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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Riding High

Ch25: Keep it Simple

Chapter Summary: The events of Boston behind them, Frank, Fliss and Mary look forward to Christmas…and Frank has a big surprise planned.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: So here it is, the last in the series Riding High. Thank you to everyone who has helped and re-blogged and commended in any way. Do not fear, Frank and Fliss will be back in the next instalment of their adventure Riding On

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 24

If you should ever leave me, thought life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you…

"Mary can you just hold on a second, please!" Frank sighed, grabbing the back of her coat to stop her shooting off into the crowd that streamed down the busy Manhattan sidewalk. "But Frank!" she turned and looked at him, her woollen hat jammed down over her ears "I just wanna see the stall!" "Yeah but you can't just run off!" He grumbled and beside him Fliss gave a chuckle. He turned to look at her "who gets so excited about damned wooden tree ornaments?" "Oh hush!" Fliss leaned up to give him a pack, her cold nose brushing his. In retaliation he pulled the front of her baby blue sparkly bobble hat down over her eye and she shoved him in the chest, laughing. "Fuck you!" "Chance would be a fine thing" he grumbled, taking Fliss’ hand as they headed after Mary. "Awww is that why you're grumpy?" Fliss grinned as they walked "Coz you haven't had any in nearly 3 days?" Frank pouted "No." "Liar..." "Ok, look...Frankie has needs..." he whined "I completely over looked the fact hanging out with an 8 year old in the room would be a cock block." "Always the shower..." Fliss teased and Frank snorted. "Yeah, right. Can you imagine? I give it 3 minutes before she came looking for us." "We go home tomorrow. I'll make it up to you then." Fliss grinned and he sighed. "What?" She laughed. "It’s just...you look so hot in all this winter clothing." Frank grinned. And he meant it. Seeing her wrapped up in a coat, hat and scarf had made her look all cute and cozy...and it had done inappropriate things to him for some odd reason. "Hmmm, you know most men get more turned on the less clothing their girls wear." She teased and he grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm not most men" She gave him a smile which he returned with a soft kiss as they stopped by the stall where Mary instantly dived into looking at the array of ornaments. After a few moments of looking she handed Frank one in the shape of a reindeer stag, and a doe for him and Fliss before selecting a robin for herself. "I think they're so pretty." She looked at the bird in her hand "I saw one at Evelyn's over thanks giving." "Ever heard the saying robins appear when loved ones are near?" Fliss asked. Mary shook her head. "No" "Well, I don't know about here but certainly in England we say it because there is an old belief by some people that a robin is a message from heaven, that a loved one is watching over you." "Do you believe that?" Mary looked at Fliss. Fliss hesitated "Well when my Dad's dad died I was 20 and I remember getting up the morning after he died and there was a robin on the fence of the back garden. Bill told me it was my granddad Alex come to check I was ok." "Do you think it was? Really I mean?" "I dunno sweetheart." Fliss sighed "I'd like it to be true..." "Then you should believe it was." Mary said, looking at her "Because isn't that what faith is? Believing something you want to be true?" Fliss looked at Frank who smiled and gave a small shake of his head. She turned back to Mary, smiling softly as she dropped a hand to the back of her head. This kid was unbelievably wise, but with such an innocence behind it all. "Yeah, I suppose it is." Fliss nodded. "Do you think the robin I saw could have been my mom?" She asked, her eyes wide. Frank at that point stepped in, carefully picking an answer that was ambiguous so as not to say yes, but also not dampening her spirits. "If your mom could I'm sure she would come and see you, make sure you're ok." Mary gave a nod, before she turned back to the stall, her attention back on the ornaments. "We need a dog for Thor, and a cat for Fred oh...and a pony for Monty." "What about Cap and Heidi?" Fliss asked, moving to inspect the selection of decorations. "Oh, yeah!" "This is gonna bankrupt me." Frank grumbled, his hands on Fliss' hips, chin resting on her shoulder as he observed the two of them. "Scrooge" Fliss shot back with a smile "Do you think Verity and Bill will like this one?" Mary held up a snowman. "Absolutely" Fliss nodded. "And can I get one for Evelyn?" She asked, selecting a snowflake. Despite the fact that they were now well into the fifty buck range for fucking tree decorations, Frank couldn't help but want to smile at Marys face. She was so thoughtful, the purity behind it all was, as usual, humbling. So he nodded "Sure she will appreciate it." He smiled. He moved to lift her up so she could hand the ones they had picked over to the guy behind the counter who asked Mary what names she wanted on each one. As she told him, he allowed her to sit up on the edge of the little surface, held in place by Frank to watch as he burnt the names into each ornament before he bagged them up and she took them with a thanks. "Our first family tree stuff!" Mary grinned and Fliss smiled, bending down to give her a hug. They set back off towards the hotel, stopping by a burger joint for dinner before they dumped their bags and returned back out for their final evening in the City. Frank had loved every second of their trip, and so had Mary and Fliss. Seeing Mary's reaction to snow and the Christmas lights had been amazing, along with all the bands on street corners, people walking around dressed up. It was magical and he wasn't afraid to let his inner child come out to play either, as Fliss had just found out. "Whose idea was this again?" He asked as Mary was bouncing up and down in the queue. "Yours!" Fliss scoffed as he took Mary's hand in his right "I seem to recall the very visible horror on your face yesterday when I told you I'd never done it before..." "That’s because it's an abomination that someone who's 34 has never been ice skating." "I was a professional athlete." She shrugged "I was banned from doing anything deemed dangerous " Frank looked at her "What do they consider more dangerous than flying a half tonne animal almost 2 meters into the air?" "Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet skiing, water skiing, ice skating.." Fliss shrugged "just to name 5" Frank shook his head as the queue shuffled forward a little. It wasn't too long now, luckily they had timed it right by arriving 20 minutes or so before the next lot of General Admission to the famous Rockefeller rink opened so there weren't too many people ahead. After another 10 minutes they got to the front and Frank nudged Fliss out of the way as she tried to pay. She scowled at him and he simply rolled his eyes and handed his card over. It wasn't cheap but then, he was in New York. What was? Together they headed onto the ice. Frank, having done it a few times as a kid found his legs fairly quickly and didn't stop himself laughing as Mary's completely went from under her and she landed with a thump on her ass. "Here..." he chuckled, offering her his hand. He pulled her up and moved her in front of him. "Give me your hands..." Mary extended her arms to the side and he took her mitten clad hands in his, holding her in front of him. Fliss was moving tentatively behind him, using the sides for support a little. "Ok slide your right foot forward, like on your roller skates..." Frank said. Mary did as she was told "now left...right...left...right..." He continued his chanting and glanced over his shoulder to see Fliss was concentrating on her feet, her tongue poking out slightly. "You good?" "Yup." She said, raising her hand to give him a thumbs up before she skidded slightly and went down in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a laugh he gently pivoted Mary so she could hold onto the side and offered Fliss his hand. Pulling her up into his arms he held her steady for a moment whilst her laughing subsided. He watched her for a second, her face creasing up into those adorable dimples, eyes crinkled so much they were almost shut and her shoulders shook with the force of her giggles. "I fuckin' love you..." he grinned and she smiled at him. "Back at ya sailor" After another few laps Mary and Fliss had managed to get the hand of it which meant Frank could leave them a little bit as he went off for what he called a proper skate. The girls watched calling him a show off as he crossed his feet and turned, skating backwards a little. Both of them debated sabotaging him and tripping him up but they decided not to, instead they simply pretended they didn't know him, resulting in him grabbing Fliss from behind just beneath the large tree, and spinning her round to face him. "Can I help you?" She teased and he gave a snort. "Yeah, you can... Mary?" He called to her where she was trying to perfect a turn and failing as she almost stumbled again. She looked up and headed over. "Can you take our photo?" "Only if you're gonna kiss..." she replied, making smooching noises. "Well we can’t disappoint her..." Frank shrugged and Fliss grinned, her smile turning into a shriek as Frank quickly grabbed her hips before he took one hand, keeping the other round her back and dipped her so she was bending backwards, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. She laughed against his mouth as he gave her a wink, before kissing her a little deeper and then setting her upright, his eyes boring into hers which were shining in the Christmas lights surrounding the rink. "Oh that was great!" Mary howled and he turned to face her as she handed his phone back. Frank checked the photo and had to smile, it was a dammed good shot. He showed it to Fliss and she beamed. "A framer?" She asked. "A framer." He agreed. It took them ages to get Mary to finally leave the rink. Even a bribe of hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies wasn't doing it. Eventually Frank put his foot down and told her it was time to go as it was almost 9pm and they still had that tree to go see before they headed to Central Park for one last walk in the lights. After handing their skates back and retrieving their belongings from the lockers they followed the path to the tree. As they round the corner Mary gasped. "It's huge!" She turned to look at Frank and Fliss, her eyes wide "Oh my God!" Frank smiled kissed Fliss' cheek as Mary walked slightly ahead of them down the walkway that was flanked with smaller trees and the famous lit up trumpeting angels . As they caught her up he slipped his spare hand in his pocket, his fingers curling round the small, leather box inside. The damned thing had been burning a hole in his pocket since he had bought it in Boston just after Thanksgiving. Fliss, Verity and Bill had all stayed for a very pleasant week rounded off with a damned good proper Thanksgiving dinner and the three of them had flown home on the Friday, as Fliss was starting to stress about her business. He and Mary followed on the Sunday after she had been given the all clear to fly after a week’s check up at the Hospital. On his spare afternoon, he'd taken a trip into the city with one goal, and it had been surprisingly easy. The first jeweller he has walked into had a perfect ring, and despite the fact he had visited several others none of them caught his eye like that. So he had gone back and asked the assistant for a closer look. It wasn't a huge rock, white gold and emerald cut with in a pave setting, but everything about it had screamed Fliss. It was delicate and feminine but with a wonderful sparkle just like her. He knew that sounded so lame when he had told the assistant but she has just smiled and told him that if he had that much conviction, it must be right. He had been lost when she asked him what size, but in a sudden inspiration he had remembered the Pandora ring he had bought her when he had gotten his first new pay check as supervisor. He mentioned this to the assistant who beamed and said she could easily size it from that by using a simple conversion chart and told him to come back the following day. His sudden good spirit had fallen as he explained he couldn't do and asked her to see if here was anything she could do, even contemplating taking it and having it sizes back in Florida. But, after the shitty run of events over the last week, his luck was in after she returned 5 minutes later with a slip of paper, informing him it would be ready by the end of the day. When he had told Mary he was going to ask Fliss to marry him, she'd been so excited. She'd asked when, where and when he said he didn’t know she'd given him the most exasperated look on the planet. The only one of his friend who he had confided in, Greg, hadn’t been much help either, simply telling him to do it in a way that meant something to them both. Simply put he just hadn't a fucking clue. He had agonized over how to pop the question. On the boat? Or maybe a sunset on their favourite spot at St Pete's beach? Did he wait for New York? As such, Frank had taken to carrying the ring around with him, waiting for that moment when it felt right. So far it hadn't happened at home and as it stood New York wasn’t faring any better. He had thought about it at the top of the Empire state, but it had been too busy. Then there was a moment in Central Park after they had been snowman building that might have worked...until Fliss had nailed him in the face with a snowball. So they'd had a snowball fight instead. Then when walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline behind them… then when they walked back to the Hotel after seeing the Lion King on Broadway, going the long way round to see the display in Macy's window all lit up...and then that moment before when Mary had taken a picture of them kissing under the tree on the ice rink... but none of it felt right. It didn't feel like the moment for them. But now something stirred in his gut. This could be it. It wasn't too busy, the place was gorgeous, right in front of the tree Fliss had been so desperate to see... Ok Adler, you can do this. Taking a deep breath he pulled the box from his pocket when he heard Mary give a squeal. "Oh...wow! Frankie look..." Fliss' voice was a whisper and she nudged him, pointing to the base of the tree. He followed her gaze to see a blonde haired man down on one knee, presenting a ring to a dark haired woman who had her hands clasped over her mouth. Frank slipped the box back into his pocket and stared at the man as he placed the ring onto his now fiancés finger and did his best to look like he cared when Fliss let out a soft "Awwww" The man looked around excitedly, his eyes falling on the three of them before he asked Frank if he or Fliss would mind taking a photo for them. "Course not buddy, congratulations." Frank smiled. Fucking prick... ***** "It was AMAZING!" Mary gushed to Verity as they walked to the car, Fliss' parents having come to pick them up from the airport. "we saw so much stuff but nowhere near all of it but Frank said we could go back next year in the summer maybe and do a bit more." "Looks like someone else had a good time too." Bill smiled, nodding to Fliss who let out a loud yawn. Frank chuckled "She was up all night, I told her not to have more food so close to bed time." "I wanted a hot dog and a pretzel." Fliss mumbled, "Besides, it's nothing to do with the food...we did a lot of walking." Bill gave a snort "You ride horses for a living, you should be fit enough to walk round New York" "I probably skated about 4 miles too..." Fliss said looking at Mary "Someone wouldn't come off the ice rink" "You been sleeping ok otherwise?" Verity looked at her "I'm fine mum." She smiled "No anxiety?" 'V, she said she's fine so leave it" Bill said gently and Fliss shot a grateful look at her dad. She knew her mum was only concerned but she was fed up of assuring people she was fine. After the attack from John she had suffered a bout of delayed shock which had manifested in a few panic attacks, nightmares, and restlessness at night and on one occasion nausea. Luckily Frank had been brilliant at keeping calm when she had an episode, helping her work through it and the last incident she had suffered had been over a week ago. Once they were all in the car, Frank took the passenger seat after Verity offered it to him, Mary continued to chat all the drive home about New York, Fliss and Frank butting in here and there. They arrived home little after 30 minutes later and Fliss headed up the steps with Mary, Thor almost sending the pair of them flying when they opened the door. "Oh puppy I missed you!" Fliss smiled as she gave him plenty of attention and he kept licking her face, whining and emitting quiet little barks. "Did you miss me? Did you?" "Yerress" Frank did his best Scooby Doo impression as he walked past and Fliss let out a laugh, as she stood up and headed into the living room behind Mary, bumping into the girl as she stopped dead, giving a squeal as she saw the Christmas Tree in the corner. "Mum, Dad?" Fliss called, smiling "I take it you did this?" Frank appeared behind them both, smiling as Fliss and Mary exchanged a glance before they all turned to Bill and Verity who were stood in the doorway. "Well we know how much you like to get your tree up as early as you can and, well we were picking one up for ourselves so we got you one. You don’t mind do you?" Verity, looked at Fliss then Frank. "No, of course not!" Fliss grinned. "Saved me a job." Frank nodded "Thanks guys." "Can we decorate it tonight?" Mary asked "Pleeeeeeeaaaasssseee Frank!" Frank glanced at his watch before giving a sigh, he knew she wouldn't go to bed if he said no anyway so what was the point? Plus she was at the University tomorrow which didn’t start until 10 so... "Ok, but if you so much as grumble tomorrow morning when I get you up you'll be in deep trouble." He looked at her sternly as she stooped to pick Fred up. "Cross my heart, hope to die, we all know Fred's got one eye..." she chanted off, nodding. "We brought your box of decorations from the annex." Verity smiled at Fliss, nodding to the box on the floor. "We thought you could pick what you want to keep now you're combining."

“Speaking of decorations…” Frank said, looking at Mary.

“Oh…yeah…hang on…” She said, running to the sofa where she had dumped her little pink rucksack. She fished out the paper bag they had gotten from the stall and found the Snowman they had bought. With a smile she handed it to Verity who looked down at it, her face curling into a smile as her eyes started to prick with tears.

“Fliss said you wouldn’t mind the names Mary wanted on them.” Frank said, watching carefully.

“Of course we don’t mind!” Bill smiled, picking Mary up to give her a hug “We are Nanny V and Poppa B ain’t that right kiddo?” “Yep!” she grinned, hugging him.

“We’ll save it to hang tomorrow when you come over after school.” Verity said as Bill set Mary on the floor and she hugged her tightly.

After a little more chat Verity and Bill left and Frank instructed Mary to change into her Pyjamas before they did the tree. Deciding that was a good idea, Fliss did the same and before long they were all in the living room. Fliss and Mary going through the boxes of decorations, Frank wrestling with the tangle of fairy lights. How they managed to get so fucking knotted up after simply being in a box for 12 months was beyond him.

He had just about managed it when Thor came over to inspect what he was doing, and dropped straight onto his back on top of the string.

“Thor…get out of it…” he grumbled, pushing the dog who simply rolled over, taking half the lights with him, tangling them round his legs and his tails. “Jesus Christ…stand still…for fucks sake…”

Thinking this was a huge game, Thor started to bounce around, barking, and Frank shook his head. “Fliss, sort this mutt out….” Fliss gave a laugh and dropped off the sofa, calling Thor to her. He sat down, allowing Frank to remove the lights before he stood up, shaking them out. Together the 3 of them wound them round the tree before they made a start on the decorations.

“Frank got me this for my first Christmas.” Mary said, hanging a red bauble which had her name on it. “The glitter has all fallen off it now.”

“We can add more if you want.” Fliss looked at her and Mary shrugged.

“I kinda like it.” It didn’t take them long, and their wooden trinkets from New York were the last ones they hung, Mary ensuring they took pride of place. Frank then lifted her up so she could place the star at the top before they stood back.

“Ready for the big turn on?” Frank asked, grinning. Mary and Fliss cheered and began a countdown from 5. When they hit 1 Frank hit the switch and the lights on the tree came to life. He stepped back, looking up at it, his arm curling round Fliss’ shoulder, his other dropping to Mary as she grinned.

“Best Tree ever.” she smiled.

“Yeah, and now it’s time for the best bed ever…” he looked at her.

“Seriously?” Mary complained

“No moaning, remember?” Frank instructed her. “That was in the morning.”

“Well I just extended it to now as well.” he said, shrugging “Because I can, so get…” “Fine, fine, I’m going…” she grumbled. “Night Fliss.” “Night sweetie.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head before Mary shot a filthy look at Frank who met her with a passive one of his own.

“I’ll be in in a second.” Frank shot after her, watching as she headed down to the hallway. He turned back to Fliss who was watching the tree, a smile on her face.

“Not exactly up to Macey’s standards…” Frank chuckled and she shook her head.

“I love it.” “It looks like an Elf threw up on it.”

“All trees should be like that.” Fliss shrugged, before she gave his cheek a peck. “Now, you go sort Mary and I’ll get us both a beer.” “Actually…” he said, looping his arms round her waist. “I believe there was something else you promised me tonight…” “Oh, yes, of course, Frankie has needs…” she replied with an almost uncanny impersonation, which made him snort. “Does that mean no beer?”

“No beer.” “You want me to wait in bed.” “Yes I do.” he nodded “Go, I’ll let Thor out and lock up.”

Grinning she accepted his kiss and smiled as she turned around, casting him a quite frankly sinful look over her shoulder which almost had him hard right there and then. Not wanting to wait a moment longer he sorted the dog, locked the door, poked his head into Mary’s room to wish her goodnight, and headed into their bedroom. Fliss was hanging her jeans in the closet after having simply discarded them on the bed earlier, and wasting no time Frank pulled off his T-shirt, tossing it to the side before he stepped up behind her, spinning her round to face him. He pressed his lips to hers, deepening the kiss as he slid his hands down to cup her ass and she smirked into the kiss.

“I like your ass.” he muttered. “I like yours too” she said back, “And your arms”

He laughed and pulled back to look down at her as her fingers trailed up his biceps. “My arms?”

“Yeah, your big, strong arms, and your big, broad shoulders and your stupid, handsome face…” she muttered, pulling him back down to her. In between the dizzying kisses Frank steered her towards the bed, and as her legs collided with the edge he stopped to gently trail kisses across her bare collar bone. His lips found her jaw and then, with a wicked quirk of his eyebrow he reached down for her thighs, and grabbing them he pulled them forwards, causing her to fall backwards as he pitched them both onto the bed. As she laughed he chuckled slightly before he kissed her again, and then it was a scramble to get out of his clothes as fast as he could before he fell back on top of his girl, his hands pulling up her camisole top, lips kissing at the spot just below her ear before he slid down her shorts, his mouth gently kissing a trail up from her belly through the middle of her breasts, up her neck and finally back to her mouth.

Fliss was utterly lost now, in the usual whirl of love, and lust and passion and kissed him back, hard as his hand gently dropped between her legs and he felt her slick against the tips of his fingers as he gently coaxed at her clit, continuing until she was nothing short of a writhing mess clawing at his back, aching for him. They locked eyes as he took her left hand in his, and slowly worked into her, both moaning simultaneously at the sensation, Fliss’s eyes rolling back at the exquisite stretch inside. Frank began to move his hips slowly, deeply, his thrusts weren’t measured in the slightest despite the fact he was absolutely aching for her. He wanted to take it slow, end what had been an amazing trip in the same mood it had started in, absolute pure love.

His mouth moved back to Fliss’s neck, nipping gently at her skin and she let out low moan as he picked up the pace ever so slightly, his spare hand kept hold of her hip, keeping her as close to him as she could possibly be.

“Fuck, Frank, right there…” she groaned as he hit her spot and he smirked slightly, he loved the way she got like this with him, ever so demanding at times, such a far cry from the timid woman he had fallen for the previous year.

“Yeah?” he panted as she gave a soft cry, her body tensing underneath him “Good.” “So good…” she moaned, arching her back. His mouth found hers again and his hand slid from her hip to gently tease her nipple and she rolled her hips to grind up against him, changing the angle slightly causing him to go deeper.

