#hes so real for calling jenny mother

[pookachuka]

doodly doodly doodles (algernon rackham was actually such a silly dude (or. several dudes) i love him!!!!!!)

[motherloads]

Meet Me in the Pale Moonlight

Disclaimer: I absolutely love Jenny in the film! Too bad I like writing miscommunication. No bashing of Jenny!

The reader was supposed to be brooding and menacing? But she’s a wreck with a symbiote lol.

My spanish is also pretty meh in writing despite being Mexican myself. I speak better than I write! Pls keep that in mind ◡̈

Summary: The reader watches on the sidelines as Jenny and her longtime crush, Jaime Reyes become close to one another. Being Milagro's closest friend, she dreads when she has to come over and see the lovebirds.

But who says her little friend would allow this to happen? And who says what she sees is true?

->Pairings: Jaime Reyes x F!Reader

-> Use of (Name).

-> Marvel/DC crossover (mentioned Eddie Brock, Peter Parker, and relations to other fic)

->Warning: So much miscommunication, murder talk, and spinal cord removal :(

Once again, please ignore grammar mistakes.

⋆｡°✩

I'm the sweetest girl in town so why are you so mean? When you gonna ditch that stupid, you got? It's me you should be seeing.

"Are you just going to continue to stare?" Milagro questions her close friend, who stares at her brother with a pair of love-sick eyes. "Dude, just go talk to him."

"Can't really do that," Her friend hums in response, "Look, Kord is walking over to him. Now he's going to have the brightest smile ever and then they'll hug Then she's going to pat him on the back and start helping him with your house remodel. Look! They're doing it!"

Exactly at that point, Jaime laughs as Jenny pushes him over, grabbing the paintbrush on her own and assisting him with the cream-colored outer walls. Jaime shakes his head in response, nudging her back.

"So what? I'm his sister, and what I can tell you is that they are NOT together. They're just really good friends!" Milagro explains, quieting down when Jaime looks over. "Come on, clear it up. I don't want to see my best friend so sad."

"I'm grieving," She pouts, lowering herself into the chair, "You don't see what I see. They are definitely together."

"Si no lo preguntas, nunca vas a saber," Another voice exclaims. Both girls turn their heads to her mother who shakes her head at them. "Don't be shy! I don't want my future daughter-in-law to lose her chance."

Feeling her face heat up, she looks away from the older woman's words. "I know he's your son, but I can't. I'm sorry."

Maybe if you weren't such a pussy, you would have gotten the guy. Does the K-dramas we watch together not mean anything?

The sudden voice caused her to jump straight into her seat. Narc had been quiet since she had arrive at the Reyes’ house hold. She hadn’t expected them to speak at all since he rarely did when she was at their residence. At first, it was off putting to never hear the familiar voice, but she slowly grew used to the silence.

Born out of wedlock from the original symbiote, Narc had been the symbiote who had begun their stay before she arrived in this Universe. They were the only connection she had to the life she once had. Or was it the other being stuck here as well? She wasn’t sure, she ignored all contact to the woman connected to her in more ways than one.

"K-Dramas are not real, idiot." She hissed under her breath.

"Did you say something, Mija?" Mrs. Reyes questions, resting her hand under the woman's chin. "You often talk to yourself, just like little Jaime."

"Mama!" Jaime calls out, "I'm not little anymore! Come on, don't tell her that!"

"You are little, cabrón. Don't you remember the incident? Naked con tus chiquito huevitos." His Uncle Rudy cackles, "Don't you remember that, ama?"

Their Nana shakes her head in response, smiling broadly at the memory. Milagro begins to laugh as well while Jenny sits beside the girls with a small nod in the direction of (Name). She returns the gesture, crossing her hands as she ignored how hard her heart hammered.

"I'm lost," (Name) murmurs, "So, so lost...But anyway, I have to head out. Thank you for having me!"

"Come by anytime, (Name)." Jaime grins, walking up to her and hugging the girl tightly, "Just remember to ignore anything they say about me, okay? Don't want them ruining anything."

"They're your family, I don't think they are capable of doing so," She pats his back, looking down at Milagro who fake kisses the air in front of her. Jenny seems to notice as she raises her eyebrows at the duo still hugging.

"You can let me go now, Jaime." (Name) murmurs into his ear, "Don't want her getting the wrong idea."

Jaime pulls away, smiling at the girl in front of him. His eyes flickered down for a second before he looked back at her, "Sorry?" She smiles sadly at him as she moves towards her vehicle. She refuses to look at the family behind her as she hears the conversation pick up again.

I think we should kill her.

"Absolutely not. There is a new hero here, Narc. We can't just murder a well-known figure and expect to get away with it." She groans, buckling her seat belt. She looks back at the family once more as she shifts her gear to drive.

We've done it once. And we can do it again.

"I don't think killing the Green Goblin counts for anything! He was already crazier than us, so the headlines were thanking us!" She exclaims.

His brain was nasty anyway.

⋆｡°✩

"Do you think Blue Beetle is cool?" Milagro asks, absentmindedly moving her straw around in boredom. "Personally, I think he's a huge nerd. What do you think?"

"Who says you can bother me on my shift?" (Name) frowns, cleaning the bar top in front of her, "And how did they let you in?"

"I have my ways," Milagro grins, "Answer my question. I need to know."

"I think he's...unique? From the news I have seen of him, it's obvious he is of Hispanic Descent. His suit is otherworldly, so I'm assuming it's some kind of alien tech he is using. Definitely not Superman, though." (Name) shrugs, moving the alcoholic beverages aside as she begins assisting the bartenders alongside her.

"Do you think he's cute under his mask?" Milagro leans closer, "Would you date him?"

I would eat him.

"I wouldn't eat him," (Name) responds instead. She pauses as the conversation around her began to quiet down. Some stared at her while others whispered to their compadres nearby.

"I...didn't ask that? I asked if you think he's cute and if you would date him. Dude, where the hell is your mind thinking right now?" Milagro whispers, eyeing the men nearby, "God, I’ve always hated this bar. A bunch of chismosos who are almost always cheating on their wives here. They're always eyeing you too. How do you handle that?"

"First, I can't tell if Blue Beetle is cute based on his voice. Second, I wouldn't date him since I am sooo hung up on your brother." Milagro snorts. "Lastly, this is the only bar that offers the minimum wage. I can handle drunk men well, I've always had."

The conversation began to pick up again as most began focusing on the news displayed in front of them. Blue Beetle was shown on live television, fighting off rogue soldiers from Victoria Kord's force. Despite the woman being long gone, the impact she made had not quite disappeared.

"I knew you were still into him! I say you ask him out! You ain't a homewrecker if he isn't in a relationship!"

"Didn't you say Kord and Jaime kissed? That your whole family cheered for the couple?"

"A fluke! It's a fluke I swear, but it is complicated! Just ask Jaime, please? It would be so cool for us to be family."

"If our lives are ever in danger at this very bar, then I'll ask." (Name) turns away from Milagro's eyes, "That means it will never ha-"

Her voice gets cut off when bullets begin hitting the bar's windows, causing the occupants to duck down to safety. Many of the drunken men tried to escape but most were quickly shot down by the bullets.

Milagro screams, ducking down into a crouch as the bullets continue. (Name) ignores the danger as she maneuvers her way through the destruction. She grabs Milagro, forcing the girl to look her in the eyes. "I need you to hide behind the bar, okay? The bullets won't get you. We will protect you.”

"W-who's we?" Milagro cries as (Name) pushes her behind the bar. There was silence for a moment as screams echoed in the bar. "(Name)? Where are you going?" She pushed Milagro down, moving her way from the bar corner as she looked at the bodies around her. Many men stayed below tables, looking at her in fear as she counted the people alive.

"Nobody get up. It’s not ove-" Her words get cut off when bullets pierce through her whole body. She is flung against the countertop as a bullet pierces too close to her heart. She hears her name being called out as Milagro tries to find her way to the woman.

She smiles at the tear-stained face in her vision. The fear in the other girl's eyes was evident as she continued to scream her name. At that moment, smoke bombs are thrown through the window. The screams had begun to mesh together, the fog covering the vision of the little who were still alive.

She feels the blood oozing out of her mouth, the familiar metallic filling up her mouth. She sputters, not being able to breathe.

It's your turn.

My turn.

Shoes stepping on glass were all everyone heard as the perpetrators stepped through the mess they caused. They held their gun up in return, moving through the fog stealthily. As they communicated with one another, they grew unnoticed by the thing they had angered.

"Find the Reyes girl. She is to be left alive." One spoke up, "Kill every survivor." The main soldier calls out. They await the confirmation of the others but they hear nothing. "I need an affirmative."

The soldier gets smacked in response, feeling themselves recoil from the weight against their body. When they look down at the unfamiliar weight, they begin to scream.

The weight crushing them was there comrade. Left unrecognizable with no head in sight. The blood wafts through their mask. They begin to gag as they try to pull the body off of them. They freeze up when a bloodied helmet rolls closer. Empty and dented, the helmet hits their shoe with a loud clank.

The fog begins to clear up, displaying the mess left behind. The soldier tensed when they noticed the bodies presented around the room. Many hung from the lights, their necks cracking from the added weight of their helmet. Others were hazardously thrown against tables. One had a table leg pierced through their helmet.

"Why must humans be so selfish? Is this fun for you, you pathetic piece of shit?" The soldier whimpers in response, turning their eyes away from the figure crouching in front of their face.

The creature, despite crouching, was still overlooking the only soldier left alive. The disarray and multi-color of the night sky reflected back to the onlookers who began to murmur about the new being. They tilt their head and leaned closer to the soldier, their bright, soulless eyes stared into the helmet. They licked the sharp smile forming from the fear they felt radiating off the soldier.

"Unlike the Blue Beetle, we do not care about the lives of our victims. What do you think happens next?"

"W-What the hell are you?"

"If you must know, my host has named us Narc. Will you beg for your life now?"

The Soldier rips their helmet off, looking at Narc with a look of fear, "Please. Please. I'm sorry. I'll never do this again, please!"

"He had once told us the same. You are just like the others. Pathetic. Unworthy. A perfect meal."

A scream is ripped through his victim's vocal cords as Narc bites down. Blood seeped through their mouth as they ripped out the spinal cord in one sharp turn. Narc stands, spitting their leftovers to the side.

"Hey, ugly!" A voice called out, "What the hell are you doing, man?"

Narc cranes their neck towards the entrance of the bar, watching as Blue Beetle floated at his place. They both stared at each other, unmoving.

"Blue Beetle!" A voice calls out, Milagro moving from her hiding spot to the blue-and-black-clad hero. "My friend is gone! She was just--where is she?" She turns her head towards Narc, who stares down at the shaking girl.

"Get away from it!" Blue Beetle yells, flying through the bar as he centers himself between Milagro and Narc. "Take it up with me and not the civilians!"

"He just--he ate all the soldiers--" Milagro gasps, stepping behind Blue Beetle, "I saw what he did--"

"You--What the hell are you?" Blue Beetle points his palms toward Narc, who continues to stare in silence.

"Does my figure scare you? I can hear your heartbeat." Narc cranes their head towards Milagro. Blue Beetle blocks her from their eyesight. “Worry not, we do not hurt the innocent.”

With those words, Narc feels their familiar bulking figure die down to their less impending figure. The duo are lost for words at the new figure presented in front of them.

"I'm so sorry I think I misgendered you--" Milagro's eyes stayed pinned to the pair of boobs Narc had.

"Where's (Name)?" Blue Beetle turns his head around, "Khaji-Da says she is still here! She was working, right?" His questions are to Milagro.

None of the three seemed to notice the survivors running out of the bar.

"She is here. With me." Narc hums, moving closer to Blue Beetle, "Is Khaji-Da your symbiote?"

"Symb--what? What do you mean (Name) is with you?"

"Jaime Reyes. You are a host are you not?"

"Stop avoiding my questions! Where is she?! How do you know my name--That is not my name! I do not know Jaime Reyes. Do you?"

"I have known of the scarab on your back since the beginning. Do not worry, (Name) remains clueless, for now."

"Why are you saying her name as if you know her?" Milagro questions.

Narc purrs, tilting their head closer to Blue Beetle who stepped back hesitantly. "We have known each other for a long time. We are bonded together until she dies. She is my key to survival in your world. She is me. I am her. We are one. We are Narc."

“Like Narcotics? Did she get you from a drug? She doesn’t seem like the type to do drugs.” Milagro questions, stepping closer to the duo, “And why are you so close? I can smell you from here!”

“We are host and symbiote. We am not from here, you see. Your alien won’t know of us.”

Milagro and Blue Beetle share a look, communicating with silent words. Blue Beetle lowers his hand, allowing Narc to step closer. The symbiote smiles, their purrs growing louder.

“I see why she likes you.”

With those words, Narc sinks into (Name)'s skin, leaving the woman defenseless from the eyes of her long-time crush and friend. She drops to the floor, her wounds patching over themselves with a familiar goo.

Blue Beetle drops to the floor, bringing (Name) close to his body. He rocks her back and forth as Milagro stumbles beside him. Her eyes were bloodshot and the tears that disappeared has formed all over again.

"Why didn't she tell us? Why didn't she tell me?" Blue Beetle, now Jaime who removed his helmet. He leans his forehead on the woman and murmurs into her hair. He kisses her temple as Milagro continues to cry.

"Why didn't she tell us her hero name is literally short for Narcotics?!"

⋆｡°✩

(Name) awakes to a horrible headache splintering her head. She groans as she shifts closer to the warmth of an unfamiliar body. She nuzzles in closer to the warmth, groaning at the light against her eyelids.

"Narc turn off the lights...I feel like I've just been shot." She moans, gripping her blanket tighter against her body, "I'm going out with Milagro later. I have to go buy cat food..."

"Milagro is taking care of Eddie, don't worry." A familiar voice whispers against her head, "Just go back to sleep. I'll block the sunlight."

"Thanks, Jaime..." Processing the name that came out, she jumps away from the warmth. She stares at Jaime, who stares back in equal shock and sleepiness. His hair was a mess, pointing in different directions. She presses her hand to her mouth, gasping behind it.

"Oh my god. We didn't have sex, did we? If so, that would be awkward because you are my best friend's brother and you literally have a girlfriend. I can't even get drunk so it's impossible for me to forget--oh my god am I in your house?"

"Hey, Hey," Jaime soothes her, smiling at the woman freaking out in his bed, "We didn't have sex and we were not drunk. You were...shot multiple times and some things came to light, but it's okay now, I promise."

"I'm still sleeping in your bed though! You could have left me, being shot doesn't stop me! We were holding each other?! What would Kord think if she saw this now?" She grips the unfamiliar sweater covering her body, feeling her legs shift through from under the sheets and hit against Jaime's.

"Jenny? What about Jenny? We aren't...We aren't dating if that's what you're worried about." Jaime grabbed her by the face, locking eyes with her who looked anywhere but him. "I can't just leave you when you were hurt."

"Milagro said you two kissed."

"We did once have feelings for each other. But it's long gone now, it was just a...heat of a moment kind of thing." Jaime brings her cheeks towards his chest, which she just noticed had nothing covering him from her eyes. Her hands stopped short on his stomach. She felt his stomach flutter in response.

"Besides, I like someone else. I like you."

She feels her heart stop at his confession.

Knew it.

"No shit." She exclaims, looking up at Jaime who smiles down at her doe-like look.

"I do." He whispers back. They both stared at one another until he leaned closer to her face. She felt his breath fan her face as she wrinkled her nose.

"You stink." She snorts, moving her hands to the back of his neck. He laughs at her words.

"Yours smells much worse. Now, come here--" She cuts him off, smashing her lips to his. He holds her waist, bringing her to sit on his lap. Her tongue finds his, leaning closer as her hand moves to stay on his chest. Biting his lip, she softly sucks it lightly. She opens her eyes to find his eyes half-lidded, enjoying the moment.

When she pulls away, her lips find his neck, kissing down to his collarbone. Pulling her hand back to his neck, she inhales his scent.

"Couldn't have waited until I was asleep. You are always like this. The same exact way with Peter Parker."

They both jump at the new voice, turning their heads towards Narc who floated their head around the room, reading the boxes that held different items. She turns her head to Jaime, eyes wide, waiting for him to begin screaming.

"Narc-uh. They explained more about your origins with each other. After finding them standing in a bloodbath, Milagro and I thought the worst had happened but someone--something told me to let Narc explain."

"They told you about our.... situationship?" She questions, gripping onto Jaime's bicep. "You're supposed to be running away--not making out with me!"

"And you! You aren't supposed to be out. You're grounded!" She growls, pulling Jaime's face into the crook of her neck, "You told him everything, huh? Why can't you ever keep secrets? She'll be angry our cover was blown!"

