#Elizabeth turns 21

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The CFPB is genuinely making America better, and they're going HARD

On June 20, I'm keynoting the LOCUS AWARDS in OAKLAND.

Let's take a sec here and notice something genuinely great happening in the US government: the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's stunning, unbroken streak of major, muscular victories over the forces of corporate corruption, with the backing of the Supreme Court (yes, that Supreme Court), and which is only speeding up!

A little background. The CFPB was created in 2010. It was Elizabeth Warren's brainchild, an institution that was supposed to regulate finance from the perspective of the American public, not the American finance sector. Rather than fighting to "stabilize" the financial sector (the mission that led to Obama taking his advisor Timothy Geithner's advice to permit the foreclosure crisis to continue in order to "foam the runways" for the banks), the Bureau would fight to defend us from bankers.

The CFPB got off to a rocky start, with challenges to the unique system of long-term leadership appointments meant to depoliticize the office, as well as the sudden resignation of its inaugural boss, who broke his promise to see his term through in order to launch an unsuccessful bid for political office.

But after the 2020 election, the Bureau came into its own, when Biden poached Rohit Chopra from the FTC and put him in charge. Chopra went on a tear, taking on landlords who violated the covid eviction moratorium:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cfpb

Then banning payday lenders' scummiest tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/29/planned-obsolescence/#academic-fraud

Then striking at one of fintech's most predatory grifts, the "earned wage access" hustle:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/01/usury/#tech-exceptionalism

Then closing the loophole that let credit reporting bureaus (like Equifax, who doxed every single American in a spectacular 2019 breach) avoid regulation by creating data brokerage divisions and claiming they weren't part of the regulated activity of credit reporting:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

Chopra went on to promise to ban data-brokers altogether:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/13/goulash/#material-misstatement

Then he banned comparison shopping sites where you go to find the best bank accounts and credit cards from accepting bribes and putting more expensive options at the top of the list. Instead, he's requiring banks to send the CFPB regular, accurate lists of all their charges, and standing up a federal operated comparison shopping site that gives only accurate and honest rankings. Finally, he's made an interoperability rule requiring banks to let you transfer to another institution with one click, just like you change phone carriers. That means you can search an honest site to find the best deal on your banking, and then, with a single click, transfer your accounts, your account history, your payees, and all your other banking data to that new bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

Somewhere in there, big business got scared. They cooked up a legal theory declaring the CFPB's funding mechanism to be unconstitutional and got the case fast-tracked to the Supreme Court, in a bid to put Chopra and the CFPB permanently out of business. Instead, the Supremes – these Supremes! – upheld the CFPB's funding mechanism in a 7-2 ruling:

https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/05/supreme-court-lets-cfpb-funding-stand/

That ruling was a starter pistol for Chopra and the Bureau. Maybe it seemed like they were taking big swings before, but it turns out all that was just a warmup. Last week on The American Prospect, Robert Kuttner rounded up all the stuff the Bureau is kicking off:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-06-07-window-on-corporate-deceptions/

First: regulating Buy Now, Pay Later companies (think: Klarna) as credit-card companies, with all the requirements for disclosure and interest rate caps dictated by the Truth In Lending Act:

https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2024/06/cfpb-applies-credit-card-rules

Next: creating a registry of habitual corporate criminals. This rogues gallery will make it harder for other agencies – like the DOJ – and state Attorneys General to offer bullshit "delayed prosecution agreements" to companies that compulsively rip us off:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-creates-registry-to-detect-corporate-repeat-offenders/

Then there's the rule against "fine print deception" – which is when the fine print in a contract lies to you about your rights, like when a mortgage lender forces you waive a right you can't actually waive, or car lenders that make you waive your bankruptcy rights, which, again, you can't waive:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-warns-against-deception-in-contract-fine-print/

As Kuttner writes, the common thread running through all these orders is that they ban deceptive practices – they make it illegal for companies to steal from us by lying to us. Especially in these dying days of class action suits – rapidly becoming obsolete thanks to "mandatory arbitration waivers" that make you sign away your right to join a class action – agencies like the CFPB are our only hope of punishing companies that lie to us to steal from us.

There's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world right now, and much of it – including an active genocide – is coming from the Biden White House.

But there are people in the Biden Administration who care about the American people and who are effective and committed fighters who have our back. What's more, they're winning. That doesn't make all the bad news go away, but sometimes it feels good to take a moment and take the W.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/10/getting-things-done/#deliverism

[no-144444]

stoic much? -o.piastri

Day 21 of fic-tober! fic-tober masterlist

summary: oscar might be too good at the whole 'keeping a secret' thing. like, really good.

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Meeting his fellow drivers’ families was always something that Charles had enjoyed. He liked to see how his competition grew up, how they treated their parents, how they treated their siblings.

He was more than interested to meet his ‘sons’ family, and at the Monaco GP.

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“What time are they coming in?” Logan asked Oscar, the three of them walking the track with their engineers.

“A bit later. They landed like 2 hours ago but Ellie needed a nap,” Oscar explained.

“Have you met them already?” Charles asked Logan.

Logan smiled. “Oh yeah, they’re the best.”

Oscar chuckled. “And mom is coming in tomorrow with Hattie,”

Little did the three of them know, you were walking behind them with Ellie’s hand in yours, ready to sneak up on them. Logan, having a sneaking suspicion that someone important was behind them, glanced back and made eye contact. His grin widened and he stopped in his tracks, turning around and scooping Ellie up and into his arms. He covered her face in kisses as she giggled, him tickling her.

Oscar rushed to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing his lips to yours. “Hey baby,” he smiled. You two hadn’t seen each other in a matter of weeks, both of you too busy with your jobs. You, being one the highest paid lawyers in Monaco, him being an F1 driver.

“Log, calm with Ellie, she just got up!” you called after them, despite Logan already starting to run with her on his back. “She’ll be wired for the whole day!”

“Got it!” he called back, but he didn’t slow down. It didn’t bother you.

“Logan! Bring me back my daughter please?!” Oscar laughed and Logan obliged. As they got closer Logan placed Ellie down and she ran into her dad’s arms, who lifted her up and smiled as bright as he did the day she was born.

“Daddy!” she cheered, holding onto a strand of his hair. “Can we race?” she asked.

You chuckled. “Dad has to talk to Tom about the track first, then we can go race him, Uncle Log, Uncle Zhou, and Uncle Lan, yeah?”

“God, she’s going to be a racer one day,” Logan chuckled.

Oscar shook his head. “Don’t say that.”

You chuckled. “At least now you know how your mom feels.”

He shot you a particularly nasty side-eye after that, but kissed you all the same.

“What the fuck?” Charles stood there stunned. Oscar chuckled, covering Ellie’s ears as she snuggled into her dads neck, completely uninterested in the world around her.

“This is Y/n, my wife,” Oscar introduced.

“Hi Charles, nice to see you again,” you smiled, pulling him in for a hug.

“You two know each other?” Logan asked.

“She’s my lawyer,” Charles explained, stunned. “And you’re married to him?”

You nodded. “4 years and counting.”

“And this is Elizabeth, or ‘Ellie’, our daughter,” Oscar smiled, trying to coax Ellie to wave to Charles. She did, shyly, and his stunned expression broke out into one of joy. Charles loved kids.

“How did I not know this before?” he chuckled.

Oscar shrugged. “No one ever asked.”

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“You have a wife?” Fernando gasped, shocked as everyone else had been that weekend. Charles, ever the gossip, had told Max, who told Checo, who told Carlos, who told Lando (who already knew), who told Alex, who told George, who told Lewis, who told Fernando, who told Lance, who told Esteban, who told Zhou (who already knew), who told Valterri, who told Nico, who told Kevin, who told Yuki, who told Liam, who told Franco.

Oscar nodded. “Yeah I do-”

“You have a kid?!” Alex came up beside them, mouth open. Oscar retrieved his wallet from his trouser pocket and pulled out a polaroid of the three of you at Christmas last year. Decked out in a princess dress, Ellie stood between you and him, both in ‘ugly Christmas t’shirts’. All three of you were smiling like children.

“My wife’s name is Y/n, and my daughter's name is Ellie. Come by Mclaren to meet them,” he offered, then walked ahead to catch up with Lando.

“He’s joking, right?” Alex turned to Fernando.

Fernando chuckled. “You never know with him.”

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He wasn’t kidding. Alex found that out when he finally made the trek over to the McLaren garage and found you, sitting with Logan and Oscar as Lando showed Ellie off to the engineers and other drivers.

“Alex,” he smiled, introducing himself.

“Y/n,” you smiled, shaking his hand.

“I didn’t know you existed,” he chuckled. Pierre, Charles, Lando, Carlos, Fernando, Mark, and Lance were busy playing with Ellie (with both you and Oscar looking at them, you didn’t trust them that much) to pay any attention to you, just how you liked it.

“Not many people did,” you shrugged. “Oscar‘a ashamed of us-“

“Hello? That’s not fair!” Oscar argued, a smile on his lips. “No one asked!”

“We didn’t think we’d have to!” Alex argued back, laughing.

“I wear a wedding ring! I'm wearing my wedding ring!”

“You do wear gloves,” you reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m done with the two of you.”

“Ellie will just agree with us!” You called after him as he walked over to save his daughter from the eyes of his colleagues.

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navigation for my blog :) (masterlist)

fic-tober masterlist

taglist: @anotherapollokid @theseerbetweenus @simbaaas-stuff @5sospenguinqueen @yootvi

[gardenwalrus]

David Ash, ‘Our Kind of Girl - By The Beatles’, Daily Express (21 Nov. 1963)

After the show, after the applause, what kind of girl do the Beatles think about in the loneliness of hotel rooms locked against the fans? [...] So I went and asked them: What is your kind of girl? [...] Paul McCartney, 21, told me: “It would be great to have the sort of girl who would darn my socks and cook apple pies and things.” Now that may sound like Platitude 1 (a) from the pop-star's handbook of ready-made quotes. But this McCartney I think says what he means. He continued: “She'd be attractive, but not the big show-biz personality type of girl, or one who's affected, or a dizzy dumb blonde. “She'd be intelligent - but not fantastically brainy, because I'm not - and interested in all kinds of music. Including mine.  “And she'd have to have the right sense of humour. Because we do have what someone called a sense of self-irony. And we laugh at all sorts of off-beat things.”

And physically…?  “I like girls to have long hair (it rhymes with 'her'), interesting eyes, and rather high cheekbones. But not turned-up noses. I have one myself, and it's put me right off them.  “I don't like Elizabeth Taylor-type looks. And I don't like exaggerated hour-glass figures. The figure doesn't matter all that much.  “I like girls in with-it clothes. But some girls look fantastic in just a dirty old sack. Indian girls look great in saris.”

John Lennon was looking around for a scotch. And his face, in serious moments like this, has the fear-neither-God-nor-man quality of a Renaissance painter's aristocrat. At 23, he seems the group's elder statesman. For he is married, with one baby. He talked. Huskily, cryptically. “My kind of girl is, of course, Cynthia. My wife. “I like her looks (she's fair-haired), her cooking; everything about her. I'm an extrovert, and she's the opposite.  “We are both indoor types - that's why I don't mind this life, being locked away behind doors. We live at our mum's or our auntie's or hotels. But wherever I'm with her is home. “People have said that every time she comes down to London to see me she is just trying to patch up our marriage. They say, 'You know what they're like in show business.'  “But that's not true of us. I don't happen to be showbusiness. I married before I was in it. And I haven't changed my mind since."  He added: “Of course, I notice other girls.”

George Harrison - at 20 he's the youngest and (some say) the handsomest - thought he preferred blondes. Smallish ones. Then he decided: "I don't go looking for any special sort of girl. She could be any age from 17 to 40. “I wouldn't like one who was soft (unintelligent). Or one who was terribly intellectual - I wouldn't know what she was on about half the time.  “I wouldn't mind if she were arty, hated pop and loved classical music  “Oh, yes, and I don't like girls with too much make-up.”

Ringo Starr’s sad eyes gazed thoughtful down at his drumstick-balancing fingers and the four rings on them - none of them with any marital significance.  “My girl would be just an ordinary sort of girl, but with just that something different for me,” he said.  “I wouldn’t care if she couldn’t cook very well. She could learn. But I don’t like sitting at home, so I’d want a sociable girl who’d come out every time I wanted to go out.”