“Lissy…” he panted as he drove into her deeply, slowly, and then again and again, his pace increasing ever so slightly. Every single sense Frank possessed was on fire and he broke the long, lazy kiss that they were sharing to stifle a moan against her cheek when he felt her clench around him, a tell-tale sign she was nearing her release. The sheets rustled underneath and around them both as his hips pushed up against hers, and Frank saw Fliss’ head tip back, her throat bared to him in utter bliss as she came hard, her moans soft and breathy into his ear. Frank picked up his pace slightly, chasing his own end as he pushed her through hers, and when he felt that snake in his belly beginning to unravel, he gave a low grunt which morphed into a gasp as he clung to Fliss, spilling himself into her, his hips slowing to a stop as he collapsed forward. Fliss gave a soft chuckle as her hands gently slid up his back and into his hair, as she moved and pressed a soft kiss to his head.

“I know I keep saying it but I really do fuckin’ love you Cowgirl.” he said, voice muffled as his face pressed into her neck.

Fliss gave a chuckle “I’ll never tire of hearing it Sailor. “

He moved to look at her, flashing her a grin before he caught her mouth in a sweet kiss. **** "You still not managed it?" Greg asked as they stood at the bar, waiting for their drinks. Frank sighed and glanced at Fliss who was sat with Bonnie in the booth, the pair of them sniggering at something. "Do you see a ring on her finger?" He looked at Greg. "No" "Well there's your answer." "What's the hold up, man?" Greg frowned. "Nothing has felt right." Frank sighed "she won’t want a huge fuss in front of people so that basically ruled out all of New York...bar one moment when I thought it was time, in front of the tree at Rockefeller...and then some douchebag went and beat me to it, proposing to his girl whilst we watched..." "You're over thinking it." Greg said, looking at Frank "Take a step back. When are the pair of you at your best? The time you enjoy most, I mean" "Honestly?" Frank shrugged "at night when Mary's gone to bed and we finally sit down and just watch TV or joke around." "Well there you go." Greg shrugged "What, at home?" Frank frowned "Why not?" Greg looked at him "the point isn't to be showy or flashy but to show her you wanna spend the rest of your life with her." Frank pondered this for a moment. Greg has a point. They were at their happiest doing the simple things, spending quiet time together, being fucking normal. Fliss loved it when they curled up and Frank would simply cuddle her close and kiss her head, easy signs of affection that she had craved all through her wreck of a marriage. And Frank loved it too, because it made him feel grounded, time for him to simply be Frank in his own right, the very thing he used to use his Friday night drinking sessions for. Now he could feel it every night, thanks to Lissy…

And then, suddenly an idea came to him, out of nowhere.

Oh, it was perfect! "Greg..." he smiled, slapping the man on the back "you are a genius." "Glad I could be of service." Greg smirked "This means I get best man duty, right?"

Frank smirked at him, shrugging, not giving anything away. His eyes flicked back to Fliss who had now stood up, Simon having returned to the table sliding in next to Bonnie. Frank’s eyes travelled up her bare legs, from her high-heels up to the short little pink playsuit she was wearing, which was printed with black palm trees and other patterns, the small straps settling on her tanned shoulders, the front showing him just enough cleavage. She was wearing a black butterfly necklace that she had bought in New York and her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in soft curls. Her brown eyes locked onto his and he smiled as he remembered the last Circle Of Truth Christmas outing the previous year, when he had told her he loved her for the first time. And here they were, now 5 days away from their second Christmas together.

“Hey beautiful” he smiled as she reached his side. His arm curled round her and he pressed a kiss to her cheek “You ok?” “Yeah, just thirsty.” she smiled. “Can I get a water as well as my gin please?”

“Sure…” he turned to look at the bar tender who was pulling their drinks together. Once he had attracted his attention and added a bottle of water to the order he turned back to her as Greg spoke up.

“Frank said you enjoyed New York.” “Oh, it was fantastic.” she smiled “Every bit as magical as I thought it was going to be.”

“Good, I’m glad you all had a good time.” Greg smiled “You deserved it after everything that went down.” “Yeah well, he’s banged up now. His brother is going to go down for Endangerment or whatever it is you call it, its’ done, it’s over.” Fliss smiled, “We got the rest of our lives ahead of us now.” “Well, if that doesn’t call for shots then I don’t know what does…” Greg smirked as the bar tender placed their drinks in front of them.

“No, Greg…” Fliss started to protest but Greg cut her off.

“Yes Greg!” he smirked, turning to the bar tender, “Can I get a bottle of Tequila pal and 8 glasses.” Fliss groaned “I’m teaching at 9 am!”

“Dumbass…” Greg looked at her and Frank gave a snort.

“I told you to switch them out…”

“I can’t!” she pouted “I already did for Boston and New York…” “Well…” Greg smirked as the bar tender set the bottle and glasses down in front of him “Looks like you’re doing it with a hangover honey.” “Fuck my life…” **** Fuck my life indeed. Fliss spent the following morning throwing up, groaning once more that she was never drinking tequila EVER again. Frank reminded her of how many times she had said that over the time he had known her and she’d simply let out a huge fake sob and thrown herself face down on the bed again declaring that she didn’t want to adult anymore as it sucked.

The days before Christmas passed in the usual chaos. Presents were wrapped and stashed under the tree, more drinks were had with Friends. Evelyn visited for a few days, which had actually almost pleased Frank a little. She wasn’t staying for Christmas, her arrangements having already been made, but she had hinted that maybe next year she could, to which Frank and Fliss had both agreed. She had been taken with Mary’s gift to her and had laughed out loud when Bill and Verity had presented her with a case of Malbec, the same Malbec she’d smashed a bottle of over John’s head. Her gifts to them both had been a substantial chunk of money, in the thousands, and when Frank had protested at the amount on the cheque she had waved it off as 8 years of owed presents. Mary’s was wrapped so it was placed under the tree for Christmas morning. Evelyn headed back to Boston on the morning of Christmas Eve, Frank and Mary driving her to the airport instead of her driver, where they had both bid her a Happy Christmas and waved her goodbye as she headed off to spend it with her friends in Newton.

After the final preparations were made Frank, Fliss and Mary collapsed onto the sofa for a Marathon of Christmas Films. Mary was, as usual, excited and the copious amounts of chocolate and candy she was shovelling down weren’t helping either, but what the hell, it was Christmas after all.

"You ok?" Frank glanced at Fliss as she sat on the other side of the couch. Love Actually was playing, the final film of the evening before Mary went to bed. Fliss, however didn't look like she was paying attention. "Huh?" She looked at him, blinking. "I said are you ok? You look like you were miles away"

“Yeah, sorry, I was errr…just running through things in my head, making sure nothing was forgotten.” Frank smiled. They were hosting Verity and Bill tomorrow as Steven and his family were at his wife’s parents for this year, flying out instead of the 28th to spend New Year’s with them all. Fliss had asked Frank if they could host, as she’d never had the chance to do that before and of course he had agreed, not least because of the excited look on her face when she had asked.

“The table is set, food and everything is ready to go…” he chuckled, looking at her “Just relax…”

He reached round Mary, his hand gently rubbing at Fliss’ back and she smiled at him, turning her attention to the TV.

20 minutes or so later the film finished and Mary jumped up, grabbing Frank’s hand to make him dance to God Only Knows as the final closing scenes played out. He smiled and picked her up, resting her on his hip as he twirled her round to the song, the pair of them laughing before he eventually dropped her down and told her it was bed time. She scooted off, Fred trotting behind her, his tail swishing as she skipped and Frank headed in about 5 minutes later to tuck her in, before he came back to the living room.

“She wants you to go and say goodnight.” he smiled,

Fliss nodded and stood up.

“You sure you’re ok?” Frank asked.

“Yeah, honestly, I’m just tired.” she assured him. Giving him a kiss she headed up the hall and Frank watched her go before he smiled to himself, and set about quickly putting the last touches to his plan.

She came back about 10 minutes later and he smiled at her as she walked into the room.

“OK, now she’s out of the way…I got something for you...” Frank smiled.

Fliss looked at him before she shook her head, chuckling a little “I got something for you too…Frank, I have-” “Me first.” Frank cut her off.

She looked at him for a second, his bright blue eyes were shining as he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine…” she smiled, “Ok, you first.” He grinned and then folded his arms “You gotta find it.” “What?”

“It’s hidden, on the tree, and you gotta find it.” Her face lit up as she gave a laugh “You are such a dork!” “Yeah, I know…” Narrowing her eyes playfully she moved to the tree, glancing at it. “Ok so it’s not very big then, seeing as I can’t see it straight away.” Frank shrugged as she continued her search.

“I haven’t put it high up, seeing as you’re a short ass…” “I’m perfectly average for a woman thank you.” “Trust me baby girl, nothing about you is average.” he winked and she let out a snort.

“Charmer.” she grinned, turning back to the tree.

“Ok, you’re miles off…” he said, and she moved to her right “Gettin’ warmer…warmer…ok, yep, nearly there…” Fliss continued to search, and then something caught her eye. There was something shiny handing from the nose of her Doe ornament. She stepped forward slightly, and when she realised what it was her right hand flew to her mouth. Frank’s breath caught in his throat as she spun to face him, her eyes wide.

"You, me and Mary have been hanging out together since August last year now...” he said, clearing his throat slightly “How do you feel about hanging with us forever?" He watched, holding his breath as Fliss' chest heaved with emotion as she looked at him, those brown eyes he could happily stare at all day were full of tears, the hand which had flown to her mouth in surprise was now shaking as it slid to the spot beneath her throat, that dip in her neck that he could nuzzle at forever. "I'll hang with you for as long as you'll have me..." she whispered, taking a deep breath. "Is that a yes?" Frank inhaled sharply and a watery laugh burst through her tears. "Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes!" Frank's face split into a huge grin "shit..." he sputtered before she threw herself into his arms and he lifted her up easily, her legs wrapping around his waist as he held her close, kissing her neck. She pulled back and placed a kiss to his lips, long and short pecks being shared as she laughed and he laughed, the pair of them simply lost in the moment until eventually he set her down and with a shaking hand he reached out to retrieve the ring from where it was hanging. Taking her left hand in his, with a deep breath he slipped the diamond onto her finger.

Fliss looked at it, admiring the way the delicate band sat underneath her knuckle, the beautiful diamond twinkling in the lights of the tree.

"Oh Frankie...it’s gorgeous..." she whispered, before she looked at him, taking his face in both his hands and pulling him down for a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He smiled, kissing her again before he pulled away, his hands linking behind her back.

"I err, got us some champagne." He smiled, "I know it was presumptive of me but figured we could have it tomorrow if you turned me down." Fliss looked up at him, blinking before she took a deep breath “First I need to get you…just wait here…” He released her from his hold and she turned and headed out of the room, Frank watched her go, blinking for a moment before he shrugged and headed to the fridge, the smile still plastered on his face. She said yes!

Not that he had doubted she would, not really, but there had always been that little bit of fright she may have done. But that was all gone now. As he popped the cork on the bottle he found himself thinking about how he would be doing that soon enough on his wedding day. He poured 2 glassed and headed into the living room with them wondering if maybe a late Autumn wedding next year would be nice, October perhaps when it started to cool off slightly. They could do the beach wedding she always wanted, hire a marquee... Lost in his thoughts completely he jumped a little when Fliss spoke his name and turned to look at her as she stood in front of him, the back of his thighs brushing against the sofa slightly. He noticed her hand was in her pocket, clutching something. Playfully he nodded towards it “I assume that’s not a spanner." He chuckled, referencing the joke they often shared and Fliss shook her head, biting her lip. "No it’s a bit bigger than that" With a shaky hand she pulled out a small, white stick of plastic and held it towards him. It took Frank a moment to understand what it was and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he looked at her, then it, then back again.

"You're...we're...no!." he stuttered, reaching out to take it from her. "I found out this morning." Fliss whispered, watching his reaction carefully "I suspected last week but thought it might all be down to stress and stuff but..." "How, I mean..." "I should have started a new pill packet when we went to Boston but I forgot to take it with me. I thought I'd be ok if I started as soon as I got back but..." "There's a baby in there?" Frank cut her off as he stumbled over his words, nodding to her stomach "Yeah" Fliss nodded. "You put it there." Frank's legs grew shaky and he dropped onto the sofa, staring down at the test in his hands.

2 blue lines. 2 blue lines that had just changed his world forever. "I'm sorry, I know this is sudden and I should have been more careful..." Fliss took a tentative step towards him and he reached out, his hands on either side of her hips, gently pulling her t-shirt up. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her belly, his forehead resting just above her navel. "I'm gonna be a dad." he pulled back, his eyes watering. "Frankie, you already are." Fliss said, her own tears once more springing forth. "I know you hate it when I say that about Mary but it's true." He looked at her, a dazed smile split his face into two as he pulled her onto his lap, where she straddled him, and he kissed her, hard, leaving her slightly breathless before he rest his forehead against hers. "Fuck, Lissy." he whispered, his eyes closed "You're cooking a little person..." She spluttered a laugh, nodding, her forehead brushing his as she did. "Was it made in Boston...is that the right word?" He pulled back to look at her and she laughed, brushing her hand through his fluffy hair as his gently reached out to rest against her stomach. "Yeah and most likely." "It's a little Boston Bean" he grinned and she laughed again, pressing her lips to his. "You're ok with it then? I know it's probably not what you would have planned but..." "Ok? Of course I'm ok!" He smiled "I love you and the thought of us making a little person that's half me, half you...fuck, it's amazing." She smiled and nodded, her voice a whisper "I know..."

"There is one problem." Franks said, his arms wrapping tightly around her. "What?" "You just ruined Christmas forever...because nothing is ever gonna live up to this ever again."

****** Fliss, Frank and Mary’s adventure continues in RIDING ON

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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101flavoursofweird · 4 years

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Rating the Parents of Rhythm Thief

I don’t know if I’ve talked about this before but parenting is such a key theme in Rhythm Thief.

SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE GAME AND THE BONUS EPISODES FOLLOWING THE GAME

Raphael, dog parent to Fondue

Raphael meets the cowardly Fondue (or “dog” as he’s called then) a year after his father disappeared. Raphael looks after Fondue for a few days, trying to find him a new owner, but he almost has to leave Fondue. He tells Fondue that he has his first job as Phantom R coming up and if he can’t pull it off, he won’t be coming back. So... Raphael was planning to leave his home if he failed. (Maybe he was going to search for his father...)

Raphael is shocked when Fondue saves him from the police and lets him stay at his apartment. (Even though Raphael’s apartment doesn’t allow pets...) Raphael knows first-hand what it’s like to be abandoned. Thankfully, Fondue doesn’t suffer the same fate! Raphael becomes a parent dog owner, he gains a partner in Fondue and neither of them lose their home.

9/10 (But Raphael’s still a kid himself)

Jean-François, former guardian to Marie

Marie has Jean-François acting (literally) as her guardian. J.F. acts worried when he hears Marie was attacked- by the organisation he works with. At the Opera House, he hopes Duchess Elizabeth will confirm Marie is her daughter. When Elizabeth denies this, Marie is so distraught and she runs off. J.F. just stands there like a lemon and he doesn’t go looking for her, even when Marie doesn’t come home afterwards. He helps kidnap Marie and then shoots Raphael on the Eiffel Tower. It’s revealed that J.F. was using Marie all along to get to the treasure. Later, when Raphael confronts him about breaking Marie’s heart, J.F. announces that it was worth it as long as he can achieve his ambitions. Also, tried to kill Raphael twice. Worst Parent Award by far goes to Jean-François.

-100/10 (Go away, evil British man pretending to be French!)

Duchess Elizabeth, Marie’s mother

In her diary, Elizabeth writes that the best day of her life was the day Marie was born. Unfortunately, Jean-François discovered Marie’s true heritage. Fearing for Marie’s safety and the Dragon Crown’s resurrection, Elizabeth gave Marie to the convent when Marie was an infant. Elizabeth also left her with the music for Moon Princess... which miiight have helped Jean-François to identify Marie. Whoops. Elizabeth must have been feeling sentimental and wanted to give Marie something to remember her by. Elizabeth doesn’t acknowledge Marie at the Paris Opera, but we can see how affected she is when Marie plays Moon Princess.

That scene when she turns her back on Marie and walks away must have felt very familiar to Raphael. Elizabeth has to pretend she has no interest in Marie so J.F. will leave them both alone. Elizabeth demands to know what J.F. would want, theoretically speaking, if he had found her daughter. “Money? Honor?”

Later, when Napoleon threatens Elizabeth’s life in front of Marie, Napoleon reveals that Elizabeth has been lying in order to protect Marie. (Even the evil emperor recognises this!) Elizabeth tries to keep the act up, insisting that she is nothing but a stranger to Marie. Marie decides to save her and plays the song anyway after hearing Elizabeth call her name in distress.

Then, above the Hanging Gardens, Elizabeth takes a literal bullet for Marie. Elizabeth reveals the truth to Marie and she calls Marie ‘Ma chère, Marie’ before passing out.

Fortunately, the pendant Elizabeth wore with young Marie’s picture saved her from the bullet. Raphael remarks that Elizabeth was Marie’s guardian angel.

After the Chevaliers have been defeated, in the final scene of the game, Elizabeth can be seen peacefully listening to Marie’s music at the opera house. In Marie’s bonus episode, she watches Marie at her examination to enter the conservatoire. She’s glad to hear Marie’s laughter and she encourages her to enjoy herself. She tells Marie to “play like you were playing for him”- Elizabeth approves of her future son in law.

8/10 (Guardian angel)

Inspector Vergier, Charlie’s father

In Vergier’s first scene, we see him sending in an army of roller-skating police officers to arrest Phantom R. Vergier takes his work very seriously.

At Paris Constabulary HQ, Raphael overhears Vergier talking to another officer about how he hasn’t been home in days. Apparently, Vergier has been on a certain case since his wife died. The other officer basically tells him, “GO HOME TO YOUR KID”.

At the Paris Opera, Raphael again overhears Vergier talking to his colleague. Vergier asks if Charlie has turned up yet. He knows about Charlie’s mission to hunt down Phantom R, but he considers her efforts an impediment to their investigation. Raphael picks up a family photo that Vergier dropped and decides to hang on to it. During his second fight with Charlie, Raph comments that Charlie is just like her father. Charlie snaps at him to “LEAVE HER FATHER OUT OF THIS!” (It’s not like she’s trying to prove her worth or anything- what gave you that idea?)

Raphael goes looking for Charlie after Marie gets captured. He talks to Vergier’s friend from university and learns that Charlie and Vergier just had some sort of argument. Also, the friend comments that Charlie is about Raphael’s age. So... Charlie’s 16-18, maybe. It’s not unheard of for a parent to leave a 16-18 home alone, but Charlie was left at home for DAYS??? Raphael finds Charlie at a cafe and asks her to return the photo to Vergier. Charlier huffs that she doesn’t want to see her father again, but then she reads the message her mother left on the photo.

During the battle below the Hanging Gardens, Charlie saves her father from a bunch of Chevaliers. He acknowledges that he protects Paris in memory of Charlie’s mother. Charlie reminds him that there’s no time like the present, and she announces that she’ll help him save the city. Vergier doesn’t refuse her offer.

In the final scene, Vergier and Charlie can be seen pursing Phantom R together.

Raphael’s trying to be polite and keep his voice down but these two are having a shouting match the middle of Marie’s performance!

There’s also Charlie’s bonus episode, where they fight off the last remnants (?) of the Chevaliers. Vergier announces that the case he was working on is officially closed. He’s realised that no matter how much he warns Charlie to stay away, she wouldn’t listen. He just asks her to stay where he can keep an eye on her.

7/10 (Some character development but please don’t forget to feed your child)

Isaac, Raphael’s father

Obviously, you’ve got Raphael and Isaac. The first chapter opens with dialogue of Raphael crying as Isaac leaves him. He left three years ago... when Raphael was fifteen. Raphael’s mother previously died in an accident, so Raphael was orphaned.

Raphael became Phantom R and chased after the mark his father left for him on the coin.

Raphael reveals to Marie that his father was an artist but he never got a big break. Isaac became a forgery artists, swapping his fake art pieces with their authentic counterparts. Raphael tries to fix his father’s crimes and hunt for the mark by returning the real art pieces.

Raphael thinks that he sees Isaac beneath Les Invalides and at the Palace of Versailles. He’s distressed and frustrated when he loses Isaac in the crowd. Isaac was in a hurry to escape...

During his final battle with Jean-François, Raphael learns that Isaac has been working with J.F. and the Chevaliers. Isaac made forgeries for J.F.’s organisation when Raphael was young and sickly. Raphael insists that he made those forgeries to pay the doctors. So, it does seem that Isaac initially joined the organisation for Raphael’s sake, but his intentions became warped over the years.

Raphael couldn’t believe that his father would fall in with the Chevaliers and Elizabeth was close friends with Isaac... once. Isaac couldn’t have shown any obvious signs of going to the dark side years ago.

In his final scene, Isaac discusses with the seemingly real emperor Napoleon that he wants to begin the next phase of their plan. He quietly warns Raphael to be ready for whatever that is.

2/10 (Too bad we didn’t get a sequel to learn about his true motivations)

Bonus Points:

Alfred the Butler

He will fight you if you threaten the Duchess or her daughter. He almost died trying to defend Elizabeth. He also encourages Marie, though he gets nervous for her too.

