only robot on this list.

Jessie- always had the same name. She grew up in Starr Park, and was named by Pam, of course. Interestingly she is one of the few Brawlers who doesn't have a punny name. (...unless I'm somehow missing an obvious joke? Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Dyna-Mike- Same? (Minus the Dyna-, lol) But still up in the air. Jas is his VA name but it doesn't sound right for him in my opinion.

Jacky- June, Jana? A strong simple name fits her. Jacky is nearly perfect already.

Mortis- Mason. Came up with this before knowing the voice actor. (Ed doesn't seem fitting. But it's funny that his VA's last name is Mace.)

Frank- honestly I know it's based off of the monster but this is so perfect for him. Probably the same. Interestingly enough, the author is named Mary SHELLEY, who was friends with a man named Lord BYRON. Just some trivia.

Emz- Sandra, Emma? (VA, or variation. I know Shelly + Max have the same VA, but it fits Emz more.)

Penny- hm... well, in my headcanon Darryl renamed her upon finding her one night and deciding to keep her. I haven't come up with a former name for her yet.

El Primo- Since I'm weak to nostalgic references, Oscar. Can you guess why? 😆

Amber- Leah. (VA) It's just cute and fitting for her.

Bea- Beatrice is too easy, isn't it? It's fine. She's a little suspicious anyway.

Mr. P- I think Corbin Peltoh is canon? 👀 I theorize he used to be human too.

Gale- Likely Dean. Seems fitting. (VA) might be a placeholder.

Colette- Katie. (VA) even her last name fits, if I'm being honest.

Ruffs- Blythe fits really well tbh. (VA) but rather than former name, it's his first name. (In the military you refer by rank + surname.) Oh, and important note: I see him as actually the inverse of Crow. He is a dog that became sentient. (Maybe. Still playing around with him.)

Squeak- Named by Ruffs. (Squeak Ruffs?? Cute.)

Tara- I want to say that I had a name for her that I'm forgetting, but I'm now a fan of this being her original name. In my head, Tara is... someone who was human once too, but unlike Crow and Mr. P, her inhuman dimensional powers transcends Starr Park.

Gene- Originally had no true name. Was affectionately called Gene by Tara when she freed him, and it stuck. His Lamp is named Sliver. (A different entity.. and... I think I'll save this for stories, lol.)

Sandy- Mysteriously appeared one day. Was also nicknamed by the other two in the Mystic Trio, and it stuck. He doesn't mind.

Spike- Since the day he was brought to life, his name was Spike. Who brought him to life and named him, you ask? 🤔 Good question. I'm also saving this for my story~

Byron- (Complicated jerk.) A really big mystery. On one hand, Byron is a really good name that fits him. And, while I wouldnt be surprised that he chose to be in Starr Park and as a result COULD keep his name, there's evidence showing that... he isn't entirely 100% of his own accord. So, I did some digging and research for him. There was the aforementioned association with Frankenstein's author, but also he's based off of the VERY amazing villain in "The Last Action Hero" named Benedict. But I think it's too on the nose. So, I'm inclined to go with the actor's real name- Charles. (Also fun fact, I might use his voice actor's full name for his parents' name, Steven and Kelly, lol.)

Belle- *inhales* Belle is perfect, but just as (if not more) mysterious. I thought I had more to say, but I'm still trying to figure her out. I'll just leave this here. (Someone pointed this out on Reddit. I did not find it myself.) vvv

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Starr

Ones I couldn't come up with yet:

Edgar, Brock, Max, Poco, Rosa + The Shaman Trio

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone... Up for discussion and input!!!

#Brawl Stars #Speculation #All #Long Post

[frustratedpoetwrites]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter Characters: James Potter, Lily Evans Potter Additional Tags: Morning After, Goodbyes, Sharing a Shower, reluctant goodbyes Series: Part 2 of The Marauders Pub Soho Summary:

The morning after a night of passion Lily has to leave a soundly sleeping James, but she doesn't want to.

Lily lay staring at the skylight, and watched the patch of sky turn from black to indigo. She just gazed without moving, hardly even blinking as it gradually grew lighter and lighter. She had not been able to find any rest for more than a few brief snatches, as tired as she was. Her whole body zinged with electricity, her brain abuzz with everything that had happened last night and had continued to happen throughout the night. She glanced over towards the body sleeping soundly beside her, the sheets pooled around his waist showing his toned back. He had acquired some new tattoos in the six years since she had last seen him. When she’d remarked on the delicately detailed Lily that was now inked on his right side sweeping across his ribs, he had quipped back that it marked the spot where she had stuck her knife in him when she’d left him to pursue her career. That remark had stung more than she wanted to admit, even though she did deserve it. 