Not one Beatle mentioned old-fashioned considerations like social status and family connections.  In their kinds of girl they all looked for a sense of humour, interest in their work, reasonable dress sense, and a complete lack of pretentiousness. 

[astromancy-divinare]

Every relationship & marriage you'll ever have is predestined in your natal chart. Don't believe me?

Here are the 7 Upapada Lagnas that accurately describe each of Elizabeth Taylor's 7 marriages from her sidereal natal chart.

Elizabeth Taylor was technically married 8 times but she had 7 husbands. She married actor Richard Burton twice.

The Upapada Lagna is a Vedic astrology technique that reveals details about your future marriage. Your Upapada Lagna can tell you how you'll meet your spouse, what the quality of the marriage will be, whether or not you'll have children together and the longevity of the marriage. This technique is best used in the sidereal natal chart, also known as the D1 natal chart. You must use Whole Sign house system.

To find the first Upapada Lagna in Elizabeth Taylor's D1 natal chart, we locate how many houses away the 12th house lord is from the 12th house. Her 12th house is in Libra. Venus is in the 5th house, so the 12th house lord is 6 houses away. We then count 6 houses from the 12th house lord in the 5th house and end up in Leo in the 10th house.

In Vedic astrology lagna is another word for ascendant, therefore the Upapada Lagna is considered to be the "1st house" of the marriage. We can move the house the Upapada Lagna is in to the 1st house position by selecting it in the 1st House From option above the chart on Astro-Seek.com. The natal chart will then be turned and we'll be able to read this "new chart" to get information regarding her first marriage.

TW: Mention of DV and miscarriage.

1st Upapada Lagna: Leo 10H

First husband: Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr. Wedding: May 6, 1950

Neptune is in the Upapada Lagna in Leo: Nicky was a violent alcoholic, which Elizabeth didn't discover until shortly after they got married. The way he portrayed himself beforehand was an illusion. Neptune = addiction & illusion.

Neptune is opposing Sun in the 7th house: The marriage was a disappointment that left Elizabeth feeling disillusioned.

Neptune is opposing Mars in the 7th house: Nicky was very insecure, which made him act aggressively to make up for it.

Malefic planets Sun and Mars are in the 7th house: Divorce indicator.

7th house lord is in the 6th house: Divorce indicator.

5th house lord is in the 12th house: Elizabeth suffered a miscarriage after Nicky kicked her in the stomach. 5th house = children. 12th house = loss.

The house next to the Upapada Lagna shows the longevity of the marriage.

Ketu is in the next house in Virgo: This is a divorce indicator. Ketu is considered to be a malefic planet because it represents detachment.

2nd Upapada Lagna: Pisces 5H

Second husband: Michael Wilding Wedding: February 21, 1952

To find the next Upapada Lagna we count 8 houses away from the first Upapada Lagna and end up in Pisces in the 5th house.

Rahu is in the Upapada Lagna in Pisces: Rahu can represent a spouse from a foreign country. Michael was from England. Having Rahu in the Upapada Lagna is also an indicator of divorce.

Uranus is conjunct Venus in the Upapada Lagna in Pisces: This conjunction can indicate that there was something unusual about the marriage. Michael was 20 years older than her. She was 20 when they got married.

Ketu is in the 7th house: Divorce indicator.

4th house lord is in the 12th house: Divorce indicator.

Cancer is in the 5th house with Jupiter: Elizabeth gave birth to two sons. 5th house = children, Jupiter = male offspring.

5th house lord is in the 8th house: Elizabeth had a cesarean section for both of her pregnancies. 8th house = surgery.

1st house lord is in the 5th house: This marriage was destined to produce children.

The house next to the Upapada Lagna shows the longevity of the marriage.

2nd house lord is in the 12th house: Divorce indicator.

3rd Upapada Lagna: Libra 12H

Third husband: Mike Todd Wedding: February 2, 1957

Moon is in the Upapada Lagna in Libra: This was a happy, loving marriage. Moon is the lord of the 10th house, which means they were both very loyal and dedicated to each other.

8th house lord, Venus, is in the 6th house conjunct Uranus: The 6th house is associated with the loss of marriage because it's 12 houses away from the 7th house. The 8th house is associated with sudden events and death. The 8th house lord is conjunct Uranus in the 6th house, which indicates that the marriage ended suddenly and unexpectedly. The marriage ended when Mike was killed in a plane crash.

Sun, Mars and Mercury are in the 5th house in Aquarius: Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter in this marriage. The 5th house lord is in Capricorn, which indicates that the child born from this marriage would be a girl. Sun and Mars in the 5th house represent Elizabeth's two sons from her previous marriage. The 9th house represents the third child and its lord Mercury is also in the 5th house, representing her daughter from this marriage.

The house next to the Upapada Lagna shows the longevity of the marriage.

2nd house lord is in the 5th house: Mars is the lord of the 2nd house and it's in the 5th house conjunct Mercury. Mars is the significator for accidents and Mercury is the significator for air travel = The marriage ended when Mike was killed in a plane crash.

4th Upapada Lagna: Taurus 7H

Fourth husband: Eddie Fisher Wedding: May 12, 1959

Upapada Lagna lord, Venus, is in the 11th house conjunct Uranus: The 11th house is considered to be the 5th house from the 7th house and therefore can represent affairs. This marriage began as an affair after Elizabeth's third husband died. She and her third husband Mike Todd were friends with Eddie Fisher and his wife Debbie Reynolds (Carrie Fisher's parents, AKA Princess Leia). After Mike died, Eddie comforted Elizabeth and it resulted in them having an affair. Eddie quickly divorced Debbie and married Elizabeth.

Upapada Lagna lord, Venus, is in the 11th house squaring the 7th house co-lord Pluto in the 2nd house: Pluto represents sex, secrets, death and transformation. And the house next to the Upapada Lagna shows the longevity of the marriage, so to have Pluto in that house shows that this marriage began as an affair due to the death of Elizabeth's previous husband, but it also shows that this marriage ended because of an affair Elizabeth had later on with her next husband Richard Burton.

7th house co-lord Ketu is in the 5th house and its dispositor Mercury is in the 10th house: Elizabeth's affair with Eddie Fisher and later her affair with Richard Burton were both VERY public and much talked about.

Ketu is in Virgo in the 5th house: Ketu in the 5th house can indicate adoption and having Mercury or Saturn as the 5th house lord can also indicate adoption. Elizabeth began the process to adopt an orphaned girl from Germany while she was still married to Eddie. She completed the adoption process with her next husband Richard Burton.

5th Upapada Lagna: Sagittarius 2H

Fifth husband: Richard Burton Wedding: March 15, 1964

Upapada Lagna is in Sagittarius: This can indicate a spouse from a foreign country. Richard was from Wales.

Saturn is in Capricorn in the house next to the Upapada Lagna: Saturn can make the couple stay together for a long time when it's in the house next to the Upapada Lagna, especially when it's in the sign it rules. This was Elizabeth's longest marriage. They were married for 10 years and then divorced in 1974 but remarried in 1975 and divorced for the final time in 1976. This Upapada Lagna represents both marriages because Elizabeth wasn't with anyone else in between.

This Upapada Lagna is in Elizabeth's natal 2nd house: This shows that her affair with Richard Burton was the cause for her last marriage with Eddie Fisher ending.

Pluto is in the 7th house in Gemini: This can indicate a powerful and intoxicating romance that is also prone to major transformative highs and lows. Elizabeth had a tumultuous yet passionate relationship with Richard. They had irresistible chemistry with each other. Richard was the second love of her life after Mike Todd who died in a plane crash.

4th house lord is in the 8th house: Divorce indicator.

6th house lord is in the 4th house: Divorce indicator.

6th Upapada Lagna: Cancer 9H

Sixth husband: John Warner Wedding: December 4, 1976

Upapada Lagna lord is in the 4th house: This placement indicates there being a necessity to keep the identity and personality of the marriage and/or spouses private. John Warner was a senator for Virginia at the time and Elizabeth was told to "tone down" her personality and the way she presented herself for the sake of his political career. She was told to get rid of her yacht and Rolls-Royce and to change the way she dressed. She was specifically told to never wear her favorite color purple because it represented royalty and she wasn't supposed to outshine John.

Neptune is in the house next to the Upapada Lagna: Having to fill the role of a senator's supportive wife and hob-knob in Washington D.C. made her incredibly depressed and disillusioned. Elizabeth later said that being a senator's wife turned her into a "drunk and a junkie." Neptune = alcohol/drugs/addiction.

Saturn is in the 7th house in Capricorn: Elizabeth wanted someone to help her get over Richard Burton and she thought she wanted the "normal" life of a farmer's wife (John had a farm) but she soon realized that lifestyle was incredibly restrictive. The marriage felt very Saturnian.

6th house lord is in the Upapada Lagna: This marriage was mostly for the benefit of John's career because Elizabeth brought him a lot more attention and star power. He needed her help in his 1978 bid for Virginia's U.S. Senate seat. Voters clamored to meet her at political rallies.

8th house lord is in the 7th house: Divorce indicator.

2nd house lord is conjunct a malefic planet: Divorce indicator.

7th Upapada Lagna: Aquarius 4H

Seventh husband: Larry Fortensky Wedding: October 6, 1991

Upapada Lagna is in natal 4th house: This was Elizabeth's last marriage, so it's fitting that the Upapada Lagna is in her natal 4th house because the 4th house represents "the end."

Neptune is in the 7th house: Larry was a construction worker that Elizabeth met in rehab. Neptune = addiction.

Malefic planets Sun and Mars are in the Upapada Lagna and are opposing Neptune in the 7th house: Having malefic planets in the Upapada Lagna can create obstacles in the marriage that lead to divorce. Sun and Mars are opposing Neptune in the 7th house = Elizabeth got a divorce because Larry started drinking again and her friends were unimpressed by him.

Saturn is in the 12th house: Elizabeth and Larry met at rehab. The theme of their marriage was trying to stay sober. Saturn = restriction, 12th house = addiction.

Rahu is in the house next to the Upapada Lagna: Divorce indicator.

Uranus conjunct Venus is in the house next to the Upapada Lagna: The differences between Elizabeth and Larry in age, career and life experiences were too vast and too many, which also led them to divorce.

I'm now including a detailed analysis of your Upapada Lagnas in my Future Spouse readings for an additional $5USD!

Future Spouse reading is now $30USD and explains:

If you have placements that promise marriage.

If you have indicators of divorce.

If you have indicators of having more than one marriage.

The characteristics of your future spouse(s) and how/where you'll most likely meet them.

Your most promising Dasha periods for getting married, including the dates when transiting Jupiter and transiting Saturn will aspect the necessary houses and/or planets in your D1 natal chart to activate marriage during a promising Dasha period.

If you would also like to know the approximate year and dates when you'll most likely meet your future spouse(s), it's an additional $15USD.

All of my readings are typed in report format and emailed to you in a PDF file.

DM me if you're interested 💕

[steddieas-shegoes]

come together

for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt 'together'

all of my holiday drabbles will be from the bear hugs universe. many of them could probably be read standalone, but will make the most sense and be enjoyed best if you read that first!

rated e | 784 words | cw: elizabeth is back for a minute | tags: established relationship, blowjobs, handjobs, implied anal sex

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Steve’s mouth is busy when the doorbell rings.

Worse yet, it’s busy in a way that it hasn’t been in nearly a week and he needs this.

Eddie tugs on his hair to pull him off his cock.

“C’mon, let me see who it is,” he leans down to kiss the corner of Steve’s mouth and somehow manages to tuck his leaking cock into his pants. Steve whines. “I’ll just be a second.”

Steve waits on his knees in their bedroom, hard and desperate to be full, in any way at all. He considers shoving his fingers in his ass to dull the ache, when Eddie comes rushing back into the room.

His face is beet red and he’s shaking.

Steve is immediately on his feet. “Is Rory okay?”

“Rory’s fine. As far as I know,” Eddie says as he throws a shirt on.

“Then what’s wrong?” Steve follows him, throwing the first shirt he sees on. It’s probably not his considering he never put one on after his workout.

“Your ex-wife is here.”

Steve freezes. She hasn’t been to this house since…well, since she signed over her rights as Rory’s other parent so Eddie could adopt her.

That was three years ago.

“Why the hell is she here? Did you open the door? Is she inside?” Steve doesn’t know what this could be about, but he’s not happy about the interruption no matter what.

“She’s standing outside. I saw it was her and came back,” Eddie pulls Steve to him and kisses the top of his head. “You want me to leave or stay?”