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

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Riding High Ch 25: Keep It Simple

Chapter Summary: The events of Boston behind them, Frank, Fliss and Mary look forward to Christmas…and Frank has a big surprise planned.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

Chapter Pairings: Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

And yes, I know it ain’t Christmas but…well, in my mind it should be Christmas every day!

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter Song: God Only Knows by the Beach Boys

If you should ever leave me, thought life would still go on, believe me, the world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me? God only knows what I’d be without you…

"Mary can you just hold on a second, please!" Frank sighed, grabbing the back of her coat to stop her shooting off into the crowd that streamed down the busy Manhattan sidewalk. "But Frank!" she turned and looked at him, her woollen hat jammed down over her ears "I just wanna see the stall!" "Yeah but you can't just run off!" He grumbled and besides him Fliss gave a chuckle. He turned to look at her "who gets so excited about damned wooden tree ornaments?" "Oh hush!" Fliss leaned up to give him a pack, her cold nose brushing his. In retaliation he pulled the front of her baby blue sparkly bobble hat down over her eye and she shoved him in the chest, laughing. "Fuck you!" "Chance would be a fine thing" he grumbled, taking Fliss’ hand as they headed after Mary. "Awww is that why you're grumpy?" Fliss grinned as they walked "Coz you haven't had any in nearly 3 days?" Frank pouted "No." "Liar..." "Ok, look...Frankie has needs..." he whined "I completely over looked the fact hanging out with an 8 year old in the room would be a cock block." "Always the shower..." Fliss teased and Frank snorted. "Yeah, right. Can you imagine? I give it 3 minutes before she came looking for us." "We go home tomorrow. I'll make it up to you then." Fliss grinned and he sighed. "What?" She laughed. "It’s just...you look so hot in all this winter clothing." Frank grinned. And he meant it. Seeing her wrapped up in a coat, hat and scarf had made her look all cute and cozy...and it had done inappropriate things to him for some odd reason. "Hmmm, you know most men get more turned on the less clothing their girls wear." She teased and he grinned. "Yeah, well, I'm not most men" She gave him a smile which he returned with a soft kiss as they stopped by the stall where Mary instantly dived into looking at the array of ornaments. After a few moments of looking she handed Frank one in the shape of a reindeer stag, and a doe for him and Fliss before selecting a robin for herself. "I think they're so pretty." She looked at the bird in her hand "I saw one at Evelyn's over thanks giving." "Ever heard the saying robins appear when loved ones are near?" Fliss asked. Mary shook her head. "No" "Well, I don't know about here but certainly in England we say it because there is an old belief by some people that a robin is a message from heaven, that a loved one is watching over you." "Do you believe that?" Mary looked at Fliss. Fliss hesitated "Well when my mum's dad died I was 20 and I remember getting up the morning after he died and there was a robin on the fence of the back garden. Bill told me it was my granddad Alex come to check I was ok." "Do you think it was? Really I mean?" "I dunno sweetheart." Fliss sighed "I'd like it to be true..." "Then you should believe it was." Mary said, looking at her "Because isn't that what faith is? Believing something you want to be true?" Fliss looked at Frank who smiled and gave a small shake of his head. She turned back to Mary, smiling softly as she dropped a hand to the back of her head. This kid was unbelievably wise, but with such an innocence behind it all. "Yeah, I suppose it is." Fliss nodded. "Do you think the robin I saw could have been my mom?" She asked, her eyes wide. Frank at that point stepped in, carefully picking an answer that was ambiguous so as not to say yes, but also not dampening her spirits. "If your mom could I'm sure she would come and see you, make sure you're ok." Mary gave a nod, before she turned back to the stall, her attention back on the ornaments. "We need a dog for Thor, and a cat for Fred oh...and a pony for Monty." "What about Cap and Heidi?" Fliss asked, moving to inspect the selection of decorations. "Oh, yeah!" "This is gonna bankrupt me." Frank grumbled, his hands on Fliss' hips, chin resting on her shoulder as he observed the two of them. "Scrooge" Fliss shot back with a smile "Do you think Verity and Bill will like this one?" Mary held up a snowman. "Absolutely" Fliss nodded. "And can I get one for Evelyn?" She asked, selecting a snowflake. Despite the fact that they were now well into the fifty buck range for fucking tree decorations, Frank couldn't help but want to smile at Marys face. She was so thoughtful, the purity behind it all was as usual humbling. So he nodded "Sure she will appreciate it." He smiled. He moved to lift her up so she could hand the ones they had picked over to the guy behind the counter who asked Mary what names she wanted on each one. As she told him, he allowed her to sit up on the edge of the little surface, held in place by Frank to watch as he burnt the names into each ornament before he bagged them up and she took them with a thanks. "Our first family tree stuff!" Mary grinned and Fliss smiled, bending down to give her a hug. They set back off towards the hotel, stopping by a burger joint for dinner before they dumped their bags and returned back out for their final evening in the City. Frank had loved every second of their trip, and so had Mary and Fliss. Seeing Mary's reaction to snow and the Christmas lights had been amazing, along with all the bands on street corners, people walking around dressed up. It was magical and he wasn't afraid to let his inner child come out to play either, as Fliss had just found out. "Whose idea was this again?" He asked as Mary was bouncing up and down in the queue. "Yours!" Fliss scoffed as he took Mary's hand in his right "I seem to recall the very visible horror on your face yesterday when I told you I'd never done it before..." "That’s because it's an abomination that someone who's 34 has never been ice skating." "I was a professional athlete." She shrugged "I was banned from doing anything deemed dangerous " Frank looked at her "What do they consider more dangerous than flying a half tonne animal almost 2 meters into the air?" "Bungee jumping, sky diving, jet skiing, water skiing, ice skating.." Fliss shrugged "just to name 5" Frank shook his head as the queue shuffled forward a little. It wasn't too long now, luckily they had timed it right by arriving 20 minutes or so before the next lot of General Admission to the famous Rockefeller rink opened so there weren't too many people ahead. After another 10 minutes they got to the front and Frank nudged Fliss out of the way as she tried to pay. She scowled at him and he simply rolled his eyes and handed his card over. It wasn't cheap but then, he was in New York. What was? Together they headed onto the ice. Frank, having done it a few times as a kid found his legs fairly quickly and didn't stop himself laughing as Mary's completely went from under her and she landed with a thump on her ass. "Here..." he chuckled, offering her his hand. He pulled her up and moved her in front of him. "Give me your hands..." Mary extended her arms to the side and he took her mitten clad hands in his, holding her in front of him. Fliss was moving tentatively behind him, using the sides for support a little. "Ok slide your right foot forward, like on your roller skates..." Frank said. Mary did as she was told "now left...right...left...right..." He continued his chanting and glanced over his shoulder to see Fliss was concentrating on her feet, her tongue poking out slightly. "You good?" "Yup." She said, raising her hand to give him a thumbs up before she skidded slightly and went down in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a laugh he gently pivoted Mary so she could hold onto the side and offered Fliss his hand. Pulling her up into his arms he held her steady for a moment whilst her laughing subsided. He watched her for a second, her face creasing up into those adorable dimples, eyes crinkled so much they were almost shut and her shoulders shook with the force of her giggles. "I fuckin' love you..." he grinned and she smiled at him. "Back at ya sailor" After another few laps Mary and Fliss had managed to get the hand of it which meant Frank could leave them a little bit as he went off for what he called a proper skate. The girls watched calling him a show off as he crossed his feet and turned, skating backwards a little. Both of them debated sabotaging him and tripping him up but they decided not to, instead they simply pretended they didn't know him, resulting in him grabbing Fliss from behind just beneath the large tree, and spinning her round to face him. "Can I help you?" She teased and he gave a snort. "Yeah, you can... Mary?" He called to her where she was trying to perfect a turn and failing as she almost stumbled again. She looked up and headed over. "Can you take our photo?" "Only if you're gonna kiss..." she replied, making smooching noises. "Well we can’t disappoint her..." Frank shrugged and Fliss grinned, her smile turning into a shriek as Frank quickly grabbed her hips before he took one hand, keeping the other round her back and dipped her so she was bending backwards, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. She laughed against his mouth as he gave her a wink, before kissing her a little deeper and then setting her upright, his eyes boring into hers which were shining in the Christmas lights surrounding the rink. "Oh that was great!" Mary howled and he turned to face her as she handed his phone back. Frank checked the photo and had to smile, it was a dammed good shot. He showed it to Fliss and she beamed. "A framer?" She asked. "A framer." He agreed. It took them ages to get Mary to finally leave the rink. Even a bribe of hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies wasn't doing it. Eventually Frank put his foot down and told her it was time to go as it was almost 9pm and they still had that tree to go see before they headed to Central Park for one last walk in the lights. After handing their skates back and retrieving their belongings from the lockers they followed the path to the tree. As they round the corner Mary gasped. "It's huge!" She turned to look at Frank and Fliss, her eyes wide "Oh my God!" Frank smiled kissed Fliss' cheek as Mary walked slightly ahead of them down the walkway that was flanked with smaller trees and the famous lit up trumpeting angels . As they caught her up he slipped his spare hand in his pocket, his fingers curling round the small, leather box inside. The damned thing had been burning a hole in his pocket since he had bought it in Boston just after Thanksgiving. Fliss, Verity and Bill had all stayed for a very pleasant week rounded off with a damned good proper Thanksgiving dinner and the three of them had flown home on the Friday, as Fliss was starting to stress about her business. He and Mary followed on the Sunday after she had been given the all clear to fly after a week’s check up at the Hospital. On his spare afternoon, he'd taken a trip into the city with one goal, and it had been surprisingly easy. The first jeweller he has walked into had a perfect ring, and despite the fact he had visited several others none of them caught his eye like that. So he had gone back and asked the assistant for a closer look. It wasn't a huge rock, white gold and emerald cut with in a pave setting, but everything about it had screamed Fliss. It was delicate and feminine but with a wonderful sparkle just like her. He knew that sounded so lame when he had told the assistant but she has just smiled and told him that if he had that much conviction, it must be right. He had been lost when she asked him what size, but in a sudden inspiration he had remembered the Pandora ring he had bought her when he had gotten his first new pay check as supervisor. He mentioned this to the assistant who beamed and said she could easily size it from that by using a simple conversion chart and told him to come back the following day. His sudden good spirit had fallen as he explained he couldn't do and asked her to see if here was anything she could do, even contemplating taking it and having it sizes back in Florida. But, after the shitty run of events over the last week, his luck was in after she returned 5 minutes later with a slip of paper, informing him it would be ready by the end of the day. When he had told Mary he was going to ask Fliss to marry him, she'd been so excited. She'd asked when, where and when he said he didn’t know she'd given him the most exasperated look on the planet. The only one of his friend who he had confided in, Greg, hadn’t been much help either, simply telling him to do it in a way that meant something to them both. Simply put he just hadn't a fucking clue. He had agonized over how to pop the question. On the boat? Or maybe a sunset on their favourite spot at St Pete's beach? Did he wait for New York? As such, Frank had taken to carrying the ring around with him, waiting for that moment when it felt right. So far it hadn't happened at home and as it stood New York wasn’t faring any better. He had thought about it at the top of the Empire state, but it had been too busy. Then there was a moment in Central Park after they had been snowman building that might have worked...until Fliss had nailed him in the face with a snowball. So they'd had a snowball fight instead. Then when walking over Brooklyn Bridge, the skyline behind them… then when they walked back to the Hotel after seeing the Lion King on Broadway, going the long way round to see the display in Macy's window all lit up...and then that moment before when Mary had taken a picture of them kissing under the tree on the ice rink... but none of it felt right. It didn't feel like the moment for them. But now something stirred in his gut. This could be it. It wasn't too busy, the place was gorgeous, right in front of the tree Fliss had been so desperate to see... Ok Adler, you can do this. Taking a deep breath he pulled the box from his pocket when he heard Mary give a squeal. "Oh...wow! Frankie look..." Fliss' voice was a whisper and she nudged him, pointing to the base of the tree. He followed her gaze to see a blonde haired man down on one knee, presenting a ring to a dark haired woman who had her hands clasped over her mouth. Frank slipped the box back into his pocket and stared at the man as he placed the ring onto his now fiancés finger and did his best to look like he cared when Fliss let out a soft "Awwww" The man looked around excitedly, his eyes falling on the three of them before he asked Frank if he or Fliss would mind taking a photo for them. "Course not buddy, congratulations." Frank smiled. Fucking prick... ***** "It was AMAZING!" Mary gushed to Verity as they walked to the car, Fliss' parents having come to pick them up from the airport. "we saw so much stuff but nowhere near all of it but Frank said we could go back next year in the summer maybe and do a bit more." "Looks like someone else had a good time too." Bill smiled, nodding to Fliss who let out a loud yawn. Frank chuckled "She was up all night, I told her not to have more food so close to bed time." "I wanted a hot dog and a pretzel." Fliss mumbled, "Besides, it's nothing to do with the food...we did a lot of walking." Bill gave a snort "You ride horses for a living, you should be fit enough to walk round New York" "I probably skated about 4 miles too..." Fliss said looking at Mary "Someone wouldn't come off the ice rink" "You been sleeping ok otherwise?" Verity looked at her "I'm fine mum." She smiled "No anxiety?" 'V, she said she's fine so leave it" Bill said gently and Fliss shot a grateful look at her dad. She knew her mum was only concerned but she was fed up of assuring people she was fine. After the attack from John she had suffered a bout of delayed shock which had manifested in a few panic attacks, nightmares, and restlessness at night and on one occasion nausea. Luckily Frank had been brilliant at keeping calm when she had an episode, helping her work through it and the last incident she had suffered had been over a week ago. Once they were all in the car, Frank took the passenger seat after Verity offered it to him, Mary continued to chat all the drive home about New York, Fliss and Frank butting in here and there. They arrived home little after 30 minutes later and Fliss headed up the steps with Mary, Thor almost sending the pair of them flying when they opened the door. "Oh puppy I missed you!" Fliss smiled as she gave him plenty of attention and he kept licking her face, whining and emitting quiet little barks. "Did you miss me? Did you?" "Yerress" Frank did his best Scooby Doo impression as he walked past and Fliss let out a laugh, as she stood up and headed into the living room behind Mary, bumping into the girl as she stopped dead, giving a squeal as she saw the Christmas Tree in the corner. "Mum, Dad?" Fliss called, smiling "I take it you did this?" Frank appeared behind them both, smiling as Fliss and Mary exchanged a glance before they all turned to Bill and Verity who were stood in the doorway. "Well we know how much you like to get your tree up as early as you can and, well we were picking one up for ourselves so we got you one. You don’t mind do you?" Verity, looked at Fliss then Frank. "No, of course not!" Fliss grinned. "Saved me a job." Frank nodded "Thanks guys." "Can we decorate it tonight?" Mary asked "Pleeeeeeeaaaasssseee Frank!" Frank glanced at his watch before giving a sigh, he knew she wouldn't go to bed if he said no anyway so what was the point? Plus she was at the University tomorrow which didn’t start until 10 so... "Ok, but if you so much as grumble tomorrow morning when I get you up you'll be in deep trouble." He looked at her sternly as she stooped to pick Fred up. "Cross my heart, hope to die, we all know Fred's got one eye..." she chanted off, nodding. "We brought your box of decorations from the annex." Verity smiled at Fliss, nodding to the box on the floor. "We thought you could pick what you want to keep now you're combining."

“Speaking of decorations…” Frank said, looking at Mary.

“Fliss said you wouldn’t mind the names Mary wanted on them.” Frank said, watching carefully.

“Of course we don’t mind!” Bill smiled, picking Mary up to give her a hug “We are Nanny V and Poppa B ain’t that right kiddo?” “Yep!” she grinned, hugging him.

“We’ll save it to hang tomorrow when you come over after school.” Verity said as Bill set Mary on the floor and she hugged her tightly.

He had just about managed it when Thor came over to inspect what he was doing, and dropped straight onto his back on top of the string.

“Frank got me this for my first Christmas.” Mary said, hanging a red bauble which had her name on it. “The glitter has all fallen off it now.”

“We can add more if you want.” Fliss looked at her and Mary shrugged.

“Best Tree ever.” she smiled.

“Yeah, and now it’s time for the best bed ever…” he looked at her.

“Seriously?” Mary complained

“No moaning, remember?” Frank instructed her. “That was in the morning.”

“I’ll be in in a second.” Frank shot after her, watching as she headed down to the hallway. He turned back to Fliss who was watching the tree, a smile on her face.

“Not exactly up to Macey’s standards…” Frank chuckled and she shook her head.

“I love it.” “It looks like an Elf threw up on it.”

“No beer.” “You want me to wait in bed.” “Yes I do.” he nodded “Go, I’ll let Thor out and lock up.”

“I like your ass.” he muttered. “I like yours too” she said back, “And your arms”

He laughed and pulled back to look down at her as her fingers trailed up his biceps. “My arms?”

“I know I keep saying it but I really do fuckin’ love you Cowgirl.” he said, voice muffled as his face pressed into her neck.

Fliss gave a chuckle “I’ll never tire of hearing it Sailor. “

And then, suddenly an idea came to him, out of nowhere.

Oh, it was perfect! "Greg..." he smiled, slapping the man on the back "you are a genius." "Glad I could be of service." Greg smirked "This means I get best man duty, right?"

“Frank said you enjoyed New York.” “Oh, it was fantastic.” she smiled “Every bit as magical as I thought it was going to be.”

“No, Greg…” Fliss started to protest but Greg cut her off.

“Yes Greg!” he smirked, turning to the bar tender, “Can I get a bottle of Tequila pal and 8 glasses.” Fliss groaned “I’m teaching at 9 am!”

“Dumbass…” Greg looked at her and Frank gave a snort.

“I told you to switch them out…”

“The table is set, food and everything is ready to go…” he chuckled, looking at her “Just relax…”

He reached round Mary, his hand gently rubbing at Fliss’ back and she smiled at him, turning her attention to the TV.

“She wants you to go and say goodnight.” he smiled,

Fliss nodded and stood up.

“You sure you’re ok?” Frank asked.

She came back about 10 minutes later and he smiled at her as she walked into the room.

“OK, now she’s out of the way…I got something for you...” Frank smiled.

Fliss looked at him before she shook her head, chuckling a little “I got something for you too…Frank, I have-” “Me first.” Frank cut her off.

She looked at him for a second, his bright blue eyes were shining as he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine…” she smiled, “Ok, you first.” He grinned and then folded his arms “You gotta find it.” “What?”

“Charmer.” she grinned, turning back to the tree.

Fliss looked at it, admiring the way the delicate band sat underneath her knuckle, the beautiful diamond twinkling in the lights of the tree.

"Oh Frankie...it’s gorgeous..." she whispered, before she looked at him, taking his face in both his hands and pulling him down for a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He smiled, kissing her again before he pulled away, his hands linking behind her back.

Not that he had doubted she would, not really, but there had always been that little bit of fright she may have done. But that was all gone now. As he popped the cork on the bottle he found himself thinking about how he would be doing that soon enough on his wedding day. He poured 2 glassed and headed into the living room with them wondering if maybe a late Autumn wedding next year would be nice, October perhaps when it started to cool off slightly. They could do the beach wedding she always wanted, hire a marquee... Lost in his thoughts completely he jumped a little when Fliss spoke his name and turned to look at her as she stood in front of him, the back of his thighs brushing against the sofa slightly. He noticed her hand was in her pocket, clutching something. Playfully he nodded towards it “I assume that’s not a spanner." He chuckled, referencing the joke they often shared and Fliss shook her head, biting her lip. "No...it’s...a bit bigger than that" With a shaky hand she pulled out a small, white stick of plastic and held it towards him. It took Frank a moment to understand what it was and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he looked at her, then it, then back again.

"You're...we're...no...that's..." he stuttered, reaching out to take it from her. "I found out this morning." Fliss whispered, watching hair reaction carefully "I suspected last week but thought it might all be down to stress and stuff but..." "How, I mean..." "I should have started a new pill packet when we went to Boston but I forgot to take it with me. I thought I'd be ok if I started as soon as I got back but..." "There's a baby in there?" Frank cut her off as he stumbled over his words, nodding to her stomach "Yeah" Fliss nodded. "You put it there." Frank's legs grew shaky and he dropped onto the sofa, staring down at the test in his hands.

2 blue lines.

2 blue lines that had just changed his world forever. "I'm sorry, I know this is sudden and I should have been more careful..." Fliss took a tentative step towards him and he reached out, his hands on either side of her hips, gently pulling her t-shirt up. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to her belly, his forehead resting just above her navel. "I'm gonna be a dad..." he said, pulling back, his eyes watering. "Frankie, you already are..." Fliss said, her own tears once more springing forth. "I know you hate it when I say that about Mary but it's true." He looked at her, a dazed smile split his face into two as he pulled her onto his lap, where she straddled him, and he kissed her, hard, leaving her slightly breathless before he rest his forehead against hers. "Fuck, Lissy..." he whispered, his eyes closed "You're cooking a little person..." She spluttered a laugh, nodding, her forehead brushing his as she did. "Was it made in Boston...is that the right word?" He pulled back to look at her and she laughed, brushing her hand through his fluffy hair as his gently reached out to rest against her stomach. "Yeah and most likely." "It's a little Boston Bean" he grinned and she laughed again, pressing her lips to his. "You're ok with it then? I know it's probably not what you would have planned but..." "Ok? Of course I'm ok!" He smiled "I love you and the thought of us making a little person that's half me, half you...fuck, it's amazing." She smiled and nodded, her voice a whisper "I know..."