She had told him last night she never wanted to leave his side again, and she had meant it. Especially at that moment, standing in the bar he basically built, surrounded by the memories of their childhood. Engulfed by the overwhelming scent of James himself. At that moment it had been so easy to say yes to all of his questions, say yes to coming here to his place instead of going back to her hotel as she had planned. She wished she could stay in this moment, with the old day finished and the new not yet begun. In this bed with this man forever. But all too soon she would have to leave. She needed to get on a plane in a few hours. If she didn’t, then any dream she had to live in London permanently would be gone.

She glanced around James's attic room trying to see if he even had a clock. She was amazed that he still lived like this. There was a rail for his clothes and a bed so low it was almost like the mattress was on the floor. That was it. She hoped he didn’t live like this all the time, but she suspected his life and energy was spent at the bar.

It had looked so beautiful, the large dark polished oak panels and the brass rail, the small stage with the piano sitting proudly. And all the pictures on the walls of their schooldays. It had always been his dream to run a bar, and the four Marauders had made it a successful reality, but she knew who had been driving it from day one, and she was  incredibly proud of him for that.

She reached for her clutch bag and fumbled in it for her phone. It did not light up when she tapped the screen. Her battery must have died. 

Fuck.

She glanced over at James, still sleeping soundly, and contemplated waking him, but she knew he was exhausted. She had wiped him out, she thought to herself, suppressing a giggle, it had been a wonderful night. He had not forgotten any of the things he used to do to make her whole body hum, and he had learned a few new things too she had discovered. His strength and stamina had greatly increased. Not that she had expected him to hold himself chaste for her, but she still had a pang of jealousy at the thought that other women had touched him, had been with her James. Had they asked about his tattoo? She always thought of him as hers, even though she hadn’t exactly expected to ever come back to him that day she had left. Any time before now when she had considered it she talked herself out of it because she was convinced he would be with someone else.

She rolled over onto her back again, and looked up at the skylight. 

What time was it?

She’d hoped she wouldn't have to do this but she slid off the edge of the bed and took James’s phone out of the pocket of his jeans and opened it, shaking her head at the stubborn distrust for technology that meant he still used an old flip phone. Although at the moment Lily was grateful because she didn’t have to worry about unlocking it.

She tapped in the digits for her assistant's number as she crept into his ensuite, slipping on the dressing gown that was on a hook behind the door.

The phone rang just once before she heard an unsure “Hello?”

“Hey, Jess it’s me…”

“Lily!” came the scream, causing her to jump and nearly drop the phone. “Where the fucking hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all night. Your meeting has been moved up, you need to get to the airport right now!”

“What? Oh, fuck!” Lily took a breath and closed her eyes as her assistant kept rambling over the phone, talking so fast Lily could hardly understand them. “Jess, Jess, Jessie!” She tried to speak urgently and sharply without making too much noise. “I need you to bring me my bag and my suit, the green one. Put an extra pair of underwear in my bag.”

“I’m sorry, Lily, but your overnight bag won’t be enough, I've had to pack your suitcase, you’ll be staying for a week. They’ve sent a whole itinerary, but when we left Hong Kong I didn’t think to pack any of your formal wear. I’ve arranged for the concierge to book a fitting for after your first meeting, once you’ve checked in. Where are you anyway? I need to let Terrence know where we need to come and get you.” 

Lily went to answer then realised she had no actual idea of the address. It wasn’t far from the bar, she didn’t think. But she had been interested in other things besides looking out the car window to notice what neighbourhood they were in. Lily looked up as the door to the bathroom swung open gently, revealing a conscious James leaning against the frame wearing only his battered looking jeans, his tousled hair framing his tired-looking face and his glasses perching on the end of his nose, as if they were mere moments from falling off.

She let the phone fall from her ear slightly as he continued to stare at her, a wry smile reaching only the edge of his lips. 

“Something tells me you aren’t staying for breakfast.” His tone was light but she heard the resignation behind it. As she looked over at her childhood sweetheart, an idea struck her.

“Jess? You still there? Pick me up outside the Marauders’ Pub in Soho. Yeah? And Jess? I'm gonna need another plane ticket.”