“Stay. Whatever she has to say can be said in front of you.”

They both walk to the front door, but Eddie hangs back, lets Steve lead this interaction.

“Elizabeth.” Steve’s voice is flat. “You still have my number, right?”

“I do,” she nods.

“Oh good. So you chose not to use it to let me know you were coming by?”

Eddie absolutely loves when Steve doesn’t hold back on his bitchiness. He has to remind himself that getting hard again right now would be a distraction he can’t afford to have.

It’s not that he really cares what Elizabeth thinks of him. He just doesn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s ruined his day.

“I was in the area and wanted to get this checked off my list,” she explains. “May I come in?”

“Do you need to?”

God, Eddie is actually going to sink to his knees. Steve is so hot when he gets like this.

“I wanted to discuss Rory’s trust fund.”

Eddie’s heart stops. When Elizabeth signed her rights away, she agreed that Rory would get to keep her trust fund, and she would continue to put money into her college fund until she turned 18. It’s not that Rory needs them, but it would be shitty of her to retract those promises now.

“If you don’t want her to have it, then-”

“No. I wanted to let you know I’m getting a divorce and my accountant has recommended I transfer it to you until she’s 21.”

Steve does well holding back his shock at her announcement, but Eddie knows he doesn’t hide it. His jaw is practically on the floor.

“He can’t take the trust fund,” Steve states.

“No, but any assets I have possession of will be included in the settlement. I don’t want it as a factor in the alimony.”

Eddie’s eyes are like saucers.

“Alimony? Did you cheat?”

“The man is old. I wasn’t getting what I needed. It’s not like he never cheated.”

Eddie is so glad Steve got away from her quickly.

“Right. Well, send me the paperwork and I’ll have my lawyer look it over. Thanks for stopping by.”

He slams the door and locks it, and Eddie is on him before he even hears footsteps walking away. He pushes Steve against the door and pulls his pants down fast enough that it nearly makes Steve fall forward.

“Jesus, Eds.”

“You are so fucking hot. Please let me fuck you,” Eddie begs.

“Here?” Steve laughs.

“Right here. Don’t even care if she hears.”

Steve smirks and pulls his shirt off– Eddie’s pajama shirt– and leans back against the door.

“Better get to it, then.”

“Wait,” Eddie pauses and uses his brain for a second. “I’m like, really close. I’m not gonna make it through opening you up.”

Steve laughs, and it may sound mean, but Eddie shivers.

Eddie’s pants are dropped almost as quickly as Steve’s were and Steve’s hand is wrapped around them both before Eddie can even offer to help.

“We’ll come together now, but you’re fucking me against this door after.”

[anghraine]

I've been thinking of strong opinions and headcanons I have about some more unimportant matters, and figure I'd just compile them into a grand unified poll of Things That Don't Matter.

I ran out of room on the ones with asterisks!

*More specifically, Darcy is much more like his mother's family in general than like his father in temperament or appearance. Elizabeth is not inventing his physical resemblance to Lady Catherine out of sheer desire to see it; there really is one (if weaker than his resemblance to Lady Anne when she was alive).

**The ANH script says that Leia is around 16; Luke is explicitly stated to be 18. Other materials use different ages, but they're 18 to me.

***Selecting Gil-galad Fingonion in the Silm was a mistake of Christopher Tolkien's and in retrospect, I think it's perfectly clear that JRR Tolkien had settled on Gil-galad Orodrethion. (No slight intended to Christopher, who had a monumental task—it's not surprising that he'd make a few mistakes, and he acknowledged this one.)

****That is, when Elizabeth tells Lady Catherine that she is not 21, she means that she is currently 20 and not yet 21, but at that point she hasn't had her birthday. Darcy has recently turned 28 at that time, but was 27 early in the novel, like Charlotte.

*****By "discovered" I mean that Romulans also experience pon farr, but figured out the solution long before Spock did for obvious Romulan culture reasons. I don't know if this is contradicted by canon I have yet to experience, and I don't care if it is.

[bethanydelleman]

New Year's Resolutions for Jane Austen Characters (mid-novel)

Emma Woodhouse: Find a new man for Harriet Smith No more matchmaking! Admit Knightley (and his brother) were right. Meet Frank Churchill, finally.

George Knightley: Just feeling thankful for everything I have. I don't think my life needs to change.

Mr. Woodhouse: Finally convince Isabella to live at Hartfield instead of with her husband. Poor Isabella!

Harriet Smith: Marry Mr. Elton 💗💗💗 *unable to read tear-stained writing*

John Knightley: Spend more time at home with my beloved wife. Why do people invite us places???

Elinor Dashwood: Find a way to get over the most perfect man I've ever met.

Edward Ferrars: Find an honourable way to get out of the engagement with Lucy (same resolution he's had for three years now)

Robert Ferrars: Build a magnificent cottage

Marianne Dashwood: Marry the most perfect man to grace this earth with his beautiful presence, John Willoughby. Also, read more poetry.

Colonel Brandon: *stares at the paper in despair because he cannot bear to give form to his ambitions which seem already impossible*

Elizabeth Bennet: I don't really think there's anything I need to improve about myself. I'm really a great judge of character.

Fitzwilliam Darcy: Remember that duty comes before ephemeral feelings of affection.

Jane Bennet: Find a way to get over the most perfect man I've ever met.

Charles Bingley: Buy an estate (resolution submitted by Caroline & Louisa)

Caroline Bingley: Encourage Charles to finally buy an estate (not in Hertfordshire), get Charles and Georgiana Darcy engaged, get engaged to Mr. Darcy, attend a party with at least three members of the nobility... (too many goals to record here)

Mrs. Bennet: MARRY OFF AT LEAST ONE OF THESE DARN DAUGHTERS

Anne Elliot: find a way to be less awkward around Captain Wentworth... Prepare myself for Captain Wentworth to marry Louisa... Try to endure Bath with a smile

Captain Wentworth: Get out of the obligation to marry Louisa Musgrove by any fair means. PLEASE GOD I AM BEGGING YOU

Captain Benwick: Mourn Fanny for eternity Marry Louisa Musgrove

Catherine Morland: Henry Tilney 💗💗💗💗 Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey 💗💗💗💗 Henry Tilney & Mrs. Catherine Tilney 💗💗💗 *doodles ideas for wedding gowns*

Eleanor Tilney: Marry the love of my life (same goal for the past three years)

Henry Tilney: Keep being awesome

Frederick Tilney: Keep being awesome

General Tilney: Have all my children disposed in marriage to wealthy individuals (goal since Frederick turned 21)

Mrs. Allen: Purchase some very fine lace

Fanny Price: marry edmund Be as unnoticed as possible

Edmund Bertram: Marry Miss Crawford

Mary Crawford: Marry Edmund Bertram

Henry Crawford: Promote William Price, marry Fanny Price. Rub my excellent treatment of Fanny in the Bertram's faces.

Tom Bertram: *never wrote anything down, never does his years are always awesome*

Mr. Yates: Finally put on a production of Lovers' Vows third times the charm!

Mrs. Norris: Save more money than last year by furthering economy. Keep Fanny in her place. Become more necessary to the Bertrams.

Lady Bertram: sew a cute little jacket for Pug

Lady Susan: Keep being the best Gaslight Girlboss *kisses paper*

(if Christmas happened within novel, I tried to place the resolutions around it. If not, I made up a time)

[grandmaster-anne]

21 July 2006 Queen Elizabeth II walking onto the Hebridean Princess cruise ship, turning back to call her family members to hurry up. ========== 6 February 2024 Princess Anne during visit to Nottingham West Primary Care Network at Eastwood Primary Care Centre as patron of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags - Masterlist

📖 Jake Seresin / Hangman

💛Elizabeth "Liz" Beck

❗️18+ minors DNI. Ageless and blank blogs are blocked without warning.

❗️Reposting of this fic, including designs, line breaks, banners or any graphic materials is strictly forbidden without written consent from me. Be a decent human being and don't steal people's work.

🏷️ slow burn, strong language, troubling family dynamics, death of a parent/sibling, godmother reader, inexperienced/mildly insecure reader, mentions of an abusive relationship, physical violence later on (one scene, maybe two), romance, sexual themes/references (I mean smut!).

🎼 playlist

Summary: Your sister Ridley has passed away, leaving behind her ten-year-old daughter Sadie. The Dagger Squad go out of their way to ensure you and Sadie have people you can count on. Boring Saturday nights turned into game nights, rowdy dinners, and cheering events at Sadie’s soccer games. Any milestone or opportunity they want to be there. But the last to join the group is Hangman. The moment you met Jake Seresin, your heart screamed the cocky pilot was looking for a good time, not a long time. Deciding to keep him at a distance to protect your heart, Sadie has other ideas when she learns he was purposely left out.

A03 | Wattpad

Masterlist:

Part 1 - Be Still

Part 2 - Hello, I love you

Part 3 - Southern Nights

Part 4 - Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress

Part 5 - Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Part 6 - Three Little Birds

Part 7 - Oh What A Night

Part 8 - Drift Away

Part 9 - Hang on, Hang On

Part 10 - Let's Dance

Part 11 - Dream On

Part 12 - Blue Healer

Part 13 - Sons and Daughters

Part 13. 5 - Bradley Bradshaw Oneshot - Way Down we Go

Part 14 - Sex on Fire

Part 15 - Have you ever seen the rain?

Part 16 - In the Blood

Part 17 - Come a little bit closer

Part 18 - Sapling

Part 19 - An Evening I Will Not Forget

Part 20 - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Part 21 - My Fair Lady

Part 22 - Jump

Part 23 - Sleep Deprivation

Art Work:

BookCover For DTDT's One-Year Anniversary

Moodboards:

Mood Board For Part Four - By @desert-fern

Mood Board for Part Ten - By @teacupsandtopgun

Main Masterlist for all my works

[solarissttee]

03 | CONFRONTATION

summary ; after the boar hat owners nurse the wandering rust knight back to health, they being their interrogation. however, they’re met with more unruly customers; the holy knights.

wc ; 3.6k

tags ; attempted murder / treason, abuse of power, heavy dialogue and plot change, elizabeth has been aged up to 19, liones’ national drinking is 21 which implies that meliodas and the reader look anywhere between 21 and 28.

catalogue

instead of giving a response, the person tips backwards and slumps to the ground. their helmet rolls off on impact.

you look down at the mysterious person, eyes widening at who was inside the suit of armour. it was a young girl, no older than sixteen if you had to guess.

her long silver hair is sprawled out against the tavern floor as she naps peacefully, or as peacefully as she can in that uncomfortable looking armour of hers.

you notice how her breaths come out in short puffs, how her pale cheeks were; rosy from the heat, and a noticeable sheen of sweat that coats her porcelain skin. she has a fever, no doubt about that.

“this girl... isn’t she a little too young to be one of the eight deadly sins?” hawk inquires, observing the girl cautiously.

neither you, nor meliodas provide a reply. instead, you set the bags of flour down by the door, clapping your hands to get rid of the little flakes coating them so they don’t stain the girl’s skin. you drop to your knees next to her and feel her forehead. your eyebrows furrow at her temperature, it’s higher than you’d expected.

“she’s burning up. a fever most likely from exhaustion.” you state as meliodas helps you haul her onto her feet.

“she’s clearly been walking around in this armour for a while,” meliodas remarks as you guys turn down the hall and go up the stairs to your bedroom. once she’s situated on your bed, the both of you make quick work of stripping her out of the rusted armour.

“it’s a wonder how she managed to move around in this thing,” the blond pokes at the heap metal that is now discarded in the corner, while you rummage around your room looking for a clean washcloth.

“yeah, she looks a little frail to be walking around in such heavy armour, and with all that rust too,” you saunter over to the washroom, filling a basin with cold water to help bring down her temperature.