"There is one problem." Franks said, his arms wrapping tightly around her. "What?" "You just ruined Christmas forever...because nothing is ever gonna live up to this ever again."

#riding high #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

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Movie Review: Birds of Prey (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a week after the movie airs worldwide, so if you have not yet seen the movie do not read on until you have.

Characters:

Harley Quinn:

This is most definitely Margot Robbie’s signature role. Just like Johnny Depp has Jack Sparrow and Gal Gadot has Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn and I am not just saying that because she’s the only cinematic version we have.

I really enjoyed the “Galentine’s” movie angle as this movie was released around the traditionally loved-up holiday and Galentine’s is an anti-approach to it. But showing how Harley bounced back after being dumped by the Joker with the traditional break-up tropes of a bad haircut, partying, drinking and generally hitting self destruct was a lot of fun, particularly from Harley’s perspective.

Also the link with her roller derby hobby at the start of the movie showing how she’s moved on to the end of the movie when she uses her roller derby skills in a positive way was really great, and one of the few things I really like about her comics redesign.

As I said in my non-spoiler review, I thought Margot Robbie’s comedy as Harley Quinn had greatly improved from Suicide Squad to here, whether or not that’s better writers or Robbie’s own performance I don’t know. But Margot Robbie, to be fair to her, is funny when given the right material. Just look at how she delivered Brad Pitt’s acceptance speech at the BAFTAs.

But she had a lot of great one-liners and even character moments where it was just physical acting or face acting that just make me laugh every time I watch the movie, and I so far have seen it three times.

My favourite funny lines from her are “Run piggy run!” when she’s gunning down the GCPD officers with glitter rounds, “Does she have to keep running?!” when trying to chase Cassandra through the evidence room while also battling with the mercenaries looking to claim Sionis’ bounty, and when she is explaining why the main women of the movie need to team-up in the most realistic way possible ending with “...so unless we all want to die extremely painful deaths and let Roman go finger fondling around the kid’s intestinal track...”.

In terms of her silent comedy, I loved when she ran for the truck she used to blow up Ace Chemicals, Margot Robbie is a good drunk actor. The way she ran with her arms out but then momentarily stopped seeing the actual driver before continuing anyway, I’m cracking up now just thinking about it.

Also whenever she came across someone who was after her or she had an idea, the way she would sign or look confused or have her trademark devilish grin was fantastic.

In regards to her character development, I am beyond thrilled that they let Harley be Harleen in this movie.

During Suicide Squad she had one or two moments where she did analyse the team and especially in the extended cut she went through the group.

Here though right from the start with Roman in his club she lays out his psyche in front of him and in turn I believe throughout the movie analyses all the main players with the exception of Zsasz.

It did weigh in to the comedy but the fact she had an analysis for everyone so unique to them; Sionis with his insecurities, Canary being a harlequin of sorts, Montoya being stuck in the past, Huntress and her childhood trauma. It was all superb and exactly what I want from Harley.

Even psychoanalysing herself when explaining herself to Cassandra, how she was a psychologist working at Arkham before falling in love with her patient and helping him escape, then being arrested herself and becoming a member of the Suicide Squad, but escaping before being dumped. Serious and professional Harley is just as important to me as the wacky Harlequin of Chaos.

Also the fact she is still a dangerous character both with her actions and unhinged mind. She is a very calculating individual and that’s again a lot to do with her psychological background.

When she manages to save her skin (literally) with Black Mask by telling him she can get his diamond back from Cassandra Cain, the fact she’s clearly hesitant from just turning her over and simply wants the diamond, you can see the frustration in her when Cassandra originally refuses to hand it over before admitting she ate it.

Speaking of what I want to see from my Harley, her action sequences were so good. Harley is an acrobatic character and while we saw shades of that in Suicide Squad, here not only was she doing kicks and flips, but the way she used that baseball bat and her roller skates was everything for me.

Yes Harley with a mallet and a form of firearm will always be Harley, but this is old-school Harley and it works so well.

While I do think Margot Robbie’s storytelling style could be considered all over the place, in the context of Harley Quinn it is such a good narrative because Harley’s mind is all over the place.

I love me a cute animal sidekick and, while neither animals in this movie are cute (or real), I thought Bruce the Hyena was a great addition despite not really doing anything. If you’ve seen him in the trailers you’ve seen him in the movie.

I am hoping that some day soon they could afford to render two hyenas so we can finally get Bud and Lou on the big screen because Harley with her hyenas is such a great partnership.

Harley with a beaver on the other hand...I am just glad it wasn’t played up and used in cheap inuendos. It is slightly annoying that when her apartment was blown up, she had to save the beaver and even at the end of the movie, once it was revealed that Bruce was safe, the beaver was also there. I just don’t get the fascination with it.

Black Canary:

Jurnee Smolett-Bell, as I said in my non-spoiler review, is the breakout star of this movie for me. I know Black Canary quite well thanks to Injustice 2, the Arrowverse and even some animated properties, but seeing her in a more realistic setting rather than the suited up version was very refreshing.

Even the smaller moments for Dinah worked really well thanks to Smolett-Bell’s acting. For example, when that one guy roufees Harley and tries abducting her, the look on Dinah’s face as she’s deciding whether or not to get involved or not was really great.

Giving Black Canary some good action sequences was also the right thing to do because that’s partly what Canary is known for. Not only did she have some great kicks but it was just her attitude and her bravado about how she engaged in her fight choreography.

Also allowing her to sing, I haven’t talked about the music in this movie because while I do love some of the songs used here it wasn’t a lot to rave about, “Man’s World” may be slightly too on the nose for this movie but Smolett-Bell delivered it very well.

And let’s not forget the other way her voice was used, we have our Canary Cry and I am thrilled...mostly. Having it used once at the end of the movie and that’s it does seem like a bit of a waste, but it does make sense with in the context of this movie.

Black Canary is the only metahuman in this movie and on the team and so if she used her power all the time there would be no need for Huntress or even Harley.

However, the fact she fainted after using it once I found interesting. I am not taking the same approach as some by saying it was stupid because I feel the way Dinah’s story is told in this movie that she may not use it a lot and so she may not be vocally trained or durable enough to sustain.

On that note, the nod to Dinah’s mother, aka the original Black Canary, originally being a vigilante with the same Canary Cry as Dinah I also felt played into Dinah’s character. She knows what her mother was like and the fact she died, so of course she didn’t want that life and so didn’t use her power which is why it’s so overwhelming for her.

I do wish her outfits had been more Black Canary-esk. I would have loved more fishnets and definitely a leather jacket rather than that weird disco suit jacket she had on for a lot of the movie.

However, the gold trousers and matching boots were fabulous.

Black Mask:

Ewan McGregor can do no wrong for me really, there is just such a charm and charisma about the actor that I can’t help but like him in everything he is in.

That being said, I will say I know nothing about Black Mask from the comics other than he is a psychologically damaged crime lord. I do not believe he is this campy but I am sorry it works for the movie.

I did like how the movie played up Black Mask’s insecurities which Harley diagnosed at the start of the movie. When that one woman was laughing and he thought it was at him so decided to humiliate her, then later on when Zsasz revealed that Dinah betrayed him and he just flipped.

I’m not entirely sure if Black Mask is this misogynistic in the comics but it seems to be that every woman in this movie was at his mercy. At the start of the movie he clearly had a begrudging relationship with Harley because of her association with The Joker, however, after it was revealed that she had been dumped it seemed like he wanted her but then it’s revealed he just wants to kill her.

Bottom line, Roman Sionis was definitely a dangerous individual and Ewan McGregor played that brilliantly, but there was also a campy and somewhat sadistically comedic edge to him which gave way to a rather brilliant DC villain.

However, the very fact that his tenure in the DCEU is short-lived given that he was literally blown up at the end of the movie, it is sad that we will never see him going forward.

Also on the subject of his actual mask, I know it’s supposed to be welded to his face or something, I’m kind of glad it wasn’t but do wish we had seen it more throughout the movie. Also I feel it would have popped more with the white suit rather than the black, just saying.

Huntress:

While Mary Elizabeth Winstead was a great choice for Huntress here, I do feel that the movie missed a trick and a way to bring other strong female characters into the movie.

Alright so the movie honours Helena’s origins of being the daughter of a crime boss whose entire family is murdered and so she trains to become an assassin and comes to Gotham seeking vengeance.

However, how great would it have been if, rather than Sicily, if she was trained by either the League of Assassins or even Lady Shiva herself.

I know that this is more of a Cassandra Cain origin, which they still didn’t do, but it would have been a great way to tie-in these characters and also show a bond between Helena and Cassandra being raised by the same woman maybe.

Then also, if Black Canary and Huntress do get their own spin-off, Lady Shiva could come in as an antagonist and it would see Huntress going up against her old mentor.

I do think that Winstead did a good job with what she had, I am hoping that Huntress is meant to be socially awkward because that’s definitely the vibes I got from her.

I appreciated her tracksuit attire because Gotham is meant to be in New Jersey and it’s a very gangster Jersey attire.

I hated her last outfit though right at the end, loved the mask but that actual outfit was hideous.

I do see a future for Huntress going forward which is great, I’m not as disappointed with the character as I thought I would be.

Victor Zsasz:

This was an interesting conundrum of a character for me because, like the other two left on this list, if you don’t read the comics or watch the TV shows with these characters in, you’re not going to know who Victor Zsasz from this movie.

I will say, having seen the actor’s transformation from how he normally looks to his Zsasz look, it is a very impressive change and does fit in with the Suicide Squad level changes made to the characters.

Unfortunately though this is where the impressiveness stops. Yes, Zsasz is an assassin and I did like how they confirmed that he works for various employers, despite the fact it seems that the crime boss who had the Bertinellis killed was in fact working for or with Sionis so was Zsasz just on loan?

But the misogyny of the character was so cringe-worthy and at times unnecessary that it actually makes me side with the fans who put misogyny as this movie’s biggest problem, despite knowing logically that is not strictly true but I do accept it is one of the big problems.

For instance, it is implied that Zsasz only cuts himself to tally the number of women he’s “set free” as opposed to everyone he kills...that is not how Victor Zsasz is supposed to operate. He gives himself a point for every person he kills, that’s what makes him such a terrifying and grotesque adversary.

Okay so I know Anthony Carrigan on Gotham also didn’t go deep into that side of the character, but they didn’t have that Zsasz single out women either.

Also, when he paralysed Harley with that dart and then was effectively playing with her while she was unresponsive...I get she was still aware but even so where I thought that scene was going to go was both unnecessary and only added to why fans were laughing when Harley started repeatedly stabbing Zsasz with that same dart despite him already being dead.

I did like the subtle LGBT representation they tried to showcase with him and Sionis, because even if Sionis wasn’t reciprocating, this was a case of one guy crushing hard on another and feeling he knew what was best and wanting to protect him. That I liked and they played that rather well in my opinion.

But overall, I just didn’t feel that threatened by a supervillain who is essentially the living embodiment of torture porn. I know he cut off people’s faces and had visible scars, but there wasn’t a lot of anything else to make me believe this was the same Victor Zsasz that can easily inspire nightmares just by looking at him.

Cassandra Cain:

I’m just going to put this out there, I don’t know that much about Cassandra Cain. From what I have been told, she was someone who became Batgirl, I know in Young Justice she is in it as Orphan despite I don’t think ever speaking or having her real name revealed, and I know her mother is Lady Shiva.

Which brings me back to a potential storyline going forward for a Black Canary/Huntress TV series to feature Lady Shiva which could also include the return of Cassandra Cain...because I don’t think we need to see her again in the movies.

It is very harsh to judge a child actress, but much like Zsasz honestly if you are unfamiliar with Cassandra Cain as I am you would not really have much takeaway from the character based on this movie.

I also recall there being reports that Margot Robbie stole Cassandra Cain from the upcoming Suicide Squad as a plot point...but now I want to know what the original plan was for Cassandra Cain in The Suicide Squad and if James Gunn would have handled her better.

There just wasn’t a lot of depth to her character. She had a broken arm, potentially from her foster parents, but other than that she was just so angry all the time. She tried being sassy particularly with Harley but it fell flat.

Then in the climactic battle, she is the girl everyone is after to either kill or protect, but in that fun-house scene, as cool as the action was, Cassandra was essentially a hot potato going from character to character and it reminded me a lot of The Jungle Book when Baloo and Bagheera were trying to keep Mowgli away from King Louis and the monkeys.

I don’t really see the point of Harley having an apprentice either, I like the idea that she’s a free agent with no ties. Now that the Birds of Prey are formed she can float between helping them out and doing her own thing or going on another Suicide mission but the point is she rides solo...how are we going to explain where Cassandra is in The Suicide Squad?

Renee Montoya:

I continuously keep calling Rosie Perez’s character Maggie Sawyer because, in my opinion, this is who she is most like, not Renee Montoya.

Renee is young, determined and the woman who can stand alongside Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock. She comes from the same origin as Harley Quinn which is Batman: The Animated Series. Yet so far the only incarnation to get her right outside of that has been Batman: Bad Blood where she had a minor appearance as Batwoman’s love interest...which is actually supposed to be Maggie Sawyer.

I said how Cassandra was played as angry, Renee was simply one of these rather aggressive soccer mom characters, especially in that final battle.

She had her funny moments and I do understand where the movie was coming from in trying to show how she was hard done by because of her male colleagues always stealing her glory, but this is a character who again led GCPD missions when Gordon and Bullock were detained in the past, yet I am not getting that essence from this character.

Also Renee, like Maggie Sawyer, is an LGBT character, but while her ex-girlfriend was shown here, if it wasn’t for Harley narrating that fact you would not know they had that history.

I don’t understand why she also became a founding member of the Birds of Prey, I get that in the comics she has been a liaison between them and the GCPD, but to actually quit her job and fight alongside Black Canary and Huntress? There is a third member needed in that line-up but Renee Montoya is not it.

DCEU Connections:

I will keep calling this universe the DC Extended Universe because until DC itself makes up its mind I am going to stick to what I know.

So in the wider scope of the DCEU, this movie definitely is a follow-up to Suicide Squad, not only because of Margot Robbie’s Harley and the flashbacks we saw of her diving into the acid vat from Ace Chemicals, but also the cheeky Easter-Egg of Captain Boomerang’s wanted poster at the GCPD.

I don’t understand why Captain Boomerang is wanted by the GCPD particularly when he is supposed to be a Flash rogue but I just loved seeing Jai Courtney getting some love.

Also, when the women are suiting up to fight Black Mask and his army, we see Black Canary equip herself with Harley’s Good Night bat from Suicide Squad but also Renee pick up Harley’s “Daddy’s Little Monster” shirt from said movie which Harley takes back as “sentimental value”. I love little connections like that.

In terms of where this movie could branch out to, again I do see a Black Canary/Huntress series in the future maybe including Cassandra Cain and Renee Montoya as guest characters, but movie-wise aside from Harley returning, I don’t see any of this lot coming back.

Also, despite Arrow severely screwing this over, the Black Canary/Green Arrow relationship I could see happen in a TV series but the way they have developed this version of the character I do not see Dinah needing an Emerald Archer in her life.

Overall I rate the movie a solid 7/10, I know I rated Suicide Squad the same and have said this was a better movie, but with everything that DC is pushing recently like Wonder Woman and Aquaman I expected something at that level rather than Shazam! level. Maybe if we got a Gotham City Sirens movie the mark would be higher.

So that’s my review of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.

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thisguyatthemovies · 4 years

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Why so quirky?

It took more than 14 years to get around to it, but the other night I watched the 2005 Cameron Crowe train wreck “Elizabethtown,” a film that sometimes shows up on Worst Movie Ever lists. It’s bad, but its “worst” status is more about disappointment, given the writer-director’s previous track record {“Say Anything…,” “Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”). Still, did I mention it’s bad? A ridiculous premise, plot lines that go nowhere, obvious and heavy-handed symbolism, multiple and sickeningly sweet (and annoying) “meet cutes” and quite possibly some of the worst casting in a major motion picture ever all add up to a movie that deserves much criticism.

“Elizabethtown” also is notorious for inspiring the term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” (or MPDG). The phrase usually is credited to Nathan Rabin, who wrote a piece about the movie, “The Bataan Death March of Whimsy Case File #1: ‘Elizabethtown,’” for AV/Film nearly 15 months after its release. In it, he describes Kirsten Dunst’s character, Claire, the inexplicably bubbly love interest of suicidal-but-handsome protagonist Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), as the embodiment of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Rabin describes the type as such:

“The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”

By that definition, applied retroactively, Dunst’s Claire isn’t the first MPDG in movie history (some include Katharine Hepburn’s early roles on MPDG lists), nor is she even the best example of one (think Natalie Portman in “Garden State,” or Zooey Deschanel in “Yes Man” or the TV show “New Girl”). And the term, which Rabin reportedly now regrets coining, has become better defined with attributes that don’t necessarily fit Claire, even though she will forever be considered the epitome of the trope.

In case you have not seen “Elizabethtown” (and you’ll probably be just fine never seeing it), Bloom plays a shoe designer who works for a company not unlike Nike. Somehow, he is saddled with all the blame for a shoe that is so bad that it is recalled and will cost the company (somehow) nearly a billion dollars. Bloom’s Drew Baylor is fired and decides to off himself, but a phone call about the unexpected death of his father interrupts him during his first attempt. Drew, a West Coaster, is enlisted by his family to travel to Elizabethtown, Ky., his father’s hometown and where the elder Baylor has passed away, to bring the body home for cremation. Relatives in Kentucky have other plans for his final resting place.

Drew takes a flight to Kentucky and – wouldn’t you know it? – is the only passenger on the plane. That’s where Claire comes in. She apparently is the lone stewardess, and she is a talkative one at that. She won’t leave Drew alone from the get-go, and she (somehow) senses Drew is troubled and needs help because, for a guy who had a relatively important position with an internationally known shoe maker, he has no idea how to live this thing we call life. She does what any upstanding MPDG would do – she makes the repair of his damaged soul her sole purpose in life.

Claire would seem to vary from the standard trope in that she has a life of her own, at least when she and Drew meet. Her career would afford her at least a modest independent existence. She seems to have a nice place. She even has a boyfriend, though it is not clear if the guy really exists or, if he does, he is all that into her. But Claire quickly becomes a genie let out of the bottle; Drew’s every wish is her command. She just happens to show up wherever Drew is so much that if the roles were reversed, Drew would be accused of stalking. She says all the right things, even as Drew continues to hint at ending his life. She even (somehow) has the availability to, within a brief period of time, piece together a scrapbook (including hand-drawn illustrations) that will help Drew navigate a soul-discovering solo cross-country road trip AND (this being a Cameron Crowe movie) has provided the soundtrack via mix CDs that are (somehow) timed perfectly to coincide with landmarks during Drew’s travels. So omnipresent, so magical is Dunst’s character that some have suggested she was written to be a guardian angel sent to save Drew’s life. That interpretation at least makes some of Claire’s story semi-plausible and almost tolerable.

Claire is selfless to a fault, and she certainly is strange, maybe unstable. But, if anything, Manic Pixie Dream Girls lost even more sense of self and picked up more strangeness as the stock character turned into a full-fledged trope. Think Deschanel as Allison in the 2008 Jim Carrey vehicle “Yes Man.” As is always the case in these things, Carrey is a cynical, disillusioned man looking for meaning in life. He happens upon Allison, who hits a lot of stock MPGD notes. She zips around town on a moped. She wears mismatched clothing from vintage stores. She performs avant garde (and awful) music. Her primary means of supporting herself (?) is by teaching a class that combines jogging and photography. She is everything Carrey’s Carl Allen is not, mostly carefree. They, of course, engage in romance, even though Carl is notably older than Allison (that’s the case in many films, not just MPDG movies).

In 2010’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” two characters combine for the role of MPDG. The titular character, played by Michael Cera, is a slacker musician a few years removed from high school. That doesn’t stop him from dating a high-schooler, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), whose sole purpose is as a superfan for Scott’s band. Then Scott meets the girl of his dreams (literally), Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is at least older than Knives but still is quirky (she works delivering packages while on roller skates) and impulsive (she often changes her hair color) but is too aloof and serious to be a full-on MPDG. She does, however, end up being a sort-of trophy, to be won if Scott can defeat her seven evil exes. So, her existence still is minimalized.

Some movies have addressed the MPDG thing head-on. Though sometimes cited as a MPDG, Kate Winslet’s Clementine in 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is actually the anti-MPDG. Sure, she wears orange hair and gloves with the fingertips cut off, and she’s impulsive. But she also is flawed, sometimes dark and independent (MPDGs typically don’t get any of those traits). And she says this, which seems like a direct response to the trope, even though the term didn’t yet exist, as written by Charlie Kaufman: “Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive. But I’m just a fu**ed-up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind. Don’t assign me yours.”

Those are sentiments Claire in “Elizabethtown” never would have expressed, her focus being on a lost, sensitive young man and his happiness, not hers. Nor would she be allowed to even think such, given she and MPDGs like her are the products of writers and filmmakers who want to believe that this idealized version of young women is out there. That will probably be the case as long as men are writing movies, just as the male equivalent of the MPDG – the ridiculously handsome man with washboard abs who manages to accumulate much wealth despite always being around to tend to a woman’s needs and whisk her off to beaches on his private jet – will always exist as long as women are fantasizing about them and flocking to see them in rom-com-drams and reading about them in romance novels.