She ignored the look Narc gives, opting to continue her rant, “Asshole, is it because I’m not letting you meet Red Robin? You know it isn’t allowed!”

"The other youngling saw you get shot. Was I supposed to act as if I ate you instead?"

"Actually, yes! Nobody is supposed to know, you promised. We promised Eddie."

"You made a promise to your cat?" Jaime's muffled voice questions. Despite the situation, he bites her neck. "Who is Peter Parker?"

She glares at Narc, who innocently whistles. "No one Jaime, he is no one."

"Former boy toy." Narc responds instead, "Hell of an amateur kisser."

"You kissed him! Not me!" She turns to Jaime, pulling his head back to stare at him, "I'm so sorry, I don't know why they're acting this way. I'll go right now, seriously. I don't want you in our mess."

"Relax," Jaime comforts, grabbing her hand that stayed on his cheek. He smiles at her, "I can protect myself. Look--"

She felt him shift from under her, watching in shock as his body began to be covered by a familiar suit she had seen countlessly on television. Everything except his face was covered in armor. Whilst she analyzed the markings on his suit, Narc moved closer as well.

"Does your scarab only speak to you?" Narc asks, "It is unlike anything I have seen on my planet. Do you feed them as well?"

"They aren't really fed? They don't need sustenance. Khaji-Da only talks to me in my head so they're like a second voice...and planet?"

"This is going to be a long talk," She sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "At least you don't have to feed them human brains..."

"What?" Jaime recoils, looking at the two with wide eyes, "I'm sorry? Brains? Like Zombies? The Walking Dead? Like zombies from The Last of Us?!"

"I thought you told him everything!"

"I would never tell of my eating habits! Humans are judgemental!"

[randombush3]

cherry wine

jenni hermoso x reader

part one

i hate this but i'm posting it anyway LOL

also sorry if it doesn't make sense but just like don't read into it 🙂

thanks @codiemarin for part two's idea xx

i also feel like every character deserves an apology in this

p.s. not proofread soz

Jenni decides that she doesn’t mind too much. 

She is happy in Mexico, and, just like in Paris, her escape becomes a person, not a place. 

You have moved, and now you speak Spanish. She still doesn’t know where you are from. 

Your husband, however, is a lot more forthcoming. He works in oil. He owns a quarter of the club; he bought the shares without a second thought. You have no daughter but your husband wants women’s football to have a future. He isn’t a bad man, which Jenni hates. 

He is kind – filthy rich, but kind – and it makes it hard to hurt such a good person. 

Fortunately, ‘hard’ and ‘impossible’ are not synonymous. 

Motherhood brings about no thaw, but your iciness is what has always made you so enticing to Jenni. 

She memorises your address, and she is now the one who appears. The security guards open the gates for her when the time is right, and if it isn’t, they hustle her to a nearby bar and instruct her to wait. She waits obediently. She waits because you always call her back at some point. 

When you are with Jenni, cold fingertips warmed, eyes burning with desire, the tightrope she walks widens. She plants her feet with certainty, however false it may be. She looks down at the wire to avoid the world that blazes around her, and she never dares to look ahead because she knows that it is never going to be the right time to ask. 

It looks ugly, but it’s clean. 

Jenni is happy to be with you; happy here in Monterrey, just as she was happy there in Paris. 

Happy to hide and drag herself out of your bed past midnight. 

His bed. (She tries not to think about it.)

The complicating factor is the two little boys running around the mansion, chased by tired nannies who aren’t sure how to explain why their mother needs to be left alone with their favourite footballer. That’s what Jenni becomes, unluckily, because your husband is so forward-thinking that he takes the boys to see the girls. 

Although your piercing eyes can make Jenni shiver, the boys are unaffected. They run rings around everyone, but Jenni can sometimes bark out a command and get them to sit. 

Often enough, they sit an appropriate distance from your bedroom, patiently waiting for your private meeting to be over before hounding Jenni the minute she emerges. They take no notice of her tousled hair or wild eyes, and their attention flings Jenni’s tears back inside of her whenever you get a bit too harsh with her, so it’s all good. 

When her mother calls and asks why Jenni has learnt French now instead of when she played there, she tells her not to fuss. 

Jenni is removed from those who care about her, but the haze of comfort you provide blinds her to her mistakes. 

You are hers and she is yours. 

She lies in the palm of your hand and likes when your fist closes around her. She feels safe that way. 

She likes when there is blood because the blood tastes as sweet as cherry wine. Blood is proof that you are real. Your blood runs hot like tar, and she is glad to be rooted to the spot. 

Weeks go by, and Jenni’s latest medal begins to strangle her. 

You are starting to fall in love. 

It’s never happened before. 

It’s not dutiful and it’s not because you are too weak to overcome a woman’s nature; incapable of recoding the innate forces of motherhood. It’s not as taxing or exhausting, and it is certainly not the chore you thought love would be. 

Love is radiation, in a sense, and you cannot conceal it. 

Jenni is unaware that she should dress herself in lead, but suddenly everything is contaminated and, apparently, it is all her fault. 

He’s away. 

Jenni knows he is away because he said goodbye to her when he visited the team during their training session. He wished her luck for the match, he professed his faith in her to bring his club success. He is slowly losing the French accent when he speaks, he is slowly catching up to her. 

He’s away but this time she can’t shake the feeling of him in your bed. 

It’s never happened before. 

She still wants it, but her crime is flashing bright red in her mind. 

You, guilty too, flee from the lawless land you have built.

“We’re going to the Maldives for our anniversary,” you inform her, even though there is no reason for her to know. She is not this ‘we’. 

She’s actually never been included in a ‘we’. 

“And the boys?” Jenni asks with interest. She’d prefer them to tag along. It being less romantic would make her feel better. 

“The boys are staying here.” You turn around and face the window as she rises from the crumpled sheets. The blinds part enough for you to catch glimpses of laughing figures chasing each other around the poolside, shouts sounding frantically from their nanny about watching their step. “You’ll visit them while I’m away, right? They really like you.” 

“I really like them.” You smile. It reaches your eyes and Jenni sees the reflection of it in the glass. Wishing her hands could frame you, she feels encouraged to continue. “I like anything of yours. I adore you.”

Your response is as closed as a fist, but your ribs flare open and your heart is on display, thumping and thumping, and Jenni knows that she is holding the key to a rusted lock. It’s neither shiny nor new, but it is the right one this time. 

Jenni guards the key in your absence but she is going to hand it back to you. 

She does visit the boys, driving over daily, rolling her eyes when the guards remind her that you are not yet done with your holiday and punctuating her sentences curtly. They ask her about Spain. Jenni finds herself explaining lesbianism too. 

She can’t help but associate Spain with people she’d rather not think about, but the boys strike her as perfect blends of you and your husband and she is very quickly forcing those thoughts into her mind. 

She books a flight and she goes home, ensuring there is an overlap with your holiday so that you are the one who has to do the welcoming when she returns. 

“You’re not really here for work, are you?” Alexia sees right through her, amused by Jenni’s foolishness. “I have a girlfriend, Jenni.” 

“I need to forget mine,” Jenni replies quietly. 

Her attempt is futile and her desperation wanes the moment her plane lands. 

She tried. 

She can’t escape from it though; from you. 

You are still falling in love with Jenni. Distance didn’t stop it like you thought it would. 

You tried. 

Your husband grows busier and leaves more often. 

There is more time to fall in love with Jenni, and it suffocates you like some brainwashing, poisonous gas. 

You search for a cure for your illness, but there is no cure for the absence of infirmity. 

Your plan to drive her away is to echo how traumatising Paris must have been, but sleeping with Jenni furiously is infuriating. It doesn’t work! 

It doesn’t last, and, like some tired soldier, your fire is blown out and only softer, sweeter, more merciful embers remain.

There is no fight left, but you are in denial. 

The battle is lost and won, yet the victor is unclear. Is it Jenni, who is clutched closer and asked to sleep over? Is it you, with a delicious ache in your muscles and steaming blood coursing through your veins? 

“Do you love me?” 

You pale at how obvious you must have become and you don’t know how to answer. 

Jenni decides that she doesn’t mind too much. 

[chronically-ghosted]

between the earth and sky (lover, share your road - prologue) series masterlist | AO3 Link | part i

chapter rating: T (series: E)

word count: 1.1K

chapter summary: how Joel Miller's forefathers came to settle the southern plains

chapter warnings/tags: references to genocide (human and animal), racism

a/n: Miller County was a real place!

Vincente Ramón Morelos with his wife María Guadalupe Rodríguez Saldaña went in search of a better life in 1848.

Exhausted from the bloody revolution against Spain, then the devastating loss at the hands of white “rebels”, the childless couple leave the southern hill country by the San Antonio river to go north, to find peace, in a place that the Anglos have never touched — so promised Señor De La Cruz, a former comandante like Vincente, who shared his dream of wide, open spaces, and a sky that stretches into infinite possibilities.

This land they marched across, with its barren trees and flat golden spreads, is nothing like anything they’ve ever seen before. The wagon chain the Morelos follow whispered in hushed, awed tones. María reached out the side of the wagon, letting her hand brush against brown thistles, watching how the reed springs under her fingers, how it tickles her palm. She never knew the earth could be so soft – teasing her with some great secret it’s eager to share. She looked to her husband and he glowed beneath the rich blue sky and bronze sun. Maybe this was God showing her how to fall in love with a new home.

Towns became few and far between. In a transitory cattle town, Vincente listens to two vaqueros tell stories over a loose game of poker about a briefly-disputed patch of land, five hundred miles east, one that exchanged ownership three times before disappearing into obscurity. But a single name settled permanently, before its township ever could: Miller County. Vincente quietly related to that blurring of identity, a loss of a permanent place to be known and loved, so when going through towns of white Texan Anglos that distrusted his olive skin and aquiline nose, he told them his name was Vincent Miller and he was, like all others, looking for a place to call home. He found it north of what would become Amarillo, and south of what would be Dalhart, between the Canadian and Red River, rivers that never seemed as endless and deep as the Gulf from his childhood. 

By the spring of 1852, Mary (formerly María) and Vincent, established on their acre of land, had welcomed two girls and were expecting a third child, who ended up being a boy. This boy was given the name John (though his mother called him Juan at home) Tomás Miller, after Mary’s grandfather. As a boy, John learned from his father Vincent to listen and trust the Kiowa, the Comanche, the Gods of the Grass Sea, who were said to have been born with a heart of a buffalo. Who walked with prairie chickens and raced the pronghorn antelopes. Recognizing a kinship with nomadic blood of the Millers – once Morelos – the Comanche taught them what it meant to use the land as one uses a brother for support. Use in kind, but treat just as kindly. Avoiding what the Anglos referred to as “dry farming” because it was only the Anglos who believed, by sheer force of will, they could make rain come down from the sky. The Comanche were shocked by their arrogance. As he grew older and stronger beneath that heavy sunshine that had endeared his mother to these foreign lands, John maintained his father’s relationship with The First People, even aiding them in keeping the encroaching Anglo homesteaders off the lands of the buffalo and the blue grama grass. 

When John married in the summer of 1885 a woman whose skin burnt easy in the sun, but had hands rougher than a sailor’s, Vincent was surprisingly happy for his son, because Jennie Sarah Hansen was quick-witted, brave, and possessed a rare quality when it came to the regards of the Tejanos and The First People – compassion. Disowned by her own family for such a trait, Jennie came to live with John, his father Vincent, his mother Mary, with letters from John’s two sisters and their families coming from down south every month. 

Joel Ramón Miller was born in the late fall of 1891, followed shortly there by his brother, Tom – Tommy, because Tom was too serious for a boy with a smile like that – and the lineage of working under blue skies in endless dunes of buffalo grass was passed down, third generation of Vincent, who lived to see his oldest grandson turn five before quietly, with dignity, leaving this world in his sleep. 

Tommy Miller continued to look towards the sun and, as a young man, followed it west. But Joel, like his father, like his grandfather, like the land itself, kept watch over the ones he loved from the porch of that a-frame house, the one his father built for his mother. For a time that included a woman with dark skin and darker eyes out of Alabama. And then it was just the baby who came from her, who came from him. Sarah, named after his mother who was as fierce and resilient as the buffalo grass and as beautiful as the endless sky. 

As far as Joel Miller was concerned that was enough. The two of them – him and his babygirl, with the plums and the maize, and the secrets of this wide wilderness handed down in partnership from the Comanche and the Kiowa, because the Millers knew what to keep and what wasn’t theirs, or anyone’s, to own.

Until the day came when the buffalo were slaughtered by the thousands, and the once great Gods of the Grass Sea were felled, both driven to extinction by a force that held no compassion or concern for the lands it swallowed. 

The cowboys over in the XIT, runners of cattle in the land that used to tremble beneath the hooves of thousands of buffalo, started to complain first. Rumbled that no good was to come of any of it; the American government gave too freely; real estate agents and land developers promised too much. Those arriving in the prairie came only for the green that the wheat boom offered, and had misjudged the quietness of the plains for emptiness.

Joel Miller watched as towns bloomed overnight, model E’s rumbled off the new railway lines, and nesters and sodbusters burrowed into their dugouts like wolf-spiders — at the cost of the beautiful, bellowing sea of grass. The bison were long dead, the Kiowa and Comanche now ghosts between the stalks of blue grama, and a wind was coming in from the north. 

It whispered to those who could still listen and would heed its warnings. 

And Joel Miller, with his only daughter, listened and waited and didn’t like what he heard. First, the drought came. Lasted ten years. Then the economic freefall that blew out entire financial systems on a global scale. 

And then, like a ghoulish nightmare, a specter of death that came from the ill-resting spirits of the bison, came the dust storms. 

The air crackled with electricity, car radios clicked off, overwhelmed by the static. Ignitions shorted out. Waves of sand swept over the roads. Children were lost and found thirty feet from their back doors, dead, suffocated on dust. Five thousand feet tall, wider than entire cities, this was blind vengeance, a reckoning well-deserved.

And for the first time in his life, Joel Miller was afraid.

series masterlist | part i

[artyandink]

Light My Fire (Again) | beau arlen

Summary: “I thought I’d swore off love, Jenny.” I smiled, chuckling a bit as I looked down to my feet then back up the skies, taking in the twinkling lights. “God, I really thought I did, and I was doing such a good job at it too. But, well, I just… I couldn’t help it.” I wet my lips slightly, biting the bottom one. “It’s improper, but it’s true.”

SERIES MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

(divider credits go to cafekitsune)

one - green lights and red stains

TWO MONTHS EARLIER:

I was at my desk in Big Sky Country, Montana’s sheriff’s department, papers strewn over the desk in a similar fashion as they were at home. Making small mountains and also making me rather sympathetic for the trees who suffered just to have me keep ‘em all like this on another plank of wood on more sticks of wood. However, I couldn’t bring myself to clean them, not today. As well as that, the acting sheriff had made his speech today, and I knew if he’d talk to me, I wouldn’t make a great impression, not with all this mess.

“Ain’t this a sight?” I looked up to see none other than Sheriff Arlen, standing in front of me, his stance wide set as he peered at my scribblings which varied between neat and scrawling handwriting. I jolted a little, panic striking through me as I began to shuffle my files into a more orderly pile, but he held out his hand to put me at ease. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Truth be told, I’m not the most organised either.”

In response, I stood up laughing a bit as I ran my hand through my hair, the action not as smooth and easygoing as I hoped as my index encountered a knot in my raven hair which I quickly untangled. “Well, I’m afraid this is what you’ll be seein’ every day.” I gestured down in circular motions to the messy piles.

“Then I’m lookin’ forward to it.” He put out his hand with a broad grin, green eyes twinkling along with his startlingly white teeth. He had an air of giddy charm and confidence around him that I couldn’t help but crack a smile to. “Beau Arlen.”

“Isabelle Joyner.” I replied, shaking his hand firmly. His grip was strong, but comforting in a sense.

“Well, darlin’, I’ve heard some good things about you from Jenny Hoyt, or Hoyt, as she wants me to call her.” Beau chuckled at the thought, glancing towards Jenny, who was in conversation with Poppernak. “She’s a real firecracker.”

“That’s Jenny for you.” I smiled, nodding resignedly and also flicking my eyes to her. “She knows me better than anyone; we’ve been best friends for as long as I remember.” Then I spotted the uncertainty in his eyes as he once more looked at Jenny, and I laughed a bit. “She’ll warm up to you. She’s just a bit miffed, y’know, didn’t get put as acting Sheriff.”

“I learnt that the easy way and the hard way.” He snickered slightly, his shoulders shrugging. “Well, it’s a lesson well learnt.”