“maybe she’s stronger than she appears to be, we never know. she might be a holy knight for all we know.” he shrugs and turns on his heels, leaving the room to get the medicine you’d made for situations like this. hawk is left alone with the girl, watching over her until either of you get back.

when you reemerge from the bathroom after a short while, you set the basin down onto your nightstand and dip the washcloth into the cool water and gently place it onto her forehead afterward. meliodas lightly kicks open the door then sets down a glass of water and the medicine on the table. you three leave her to rest for a bit.

while waiting for her to regain consciousness, you head off to put away the flour and tidy up the bar area. there were a few tables and chairs that had gotten knocked over when the customers had vacated the tavern, ultimately messing up the floor with either food, alcohol or broken plates.

meliodas is glad that things had turned out this way, at least you wouldn’t kill him for the earlier altercation with those three customers. that is, unless hawk decides to run his mouth and snitch to you of course.

a few minutes pass, about twenty or so, and one of the girl’s finger twitches slightly. her eyes flutter open and she slowly sits up, blinking tiredly when the washcloth falls into her lap. “um... where am i?” she mutters to herself, looking around the unfamiliar bedroom in confusion.

her ears perk when she picks up your voices downstairs and she immediately begins to sweat uncontrollably. ‘h—have i been found out? whose voices are those? where even am i?!’

she notices her armour in the corner of the room and feels her anxiety build. she needs to escape, now. getting up from the bed, she sneaks out of the room, trying to find a way to leave without either of you knowing. at least, that’s what she had planned to do, but...

“hey there, how’re you feeling?”

the girl lets out a shriek, her heart thumping violently in her chest as she turns around to face meliodas. he blinks, not expecting her to react so strongly. had she not heard him coming? his footsteps weren’t that quiet.

silence falls between the two of them. she looks like a dear in headlights while meliodas is mildly worried.

“are you feeling okay? you were really burning up when we found you. did you take the medicine at the side of the bed?”

“u—um, i’m m—much better, thank you,” she replies timidly, fidgeting with her fingers.

‘i didn’t even hear him come up... i can’t dally here for too long. if i don’t leave soon, the holy knights will...’

further worried by her silence, meliodas decides to change the topic to something more lighthearted. “hey, you must be pretty hungry right about now. how ‘bout we head downstairs? my friend’s making food right now, and you can take the medicine she left for you afterwards.”

“n—no, thank you, i’m perfectly fine—“ the girl is cut off by her stomach growling and feels heat rush up onto her cheeks, much to her horror. meliodas on the other hand, chuckles and beckons her over, leading her to the stairs. “c’mon, let’s get some food into your belly. you need to get your strength back.”

when you hear footsteps getting closer to the bar area, you plate up the food for the girl and leave it on the counter. “hey, hey! looking better, i see,” you wave over to the girl. she waves back shyly.

she takes cautious steps over to you and slides onto the barstool. “um, thank you. but, who are you and where am i?”

“straight to the point, huh? well, i’m y/n, that guy over there is meliodas.”

her eyebrows shoot up in surprise as she takes in your features and then shifts her gaze to meliodas. her eyes flicker over to the wanted posters on the board and concludes with disappointment that you’re not who she was hoping for.

‘they look nothing like them... i suppose it’s just a coincidence then...’

“you strolled into our shop and then passed out cold,” meliodas tells her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“your... shop?”

“this is the boar hat. it’s our bar,” you gesture to the barrels of alcohol behind you.

“you two are... the owners?” she questions uncertainly. the both of you looked like you had just reached the age to be allowed to consume alcohol, she hadn’t expected you guys to be owners of a whole bar! maybe this is why they say not to judge books by their covers. she can’t help it though, not when the both of you look to be only a couple of years older than her.

“is that so strange?” you chuckle, finding her expression cute. she frantically shakes her head, sputtering out an answer. “n—no!! well, maybe. but, i saw the sword on his back, so i just assumed...” she trails off, pointing to the dragon shaped sword hilt on meliodas’ back.

“oh, this old thing?” he reaches for the hilt of the sword and pulls it out, eliciting a small yelp from the girl. he laughs at her jumpy nature.

“did i scare you?” he grins. “if i flash the handle, it does looks like the real thing, so i don’t really blame you for having suspicions.

and just as quickly as he had pulled out the broken blade, he placed it back into its scabbard. “call it a deterrent against people skipping out on their tab.”

“and i wonder why that is, you moron. it’s only thanks to y/n that it doesn’t happen often and we haven’t gone out of business yet” hawk snorts, giving meliodas a pointed look to which the blond responds with a middle finger.

the girl’s eyes widens when she hears hawk speak. she leaps off the counter immediately and goes straight to engulf the pig in a hug, rubbing him and giggling happily. you place your hands on your hips and smile at the interaction.

“it’s a talking piggy!” she squeals excitedly but who could blame her, really? it is a talking pig! you don’t see something like that everyday.

“the name’s hawk. pleasure to meet you.”

“oh, you’re so adorable!! long ago, i pestered my father to give me one as a birthday present!” she shares, hugging hawk tightly. the pig stands unfazed, like this has happened many times before.

“did you get a pig?” you question and almost regret it when her smile slowly fades and she responds with a small, downtrodden ‘no’.

“hey, how about you get to eating? you can hug hawk as much as you want afterwards,” meliodas offers a smile.

“alright,” she murmured as she gets back onto the stool and stares down at her plate. she feels a little bad about suspecting you guys to be working with the holy knights now... but she can’t let her guard down, even though you’ve taken care of her out o the goodness of your hearts and the food you’ve served looks really yummy.

“first you nurse me back to health, and now you’re feeding me... how can i ever repay you?” she murmurs, staring down at the food.

you chuckle and reach over to pat her head, softly tousling the silky silver strands of her hair. “don’t worry your pretty little head about it and just eat, okay? it’s on the house.”

“isn’t that bad for your business?”

“please just eat it.”

“okay. here goes.” she lifts her fork to her mouth and puts the food into her mouth. her eyes widen and she visibly melts as she chews and swallows.

“what do you think? good stuff, right?” meliodas grins, nudging you playfully. “n/n’s one of the best cooks i’ve ever met, y’know? she’s a total goddess in the kitchen.”

a single tear slides down her cheeks and more followed suite. you exchange a worried look with the other two, not expecting her to start crying.

“hey, you okay?” you ask softly rubbing her shoulder in comfort.

“yeah, i’m fine… it’s just that i haven’t had a proper meal in a while and this is really delicious,” she smiles, wiping her eyes, continuing to eat.

“…say, what were you doing, walking around in that armour?” meliodas inquires after a moment of silence, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

“oh, that’s...” she hesitates, not knowing if she could entirely trust you with her reasoning, but decides to tell you guys anyway. “i’m searching for the eight deadly sins.”

“we gathered that much when you stumbled in here calling out for them,” hawk huffs.

“shut it, porky. anyway, why on earth would you be looking for eight deadly criminals?”

“yeah, not to mention that nobody knows if they’re even alive or dead. those guys are seriously fucked in the head, aren’t they?” meliodas leaned against the countertop, his chin resting on his palm.

she goes quiet for a moment, contemplating what to say in response to that. she knew that questions like these were inevitable but still, she’d like to not have her decisions be put under scrutiny for once. when she opens her mouth to speak again, she’s interrupted by a series of loud knocks to the door.

“open up! we got a report from some villagers! we, the order of the beard of the mountain cat, serve under the holy knights and are stationed at the mountain’s base!” a male voice proclaims.

“we’re here to arrest the rust knight, potentially one of the eight deadly sins!” he continues on. “come out peacefully!”

“again with the unruly customers?” meliodas sighs to himself. “and what’s with that ridiculous order name? the beard of the mountain cat? really?”

meanwhile….

“look allioni, are these eight deadly sins even all that dangerous anymore? surely they must be a couple of old geezers by now,” one of the knights outside speaks up, annoyedly crossing his arms.

allioni glares down at him. “take this seriously, will you? the eight deadly sins were the ones who massacred a dozen of holy knights ten years ago, the holy knight’s grand master included! i saw just how bad it was with my own eyes! it was a blood bath!! if we don’t catch these fiends, the realm will be in danger!”

“yeah, but—“

“there should be no buts if you understand the implications of our responsibility! it’s our jobs as holy knights to make sure that the kingdom is safe, even if it means catching the eight deadly sins and putting them down or dying in the process!”

the knights go quiet after allioni's passionate rant. one of them sighs and steps forward, and bangs on the tavern’s door again.

“what the hell are you doing!? come out here!”

you put on a smile as you open the door, wanting to be as polite as you could in order to get them off your backs. “sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen. is there something i can help you with?”

“and you are?” the third tallest of the bunch asks, a condescending eyebrow raised at you, your eye twitches. holy knights and their egos.

“i’m one of the owners of this establishment. you are holy knights, yes?”

“where’s the rust knight? send him out!”

“being polite wouldn’t kill you, but whatever.” turning back into the tavern to avoid their angry glares, you gesture for the rust knight to come forward.

the knights tense at your easy compliance to their demands, but when hawk comes through the door in bits and pieces of the armour that was discarded in your room, they deadpan.

“you called? i am the great sir hawk, the rust knight!”

“th—this pig is one of the eight deadly sins?!”

“of course it isn’t, moron!”

you stifle your laugh as they stare at hawk in bewilderment. their expressions are amusing, but you know better than to laugh out loud. the sensitivity towards their egos is something you've come to face many times while dealing with holy knights in the past.

“h—how dare you! i’m the captain of the order of scraps disposal!” the pig states proudly. wow, he’s really playing into this role, not that you’re surprised. the pig did have an ego problem.

“there is no such order!”

you accidentally let a laugh slip, but cough to cover it up when you're given an annoyed glare. “so, is this the person— err, animal you were looking for?” you question innocently, smiling.

one of the knights steps forward and stares up at you, damn you are tall for a woman. although you’re many inches taller than this knight, that doesn’t make him back down in trying to establish his dominance (or whatever bullshit holy knights typically do when their egos are threatened).

“you’ve got some nerve, making sport of knights,” he scowls. “i’ll give you one more chance, bring out the rust knight.”

“but—“

“hey! a woman just ran out the back!” one of the other knights interrupts you. allioni’s head swivels back to his fellow knight and you curse under your breath.

you move to run after her, but you’re stopped when the biggest of the bunch grabs onto your arm. “so, this was your plan all along, huh? did you really think you could get away with fooling holy knights, you wench?”

your eye twitches at his insult. the nerve of this guy. who does he think he is talking to you like that? you ought to knock him down a peg or five.

“what did you just call me?”

“oh, so you’re deaf too, huh?” he yanks you into him, spinning you around and holding your arms behind your back.

“didn’t your mother ever teach you guys how to treat a lady?”

“shut it, woman,” allioni glared at you before turning to the others. “inform sir twigo at once! and take this one back with you.”

by this point, you were pissed off. with a sharp whistle, a low, menacing hissing sound is heard from within the tavern as it steadily creeps closer to the door.

“what’s that noise? a snake?”

a few seconds later, a massive, black ball python with intense vermillion eyes emerge from the door way, looming threateningly over the group, freezing them in their spots. you take this opportunity to free yourself from the knight's vice grip. you lower your body, shifting your weight and lowering your centre of gravity, which tilts the knight forward. you then flip him over your body and onto the ground and he lands with a harsh thud and a grunt. you promptly sprint into the forest to catch up to the girl immediately after.

allioni curses under his breath. “don’t just stand there like idiots! two of you should fend that thing off, the others and i will chase after those two. that first woman must be the rust knight! after her and the other one!”

“yes!”

you dash through the thick forest, jumping over and ducking under the tree roots. the girl was no longer anywhere in sight, leaving only you to shake them off.

“i order you to stop in the name of the law! any further attempt to evade us will bring about serious consequences!” allioni yells at you as he and three others pursue you deeper into the forest. you grunt at how you had forgotten to bring something to fend them off with. you hadn’t wanted to raise suspicion by walking out with a weapon, but you’re starting to regret that now.

however, a sudden, loud shriek from behind catches your attention and allioni’s.

“what is it? what happened!?” he doesn’t turn his head back. man, he really is determined to capture, huh?

“th—the pig is charging at us!”

“if its not the damn snake, you shouldn’t have a problem fending it off!”

“wow, you’re quite harsh,” you comment loud enough for him to hear you. he scoffed in response and yelled at you to shut up once more.

“hey, hawk, if you get these guys off my ass, i’ll triple your scraps. deal?”

“you ain’t gotta tell me twice!”

allioni yells at hawk to get away from him after he’d succeed in knocking his two comrades into opposite sides of the forest. the young knight speeds up to hopefully outrun him but then skids to a stop to keep himself from going off the cliff’s edge when he reached the forest’s clearing. allioni looked around for you or the girl in confusion as neither of you were in sight.