A little healthy fantasy is fine, but movie tropes and stereotypes are not, if we believe they can shape how we live in real life. Manic Pixie Drew Girls, though not totally a thing of the past (Joi, the A.I. girlfriend in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049,” comes to mind as an updated version), are becoming outdated as more and more females are having their voices heard in Hollywood. MPDGs are being replaced by independent women who are the focus of the story and don’t have to be bubbly if they don’t feel like it, who aren’t required to be quirky and can chase their own happiness. These characters, unlike Manic Pixie Dream Girls, are multidimensional. They give a movie depth, not just gloss.

Imagine if that’s the kind of character Dunst’s Claire could have been. “Elizabethtown” wouldn’t show up on so many Worst Movie Ever lists. And it wouldn’t have been forever linked to a tired movie trope and the terminology to describe it.

#movies #movie review #movie tropes #manic pixie dream girl #elizabethtown #kirsten dunst #eternal sunshine of a spotless mind #kate winslet #yes man #zooey deschanel #ramona flowers #scott pilgram vs the world

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theashemarie · 5 years

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Meet Me On the Rink Ch. 2 | Pearlina

[“I like to go fast, Marina told her last week, and Pearl sees it now. The long profile of her body as she moves the quad skates, gliding as fast as she can around all the people, in tempo with Wet Floor’s Don’t Slip. She’s built for it, all those long lines, those muscled legs, the pumping of her arms. It’s intoxicating to watch her, especially for someone like Pearl, who loves these skates and this rink like she loves her home. Someone like Marina is exactly who she needs.”]

[Roller Derby AU. A belated offering for Pearlina Week!]

☆ Reblogs appreciated! ☆

[Crossposted on AO3]

↪Chapter 1: [Don’t Slip] ↪Chapter 2: [Pick Me Up, Jump Lightly] (You are here!)

------

Chapter 2: Pick Me Up, Jump Lightly

Luckily for Pearl, Marie doesn’t put Marina in for the whole first period. And most of the second. Pearl keeps her mind on her skates and on the match, barely looks at Marina as she skates circles around the track. Really, it might be a good thing that Marina’s there, watching her every move, because Pearl has never been so laser-focused on a match in her life. Purposefully ignoring the eyes trained on her back, on her face, as she skates low, with long strides, Pearl plays the best game she’s ever played.

Eight can’t touch her, mostly because Three is always on top of her. Pearl hears them collide multiple times as she skims past. Once, she even hears Three hiss a low “watch it!” when Eight plows right into her stomach, sending her out of bounds. The next time they make impact, Pearl swears she hears Eight apologize.

Four is a whole other matter. She and Pearl stick close to each other like they’re magnetized, and they even bump into each other a few times when their blockers shove them together. Four grins up at her every time it happens, as if she’s having the best time of her life, and Pearl jokingly tells her, “Get off me. I almost have a girlfriend.” That actually makes her laugh. They’re forced apart after that by Three and Eight, who are trying to set up for whips.

Pearl doesn’t play in every jam because an hour of intense skating would wear anyone out, even her. But she does play when it counts. The score stays pretty even, with each side jostling forward into the lead every couple jams. The crowd is uncontrollable, and Pearl isn’t sure where the lines are drawn. The reaction is explosive no matter what happens on the track.

Callie and Marie even seem like they’ve managed to find some chill, at least for a bit. They grin at each other from across the rink and even nod in congratulations when the other team manages to score. Really, it seems like everyone is having a good time.

Marina slides back and forth between rooting on her own team and rooting on Pearl. When Pearl does anything cool, like slipping underneath Eight’s outstretched arms, she cheers, hops up and down, claps excitedly. When Four scores, she does the same. Her teammates look at her every time she cheers at the wrong time, but she doesn’t seem to care. At one point, Pearl sees Eight approach her and try to talk to her, probably trying to tell her to play it cool, but Marina merely shakes her head and smiles a sunny smile right in Pearl’s direction.

But then, the match is coming to an end and Marina hasn’t played. Pearl knows what’s coming when they get to the last jam and the score is close. Creatures of the Smack Lagoon is down three points. They have to manage a grand slam while also keeping Fresh2Death from scoring. The good news is that Four looks battered and exhausted. She’s taken quite a few spills—mostly thanks to Three—but Marie sends her in anyway.

The bad news is that, as they’re lining up, Pearl and Four behind the jammer line, Three and Eight staring each other down with barely veiled heat right in front of them, Marie waves Marina in. Marina only has eyes for Pearl as she skates onto the track, and she mouths “No hard feelings,” as she takes her place.

“Oh, a wildcard!” the announcer calls. “Fresh2Death has finally fielded their newest player: Cherry Hyperbomb! Bold move during the last jam!”

Pearl grimaces in Marina’s direction but doesn’t say anything back. Her legs and back are aching and she’s pretty sure she could pass out right now if given a soft enough surface, but she has to do this. She has to win this for them, like she did last year. She can manage one more grand slam. All she has to do is beat Four out of the pack so she can be lead jammer. Then she has to score.

Judd blows his whistle and Pearl and Four take off. Four falls behind quickly, most likely because she wants Pearl to be in the middle of the pack, held back by all of the blockers, so she can slide around and get the lead. But Pearl is smarter than that, she jukes to the right before heading left, right toward Three. Three grabs her hand and whips her right past Eight and another of Fresh2Death’s blockers. There’s a patch of pink ink ahead, right before a grate. All Pearl has to do is reach it.

That’s exactly when Marina appears, her long legs easily taking one stride to Pearl’s two. She gets right in front of Pearl, throws her arm out, makes it impossible for Pearl to move right. Pearl can feel herself being herded left, shoved toward out of bounds, where she’ll be forced to reenter the track behind Marina.

“’Reena, get out of my way,” she pushes out between her teeth. Pearl slows just enough and jerks right, where she has a little more breathing room. Marina shadows her, trying to stay in front of her.

“No way,” Marina trills back. “You’re stuck with me now!”

They’ve only been on one date (maybe two, maybe three), but that almost makes Pearl stumble. Almost. Instead, she jukes again and pushes herself left, ducks under Marina’s arm, and lands right in the ink. She pushes her body as hard as she can, moves her tentacles in their quickest rhythm, and swims through. All the practice with Three helps. She’s weightless as a squid—the heavy skates disappear and there’s no drag from her clothes, only her tentacles and her pointed body, sailing through the ink.

When she gets to the end of the patch, she throws herself out of it. Her skates reform, along with her limbs and her lungs, desperate for air from all this exertion, but she’s ready. She lands right on her feet and looks back to grin at Marina.

But Marina isn’t behind her. She’s next to her. “Pearlie!” she sing-songs just from the right.

Pearl stumbles then but doesn’t fall. She plants her toe brake and kicks off, tries to make it look like she meant to do that. Marina laughs again.

They’re close enough to the rest of the pack that it still counts. Above the din of the crowd, Pearl can just hear the announcer, “Oh! And there goes Loch Mess Monster! Kraken Skullz isn’t pulling any punches today!”

Three got Four out of the way, shoved her out of bounds, at least for now. Odds are, Three is falling back as far as she can, trying to put Four at least forty feet behind Pearl because she has to reenter the track behind her. It’s a cheap tactic, but it gives Pearl an opening. All she has to get is get around Marina.

The grate is coming up, followed by the smallest part of the curve. If Pearl can get through the grate, all she has to do is hop the curve and she’ll be free.

Marina is keeping up with her though, followed closely by Eight. Together, they jostle Pearl, trying to move her away from the inside of the track because they know she’s going to try to jump it. It’s a patented Pearlverizer move—and it’s technically legal. All you do is leap out of bounds for a second, never touch the floor, from one part of the track to the other. It’s easy.

But first, the grate. Marina is ahead of her now, so she’ll have to squid through it, which should give Pearl just enough breathing room to get away from her. Eight will fall behind because she never takes the grates and always goes around, so all Pearl has to do is break free of Marina.

Marina gets to the grate before her and Pearl slows a touch to see her jump through it, trying to gauge which way she’ll angle toward.

But, she doesn’t turn into a squid.

She doesn’t jump through it.

Marina jumps over it.

Pearl can’t believe her eyes. Marina coils her long legs and leaps, shoving her toe brakes into the floor one after the other, and sails right over the five-foot-tall grate.

Pearl doesn’t get a chance to see her land. She slams right into the grate, face first, and the last thing she sees is the bright lights of her own rink.

+++

When Pearl comes to, she realizes immediately that it’s only been a couple minutes, tops. She’s laying on one of the benches beside the track and the crowd is quiet, as if in respect for a fallen player. Three is there, hovering above her, and Eight is beside her, and there’s Marina too. She can hear arguing, just out of the range of her detailed hearing—it’s all tone, conveyed by two voices, one calm and one incredibly angry. Pearl is pretty sure it’s Callie and Marie.

“She’s awake!” Three calls and Eight puts her hand under Pearl’s head when she moves to sit up.

“Okay?” Eight asks, helping Pearl all the way up. She leaves her hands out, as if Pearl is going to pass out again. “That was quite the impact.”

Pearl forgets how weird Eight’s speech patterns can get, but it’s reassuring right now. Her overly-formal approach helps ground Pearl. If she can talk like that, then things aren’t too desperate.

“Yeah,” she says and reaches up to rub her head. Her whole face hurts and her chest is throbbing with every beat of her hearts. Carefully, she lifts her tank top and winces. There’s a light crisscross pattern decorating her skin, but luckily only a few of the wounds look deep. Most of them will fade come tomorrow. “What hit me?” she jokes, trying to make everyone calm down.

The crowd, seeing her sit, lets out a smattering of applause. Callie and Marie, who are standing in the middle of the rink with Judd between them, turn and look at her.

“See, she’s fine.” Marie’s voice is calm, with just enough bite to let everyone know that she’s pissed. “There’s no need for all this fuss.”

“Sure there is!” Callie throws her hands up and rounds on Judd, pointing a finger squarely at Marie. “Her blocker broke the rules!”

“There’s nothing in the rules that prohibits jumping the grates,” Marie forces out through her teeth.

“Well there should be! You almost killed my best jammer!”

Pearl groans. She’s been hurt before, even cracked her head open once on someone else’s skate, but it’s been a while. Her father’s going to have a fit.

“Pearl...” Marina is still there, standing awkwardly behind Eight. Hands wringing, she looks like she wants to scoop Pearl up into a hug, or at least check her over for injuries, but she’s holding herself back. “I’m sorry.”

Pearl shakes her head and moves to stand, just to prove to all of them that she’s okay. Her skates slip on the ground and she falls right back onto her ass.

“Nah uh,” Three admonishes. “Medics said you can’t skate for a few days.”

All right, so maybe she was out for a little longer than she thought, if the medics were able to check her over. Still, this whole thing is bullshit. It’s not like she was splatted. She just suffered a mild impact. She’s had worse.

“Then get ‘em off.” Pearl reaches down to undo her laces but her head twinges, sending a flurry of sparks into her vision. She groans and leans back. Eight’s hands easily catch her.

“Here, let me.” Marina pushes through and crouches, still in her skates. Her long fingers pick at Pearl’s laces, easily pulling them free of the tight knot, and she tugs one skate off in record time. Pearl feels her face flush when Marina looks up at her from under her hair, sheepish.

“You must relax,” Eight says, rubbing her fingers into the coiled muscles in Pearl’s back. “You’ve suffered head trauma.”

“Head trauma my ass.” Pearl doesn’t try to argue further, mostly because Marina pulls the other skate free and suddenly, she’s stuck in her socked feet. The sensation makes her feel like she’s fifteen years old again and being fitted for her first pair of shoes. Vulnerable. Excited. Out of her depth with all these new fingers and toes.

Except now she’s overwhelmed for a whole different reason. Marina sets her skates side-by-side and sits down right beside Pearl. She’s so close that Pearl can practically feel her skin, millimeters away, and it puts her whole, aching body on high alert.

Three, who Pearl completely forgot about, appears with Pearl’s sneakers, which she drops at her feet. “Don’t expect me to put ‘em on you,” Three says. Then, she looks at Marina. “You either. She can leave once she can get them on.”

“Yes Mom,” Pearl mutters.

“Don’t make me call your father,” Three says, dark, a clear threat.

Marina places her hand on top of Pearl’s but doesn’t close her fingers. Pearl doesn’t react, mostly because her brain is a bunch of fuzz and she can’t quite comprehend the meaning behind that. “I can take her home,” Marina offers.

“No!” Pearl and Three says at once, loud. The force of it makes Pearl’s head twinge again. “No,” Pearl continues, “I have a car.”

“Don’t you drive a motorcycle?” Three adds helpfully. “I don’t think she can handle that right now.”

Marina sighs but acquiesces quickly. She doesn’t have any idea that Pearl is a Houzuki—the only Houzuki heir—and Pearl would really like to keep it that way. Hime Houzuki is nothing like the real Pearl, and she doesn’t want Marina to get her confused. Plus, she likes that Marina only sees her as the roller derby girl, like this is her whole life. She wishes this was her whole life.

Her head is starting to hurt now, finally, and she can’t really focus. There’s no way she’s getting her shoes on anytime soon. She groans again.

+++

Her father puts her under the rich equivalent of house arrest, which means that she’s only allowed to do things on-grounds, which includes tennis, basketball, bowling, laser tag... There are so many places she can hide on the estate that she doesn’t bother even trying to. Instead, she just leaves. None of the drivers are allowed to take her anywhere but she has a license and all the keys.

She spends Sunday and Monday at The Lagoon. Three texts her, but she doesn’t reply. Eight shows up, sees her skating around on Monday, and joins her. They don’t talk, but afterwards Pearl thinks that she understands a her a little better. Skating and Three—that’s her whole world, and Pearl is part of Three’s world. But, Eight also knows that sometimes people have to do what they gotta do—and that involves defying direct orders from a medical professional. Skating clears her head, medical advice be damned.

“There will be a rematch,” Eight says as she’s kicking her skates off that evening, “once you feel better.”

Pearl nods, because she knew there would be. Technically, Fresh2Death won the last one, but Marie is fair. And, she has to live with Callie and with her team, all of whom are chomping at the bit for a fair rematch. There’s no point in winning if it’s cheap.

“Wanna hang out on Wednesday?” Pearl hears herself ask as she walks Eight to the doors. “Three will be here.”

Eight grins and nods, sending her strange hair bouncing. “I would like that. We can race.”

Pearl pushes the door open and gestures her through. “Since I’m hurt, you’ll actually stand a chance.”

Eight laughs, a high chiming sound. It puts Pearl at ease. She can see why Three likes her so much.

“Should I invite Marina?” Eight asks.

Pearl swallows once. “I’ll do it.”

+++

Here’s the thing. Pearl isn’t someone who gets embarrassed easily. Between a childhood marked by isolation and etiquette training, a young adulthood marked by derby and screamo concerts, and an adulthood characterized by time split between the two—etiquette and derby—she hasn’t had time to learn to be embarrassed. She just does things and deals with the consequences as well as she can, often with a stubborn refusal to really dwell on her own screwups. Her whole life she’s been a reactionary, and she tries not to think too much because hindsight is 20/20 so there’s no point. She’s too busy racing forward.

But this whole thing with Marina has her thinking. That evening, she lays in the middle of her bed, staring up at her ceiling—where half of the glow-in-the-dark stars are gone and the rest don’t glow much anymore—and she can’t stop.

Because the truth is that she’s embarrassed and she’s upset with herself for how the last jam went down. She was so preoccupied with Marina, with her long strides and her fast skating, and that jump—

Marina jumped the grate and Pearl was so enthralled that she forgot herself. She forgot the match, she forgot the rink, she even forgot her skates. She slammed into the grate and knocked herself out because she was so distracted by Marina.

She let her team down. She let herself down. The one part of her life that she has control over, and she blew it.

And now... Now she has a date with Marina tomorrow. Coffee, like they planned last week, a lifetime ago. Marina texted her fifteen minutes ago asking if they were still on and Pearl, in all her infinite dumbass wisdom, answered yes! right away. Now, she’s here—lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling and trying to think her way out of this whole scenario.

Because she likes Marina. She’s only known her for three weeks, but she can feel herself falling fast and hard. Hell, when she first laid eyes on Marina she felt that magnetism. It’s a dangerous feeling, especially when Pearl is feeling brave, that magnetism—it pulls at her and she can’t say no.

And then she ends up running face first into a grate at high speed during the most important match of the year.

She’s been letting herself down for a while now. All this pretending—pretending not to be Pearl on the weekdays, pretending not to be Hime on the weekends. Now she has to pretend not to know Marina on the rink. Or else she’ll ruin everything.

She’s getting very tired of pretending.

But she just has to make it work.

+++

Pearl wears a crown to coffee.

She’s not sure why, but she dons her favorite one, the one that makes her feel invincible, along with her ripped jeans and her nicest crop top—midriff bare, skating abs on full display. Crowns are usually reserved for when she’s playing the role of Hime—ribbon cuttings at her father’s newest homeless shelter, business meetings in her father’s stead, where she functions as a figurehead more than anything, over-the-top birthday parties in honor of her father’s associates’ children—but today she needs it. She needs to feel like she’s in control of the room, like she isn’t a grungy little brat on a second date and is, in fact, an heiress about to impress the girl of her dreams.

Or, something like that.

It feels weird to be wearing the crown without hair brushing the backs of her knees, but she gets used to it quickly. She takes public transit and ignores all the second looks and the cell phones pointed at her. She puts her hands in her pockets and slumps into the train seat, legs spread, like a proper butch, and feels more like herself than she has in years.

That helps with her whole embarrassment issue. She doesn’t have anything to hide behind, dressed like this, so she has to face everything head on. Her jeans are tight, her hair is short, and she has a crown. She is Pearl (birth name Hime) Houzuki, and she’s going to get over herself and find some kind of balance. She’s going to learn to be like Three, to be like Eight, to separate all the pieces of her life into their appropriate boxes so she can enjoy each moment to the fullest.

“Isn’t that Hime Houzuki?” she hears a woman ask her friend. She grins up at her, a shark bite of a thing, and leans forward on her knees.

“The name’s Pearl.”

+++

Marina beats her and already has a table picked out. Pearl orders something random off the menu and ends up with a chai latte, which she doesn’t touch once she sits down. She faces down Marina with her hands clasped around her cup, taking strength from its warmth. Marina grins softly at her and doesn’t say anything right away, just watches her.

It makes Pearl fidget and her leg begins to jostle the table, which just makes Marina chuckle.

“I like the crown,” Marina finally says. “It looks good on you.”

Pearl brings her cup to her lips, just to give herself a chance to think. She doesn’t drink though. “You been waiting long?”

“No, not at all. It’s nice to see you.”

“Likewise.” Pearl’s leg is bouncing at a crescendoing tempo and she forces it to slow down. “Look, about Saturday—”

Marina waves a hand. “That doesn’t matter. We were both surprised. I’m really sorry about startling you during the last jam. I feel awful.”

Pearl adjusts her crown a little and sighs. “It was my fault for not paying attention.”

Marina reaches across the table and takes one of Pearl’s hands. “It wasn’t. Honestly, when I was practicing that move, I didn’t think I’d be using it on you. The whole game, I considered not doing it. But then the moment came, and I just wanted to win so I did it anyway.”

Pearl looks down at their hands, at the way Marina’s fingers could fit all the way around Pearl’s small palm, and it calms her some. Her leg’s jiggling slows down. “Why didn’t you go through the grates?”

It’s a genuine question and Pearl looks up to see Marina’s face harden a little. Her mouth falls into a grim line and Pearl opens her mouth to backpedal, to take it back, but then Marina speaks before she can.

She adjusts her bandanna, pushing it back and making sure it stays over her ears. “It’s because I’m an octoling,” she says, voice as serious as her face.

That makes Pearl laugh. She snorts and leans back in her seat, careful not to pull her hand out of Marina’s. “Pssh, yeah right. Okay, don’t tell me.” Marina’s face doesn’t change, but Pearl is already plowing ahead. “Anyway, no hard feelings. And I won’t go easy on you next time either. I’m wise to your tricks now.”

Marina sighs and smiles, as if a great weight has been lifted off her shoulders. “I wouldn’t expect any less from The Pearlverizer.”

Pearl grins and flips her hand so that she can run her thumb over the back of Marina’s hand. She doesn’t answer, mostly because hearing Marina say her derby name fills her with an extravagant amount of pride.

“One thing though.” Marina pulls her hand free. Pearl tries to ignore how cold her fingers feel. “You could’ve told me who you were.”

Pearl feels a spark of fear, which makes her whole body go cold. She considers lying, trying to hide it, but Marina has this look on her face that says don’t fuck with me on this. Pearl sighs in defeat.

“Was it the crown?” Pearl asks, trying to make light of the situation, for her own sake.

Marina’s eyes travel up and rest there for a second. “Well, that certainly helped, but no. I’m not blind. The car, the driver, you didn’t want me to take you home. Plus...” Marina fishes her phone from her pocket and offers it up. Pearl takes it and grimaces when she realizes what’s on screen.

A picture, taken last week at the grand re-opening of Camp Triggerfish for the summer, Pearl in a floor-length sundress, hair down to her thighs, her smallest crown on her head, sandals on her feet, with a gentle smile on her face, standing at the microphone and giving the same speech she gave every year. The act is good, really; Pearl barely recognizes herself. But Marina is smarter than most people.

“You caught me.” Pearl pushes the phone back. “I do it for my dad.”

“I prefer the short hair,” Marina says. Pearl blinks in surprise. She expected some kind of blow up, some kind of argument, but instead Marina is smiling down at the Hime-Pearl on her phone. “When it’s long like that it makes you look tiny.”