“Damn straight.” I grinned, putting my hands in my pockets, and we fell silent for a moment before it got a bit uncomfortable. “Anyway, welcome to Big Sky. I’m sure you’ll be great.”

“I goddamn hope so.”

NOW:

“Liv, sweetie?” I called up the stairs, my eyes darting back to the pancake cooking on the stove. It was half past eight in the morning, and I needed to get Olivia, my niece, to her stepfather’s house. Her mother - my sister - had been… lost. In a murder, six years back, but they’d never found who’d done it. In her will, she’d given custody of Olivia to me, that the court had approved. Her stepfather, Markham, was not happy, but there was little he could do.

“Yeah?” Came her sleepy voice from upstairs, making me laugh quietly. She’d grown so much since I got her as a timid nine year old. Now she was sixteen in a week and the most beautiful girl I’d ever see. She was my baby girl at this point, and I couldn’t be prouder.

“I’ve got work, hon, and I’m makin’ pancakes!” I heard a brief pause, then a scramble to get up. I smiled knowingly, returning to the pancake as the thunder of footsteps down the stairs signalled her arrival. Her blonde hair bounced in stunning curls and her brown eyes flashed excitedly, even though they were riddled with sleep. I passed her a plate of pancakes stacked up, shaking the whipped cream. “Mornin’, gumdrop.” I grinned cheerily. “What would you like on your pancakes, hm?”

“Whipped cream, syrup, and raspberries.” She replied instantly, then returned my smile. “And good morning, auntie.” Olivia gave me a bear hug, which I returned gladly, kissing her hair before letting her go with a pat on the back.

“Good choice.” I squirmed the whipped cream in a circle, grabbing the syrup bottle and drizzling it generously before passing her a bowl of freshly washed raspberries so she could knock herself out, also sliding her a fork and knife. “Dig in.”

“Hello, there!” I heard Jenny call, the door opening. Jenny and Cassie walked in with big smiles on their faces, especially so when they found the combination of Olivia and pancakes. “Hope you don’t mind, we just used the spare key under the deco rock.”

“And I’m glad we did, because why weren’t we invited to the party?” Cassie faux-gasped as she gestured to the pancakes.

“Elle, explain yourself.” Jenny chastised, raising an eyebrow at me, but when I passed them each a plate of pancakes, they melted. “Ok, no explanation needed.”

“Yep, we’re all good now, no beef here.” Cassie agreed, dolloping whipped cream on hers before passing the canister to Jenny. “Also, hi, Olivia.”

“Hey, Cassie.” Liv waved with a smile and a mouthful of pancake. “Hi, Jenny.”

“Hey, kiddo.” Jenny grinned, waving before digging into the pancakes.

“Never knew I’d be catering for four today.” I chuckled, turning off the stove and embellishing my own plate of pancakes, making it even more of a sugar rush than it already was.

“Well, now we get to boast to Beau about what we got cooked.” She replied with a cheeky smile. “He’s always returnin’ with clean dishes of what Denise cooked, so I guess we could clap back a little.”

“His favourite deputy cooked us pancakes and not him.” Cassie giggled, making me roll my eyes. These two.

“Shut up. Both of you.” I snickered, trying to remain stern. “If Sheriff Arlen wants pancakes, he can come over and I can make him some pancakes, it’s not exclusive.”

“And here I thought we were special.”

“Aw, hey, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“She did.” Olivia giggled.

“Yeah, she did.” Jenny gave me a look before we all burst out into laughter. We spent a bit of time chatting as we finished our pancakes, telling Olivia the ups and downs of our latest solved case and what movie we wanted for movie night this week. When we were done, I picked up my keys, jangling them.

“Olivia, time to go.” I smiled, but Cassie put her hand on my arm with a smile.

“I’ll drop her off.” She chuckled, holding up her own keys. “I know where Mark lives, and it’s on my way.

“You’re not exactly the most civil with the guy.”

“That’s cause he’s an ass, but I’ll try my best.”

We engaged in a staring contest for five seconds, until I gave in, nodding in defeat. “Fine. But if I get a call from my brother in law-”

“You won’t!” She raised her hands in surrender. “I promise. Now, you and Jenny need to get to work before Beau rings you up.”

“God forbid he does.” I joked.

“C’mon, he hasn’t had the heart to tell you off after you found the hostages a few weeks ago, one of them happening to be his daughter. Another Darlene.” Jenny teased, nudging me playfully.

“You two are really keen on setting us up, hm?” I raised an eyebrow, shaking my head. “You know I’m not that keen on dating. Not after…” I trailed off with a frown. It was a sore memory, one that ended with me waking up at the bar with five empty shot glasses and a bill with far more drinks than I’d usually take.

“After Harry.” She sighed, patting my shoulder. “He wasn’t your fault. After all, he did the deed.”

“He doesn’t know what he lost.” Cassie added sympathetically. “The ass.”

“I wanna kick him in the nuts.” Olivia added, making us all raise an eyebrow.

“That’s fair.”

“And on all of our minds.” Jenny grinned.

“I can’t even be mad.” I sighed, then kissed Olivia’s forehead. “Be good, ok? If I get a good report, I’ll make you an ice cream sundae tonight.” As Cassie and Jenny opened their mouths to speak, I held up a finger. “You guys get one too.”

I walked into the sheriff’s department with Jenny, and the first person we saw was Beau Arlen himself. “Well, ain’t it my favourite deputies?” He sauntered over with that charming grin of his, looking between us. “Hoyt.”

“Beau.” Jenny smiled.

“Sheriff.” I chuckled, running my hand through my hair.

“C’mon, Belle, call me Beau.” Beau chuckled, gesturing to himself. “No formalities here.” The statement made me laugh, but I shook my head, looking down at my feet before back up into those twinkly green eyes.

“I’ll try my best, Sheriff.” I teased with a grin, then took a sharp breath in, looking around. “Any cases today?”

“A missing person’s case.” Beau’s expression changed slightly as he mentioned it. “Little girl named Harriet Brown, she was out playing in the front yard, parents were arguin’, when they come out, girl’s gone.”

“My god.” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “We should get on the case, and quick.” I pouted slightly, sucking in air through my teeth. “Any leads? License plate? Footage? Maybe someone who has a grudge?”

“Closest to a match we have as an enemy is the girl’s stepfather, Will Brown. And by parents arguing, I mean the birth father and mother arguin’.”

“Stepfather, what, lays claim to the kid?” I asked, concerned. I knew what that was like all too well (and by that I mean the outskirts of those feelings), and if that was the case…

“Possibly. He’s the only recent frequent visitor.” Beau frowned at the look on my face, tilting his head a little in curiosity. “You look a lil’ green around the gills there, Deputy. You doin’ ok?”

I shared a look with Jenny, who subtly patted my wrist, signalling me to speak up. I jolted out of my thoughts, nodding and putting on a smile that I felt didn’t quite reach my eyes. “‘Course, Sheriff. I’m always ok.”

“You sure?”

“Deadly.”

Beau looked at me for a bit, trying to gauge my reaction, before nodding resignedly and patting me on the shoulder with a small smile. “A’ight. But if anythin’ comes to mind, do tell.”

“Gotcha.” I nodded, my blue eyes looking into his green ones. After I’d met Beau on his first day as acting sheriff, he’d understood me. He knew I was raising Olivia, albeit had never met her, and related to that with his own little girl. Emily was an angel, and I guess I became more of one after he found me getting along well with someone who was his world. As well as that, after the incident with Buck Barnes, I’d managed to find the hostages, including Darlene and Emily, getting them out.

Ever since then, it’s like he treats me as if I’m God’s gift to him. I was just doin’ my job.

I breathed in, then released a deep on through my mouth. “Let’s hit the house, Jen.”

“You got it, Elle.” Jenny smiled. I picked up my jacket, adjusting the photo of my sister and I on my desk as I put it on with a sad smile.

“I miss ya, Lucy. Truly.”

I was in Beau’s truck, the landscape flying by as we made our way to the Brown’s house. The atmosphere was uncomfortably silent - damn the awkwardness of social interactions sometimes - but somehow Beau made coping with silence look easier than it felt. He wore an easy smile, waffling on about fishing with a charmingly boyish look in his eyes that I’d come to recognise and find adorable.

“While I love talking and yapping about fish to the point your ears fall off, Belle, but, uh, don’t you wanna get that?” I was snapped out of my reverie, finding that my ringtone was playing with the name Dean flashing on my screen over the green circle of light representing the button to accept the call, which I’d gladly do.

“Oh! Yeah, that’s right.” My face lit up as I pressed the ‘accept’ button, bringing the phone to my ear. “Dean, hey!”

‘Isa, hi.’ I heard a cheery voice from the other end. This was Olivia’s birth father, Dean Barlowe, who I preferred in spades to Markham Leeds. I never understood why Lucy and Dean had split up in the first place, since Dean was the best father I’d ask for where Liv is concerned. We hadn’t had contact in months, but this was a pleasant surprise. ‘How’ve you been?’

“Oh, now I feel brilliant.” I laughed, looking out the window. “How about you? It’s been goddamn months, I’ve been dyin’ for a call.”

‘Well, I’m feeling great now too. It’s always nice to talk to you. A familiar face.’

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” I nodded with a happy sigh. “Are you holding up ok? After… Lucy? It’s been a while, but it hit you pretty hard too.”

‘Doing better, if that counts.’ I heard a pause on the other end. ‘Hey, do you think Liv would mind if I pop over for a visit in a week’s time?’

“For her birthday, right?”

‘Yeah. Mark wouldn’t be too mad, right?’

“Who gives a damn about Markham, just come over, ok?” I smiled, and I could practically hear his own relieved one on the other end of the line. “Liv’s gonna love the surprise, don’t you worry.”

‘You know exactly what to say to soothe my nerves, don’t you?’

“Hey, it’s nothin’. Just being a dutiful sister in law.” I saw an exit sign that said we were almost at the house, so I decided to wrap it up. “Hey, uh, Dean, I’m about to start working a case, so I’ll chat later.”

‘Ah, right. Thanks, Isa. Bye.’

“Bye.” I cut the call, and found Beau smirking at me, his eyebrow raised slightly. “What?”

“You seem real chummy with this Dean fella.” He snickered knowingly, but I shook my head rapidly.

“No, no, no. He’s my brother in law.”

“Wait, this is the ex-husband of your late sister?” Beau nodded approvingly. “By the way you’re talkin’ to him, he seems like he’s got his name written in your good books with sparkly gold ink. Unlike Mark.”

“Well, Mark’s an ass.”

“Markham is an ass.”

Beau, Jenny and I were flicking through the security tapes of the Brown house the day their little girl Harriet was kidnapped. “Look, there.” I pointed to the screen, where a man was approaching. “It’s our stepfather.”

“Damn straight.” Beau nodded, leaning forward to ID the guy’s face. “Yep, that’s him. And he just scooped the girl up gave her a lollipop and high-tailed it.”

“We need to get this girl back.” Jenny sighed, her expression pensive as she peered at the screen.

“We got an idea on where she could be taken?”

“Possibly his cabin. Witness accounts show that he’s been buyin’ a lot of bedding, more than you’d need.” I frowned, then stood up. “We need to bust this guy and fast.” I didn’t know exactly why, but this was pissing me off. A stepfather, kidnap his own stepdaughter.

“Let’s bust a crooked stepfather.” Jenny got up, and so did we, heading out the door, running to our cars as Jenny texted me the address, which I put into Beau’s GPS. We quickly got in, and Beau floored it.

“You seem rather frustrated on this case, huh, Belle?” He asked, sighing deeply. I shook my head, plastering on a smile that once again did not reach my eyes as I looked back at him.

“No, sir, I’m just concerned for the kid.” I answered not as smoothly as I’d hoped to have done. My voice was slightly shaky, and I knew what he was thinking. Mark had been after custody of Olivia for ages, and was still trying. However, he couldn’t do anything, not when I was named Olivia’s legal guardian and was Lucy’s next of kin.

“It’s about Mark, right?”

I chuckled lowly, nodding. “That obvious?”

“You’re like a mama bear in these cases.” He grinned, then patted my knee. “But now, I need my deputy to have a clear mind. God knows you help me keep mine all clear and sunny skies.”

“Gotcha, Sheriff.” I smiled as we pulled up to the house. “Hear you loud and clear.” I reached under the seat, pulling on my bulletproof vest and strapping it tight. I looked over, seeing that he’d done the same. “Shall we?”

“We shall, darlin’.” We got out at the same time as Jenny, making our way across the front yard before I tried the handle of the door, finding it locked. I nodded to Beau, who reared up and kicked the door open, all of us putting up our guns as we stormed the house. Jenny went to check the kitchen and living room, Beau heading upstairs while I took the basement. I crept down the stairs, treading light in fear of startling Will. I gently tried the door, hearing a little girl whimpering. Then I spotted a middle aged man holding a gun, and a small brunette girl hugged my legs, terrified.

“It’s ok.” I whispered, training my gun on Will Brown. “It’s ok, sweetheart. As for you,” My eyes focused on the man, “Sheriff’s department, put your hands where I can see ‘em-” He fired, and my trigger was pulled in a quick response, aiming for his shoulder while his bullet got me clean in the gut, which was caused by me moving to protect Harriet at the same time. The little girl screamed, while Beau and Jenny started yelling from upstairs. I collapsed against the wall, sliding down as Harriet crawled up to me, looking terrified.

“He hurt you.” She whispered, crying, but I shushed her and brought her head to my shoulder, ignoring the riddling pain in an attempt to soothe this little girl.

“Hey, it’s-” I was overcome by a cough as my hand moved to stem the flow of blood, “it’s ok, sweetheart. Perfectly fine, you’re safe, ok?” I stroked her hair, closing my eyes briefly as the red liquid stained my fingers. My head spun from how damn painful it was, like a thousand daggers piercing one spot on me, driving in slowly. “Just calm down for me, my friends are coming.”

As if on cue, Beau and Jenny rushed in, and once they realised that my attacker and Harriet’s kidnapper was downed, their attention turned to me. Beau instantly knelt in front of me while Jenny checked up on Will, his expression freaked out and pale. “Jesus- Jesus holy Christ, Belle, we’re gonna need a paramedic. Hoyt, call it in, now!” Then he turned back to me, putting his hands over the bullet wound to put pressure. I coughed slightly, hissing, but I kept stroking Harriet’s hair, not wanting her to get too scared.

“Just get her out of here.” I nodded to Harriet. “I’ll hold on, just keep her safe.” My bloodied hand reached out to grip Beau’s bare forearm. “Take her home.”

LMF TAGLIST:

@deans-spinster-witch @nancymcl @hobby27

Preview of Chapter Two

[angelisgonnastartchangingurls]

julia

julia and jim officially broke up a week or so before casey got pregnant. julia had attempted suicide at home and was being institutionalized. annie felt sick about it, but also felt afraid to act. on some level, she worried that whatever was wrong with julia was also wrong with her, but just manifesting differently. annie had chosen sex and party drugs to medicate her illness and julia had chosen pills.

so instead of visiting julia right away, annie spent a week at jim's apartment screwing him constantly. every time a male friend texted jim to see how he was doing, he'd tell them annie was there to look after him, and send them a picture of her naked in his apartment. several of them were bold enough to ask if they could come over, and so annie would take them both. several of them had wedding rings. she liked that. the married ones praised her currently quite hairy pussy, and so she thought about their blonde, shaved wives at home.

after annie's week at jim's, jenny showed up to take her place in every sense of the word. jim sent annie pics of jenny's perfect landing strip covered in his cum.

annie began to find comfort in her relationship with tom, which was in a very normal place. alicia was living on her own again, and so annie and tom were very domestic. they went on dates, they fucked, they sent nudes, and annie stayed at tom's on the weekends. on their weeknight dates, annie would typically try to have sex before so she could go home at the end. she was learning to enjoy her empty apartment again. she liked getting high by herself and watching movies and then taking a bath. she kept her apartment and her body excessively clean, now trimming her bush down to almost nothing but not shaving anything on top. she liked the look of that. casual but very slutty. at home, her uniform was typically a white tank top and white panties, so she was popular with the pizza delivery guy.

she realized at some point that this was very similar to her mother - her pubic hair, her clothing choices. despite almost never seeing each other and never really speaking, annie and her mom were now prolific texters, updating each other about their day -- particularly about sex, but other things too.

after jenny's week with jim, casey and robbie spent a lot of time with him. by now everybody knew casey was pregnant. jim told annie it made fucking her even hotter. annie tried not to let the idea of casey's young, pregnant pussy make her crazy. robbie told her casey was already sending her dad mirror pics of herself in her underwear for "baby bump progress" even though it was almost nonexistent.

annie couldn't bring herself to talk about babies with tom for fear that he would discourage it -- she'd made dirty "breeding" comments with him earlier in their relationship, but it felt more real now. but with sean, she was always begging him to creampie him, telling him to fuck a baby into her. it was still a fantasy -- annie wasn't on birth control but always made sure to pull sean out when she knew she was ovulating or close to it.

casey very openly fetishized her pregnancy. when she announced her pregnancy on instagram, she captioned it: "i've been dreaming of this ever since the first time i begged robbie to cum inside me, ten minutes after we met. i love you robbie, i'm so glad i have never even imagined your cock with a condom on it. can't wait to keep calling you daddy."

annie finally visited julia about a month into her time at a "retreat" in the country. julia seemed happy. she was tan, and wore white, loose clothes and seemed mostly capable of carrying on a conversation. she had kind of a wall up, but annie couldn't be sure if that was julia or the medication she was on. she didn't ask annie about jim at all.

annie went on a date with tom that night and told him about it.