“they’re... not here...? how—“ before he could properly grasp the situation, he gets knocked off the cliff by hawk. you watch from above as he falls into the clearing of trees below. ‘it’s a shame, he was kind of cute, but he’s got a horrible attitude.’

you then turn to face meliodas and the girl who was sitting between you both, offering her thanks. the snake from earlier materializes beside you and hisses softly. you stroke the underside of his chin as he makes himself at home on your shoulders. “one of them got away, huh? that’s alright, you did your best.”

the girl looks at your snake curiously as meliodas helps her out of the tree. you both lead her out of the forest and onto the clearing by the cliffside.

“you’ve stirred up quite the trouble, miss. now would be a good time to tell us exactly why you’re looking for the eight deadly sins.”

she takes in a breath to work up the courage to come clean. it’s the least she could do after you guys saved her... twice...

“...it’s just so that i can stop the holy knights.”

whatever you were expecting her to say, it definitely wasn’t that. her answers keep surprising you by the minute.

“stop the holy knights? do you hear yourself, lady? what’re you trying to stop them from doing? the holy knights are the knights who protect liones, they’re heroes!” hawk huffs out.

“but what if these ‘heroes’ were preparing to start a war in this country?” she refutes, sarcasm dripping from her tone when she says ‘heroes’.

“miss, i beg your finest pardon?”

“you probably don’t know this, nobody does actually, but not too long ago, the entire royal family except for the former king were arrested and imprisoned by the holy knights, even the queen who’s supposed to be on the throne,” she recounts, turning away from you all.

“the royal family was what!? so you mean the queen isn’t tending to the former king that’s laid up in bed, sick?” hawk gasps. she shakes her head.

“that’s a cover story that the holy knights have been circulating. her majesty has been imprisoned in the west tower where only the most gruesome criminals are held. the only person that has control over the government now is the king consort and the two holy knight grandmasters.” her expression is one of sadness and your eyes furrow. that’s quite a bit of information which leads you to conclude that she’s either a royal or a holy knight that is still loyal towards the royal family.

“war, huh? who are they planning to fight? and what’s the reason for this war anyway? is it so important that they would launch a coup and imprison the royals?”

“i don’t know who they intend to fight or what they intend to accomplish by starting a war, but... they’re already conscripting people from the kingdom and surrounding villages, making preparations slowly but surely.”

“seriously?” hawk muttered, aghast at the news.

“damn, that’s rough,” meliodas tucks his hands into his pants, speaking nonchalantly.

“why do you never take anything seriously?” the pig scoffs at him, shooting a nasty side eye.

“but, if they’re planning to start a war, i still don’t see how any of that ties in with the eight deadly sins. they’re wanted criminals and are despised by all,” you fold your arms. “it would be illogical to seek out betrayers of the country, no?”

“no, you’re wrong, if there is any hope of stopping the holy knights, it lies with the eight deadly sins, and them alone!”

“alright, let me get this straight. you’re looking for the eight deadly sins knowing what kind of people they are?” meliodas raises an eyebrow at her. “what makes you think they would provide you with their help. what makes you think they’re even alive? pretty dumb plan, i have to say. but props to you for the effort.”

“the eight deadly sins... they the mightiest, most vile order of knights in the kingdom, composed of eight terrible criminals, each with the mark of a beast branded on their body. ten years ago, they were attacked with full force by all the knights of the realm on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the kingdom and were scattered to the four winds,” she narrates before looking at you three with a blazing intensity in her pale blue eyes, “that’s what everyone says, but i fully believe that what happened ten years ago wasn’t their doing! they wouldn’t have betrayed the country like that!”

“you have a surprising amount of faith in people who were all criminals before being grouped together. everyone should’ve seen their treason coming from miles away. besides, i heard rumours saying they’re all dead,” meliodas scratched his nape. you look down at him. he was intentionally egging her on but for what reason, you’re not sure.

“such amazing people wouldn’t die that easily!”

“again, woman, these guys are criminals. they’re bound to be dead by now or at least caught... and you seeking out their help is a large act of treason, no?”

the relentless interrogation your friend suddenly sprung upon her caused tears of frustration to form in her eyes. she was clearly getting overwhelmed with his questions. “why can’t you understand!? get it into that thick skull of yours it’s the holy knights who are really causing people to suffer!”

you three are stunned to silence at her outburst. her usually soft voice held such strong emotion that it came out a lot sharper and harsher than she probably would’ve intended.

she quickly backtracks. “apologies, i didn’t mean to snap at you… i just got so overwhelmed and— eek..!”

whatever the girl was about to say dies in her throat as the cliffside you four were standing on suddenly crumbles beneath your feet, sending the lot of you pummelling straight to the forest below.

“oh, give me a break!” hawk groans.

“oops, i forgot to confirm if they were the people we were looking for or not. that’s my bad. oh, well, i guess that’ll be three deaths tallied.”

[cloudlessly-light]

Best hidden secrets (2/2)

A/N: Okay you guys voted and here’s part 2! I’m not very happy with how this turned out cause I wrote it while sleep deprived, but I hope you like it! Title: Best hidden secrets Summary: Nobody knew about that summer all those years ago, in fact most of the time Emily could pretend that the summer fling she had when she was 21 was nothing but a dream. But then Garcia finds a picture of a young Aaron Hotchner, and it all comes back to her. Word count: 3,5k   Rating: Explicit Warnings: Smut, dirty talk, oral, feelings, mentions of alcohol

She jumps out of bed again. It took her a few times reading over his last message before she truly understood what that meant. Aaron was coming over. Her boss. Her friend. Her old fling. Coming over. Suddenly it wasn’t just teasing and drunken fun. But he agreed, he had agreed so easily. That had to mean something.

In her haste to change into something other than an old shirt she trips over her own feet, alcohol still very much in her system. She swears under her breath and then ignores that she probably shouldn’t be making any life altering decisions right now and instead finds a pair of sleep shorts and a matching top. She tries to pretend that she didn’t pick the color red because it’s his favorite and instead tells herself that it’s the first thing she finds.

“Get it together Emily.” She mutters to herself as she makes her way to the kitchen and gets herself a glass of water. She finishes it quickly and wipes her mouth as she thinks of Aaron, of the man he used to be, of the man he was now.

*

Emily hears him at her door, the quiet knock before the handle turns. It was a sound she had gotten used to by now. He would sneak in late at night when everyone was asleep, and he’d spend a few hours in her bed. She’s facing away from him so she doesn’t have to hide her smirk when she hears his soft intake as he sees her. She had decided to dress up for him, because he had had a long, tiring day, she knew because Elizabeth had been in a mood and when she was, staff usually got the short end of the stick. So she decided to cheer him up, dressing in stockings and garters that matched the black lacy underwear set that she knew made her breast look good.

The bed dips behind her but she still doesn’t turn around. The soft sound of him taking off his jacket and throwing it to the floor makes her hold her breath. Then she feels him, a warm hand slowly making its way from her thigh, over the round of her hip until finally settling on her waist. His soft breathing forces goosebumps on her skin as he breathes against the back of her neck, almost close enough to touch but not quite.

“Is this all for me?” He whispers softly and she leans into his body.

“Do you like it?” She whispers back and then gasps softly when he pulls her back against him and she feels him through his slacks, already hard. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She grins when she finally turns to face him. His eyes are dark as he stares at her, want already reflecting in them.

It had been a long day, probably the most grueling that he’s had since he started working there. Elizabeth Prentiss was demanding and stubborn, something her daughter had inherited, and most of the time he found the older woman impressive. Today it had been nothing short of exhausting though. But he found that the moment he laid eyes on Emily, the stress of his day seemed to wither away. When he was with her he got to forget about the rest of the world for a while, and instead he got to get lost in her.

His hand moves over the black lace on her chest, finger moving under the strap of the bra to feel her warm skin while he looks her over. She was sexy, beautiful, and she knew how to use it against him. She had from the first day they met.

“Are you just going to stare at me?” She asks him and her impatience makes him snicker.

“No, I’m planning on doing much more than stare.” The natural rasp of his voice vibrates against her as he rolls on top of her. He nuzzles her nose and hums when he feels her hands starting to tuck his shirt out of his slacks.

“Take your clothes off.” She huffs when he chuckles at her again, his dark hair falling over his forehead as he does.

“I’m going to take my time with you tonight.” His lips graze hers as he speaks lowly and she inhales sharply as he presses the full weight of him against her, effectively pinning her down. When he finally kisses her, he groans into it. Sometimes he wonders how she always tasted so good, her lips were addictive. The scratch of her short nails against his scalp makes him shudder and then she grips it tighter, pulling him even further into her as her legs wrap around his hips.

She makes a sound, low and raspy at the press of him against her center. She’s sure he can feel the heat of her even through their clothes, arousal quickly taking over her body as his hands start to roam over her curves. When he swallows down the soft moan of his name she bites his bottom lip in return, never one to let him have all the fun.

“I told you to take your clothes off.” She reminds him, barely restraining herself from ripping the white shirt open.

“Tsk, so impatient.” He hums with a smile, but this time he listens to her and kneels on the bed between her thighs. His eyes stay on hers as he unbuttons his shirt, and when Emily’s tongue licks over her lower lip his movement become faster. He throws his shirt on the floor to join his jacket and then leans down to catch her lips in another kiss.

Her nails scratch down his ribs, and he bites warningly over her pulse as he moves down her body. She grunts at the sting of his teeth, but only turns her head to offer more of her skin to his searching lips. He licks over the small bite, soothing the slight pain before moving further down. He kisses between the valley of her breasts, sucks a mark into the swell of one just above the lining of her bra with a smirk and then continues further down. It’s not until he’s licking over her clothed center that he stops moving down the bed and Emily gasps at the sensation.

“Fuck- Aaron!” She jerks when he suddenly sucks her clit through the lace panties and he quickly wraps an arm around one of her thighs while the other tears her panties off. His tongue is slow and methodical as he licks through her, just barely pushing his tongue inside before continuing up to flick her clit.

“You taste so good, baby.” He whispers before wrapping his other arm around her thighs, effectively keeping her open and still before sucking her clit again. His eyes flicker up to watch her as he flattens his tongue to lick over the sensitive nub. He feels satisfaction tingle down his spine at the awed look on her face.

Her eyelids flutter close as her lips fall open in soft pants. Sometimes she wondered if he had some secret manual on how to please her, because he always seemed to know exactly where to kiss, where to touch. Her hand grips his hair tightly to keep him in place as he eats her out like a man starving, the sounds coming from his mouth almost as obscene as the curses falling from her lips.

“Fuck, just like that.” She encourages him as her back arches in pleasure. He’s keeping her spread open and as he continues to lick through her, and when he pushes his tongue deep inside of her she cries out, the sound like music to his ears. His lips and chin are shiny from her, her slick coating his tongue as he delves it inside of her over and over until she’s writhing on the bed.

“I’m so close, fuck right there.” Her grip on his hair must be painful from the way she’s tugging it, but he only groans against her at the pull. The vibration of it makes her thighs tremble and her hips buckle against his mouth. His hold on her only tightens as he switches to sucking her clit between his lips again, then flicks it quickly, before sucking it hard and she comes with a cry of pleasure she knows can be heard through the door. She’s never been more thankful that her room is at the far end of the estate, away from her mother.

He holds her as she shakes and continues to suck on her clit with a low sound of satisfaction. It’s not until her breathy moans turns into needier whimpers and her body jerks away from the stimulation that he stops and pulls away with a smug grin.

“Fuck I could do that all day.” His voice is rough from want, low and graveled as he makes quick work of getting his pants and boxers off.

“Maybe you should.” She gives him a lazy smile as she leans back on the bed, body limp from heavy pleasure. “Ignore work and spend the entire day naked with me.”

“Wouldn’t that be the dream.” He rasps before flipping her over and pushing inside of her before she even has the chance to react. “Fuck you feel good.” He hisses against the back of her ear as he lets her get adjusted to him.

“Jesus, Aaron.” She doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to the fill of him, the stretch always catching her off guard no matter how many times they’ve done this. His lips curl into a smirk against her skin before he licks down her spine and then straightens behind her, his hands firm on her hips. When she starts to push back against him, he knows she’s ready and he thrusts deep and hard inside of her, earning a low grunt from her.

“You’re going to come like this and then I want to watch you ride me.” He tells her and she nods immediately. When her hand moves from the bed between her legs to play with her clit he hums. “Good girl.”

He makes good on his word and she comes with a strangled moan not long after and when she rides him he enjoys the view of her, still in stockings and bra as her hips twist and turns in ways he’s never experienced before her. Her head falls back, her long hair cascading down her back as her eyes roll back in her head and he feels her tightening around him.