“Well, okay boss but they are sending you a priv…..” Lily did not hear the last of her assistant’s words as she closed the flip phone and tossed it back to him.

“I can't believe you still use that antique.” He caught it deftly in his left hand and dropped it into his back pocket.

“I can’t believe I’m letting you dick around with my life again,” he replied, barely even trying to mask the disappointment.

“As much as I'd love to have this argument again, I really need you to pack yourself a bag. Do you have a good suit that fits you?”

He shook his head and blinked at her as she brushed past him to his rail of clothes and started looking through them. He still had some nice attire here, a lot of it she remembered from their life before.

“Lily, wait,” he called after her but she took no notice. She had no time. Already, in her head, she was mapping out what she needed to do. A whole week with these people. The one day originally planned would have been torture, but this... If she had back up maybe she could make it work.  “Stop.” He placed a hand on hers as it rested on the next coathanger. She looked up into his gorgeous eyes as they shone with all the colours as his emotions played out across his face. He was always so expressive. “What are you doing?”

“I want you to come with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? You’re your own boss, you could take the time off. It’s not like you’re the only one in charge. What about Sirius? Or Remus? Or even Pete?” She paused, “Is Pete doing okay? I thought he wanted to go in a, erm, different direction but I saw his name up there with the rest of you?”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “Pete is a silent partner, he helps out when he can but his wife made him join their family business, he helps by keeping them away.” His hand dropped to his side. “Lily I can’t afford to just drop everything, everybody else has other responsibilities, I’m the only one left to run it and I won't let it fail. My staff depends on me.”

“James, this is me telling you I don’t want to leave you again. I don’t want to go on this trip without you by my side, I could use someone in my corner. I could also use a devilishly handsome, charming, charismatic–” he raised an eyebrow at her seductive tone but didn’t stop her putting her hands on his chest, tracing the antlers that spread across them. 

 “My tattoos aren’t very corporate,” he murmured, his voice sounding deep and throaty. she shrugged in reply,

“You’d be surprised what people hide under their suits these days.” She told him with a twinkle, sobering when his lips thinned. “Please James. I need you.” She hadn’t realised how true those words were until she had spoken them to the universe.

“I’m sorry Lily, but my staff need me more. They rely on me.”

“So you’ve never taken a day off? Never had to call in sick?” Before he could answer her questions an idea struck her. “What if I pay your staff for the week? How much would that be?” He stood for a moment apparently stunned then started laughing and stepped away from her, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She tried not to look upset at his reaction to her suggestion. She stood watching him and waited for his mirth to subside.

“Oh, you are actually serious? You want to pay me so I will spend time with you?” He shook his head as his mirth still rippled through him. “This isn’t Pretty Woman and I’m not some, some...rentboy you picked up off the street.” 

Now he sounded angry. James’ phone started buzzing in his back pocket. She had not thought that offering to pay his staff would equate  to her hiring him as an escort service. Her brain hadn’t gone that way at all. She let him answer his call, as she rushed back to the bathroom for a much needed shower and tried to clear her head.

James may have skimped on bedroom furniture but he hadn’t skimped on his wet room. The shower was a walk-in style and big enough for four people, the naturally textured tiles on her feet were warm as she walked in, the large slabs of highly polished sand-coloured stone on the walls were so neatly fitted she couldn’t even see the joins. 

Turning on the shower filled the room with hot steam and the reassuring splats of water droplets peppering the tiles. Stepping into it, she gasped at the pressure. It was like standing in a tropical rainstorm. She just stood there unmoving, letting the water rush over her enjoying the sensation as it beat down on her head.

“That was your PA on the phone. I gave them this address so you can leave from here.” James said as he stepped into the bathroom like they did this kind of thing all the time. “Thought you might want to have some fresh clothes to wear.”

“You really won’t come?” She asked, trying one last time. She forced herself to keep her eyes forward when she realised he was joining her by the sound of his jeans hitting the tiled floor. 

Despite their recent intimacy, or perhaps because of it, being this close to his naked body turned her core white-hot. She tried very hard not to react as she felt his naked skin brush up against hers.  His arm reached past and grabbed an unlabelled metal bottle from the small alcove. Then his fingers were in her hair and her nostrils were filled with the scent of an English summer garden.

“Is it okay that I join you in here? Thought it would save some time.”