"what makes you think you have that kind of mental instability?" he asked.

"i guess because in college there were no warning signs. and because i do a lot of drugs and i don't know what they're doing to my brain."

"well," tom said, "stop doing drugs."

"you don't think i'd be less fun?"

"i think you're just as fun when you're not high."

"what if i get less horny?"

"i don't think you're capable of being less horny."

annie made an effort, over the next few weeks, to get high less often. she stopped doing anything but smoking weed when home alone, and limited alcohol when she was doing coke and vice versa. she'd gone through periods of relative sobriety before, but felt more intentional about this. when she felt discouraged or antsy, she reminded herself that she was more breedable this way.

[teecupangel]

Ok so because I was rewatching Disney and DreamWorks imagine if Ratonhnhaké:ton was in like a musical, kind of like Hamilton but in real life. I don't know how that will work and I'm slowly losing cells so yeah : P

“There is something you must know before you leave.” The clan mother, his grandmother, spoke solemnly.

Ratonhnhaké:ton stared at her and waited for her to continue.

She was giving him permission to leave their village after all. The least he could do was heed her warnings and take her words to heart.

“These white men have a curse placed upon them.”

“A curse?” Ratonhnhaké:ton repeated with a frown.

“Yes, they are slaves to the music only they hear.” She explained, “We know not why it is so but they would be taken in by the desire to sing and be unable to resist it. No matter the place or the time, when they hear the music, they must sing.”

She stared at her only grandson as she continued, “Your mother and I… we were worried that you have gotten their curse but not once have you ever shown to bear the same curse as they have. That might change once you walk among them.”

She must have seen the disbelief that he was trying to hide for she sigh as she said, “You must be careful, Ratonhnhaké:ton. Who knows what this curse truly entails. We can never be certain that this curse is not simply the inescapable call of music.”

“I… understand.” Ratonhnhaké:ton nodded, “I will be careful.”

The clan mother knew that Ratonhnhaké:ton didn’t truly understand but she said nothing, only telling him to be careful.

He will understand soon enough.

.

Unorganized Notes:

So my idea is that the Europeans are the ones hit by this ‘curse’. They’re compelled to sing whenever they hear the music and it happens a lot. The natives see this and are like “???” but to the colonizers, it’s just… par of the course.

This does mean those who weren’t born or raised in the parts of Europe like Adéwalé do not sing. He does sing with the crew when it’s sea shanties but any dance number and such? Nope, he was the ‘straight dude’ in the Jackdaw.

This means that Achilles also doesn’t sing so he’s able to tell Ratonhnhaké:ton how it looks and feel like to give him a head’s up.

The Kenways, Edward, Haytham and even Jenny, usually sing very dramatic songs. It shows as the kind of “find my freedom and goal” uplifting songs for Edward, the whole “I want to be me” kind of songs for Jenny and the “villain song that is always the best song in the album” type of songs for Haytham (bonus points for Haytham having his own Gregorian chant backup singers to connote his Templar background).

Ratonhnhaké:ton does not sing but… he does hear the music.

If you want to turn this into a Hamilton crossover, go ahead. That means Ratonhnhaké:ton has to deal with Hamilton’s… everything whenever he has to talk to Washington XD

Whatever is making them sing sees Ratonhnhaké:ton as ‘part’ of the ensemble so you get scenes like Haytham singing a duet with Ratonhnhaké:ton but Ratonhnhaké:ton does not know the lyrics and would rather strip naked and run away from wolves all night long than sing.

The same thing happened to Charles Lee but Ratonhnhaké:ton was busy beating the crap out of him.

The whole confrontation with Washington, Haytham and Ratonhnhaké:ton ends with Haytham and Washington singing with some ‘dead spaces’ here and there where it’s clear that it was Ratonhnhaké;ton’s turn to sing.

The music in the homestead are always jolly (unless something bad happens) and they always include Ratonhnhaké:ton. Unlike the other times, they don’t try to make Ratonhnhaké:ton sing and Ratonhnhaké:ton just joins in the festivity more or less. Achilles takes the ‘I’m the grumpy one who doesn’t sing’ part in these musical numbers instead.

… Haytham definitely sang a very embarrassing love song that was meant to be a duet to Kaniehtí:io. Kaniehtí:io was amuse. Haytham was embarrassed.

Why are the colonizers singing? Isu BS. Apollo, Bragi and Meret got super drunk and fucked up the ‘latest’ batch of humans to be processed for shits and giggles. They ran away before Yaldabaoth saw them and he’s been so overworked that he just… didn’t give a shit and sent these batch as is.

[dwntwn-strnlo]

WHEN I

ⅰ. 𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑

❝ᵐᵃᵗᵗ ˢᵗᵒᵖ ᶠᵘᶜᵏⁱⁿᵍ ˡᵘʳᵏⁱⁿᵍ❞

·.★·.·'¯'·.·★★·.·'¯'·.·★.·

↳ ˢᵒᶜⁱᵃˡ ᵐᵉᵈⁱᵃ, ⁱᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ

check out on wattpad for an easier and cleaner read!

prev. ⇆ next.

🄽🄾🅆 🄿🄻🄰🅈🄸🄽🄶 . . .

❝i've been thinkin 'bout you . . .

. . . do you think about me still?❞

ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴ ʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ - 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈.

chapter one

❝𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑❞

💫

·.★·.·'¯'·.·★★·.·'¯'·.·★.·

↳ ⁱⁿˢᵗᵃᵍʳᵃᵐ

veraaaprince

liked by trinity_west and 196,372 others

veraaaprince summer 🫡😋

tagged // nicolassturniolo , trinity_west , macsimpson , matthew.sturniolo , christophersturniolo , jennnnyfoster , nathandoe8 , madifilipowicz

view all 912 comments

nicolassturniolo OKAYYYYY

↳ veraaaprince WOOOOOOOOOOO

username ate

username did you fall off the door

↳ matthew.sturniolo yeah and she died

.   ↳ veraaaprince fuck you

.      ↳ matthew.sturniolo i can still hear her annoying little voice sometimes

macsimpson she screamed the whole ride and everything

↳ veraaaprince ok.

↳ christophersturniolo wasnt it a kiddie ride too?

.   ↳ matthew.sturniolo probably shes a little scaredy bitch

.       ↳ veraaaprince yall suck

madifilipwicz PRETTYYY

nathandoe8 the popcorn 😕

↳ username i wouldve cried

.   ↳ trinity_west @christophersturniolo cried like a litttle babyyyyy

.       ↳ matthew.sturniolo its true he did

.       ↳ christophersturniolo what the fuck

username i need friends like this

↳ username real

jennnnyfoster mother

↳ veraaaprince mother

username matt replying to everyones comments but not making his own smh

·.★·.·'¯'·.·★★·.·'¯'·.·★.·

↳ ⁱᵐᵉˢˢᵃᵍᵉ

vera ; prince 🕺

matt ; matty ratty 🐀

chris ; kristof 🦌

nick ; nick jr 📺

trinity ; trinny winny 😋

jenny ; jenn city 🌆

mac ; cheesy 🫶🧀

11:27 pm !

prince 🕺

matt stop fucking lurking

jenn city 🌆

seriously

like what you doin bud 😭

matty ratty 🐀

Dont call me bud

and im not

kristof 🦌

then what are you doing

matty ratty 🐀

Commenting like the rest of you?

prince 🕺

mm i dont think so ☝️

nick jr 📺

matt.

matty ratty 🐀

Nick.

nick jr 📺

shhhh

trinny winny 😋

can i change his name

pls

pelase

please

cheesy 🫶🧀

literally why

kristof 🦌

no

kristof 🦌 changed matty ratty 🐀 to lurker 🥷

lurker 🥷

Chris I fucking hate you

prince 🕺

LMFAO

trinny winny 😋

what the fuck.

kristof 🦌

maybe be faster next time idk????

jenn city 🌆

i love this

lurker 🥷

Love what

jenn city 🌆

bullying you

loved by nick jr 📺

lurker 🥷 left the chat!

cheesy 🫶🧀 added lurker 🥷 to the chat!

cheesy 🫶🧀

stop being a fucking pussy matthew

emphasized by kristof 🦌 and jenn city 🌆

prince 🕺

oh boy

trinny winny 😋

woah there 😧

nick jr 📺

calm urself 

lurker 🥷

Someone pls change my name back 🙏

kristof 🦌

NO 🙅‍♂️🔕👎❌

trinny winny 😋

we'll do it if you turn off your goddamn caps

lurker 🥷

Uhm

No

prince 🕺

matt PLEASE

turn off your caps

lurker 🥷

get out of here vera

cheesy 🫶🧀

HE TURNED THEM OFF

nick jr 📺

oh my

jenn city 🌆

whipped 🤨

lurker 🥷

excuse me?

jenn city 🌆

you heard me

trinny winny 😋 changed lurker 🥷tomatty ratty 🐀

matty ratty 🐀

thanks ig 

kristof 🦌

literally get over urself kid

prince 🕺

thats crazy

trinny winny 😋

ok im done omfg

im going to bed

matty ratty 🐀

me too

nick jr 📺

yeah get outta here

cheesy 🫶🧀

oh boy

read 12:01 am !

💫

. . .

A/N

oh boy

idk how i feel abt this but

irl chapter next!

[jackiequick]

Headcanons for the Mitchell-Bradshaw kids (+ friends & family) because I can | Top Gun AU ✈️

Summary: What happens when you live with 4 little ducklings? Unforgettable memories!

Pairing: Bradley Bradshaw & Jenny Mitchell

Characters included/mentioned: Dane Bradshaw, Austin Mitchell, Maverick, Slider, Iceman, Carole and etc

Note: Fluffy/ Top Gun Headcanon fic

~~

1) Bradley and Austin used to volunteer at an Animal Shelter, full of puppies and full grown dogs if all breeds. One day, Slider’s kids wanted to adopt another dog but couldn’t since they already had 4 already so in result, they called Iceman to help them out and so in result he adopted the doggie.

But there was a catch, the Yorkie made so much more barking than expected and had so much darling energy, so Iceman had no choice but to call him—Maverick!! Let’s just say the real Maverick wasn’t the happiest person after hearing that and the kids laughed so loudly at his reaction

2) Speaking of dogs, Austin Mitchell may or may not have brought home in an panic a week later. Jenny was sending text messages on her laptop when he rushed in yelling, “Don’t tell Dad!”

She was confused and looked up, “What did you do?”

“I want you to know that I love you VERY much and you’re always welcome in my room for the bigger closest room.”

“Aussy, what happened? Did you break his motorcycle again?”

“No and for the 10th time that was Dane!”

He hoped the door for a puppy to walk in as his sister’s jaw dropped to the floor, hugging the fur ball to tackle her. He laughed at the moment and whistles as two more dogs came in grinning brightly.

“Sooo? What do we think?” He asked with a matching grin as the dogs, carrying the puppy.

“We ain’t NEVER telling Dad!” She repiled with a little giggle falling in love with the dogs.

—

3) As a kid, Dane really in awe of Ice's ability to flip pens like it was nothing and wants to be his student to learn the trick, begging for him to teach him one day after school. His mom brought him a small pack of pens and pencils to practice with for flipping tricks, eventually he gets the hang of it where he showcasing his tricks in class.

He thanked his Uncle Ice later on for showing him the trick, calling him cooler than Maverick jokingly and laughed running off to show his friends his new tricks

4) Speaking of Dane, is maths kid in school. History was never his strong suit but surprisingly, numbers came much more naturally to him. It resulted in the type of career he would have in the future.

His brother and siblings knew this fact very well, being able to be crafty where he can calculate prices of analysis for planes. As well as when needed he can calculate, like the the tax and measurement when it comes to paying for a restaurant bill.

It would surprise his mother as she would ask, “Not bad, sweetie. How did you do that so fast?”

In result he would hold up the pen and napkin he used to do the math then reply, “I counted.”

—

5) When it comes to certain things, Jenny is terrible at keeping secrets and wants to gossip, so she can be a little nosy at times (she gets better at it with age). Ice and her dad like to say, she got from their Aunt Carole, since Sunset was most likely the one to be hush hush about certain subjects.

When she was 5, and Bradley was 7, she knew he had a silly little crush on the babysitter cause she was so nice. So she told her auntie Carole who stayed gushing with her all about it, teasing her son about it

When she was 10, she heard all about uncle Slider becoming Commander after watching the adults talk about it and went running to her daddy to spill the news giggling with excitement. It was supposed to be a secret for a few short days but she couldn’t help herself.

When she was 16, she found out that Dane and Austin had a crush on the same girl or so she thought. She squeals so loudly, knowing that she would have to be quiet about it or else. Bradley even gave her an odd look.

But Jenny had other plans as she sneaked up on her brother and asked, “Sooo who’s the girl?”

“What girl? There is no girl!” Austin exclaimed playing video games on the computer.

“Oh my god it’s the senior!”

“How did y-no! I am not into a senior.”

“But I saw you talking about some girl name ‘Avery’…”

That’s when her brother snorted, “No, Avery Thompson is the senior leader of the drama club. I’m into Avery Rodriguez, he’s on the basketball team.”

Her eyes widen and gasps, “HIM?! Damn, you got good taste!”

—

6) Jenny had a small crush on Bradley when they were kids, jokingly saying ‘You are my boyfriend.’ when she was 7 but let it go a while later. Especially since fictional boys existed on Tv duh! However, Bradley thought girls had cooties and said, ‘Gross!’

As early high school rolled around, Jenny was watching Disney Channel movies and texting her friends as she watched the boys play guitar and drums in the center of the garage. Austin, Dane and Bradley were jamming out in their band laughing and singing covers.

Tracy and Rachel, Jenny’s friends, walked into the garage jamming out to the songs as she greeted her with a hug. They were chatting and gossiping about the latest movies, along with newest episodes of Gossip Girl.

“Can you believe Blair said that to Serena?! That was uncalled for!” Tracy exclaimed as they sat on the bench, sipping water bottles.

“I know right?! But Serena had a point though.” Jenny yelled, chuckling.

“Blair was better.” Rachel added for a debating measure, “But I love Serena too.”

Bradley was tuning his guitar but paused to look at the girls with a loopy smile, stuck in a mini trance.

That’s when Austin threw an empty water bottle at his head and yelled, “Dude! Stop staring that’s my sister.”