“Fuck Em, again?” He just barely keeps his own release at bay as she nods through heavy pants.

“Yes, God your cock feels so good.” Her hips buckle on his lap as she grinds against him, chasing her third orgasm. Then he pushes up, hitting deeper than she thought was possible and she hisses as her body tenses. She feels the heat of his release, hears his punched-out groan and feels his hands tighten on her body and it’s the last push she needs and she comes too. Her orgasm makes her entire body tremble as her tightening walls only prolongs his pleasure and he grunts her name as he spasms underneath her.

She doesn’t move off him even after he’s soft and their respective highs have calmed. Instead she places lazy kisses along his chest and neck, up his sculpted jaw until she can press a kiss to his lips.

“We’re dangerously good at this.” She hums happily and he cups the back of her head with a smile.

“We are.”

*

The sound of knocking breaks her out of another memory she had tried to forget about. She knew that knock, still the same, years later. With a steadying breath she walks to the door and even though she knew who it was she looked through the peephole. He was on the other side, holding a plastic bag in one hand and a pizza box in the other.

When she opens the door all she can hear is the thumping of her heart in her ears. He looks good, dressed in sweats and a shirt and it dawns on him that it’s the first time in years she’s seen him like this.

“Hey.” She moves to lean against the door but she misjudges the distance and stumbles. “Shit.” She mutters before she focuses on him again as she watches the way his eyes slowly move over her frame with a poorly hidden grin.

“Hi.” He doesn’t make a move to walk inside until she steps aside. It’s not until she accidentally shuts the door harder than she intended that he smiles, something soft and teasing that she didn’t think he was capable of anymore. “Exactly how drunk are you?”

“I-uhm-“ Whatever she had expected him to say it wasn’t that. “Not as drunk as earlier, but still under the influence?”

“That’s what I thought.” He doesn’t seem upset, more than anything he seemed to find her amusing. “I brought pizza, Gatorade and Advil.”

The confusion must be clear on her face because he only shakes his head with a chuckle as he places the items on the counter.

“I’m not going to have sex with you when you’re barely able to keep your eyes focused.”

Of course he wouldn’t. She wants to roll her eyes but instead she sighs, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Then what are you doing here?” She stays planted when he takes a careful step towards her, his eyes gentle in a way she wasn’t used to.

“We’re eating pizza, you’re drinking Gatorade and then we’re going to sleep. And tomorrow, we’ll talk about this.”

“Aaron I-” She starts but he’s quick to stop her.

“You’re going to let me take care of you tonight.”

She hates that her heart flutters at that. She hates that she loves that despite how he got here, his only plan was to take care of her when she was a drunken mess. She hates that he knew that pizza and Gatorade still was the best thing when she needed to sober up and that she was out of Advil. She hated how well he knew her, even though they both had pretended he hadn’t for years.

“Emily?” His fingers are warm when they touch her, carefully holding her chin to keep her from looking away. “Is that okay?”

“Yes.” She smiles and it seems like it’s enough to relax him and he cups her cheek.

So they eat and Aaron has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the way she misses her mouth a couple of times. He had seen her drunk before, but he hadn’t seen her like this since that summer, the summer he pretended he didn’t think about daily. It had been working fine for him, forcing down whatever he was feeling for her.

It became second nature after a while, pretending that he hadn’t thought about her for years after they ended things, pretending that when she came back into his life he didn’t feel something warm in his chest.

Until tonight.

It didn’t surprise him that she needed the liquor courage to reach out, what did surprise him was how easily he came running. Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised by that, because a part of him always knew that they’d find their way back, it was inevitable after she joined the team.

So he enjoys her slightly slurred rambles and the way she doesn’t care to be as put together as usual. By the time the pizza is gone and she’s finished the Gatorade he can see that she’s sobered up some, her dark eyes more focused as she looks at him as she leads him to her bedroom.

“Stay.” She says and for a second he isn’t sure what she means. “Sleep here.” She clarifies as she lifts the cover of her bed and climbs in, her hand grasping his as she tugs him along.

“Are you sure?” He doesn’t fight her though, instead he lays on his side and lets her back into him until her back is pressed to his chest.

“Yes. I want you here.” The confession makes him smile and he settles behind her.

“I want to be here too.”

*

The day she leaves she had expected to feel sad. She had wondered if maybe the summer fling with him would become something more. But as she packs the last of her clothes into a bag she finds that she’s happy that she had met him, thankful to him because he made her summer fun, something she never would have thought as her mother had forced her home at the end of her Junior year.

She’s just about to zip the bag up when she hears him, a soft clearing of his throat. It’s his day off and he’s standing in her doorway dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt. She hadn’t seen him dressed in much else but his suits, but the few times she caught him in casual clothing she was always taken back at how much younger he looked.

“All packed?” He asks with a soft smile and she nods.

“Just about.” She accepts his hand when he offers it and she stands from the floor where she had been kneeling. “Aren’t you worried that my mother will find you here?” She peeks around his shoulder and into the hallway but finds it empty.

“She’s downstairs getting ready for her flight to Moscow.” He shrugs and she wraps her arms around his neck and he wraps his arms around her middle. “Besides I couldn’t let you leave without saying goodbye, could I?”

“I’m happy you didn’t.” She closes her eyes and breathes him in when he leans his forehead against hers. “No regrets right?”

“Absolutely none.” He presses a careful kiss to her lips. “This was one of the most amazing summers I’ve ever had.” The admittance causes her to smile and she looks up at him, her arms still around his neck.

“Same.” She kisses him again, this time slower and longer in an effort to memorize the feel of his lips. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too.” He sighs before they separate and she grabs her bag. He couldn’t go with her to the car, would have to sneak out later when Elizabeth had said her goodbyes to her daughter. Instead he watches from her window as the car drives out of the driveway and when she turns to look at him from the back seat of the car, he’s smiling as he waves.

*

Her head is pounding, that’s her first thought. The second is that something is wrapped around her, something warm and heavy. She stirs slightly as the previous night comes back to her, the wine, the memories of a summer long ago, the text messages, the drunk mess she had been, Aaron. She hadn’t imagined him, the arm around her definitely belonged to him and when she turns around he’s there, so close she feels every soft puff of air he takes.

Her movements wake him up too and when he opens his eyes she’s staring wide eyed at him.

“Good morning.” He whispers and she swallows hard. “Please tell me you remember that you invited me over, cause if not this is awkward.” He mumbles and she laughs, but just as quickly stops when she grimaces from pain. “There’s Advil on the bedside table.”

“Thank you.” She turns and sure enough a glass of water and the pills are placed neatly beside her alarm clock. She takes it quickly, swallows with a low groan and then turns back to him. “Have I ruined everything?” The worry in her voice forces his eyebrows to knit.

“No.” He reaches for her hand and squeezes it. “I don’t know exactly what this means, for us, with work and everything. But I’m exactly where I want to be.”

She feels her cheeks heating as she smiles. Her eyes land on their interlocked fingers.

“I think I should get drunk on wine more often. Clearly that’s what we needed.” Her teasing smirk makes him laugh and she realizes how much she’s missed that sound. Aaron’s laugh was different from Hotch’s, louder and less controlled. When he stops she turns on the bed until she’s pressed against him, one of her hands moving to his cheek.

“Kiss me.” He whispers and she smiles shakily before leaning in. When their lips touch it feels like going back in time, he tasted the same, his lips felt the same, but it was also new, something different in the way he touched her, in the way he held her. She realized that it was different because they were different now. They weren’t reckless kids that were just starting out in life, but adults that were finally finding their way back to each other.

It was new, it was the beginning, the real beginning, of them.

[grace-williams-xo]

ALRIGHT. I had time to kill waiting for an appointment so I have dug through countless pages on the Julia Quinn wiki, the Bridgerton wiki and used a ss from Julia’s fb to compile the most comprehensive list of as many characters as possibles birthdays and middle names. No point in keeping it to myself let’s go.

Canon (probably) Bridgerton biographical info:

Middle names

This is the birth name of everyone I could find a middle name for. Scratching at the walls for Julia Quinn to tell us the children’s middle names (though I have headcanons)

Violet Elizabeth Ledger

Simon Arthur Henry Fitzranulph Basset

Katharine Grace Sheffield (Kathani Sharma’s middle name isn’t confirmed anywhere)

Sophia Maria Beckett

Penelope Anne Featherington

Michael Stuart Stirling

Lucy Margaret Catherine Abernathy

Gareth William St. Clair

Birthdates

This is very messy because some idk, some vary between show and book and some are inconsistent everywhere (Colin I’m looking at you)

This is the fb post in question. (Julia Quinn how dare you tell us you have all their birthday’s written down and not tell us 😭)

Edmund: 1764–1803 (was 38 at death, meaning his birthday was later in the year than May ish when he died) [EDIT: his tombstone in the show says he died in May]

Violet: 11th April 1766 (Aries)

Anthony: 17th September, 1784

Benedict: July/August, 1786

Colin: 2nd March, 1791 (books) 1792 or 1793 or 1794 (tv) [okay, so, both wiki sites say show Colin’s born 1792 or 1793 and it has broken my brain because he is canonically one year older than Daphne and in a copy of the pilot script I found online Daphne is listed as 18 (which fits with her debut) and him 19 but for him to be 19 in the social season he would’ve had to have just turned 19 (bc start of March birthday) and that would make him also born in 1994 but it is clearly not possible for Violet to birth two children in six months furthermore in s2 Benedict outright says that Colin is 21 which would have made him 20 in s1 and thus born 1792; so Colin was born in 1793 or 1792 or maybe even 1794 or inside a fucking void idk anymore but show Colin’s birthday probably isn’t March]

Daphne: August/September, 1792 (books) 1794 or 1795 (tv) [I think 1794 because she is listed as being 18 in a copy of the pilot script I found online, and she is debuting, so she would’ve been 18 turning 19 born in 1794]

Eloise: April (before 22nd) 1796

Francesca: April (before 22nd) 1797

Gregory: January/February (I think February), 1801

Hyacinth: May/June, 1803 [EDIT: Edmund’s tombstone in the show says he died in May, making Hyacinth’s birthday likely in June imo but I actually have no basis for that guess other than vibes]

Kate: 1793 (books) 1788 (tv)

Sophie: 1794

Penelope: 8th April 1796 (Aries)

Simon: 1784

Phillip: 1794

John: 1792

Michael: 1791

Lucy: 1807

Gareth: March 1797

If you made it this far, good job! If you have any info to add, please do so in the replies/reblogs.

[misscherrys-world]

༒Here’s hcs no one asked for.

James Patrick March.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Warnings: murder, drugs, blasphemy, nsfw themes.

Sorry if there’s any misspelling or grammatical mistakes I wrote this after midnight.

I will make it a habit to put the song I listen to while writing.

Please kiss his dimples.

He listens to indie rock sometimes. Secretly

He says he hates pets, but you’ll catch him petting a stray cat. American Psycho reference

He went heavy on cocain in early 30s, right before he died.

He likes to fuck religious people before killing them. In a way that mocks god and the Bible. I’m really sorry

He had multiple affairs while he was married to Elizabeth.

Although he thought all these years Elizabeth turned him to the police he still loved her. But when Mrs. Evers admitted it was her he never spoke to her again. For eternity.

James likes age gaps, I think he married Elizabeth when she was 21/22 and he was 30 I guess correct me with accurate numbers if I got it wrong.

Unlike Kai he wouldn’t kill his lover yet alone lay a single finger on her. If she simply did something wrong he will correct her in private. After defending her in any situation of course.

Or simply by punishing her while having intimate time. Light spanking. Nothing more.

If someone did you wrong or got on your bad side, whether you’re his lover or friend, consider that person gone forever.

He cares deeply for his circle and students.

He didn’t miss a single devil’s night.

He likes the sound of screaming late at night while wandering through the hotel’s hallways.

He’s a night owl.

When he was alive he enjoyed car rides at night and did it a lot while hunting for someone to kill.

He loved the ocean but hated the sand.

He knows all the casino games. And a skilled player too.

He knew he was going to hell. And he believed there’s a God who trapped him for eternity in the hotel.

He plays the piano.

He refused to use a smart phone until the Countess told him she would follow him on instagram. Simp

He loves talking shit about other ghosts and judges them all the time.

He was racist until he met Queeny.

He hated Jews too.

[wonder-worker]

"Louis I of Anjou’s death in Bari on September 21, 1384, escalated tensions in Provence. The threat that France would absorb the county loomed; Charles VI and Jean, duke of Berry, courted the dissidents while offering to help Louis’s widow, Marie of Blois, conquer Naples.