“Yes, okay, it’s absolutely fine,” she tried to keep her voice as neutral as his but even she could hear the breathiness.  

“I told your assistant I can’t, it’s not my scene at all,” he told her conversationally, as if he wasn’t standing butt naked behind her in the shower. He was trying to calm her down, trying to talk about what needed to be talked about. The fact they were taking a shower together didn’t seem to phase him at all. Determinedly, she tried to follow his lead.

“This is not me running away from you. I need you to understand that.” She hummed in pleasure as his fingers massaged deeper into her hair. “I’m sorry if I offended you, offering to pay.” 

 “I’m still not sure if I find it more funny or offensive,” he began. “I can’t say I’m not tempted to run away with you, but you know as well as I do how much of a distraction I would be. You need to be at your best. I will be fine, I’ll just have to trust you’ll come back. That you're not making me the poor jilted lover once more.” He told her. She wanted to tell him he didn’t need to worry, wanted to say all the things that she had agonised about saying as she lay awake beside him in his bed, but no words could adequately explain how she was feeling. So she turned and reached for him, pushing her fingers up across his stubble studded cheeks into his hair and kissing him soundly. Breaking the kiss he tilted her head back as his lips dragged kisses across her throat. She didn’t need to ask where his mind was right now, she could feel his arousal pressing against her stomach. All too soon her brain caught up with her and soundly put on the brakes. “Not that I don’t enjoy where this is going, but we need to stop.” She took a few quick breaths as his hands continued to soap her breasts. “I don’t have the time and I’m a little tender.”

“You were the one who started things, Evans. I was just helping you wash,” he said innocently, amusement dancing in his eyes. But he did take his hands off her body and even though she had asked him to, she mourned the loss of contact. “In all honesty, I don’t think I have it in me right now to perform at my best anyway.” 

“Let’s just put this on pause for now then shall we?” She told him, giving him a gentle kiss, hoping he understood how much he continued to mean to her. Lily dipped her head to rinse the bubbles out of her hair. It felt like silk as she combed her fingers through it.

“What is that shampoo? It’s amazing!”

“It’s a prototype. Remus’ company makes it, the only thing that’s come close to making my hair behave. He’s made it his personal mission to tame it. He gives me a new formula just about every week.” He pointed to the small bathroom cabinet above the sink. “The conditioner’s in there, it's one you have to leave in. I put towels on the hook.” She stepped aside once she was rinsed, letting him have the full force of the shower. 

“Does he always make it smell like flowers?”

“Yup.” She expected him to elaborate but when he didn’t she just let it go and stepped out of the shower. She found the small spray bottle in the cabinet simply labelled conditioner and scrunched some into her hair as she watched James wash his. The bubbles slid down his frame in ways that made her wish she could just step back in there with him.

Lily wished she could continue to stare at him but her logical brain was kicking in to tell her all that she still had to do. Moving back to the bedroom, she twisted her hair up out of the way while she looked for anywhere he would store things. There wasn’t even a cupboard in the bedroom so she padded her way through to the living space. She barely remembered it from the night before, and she was stunned at how minimally he lived.

It was a beautiful apartment, the exposed red brick looked amazing with the warm honey-coloured wooden floor. The living space was a good size for London, the kitchen looked brand new with a wooden worktop that matched the floor and clean white cupboards. She spotted the coffee machine, and hunted in the cupboards to see if he had any beans, suppressing her irritation when every one was empty. 

The more she looked around his place, the less it felt like he lived here at all. There was a giant modular brown leather sofa taking up the majority of space in the living area, a coffee table that looked like it was made out of granite, and a giant tv on the wall. 

“What is this place to you James Potter?” She mused as she looked around. She was tempted to start rummaging in drawers (if there were any) but it felt like possibly a step too far for now. 

The intercom buzzed impatiently making her jump guiltily and nearly drop her towel. As she stared at the white box on the wall and wondered how to operate it James came striding out of the bedroom holding a hand towel around his waist, hair still dripping. He lifted the receiver then buzzed to let the person come up. “It’s your assistant.” He explained before vanishing back to the bedroom.

Lily stood looking through the peephole until she saw her assistant's blonde head appear from the stairs.

She opened the door and ushered them in quickly. Taking the bag from them awkwardly with one hand.

Jessie looked around and hummed appreciatively. “This is nice, you could do a lot with this place. When are they moving in?”

“I don’t know,” Lily replied quietly. “I’m going to go change. Can you play nice with James, please? It would be great if you two get on.”