Dane laughed at his brother’s face, waving at Tracy, Rachel and Jenny who giggled. Bradley just glared at Austin as he stuck out his tongue muttering a few things.

~~~~

I know this is random but I wanted to do it for fun. If you want to reblog with HCs or ideas you have for Top Gun universe, feel free to do so! ;)

Remember to like, comment and share for more in the future. Let me know what you think!

Tags: @gaminggirlsstuff @starkleila @missstrawbs2001 @gcthvile @mandylove1000 @rooster-84 @cherrysft @degenbrat @hardballoonlove @queenslandlover-93 @djs8891 @theloveoftoms @topgun-imagines @simplyscorpio @roostersforevergirl and etc

[anglophiletraveler]

Chapter 36

Two of Us

Written by Paul McCartney

****

A big shout out to Nicky Matthews for helping me with all of my real estate questions!  It was a huge help.  When I decide to move to England, I’ll know who to hook up with!  Also, another big shout out to Karen Bockius for her support and help as my beta.  She wasn’t able to help me with this chapter, so if it’s worse than usual it’s because it doesn’t have her magical touch on it.  Thank you also to everyone who keeps reading!

It was deemed that Saturday morning would be a lazy morning for Demelza and Ross and just take the day off from life and hibernate after a very busy and emotional week.  After weeks of rehearing, and working with a private instructor, Demelza had won the audition.  Things were getting busier at work for Ross, not to mention the issue with Jenny that had yet to be sorted.   Even Seamus was dead to the world this morning.    Demelza stirred first, feeling mother nature calling, but she was trying to push it out of her mind and go back to sleep.  Ross was still curled around the back of her, his around her waist, one leg over her, and his face snuggled as close to her neck as possible.  Just one more hour! she thought to herself. But it was hard with Ross breathing in her neck.  

She was just falling back to sleep when she heard Seamus starting to whine and growl needing to go outside.  Finally Ross began to stir.  Demelza managed to turn to face Ross, “Ross.  Ross, love.  You need to get up and let Seamus outside.”  He didn’t stir at all.  This called for more than just a sweet voice.  Demelza shook his arm, “Ross!  Wake up!”

“Hmmm what’s wrong?  It’s Saturday, we’re supposed to sleep in,” Ross replied.

“We have slept in, and now Seamus needs outside, and it’s your turn to let him out,” Demelza started pushing on him to get him out of bed.

“Mmmnnnooo not yet.  Ten more minutes,” Ross whined.

Seamus wasn’t having any of it and jumped on top of Ross and started licking his face!  “Nnnnooooo Seamus ssstop!  Get down.”

Demelza started laughing at the scene and started egging Seamus on, “Get daddy Seamus!, go on get him!”

Ross finally gave it up, “Alright, alright, but I’m going pee first Seamus!  Wanker!”

“What do you want for breakie?” Demelza asked.

“I don’t care.  We could go out for all I care,” Ross answered back.

Demelza looked at her phone, “Well, it’s 10:30, I suppose we could catch brunch somewhere.  We haven’t done that for a while.  I just wasn’t sure if you just wanted to stay in and not go out at all today?”

“No, not necessarily.  I don’t think it’s supposed to rain, so it might be nice to get out and about.  It’s up to you, if you want to stay in I can just eat cereal. Ohhhhhh I better get him outside.”

“You’re whining sweetheart!” Demelza yelled after Ross.

And in a whining voice, Ross answered back, “You’re whiiiiininnnng!”

She laughed at his response back to her.  She started to check out local brunches on her phone and found a couple of good prospects that sounded better than cereal, so she got up and got in the shower.  By the time Ross came back up the stairs, Demelza was getting out of the shower.  “Is that my clue that we’re going out for brunch?”

“You assume correctly.  There’s a place a couple blocks from here that serves Saturday brunch until 2:00, so we have plenty of time to walk there if you’d like,” replied Demelza.

Ross was admiring her miles of soft white skin and couldn’t resist wrapping his arms around her waist.  “So then we have plenty of time before brunch,” he was laying soft butterfly kisses on the back of her neck, smelling her scent as he made his way down her shoulder.  Demelza turned in Ross’s arms to face him.  “Aren’t you hungry Ross?”

“Oh indeed I am,” he kissed Demelza on the lips, “I’m also hungry for brunch, but I would rather have you for breakfast first, my love,” Ross continued his kisses down Demelza’s neck.  

Demelza was enjoying the attention until she remembered, “Oh Ross, we can’t…”

“Hmmm why not? I fed Seamus…”

Demelza pulled away from Ross, “Ross, I can’t, it’s my time of the month.  I’m so sorry.”

Ross sighed and dropped his head, “Rats, foiled again!  No worries, love.  I’ll just go get my shower so we can head out.”  Ross was trying his best not to moan about the circumstances.  Demelza gave him a sad face as he turned and walked away.

*****************************

Winter was still hanging on, so the couple decided to drive to brunch.  The server brought a pot of tea for Demelza and a French press coffee for Ross.  

“What are you hungry for, Demelza?” Ross asked.

“I don’t know, I can’t decide between some French toast or a full English.  What about you?”

Ross smiled to himself.  Demelza wasn’t a very decisive person when it came to ordering at a restaurant.  She can never make up her mind and usually is the last to order to see what everyone else orders, and then sometimes she still can’t make up her mind so she usually just ends up ordering whatever someone else orders.

Ross looked at her, “Do you think that you can eat a full English?”

Demelza was biting her thumbnail, “I am pretty hungry.  Ohhh but I do want a bite or two of French toast.”  Demelza raised a brow at Ross and had a big grin on her face.  

Ross just shook his head at his fiance.  “Alright then, I guess I’m getting the French toast! But I’m not handing over my bacon!”  Demelza giggled at him.  

After the waitress took their order, Ross held Demelza’s hand.  “So I was thinking that maybe this weekend, we could have a look at some houses.  What do you think?”

Demelza’s expression changed abruptly, “Now?  Today?”

“Yes, today.  Is there a problem?” Ross asked.

“Well, I guess not.  Don’t you have to plan that sort of thing?” 

“

Ross shook his head, “Not necessarily.  On the weekends sometimes there are open houses to visit.  And I’ve been looking at real estate ads online.  We could call a realtor and ask to see a couple places.  I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately, and I think to get the home that we would like, we might have to go outside of London a bit to get a decent price.”

“Bloody hell, you’ve really been thinking about this.  How do you even know what kind of home we might want.  We haven’t really talked about it that much,” Demelza was just a tad worried now.

“Well no, I haven’t wanted to bring it up with the audition and everything going on.” The waitress had brought over their tea and coffee.  Ross had poured his coffee and was stirring cream into it, “But soon it will be spring and that’s always seems to be a good time to buy a home.  I was thinking that we will need at least 3 bedrooms, an office for me, a music room for you, a dining room, a full kitchen and two and a half bathrooms,” Ross was sounding like an advertisement for a realtor.  “Am I wrong?”

Demelza shrugged, “Well, I guess not.  But that sounds like an awfully big house to take care of and pay for.  Are you sure you’re not biting off more than we can chew?  Or jumping the gun?  It just seems like you’re moving awfully fast. I…”

Ross put his hand on Demelza’s arm, “Baby, I know it might seem fast to you, and maybe it is, but if we don’t start looking we will never find a place.  We’re not making any offers or putting down a down payment, we’re just looking.  I just feel like if we don’t start looking, we won’t get a good idea of what we like.”

The waitress brought their food over.  Demelza’s eyes got as big as tennis balls when she saw all of the food on her plate.  “Judas!  I forgot how much food comes with a full English!”

Ross smiled at his fiance, “I had a feeling you might say that.  So, do you want to switch plates?”

“No way!  I’m starved!  I might give you a couple of bites in exchange for a couple bites from your French toast, but I’m tuckin in mate!” Demelza wasn’t about to give in to Ross on her breakfast!

Ross put his hands up in submission, “Alright, enjoy your food.”

They enjoyed their meals with the occasional “mmm’s” and “this is so good”.  Ross could tell that among the bites of food that Demelza was thinking of something.  “Sooo whatcha thinkin about?”

Demelza took a drink of her tea and took a beat, and looked Ross in the eye, “I’ll agree to look at some houses if you agree that we don’t sign any papers, or put a down payment on anything this weekend.  We just look to see what we like.”

Ross smiled, “Agreed.”

****************************

Ross and Demelza were now sitting across a standard office table with pamphlets scattered about it, waiting for the real estate agent that was assigned to them.  Demelza was trying not to wring her hands together but she wasn’t doing a very good job of concealing it, so Ross put a hand on hers to try to calm her down.  Just a few moments later a dark haired gentleman who appeared to be a little older than Ross entered the room.  He bent over to shake hands with Ross and Demelza,  “Hello there, sorry about the wait.  My name is Scott Weston, I’m one of the senior agents here at Carlyle. It’s nice to meet you.”

Ross spoke up, “Hi yes, my name is Ross Poldark, and this is my fiance Demelza Carne.”  Demelza nodded hello to the agent.

“Ah engaged, congratulations.  I understand that you’re interested in looking at some homes.  Do you have an idea in mind of what you might be looking for?”

“Well, we’ve discussed it a little bit, and we would like at least three bedrooms, two and a half baths, full kitchen, an office and a music room, along with a back garden for Seamus,” Ross answered.

Scott was nodding his head in agreement and taking notes and smiled, “I take it Seamus is a dog?”

Ross smiled, “Ah yes, my Irish Setter.  A large area for running around would be good for him.”

“Of course.  And you mentioned a music room.  Are there specific requirements for this?” Scott asked.

Ross looked at Demelza to speak up, “I’m a cellist for the BBC Orchestra, so it would be nice if I had my own space to practise, and also to eventually put a piano in as well.”

Scott raised his eyebrows, “Oh goodness, that’s very impressive.  What a marvelous career.”

Ross was sure he saw the wheels in the agent’s mind turning at how much commission he could make from them after he heard about Demelza’s career.  Ross smiled to himself knowing that Demelza’s salary isn’t as much as the realtor is guessing in his mind.  

“Thank you very much!  I really love what I do,” Demelza replied back to the agent. She was obviously flattered by the agent’s words.

Ross cleared his throat to get back to the matter at hand.  

Scott took the hint, “Ahh yes, so are there any other aspects that you would like your new home to include?  How about a formal dining room? Do you entertain a lot?”

Demelza looked at Ross.  She wasn’t sure how to answer that question, “What do you think Ross?  Do we need a formal dining room?”

“Well, it would be nice to have one.  We do like to entertain, and have family over for holiday meals.  But it’s not a deal breaker at this point.  I think we would like to be around good schools, a safe neighborhood.  A garage would be good to have.”

The agent kept taking more notes, “Do you have any children now?”

Demelza looked out of the corner of her eye at Ross and saw that he shook his head no.

“Do the two of you own a home or a flat now? If you do, that could go a long way to help with the price of what you can look at?  Where do you work, Ross?  I don’t think we got that far?” Scott was getting down to the nitty gritty now.  

“Yes, I own a two bedroom half terraced home.  I’ve owned that for about five years.  I work at Falmouth, Pascoe & Tonkin.  I think we’d like to keep the asking around 650,000 pounds,” Ross explained to Scott, who did his best at hiding his shocked face at the low asking price.    

“That price point could prove to be difficult with what you are asking for in a home.  You’ll have to go outside of London for sure, and even then it will be tricky.  But we will see what we can find.  I’m going to print off some flyers on some homes for you to look at.  I’ll be right back.  Can I get either of you something to drink?  Water, tea?” Scott offered.

Demelza’s throat was dry from worry, “I’d love some water.”

“Great, I’ll have my assistant bring some,” Scott left the couple alone.

Demelza waited for Scott to leave the room, “Ross are you out of your mind?! 650,000 pounds!!  We can’t afford that!” Demelza was about to burst a blood vessel now.

Ross smiled at her innocence, “Love, I know what I’m doing.  Remember, I’m the banker here.  We can actually afford more than that but I don’t want him to know it.  Just play it cool and let me do the talking.”

Scott’s assistant walked in with bottles of water for Ross and Demelza and left.  Demelza grabbed one and immediately drank half of it down.

“I thought you said we wouldn’t be signing anything or making any offers today!” Demelza was starting to panic now.

Ross put his hand on her arm, “We’re not.  I’m just letting him believe that we are.  I need to see what’s out there, especially to find out how much we can get out of my place when we sell it.”

Demelza growled, “Ross, I don’t like this.  I don’t like it one bit!  I’m going to start getting hives from all of this.”

Ross smiled to himself at how worked up Demelza had become.  It was obvious that she’s had no experience in buying a large ticket item, let alone a house.  “It will be fine sweetheart, I promise.  It’s okay to just look at homes that are for sale, how else will we find out what we can afford, and what we like? And who knows, maybe we’ll decide to stay where we are for now, but it’s best to check out options,”

Scott walked back in with some flyers for them to look at different homes that were for sale.  The cheaper ones were 2 or 3 bedroom terraced homes that looked similar to what Ross already owned.  The way they were laid out was better though, with all of the bedrooms on the upper level.  “So, as you can see these are 2 or 3 bedrooms, terraced homes, but they are pretty representative of what we have available at this time.  They’re on the outskirts of London, so it wouldn’t be a huge commute for either of you.  And these other ones are 3 plus bedrooms, with some office space, some are terraced or half terraced, and they are further out, even as far as Windsor.  I don’t know if you consider that too far out for a commute or not.  Now this one here is a rare find, and it won’t last long. It’s a one story bungalow with 4 bedrooms, a utility room, a large kitchen area and a family room tied in with the kitchen, a large back garden.  Would you like to go see any of these?  Perhaps tomorrow?  I could also take a look at your current home and give you an idea of how much it’s worth.  That is, if you’d like and you’re that far in your house search?”

“Ohhh I do like the idea of being on one floor for some reason.  What do you think, Ross?” Demelza had fallen for the one floor bungalow.

Ross was looking over the paper of the one floor bungalow.  It all looked very enticing on paper.  “Well, I have to admit that I never gave any thought to a one floor bungalow, but it does sound appealing,” he looked at Demelza, “Do you want to take a look at it tomorrow, love?” 

Demelza looked at him and then stared at the paper chewing on her lip.  Finally she sighed, “I guess so.  I don’t really want to look at any two bedrooms since that’s what we already have.  To me that seems pointless.”  Demelza surprised herself with that statement, she almost didn’t recognize her own voice!

Ross looked at her and shook his head, “I agree, no two bedrooms.”  He looked at Scott, “Does that sound doable, to look at the bungalow and the three bedroom tomorrow?  Or is that too soon to let the owners know.”

Scott had his game face on, “The bungalow is empty, so that’s not a problem, and I can let the owners of the three bedroom know.  This should give them plenty of warning.  And if I find anything else that I think you might be interested in, I’ll pull those as well.  If you want to leave me your phone number, I’ll call or text you what time and where to meet me tomorrow.  Sound good?”

Ross wrote down his information, “Sounds good Scott, thanks mate.”  He and Demelza stood up and shook hands with Scott.

“My pleasure!  See you tomorrow!”

**************************

Ross and Demelza got in their car and looked at each other, and screamed at each other!

Demelza was shaking her head and was covering her face with her hands, “Ross, I can’t believe we just did that!  What did we just fecking do??  That was just so crazy, my mind was, is, spinning a mile a minute!  Oh Ross, I’m starving!”

“Starving?  We just ate!  That’s just your nerves talking.  Let’s go home and relax, yeah?”’

“Ok, sounds good.  Can we stop for Chinese first?”

Ross started laughing, “No, we are not stopping for bloody fucking Chinese!”  He pulled out of the parking lot and headed out onto the street and headed for home.

Demelza was quiet at first, chewing on her thumb nail, Ross kept glancing at her to see if he could figure out what she was thinking of besides Chinese food.  Finally she spoke, “Ross, how much do you think you could get out of our place, your place?”

“Mmm I have been looking at similar properties, and I’m guessing around one million.  It’s on a busier street so that might keep the price down, but it is on a corner and has a garage, and several updates.  So it’s hard to tell without someone coming in and giving us an estimate.” Ross was deep in thought now about their place.  He has done a lot with it, especially the kitchen and baths.  Hopefully he’ll get his money out of it.  

“How does this work?  Do we have to sell first and move out before we buy another place?  I wish that I knew more about these types of things.  I feel like such an idiot when it comes to this stuff.”

Ross scoffed, “Demelza, why would you know about real estate?  You’ve always rented, and besides, I’m sure that you didn’t have any real estate or business classes amongst your music courses while at uni.”  Ross gave Demelza a loving smile at this.  He knew that things like this didn’t come naturally to Demelza, and he tried to teach her about things like investments once in a while without making her feel bad.  And of course she never learned anything from her father, except how to make every penny count when trying to feed her brothers, which Ross greatly admired her for.

Ross continued on, “As far as your question goes about if we have to wait to see our home first, it just depends on the situation.  There are loans that can be obtained when the owner hasn’t sold their first home yet.”  Ross let out a heavy sigh, “How about we put this subject aside for the rest of the evening, alright?  Let’s go home and relax and think of other lovelier things.”