Pearl rolls her eyes and leans on her elbow. “Try telling my dad. He says long hair makes me look regal. I hate it. It’s such a pain to sleep in.”

Marina chuckles and pushes one long tentacle out of her face. “I had short hair for most of my life,” she reveals, and Pearl is momentarily distracted by her hands as they twirl the tentacle around her finger. “It’s nice to change sometimes, y’know?”

Pearl looks down at her drink. Still warm, but she doesn’t have the stomach for it. Not anymore. “You’re really not mad that I lied to you?”

Marina shrugs and leans back in her seat. She crosses one leg over the other and Pearl can just see the top of her knee. “What’s there to be mad about? Necessary secrets aren’t lying, at least to me. Sometimes, they keep you alive.”

“I wouldn’t go that far...” Pearl mutters. She squints at Marina, trying to puzzle through that. So cryptic, so serious. “Just a double life,” she says eventually, when Marina reveals nothing. “No biggie.”

“We all have those, I think.” Marina takes a long suck of her drink through the straw and Pearl watches her throat move as she swallows. She shifts in her seat, trying to make herself comfortable again. “Yours is just obvious to those of us who know how to look. I admire it. You’re taking control.”

Pearl sits up a little straighter at the praise. “Well, you know how it is. Derby is my life. The rest of it is just what I have to do.”

Marina nods. “I get that. A few months ago, I had to pick one: what I wanted or what I had to do. So far, it’s been working out.”

Pearl can’t imagine that. She doesn’t know what would happen if she decided to give up her public life as the heiress of the Houzuki fortune. She thinks the world might implode—or, at least, her father would.

“What’d you pick?” Pearl asks. She sits back in her seat and crosses her arms, trying to shield herself from Marina’s piercing gaze.

Marina answers easily, without a pause. “What I wanted. It was an easy choice, mostly because I realized that they were the same—what I wanted was what I needed.”

Pearl swallows thickly. If only her choices were that simple. “Well, I’m glad you made that decision. I’m glad I got to meet you.”

Marina smiles then and leans forward to grab Pearl’s hand again. “Me too. I’m glad I got to meet you, Pearl. Or is it Hime?”

She’s clearly teasing, and Pearl lets out a peel of laughter. “Pearl, if you please. Only reporters call me Hime.”

Marina squeezes her hand and doesn’t let go.

+++

Wednesday again and Pearl opens the rink with a jangle of her keys. Three is there, waiting outside the door, with her skates in one hand and a splattershot in the other. She pushes in as soon as Pearl clicks the lock open, nearly hitting Pearl with the door, and she throws her stuff on the closest bench.

“You invited Eight,” she accuses, with one finger leveled in Pearl’s direction, “and didn’t tell me.”

“I invited Marina too.” Pearl pushes Three’s hand away and goes toward the rental counter. There are a few orphaned skates that she needs to reunite and it’s safer back there, away from Three’s wrath.

“What is this? A double date?”

One problem: Three follows her like an angry shadow. Pearl tries to ignore her as she scoops up a skate. Size six.

“Don’t ignore me, Pearl. Or else I’ll tell Marina about the time you brought your boyfriend to a match and he—”

Pearl whips around. She holds the skate up like a weapon. “Don’t you fucking dare. I’m trying to forget about that.”

“What? The boyfriend? Or the fact that he was so threatened by you that he ran away?”

“The heterosexuality. I was seventeen. Let it go.”

“No way. Not when you pull shit like this. Why did you invite them?”

“Head trauma?”

That makes Three laugh, which takes the tension out of the situation. “You have the hardest head I know. If it didn’t kill you, you’re fine. What’s going on? You know we have a rematch coming up. We can’t afford to get all buddy-buddy.”

Pearl sighs and looks back down at the skates. She easily spies the matching size six and stoops down to grab it. “I just have a lot going on, okay? I wanna spend time with my friends. And I think Marina and I are... Y’know. Gonna end up like you and Eight. At least I hope so. I’m trying my best out here to make it happen. But I don’t know if I can do like you. Pretend we don’t know each other during a derby, I mean.”

Three makes a small noise of understanding. Carefully, she bends down to pick up a skate, checks its size on the tongue, and searches for its pair. “I think it’s a little unfair. But if you like someone enough, you make it work. At least, that’s my reasoning. It’s only an hour a year anyway.”

When she says it like that, Pearl isn’t sure what she’s so worried about. But then, she’s not sure she can continue to do all this compartmentalizing. Three has more experience and it’s still hurting her—she often attends Fresh2Death’s matches to support Eight and has to hide from Marie. Otherwise it’ll get back to Callie and she’ll never hear the end of it. Pearl isn’t sure she can do all that.

“It’s more than that,” Pearl mutters. She pairs up another set of skates and shoves them onto a shelf with the others of their size. “Don’t you think it’s weird that we have to hide? I’m not saying this is some star-crossed love story but...”

Three shrugs and picks at the laces on a skate, trying to get out a double-knot. “Maybe, but you know how Callie and Marie are. They don’t want us going easy on each other.”

Pearl snorts and stretches her arms above her head. Her t-shirt is long and big, big enough to fit two Pearls inside, and it barely lifts past her knees with her stretch. “But they’re allowed to be best friends outside of derby? Doesn’t seem fair.”

“They’re cousins,” Three reasons. She kicks at a skate and sends it rolling.

Pearl shakes her head because that’s not an excuse, but there’s no use in talking about this anymore. Three idolizes Callie to a certain degree and her life is going perfectly right now. She has her girlfriend, her team, and her time with Pearl, who’s been her best friend for a while. She isn’t about to start throwing shade in any direction other than her own, even with Pearl.

But Pearl... Pearl is trying to learn how to do this. It was hard enough when she thought Marina was just a derby fan and Pearl needed to keep her other life from her. Now, Marina knows about the Hime side of her, but things still seem complicated.

“Let’s focus on the good. You two kiss yet?”

Pearl sputters and drops the skate in her hands. “What? No!”

“Really?” Three looks at her like she doesn’t recognize her. “Usually, you would’a been all over that by now. You getting soft on me?”

Pearl looks down at her hands, at her short nails and her soft, moisturized palms (because she has to shake a lot of hands). She shrugs in response.

“You like her that much, huh?” Three claps a hand on Pearl’s shoulder. “You’ll figure it out. C’mon, let’s finish this before Eight and Marina get here.”

+++

When Marina and Eight arrive, the skates are put away and Three is in the booth setting up the music. They take to the rink and skate circles, doing tricks and racing. There’s no tension and no hint that they’re on opposite teams. Eight and Marina seems to be close, closer than Pearl realized, and they mutter to each other in some sort of code—or is that a different language? Pearl isn’t sure. But, once, Pearl cuts Eight off around a curve and she lets out a loud sound that’s all consonants. That sends Marina into fits of laughter that double her over and Pearl and Three can only watch in bewilderment.

“Octo thing,” Three mutters to herself. Pearl shakes her head because she isn’t sure she heard right but she doesn’t have a chance to ask because Three pushes off the wall and plows right into Eight. They go down in a heap of laughter and Pearl looks away as their faces meet each other.

Marina and Pearl don’t touch the whole time, painfully aware of Three and Eight. They keep a respectable distance between them and skate viciously when it’s just the two of them, trying to outpace each other around the track. In the end, Pearl wins, but only because she jumps the corners. Marina smiles at her when she’s declared the winner by an excited Three and the sight of it helps strengthen Pearl’s resolve.

As they’re taking their skates off, a ritual that Pearl is starting to become way more aware of, Three leans into Eight’s side and lets out an exhausted laugh. “Y’know, I was kinda skeptical about this because this is mine and Pearl’s thing, but it was nice to have you here. I miss you.”

Eight chuckles low in her throat and gives Three such a tender glance that it embarrasses Pearl to see. “We see each other every day.”

“Yeah well! I still miss you!”

Marina, who is sitting across from Pearl, seems amused but uninterested in their conversation. Instead, she leans across the gap as if she has a secret. “Do you want me to take you home?”

“You really want to get me on that bike of yours, huh?” Pearl stretches her legs out, toes pointed to the sky, to release her muscles of their tension.

Marina leans on one of her hands, elbow against her knee. “Maybe. We both like speed.”

That much is true. Still, the image of Marina leaning over, focused only on Pearl, makes her face and neck go warm. She sees Marina’s eyes travel down, watching the blush, and it just makes her blush more.

“Yeah...” Pearl eventually answers. “I mean, I’d like you to take me home.”

Marina smiles and it’s so indulgent and happy that Pearl has to look away. Three and Eight are watching them now, beaming, and Pearl stands up so she can get away from all this. There’s only so much she can handle at once.

As she goes to tidy up the already tidy skate counter, she hears Eight mutter something in that language again. Marina lets out a chiming bell of laughter and Pearl decides that she is very, very much (probably) falling in love.

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #pearlina #off the hook #ashe writes #ashe talks #i'm really tired omfg #long post #i'd prefer that you read this on ao3 but if you insist on tumblr i won't judge

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the-depressed-shiny-buneary · 5 years

Text

Interview Time: Main Cast

1. Hi! What's your name?

Ashley: Ashley Gabena Ketchum~

Grey: Grey Ichiro Ketchum.

Alex: Uh, I’m Alex Manya Morgan.

Salvia: Hello~ I’m Salvia Miyamoto Jameson

Daichi: I’m the great Daichi Hikaru Maple.

2. Do you know why you were named that?

Ashley: Dad said it’s because he was told to by a legendary Pokemon. My middle name is my mom’s maiden name. And Ketchum is the family last name~

Grey: Dad didn’t want to name me Silver Jr. So he picked Grey because of my eye color. My middle name means ‘firstborn son’, and I’m the first one that was born.

Alex: I don’t know why my parents named me Alex. But I’m glad they did cause it’s a gender-neutral name. Meanwhile, my middle name means rebellious women. I think it fits me.

Salvia: Dad named me after the flowers at their wedding, which were Salvias and they could be red or blue like either of their hair colors. Miyamoto is the name of granny from my mom’s side, she wanted some reminder of her mom.

Daichi: Daichi means grand or impressive first son, which I think fits me perfectly cause I’m mom’s first son and I will be grand and impressive. Hikaru, my middle name, means shining brilliance. Again, it fits me so well.

3. Your age?

Ashley: I’m eleven~

Grey: I’m sixteen.

Alex: I’m fourteen.

Salvia: I’m twelve~

Daichi: And I am fifteen~

4. Have any abilities or powers?

Ashley: I can understand Pokemon like my dad~ And I can cheer people up by singing, I don’t know anything else. (She doesn’t know she has Psychic abilities yet)

Grey: I can run really fast if that counts.

Alex: I guess being able to be mistaken for a boy and a girl...Despite the fact, I’m neither!!

Salvia: I don’t think so. I’m pretty normal.

Daichi: I don’t think so either. 5. What's your eye color?

Ashley: It’s blue, like my mom’s~

Grey: It’s gray, I think it’s from my dad.

Alex: My eyes are purple.

Salvia: I have blue eyes like Ashley~ Twins~

Daichi: I also have blue eyes. 6. How about hair color?

Ashley: Raven black, like my dad’s~

Grey: I think my dad said my hair color is crimson red, that or scarlet red. Or just plain red.

Alex: My hair is black.

Salvia: Blue~ Like my dad’s~

Daichi: It’s green...like my dad’s hair... 7. Have any family members?

Ashley: Yeah~ My mom, my dad, my twin brother and sister, my uncle Silver, my aunt Ciara, my cousins Grey and Katri, my granny Delia, my grandpa Red, lots of family members~

Grey: My dad, my mom, my little sister, my uncle, my aunt, my cousin, my grandparents. It’s a pretty big family.

Alex: My mom, my dad, and my older brother. I only really like my brother.

Salvia: Yup~ My mom, my dad, my grandparents and...I think that’s actually it.

Daichi: My mom, my dad...my stepdad...my half-sister...my grandpa Norman, my grandma Caroline, my uncle Max and some others.

8. Fav color?

Ashley: Orange and yellow~

Grey: Black, gray and white.

Alex: Purple, black, white, pink and blue.

Salvia: Blue~

Daichi: Green and brown.

9. Fav food and drink?

Ashley: Macarons and Moomoo milk~ Best combo~

Grey: Ramen and green tea. Mostly if said ramen was spicy.

Alex: I guess leek and potato soup, my brother made it for me when we moved to Kalos. It was really good. As for the drink, I guess water.

Salvia: I love rice balls and dangos~ Both are so yummy~ I also like green tea with honey~

Daichi: My mom makes the best curry~ That’s my favorite food~ Oh, and soda pop~

10. Who's your crush?

Ashley: I really like my friend Chetari~ I’d say she’s my crush~

Grey: I have a girlfriend, her name is Tina.

Alex: Monica’s my crush, I kind of hope she likes me back.

Salvia: I don’t have a crush per say, but I do think Apollo is attractive. *blushing* I would like to get to know him better~

Daichi: I like Sable, she’s really friendly.

11. If you have one, did you kiss yet?

Ashley: *giggles* I kissed her cheek~ She got really red and it was adorable~

Grey: Me and Tina kiss all the time. *small smile* I like her kisses.

Alex: *blushes heavily* N-N-No... I want to though...

Salvia: *blushing* O-Oh my, k-kissing... Th-That seems a b-bit bold...

Daichi: I mean...I kissed the back of her hand but...not on the cheek or lips... *blushes*

12. Your hobbies?

Ashley: Oh, dancing, singing, gardening, sewing, baking, and parkouring~

Grey: I took into skateboarding and roller skating back when I was in Kalos. I’m still pretty good.

Alex: I take martial arts, karate, tae kwon do, basically any kind of fighting I can do. I also like to cook, I’ll say that much. Oh, there’s also the piano. I hate playing it but for some reason, I still play it.

Salvia: I love dancing with Ashley~ I also learned how to knit when I was maybe seven and I love knitting~

Daichi: Well aside from being a coordinator, I like to take pictures of whatever I see. I also took an interest in gymnastics and I play the trumpet. I also like to plant berries for my Pokeblock.

13. Who are your friends?

Ashley: I have lots of friends~ My best friend being Salvia~ I’m also friends with Lillie, Lana, Mallow, Tina, Monica, Chetari, Moon and Penelope~ Oh, another best friend is Takako~

Grey: I guess Daichi, Gladion, and Kiawe are pretty good friends of mine.

Alex: I see Ashley as a really good friend, I guess the same could be said for Salvia and Daichi.

Salvia: Oh~ Ashley’s my best friend~ I’m also friends with Penelope, Lillie, Lana, Chetari and Mallow~

Daichi: I’m Grey’s best friend, of course. I’m also pretty close to Sophocles. We have fun playing video games together. 14. Fav weather?

Ashley: Sunny~ That’s the best kind of weather~

Grey: I guess cloudy, mostly dark clouds. Cause that means it’ll rain and I like rain.

Alex: Snow! I like the sun and all, but I’ve lived in Snowpoint city and Snowbelle city for all my life. Snow is what I always remember.

Salvia: Like Ashley, I love sunny weather~ It’s so much fun to play in~

Daichi: I like partly cloudy, not too sunny and not too cloudy. It’s perfect. 15. What season do you prefer?

Ashley: Spring~ Everything is coming back from the cold and the flowers are pretty to look at~

Grey: I like Fall. All the colors they have are really great to look at.

Alex: WINTER!!! I LOVE WINTER!!!

Salvia: Summer~ Summer~ Summer~

Daichi: I’d say Spring, that’s when I can go back to gardening. 16. Your biggest fears?

Ashley: Rhyhorns...I hate Rhyhorns...

Grey: Watching Katri and Ashley die and I can’t stop them from dying...

Alex: Not being accepted by my close friends...

Salvia: The rumors of my parents being true...

Daichi: My dad dying and me being unable to say goodbye... 17. Any persons you don't like?

Ashley: I don’t like Dusk, she’s really mean to me when I want to be friends.

Grey: I don’t like grandma Grace when Ashley was little she tried to show her how to ride a Rhyhorn. She kept getting bucked off and me, Salvia, Daichi, and Ashley told her to stop and how it was enough but she kept going until she got her arm broken. I also hate that girl Sheryl.

Alex: I don’t like my parents, they tried to force me to be a cis boy.

Salvia: My dad’s old fiancee! Sure she gave me my Vileplume but she only did it to try and get me to like her! She’s mean!

Daichi: I don’t like Harley...Sure he makes my mom happy and all but still... 18. Do you like cute things/persons?

Ashley: Of course I do~

Grey: I guess my sister and my cousin count, so yeah.

Alex: Totally, what isn’t there to like about cute things?

Salvia: Oh yes~ All the way yes~

Daichi: I find a lot of Bug types cute, yeah. 19. A compliment you get to hear often?

Ashley: That I’m really good at dancing and how I’m a lot like my parents.

Grey: That I’m a good battler just like my dad.

Alex: Someone once said ‘Don’t stick to gender stereotypes, fight society you genderfluid warrior’. I guess that would count.

Salvia: That I create amazing displays with the most unlikely Pokemon type~ And they said Poison-types were ugly, ha!

Daichi: That I’m really good at gardening and coordinating.

20. Name your worst habits.

Ashley: I guess my energy and my bottomless stomach can be a bit of an issue...

Grey: People say I glare a little too much which makes me look intimidating.

Alex: It’s not my fault I get angry when people think I’m a boy or a girl.

Salvia: I am very submissive...I’m honestly glad my friends don’t take advantage of that.

Daichi: I’ll admit, I do have a lot of arrogance. My friends are working on having me break out of that. 21. Do you look up to anyone at all?

Ashley: My parents and my aunt of course~

Grey: My dad, obviously.

Alex: Drew! He was the reason why I got interested in Pokemon coordinating in the first place!

Salvia: My mom and Mrs. Ketchum for sure~

Daichi: My dad! He’s awesome! 22. Do you go to school?

Ashley: Yup~ I go to school~

Grey: We all do actually.

Alex: I was nervous at first but it’s not so bad.

Salvia: I like going to our school in Alola~

Daichi: It’s fun actually, I like it there. 23. Ever wanna marry and have kids one day?

Ashley: I guess so, with Chetari~

Grey: That would be nice if me and Tina are still together.

Alex: If Monica wants to date me yeah.

Salvia: *blushing* I would like that, with Apollo.

Daichi: Yes, with Sable. 24. Do you have fangirls/fanboys?

Ashley: Maybe like one or two.

Grey: Too many to count...

Alex: Not really but I’m glad I don’t have any.

Salvia: I think one boy gave me flowers.

Daichi: I have a fan club. 25. What do you usually wear?

Ashley: I mostly wear dresses that are yellow or orange and an orange headband, I don’t wear hats often~

Grey: A black and white striped T-shirt and gray shorts, as well as black tennis shoes. It’s pretty basic.

Alex: Like Grey a striped T-shirt only it’s black and purple, I’ll either have a white skirt or a pair of black shorts, sometimes I’ll wear shorts under my skirt. I also have a white scarf, striped socks, and black sneakers. I also wear pink and blue bandages around my fists.

Salvia: Normally it’s a blue dress, white tights, and blue Mary Jane shoes. I also never go anywhere without my blue ribbons.

Daichi: I wear a green shirt and brown shorts and green sneakers. I also have a brown jacket that looks like my dad’s, he gave it to me before he left. 26. What class are you? (low class, middle class, high class)

Ashley: I’d say, high class, mom’s the Kalos Queen and dad has a lot of jobs.

Grey: High class, my dad’s a champion and my mom’s an actress. So high class.

Alex: I think middle class.

Salvia: Upper middle class since my parents work for Ashley’s parents.

Daichi: I’d say middle class or lower high class, it’s hard to tell.

27. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

Ashley: I’d say the ocean~ It’s fun saying hi to all the Water types~

Grey: Ocean for sure. Sharpedo can enjoy a swim.

Alex: I’d go with a lake, I’m not that good at swimming.

Salvia: I’ll say a lake too, it’s more controlled.

Daichi: I’d say both have their good points, so both.

28. What's your type?

Ashley: Psychic types because they can be great companions when you need them~

Grey: Dark-types because they can be crafty and sneak away with little to no detection.

Alex: Fighting-types because their fighting styles are amazing and different.

Salvia: Poison-types because I find them so cute and they are not ugly!

Daichi: Bug types because all of them have so much beauty inside and out. It kind of annoys me that Mrs. Misty fears them when she doesn’t know them. 29. Camping or indoors?

Ashley: Both~ I love camping and sleeping indoors~

Grey: I’m with Ashley on this, both are fun.

Alex: I’d say camping, more time to train and improve my fighting stances.

Salvia: Indoors, I got lost while camping once.

Daichi: Camping, I could find more berries to plant and more Bug types to play with.

#Pokemon #Amourshipping #Rocketshipping #contestshipping #Main Cast

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radioleary-blog · 6 years

Text

Trump Goes From Fox News to TNT!

Donald Trump owes a lot of his fame to NBC for The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. And Donald Trump owes his Election in a large part to FOX NEWS. Trump has always known when to use a network to his advantage. Now 100 days into his term, with his approval ratings falling faster than a dog on roller skates, Trump has gone from FOX NEWS to TNT. Not the TV network, though, the explosive.

Trump has started dropping bombs on people, a time-honored tradition with leaders who really aren’t all that good at leading. War is what happens when people are bad at politics. When I first heard that Trump dropped a 13 million dollar bomb on Afghanistan, I just assumed they were talking about the female ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot. Wow, what a disaster! It was unwatchable. Not a laugh in that script. Who ya gonna call? “Ghost writers!” Too bad they couldn’t keep the ghost of Harold Ramis in one of those containment units, but he always was a Class 5 Entity. He probably haunted this production just on principle. When I saw the movie, I thought I was in a surround-sound theater, but it turned out it wasn’t the ghosts on the screen, it was the audience yelling “Boo! Boo!”