Marie, however, a shrewd and able regent, was determined to protect her son’s [Louis II of Anjou's] rights in the county as well as in Italy. She reacted strongly and swiftly, moving into Provence and taking aggressive action against the rebels. She also hastened to have her son swear fealty to Clement VII for Johanna’s lands, establishing him as the late queen’s heir and securing Clement’s support. A second meeting of the Estates assured Marie of the high nobility and won several new communes for Louis II, while it also negotiated a twenty months’ truce between Marie and the Union of Aix, which had no wish to see the county under French dominion.

During the truce negotiated with the Union of Aix, Marie pressed her advantage. Arles reunited with the crown in November 1385, Brignoles in May 1386, and Sisteron in June 1386, isolating the Union. Although Margaret of Durazzo attempted to keep Charles’s death in February 1386 a secret, the news made its way to Provence, leading more communes to negotiate with Marie in the spring of 1386. Marie continued her diplomatic efforts into the autumn of 1387, achieving a peace accord with most of the communes in June of that year. Aix finally capitulated on September 17. Pockets of resistance remained: Nice continued to hold out, and the remaining Carlist communities fell under the control of Savoy in 1388. Despite her losses, however, Marie had won back most of the county, establishing a base of power for Louis II. She was free to turn her attention to Naples, which became her primary concern from early 1388."

— Elizabeth Casteen, From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danzinger

Marcy Lewis is bored by school, she knows she's never going to be thin, and she is dead sure she'll never have a date. Life at home isn't great either, since her father bosses her and her mother around. Then along comes Ms. Finney, an English teacher who'll try anything in the classroom and actually treats kids like human beings. Now that she's found a teacher who sees Marcy as more than a name on an attendance sheet, Marcy realizes her life could mean something. When Ms. Finney is suspended, Marcy knows she's got to take a stand. But is this new independence worth the price she'll pay at school and at home?

Magic Shop by Bruce Coville

Russell Crannaker, a rather timid boy who is eager to frighten the school bully on Halloween night, acquires a magic ring and the power to change himself into a hideous monster.

Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright

When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river, she is sure it’s magical. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart

Fourteen-year-old Quint Verginix is the only remaining son of famous sky-pirate Wind Jackal. He and his father have journeyed to the city of Sanctaphrax – a great floating rock, bound to the ground below by a chain, its inhabitants living with their heads literally in the clouds.

But the city hides a dangerous secret: deep inside the great rock, something horrible lurks. With his father away, Quint may be the only one who can save Sanctaphrax from the dreaded curse of the gloamglozer . . .

School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari

Everyone is afraid of something...

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders.

Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying.

Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces.

Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water.

With very few options left, the parents of these four twelve year-olds send them to the highly elusive and exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias. But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington, and her unconventional teaching methods turn out to be more frightening than even their fears, the foursome realize that this just may be the scariest summer of their lives.

Pillage by Obert Skye

Upon his mother's death, fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips is sent to live with an eccentric uncle he had never met in a remote manor house, where he learns that his family suffers from a curse that allows him to make plants grow on command and dragon eggs hatch.

The Blackwell Pages by K. L. Armstrong

In Viking times, Norse myths predicted the end of the world, an event called Ragnarok, that only the gods can stop. When this apocalypse happens, the gods must battle the monsters--wolves the size of the sun, serpents that span the seabeds, all bent on destroying the world.

The gods died a long time ago.

Matt Thorsen knows every Norse myth, saga, and god as if it was family history--because it is family history. Most people in the modern-day town of Blackwell, South Dakota, in fact, are direct descendants of either Thor or Loki, including Matt's classmates Fen and Laurie Brekke.

However, knowing the legends and completely believing them are two different things. When the rune readers reveal that Ragnarok is coming and kids--led by Matt--will stand in for the gods in the final battle, he can hardly believe it. Matt, Laurie, and Fen's lives will never be the same as they race to put together an unstoppable team to prevent the end of the world.

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson

Annika is happy living in the servants' quarters of a house owned by three eccentric professors. She adores Ellie and Sigrid, the cook and housemaid who found her as a baby, abandoned on a church doorstep. In the eleven years since, they have taught her how to bake and clean to perfection. Then one day a glamorous stranger arrives, claiming to be Annika's mother. Annika is no servant, she learns, but an aristocrat whose true home is an ancient castle. But at crumbling Spittal, Annika discovers that all is not as it seems in the lives of her newfound family. . .

The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

Jerry, Jimmy, and Cathy stumble upon a mysterious castle with a beautiful princess asleep in the garden. The princess is really Mabel, the housekeeper's niece, who is only pretending to be royalty. But when she shows them a secret room filled with treasure where they discover a magical ring, enchantment becomes a reality.

Fairy Oak by Elizabetta Gnone

Fairy Oak is the name of a village that grew up in the shade of a talking oak tree, an imaginary place, lost in the mists of time immemorial, overlooking a stormy sea, next to uplands covered in snow in winter, surrounded by enchanted woods, vast meadows, crystal clear rivers and lakes. A healthy and uncontaminated nature, which dominates and envelops the worlds in which the stories unfold. Within the walls of the old village there lives an equally old community, a mixed bag of funny characters, with the rituals, customs, habits and familiarity of a serene, cheerful, lively people. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent twins Vanilla and Lavender. To save their people, menaced by a cruel enemy, they go on a long journey deep into the labyrinths of their powers. Since the girls are very young, at first lots of things go wrong. Some are frightening. In short, it’s not going to be easy at all! But someone and something will help them.

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Part 21: The Shadow of the Abattoir

Summary: Lucy sets out to prove her usefulness to the company. 

Word Count: 4,122

Warnings: Violence.

Notes: Apologies if the action in this chapter isn't written very well. I always struggle with it and feel like it's one of my weakest points as a writer.

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 12: Red

Her hands squeezed tightly around the handbag clutched in them, the intricate beading sewn into the cloth digging into her palms. The blonde wig covering her hair itched terribly, and her front was particularly warm from the balled up handkerchiefs she had stuffed into her bra to try to better imitate Elizabeth’s significant bust. Her face felt heavy with makeup.

She came to the door of the flat, hand unsteady as she raised it to adjust the wide-brimmed hat on her head so that it more properly hid the top half of her face. From perhaps a distance she could pass as Elizabeth, but if anyone got a good look at her face, the jig would be up. Pulling open the door, she began to climb the stairs, eyes scanning the numbers on each one until she found the one she was looking for. 

It had occurred to her that some of the neighbors could be in on hiding the Italians out, but Isiah had said their boys hadn’t spotted anything that indicated that.

Hesitating just before she would be within eyeline of the door, she slipped her hand into her handbag, fingers curling tightly around the gun concealed within, cocking it. She tugged Elizabeth’s coat tighter around herself, took a deep, slow breath to steady herself, and knocked twice on the door. 

There was an agonizing moment of nothing. She turned herself half away, as if simply looking idly down the hall, while also tilting her head so the brim of her hat and the blonde locks of the wig hid her face almost entirely from view. 

It was always possible that they had some sort of password system established with Elizabeth, but in that case, she could always just break down the door. It may have been worth it to have had a talk with her, but Lucy had been worried about spooking her and having her either skip town or run to the Italians with a warning that they knew about them. From Clara’s account, it sounded like she was in love with one of them. And people in love did stupid things. 

From the other side of the door, she heard footsteps, and then the sound of a lock clicking. The door opened just a crack, a dark eye peeking out. When the man saw her blonde hair and Elizabeth’s coat, he pushed the door open wider with a smile. 

“Elizabeth, darling, what’re you doing here–?”

She had shifted the handbag subtly at an angle when she’d knocked, and when she pulled the trigger of her revolver, the bottom fabric of the handbag was torn away as the bullet exited, propelling forward and into the Italian’s jaw at an upward angle, blasting through his skull and coming to rest somewhere inside his brain. 

It was an old trick that Grace had taught her; the same one she’d used to put a bullet in Campbell’s leg, all those years ago. 

The arm that the Italian had braced against the door went limp, allowing it to swing open the remainder of the way. His body moved to fall backways into the entryway, but she caught him by the front of the shirt, letting the handbag fall away, revolver still clutched in one hand. She could hear shouting in Italian from deeper into the apartment.

Adjusting her grip on the first guard’s body, she hauled it up and raced forward, using it as a shield as she burst through the entryway.

The apartment opened up into a living room, decorated with a couch and two big armchairs situated around a rectangular table. To her left, there was a kitchen, and to the right, she could see three doors, one ajar and the room inside dark, although she could just make out a toilet in the corner. The other two seemed to lead to what she was assuming were bedrooms. A hallway cut between those and the bathroom, leading to another room tucked deeper into the apartment. 

The second guard was in the living room, half risen out of the armchair he’d been seated in when she came bursting in. She fired at him, but he dove behind the chair, and she missed. Lucy ducked behind the couch, dropping the first guard’s body unceremoniously while her eyes scanned behind her and to the sides, checking the angles where she would be most in danger if an enemy was there. 

She yanked off her hat and wig, to avoid either becoming a nuisance or hindering her ability to see, tossing them to the floor. A few bullets struck the couch and the wall behind her as the second guard fired. There was someone yelling in Italian from the room that the hallway led into. 

“Who is it!?”

Lucy chanced a peek up over the edge of the couch, and almost immediately had to duck down again to avoid being struck with another barrage of bullets. 

“It’s the red-haired bitch! Stay hidden!” the second guard shouted back. Lucy doubted that they realized that she spoke Italian. 

“The Red Demon? Hah!” the other voice–Alessio, she was assuming–cackled. “Luca said not to worry about her.”

Her brows knitted, an idea suddenly forming. It was a gamble, but if they really were underestimating her…

“She killed Lorenzo!”

“Just take care of her!”

“What the fuck do you think I’m trying to do!?”

She grabbed the ankle of the first guard, pulling him a little closer to her, then readjusted her position, bouncing slightly on her legs in preparation. 

This next time she popped up, she lingered a moment longer, dropping down with a theatrical yelp just as the second guard started firing at her again. Reaching out hastily, she dipped her hand in the first guard’s bloodied head, and then spread the hot, red liquid across her throat, chest, and the underside of her jaw. 

She laid down on her back, and made another sound, this time a garling, choking noise. 

“Did you get her?” Alessio called from the other room.

“I-I think so,” the second guard said, and she could hear him slowly rising to his feet, footsteps approaching the couch. Her fingers flexed around her gun, raising her free hand to clutch at her throat, as if pressing on a bullet wound. “Stay there until I say it’s safe.”

He came around the couch, gun held in both hands and pointed outwards, but his confidence that she was actually injured made him slow and unprepared. She didn’t even know if he realized that he hadn’t actually hit her before she squeezed the trigger of her revolver. The bullet tore through one of his eyes and exited through the back of his head, leaving a spray of blood on the floor and wall behind him. She had to roll hastily out of the way when his body began to drop, to avoid it landing on her when he crumpled. 

With a grunt, she pulled herself to her feet, shucking off Elizabeth’s coat, holding her revolver in both hands while she began to move, slow and quiet, towards the hall where Alessio’s voice had sounded. He was calling the second guard’s name, asking if he had actually killed her or not. She slunk along the wall, listening, ready to drop anyone who stepped out of the door that was only slightly ajar. The hall ended at a dead end, the door in the left wall. That gave her an advantage of being able to hug the wall, rather than try coming at the door directly. 

She came to a stop at the edge of the door frame, head cocked and listening. There was the distinct sound of a window sliding open, and then what sounded like rain. 

Had it started raining since she’d come in? She hadn’t noticed.

With a quick movement, she turned the corner, gun raised. Alessio was just raising a leg to climb through it, and as she rushed towards him, she put a bullet in his kneecap. The leg buckled, and he went crashing down with a scream. She managed to grab him by the tie before he could fall out the window, tossing him onto the hard floor, slamming the window slut.

Turning back to him, she cocked her head. He was laying on the floor, clutching at his knee and whimpering. Holstering her gun, she walked towards him slowly until she was standing directly over him, then lowered herself until she was straddling his chest, her knees pinning both of his arms to the floor in case he decided to try anything. 

“I thought you boys were supposed to be good at this kind of thing,” she said. Alessio bared his teeth and cursed at her in Italian. “Luca made such extravagant claims about how superior your organization’s level of security was…but then again, I’m guessing you weren’t exactly the smartest of the family, were you?”