“Like…”

Ross smiled, “Oh I don’t know, maybe start thinking of a wedding date?  I do recall that is something that we said we would work on once your audition was over.”

Demelza’s face glowed with a large smile on it at that thought, “I do believe we did.  And we do have your mother’s surgery date.  We should decide on where to have the wedding… Nampara or Killewarren?  Have you talked with your parents lately about possibly having the wedding at Nampara?”

Ross sighed, “No, no I haven’t.  I’ve been bad.  I need to call them later on today.  I just wonder if mum will even be truthful if it will be too much for her to have the wedding at Nampara.  Maybe I’ll try to talk with da and see how he’s feeling about it.”

“Well Ross, we could always have pictures taken at Nampara.  There’s plenty of spots there that would be a beautiful background for pictures,” Demelza responded back.

“You know that’s a good thought.  I like that. Thanks, love,” he smiled at Demelza and picked up her hand to kiss it.

“You are very welcome.  So when we get home, I’ll work on lunch while you talk with your father.”

************************

“So da, that’s what we’re thinking of doing.  Pictures at Nampara, the wedding and reception at Killewarren.  What do you really think?” Ross asked his father.

“Well Ross, I think it’s a good way to compromise, and I think deep down your mother will think so as well.  She’s not up to having the wedding here, but she just doesn’t want to admit it.  Don’t worry, I’ll tell her when she gets up from her kip and explain it to her.”

“Thanks da I appreciate it.  So we’re going to work on a date today, so hopefully we can at least get that finalized by the end of the weekend.  Oh, and we are going to be looking at houses tomorrow,” Ross walked back into the kitchen to see if Demelza was done fixing lunch.

Joshua’s tone raised, “Oh really! That’s exciting news.  I can’t say that I’m surprised, I’m sure that shoe box is getting quite crowded.  Where are you thinking of landing?”

“Well, for now we’re going to check out Essex and Windsor.  We went into a real estate agency today to look at some pamphlets and picked out a couple to look at tomorrow,” Ross looked around for Demelza and saw that she wasn’t close by so he opened the freezer and dipped a spoon into the ice cream before she came back.

“Windsor! Isn’t that pretty far out?” Joshua asked.

“Mmmm maybe, we’ll see.” Demelza came back into the kitchen and looked at Ross and smacked his arm, “Ow! What was that for?” Ross asked.

Demelza tilted her head at Ross, “You’ve been into the ice cream!”

Ross’s brows came together, “How did you know that?”

Demelza shook her head, “You have ice cream on your chin, wanker!”  

Ross wiped his chin right away, “Uh da I’ve gotta go.  I’ll talk to you when we have a date, yeah?”

Joshua was laughing at the scene he overheard, “Sounds like you’ve just been busted!  Alright son, give Demelza a hug for me.”

“I will, cheers.” Ross hung up his phone and gave a side eye to Demelza.  “I didn’t know that I was marrying a detective.”

Demelza raised an eyebrow, “Oh I have many hidden talents Mr. Poldark.”

“Oh bloody hell don’t call me Mr. Poldark, it makes me think of me da!” Ross complained.  “So what’s for lunch, I’m starving.”

“Hmmm usually it’s me that is starving.  I’m warming up the leftover roast and shredded it to make BBQ out of it, and some chips are in the air fryer as well.  It should be ready soon.  I set the calendar on the table to look at while we’re eating,” Demelza started setting the table.

“Oh cool sounds good.  Do you want a beer?”

“No, I think I’ll just have water,” the oven timer went off so Demelza began to finish putting lunch together.  

They sat down to eat their lunch and started looking through the calendar and their own diaries.  “Well the surgery is at the end of June, so what about early June? Does that look good for you?” Ross asked.  

“Um let me see.  It looks like the album will be done by then….what about the second weekend of June?”

Ross tilted his head back and forth, “Mmmm I don’t know, that doesn’t leave us much time for a honeymoon before the surgery…”

Demelza’s eyebrows raised, “Oh I wasn’t thinking about a honeymoon.  Are we? …going on a honeymoon?”

Ross stole one of Demelza’s chips, “Well of course we’re going on a honeymoon.  Why wouldn’t we?”

“I don’t know, guess I didn’t know about getting time off for a honeymoon and the surgery.  Where would we go?” Demelza took a drink of Ross’s beer.

Ross chuckled at her and kissed her on the temple, “You leave that up to me, love.  Will you have time off after the wedding?  For a honeymoon?”

Demelza looked at her diary again, “I’ll have to check.  But we need to make sure that we’re back in time for your mum’s surgery.”

“We will be.  I’ll make sure of it.  So Saturday, June 3?  How does that sound?” Ross asked.

Demelza raised an eyebrow and smiled at her fiance, “Well, if it’s alright with Caroline’s uncle, then I think that will work. I’m going to text her right now and see what she thinks.   Soooo tentatively June 3!  Oh my gosh this is actually happening, Ross!”

“Yes it is my love!” Ross put his arms around Demelza, rubbing her back, he pulled back and put both his hands on her face, and kissed her passionately.  She ran her tongue over Ross’s lips causing a moan to escape Ross.  Demelza chuckled, not in a funny way, but in a seductive way.  She quickly made her way to his jaw, rubbing her cheek against his stubble and purred like a kitten.  Ross did the seductive chuckling this time, “You’re fucking killing me.” He pulled Demelza into his lap cradling her behind in his hands, “Mmmm now this is better, Mrs. Poldark.”

“Don’t call me that, you’re going to jinx everything.” Ross attacked the hollow of her neck making her gasp and giggle.  

“Mmmm baby I don’t believe in jinx’s.  I think we need to take this upstairs,” Ross began to stand up while holding her when Demelza’s phone started ringing.  “Don’t answer it, I’m going to ravish your body.”

“Oh stop, stop it might be Caroline about the wedding date,” Demelza leaned down to the table to grab her phone while Ross was still holding her.  “Caroline! That was fast! How are you?”  Ross managed to sit back down while still holding Demelza.

“Hello darling, I’m fabulous!  So you’re finally setting a wedding date!  That’s exciting!” Demelza was giggling from Ross was nibbling on her neck.  “What on earth is going on there?”

Demelza was trying to whisper to Ross, “Ross stop it.  I'm sorry Caroline.  Ross is getting fresh.  So yes, we were wondering if June 3 would work for you and your uncle, mmmmm.”

“Mmmm Demelza?  Should I call back in an hour or so?” Caroline was teasing now.

“No!  Ross, stop it, I need to concentrate!” Ross put on a pouty face. “What do you think Caroline?  I know it doesn’t give us a lot of time.  I’m not even sure I can find a dress in that short amount of time.”

“Oh love, don’t worry about a dress, I’ll make sure you get the dress of your dreams, and, I’ve spoken with my uncle, and June 3 is good for him!  So you see, everything is a go!  Let’s start planning!”  Unbeknownst to Demelza and Ross, Caroline had already been working on a seating chart for their wedding reception!

“Oh Caroline, that's incredible!  Thank you so much!  And you’ll make sure Dwight has the time off as well?”

“Oh of course, don’t you worry about Dr. Enys, I’ll make sure that he has the week off.”  Demelza had put the call on speaker so Ross could listen and he was chuckling at Caroline and her ‘Dr. Enys’.  

“Hey, Caroline, this is Ross.  I just wanted to say thank you and your uncle so much for letting us have the wedding at Killewarren.  We do want to have some pictures done at Nampara as kind of a compromise for my mother for not actually having the wedding at Nampara.”

“Oh of course Ross, that’s a wonderful idea,” Caroline’s pencil lead was going dull from taking notes.

“Oh and how many people do you think we should invite,” Ross asked.  He knew his mum was going to soon start working on a guest line.

“Well, the ballroom can hold several people.  I would sit at the most 150.  We could go with more but you don’t want it to be crowded so much that people are bumping into each other,” Caroline responded.

Demelza and Ross looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces, “Oh well Caroline, I don’t think we will be inviting that many people.  I don’t know that many people to start with,” Demelza said.

“Well you say that now, but once you start making a list, you’ll be surprised, and I’m sure Ross’s parents will have a rather large list between family and business associates through the years, and Ross’s colleagues, and..”

Ross interrupted her, “Well, I don’t think Demelza and I want a Royal wedding by any means.  But I think you’re right and that we do need to start making a guest list, so we can work on controlling it don’t you think babe?”

Demelza was shaking her head, “Oh most definitely.”

“Oh and Demelza, what are you doing Thursday?” said Caroline, the wedding planner.

Demelza was taken off guard, “Oh um, this Thursday? Nothing until the performance that night.  Why?”

“Well, I thought we could go wedding dress shopping.  I could make an appointment for us at one or two of the shops.”

Ross was getting bored with this conversation and started kissing on Demelza’s neck again, “Oh, um.  Maybe just one shop.  I don’t know if I would have enough time for two shops before a performance.  That might be a bit much.  But yeah, I guess I might as well start looking.”

Caroline was excited, “Great!  I’ll let you know the time and where to meet. Now what else…”

Ross interrupted again, “Ah Caroline, I love your enthusiasm, but I think that might be enough planning for today, yeah?  Yeah.  We’ll talk to you later. Bye!” Ross took Demelza’s phone and hung up on Caroline.

“Ross Poldark!  That was rude! But I’m glad you did it!” Demelza giggled and wrapped her hands around Ross’s neck and kissed him.

“Look Demelza, Caroline is great.  I love her.  But I think we are going to have to make sure that she doesn’t take over our wedding.  Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate being able to use Killewarren, but I think it’s important to make sure that when our guests at the wedding can tell that it’s Demelza and Ross’s wedding, not Caroline’s wedding.  Do you know what I mean?”

“Mmmm yeah I think so.  But I’ve only been to one or two weddings so I’m not very knowledgeable about weddings.  I never dreamed of getting married when I was growing up.  It was never in my thoughts.  I was too busy keeping my brothers fed and clothed.”  Demelza’s face had darkened when thinking about her childhood.

Ross’s eyes softened while listening to Demelza.  He pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear, “I know my love.  I know that is something that’s hard not to think about.  Just remember that you are a strong, smart, confident woman, and I love you, and I will be by your side, no matter what, until the day I die.”  He pulled her close to gently kiss her lips.  

********************

After a lazy night of making love, Ross and Demelza headed out the next day to meet with their new friend, realtor Scott  Demelza dutifully brought a pad to take notes of the houses, even though they weren’t making an offer on any of them.  They had just left one of the homes they agreed to see with Scott.  It was a three bedroom, terraced on one side, with two bathrooms.  It was on an end so there was a small garden in front, and a larger one in the back that would have to be fenced in for Seamus.  Fortunately there was room on the side for a garage.  That was one of the things that Ross insisted on.  

Ross sighed, “So what did you think?”

“It was alright, not much bigger than what we have now.  What did you think?” Demelza asked

“I think you’re right.  It wouldn’t be worth the cost of hiring a moving van to move.  I want a lot more room than that,” he plugged in the address of the next house into the GPS. “So I guess make notes on your pad, that we didn’t want that house.  And onward we go, yeah,” Ross started the car.

“I did like the kitchen in that house, it was a little bigger than what we have now,” Demelza said.

Ross nodded his head, “Yeah it did, and it had been updated, as were the bathrooms.  So what do we know about this next place?”

Demelza was looking at the description, “Umm well, it’s four bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, looks like it’s on a bit of land, oh and it has a garage already on it.  It looks a little old though.”

“Old? Well, that’s pretty typical for England isn’t it?  I like the sound of four bedrooms though.  How much land?  Does it say?”

“Five acres..”

“Five acres?!!  Bloody hell, that’s a lot of work to take care of depending on if it’s farmland, or woods.  I guess we’ll find out.  Is that one of your bridal magazines?” 

Demelza shook her head.  It was obvious she wasn’t very excited at what she was looking at, “Aye, yes it is.”

Ross was watching her out of the corner of his eye, “Hey, something wrong?”

Demelza let out a heavy sigh, “Oh, it’s just that most of the dresses are strapless, and a lot of them are see-through in the back. They have a white netting or a nude netting, so even though that’s there, you can still see through it.  They’re pretty, I just don’t know if I want something that revealing.”

Ross had a feeling why she was worried, “Are you worried about your scars showing?”

She closed the magazine and looked at Ross and nodded her head.  Ross put his hand on hers, “You don’t have to get what every other woman wears.  Get what you’re comfortable in.  I’m sure once you get to the bridal store with Caroline that you’ll find something that isn’t so revealing.”

“Maybe.  Most of the time I don’t think about the scars until… I just don’t want to talk about them with a bunch of people I don’t know.  I don’t want everyone looking at them while I have my back to them during the wedding.  I'll be thinkin ‘bout it the whole time,” Demelza’s eyes were shiny now.

“Would you like me to go with you Thursday?” Ross asked.

Demelza looked at him, “To the bridal shop?  Oh, Caroline would have a fit!”

“Demelza, I really don’t have a care what Caroline thinks.  I’m not marrying her, I’m marrying you thank the Lord above.  And, if you’d like me to be there, then I will.  I don’t have a problem with going.  I don’t want to see you in the gown you choose, but I could maybe help you look for something that I think you’ll like.  I could always leave if you find the dress you want to get.”

“I hadn’t thought about you coming along.  Let me think about it,” Demelza had a small smile on her face now.

“Alright.  You’re the  boss!” Ross brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

*****************

Ross and Demelza let Scott take them through the next house.  They wanted to turn around and leave when they pulled in the driveway and saw an old farm house in front of them that looked like it hadn’t been lived in for 100 years.

“Just think of the potential,” Scott told them.  There was a lot of potential, and the house was large, but it was just too much for the couple to even entertain.  So they went on, discouraged, to the next place.

“I’m getting hungry,” Demelza announced loudly in the car.

Ross looked over at her and smiled, “Keep your eye open for wherever we end up next, maybe we can find a restaurant after we look at the last house.”

That seemed to settle Demelza’s stomach for now, “We’re driving pretty far from London aren’t we Ross?  I definitely don’t want a long commute.”

“Nor I, but we’ll see where we end up.  Maybe it will be close to a train station.  Didn’t Scott say that it was a bungalow?”

“Yeah that’s what this paper says too.  That will be interesting to see.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in a bungalow before,” Demelza added.

“I kind of like the idea of everything being on one floor.  No stairs for my aging knees.  Does it say how much land it’s on?” Ross asked.

Demelza was reading the flyer they had on the property, “Umm yeah .75 acre, so just over half an acre.  Sounds like it’s rural.  I hope it’s not like that last place we looked at!  Asking price is, oh Ross we can’t afford this place!”

Ross crinkled his eyebrows, “Why? What’s the asking?”

Demelza’s eyes were wide and she had a smirk, “950,000 pounds!  Why are we even looking at this place Ross!”

“Now, don’t get your bloody knickers in a twist! We’re on our way, so we might as well see it.  I’m really curious now.  GPS says 15 more minutes, baby.  Do you see any restaurants?”  Ross knew he could distract her by looking for restaurants.  

“Just a couple of pubs so far.  And no train stations I might add,” Demelza was worried about the commute, especially since she has yet to learn to drive.

“I know what you’re thinking.  But you know, learning to drive way out here instead of in the city would be beneficial.  Just sayin’!”  She gave him a growl, which made him smile at his future wife.

Ross heard the female voice on the GPS, “Your destination is one quarter mile on the left.”  That surprised Ross, “Oh well okay, I guess we’re close now.  Do you see the address?”

“Oh stop Ross it’s right there!  See the mailbox!” 

“Your destination is on the left.  Your destination is on the left.”

“Thanks Captain Obvious,” Ross talked back to his GPS.  He slowed down quickly. “Your destination is on the left.”   Luckily there weren't any cars behind him.  He pulled into the driveway, “Wow look at this place, babe!  So far so good!” Ross was already excited at the large drive and parking in front of the home.

“You have arrived at your destination.”

“Ross we can’t afford this place!  So don’t even think of getting attached to it!” Demelza warned.

“You have arrived at your destination.”

“No we haven’t because we can’t afford this place!”  Demelza was screaming at the GPS now!

Ross chuckled and turned the car off.  He reached over and kissed Demelza, “Let’s go check it out!”

They both got out of the car and saw Scott standing at the front door with his arms out, “Well what do you think?”

Ross tried to tamp down his enthusiasm but he wasn’t very good at it, “Well the outside is nice.  But bloody hell mate,  it’s 950,000 pounds!”

Scott held up his hands, “I know, I know.  But I think it ticks most of your boxes.  Just half a look.  Demelza, I think you’re going to really love it, plenty of room for a music room.”

Demelza rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, “It’s 950,000 pounds Scott!”

Ross leaned over to Scott and patted him on the back, “I’d watch out for Demelza if I were you, mate.  She has that red hair temper ya know.  She poisoned our last real estate agent.”  Scott gasped and gave Ross a quick look of fear.

They walked in and the front reception room was cozy and beautiful with a fireplace, although a little out of date. Scott cleared his throat,  “Okay, so we have four bedrooms, three baths, and a really nice kitchen family room combination.  Plenty of garden in the back to add on if you feel the need.  I think having everything on one floor is brilliant,” Scott was really hoping that the couple, especially Demelza,  liked this property.