But I digress.

Trump bombed an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan with the Mother Of All Bombs, the MOAB. It’s one of those Millennial acronyms, like YOLO, except it means the exact opposite of that. It means You Only Lived, Once. And if you happen to be a Millennial, let me put it in terms you can understand: The Generals told Trump “Hey, we’re hundo-p this bomb is on Fleek.” Trump said “Perf! I’m thirsty, and they’re throwing shade. Bye Felicia!” Sorry not sorry. And then we dropped the MOAB on ISIS. I guess ISIS is another Millennial acronym, and judging from all their recent losses on the battlefield, ISIS probably stands for “I Surrender! I Surrender!” Boom.

This bomb was big, let me tell you. “How big was it,” you ask, Ed McMahon-style? It was so big, it was almost as big as the bomb they dropped this week on Survivor! “HIYO!” Did you see the Survivor controversy? At tribal council, one low-life contestant outed another contestant as transexual, live on national TV, if you overlook the fact that it was filmed four months earlier. People all across America were shocked. Well, mostly they were shocked that Survivor was still on the air. There were howls of well-deserved outrage for this truly reprehensible contestant, I know they don’t let you bring a compass to the desert island, but I didn’t know you couldn’t bring a moral compass! But most of the outrage was for CBS, who had months to edit this revelation out but chose not to. Why? Well, because emotional trauma equals ratings equals advertising revenue. And I know they could have easily cut the scene, because they do let you bring a machete. What kind of advertisers does CBS hopes to gain by publicly outing a contestant? What corporate sponsors are cool with that? Maybe In-N-Out Burger? Outback Steakhouse? California Closets? The logo of Survivor should be changed to “Outwit, Outlast, Outplay, Out somebody.”

But again, I digress.

So there were a bunch of ISIS fighters hiding in an underground cave complex along the Afghanistan border. And say what you want about Afghans, they’re a tight-knit community. Get it? An Afghan is tight-knit, like the blanket? Hey, man, it wasn’t that bad. So, the President had only two options, drop the Mother Of All Bombs on them, or send in United Airlines security guards to drag them out. But they felt the United Airlines jackbooted goons might be a tad too violent. If only the 9/11 hijackers had flown United Airlines, we’d have saved a couple of trillion dollars on a couple of endless wars. Yeah, I know, I know, that one was that bad.. Unless you happened to have been frozen in carbonite this past week, you know that United Airlines security thugs dragged an Asian doctor out of his seat because they overbooked the flight, and he did not go willingly. I’m not sure what the doctor’s name was, but from what he was screaming as the security guards slammed him in the face, his name may have been Doctor “No!” Anyway, right now United is trying to repair the damage from this week’s unfortunate Asian-toss with new incentives, they just introduced a ‘Frequent Dragger Miles’ program. From now on customer service comes first at United, they’re going to roll out the red carpet before they drag you out on it.

And Syria. The Thursday before last, Trump ordered a launch on Syria. And that same day, I ordered a lunch on Siri. Weird, right? Quite the coincidence. Personally, I’m not so big on getting involved in Syria’s civil war. Here’s the way I look at it, we had a Civil War once, and they didn’t help at all. So don’t ask us, Damascus! Man, that would make a great T-shirt for a pro-isolationist PAC that can appreciate clever word-play, but those two qualities are mutually exclusive.

Donald Trump recounted the events of the night of the launch in an interview, but it sounded less like a moment in military history and more like a late-night cable infomercial for cake. Apparently, just as we were giving Assad his just desserts, Trump was just having dessert. He was eating chocolate cake as he launched missiles at Syria. Wow, talk about death by chocolate! Trump said, "We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen." Trump went on to mention the cake four times in a two-minute interview. Now I seriously doubt that this guy knows any more about cake than he knows about being President, he thought that would be a piece of cake, too. And how the hell does he know what kind of beautiful cakes this interviewer has seen in her lifetime? She’s in TV, she may have worked on any number of cake-related reality TV shows; Cake Wars, or Cake Boss, or Cake Czar, or Cake Fuhrer, or Cake Blitzkreig, or Cake Tet Offensive. And all of those cakes result in losing the Battle of the Bulge, amirite? Amirite? You know I am! Now I don’t mind if Trump wants to say it’s the best piece of cake he’s ever seen in his life, fine. We know he’d be lying, simply because that’s what he does, but, fine. Whatever. But don’t go saying that your cake is better than any cake somebody else has ever seen in their life. That’s this guy’s problem, always telling other people he know better. He tried that sales-pitch with his monstrous health care bill, and people weren’t buying it then, and they’re not buying your ultimate-cake bullshit now. I’d like to point out this is clearly a Marie Antoinette moment for Trump, but alas, we have been living in a land without irony for some time now.

And seeing as Mar-a Lago was just hit with serious health code violations for improper food handling, I’ll skip the dessert and just take the check, thanks. Health inspectors found “potentially hazardous” “high priority” violations at Trump’s “southern White House”, with meats stored at temperatures much higher the mandatory 41 degrees. The duck and beef were measured at 50 degrees, so when you see that beef coming, you better duck! And the ham was stored at 57 degrees! Even I start to turn bad at 57 degrees. Another violation was the smoked salmon, which was being served without “proper parasite destruction.” Sounds yummy, they must have caught the fish in that swamp they drained. Funny he doesn’t talk about this to the reporter, "We’re now having dessert. And we had the most unsanitary, unsafe for human consumption piece of badly-stored, room-temperature, parasite-infested swamp-cake that you’ve ever seen." So Eff this Mar-a Lago, political prisoners got better food at the Gulag Archipelago! Oh, just look it up, that’s damn funny. Fun fact: Mar-a Lago is Spanish for “Lake surrounded by Morons.” I did not know that. Ed, did you know that? “Yes!” HIYO!

Trump launched 60 missiles at the Syrian air base, one missile missed, 59 missiles hit. Hey, why do they call it a ‘missile’ when it hits it’s target? They should call the ones that miss missiles, and call the ones that hit ‘hittiles’. Although, thinking about it, ‘hittiles’ sounds like a Nazi candy. Forget that. All I know is the air strike played really well for Donald Trump, his ratings went up a couple of points, and he showed the world that the kid with small hands can play cowboy.

As Donald Trump put it, after he finished his cake, “Now people will take me Syriasly.”

And now, we’re on to North Korea. You know, I never really minded that Trump was vulgar and offensive, that was as close as he gets to charm. But I don’t like the way things are going. Things are going south, fast. I get the feeling the next thing that will be going south on the Korean peninsula is the North Korean army. Oh well, at least we’ll get a M*A*S*H reboot out of it. I like Alan Alda, and now he can tell us this war is stupid, too, in between ripping-off Groucho Marx lines. But I wish Trump would go back to swearing and talking about pussy. I don’t mind him dropping F-bombs, I just don’t want him dropping any A-bombs.

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kidsviral-blog · 6 years

Text

Donna Summer dead at 63

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/donna-summer-dead-at-63/

Donna Summer dead at 63

http://twitter.com/#!/Roose_TTB/status/203147142557212672

The world lost another entertainment legend on Thursday morning when it was announced that Donna Summer lost her battle to lung cancer. The 5-time Grammy winner was 63-years-old.

(Twitchy will continue to update as more information is revealed)

The Disco Queen had fans from all walks of life and her music clearly touched millions.

https://twitter.com/#!/jdonels/status/203147591536492544

Donna Summer was awesome….Her music became anthems. She defined music for an entire generation … really more than one

— Harvey Levin (@HarveyLevinTMZ) May 17, 2012

RIP Donna Summer, I loved singing and dancing as a kid to "Hot Stuff" always cracked my parents up.

— KatieDaryl (@KatieDaryl) May 17, 2012

Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain! 🙁 RIP Donna Summer. You are a legend & we love you.

— Michael Yerxa (@mikeyerxa) May 17, 2012

RIP Donna Summer!

— OMAR EPPS (@omarepps) May 17, 2012

Whitney. Tina Marie. Vesta. Now Donna Summer. The choir in heaven has a new member. They will be singing up a beautiful storm:)

— Niecy Nash (@NiecyNash) May 17, 2012

My condolence to #Donna Summer's family & love ones. She will be terribly missed. She was truly the #Disco Queen!

— La Toya Jackson (@latoyajackson) May 17, 2012

Donna Summer the Queen of Disco has died. Sad news! RIP ~ Thanks for the great memories!

— Aki Anastasiou (@AkiAnastasiou) May 17, 2012

Rip Donna Summer. Thanks for the all time great disco jams.

— Tom Morello (@tmorello) May 17, 2012

Rest in Peace Donna Summer. Disco Legend.

— Def Jam Recordings (@DefJamRecords) May 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/#!/Beyonce__Knowle/status/203148643740549120

Oh no our disco legend donna summer has died! Wow she was still young. Life is short peeps make the most of if and of the people you love!!

— Victoria Hornღ♫♕❀✿♥☆ (@LadyVmusic) May 17, 2012

Sad… RIP Donna Summer… 🙁 The last dance has been danced…

— Peter Shankman (@petershankman) May 17, 2012

Saddened to hear about Donna Summer; she was my next door neighbor for many years. To the girl next door; you will be sorely missed. AWK

— Arnold Klein (@awkmd) May 17, 2012

Donna Summer, your last dance with remain in our hearts forever.

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 17, 2012

RIP, Donna Summer, disco diva supreme, bringing some deep soul to those synthetic beats. I Feel Love never out of style.

— Tony Parsons (@TonyParsonsUK) May 17, 2012

Listening to "On the Radio". RIP Donna Summer. Rollerskates & hot summer nights, my childhood would not have been the same w/out you!

— Ciaran Blumenfeld (@momfluential) May 17, 2012

R.I.P. Donna Summer! I pray your "Last Dance" was peaceful and that your soul now dwells in the house of the Lord!

— SHANTI DAS (@ShantiDas404) May 17, 2012

RIP Donna Summer…hope you're dancing up there.

— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) May 17, 2012

Damnnn, Donna Summer too? Wow, RIP. Our culture is so indebted to her.

— La Flan (@atrak) May 17, 2012

R.I.P Donna Summer…I remember roller skating to hits like "Last Dance" "Hot Stuff" & "Bad Girls." Synonymous with the 70's.. #QueenOfDisco

— Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) May 17, 2012

Donna Summer has died at 63 from cancer.Such a lovely woman & terrific talent whose music touched us all! Prayers for her & her family RIP.

— Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) May 17, 2012

RIP Donna Summer, a legendary disco diva. I'll never forget Marc Jacobs singing back up for her at a Louis Vuitton store opening in London.

— Derek Blasberg (@DerekBlasberg) May 17, 2012

So sad to hear of death of disco queen Donna Summer! Last Dance !

— Hilary Alexander (@HilaryAlexander) May 17, 2012

Rest peacefully, Donna Summer. Your music is some of the first I remember as a little one during disco era…LAST DANCE http://t.co/Ufs6IerT

— Filiberto Gonzalez (@gofiliberto) May 17, 2012

It's going to be a disco afternoon in honor of the legendary Donna Summer. #rip

— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) May 17, 2012

Sad news: We lost another music icon. Donna Summer passed away at 63 years of age.

— Maria Elena Salinas (@MariaESalinas) May 17, 2012

Donna Summer: You made it easier for all of us women who work hard for the money. May you rest in peace now disco queen.

— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) May 17, 2012

R I P #Donna Summer LEGEND !!! Your music will live forever.

— Billy Ray Cyrus (@billyraycyrus) May 17, 2012

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/05/17/donna-summer-dead-at-63/

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chaoticremedy · 6 years

Link

So to spread awareness you get this post (I Promise this will be the only one this month, I don't want to bore you)! Now I'm guessing you're wondering WTF Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is... Well here you go!For those of you who care about my original diagnoses, THIS was the first step in my road to serious diagnosis.I'm currently diagnosed with Vascular EDS. What does this mean? I have a life expectancy on average of 40 (Which most people really don't know, so you get me opening up to you, congrats!). Most people will have some kind of traumatic issue by 30 (Check! That's done). My organs can rupture for any reason, any dramatic pain, fall, issue, I'm bumped to the front of the line in the ER, despite it usually being busy.EDS isn't well known, Doctors rarely know what it is, and that causes me to need to educate them and trust me, there are multiple complications.There is this "amazing" saying doctors have, that causes a lot of us to get misdiagnosed, and this is why it took years for someone to believe me. I thankfully now have a care team who is educated and willing to learn, to help me. It's so rare to find doctors like this any more.I can't ride roller coasters anymore, Rollerblade, bumper cars, ski, all of these things I enjoyed so much 3 years ago I'll never do again. I've slowly started to accept this. Pregnancy, if and when that happens, will cause me to automatically be high risk, A cold, the flu, could kill me (I mean if you can tear your artery by coughing... That's usually a bad sign).The pain is constant, it can change with weather, stress, food, fatigue, there is never a day that is the same. It comes with brain fog, confusion, headaches, and meds, so many meds.EDS is usually invisible, but there is always the pain, so when you see someone in a handicapped parking spot, who looks normal, they may be just having a good day, and pushing themselves will put them in bed for weeks. You may see someone capable needing to sit down, use a walker, a wheelchair.Our joints dislocate with small things like... oh say, breathing. Can you imagine how things, like walking, running, or even twisting JUST the wrong way, can be horrible for us?This letter was found by my community, we believe it was originally posted regarding fibro, however over the years it’s been modified by EDSers - and I modified it personally to fit me…Dear Loved one,Having Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, the Vascular type in my case, means that many things change. Just because you can't see the changes doesn't mean they aren't real.Most people don't understand much about this disability/disease and its effects, and of those that think they know many are actually misinformed. In the spirit of informing those who wish to understand…... These are the things that I would like you to understand about me before you judge me...-I am scared. I don't know what the future holds for me. Will I end up in a wheelchair or will I be one of the lucky ones. If you find me being quiet and reflective, please don't think I am upset with you. I am trying to sort out my fears. Having the vascular type can be even more severe than other EDS types - My veins can tear and burst, and organs can rupture at any time - this is my new reality.-I am angry. EDS has taken so much away from me. I can no longer do many of things I enjoy doing. I sometimes have difficulty just completing simple tasks. If I appear angry please understand it is EDS I am angry with, not you. A cough caused me to tear an artery, twice, I’ve been forced to turn into a hypochondriac, I’m angry at my body, not you. I am blessed to have an amazing support system, but that doesn’t help the anger. I’m angry with every drastic pain I have to go to the ER to make sure it’s not vascular.-Please understand that having EDS doesn't mean I'm not still a human being. I have to spend most of my day being very careful about what I do, and if you visit I might not seem like much fun to be with, but I'm still me stuck inside this body. I still worry about school, work and my family and friends etc, and most of the time I'd still like to hear you talk about yours too.-Please don't assume you know what is best for me. EDS has affected my joints, veins, organs, and such, not my mind. I am capable of making my own decisions. If I make the wrong decision, it is I who has to deal with the consequences. I still want to be part of the "gang." Please continue to invite me to participate in activities. I'll decide if I am capable of it. You may think you are being considerate by not inviting me to go ice-skating with everyone else, but it hurts when you exclude me. Maybe I can't skate with everyone else but I can bring the hot chocolate and watch.-Please don't tell me you know how I feel. You don't. Don't offer me sympathy; I don't want your pity. But do offer me support and understanding, which I appreciate. I know sometimes I look perfectly healthy, but looks can be deceiving. Please understand that I am dealing with invisible pain and a lot of fatigue. Even on a good day I feel like you do when you have the flu (tired, achy and sore). Please keep that in mind.-Please understand the difference between "happy" and "healthy". When you've got the flu you probably feel miserable with it, but I've been sick for years (EDS is genetic, this means I have had it since birth (even if I was only diagnosed recently, I have been suffering from this since I was born)). I can't be miserable all the time, in fact I work hard at not being miserable. So if you're talking to me and I sound happy, it means I'm happy. That's all. I may be tired. I may be in pain. I may be sicker than ever. Please, don't say, "Oh, you're sounding better!" I am not sounding better, I am sounding happy. If you want to comment on that, you're welcome to.-Please don't tell me how “Auntie Mary” cured her joint problems by drinking vinegar or any other supposed remedy. If you want to suggest a cure to me, please don't. It's not because I don't appreciate the thought; and it's not because I don't want to get well. It's because at first I tried them all, but then I realized that I was using up so much energy trying things that I was making myself sicker, not better. There is NO cure for EDS (and until they find the exact genes causing it and technology and medicine get to a point where something can be done about this, there will be no cure), only some of my symptoms and pain can be treated. If there was something that helped, then myself and other suffers would know about it (this is part of the reason I am a member of the online communities I am a member of). This is not a drug-company conspiracy, there is worldwide networking (both on and off the Internet) between people with similar and different chronic illnesses and disabilities, and if something worked we would know about it. If after reading this, you still want to suggest a cure, then do it if you must. Preferably in writing and accompanied by the scientific papers that prove it works. But don't expect me to rush out and try it. I might not even reply. If I haven't had it or something like it suggested before, and it sounds reasonable, I'll probably take what you said and discuss it with my doctor.-I want you to know that the pain and instability etc from EDS moves around. Please don't attack me when I'm worse by saying, “But you did it before!”. If you want me to do something, ask if I can and I'll tell you. Just because I climbed the stairs yesterday (or an hour ago) doesn't mean I can do it today (or in another hour). Yesterday (or earlier) my shoulder was throbbing; today (now) it is my knee, who knows what it will be tomorrow (or later). Also understand that being able to stand up for five minutes, doesn't necessarily mean that I can stand up for ten minutes, or an hour. It's quite likely that doing those five minutes has exhausted my resources and I'll need to recover - imagine an athlete after a race. They couldn't repeat that feat right away either. Please repeat the above paragraph substituting, "sitting up", "walking", "thinking", "being sociable" and so on ... it applies to EVERYTHING that I do.-Similarly, EDS and the symptoms of it may vary suddenly, meaning I may need to cancel an invitation at the last minute, if this happens please do not take it personally.-Please understand that "getting out and doing things" does not make me feel better, and can often make me worse. EDS may cause a secondary/reactive depression (wouldn't you get depressed occasionally if you had a body that could change suddenly for no reason, caused you pain 24/7 and could spontaneously rearrange itself through no fault of your own) but they are not caused by depression. Telling me that I need some fresh air and exercise is not correct and probably not appreciated - if I could possibly do it then, I would.-Please understand that if I say I have to sit down/lie down/take these pills now, that I do have to do it right now - it can't be put off or forgotten just because I'm doing something else more exciting. EDS does not forgive its victims easily.-Please understand that I can't spend all of my energy trying to get well from EDS it is incurable (and genetic, so unless I can change my gene’s I cannot change my disease/disorder). With a short-term illness like the flu, you can afford to put life on hold for a week or two while you get well. But an important part of having a chronic illness or disability like EDS is coming to the realization that you have to spend energy on having a life while you're sick/disabled. This doesn't mean I'm not trying to get better. It doesn't mean I've given up. It's just how life is when you're dealing with EDS or any chronic illness/disability.As you can see EDS really Sucks...Finally, please remember that I am the same person I was before I was diagnosed with (started getting symptoms of) this; EDS doesn't change the heart and soul. I still laugh, I still cry. I still love and I still hate. I am me, I am not my disease. Please continue to love me just as you did before. I need lots of love, understanding, support and hugs, just like you.But most importantly, I need you to understand me....And an added note: Please ask me questions if you want to know. I want more people to know about and understand EDS, I’ll never turn you down or ignore you, EDS is a rare disease that many don’t know about - I’m happy to share my knowledge and experiences with you. via /r/Tiix

#IFTTT #reddit #life #story #author #inspiration #writers #WritingPrompt #Reddit #thedailytype #write

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itsworn · 6 years

Text

History of the (Grand) National Roadster Show

Just by the look on all of those hot rod faces out there, I can foresee some snoozing in the ranks at the mention of history, any history. Well, don’t worry. This is history that you will enjoy, at least I hope so. Rather than examining the heroes of the Crusades, or the Battle of The Bulge or the American Civil War, I going to give you some insight into a few hot rod heroes, those folks that you may have read about in ‘the little books’, one of which you may have had hidden in that World History book during an eleventh grade history class. This is the story of the folks that started what is now the Grand National Roadster Show, the longest continuously running hot rod show in the country, and maybe the world. The year is 1948. The scene is Northern California, specifically a then-rural area south of Oakland. The boys were coming home from World War II and had money in their pockets. The Oakland Speedway had been hosting dirt track racing since 1931, and was known as the home of the ‘Roaring Roadsters’.

The ‘Roaring Roadsters’ Coming Out Of Turn 2 at Oakland Speedway. The East End Of The Speedway Faced The Hillcrest Knolls, and East 14th Street Near 159th Avenue In San Leandro. Eric Rickman

NorCal street rodder, drag racer and good guy Rudy Perez remembers he and his Dad going there in 1946, “Names like Bignotti, Foyt, Gotelli, Sweikert and Vukovich were regular competitors. My Dad and Jack Hagemann, Sr., were charter members of the Pacific Racing Association, which eventually became part of the Bay Cities Roadster Racing Association.”