He spat at her, but she jerked her head back calmly. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out the large hunting knife that she’d been carrying with her since the vendetta started, twirling it once between her fingers.

“Tell me where Luca is.”  

He laughed, chest shaking with it. And Lucy could see that, duller than a spoon as he might’ve been, Alessio would not talk. She could do whatever she liked: rip his fingernails out, chop off little bits of him, whip him, or worse…and he wouldn’t say a word.

“You stupid cunt,” he spat at her in Italian. “You’re all going to die.”

Lucy sighed, adjusting the grip on her knife, slowly rising off of him, stepping around so that she was near his head. He kept on laughing. 

“You won’t ever find him, do you hear me? Not ever. He’s going to kill you, and then he’s going to kill your lover, and he’s going to make sure that it hurts–”

She cut him off with one great arc from her knife, bringing it down hard on neck. The huge, freshly sharpened blade cut through flesh, then blood, then bone like butter, and with one quick, slight turn of her wrist, she fully removed Alessio’s head from his shoulders.

For a moment, she stood there, staring down at her handiwork, listening to the drops of blood lingering on the blade of her knife drip down onto the floorboards. With a deep breath, she cleaned it off with her handkerchief, then sheathed it back into her belt. She raised both hands to her forehead, rubbing it with the heels of her palms, head tilting up to stare at the ceiling. 

Fucking hell. 

Could have gone worse. But could have gone better, too. She had really been hoping that Alessio could have led her to Luca. 

With a sniff, she stepped over Alessio’s body, and went back into the other room, first going to the door, which was still half open. A few neighbors were poking their heads out of their apartments to investigate all the commotion.

“Stay in your homes,” she told them. “Don’t speak of this to anyone. By order of the Peaky Blinders.”

That had them all shuffling quickly back into their houses, shutting and locking the doors. Lucy stepped back into the apartment, closing the door and locking it behind her. 

Next she went to the phone, dialing the line for the betting shop, lighting a cigarette while it rang until Skudboat picked up. 

“Skudboat, hi. It’s Lucy.”

“Lucy! Where are you? Tommy’s been getting worried…”

“I’m fine. Tell him I’ll be back soon. Listen, I’m gonna give you an address. I need you to send a clean-up crew.”

“Alright.”

“Got a pen?”

“Yeah.”

She sounded off the address and a few instructions, and then hung up. Rifling through the Italians’ belongings didn’t turn much up that was useful. No matter. The clean-up boys could go through it all more thoroughly later anyway.

She dragged the two guards’ bodies into the bedroom Alessio was in, and scoured the closet until she found a bag big enough for her intentions. 

She moved towards the bodies, and pulled out her hunting knife again. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

She was just stuffing the last of the things she intended to take with her back to the betting shop into the bag when she heard a creak on the floorboards and looked up, and was met with the wide, horrified eyes of Alessio Changretta’s wife. 

Shit. With everything else, she’d forgotten that the woman always came home by three in the afternoon. 

The woman’s mouth had dropped open, creating a little o, eyes so huge with terror that it was a wonder they didn’t pop out of their skull. Her face was pale as paper, a bag filled with books and knitting supplies still clutched in one hand. For several seconds, she and Lucy just stared at each other. Lucy cocked her head, giving her a look of warning. 

“Don’t run.”  

The woman’s eyes snapped away from where they’d been focused on the bag Lucy had been filling to her face, and she started to shake like a leaf, lips trembling. Lucy gave her a small shake of her head. 

The woman ran from the room.

Lucy let out a frustrated groan, picking up her knife where she’d set it down on the bed. 

They could never just make it easy, could they?

Sudden, yet as inevitable as a clap of thunder chasing a bolt of lightning, she took off after the woman. 

She would not make the same mistake that John did by leaving loose ends. He had let Audrey Changretta live, and look where they were now: in the middle of a war, and all that was left of John was but a memory and ashes scattered in the wind.  

The woman managed to make it almost to the middle of the living room before Lucy caught up to her. And when she did, the woman let out this little sound; not a scream, but a little, terrified cry, and then all noise she could have made was promptly silenced by Lucy’s blade ripping through her throat, blood spurting out all over the expensive gray rug, her cries transformed into nothing but quiet gurgles. 

Lucy held her tight, the hand not holding the hunting knife to her throat wrapping firmly around her waist, holding her until she went limp, the weight of her increasing steadily as she died. Lucy listened to the way her breaths rattled wetly in her chest, body shuttering as it tried in vain to fight against the hands of death closing in around it. 

When the woman was nothing but a cold weight in her arms, Lucy dragged her backwards and into the bedroom they’d just left. 

She finished up what she’d been doing before the woman interrupted her, adding a new, unexpected addition to her bag, and then went into the bathroom to clean the blood and makeup off of her. The cool water felt nice on her face, helping to soothe the shakes that were beginning to shudder through her hands. 

The clean-up crew arrived just as she was drying off her face. She let them in, giving a few instructions before picking up her bag, pulling her peaky cap onto her head, and leaving the apartment. 

It was still raining, big droplets of water beating down onto her and the cobblestones. It pricked at her already frayed nerves, leaving her jittery. Rain reminded her of bad memories. 

Adjusting her grip on the dripping bag, she forced herself forward.

She was almost back to the shop when the rain finally started to ease off. 

Of course it’s done raining after I’m almost home and soaked to the bone, she grumbled internally, shooting a glare up towards the sky. 

“Lucy.”

She jumped at Charlie Strong’s voice. He was walking in the opposite direction as her, probably on his way back to the yard after being up at the shop. 

“Hey, Charlie.”

“We were all wondering where you’d disappeared off to after that big blow up at the meeting.”

She suddenly felt bad for running off with no warning or explanation. “Is Tommy upset?”

“With you? No, just worried. He’s mad as all hell with Linda, though.”

She cringed. “Was it bad?”

“There was a whole lot of yelling between them after you left.”

Guilt twisted in her like a knife. She shouldn’t have left Tommy alone to deal with that all on his own. 

“Is Linda still there?” she asked, quietly. 

“At the shop? Yeah, she’s working with Polly. They’re all closed up for the day already, just counting the takings, I think.”

A small smile pulled at her lips. “Good,” she gave him a small nod. “I’ll see you later?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.”  

With a nod goodbye, she continued on her way towards the shop, pushing wet hair out of her face and fingers flexing around the bag. It was still dripping, and not just with rain water.

She slammed open the doors that led into the shop with a crash, striding in with thunderous footfalls. Polly and Linda were seated at a table, counting out money. Finn was drinking tea by the bar. Arthur was pouring himself a glass of whiskey. They all got quiet when they saw her.

At least they’d already seen all of the patrons for the day. What she was about to do would probably have chased some of them away.

But, well…she did have a point to make. 

Ada was seated at a table that was a straight shot from the door Lucy had entered through, pointing to something on the papers clutched in her hands. Tommy was standing over her, one hand on the table and the other on his hip. His head had snapped up at the sound of Lucy’s entrance, eyes widening when he saw her, soaked with rainwater and holding a large, dripping back in one hand. 

Lucy strode directly to him, and before he or anyone else could say anything, she heaved up the heavy bag and dumped its contents out onto the table in front of him, like a cat proudly presenting its owner with the mouse it had just killed.

The four heads of her victims fell wetly out of the bag, landing on the table with dead, audible thumps. Blank eyes, ajar mouths, and bloodied stumps where she had severed them from their bodies at the neck stared back at them. 

Linda screamed, jumping out of her chair. Ada scrambled away to retch into a nearby wastebasket. Polly stood with a hand clasped over her mouth. Finn had gone a little pale. Arthur was looking at the entire display with a numb, if mildly impressed expression on his face.

Tommy only looked at the heads for a moment, and then his eyes were back on hers, nothing but relief and mild concern in them. Lucy was able to meet his gaze for only a moment before dropping her eyes away, instead shooting a glare of contempt around the office that she fixed pointedly onto Linda for a long moment. 

That’s what I do for this company.

Satisfied that she’d gotten the message across, she turned her gaze away from all of them. Still clutching the empty, blood and rainwater soaked bag in one hand, she rounded and went for the stairs, climbing them hastily and ducking into the bedroom she was sharing with Tommy.

Tossing the bag away into the wastebasket, she groaned quietly to herself, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes. She suddenly very badly wanted a cup of tea or a glass of whiskey, but she couldn’t exactly go back downstairs after such a marvelous display.

Her mind was beginning to catch up with the rest of her. And with that, came an intensity to the trembling in her palms and a heavy exhaustion in her bones. It made her both feel like she needed to move about to dispel the shaky energy inside of her, and lie still and rest for a few thousand years.   

“Lucy?”

She jumped when the door was pushed cautiously open, just enough for Tommy to step inside and then close it behind him. He moved to her quickly, hands resting on her arms, looking her up and down, searching for anywhere that she might have been hurt. 

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t…I barely even got a scratch. Just a little shaky, now.” A shudder went through her, and his grip on her tightened. “I…” she stuttered, staring at the center of his chest, then forced herself to look up into his face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just run off like that…”

“Hey, hey, no, it’s…it’s fine,” he touched her cheek. “I’m just glad you’re alright,” he cracked a small smile, eyes flickering with fond amusement. “I think you made your point down there.”

She let out a shaky laugh. “You think?”

“Mhm. Everyone remembers how terrifying you are.”

She sniffed, and he hugged her. Lucy’s eyes closed in relief at the familiar scent of him surrounding her, his chest warm where her cheek squished against him. Locking her arms around his middle, she hugged him back.

“Terrifying, hm?” she mused, craning her head up to look at him. “Does that include you?”

“Oh, yes,” he drew her in closer with a mischievous, cheeky grin. “You could almost say that I’m scared stiff.”

She almost choked. “That’s…that’s the worst joke you’ve ever made…”

He chuckled and kissed her temple, giving her another squeeze.

“I am sorry,” she added, more seriously after another moment. “Both for going out to deal with Alessio on my own and for leaving you to deal with Linda by yourself. I just…” she trailed off, biting her lip. Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Wanted to prove that you could do it?” he suggested. 

“Maybe? I don’t know. I keep feeling like I could be doing more to help.”

“You help plenty.”

“Sometimes I feel like I’m a little useless. She wasn’t wrong, after all,” her voice dropped. “I do just end up following you around a lot of the time.”

His brows pinched, expression changing as if the mere suggestion was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. “You’re not useless.”

She shrugged, lowering her eyes. He touched her chin, tilting it up until she was looking in stern blue eyes. 

“You’re not,” he insisted. “I mean it. I don’t know what I’d do without you. And not just ‘cos I love you.” His expression was hard and unwavering. “You’re important to this company.”

She flattened her palm on his chest, rubbing up and down gratefully. “Thank you,” she whispered. He kissed her forehead, and she leaned into him again. “Skudboat and Charlie both said you were worried…”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I figured Alessio was where you had gone after you didn’t come back right away.”

“You didn’t send Arthur or anyone to come drag me back kicking and screaming?”

“Oh, I thought about it,” she smiled at that, patting his chest affectionately. “But like I said, it was never an issue of me thinking that you couldn’t handle it…” he shrugged, and rested his forehead against hers. “I suppose I just want you with me as much as possible, these days.”

“I’m sorry…”

He rubbed her back, dropping a few kisses onto her shoulder. “It’s alright. You made it back in one piece. That’s all I care about,” he hesitated, and then, in a quieter voice, added, “just…don’t do it again, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed. He kissed her, not an intensely deep kiss, but not exactly what she would call a chaste peck either. 

“You did really well. Four Italians dead…and one of them a direct relative of Luca’s at that…he isn’t going to be happy. Even though I’m pretty sure you traumatized Linda a little with that stunt you pulled with the bag of heads.”

“Good. She deserved it.”

He chuckled. “You’re terrible.”

“You were thinking the same thing! Besides, I needed to remind everyone here that I haven’t lost my touch.” 

He hid his grin against her neck, lips brushing across the sensitive skin. “Think that you’ve gotten things out of your system, now?”

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow when he pulled back to look at her, smiling roguishly. “Not even a little bit.”

He looked delighted. “You’re unhinged.”

Her hands shifted to rest at the nape of his neck, pulling his face down closer to hers. “You love it.”

“I do,” he concurred, the back of his hand stroking down her cheek before falling to rest on her hip before he dipped his head down to kiss her tenderly. “I really do.”

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