“Well I’ll behave if he will,” Jessie swept an invisible strand of hair out their face before relenting to Lily’s reproachful look. “Alright, alright. When we spoke on the phone they were pleasant so I can be too.” 

“Great, I’ll be super quick,” as she made her way back into the bedroom James stepped out wearing that same pair of jeans he seemed incredibly fond of and one of his many black Marauders Pub t-shirts. He put out a hand to stop her as she tried to slip past him.

“I’m going to get out of your hair,” he said quietly. She could tell by the tone he didn’t want to be here when she left, didn’t want to be the one left waving by the door. She understood that in an instant, saw it in his sad eyes, and the hesitant touch he placed on her arm. 

“Okay.” With a glance at her assistant she walked him back into the bedroom. “This was not how I wanted this to go,” she said, keeping her voice down once she knew they were alone.

“Saying goodbye brings back bad memories,” he told her shuffling his feet and running a hand through his hair. “I want to believe you're coming back this time.”

“Of course I’m coming back. I’ll call you, every day. But could you do something for me?” She asked, reaching to snake her arms around his neck.

“Can you get yourself a new phone so we can video chat?”

“Yes, Evans I think I can manage that,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her goodbye for the last time. 

#jily #james potter #lily evans #barman james #business boss lily #tj writes #jily fanfiction #jily fic #slightly mature #there is a shower scene #but no smut

[aperrywilliams]

Maxcer HC/Blurbs: Forgotten Lunch

Hello people out there. Here is another one for Maxcer HC/Blurbs/Mini-fic! Anon, I hope you like it! As always, any like, reblog, or comment is appreciated.

Request: “Reid meeting Max’s friends or colleagues when bringing her lunch?”

Word Count: 1.2k.

Warnings: None.

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When Spencer woke up that morning, he felt odd. It was Wednesday, and he didn't have to go to work. That was a nonfrequent occurrence, but after a case that kept them in California for two weeks, Emily had mercy and gave the team three days off.

Spencer rubbed his eyes and looked to the empty side of the bed. A slight pout shaped in his face. He had the day off, but Max didn't. Max knew Spencer barely slept during the case, and he needed the rest, so she didn't wake him up, leaving the apartment early and very quiet.

Max and Spencer were living together for two months now. After a year of relationship, he asked her to move in with him and she accepted. They were still adjusting to the routine, but they were doing pretty well.

Spencer got off the bed and padded to the kitchen to make coffee. When he was about to put the coffee in the machine, he saw Max’s packed lunch box. She forgot her lunch. Spencer frowned. They cooked last night for dinner, and Max was happy to get the leftovers for the next day.

He thought to call Max to tell her, but surely Max noticed her forgetfulness by now. Of course, she wouldn't make a fuss for that, and she simply would pay for a lunch in the cafeteria. But Spencer didn't want that: if she wanted the leftovers as lunch, he would give her that. It isn’t a big deal. He had this day off and plenty of time.

He showered, dressed, grabbed the lunch box, and headed to Max’s workplace. Spencer knew the place because he picked up Max several times, but he never put a foot inside the building before.

In the main door, the guard stopped him.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes. Good morning. I’m looking for Maxine Brenner; she works here.”

“Do you know the unit where she works?”

“Uhm, yes. Extension Programs and Children Diffusion.”

The guard typed his tablet and nodded. He asked for Spencer's ID and gave him a visitor pass.

“Third floor, first hall to the left,” he indicated. Spencer thanked him and walked to the elevators. When the doors opened on the third floor, Spencer stepped outside, walking for the hall looking for your office. It wasn’t difficult to locate. A plaque in the door said, “Extension Programs and Children Diffusion,” with the last names of Max’s team: Roland, Brenner, Turpin, Triplett, Rabb. Spencer knocked on the door that was ajar, and no one answered. Instead of voices talking aloud enough to not noticed the guest at the door. Spencer pushed open, and a pair of eyes settled on him.

“Hello. Can I help you?” the man asked Spencer, who was slightly nervous. He didn't know Max’s colleagues although she talked about them all the time.

“Yes. I’m looking for Maxine Brenner.” The guy narrowed his eyes, focusing on Spencer’s features.

“Are you Spencer?”

“Uh-yeah. It’s me.” Did Max tell enough about him to her colleagues to recognize him? The guy grinned at Spencer.