Some of these roadsters not only raced but were also driven on the streets of the East Bay. Clubs like the Oakland Roadsters, the East Bay Roadsters and the still-active Satan’s Angels would be seen cruising East 14th Street, a pre-freeway main artery between downtown Oakland and the small suburbs of Hayward and Fremont in the south bay. Gathering spots included the Circle Drive-In and Gordon’s Drive-In.

A View Down The Mail Aisle Of The 1953 National Roadster Show. This Is By far The Best Early Image Yet, Showing The Interior Of The Exposition Building And Many Of The Cars In Detail. Jack Chinn

The Brand New Oakland Exposition Building As Seen In 1931 Just Prior To Completion. With Its Large Doors At Each End And Big Windows For Ventilation, Its Rafters Were A Haven For Local Birds That Left ‘Presents’ For The Car Show Entrants. It looks Like Construction Workers Drove Cars That Might Later Have Been Turned Into Roadsters.

Enter one Galand ‘Al’ Slonaker, an advertising and public relations guy working at the time as a publicist for the City of Oakland school system. Al had experience promoting local flower and garden shows, as well also dabbling as a promotor of events at the Oakland Speedway. Al and his wife Mary were planning a new car show at the Oakland Exposition Building, showcasing new imported models for the Oakland Motorcar Dealers Association. His thoughts revolved around those previously-mentioned soldier boys, hoping to attract some of them to the new, sporty models.

A Scene From Al And Mary Slonaker’s 1949 International Auto Show, Showcasing The New Models From Overseas. A Not-Visible Corner Of This Building Is Where It All Began. Frank Livingston Collection

Al and Mary had heard that many of the young folks were fans of the ‘Roaring Roadsters’ at Oakland Speedway, but did not have the means or the guts, for that matter, to go racing. Hence the emergence of the street rod roadster, an early low budget street cruiser. There was enough early iron around that if you wanted a roadster, no problem. If you wanted performance and had a few extra bucks, there was an emerging market place of parts that made the early Ford flathead motors come alive.

So how did Al and Mary find these street rod roadsters? Picture a cool fall Saturday afternoon at the Circle Drive-In. A non-descript American sedan rolls up. Al and Mary get out, him in a suit and her in a three-quarter length fur coat. “We are having a new car show at the Oakland Exposition Building next month and would like to have some roadsters to display”. Of course the guys and gals said sure. One of these guys was Donald Bell.

Rosemary Accosta, wife of current GNRS Hall of Fame member Bob Accosta and Al Slonaker’s ‘girl Friday’ from 1955 to 1972, remembers Al talking about that day. “We didn’t know roadsters from roller skates; we just told the guys to bring the cars that they were most proud of.” The following February the Exposition Building at 10th and Fallon Streets in Oakland was filled with the latest models of many import brands, as well as a small group of ‘hot rods’. But wait. Al was aware of much of the bad press that ‘hot rods’ were getting in those post-war years, in various media outlets like Life Magazine. His solution; the group was billed as ‘roadsters’, not hot rods.

The crowds of people that saw Al and Mary Slonakers’ International Auto Show that February in 1949 spent as much time looking at the roadsters as the new sporty cars. Rosemary recalls, “Mary saw the impression that the roadsters made on the crowd, and on Al. She knew that Al was a visionary and always thinking of new projects. Thus was born the idea for the first National Roadster Show.”

Al, being the consummate showman and innovator, decided that, in order to attract the finest roadsters from the West Coast, he needed to order a trophy that no one would forget. Hence the birth of the now-famous nine foot trophy. Rudy Perez remembers Don Bell’s story about the day that he and Ken Fuhrman picked up the trophy, “Al forgot to tell me that the trophy was 11 feet tall! Granat Brothers Trophy Company in San Francisco built the trophy in their basement and was worried that if the base wasn’t big enough for the huge brass ‘loving cup’ on top, it might fall over. Granat then removed part of the base, cutting the height to 8 ½ feet. Even then the damn thing would not fit in my truck, so the trophy company had to break it down into pieces.”

Since Al had ordered a 9 foot tall trophy, he figured that no one would miss 6 inches in the height. From 1950 through 1961, the person that won the big trophy had to take it home with them, to display it or whatever. The base of the trophy is built in steps, and each winner has a brass plaque signifying the year that they won. In 1962, a smaller version of the trophy was given to the winner to take home.

The Famous Nine-Foot Trophy Awarded To America’s Most Beautiful Roadster. The Car Owner Gets A Plaque On The Tiered Base And A Slightly Smaller Version Of The Trophy To Take Home. James Handy

Now let’s fast forward to January 1950. Al and Mary had spent a good part of the previous year getting to know the who-is-who in the roadster/hot rod world. Al invited Dean Batchelor and Alex Xydias to bring their SoCal Streamliner. Also in attendance was the 1927 Ford Roadster of Gene Winfield ( a car that he still owns), Harold Casaurang’s 1923 Ford roadster, Gordon Vann’s 1917 Dodge roadster and the roadster of Bill Carash. A young George Barris even brought two of his latest customs, and Stu Hilborn brought his lakester. The first National Roadster Show was a reality, opening in the Oakland Exposition Building on January 19, 1950 for a four day run.

The crowds came, to the tune of over 27,000, and were impressed with what they saw. During the previous year Al had become acquainted with a young man who had just help start a new magazine in Los Angeles. Al asked this young man to come and help judge the entries. Enter one Wally Parks, the then editor of Hot Rod Magazine and later the founding father of the National Hot Rod Association, a.k.a. NHRA. Also in attendance were Robert Petersen, the founder of Hot Rod Magazine, Bob Lindsey, Tom Medley, the first official employee of Petersen Publishing Company, author Griff Borgeson and Motor Trend’s Walt Waron.

At the 1950 show, Al and Mary managed to get a partial sponsor in Standard Oil of California. They needed stanchions to rope off the cars, and someone suggested new blue and white Standard Oil 55 gallon drums filled part way with water. Standard Oil also presented each show entrant with a special box containing 4 quarts of their finest motor oil.

The Niekamp Roadster That Won The Big Trophy At The 1950 National Roadster Show In Oakland. The Car Is Now In The Petersen Museum Collection.

The first person to be awarded the nine foot trophy and judged as the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster was Bill Niekamp from Long Beach, California. His baby blue 1929 Ford had a track roadster nose and full belly pan made by Whitey Clayton, and a 1942 Mercury flathead motor with Evans heads. Another major award dubbed the Most Beautiful Custom Roadster went to Vincent Gardner’s 1947 Studebaker. Three trophies were given in each class, as well as a few special awards.

The 1951 National Roadster Show Saw The Emergence Of Multiple Car Club Displays Like This One From The Ramblers Of San Francisco. Frank Livingston Collection

The years from 1951 to 1957 saw many changes at the National Roadster Show. Slonaker started a new award called the Custom D’Elegance, since custom cars and lead sleds were becoming a large and important part of the show. He also created new classes for street roadsters, sedans, coupes, customs, lakes racers, speedway cars, antiques and sports cars. In 1953, Slonaker started the People’s Choice award which gave the spectators input in determining trophy winners.

One somewhat controversial myth regarding the National Roadster Show involved the use of the name, ‘Oakland Roadster Show’. The show was never officially called the ‘Oakland Roadster Show’, except in some print media. Many long time attendees and participants often referred to the show as just, ‘Oakland’. I guess that they thought that the National Roadster Show title was just a little too generic. The media picked up on this and championed the ‘Oakland Roadster Show’ moniker. Many a magazine coverage used that title in their annual coverage of the show. One of the best books on the history of the show, authored by Andy Southard, Jr. and Dain Gingerelli, is titled, ‘The Oakland Roadster Show – 50 Years Of Rods And Customs’.

The infamous and late Blackie Gejeian was the subject of a second well-traveled true story about the 1953 show. Blackie was part of the Fresno, California, contingent and mostly credited with setting the standard for future show displays. You see, Blackie was extremely proud of the fact that his ’26 Ford T roadster had a fully chromed frame and suspension. The problem was that no one could see most of that bright work when the car was sitting on the ground. So Blackie decided, to Al Slonaker’s dismay, to drain the engine fluids and tip the car on its side periodically during the show. This grew very tiring. One morning Slonaker showed up to open the show, and all everyone was talking about was the large mirror under Blackie’s car. When Slonaker discovered that the large mirror in the nearby Ladies restroom was missing, Blackie was in even more trouble. After that, mirrors under the cars and more elaborate displays became the norm.

After the Niekamp car won the AMBR in 1950 the track roadster theme became even more popular. The show was expanded to six days and opened on February 20, 1951. Rico Squalglia won the big trophy in 1951 with his 1923 Ford track roadster. Thanks to folks like John Mumford and Roy Brizio the track roadster is still in vogue, keeping alive those early memories from Oakland Speedway.

Rico Squaglia And His AMBR-Winning 1923 Ford Track-Nosed Roadster. The Car Still Exists Today In Northern California, Having Gone Through Multiple Owners And A Complete Restoration. Frank Livingston Collection.

The 1950’s were good to Al and Mary Slonaker, and the new National Roadster Show. Entries came from all over the Western states to compete for the big trophy. The show was opened up to race cars, customs and street rod coupes and sedans. The Slonakers enlisted help from local clubs and police departments, all in an effort to show the public that young men and women that owned and drove modified vehicles, a.k.a. hot rod roadsters, were responsible hard working adults. My first Roadster Show was in 1962 and my memories over the past 55 years cannot be replaced. I hope that this beginning chapter and future chapters will be as memorable to you as writing them will be for me. Enjoy.

Stay tuned for our next installment: a trip through the 1960’s and 1970’s, complete with wild customs, angel hair and psychedelic paint jobs.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to the following folks for their input into this story: Rudy Perez, Bob and Rosemary Accosta, Rik Hoving at Custom Car Photo Archive, Andy Southard, Jr, Dain Gingerelli, Bo Bertilsson, Frank Livingston, Sondre and Olav at Kustomrama.com

Another Very Nice Club Display, This Time From The Hayward Head Hunters From Hayward, California. This photo is From The 1956 Show. Frank Livingston Collection

The custom 1950 Chevrolet Convertible Of Ted Leventhal Was Part Of The Swanx Club Display At The 1955 National Roadster Show. The Swanx Club Was Responsible For Helping Al And Mary Get Other Local car Clubs Involved In The Roadster Show. Hot Rod Magazine

Ken Fuhrman’s 1932 Ford Roadster Won The Nine-Foot Trophy In 1956. The Frame Was Fully Chromed And The Engine Was A Bored And Stroked 1946 Mercury V-8. James Handy

A Typical Entrant In The Street Roadster Class At The 1956 National Roadster Show Was This 1926 Ford On A 1932 Frame, Built by Rudy Perez, Sr. Under The Jack Hagemann Hood Was A 284 Cubic Inch Flathead With A Three Carb Offy Intake, Offy 8.5 To 1 Heads And A Vertex Magneto. The Color Was Ford Truck Goldenrod Yellow. The Car Was Sold At The Show And Totaled In An Accident In 1957.

The 1936 Ford Phaeton Owned And Restyled By Tommy “The Greek” Hrones Of Oakland, California. Tommy Restyled The Car In 1937. In 1952, Tommy’s Phaeton Was Shown At The National Roadster Show In Oakland, By Then Tommy Had Removed The Running Boards, Added A DuVall Windshield, Shaved The Door Handles, Added Fender Skirts And Bobbed The Trailing Edge Of The Front Fenders.

Blackie Gejeian Gets Ready To Drive Into The 1953 Roadster Show in Oakland. Frank Livingston Collection

Bill Montero Of San Jose Entered Two Roadsters in 1954, One Of Which Was This 1932 Ford. The Car, Called ‘The Hula Girl’, Was Chopped And Channeled With Full Fenders. The Engine Was A 296 Cubic Inch Mercury With Triple Carbs. Andy Southard Photo

Tom Hocker Of Oakland Showed His 1940 Ford Coupe In 1953 In The Custom Coupe Class. The Engine Was A Bored And Stroked Mercury Flathead. The Body Had Shaved Emblems And Door Handles, Pontiac Bumpers And Frenched Lights. Frank Livingston Collection

Current GNRS Hall Of Fame Member And Satan’s Angels Club Member Frank Livingston Started Showing Chevy Fleetline Custom Sedans Back In 1955. This 1949 Model Featured Many Mild Custom Touches Including Frenched Lights, Pontiac Bumpers And Kaiser Taillights. Frank Livingston Collection

At The 1953 National Roadster Show, Young Hayward, California Customizer Joe Bailon Accepts His Class Award For His Highly-Modified 1941 Chevrolet Called ‘Miss Elegance’. The Car Had Everyone Talking About Its Fully-Chromed And Fully-Instrumented Dashboard. Frank Livingston Collection

And Here Is That Famous Joe Bailon Chromed 1941 Chevrolet Dash. It Is Rumored That The Bailon Family Still Owns The Dash. Joe Passed Away In 2016. Frank Livingston Collection

Ron Dunn’s 1950 Ford Coupe Built By Valley Custom Won The Best Custom Award At The 1953 National Roadster Show. The Car Was Sectioned 5 Inches And Had Most Of The Exterior Trim Removed. The Car Still Exists Today. Frank Livingston Collection

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Of 1954 Was Owned By Frank Rose Of Oakland. His 1927 Ford Had A Custom Tube Frame and Aluminum Body Panels Made By Jack Hagemann. All Suspension Pieces Were Chrome Plated. Pinstriping Was Done By Tommy The Greek. Frank Livingston Collection

Red Jones Accepts His Dragster Class First Place Trophy From 1954 Roadster Show Manager Mary Slonaker. Jones’ Dragster Had A Best Quarter Mile Speed Of 126.62 In 1953. Frank Livingston Collection

Bob Travers Of Oakland Accepts His Award At The 1954 Roadster Show For His Yellow Mild Custom 1950 Ford Convertible. The Interior Was Done In Black And White. Body Mods Included Frenched Lights, Mild Trim Removal, Louvered Fender Skirts And A Pontiac Grille. Frank Livingston Collection

This Is The 1949 Ford Club Coupe Owned By Ray Duckworth. Shown In 1953 The Car Was Sectioned 3 ½ Inches, The Top Chopped 2 Inches And The Front Fenders Extended 6 Inches. The Headlights And Taillights Were Frenched. The Engine Was An Oldsmobile 88 With Two Four Barrel Carbs. Frank Livingston Collection

Dick DeVecchi’s 1941 Chevy Fleetline Looks Stock, Until You Look Under The Hood. The Six Cylinder 1953 GMC 6-Cylinder Engine Is Full Race, And Sports A GMC 6-71 Blower. Dick Still Owns The Car; It Was last Exhibited At The 2009 Roadster Show In Pomona, As Part Of The 60th Anniversary Display. Frank Livingston Collection

The 1951 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Winner Showed Up Again In 1954, This Time Owned By August Correia, Jr. The Car Appeared At The Roadster Show Again In 2009, Restored By Carter Fisher After It Was Found In A Barn In California’s Central Valley. Frank Livingston Collection

Blackie Gejeian shared the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award in 1955 With Ray Anderegg. The Fenders Have Been Removed For The Show. All Of The Suspension Components And The Full Frame Were Chrome Plated. Frank Livingston Collection

The Two AMBR Winners In 1955, Blackie Gejeian and Ray Anderegg, Are Shown Flanking The 9 Foot Trophy. The AMBR Award Was Only Shared Between Two Cars Twice, 1955 And In 1968, When Bob Reisner’s ‘Invader’ and Joe Wilhelm’s ‘Wild Dream’ Tied For The Award. Frank Livingston Collection

Ray Duckworth And His Wife Accept A Class Award in 1953, For His Sectioned 1949 Ford Club Coupe. Frank Livingston Collection

In 1955 Ten-Year-Old John Douglas Smith Entered His Micro-Midget Racer In The Roadster Show. The Slonakers Were Constantly Looking For New Exhibits To Attract More Families To The Show. Frank Livingston Collection

In 1955 Al Slonaker Presented A Special Award To San Francisco’s Al Williams For His Alfa Romeo Ghia Speciale, A Futuristic Bat Wing Coupe Concept Car Built By Ghia In Turin, Italy. One Of Three Built From 1954 To 1956, Williams’ Coupe Is Now Owned By Bob White Of Scottsdale, Arizona, And Is Being Restored. Frank Livingston Collection

An Entry In The Rod Street Coupe Class Was This 1932 Ford Coupe Of John Kreutzer. The Front Portion Of The Body Was Sectioned 3 Inches. The Engine Was A Full Race 221 Cubic Inch From A 1942 Ford With A Two-Pot Eddie Meyer Manifold. Frank Livingston Collection

A Class Winner In The Sports Rod Category Was The Road Racer Of Ak Miller And Doug Harrison. Frank Livingston Collection

This Entry In The Full Custom Convertible Class Was The 1949 Ford Owned By Donald Carroll Of The U.S. Navy. The Paint Was 1953 Buick Maroon And The Top Was Chopped 4 Inches. The Headlights And Taillights Were Frenched. Frank Livingston Collection

This Belly Tank Lakester Was Entered In The 1953 Roadster Show By Emmett Cull, A Member Of The Clutch Busters Club Of Oakland. The Chevrolet Engine Had A Spaulding Ignition And A 5-Carb Manifold. Frank Livingston Collection

A Class Winner In The Modified Rod Roadster Class in 1953 Was The 1932 Ford Of Fred Smith And Paul Leuschner. The Ford V-8 Engine Propelled The Car To A Record 13.77 Seconds In The Quarter Mile Drag. The Award Presenter Is Show Manager Mary Slonaker. Frank Livingston Collection

Oakland’s Donald Bell Accepts His Class Award For His Chopped 1934 Ford Coupe. The Paint Was Baby Blue, The Front End Was Chromed And The Engine Was A 286 Cubic Inch Mercury Flathead With Three Carbs. Frank Livingston Collection

This Very Nice 1949 Mercury Was Entered In The 1953 Show By Bill Chatham. The Grille Was From A 1946 Lincoln And The Taillights Were 1950 Buick. The Car Ran 120 MPH At Bonneville In 1952 With A 1946 Mercury V-8. The Color Was Maroon. Does Anyone Know Who Did The Chop And Bodywork? Frank Livingston Collection

George Barris Brought The ‘Kopper Kart’ Custom Pickup To The 1958 Roadster Show. The Heavily-Modified 1955 Chevrolet Pickup Was Built By George As An Advertisement For The Barris Custom Shop. It Was Last Seen In Many Pieces In An Ohio Field. Andy Southard Photo

Frank Livingston And Joe Bailon Shared The Custom D’Elegance Award At The 1957 National Roadster Show. Frank Livingston Collection

Blackie Gejeian Accepts A Class Award At The 1953 National Roadster Show. He Would Later Tear The Car Apart And Bring It back To Oakland In 1955, Sharing The America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award With Ray Anderegg. Frank Livingston Collection

Ted Lundquist Brought His Heavily Modified 1951 Kaiser Sedan To The 1953 Roadster Show, and Won The “Most Popular Car” Award. The Front End Used Cadillac Grille And Bumper Items; The Taillights Were 1952 Lincoln. Ted Was A Member Of The Swanx Of Oakland And The Owner Of Lundquist Coach Craft Of San Francisco. Frank Livingston Collection.

The Year Of This Photo Is Unknown But This Is Probably Close To What The Show Floor Looked Like At The International Auto Show In 1949, Where The First Group Of Roadsters Were Shown In Oakland. Frank Livingston Collection

The Chrisman Brothers Iconic Number 25 Dragster Was Shown At The Roadster Show in 1955. This Was A Modified Dirt Track Racer. Art Chrisman Had The Honor Of Making The First Run At The N.H.R.A. Great Bend Nationals In Kansas In 1955 In This Car.

Dick Williams Accepts His Award For America’s Most Beautiful Roadster of 1953. Of Note Is The Very Basic Construction Of The Nine-Foot Trophy; Compare It To The Latest Version In The Photo On The Red Carpet Above. Frank Livingston Collection

Dick Williams Is Justifiably Proud Of His Roadster After Winning The AMBR Award In 1953. Frank Livingston Collection

This Channeled Rod Street Roadster Was Entered In The 1953 Show By Mary Jane Edwardson. The Body Was Channeled 10 Inches And The Frame Dropped 6 Inches. The Balanced 1941 Mercury Engine Ran Stromberg Carbs. The Top Is A One-Piece Carson-Style Unit. Frank Livingston Collection

Donald Bell Is Seen Here Getting His Chopped 1934 Ford Coupe Ready To Move Into The Oakland Exposition Building For The 1953 National Roadster Show. Frank Livingston Collection

Dave Gayner Entered His 1936 Ford Roadster In The Sports Roadster Class At The 1953 National Roadster Show. The Engine Was A 1953 Dodge V8 Sending Power Through A Ford Transmission To A 1948 Mercury/Columbia Rear Axle. Frank Livingston Collection

Another Entry In The 1953 Rod Street Roadster Class Was This 1927 Ford On 1932 Rails Owned By Roger Hugo. The Engine Had Triple Carbs And Was Ported, Relieved And Balanced. The Car Ran 109 Miles Per Hour At The Drags. Frank Livingston Collection

Romeo Palamides Accepts His Dragster Class Award At The 1955 Show. The Engine Was A 304 Cubic Inch DeSoto. The Car Weighed 1500 Pounds. Romeo Would Later Go On, With Tom Griffith, To Found American Racing Equipment, One Of The Largest Makers Of Specialty Wheels In The World. Frank Livingston Collection

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