They walked around in the four bedrooms.  The master had a really nice ensuite that caught both Demelza and Ross’s attention.  One of the bedrooms could easily be used for a music room for Demelza.  The master was big enough that Ross could put a desk in it to work from home.  They were looking around but didn’t find a formal dining room which Ross was hoping to have for entertaining.  The table in the kitchen/family room combo wouldn’t be big enough for an entire family to sit at.  “The kitchen is pretty small. The family/kitchen combo is nice, but it doesn’t leave much room for cooking for a family dinner,” Ross complained.

Scott spoke up, “Well, like I said, there’s plenty of room to add on.  You could add on a larger kitchen with a more formal dining room if you think you need one.”

Ross shook his head, “I don’t know, mate.  If we’re already at 950,000 pounds, that doesn’t leave anything for a renovation budget.  It’s too bad because it’s a really nice house.  What’s the commute like?  It seemed like a full hour to get out here.”

Demelza gave Ross a stern look, “Ross…”

Ross tried not to smirk at Demelza.

“Oh, depending on which way you take it can be about a 45 minute drive, and by train they say it’s a 35 min commute one way.   So not horribly bad.  Could be worse,” Scott answered Ross. 

Demelza gave Scott another stern look, “No Scott, it couldn’t be worse, because I wouldn’t allow it to be worse.  I want to be able to enjoy my new home, not sit in a car for half my life.”

Ross smiled to himself hearing Demelza.  He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, “So Scott, this is considered Berkshire?”

“Yes, yes it is,” Scott said.

“Do you mind if we walk around and take some pictures, so we can keep it in mind?” Ross asked. 

“Sure, go ahead.” 

Demelza piped up again, “Ross, it’s still 950,000 pounds, plus that long commute.  It’s really nice, but I don’t think it will work for us.”

Scott jumped in, “Well you can always start lower with your first bid.  I might be able to talk them down because of the updating you will want to do. You never know.  Apparently the owners are empty nesters now, wanting to downsize and all.”

Ross was going around the house taking pictures.  Demelza didn’t understand why he was going to all of that trouble because she didn’t think there was any way they could afford the house.  She did like it though.  She could picture the two of them in the kitchen cooking even though it was smaller than the one in their place.  But the back garden was huge.  They would have to put a fence up for Seamus.  There were lots of flowers already planted.  She would love to putter around in the flower beds, plant some herbs.  She was staring out the kitchen window when Ross snuck up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. 

“You doing some daydreaming, love?” Ross kissed her on the neck.

“Shh Ross don’t, we’re not alone.  Maybe a little.  It would be nice to have some flowers, and an area to cook outside,” Demelza was using her soft voice so that Scott couldn’t hear them.

“Mmm that would be nice.  Seamus would love this huge garden to run around in.  But we’d have to put a fence up.  I’m loving that big bedroom with the nice big ensuite to fool around in!” Ross was chuckling.

“Shhh Judas Ross! Behave yerself!”

“Oh alright party pooper, let’s go and see Scott,” Ross grabbed her hand and walked to the front of the house to speak with Scott.

Scott had been talking on the phone but hung up quickly when he saw the couple, “So what do you think?  Do you want to put in a bid?  I don’t think she’s going to stay on the market for long.”

Ross looked down like he was thinking, “Just how long has it been on the market?”

“Um, well it’s going on 50 days now,” Scott’s voice lowered, he really didn’t want them to know that little tidbit.

Ross’s eyes became wide, “Really?  That’s interesting.  Makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with the place.”

Scott was shaking his head, “No, there’s nothing with it that I know of.  You can always have an inspection done.”

“Maybe.  Thanks for showing us the properties today, Scott.  We’ll get back with you if we decide we want to see it again or put a bid on it,” Ross held out his hand to shake Scott’s.

“Right then.  I’ll just lock the place up and be on my way.  I think the two of you would be very happy here!”

‘Cheers,” Ross said as they got in their car and left the property.

Ross looked at Demelza, “Well, did you find a place for us to eat?”

“Yeah, we passed a nice place just before we turned in here.  It was on the right side coming in,” Demelza answered.

“Well, let’s go it.  I’m sure you’re still starving!” Ross laughed at his fiance.

“Yes, Ross!”

*****************************

Just some FYI! 

Terraced - a home that is terraced is a home that is attached to another home on each side.

Half terraced or semi terraced - a home that is attached to a home just on one side.

Bungalow - in the UK and possibly Europe, a bungalow is a home that is all on one floor.  In America, a home all on one floor is referred to as a ranch style home.  There are bungalow home in America but those are usually a really small home, one or two bedrooms, not a lot of square footage.  

Estate agent - I refer to the character of Scott as a real estate agent or realtor. I believe in the UK, they are referred to as an estate agent.

Garden - In the UK and possibly Europe, the area in front of the house and behind the house are referred to as gardens, whereas in America we refer to them as yards.  For Americans a garden in a piece of land that is used to grow flowers or vegetables.

As an American, it’s been very interesting to get on real estate web sites for the London area and Windsor area.  Check it out!

*******

When writing this chapter, I picture Ross and Demelza driving around looking at the homes for sale, bee bopping along in the car to the music playing on the radio.  I doubt if the song Two of Us would be playing on the radio, but it’s got the vibe that I was striving for.  

The song Two of Us written by Paul McCartney was on the Beatles’ final album.  He wrote it about his ‘fondness for getting deliberately lost in the country with his future wife Linda.’

“One of the great things about Linda was that while I was driving and going, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m lost,’ she’d simply say, ‘Great!’ She loved getting lost.  And she pointed out to me quite rightly that there would always be a sign somewhere saying ‘London’, so we’d just follow that.

One day we went out into the countryside and found a little wood that looked as if it might be a good place for a walk.  I parked the car.  There’s a photograph of me in the Aston Martin, sitting with the driver’s door open and my feet out.  I’ve got my guitar.  That’s me writing ‘Two of Us’.”

–Paul McCartney

[master-of-the-railway]

Ougghh I am thinking about them SO MUCH!!!!!! My beloved little engines and other various machines.

Random CGI AU infodumping ig??

Anyways Jenny Packard is like one of the first people to manage to somehow mother an entire group of machines. The construction crew are her babies at this point and she will go to actual war for them. One of them accidentally called her mom a while back and she IMMEDIATELY accepted this, so eventually all of the construction machines started calling her variations of mom and she's perfectly okay with it. She shocks many people when she says "Oh, I have children of my own, lovely ones they are!" and then proceeds to tell them about her daughter Darcy who can bore tunnels into massive chunks of rock.

I think Hiro and Yong Bao are good friends even if they've only met a few times (at Thomas' request). They both have a lot of wisdom to share and I'm sure they'd love swapping tales with each other while riding the rails. Kenji likes Yong Bao a lot but he's a little shy and has trouble holding proper conversations with him. Yong Bao is such a special engine, he's friends with a tiger! He's a tiny bit intimidating to Kenji. Hiro tries to help the young bullet get more comfortable talking to others, he understands how hard it can be being new.

Sonny has a bit of trauma related to his past owners. He'd cost them a lot of money to purchase, which only furthered their desire to steal. And at first it seemed lovely to be owned by just a couple men who would take him wherever with no real constraints other than staying on the rails, that's the kind of freedom very few engines can dream of! But then it got to the point where he was trapped. When you're sold off you're already trapped by the legalities, but Sonny wasn't just held down by paperwork. He was held down by threats and the most harm a couple of thieves could cause an engine without causing actual damage that would make him stop working. And he was so afraid he'd be scrapped after helping his previous owners attempt the thefts of projects at the fair, but he was given a second chance and he managed to prove himself. He doesn't hang around other engines much even if they do trust him now, because he feels afraid to trust someone again, even another engine. Nia, Thomas, and Rebecca are part of the small few he does enjoy the company of. They're incredibly kind and he's learned their kindness is real.

[ericdeggans]

The fun and fear of guest hosting All Things Considered

As a longtime NPR nerd, I have often listened to the smooth, smart anchors leading broadcasts of our newsmagazines and wondered: Could I do that?

Last Saturday and Sunday, I found out, when I got the chance to fill in for Michel Martin as guest anchor on Weekend All Things Considered.

I knew from a stint guest hosting CNN’s late, lamented media analysis show Reliable Sources years ago, that even a temporary host can have lots of influence over a show. The key is to assemble a lineup of interviews and stories which are informative and newsy, but also show off the host’s strengths by speaking to their expertise, enthusiasms and abilities.

For me, it was also an opportunity to pull together some dreamed-about interviews, backed by the appeal to the subject of appearing on a newsmagazine which reaches millions of listeners over a weekend. My biggest fear: breaking news which would require lots of live anchoring; fortunately, the news gods smiled down and people seemed to chill out for the holiday weekend.

Here's links to some of the stories we offered over those two days. Their quality is a real testament to the staff at Weekend All Things Considered, who were supportive, understanding of a newbie’s nerves and so good at their jobs, it made speaking to an audience of millions exhilarating and fun – and only a little bit scary.

This is one of my favorite interviews: blerding out on comic book lore with Ryan Coogler, director of Wakanda Forever, which stands at the top of the box office. We talk about the death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, making longtime antihero Namor a Mayan (and those ankle wings!) and how two guys wrote a female centered, big budget Marvel movie. Click here to listen.

I’m a late-night TV nerd. So it was beyond fulfilling to get two of the smartest comics in late night to spend a little time talking about the future of late night TV and whether it makes sense to call out comics out for monologues which seem, for some, to encourage and/or minimize antisemitism or prejudice. The Daily Show’s Roy Wood Jr. and The Amber Ruffin Show’s Jenny Hagel were super smart, super funny and super thoughtful in this discussion, which you can hear by clicking here. Another version can be found in our podcast Consider This.

Flying to Washington DC on Thanksgiving night, I was astonished to see tech journalist Kara Swisher taking apart Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk in a series of tweets where she called him her biggest disappointment in 25 years as a tech reporter. During a staff a meeting the next day, I asked the team: Do you think we could get Swisher to talk with us about what happened? Turns out, they could, and we talked about Elon, whether we’re seeing the twilight of the tech bro and the future of Black Twitter. Listen here.

One thing NPR does well is spotlight up and coming artists before they become household names. So I was proud and honored to feature a revealing interview with Elegance Bratton, director/writer of the new film The Inspection, a movie based on his own life about a Black, gay homeless man -- rejected by his homophobic mother – who seeks refuge in the Marines. After the interview was done, Elegance told us he had dreamed of being interview by NPR about one of his films for years. We were happy to make that one come true – click here to listen.

A talk with Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Radio on the start of voting in the state’ contentious Senate runoff election between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

A conversation with expert Manuel Zamarripa on how to process the trauma from media coverage of mass shootings.

Discussion of the podcast White Hats, which dissects the complex and often bloody history of a group typically lionized in film and TV shows: The Texas Rangers.

Words with Senator Amy Klobuchar on her plans to convene a hearing on Ticketmaster’s dominance of the concert ticketing industry after their massive failure to sell tickets to Taylor Swift’s new concert tour.

[cinemaocd]

Jenny's ongoing list of films watched 2024

February

January list, here.

Inland Empire (2006)*** It took three attempts to get through this long, confusing film. Like Mulholland Drive or the Season Three of Twin Peaks, Lynch films improve on repeat viewings even if meaning remains elusive. That is part of the joy-- sometimes you just vibe with it.

Death of Stalin (2017)**** One of my favorite films of the last two decades. A harried farce with the bloody-mindedness of Macbeth. Like the Scottish Play, we know how its going to come out, but the fun is in watching the articulate villain, played with delicious malice by Simon Russell Beale being outdone by a team of bumbling, petty bureaucrats and one very bad ass soldier. The Boyfriend (1970)*** Ken Russell's surreal tribute to the burlesque musical genre makes the most of its setting in the 1920s by putting his star Twiggy in iconic psychadelic reiterations of the flapper dress. If you opine the fact that drop waist dresses come back into style every 15 years or so, then this movie is as much to blame as anything. Poor Things (2023)*** Emma Stone gives a wild and convincing physical performance as Bella, a baby's brain in the body of her dead mother and Mark Ruffalo as typical 19th Century Rake Getting His Comeupance iscasting I didn't know I needed. I loved the yearning Godwin (Willem Defoe in truly amazing Frankenstein's monster makeup) and though I haven't read the book, I was drawn into the grotesque, ai generated world of the film. The aesthetics of this movie are as engrossing as the story and characters. Adventures of a Dentist (1965)** The Soviet version of the live action Disney comedies of the 70s, where a humble person is given magical power. Here a dentist is given extraordinary, almost magical abilities to perform dentistry without pain. He becomes a celebrity and his fall from grace involves him giving in to the decadent trappings of being a popular dentist. The humor has a darker edge than Disney though I wouldn't go so far as to call it a black comedy. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973)** This Spike Milligan film plays like a double episode of Dad's Army, not least because of the presence of Arthur Lowe who plays practically the same character here as he does on the tv show. That is not the end of the world however and this is easy to like farce with Milligan's ascerbic, anti-authoritarian bent that is grittier than anything on the sitcom. The Master (2012)** I had high hopes for this, one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's final films and his last collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson is loosely based on the origin story of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix plays a shell shocked veteran who drifts into the path of the cult leader played by Hoffman. Amy Adams gives a chilling performance as his much younger, controlling wife who is the real power behind the cult. I think I would have an easier time with this film if Anderson hadn't gone around giving interviews saying that Scientology and it's founder L. Ron Hubbard had "helped a lot of people." Of course, this is PTA and Phoenix's character isn't helped at all and he makes the cult worse by being a violent enforcer for the leader's enemies. The levels of whitewashing involved in making a deeply misogynistic cult into a secret matriarchy is just...ugh. However, the homoerotic tension between Hoffman and Phoenix makes the film worth looking out. Murder of Quality (1991)** Made for TV adaptation of John Le Carre's second novel. Denholm Elliott plays Smiley as more doddering and anti-social than Alec Guinness' iconic version of the character. This early Smiley story is more a traditional English village murder mystery, ala Miss Marple, with Glenda Jackson playing Ailsa, Smiley's war buddy that runs a women's magazine. Christian Bale plays one of the students at an elite prep school that forms the economic backbone of the town. Le Carre is merciless in his portrayal of the toxic, petty characters, the wealthy and wannabe wealthy swamp dwellers who run rings around the local constabulary until Smilley steps in and withstands their slings and arrows long enough to solve the case.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)*** Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie with such low expectations that you are pleasantly surprised that it doesn't totally suck. The excitement of things not being as bad as you feared can blot out some of a movie's excesses. At the end of the day this is Billy Wilder, physically incapable of creating a boring movie throwing the whole bag of tricks at this faux biography of Holmes starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. There's farce and physical comedy, verbal gymnastics and exotic locations. Holmes' possible homosexuality is tastefully hinted at and attempts to create a sensationalist account of his drug use, amount to little before the mystery gets rolling. One of the big delights is Christopher Lee as Mycroft whose scenes with Robert Stephens are bitchy queen pissing contests. Genevieve Page does a turn as a would be damsel in distress who turns out to be a worthy opponent to Holmes similar to Irene Adler.

Irma La Duce (1963)*** For some reason between this and Poor Things I ended up watching two movies about Parisian brothels this month. Billy Wilder based this pastiche of 1950s travelogue adventure films like To Catch a Thief and Charade on a French stage play. A strange attempt to weld the success of the Apartment with Some Like it Hot, reconfiguring a Marilyn Monroe vehicle as a reunion of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Like the Apartment, Irma LaDuce is tinged with melancholy while avoiding a lot of the cliches about sex work that wind up dating so many films on this topic. The main complaint I have about Irma LaDuce s that it's about 45 minutes too long, a common complaint about many films of this period. (Damn Lawrence of Arabia and all who sail in her).