“I’m Johnny. Johnny Rabb. I work with Maxine. Nice to meet you already. We think we know you enough after everything Maxine talked about you,” the guy chuckled. Spencer blushed a little.

“Oh. Uh. Hope good things,” Spencer mumbled. Johnny let out a laugh.

“Don’t worry, man. She would never find a flaw in you. Let me call her,” the guy said. Spencer thought he would stand up to heading to Max’s desk, but he didn't expect what happened next.

“Brenner!!! Get your ass here! You have a visitor! And guys! The visitor is Maxine’s boyfriend, so grab your asses to here too,” Johnny shouted to the room.

Spencer could hear Max running from her desk in the back of the room. Almost breathless, she saw Spencer with a confused look.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Uh. You - you forgot your lunch,” Spencer almost whispered, handing her the lunch box. Max flushed and gave a bright smile to Spencer.

“And you came here to bring my forgotten lunch?”

“Yep. You were so happy to have this leftover for lunch that I thought, you know...” Spencer trailed off. The young couple then realized that Max’s coworkers surrounded them. They let out a sweet “awe” almost in chorus. Max let out a nervous laugh, and Spencer didn't know what to say. He was scared about embarrassing Max in front of her coworkers.

“Maxine, we deserve an appropriate introduction, don’t you think? A year working with you and knowing your sweet boyfriend just now? So disrespectful from your part,” a girl teased. Max shook her head and huffed.

“It’s just because you’re so annoying sometimes; I didn't want to overwhelm Spencer with you guys,” Max joked back.

“Just be honest. You wanted to keep this adorable human being just for you,” another guy added. Spencer couldn't help but blush at the compliment. Max smirked.

“Yeah. I’m guilty here. Okay. Spencer, as you can guess, these annoying people are my team: this is Johnny Rabb, Jessica Triplett, Edgar Roland, and Victoria Turpin. Guys, he is Dr. Spencer Reid, my boyfriend,” Max finished the introduction. Spencer waved, and the rest greeted him with several “hi,” “nice to meet you,” “at last!” “Maxine didn't stop talking about you.”

“Well, I don't want to interrupt you from work. I just wanted to bring you lunch,” Spencer said as he headed to the entrance. Max following suit. They stopped at the door.

“You shouldn't have, baby. But thank you. It was a beautiful gesture of you,” Max said, subtitling, grabbing Spencer's hand and rubbing his knuckles. He smiled.

“Anything for my beautiful girlfriend. You know, when I woke up was strange not having you next to me,” Spencer acknowledged. Max bit her lip.

“Dr. Reid missed me this morning?” she teased, playing with his fingers on her hand.

“I always miss you when you’re not with me,” Spencer admitted. Max only wanted to wrap her arms around Spencer’s neck, but she knew her coworkers were looking at them.

“Me too. I would kiss you right here and right now, but I know you don't like PDA, and I know those human beings are very intimidating too,” she said.

“Don’t believe her words, Spencer! We’re not intimidating. Just a group of curious and noisy people,” Jessy piped up. Spencer and Max chuckled.

Without warning, Spencer cupped Max’s cheeks and leaned to kiss her. She was shocked at first. Spencer was kissing her in front of her colleagues. She buried the thought and melted into the kiss. Some whispering and giggles were heard from the people around them. After they parted from that passionate kiss, they both looked at each other with a grin plastered on their faces.

“Yes. I’m not a fan of PDA, but if I want to kiss my girlfriend, nothing more should matter to me,” Spencer said softly. “And... you deserve an afternoon full of teasing for being distracted this morning,” he finished, a smirk on his face.

“Spencer!” she elbowed him. “That’s not fair,” she complained.

“I think it is. And, don’t worry, I love you although you forgot your lunch today. It gave me an excuse to see you.” Spencer proclaimed, pecking Max’s lips for the last time.

“Nice to meet you, guys,” Spencer said before leaving.

“Bye!” They all said at the same time.

Max shook her head, smiling. Sure she has the best and caring boyfriend in the world. If something like winning the lottery in life exists, this could be how it feels.

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Permanent Reid’s Taglist: @dreatine @andiebeaword @calm-and-doctor @mind-of-a-girl  @katelynnwrites

Maxcer’s Army: @dreatine @andiebeaword @ironwoman18

#spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid #maxine brenner #spencer reid x max brenner #maxcer #spencer x max #criminal minds #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x maxine brenner