Witness for the Prosecution (1982)*** A made for tv adaptation of the classic courtroom drama, which credits Billy Wilder's screenplay of his film version. Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr star in this remake and honestly their chemistry is just off the charts and we're left to wonder how they never managed to make a film together before. Wendy Hiller, Diana Rigg and Beau Bridges round out the amazing cast. Lacks the tension and edge of Wilder's film but I'm having too much fun with Ralph to care.

The Major and the Minor (1942)**: Billy Wilder's first film as writer and director has some of the hallmarks of his later, greater works: farce, trains, mistaken identity, and queer themes in the form of a lesbian coded sister of Ginger Roger's romantic rival. That all the fuss is about fairly bland Ray Milland is easy enough to overlook as Wilder makes the film about toying with Rogers image as sophisticated, sexy, dancer. Typical Wilder inside jokes about the film industry abound, such as a craze for Veronica Lake hairdos among the tween set and swipes at Hollywood actors like Charles Boyer Rogers' childish masquerade to avoid paying full adult fare is preceded by a series of calamities where she's pursued and objectified by a lot of nasty older men. Hoping to escape their advances as well as the ignominity of turnstyle jumping, she maintains the charade through a long weekend with a lot of handsy tween boys until Milland's fiancee is discredited as a controlling social climber. There is a bizarre side track into her home town where Rogers also impersonates her mother before revealing her grown adult self to Milland. No one ever accused Billy Wilder of being restrained I guess.

The Children's Hour (1961)**** This classic of queer cinema was necessarily a scorched earth tragedy at the time of its release. William Wyler's dreamy, restless camera drags you into the warm, cozy life of this female partnership between Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn that seemingly has the potential to be a romantic partnership. When nasty gossips and spoiled children start a rumor that they are a couple, the scandal destroys their business and standing in the community. Terrorized by the homophobic townspeople, they are eventually "cleared" of the crime of being gay for each other, just when Maclaine's character comes to the brutal realization that she really is in love with Audrey Hepburn's character. It's hard to watch her grief and shame as she admits that the bullies have discovered a truth about her that she didn't know herself. A fact so many queer people can find relatable. The film is based on a play by Lilian Hellman which used the topic of homosexuality to expose the cruelty of female narcissists who bully their way into power. There is much in common with Hellman's The Little Foxes in that way, but the film, perhaps owing to Wyler's inherent romanticism has more of a Romeo and Juliet quality than the play. One feels that Audrey Hepburn has perhaps realized the truth in the lie, just a few moments too late.

Sweet Charity (1969)*** Directed by Bob Fosse, starring Shirley MacLaine and Sammy Davis Jr and Chita Rivera this classic musical combines the best of Fossee's signature choreography, sixties pop show tunes and the psychadelic aesthetics of the late 60s. This and the Boyfriend have a lot in common, though I think the music in Sweet Charity is more solid and the contemporary setting makes it a tad edgier. MacLaine plays yet another flavor of sex worker, a dancehall hostess and paid companion who seeks to be elevated out of her life into respectability through marriage. The fiancee here is uptight and lacking in appeal and when he finally just flakes out in the final reel it's no great loss to the film.

Thief (1981)** Atypical heist film starring James Caan and Jim Belushi, directed by Miama Vice creator Michael Mann. You can see the beginnings of that iconic 80s TV show, in this movie which favors long scenes of action being edited to music with sparse dialog. Caan squares off against Tom Signorelli a local mob boss who dares to threaten Caan's wife played by Tuesday Weld.

[onsunnyside]

a horny thot you say? 😈 here’s what I have… I feel like it resonates with your ‘daddy, sorry daddy’ kind of thing so here we go 😈

porn director Ari wanting to go over a new scene and script so he has you meet him at his condo. You’re just a little too naive for your own good because a bloodhound can smell Ari’s intentions from a mile away. He’s sleazy, he’s sneaky, and he doesn’t give a fuck about it.

he’s filled your head with all these thoughts and possibilities that you’d be a next level star. He could see you on with Playboy of all brands and of course you were excited. But this was all a means to an end because there’s no way Ari would let you leave his studio. Fuck everyone else.

“s-so what’s the idea you’ve got?” you were too flustered to even think seeing as though Ari had opened his front door in nothing but low hanging burgundy velour track pants and a gold chain that rested comfortably in between the hairy expanse of his chest.

“Have you ever had anyone on set cum in you? Ever had a creampie, before?”

You shook your head hesitantly out of nothing but sheer confusion. Mostly because Ari always directed the scenes and he was strict on anybody that got to fuck you, not to cum in you.

“Well good. That’s what we’re gonna try tonight if you’re willing”

He saw the nervousness in your face and immediately was worried you’d say no. Why? Because he wouldn’t take a no. Ari had plans for you that cut everybody else out of the picture entirely. Just you and him because that’s what he wanted.

He fell in love with you early on. And it wasn’t because you were a little fox in the sheets but because you were a sweetheart too. Everything he wanted in a partner and… a mother. But he didn’t plan to knock you up tonight, you were still on medicated birth control given by the studio to prevent pregnancies.

but there was no harm in trying…

But you were scared. What if it felt weird?

Ari cupped your face with his huge palm as you two sat on the edge of his california big bed, “listen, honey. I’m only pushin’ you this hard because I know what you could do with this kind of career. You’ve got the potential to be real successful but you can’t play chicken, now. Having someone cum in you is the least of what you should be knowin’ how to do, don’t disappoint me, (y/n)”

but the apprehension was still palpable, “y’know what, don’t even worry about it. I guess I’ll just have to give Jenny a call, see if she’s down for a Playboy catalog, y’know she’s done everything in porn, they’d love someone like her—“

You grabbed Ari’s arm to try and stop him, “wait no, please don’t, I’m sorry, I-I really wanna go big and go far and if that means learning from you then I wouldn’t want it with anybody else, please don’t call Jenny”

But Ari wasn’t planning on it. Not in the slightest. He just wanted to see you sweat.

“Good girl, now c’mere”

And that’s how you found yourself on all fours on his plush bed, taking all but every inch his girth had to offer.

It was intense and Ari only upped it. With a firm grip on your hair, straining your neck to rest on his shoulder, Ari fucked you diligently and with a kind of authority that had you melting.

You’d been at it for hours. This was the fourth round and Ari still hadn’t cum yet, but you had, too many times to count. Nor could you keep focus.

Ari slapped your ass and gripped the flesh hard. “God, I’m gonna fill you up, keep you so stuffed you won’t be able to sit down properly without feelin’ my cum so deep in you. Fuck, you’re doing so good, takin’ my cock so fuckin’ well”

“T-thank you, daddy, feels so good”

Ari released your hair put quickly pulled you back into him with his thick forearm, his breath on your ear as he spoke.

“Daddy’s gonna cum, are you ready?” You nodded your head vigorously.

“Please!”

That was enough to send Ari over the edge as he held onto your hips with a hard grip, keeping you stilled on the base of his throbbing cock as he pumped load after load into your sensitive cunt. So much so that it began to leak out anyway, a creamy base formed and dripped down your legs.

And he wasn’t quiet about it either. The noises came right from his throat and deep from his chest, like a lion roaring.

“If you keep this up, you’ll be far in no time”

But the only concerning thought was, “I’m still on the birth control, right? No one would be able to get me pregnant, right?”

Ari kissed your shoulder, “of course, it’s protocol, everyone will get their refill tomorrow so make sure to take yours”

He heard your sigh of relief but the lie only made his smirk a whole lot more deserved. Everyone would get their refills of a pill that’s meant to work. Not you and quite frankly, you haven’t been, thanks to Ari.

He couldn’t wait for the phone call he’d get from you come next month. It was time. 😈

Enjoy… 🥰😈

HERE WE GOOO !! I’ve been holding back from this so I can reply as whore-ish as I need, bc I just KNOW bestie genie has got the filthiest thots 🌚🥹 daddy sorry daddy is my fave 🫡 the pure dilf-ness, the nastiest daddies !!

GAHH SLEAZY PORN DIRECTER ARI ?? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FAINT ??

Ari had opened his front door in nothing but low hanging burgundy velour track pants and a gold chain that rested comfortably in between the hairy expanse of his chest.

this fucking slut, answering the door like that, hairy tits out. i hate him.

do it again.

OMG SHE HAS NEVER HAD A CREAMPIE ?? ALL BC THIS SLEAZY DILF IS A BIG BOSS AND DOESNT LET ANYONE CUM IN HER ??

“Well good. That’s what we’re gonna try tonight if you’re willing”

oh daddy we can try every night, every day, whenever you want

THIS BASTARD HAS A BREEDING KINK OF COURSE 😖😖 and he’s in love with her 🥹 ok that makes it kind of romantic if you ignore his obsession with her 🫡

I choose to ignore it bc I’m a whore

Having someone cum in you is the least of what you should be knowin’ how to do, don’t disappoint me, (y/n)”

I’m literally on my knees wtf 🥲 he’s so manipulative and powerful. practically telling her “if you don’t do this, I can easily replace you” 😣 it flies straight over her head bc she’s so naive !! she doesn’t know any better and falls right into his sexy trap

learning from him ?? the legendary porn director ari levinson ?? count me in

And that’s how you found yourself on all fours on his plush bed, taking all but every inch his girth had to offer.

OK THIS CAME SO SUDDENLY (pun intended) I SQUEAKED !!

obviously this obscene man would fuck her from behind, keeping her flush against him while using her hole 😣😣 he so big and beefy

HOURS BEING RAILED BY HIM ?? RIP TO HER 😭 his stamina is out of the roof, I can practically taste the overstimulation

“God, I’m gonna fill you up, keep you so stuffed you won’t be able to sit down properly without feelin’ my cum so deep in you. Fuck, you’re doing so good, takin’ my cock so fuckin’ well”

oh my god.

That was enough to send Ari over the edge as he held onto your hips with a hard grip, keeping you stilled on the base of his throbbing cock as he pumped load after load into your sensitive cunt. So much so that it began to leak out anyway, a creamy base formed and dripped down your legs.

OH MY GOD !!

THE MESSIEST CREAMPIE FROM THE DADDIEST DADDY HIMSELF 😣😣 only if they filmed all that, I just know she’d be number one asap

He heard your sigh of relief but the lie only made his smirk a whole lot more deserved. Everyone would get their refills of a pill that’s meant to work. Not you and quite frankly, you haven’t been, thanks to Ari.

He couldn’t wait for the phone call he’d get from you come next month. It was time. 😈

DREAMS DO CUM TRUE 😭😭 I WAS HOPING FOR A SNEAKY DARK DADDY ENDING LIKE THIS !! after he just pumped her full, so full some dripped out, there’s no doubt he’s knocked her up 🫠

GENIE BESTIE YOU KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK !! I’m so glad I read this all alone bc my reactions are so visible, everyone would ask what I’m reading 😳 I’m an absolute whore for this man, he’s so dirty and mean 😣 and he’s going to control her whole life now too !!

I asked for horny thots and you gave me a full course slutty sleazy meal !! LEMME KITH YOUR SEXY BRAIN 😚😚🧠🫶 THANK YOU SO MUCH

[jennyandvastraflint]

Xena Reactions S1Ep17! Here we go, after surviving covid...

A shiny! Aaaand lots of hooded people

OOP THEY STOLE

Hehe Xena

Oh she's enjoying chasing him

GABRIELLE MY BELOVED :D

They replaced it beforehand shdhshs

Thunk thunk thunk. Hehe

She wants to EMPLOY him. AIGHT

"the most valuable object in the world" Xena you've already got Gabrielle's heart

"Didn't Hercules tell you I'm an honourable man?" the SILENCE

He untied his hands... Gabrielle just going "Ah. Ah."

HEHE SHE TIED HIS FEET TOO

Them playing to his ego

"No it worked. I'll do it" djfhshhd

"However, this man has financial needs"

"Any less and it wouldn't be" dhdh Exactly buzz off

Him chewing on the toothpick T_T

The uncomfortable laughter

Xena wants to stab him so bad. And I completely agree.

"He was my brother" SPITS. XD

Oh hello Xena... I'm looking respectfully at the cleavage

PFFFT He just tried to kill the dude xD

Are they gonna pull him overboard

Oh, okay just across the deck

-_- Urgh, men

HE CAN CHOKE ON THAT GRAPE

"Nothing is as big as mine" 😭

"Hu. Only one bed." Please...

"Heads it is" Hehe. She flipped him

OOOOOH, That sounds like an intriguing mechanism, so finely tuned

She's got to dance again?

Oh is he making a mold of the key to make his own later

AHAHAHAAA, She yeeted the food at him

He deserves it.

Oop, did he die??? Yikesss

Awww, they helped Xena <3

"my mother died when I was eight" Why is it always 8 year olds. Like... Seriously XD

AHAHAHAAA HER TOPPING HIM

Headbutt the guy sjdhshs

"You and he didn't..." I call it now this bisexual dude made out with Hercules

Her distracting the guy. And his foot got caught.

UUUUH

She's so annoyed with these men, she just wants her wifey

GABRIELLE!?

OOP. The real Centerius

Wiggle wiggle wiggle

Yay they save Gabrielle

Those two are going to kiss. Because I say so.

Xena helping... Or something

HER VOICE GOES SO SOMFT WHEN SHE TALKS TO GABRIELLE

Gabrielle my beloved babygirl

Urgh not THAT guy again

"I think I'm kidding myself" yes you are

Wiggle wiggle wiggle

This is so ridiculous omg

That's the noise my shoulder also makes

GABRIELLE TO THE RESCUE

MY BELOVED GABRIELLE (hand in marriage pls?)

Did Xena just stab a guy in the nuts? New bottom surgery just dropped

Oh it can glow ominously

A LIGHT :D

Is it gonna melt his face off

Okay it just burned him. LOLLLLLL

It this the Ten Commandments???

"And after this, I never will" Lmao

SJFHDHD PLS HE'S WAITING FOR A KISS AND SHE HOLDS OUT HER HAND

He saved it for himself with a kiss to her hand

Awww, he gave back the money

GABRIELLE!!!!

Istg... She's just like one Jenny Flint fr 😂

And Xena being all "Omg thou shalt not steal???" the flirting and teasing fr

[sosa-royals]

Silence

Francine: Is someone going to say something?

Juliette: We're all still digesting things Frankie

Francine: What's there to digest? The lies? The deception? Or the absolute nothingness we've received ever since?

Juliette: Well, that's why we're here now isn't it? To find out what's going on.

Juliette: Jackie, you okay?

Jacqueline: Yeah... I'm just still in shock... and papa hasn't been answering my calls

KB: Why the silence?

Juliette: Hey guys

Francine: Would you be in the mood if this happened to you?

KB: Easy, tiger. I'm just here to help

KB: By the way, I haven't seen Ellie around lately. Does anyone know what's happened to her?

Silence

Olivier: You're an idiot KB

KB: What? You mean the stuff that's in the news about her mom? Don't tell me you believe all that bull

Olivier: KB!

Silence

KB: Come on-

Ingrid: Thank you all for being here

Francine: It's not like there's anywhere else we could go

Juliette: I thought my mother was coming?

Ingrid: Her royal highness has currently paused all work indefinitely and is waiting in the hospital for Her Majesty to awaken

Jacqueline: And our mum?

Ingrid: Her royal highness is awake... but I regret to inform you that she had a miscarriage

Jacqueline: She was pregnant?

Ingrid: Yes your highness, early in her second trimester. I believe she was intending to keep it silent until the pregnancy was safe but the incident was unpredictable.

Ingrid: ... And so, in light of recent events, I was asked to inform you that the decision has been made for the three of you to live separately, temporarily.

Juliette: What?

Ingrid: For the time being, until the news dies down and we are able to find a new, more secure residence for you to move into and complete your education. The decision on whom to stay with has been left up to you but must be approved by Her royal highness.

Francine: Whose idea was this?

Ingrid: Her royal highness, Princess Isabella

Silence

Juliette: I know someone trustworthy I can stay with

Ingrid: Of course your highness, I will just need you to inform me of their name, address and contact information afterwards.

Juliette: Alright

Francine: I'll just stay with KB. He can sleep on the couch

KB: Thanks for asking Frankie

Francine: And if Jackie stays with Ollie, that's it then right?-

Olivier: No, she can't. Sorry.

Francine: Woah! That was intense. So, why not? You haven't been around much lately either so this would be a great chance for the two of you to bond again

Jacqueline: Frankie-

Olivier: I said no

Francine: And I said why not?

Olivier: Look, Ny is pregnant. Right now I'm busy taking care of my girlfriend and my future child so sorry, but no

Francine: Isn't that better then? Since you're staying with Ny, your apartment will be empty

Olivier: No, Frankie! I am not comfortable with another woman staying in my apartment and neither would Ny. End of conversation.

Francine: Another woman?

KB: Dude, she's your best friend

Francine: So the real reason is because Ny is forcing you to stay away from Jackie

Olivier: If you must know, I came to this decision all on my own. I'm capable of doing that, you know. Listen, I'm sorry alright? But my priorities right now are my girlfriend and my child. So Jackie cannot stay in my apartment.

Jacqueline: It's okay, I can stay with Jennie

KB: Jennie, as in Lex's girlfriend?

Francine: Isn't he one of Jackson's friends?

KB: What about Ellie-

Jacqueline: Ellie is MIA okay? So I can't possibly stay with her. And Frankie, Jennie my friend too, okay?

Francine: ... If you say so

Ingrid: I will inform Princess Isabella of your decision.

Juliette: Ingrid?

Ingrid: Yes your highness?

Juliette: Where's Liliana?

Ingrid: ...I cannot comment at this time your highness.

Next | Previous

Jennie and Lex are from this post